turkiye day 8 istanbul

Turkiye Day 8 - Istanbul

If you have not done so, read the previous related post here, or start

from the beginning of the Turkiye posts here.

This is the final entry on my vacation to Turkey, a very nice place

with a good mix of things to view. Took me more than a month after I

returned to complete documenting the entire journey.

The time has come for our final day in Turkey. Being on a holiday for

8 days (excluding flight) somehow makes you think that it will be nice

to be on holiday all the time. Our last day in Istanbul started off

with some free time in the morning. As our hotel was near Taksim

square, a retail area, we went out to take a look around. At noon, we

were going for a cruise along the Bosphorus, the straits that divides

the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea. Essentially we will be cruising

between Europe and Asia. After the cruise and our lunch stop-over, we

headed to the largest shopping complex in Europe. Although it is

actually average sized by most standards elsewhere.

Some sort of monument in Taksim square

A rare sight, a church, notice they have dome designs too

Pushing off in our cruise ferry. Paid quite a bit, the ferry could

easily carry 200 or more but there were only like 20 of us chartering

the whole ferry.

Picking up speed

Asia side of Istanbul

Minarets galore!

The first bridge we encountered that spanned the Bosphorus. We crossed

it when we came back from Bolu.

A mosque by the sea, there are a few of these

I think this was some government building during the Ottoman Empire

The sultan's summer palace

Reaching the first bridge

Another mosque, we will return here later for lunch

Passing under the bridge

Seagulls

Some old fortifications

Passing the second Bosphorus bridge, after which we were bordering the

Black Sea and the ferry made a U-turn.

Expensive houses that are conserved

One of the conserved houses. They can cost something like USD$60

million and you are not allowed to change the exterior design.

Military school

Another Mosque

We disembarked next to this mosque, there are lots of food stalls and

relaxing cafes around here too. The black soot on the mosque is a

result of heavy shipping.

Lunch, a really huge potato! I think they call it Kampir

Looks familiar? We also saw some stalls selling prata -- yes they

called it prata.

Efficient use of parking space

A glass blower showing some tricks

The time came for us to leave this place, our coach captain was

pretending that there was something wrong with the engine since he

cannot stop at this side of the road for long. Rather hilarious!

The roof of the largest shopping mall in Europe -- a clock that did

not seem to be working. There is also a small indoor amusement park

here.

Evening came and it was time to catch our flight back home. Thus ends

our vacation with a heavy heart, some wine and hazelnuts. Next up, I