September 22 - October 10, 2011
BALKANS
TURKEY , BULGARIA, MACEDONIA, ALBANIA,
MONTENEGRO,CROATIA, BOSNIA, SERBIA
Group Journal
Day 02
Istanbul Sept. 23, 2011 Friday
Itinerary: Boat ride to the
Prince's Islands - Buyuk Ada
The group was eager to get started early. We took the public boat to the Islands known as Prince's Islands. The beautiful city was covered with a veil of clouds when we left the dock on the European side. By the time our boat came to the entrance of the Sea of Marmara, Topkapi Palace, Aya Sophia and the minarets of the Blue mosque were glowing in the morning sun. On the other side of the boat there was the modern face of Istanbul confirming that this is a timeless city. Monumental buildings of 1500 years co exist in the skyline of this city. How exciting!
A salesman speaking Turkish , amazingly,
got every one's attention.
He was demonstrating his lemon squeezer. In few minutes he sold all of his
squeezers especially
to those who did not understand a word of his sales but his body language
was universal.
The restaurants of Buyukada are mainly
lined up by the sea.
We quickly picked up a nice little restaurant and ordered fish and
calamar.
After the horse buggy ride around the
Island, we caught our ferry back to Istanbul.
The beautiful wooden houses, the antique shops and colorful
street stands became wonderful objects of photography.