Not sure who I’m writing this travelogue for? It seems clear no one in my family is reading it.
Ah well, never mind, I guess it’s like the travel diaries of old that you never expect to be read by anyone else except yourself when you’re in your dotage and too geriatric to travel, and can only reminisce about the old times.
After breakfast we decided to divide and conquer. Rita took the hotel shuttle service to the Bosphorus branch of the Four Seasons hotel for some shopping and quality cocktails by the pool time, while the rest of us walked to the Galata Tower.
It took about 40 minutes to get there, crossing the Galata bridge.
The tower has been a lookout point for thousands of years for it’s excellent view along the incoming waterways.
The day had already exceeded the predicted high of 26 degrees when we came down from the tower, so the plan was to take a taxi back to the hotel. Unfortunately, the traffic was so bad that the taxi ride was going to take longer than walking, so we set off for the return journey on foot. By now it was nearly 30 degrees and I was really starting to wilt. We got back to the hotel around 2, only an hour before we were due to picked up for a Bosphorus cruise.
I’m not a fan of boats in general, and Hakan had kindly organised a private tour for us on our own little boat. I had half a mind to bail on the whole expedition and let it be a boys trip, while I had a comfortable evening all by myself. But on googling Bosphorus tours, there seemed to be general agreement that it usually ends up the highlight of most people’s visits to Istanbul. So after the most minuscule of naps and a very underwhelming Greek salad for lunch, I joined the menfolk for an afternoon on the water.
I took a couple of mild anti nausea pills beforehand, when I saw a photo of the size of the boat, but held off on the big guns because I knew they would send me to sleep. I needn’t have worried. In spite of quite a choppy ride due to the sheer quantity of boat traffic, I felt absolutely fine the whole trip. I’m guessing this might have been because there was no smell of diesel.
The boys drank the local beer and I drank sweet black tea in little glass cups. For dinner we picked up some very simple kebabs which just come with meat and grilled vege wrapped up in thin pita bread, no sauce or fillers like rice or grains.
We were able to do a drive by of the Four Seasons Bosphorus to say hello to Rita, it did look like a fun place to spend a hot afternoon I must say.
There were many sights to see as we cruised around while the sunset, although most of my photos seem to be of mosques.
It’s not just tourists that do these sorts of trips either. It’s currently a very popular activity for all sorts of events for the people living here: corporate things, weddings, proposals.
After four hours we were ready for the cruise to be over, though. I was pleased to never have had to use the head, as it was apparently very tricky with the boat bouncing around, and cramped. A benefit of not drinking beer, although possibly a sign of dehydration.
It was almost nine by now but we felt energetic enough to visit the Hagia Sofia, taking advantage of the late closing to avoid the queues. We had to wait until prayers were finished but we still got in in good time. I visited when I was here with my oldest daughter Samantha back in 2015 and it has changed quite a bit since then. It was turned into a working mosque in 2020, and many areas are now out of bounds for visitors. Also, some of the most famous mosaics have been covered with drapes, I think because they depict faces of religious figures. This is frowned on in Islam as Idolatry. (Apologies that my knowledge of theology is quite rudimentary). Some figures have been crudely painted over as well but that dates back further I believe.
(We had noticed at Topkapi Palace that there were no portrait galleries as you would expect to see in most European Castles. Instead they had very characteristic and artistic signatures everywhere to remind you who was in charge.)
