Living on the Asian side of the Bosporus means we have the option of taking ferries, instead of the metro, to go to the European side where most of the museums, monuments, and government offices can be found. What a delightful privilege!
It’s about an 8 minute walk to the ferry docks in Kadikoy, and ferries to the main docks on the other side leave every 15-30 minutes. No, it’s not as fast as the subway, but it’s way more scenic and pleasant. There’s (almost) always plenty of seats, unlike the metro which is often a total sardine can. And there’s always a snack bar serving, among other things, Turkish tea for ~50 cents a glass, and in winter, hot salep, a Turkish equivalent of hot chocolate.
Below is a slideshow of some of the things one will see taking a ferry across the Bos. In this case, our ferry went part way up the Golden Horn as well, allowing sitings of some Byzantine monuments (now converted to mosques), as well. By the way, the Turkish word for mosque is cami (pronounced jommee), and when it’s a specific cami, another “i” is added, as in Sulimaniye Camii (Sooleemonneyeh Jommee-e).
The camera I used has pretty poor lenses and resolution so I decided turn most of the images into “posters” to compensate for their poor quality. Still, I hope you enjoy this virtual ride across the Bos…
