Today we took the ferry out to the Prince's Islands and spent the day there.
Justin and Harsha were moving a bit slowly from their previous night's activities and neither were able to make it to the hotel breakfast. But I knew they'd regret missing our trip to the islands so after breakfast we coaxed them into consciousness and out the door. How these guys made it through the day is beyond me, but commendable.
The ferry is unbelievably cheap (only 3 TRL, about $2 USD). If they were this cheap in the bay area I think more people would use them and commute this way. The ride to the island took about an hour and a half and they serve all kinds of snacks and stuff on the boat, including typical Turkish tea. We chatted with some tourists from Belgium who gave us tips on which stop to get off at since we hadn't really planned ahead and researched anything.
The island has a bunch of nice mansions on it that serve as vacation homes. But many of them were in surprising states of disrepair and some appeared to have been abandoned for years. The architectural style was also unique...mostly colonial I think? It sort of felt like a wild west ghost town in some sections. Of course there was a bustling little downtown area with lots of shops and tons of places selling ice cream.
There are no cars on the island except for police vehicles (and maybe 1 or 2 delivery trucks) so it's pretty quiet. But there are a ton of horse-drawn carriages. We opted to walk around though and get some exercise, ultimately hiking to the highest point on the island and being rewarded with breathtaking views and a cold beer. Thanks go to Justin for encouraging the trek up there despite the heat.
We ended up taking one of the carriages back to the ferry so that we could make it in time and then just grabbed a quick bite to each at a local place back in Taksim.
Overall, totally an awesome day. It was a bit of an adventure since we didn't know what to expect and it turned out great. It made me realize that I don't take enough time to do this sort of stuff when I'm at home. Justin recommended doing a similar hike and ferry ride to Angel Island so I'm adding that to my "to do" list when I get back to San Francisco.
1 comments:
Justin gets kudos for (a) making the trip and (b) coaxing YOU to hike to the top, probably in the heat! I like Justin. :)
Nice photos, BTW.
Love, Mom
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