Bosphorus Cruise

Today we have a full day Bosphorus cruise.   We have decided to

take the ferry that will make several stops up the strait and end at a fishing village near the Black Sea for a couple of hours to have lunch and then return.  I’m not that gung ho about this trip because it seems like it is going to take all day, but our feet (especially Oscar’s) need the rest.  We get to take a

tram down to the ferry port and eventually find our ferry.  Oscar is happy because he gets to watch trams come and go from the station, and when we get on our ferry and start reading our guidebook about what to see we realize that we get to see jellyfish and might see  

dolphins.  We can see the jellyfish at port, and now I know that there is no Loch Ness monster, just dolphins at times.  We get to see dolphins as soon as we leave port and this is a real thrill because we don’t see them again the whole 8 hour day up and down the strait.  We get to go past

palaces, yalis (waterside mansions in Turkey) and enjoy the forts that the Ottomans built on both sides in order to take over Constantinople.  This is a nice, relaxing trip and we enjoy the time with a little café to get snacks at, a playground to play at in the village.  John takes the hike up to the Yaros Castle in

the fishing village to get a view of the Black Sea and Oscar and I play at the playground and get snacks at a little market.  When John gets back, we hit a little bakery that has the biggest meringue cookies I have ever seen and a delicious almond cookie that is amazing.  We don’t eat them

that day, but if we had, I would have been in danger of buying a truck load.  And we have determined that we definitely are not losing weight on this trip because the pants aren’t fitting and rings aren’t fitting.  We’re not very hydrated because you can’t drink the water in Turkey, but

still, we didn’t think we were eating that much.   We haven’t run in to bad food though, Oscar’s even eating good which we didn’t expect.  I have peanut butter single servings to spare.  We get lost trying to find the Spice Bazaar that should be right by the ferry stop, but then finally find it

after wandering down some weird streets where there are definitely no other tourists.  We finally find the market and are treated to free samples of all the most delightful candies, mainly because of Oscar.  We buy a couple things, but John is taken by the chocolate almond candy with pop rocks in it.  Inventive.

 We head to a pub by us where the boys can watch soccer and John has his meal of the trip so far in an Alexander kebab.  My best meal was at Divella near our hotel where I got the most amazing filet covered in a creamy mushroom sauce.  This night, I have a Caesar salad that looks like anything but a Caesar salad like we have in the US.  Oscar gets his carbs in spaghetti and

gets teased again by all the waiters.  The kid won’t go to breakfast anymore because of the lady that wants to hug him, but he likes being teased by the guys and given treats.  We finish dinner and even though it’s late, it’s our last night in Istanbul and we have to go to the café beside us to have a narghile. We choose blackberry flavor and I realize that I have forgotten how to smoke really and John is no help because he only smokes cigars and

   pipes and doesn’t inhale.  We figure it out though and spend 30 minutes having a quintessential Turkish experience while Oscar watches videos and is late for bed.  We’re horrible parents I know, but to be clear, the waterpipe came with 3 stems for smoking and there are 3 of us.  We didn’t let Oscar engage in the hookah and there was only light nicotine tobacco in there for anyone interested.