Cruising the Bosphorus

I spent the day on a long Bosphorus Cruise that went almost to the third and final bridge before the Strait opens up into the Black Sea. The cruise started at the Eminonu port located in the Fatih district where I am staying so it was easy to get to the ferry terminal.  The tricky part was trying to figure out how to buy tickets. The Istanbul ferry operator, Sehir Hatlari (again, apologies for the spelling) advertised a long cruise and I had not seen any private operator that had something comparable.  They had a ticket office at the port where the cruise departed but it never seemed to be open whenever I wandered by. I decided to just go early (the cruise departed at 10:30am) and hang out and see what happened, figuring if I did not sort it out the first time, I could come back another day.  This time I managed to find someone in a uniform and through a bit of pantomime and broken English managed to surmise that the ticket office would open sometime in the hour before departure so I sat down on a nearby bench and people watched.

I was not the only one confused about how to get tickets.  As I sat there I noticed numerous people doing what I had done previously:  approach the closed window, try to read the information posted (not helpful), try to open the locked door (doesn’t work), look around in confusion, then wander off. It was actually kind of amusing. For those that wandered in my direction I conveyed the information that I had learned.  Sure enough at 9:45(ish) the ticket office opened and I joined the quickly forming line to get my tickets.  The crowd grew but the ship was huge and was far from crowded.  I managed to snag a seat in the open front part of the ship for a great view of the European side on the way out (and got the same seat to view the Asian side on the way back).

The route combined a long Bosphorus cruise with its primary job as a ferry; we had six stops on the way up the Strait, with the last stop having a 2.5 hour break at that stop, before departing again to reverse the route.  So it was a full day.  I really enjoy being on the water, the weather was beautiful (not too hot), I had covered seating and I was ready to explore. It was a perfect day to do the cruise.

Having watched some of the boat traffic for a few days now, I was really impressed by the efficiency of the operations and the deft manner in which the captains maneuvered the boats in and out of the docks.   There was a very large cruise ship docked along the Galata seawall, so I did not see much of that area as we cruised by, but did get a good look at the Dolmabace Palace, built by the Ottomans as a modern palace in the mid -1800s. It is absolutely huge, about 480,000 square feet and cost about a quarter of one year’s tax revenues from the whole empire.  Today it is a museum but is still used from time to time for State occasions.  I have been told it is a “must see” but I am more interested in Byzantine historical sites rather than recent opulent palaces, so I likely will not make it.  The palace facade was impressive from the water though, so I can see why it is popular to visit.  There were a lot of other large mansions and older buildings along the waterfront as well but most of them are now top of the line hotels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the sites we passed, on the European side, was Rumeli Fortress, built by Sultan Mehmed II as part of his strategy to conquer Constantinople by controlling the Bosphorus naval traffic. Later it became a prison. Today it is a museum and I got a great shot of it as we cruised by.

There were several small inlets hosting boats of various types, big, little, expensive, hobbyist and we passed several areas where people were out sunbathing or jumping into the water off of the retaining wall.  It looked like there were places with steps or ladders to get back out again.  I even saw one jet ski.

Our stop for lunch, at Anadolu Kavagi, also had a historical fort, built on the hill above the small village. The fort known as Yaros Castle, dated back to Greek and Byzantine times and was one of the sites I discovered when researching Istanbul’s Byzantine past. Because the locations is strategic, having a clear view to the opening of the Bosphorus Strait into the Black Sea, it has been fought over for ages. It was really a happy coincidence that the ferry was stopping there so I could see it! After a lunch of fried mussels and eggplant salad (and turning down the offer from the owner of the restaurant to show me around Istanbul on his day off on Monday— I mean, really (!) he’s a 2.5 hour ferry ride from Istanbul- this is getting comical!), I hiked up the hill to look at the ruins of the fort.  I had gotten a great picture of it as we were docking but wanted to see it close up. It was a steep climb and not unsurprisingly, when I got to the top, I recognized several others there from the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our way back, as I watched the Asian side of the Strait go by, it was noticeable that not as many people lived on that side as on the European side.  (I later found out 65% of the population of Istanbul live on the European side and the remaining 35% on the Asian side.) The suburbs of Istanbul spread further northeast along the Strait on the European side, whereas on the Asian side, civilization gave way to densely forested hills and no obvious roads.  As we traveled down the Strait, across from the Rumeli fortress, sat its opposite, the Anatolia fortress. It was built by Sultan Beyezid I in 1395 and Mehmed II took advantage of it and with the Rumeli fortress directly opposite, was able to control the traffic.  The Anatolia fortress was also later used as a prison and only part of it is open to the public today.  The Strait is not overly wide and watching the modern-day traffic transit, it was easy to see how the two forts, working together, could impact anyone trying to get through.

From my balcony I can see partially down the Asian side of the Strait and one of the things that stands out clearly in the landscape is a big, jumbo-sized mosque.  Sure enough, as I was observing the Asian side of the Strait during the return trip, we went right by it and the mosque was even bigger up close.  I snapped a picture even though I had no idea what it was or why it was so big.  I happened to ask Onders, our food tour guide, about it and he said it was a modern mosque and built to hold 64,000 people at one time.  He did not seem overly excited about it, preferring to point out instead some of the beautiful 16th century mosques located in the old city. I got the impression someone just wanted to build a huge mosque and did so.  (64,000 people – that is bigger than the town I grew up in!)

Coming back into port, I noticed that two cruise ships were now docked so one had come in while we were gone.  It turns out some of the other passengers on our day long Bosphorus cruise were going to join one of the cruise ships the next day for a cruise around the Mediterranean. Apparently, as many as seven cruise ships can dock in Istanbul at one time, something that usually occurs in September and October, the peak tourist season.  As I thought it was already crowded with tourists teeming everywhere, I am really glad I did not come during the peak season!