We are doing catch up on our blog posts so the last post by Max on Istanbul, this one by Noah, and a forthcoming post by Romi will be out of order.
By Noah
Today in Istanbul we did something that has been one of my favorite things on the whole trip: a cruise up the Bosphorus Strait from Istanbul to the mouth of the Black Sea. The cruise which was a six hour round trip journey started at a dock next to the Galata Bridge at 10:30 am so we had to get up and out the door.
The ferry boat
On our way to the Black Sea our ferry sailed passed mountains, forests, castles, ruins, fishing boats, little towns built into the cliffs, and military ships. The other awesome thing about the ride was all the people from all over the world that we got to meet. We even met a Syrian family that worked as doctors and lived in Seattle for a year!
Great views along the way
View of a castle from our ferry
Passing under a bridge
The best surprise of the cruise was when after one and a half hours we docked at this little seaside town and passengers started to stream off. We thought the cruise was 6 hours on the boat so it was a really fun surprise to explore this place we didn’t know where we were or even what it was called. In the town we got to eat a nice lunch on the water before hiking up a mountain to an ancient crusader castle with great views of the Black Sea and surrounding area.
A view of the town – we still don’t know the name!
Making our way up to the castle
At the top with the entrance to the Black Sea in the background
When we got back to Istanbul it was about five at night and as we were heading home the coolest thing happened. As we were walking over the Galata bridge we looked down and a pod of dolphins were leaping through the air and playing in the water below us. The perfect end to a perfect day.
Noah, sounds like a great boat trip adventure. Thank you for sharing your insights. Anybody, get seasick????
Take care,
Vicki
Thanks Noah for the
Post about the cruise. Sounds like it was a fabulous day for you all. When you get home you need to find out the name of the town you stopped in.
Great post Noah, what a lovely time and place….
Hi Vicki –
Thankfully no one got seasick, but we were worried someone might be when we thought the boat ride was 6 hours long! Thanks for commenting and hope you guys are well.
– Noah
Hi Susan –
Thanks for reading my blog post! We’re leaving Turkey in two days – it has been amazing. Next stop, Spain!
– Noah
Noah,
Just getting to these posts. Obviously, there is a food theme to much of your writing. I’m so pleased you are experiencing so much at such a young age.
Peace,
Joe
Who is the resident photographer? Great pics!
lisa