It is now Saturday, and the first of our boat trips. We headed over to Galata Bridge and located the Eyup terminal - the last terminal apparently and through a car park, interesting! We had 30 mins before the boat was due to leave so we went back to the fish sandwich sellers and I bought one for 6 lira (about £2). It was really tasty, no bones and there was lemon juice (& salt) on the small tables surrounding the marquees. The boats were parked behind the marquees so the sandwiches could easily be passed over by the cooks.
We headed over to our boat to get a good spot, the boat took us to Ayvansaray and we then walked up the hill to Chora Museum. It was very tranquil around the Chora's grounds, not as many tourists come up this far so it was also quite empty inside. We had Kemal Pasa (sugary doughnut type things) and apple tea afterwards at Kariye Pembe Kosk and then decided to climb up to a viewing point on the Byzantium city walls. There was an almost vertical rung of steps up to the first flat bit, which I was worried about going up - partly because going down is always harder - a local egged me on so I obediently climbed. The next set of steps had a handrail and were less steep so my heart slowed slightly. Until we reached the top that is and there was a big hole in the middle of the viewing platform with only some railings intact to stop people falling in. Health and Safety was not in full effect here. There were great views of the city though, the Chora is quite far north in the Old Town so much to see around. On our way back down, I started to get scared about the super steep bit, so had to sit for a few moments to calm myself. Sam climbed down first, I passed him the bags and then I went. And once I had both legs on the steps, it was fine, it's just looking down that is the scary part. Some bemused tourists who had watched us negotiate the descent then asked ask how scary it was up there.
We presumed we'd be able to get a bus down the main road to Sultanahmet but apparently not so we walked for ages to Findikzade to get the tram home. I felt a little uncomfortable walking in this area as it was more religious and my cullottes showed some knee. Finally however we made it to the hotel, I had some quiet time whilst Sam went for a drink and then we headed across the bridge and up the funicular for dinner again. We arrived for the funicular as it arrived so I got a seat, but just before we left, the station was stormed by lots of protestors jumping the turnstiles. The guard tried to blow his whistle and create order, but it wasn't happening. This was a sign of the night to come.
Nevertheless we headed to Balik Pazar (fish market) for dinner, neither of us eat very adventurous fish so we bypassed the main strip and ate on a terrace on Nevizade Sokak. At certain points throughout our meal - finally got to order the tomato and aubergine meze, very tasty - our noses and eyes stung. We noticed a few other people holding tissues to their noses at the same time so thought it might be tear gas in the air but we couldn't work out if we were been paranoid. There were protestors sitting nearby so every so often whistles would go off, and cutlery and glasses were banged in support. People kept on looking over the balcony but no one left so we thought it was all ok. However, when we came downstairs to find all the tables packed up and the shutter half down, we got a little worried. Most restaurants on the street had done the same and there were lots of protestors wearing gas masks and hard hats. One of the restaurant waiters was trying to show a group of people to a good path out so we followed in that direction. We ended up on Tarlabaşı Bul as it seemed Istikal Cad was closed off. This road was also closed and opposite us was a tank and lots of police. The tear gas in the air became very strong here, luckily I had a few tissues for my nose, unfortunately nothing for eyes, which quickly began weeping. (It felt like someone had rubbed chillies all over my face.) We walked all the way down to Karakoy - the air cleared up on the way down, and unfortunately missed the last tram at that point so walked home form there. It was meant to be our big Saturday night out.
The next morning we decided to aim for the noon ferry, so had a quick brekkie and headed to our seemingly favourite spot, the Galata Bridge. We managed to get seats on the outside on the right for our ferry up the Bosphorus, so our view was of the Asian side. We took in the sights and when the boat stopped in Kanlica - one of the crew picked up loads of yoghurt - the area is famous for it - to sell on board. I ran inside to buy some, the yoghurt came with powdered sugar which we added halfway, both tasted good. As we approached Sariyer, the call to prayer sounded out and there was a scattering of what looked like protest boats - apparently they were in support of the president. Shortly after, we arrived at Anadolu Kavagi and made our way up the steep path to Yoros Kalesi. Some lovely views of the Black Sea, the castle itself is more ruins now and not that large. We made our way back down, grabbed an ice cream and tried for a spot on the right side of the boat again. It was already full so we sat inside for a bit waiting for the boat to leave and then managed to secure a spot on the floor by the railings. Cruise took in Fortress of Europe, Dolmabahçe Palace and Istanbul Modern. We then started to see lots of the president's supporters arriving by boat and shouting. We made our way home and had a drink on our roof terrace. I went for a hamman at Cemberlitas Hamman - it was definitely a touristy one but designed by Sinan and we hadn't visited many of his buildings yet. The dome where you relaxed on the hot stone had holes in so the sunlight came through. That part and the wash wasn't too relaxing, but I relaxed in the hot bath. I rejoined Sam and we had dinner in the hotel restaurant (the terrace), we tried the red lentil kofte which was very good.
No comments:
Post a Comment