We decided to take it easier today, simply because we were all pretty exhausted from the previous days' travels. Don't forget we've come froma situation in Abu Dhabi where the temperatures outside made it almost impossible at this time of year to go outside during the day for long periods of time and we practically live in the air conditioning environment for 6 months of the year. Now we have arrived in a more comfortable environment where one feels they can breathe easier and come back out of "summer hibernation" from Abu Dhabi.
Today we have headed down to the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara, close to the Istanbul shoreline. We are on the 3 pm ferry on our way to the Princes' Island and have met an interesting Turkish man in his 60's who was on his way back home to Bunucada (the largest of the Islands where we were headed). He was a lawyer by profession and now runs his own tourism company. He has a summer home on Bunucada Island and a winter home in the Asia part of Istanbul. I was telling him that I am still trying to fit Turkey into a mold, of either Europe or Asia but am finding it difficult, because am seeing both aspects of either continent in Turkey and its people, but at the same time feel that I should not be obligated to fit it into either one. He said that Turkey is very similar to Greece (the Istanbul area at least and the Aegean Sea area) but that the Eastern part of Turkey is very much influenced by Asia and its surrounding neighbours (Iran, Iraq, Syria, Georgia, etc).
The ferry trip took around 1 1/2 hours as it stopped off at the 3 Islands lying ahead of Bunucada, and then we arrived at Bunucade (the largest island). What an interesting sight , full of cafes, fish restaurants, ice cream parlours, souvenir shops, Turkish clothing stores, Turkish craft stores. We decided to eat some lunch as it was late. We had delicious lunch/dinner and then went for a walk a bit. I found a nice Turkish handbag which we bought. We walked to another area and decided to rent 3 bicycles and rode 1/4 way up the Island past beautiful houses, and a steady steam of horse carriages carrying tourists and residents passing by.
We left the Island around 8:45, but not before sitting at one of the ice cream cafes to endulge in Turkish ice cream once again, and then headed "home" back to Taksim area on the European side of Istanbul, reaching home at 11 pm.
No comments:
Post a Comment