The Bhosphorus Cruise (1)

While having our breakfast, the friendly and chatty head-waiter - having discovered where we came from and that we had just arrived and had not even checked-in to our nearby hotel room - recommended that we take a tour of the Bhospohorus by boat to be followed by a tour of the Golden Horn by bus after the boat-trip. The joint-tour would normally cost 35 Euros each but being part of the Mado chain, if we bought from him we would get a discount of 5 Euros. If we bought the same tour from the hotel concierge - we would have to pay an additional commision to the hotel. Naturally we were sold! - truly Turkish entrepreneurial polish and salesmanship at its best...

For 30 Euros a person (RM120) we would do a two and a half hour cruise round the Bhosphorus and then a 2 hour drive around the Golden Horn. Honestly pakdokter believed it was a good deal and we were not disappointed. The company limousine picked us up near the cafe and took us to the harbour/jetty which was like a 15 minutes drive away. The average-sized boat had about 15 passengers only and except for the cold weather and the occasional light drizzle, it was a pleasant and informative cruise with a good guide describing the various buildings as we cruised by them.

the little jetty where the cruise started from

a local ferry leaving for villages up the Bhosphorus

pakdokter's partner climbing up to the upper open-air deck

the Golden Horn in the background

boats and ferries along the coast

crossing, first, the Ataturk Bridge

after which we crossed under the Galata Bridge

with the Eminonu Mosque behind it next to the

Egyptian or Spice Market

the Bhosphorus meets up with the Marmara Sea and the

Mediterranean beyond it and then curved northwards

towards the Black Sea....

the Topkapi Palace on the Golden Horn

the Haga Sofia and the 6-minarets Blue Mosque

as seen from the boat

these former warehouses? have become a Museum of Modern Art?

this old buildings are now part of a university

a part of the Asian side of Istanbul...