Istanbul Bosphorus and Topkapi Palace

This morning we took the train from Yenikapi station under the Bosphorus River to Uskudar the Asian side of Istanbul.

 We walked along the rivers edge and enjoyed watching the passing river traffic. It is the 2nd busiest strait in the world with 48,000 vessels a year transiting between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara then to the Mediterranean. It is 30km long. There is a strong current flowing south from the Black Sea as well as an undercurrent going the other way due to the difference in salinity of the two seas. There are two bridges over the river. Although it is classified as international waters, Turkey can restrict passage from vessels that are not from countries that border the Black Sea.

 At 11:30 we took a ferry paid with our Istanbul ‘Myki’ across the Bosphorus back to Europe debarking at the foot of the Galata Bridge at the Eminonu terminal.

Maiden Island

 We decided that we had better share a fish sandwich whilst we were here. 

We then walked up through the streets passing Sirkeci Train Station which used to be a stop of the Orient Express. We bought tickets (60TRYea) here for tonight’s performance of the Whirling Dervishes. Along the way to Topkapi Palace we stopped to buy some baklava and sat in the shade in Gulhane Park.

 Then it was into the palace grounds. Instead of queuing up to buy tickets (40TRYea) we bought them at one of the ticket machines (only by credit card) and walked straight in. We then went straight to the Harem entry and needed to buy another ticket here (25TRYea), as we had been told it can get very busy. We basically had the whole area to ourselves and we were able to enjoy the beautiful tiled and decorated rooms.

 We then visited the very extensive palace grounds with various pavilions and exhibitions on the life of the Sultan and his subjects during the 400 years it was used until the 19th C. 

After a few hours we took the tram back to Bluey to have a rest before heading out again to see the dancers. They are part of the Mevlevi Sema Ceremony and they dance to a complex musical repertoire called ayin. It was beautiful to watch the men spin in a trance like state and amazed they didn’t fall over when they stopped! It is a significant cultural tradition of 800 years and is Unesco listed. It was a great way to end our stay in Istanbul.