There and Back Again

 July 28

Today was our day to travel to the Asian side of Istanbul. Getting there was an ordeal. Every time we asked for directions they were so non-specific that we ended up going about 30 minutes out of our way before finding a tram that would take us to Sirkeci station. Using the Istanbul cart ticketing system was another challenge.  We had Turkish breakfast at Paci Lounge. Turkish breakfast is substantial. The three of us could not finish it all. 

 

After breakfast we took the ferry to Galataport. We had tickets to tour Galata Tower, but Charisse decided to forgo that activity due to the uphill hike required to get to the landmark.  Galata Tower was built by the Byzantine emperor Anastasius as a lighthouse tower in the 6th century and is one of the oldest towers in the world. 

Navigating the tram back to the European side was a lot easier. That evening we had a sunset cruise on a yacht on the Bosphorus River. We saw many of the same landmarks we saw previously, but this time from the water. We also saw the other tower for which Istanbul is famous- the Maiden's Tower.  There is some interesting lore regarding the Maiden's Tower. One story goes that the tower was built by a sultan after a fortune teller predicted his daughter would die from a snake bite. He secluded the girl and her attendants on the island, with their only connection to the outside world being food deliveries. Unfortunately, a snake crawled out of a basket of fruit that was delivered, bit her, and died. The other story goes that the tower was built by the sultan and the girl was exiled to the island in order to keep her away from her many boyfriends. Regardless of the story, Istanbul by sunset is a great way to end the overseas portion of our vacation.