I love taking the public ferries to Istanbul’s islands. Like Hong Kong’s Star Ferry, it’s a cheap way of getting a seaborne view of the city. The schedules seem to have changed and I couldn’t find a suitable departure from Eminonu to Princes’ Islands.
So, I decided that we would leave around 0900 to Kadikoy on the Asian side for a brief stop. As we made it on to an earlier ferry, our stop in Kadikoy was about an hour but we killed time with a good natter after a brief walk of the Asian suburb.
We continued on another large public ferry to Princes’ Islands around 1030, calling at Kinaliada, Burgadazasi, Heybeliada before finally stopping at Adalar on Buyukada. We noted each stop so that we could island-hop back if we had time and thought Heybeliada would probably be the more substantial one for a visit.
I had allocated about 1.5h for a wander around Buyukada to enable a stop elsewhere on the way back. However, we had two relaxing sit-down eats, and ended up spending about 2.5h here. The first eat was assorted bureks, of which the lightly-sweetened milk custard one was tops (and hard to find). We then had a lahmacun and prawn stew.
Text continues after this gallery.
-
- Seagulls following the ferry.
-
- Arriving at Buyukada.
-
- Hotel at Buyukada on our walk.
The only ferry back was operated by a company that didn’t take the Istanbulkart but it was still very reasonable. As time was moving on, we went straight back to Eminonu and was back for a rest around 1630.
The idea of finishing with an intercontinental train ride from Bostanci to Eminonu didn’t materialise. It would have been a cool addition to the intercontinental ferry ride this morning.
View across the Golden Horn as we dock at Eminonu back in Istanbul.
We took dinner in front of the old Post Office, seated on low kindergarten-height seats. Our after-dinner walk around 2030 revealed that the bazaar area (including the Egyptian Bazaar) is dead by this time.
Tonight, we finally had dessert of Turkish sweets. Hafiz Mustafa seemed to be the poshest place for this. We ordered a selection of four sweets and tea. Some items were about the same price as Kosovo (EUR1) but others were more.
Ming didn’t have a sweet tooth and found it too much; but it was something she definitely wanted to try. As for me, I like a piece every now and then as an after-dinner treat. Fortunately, I was able to take back some leftover to keep in my room fridge.