Day 3

Asian Istanbul

After optimistically setting my alarm for 8, we begrudgingly woke to a symphony of grating alarms at 9 and headed for breakfast. Feeling like a pro at the hostel's breakfast by now, I grabbed a plate full, and then another before we embarked on our days journey.

Mission 1 was to find Istanbul's public transportation card 'Istanbulkart' and load that with enough Lira to get us go Asia and back. Without a hitch, we hop on the metro. However, it wasn't until 1 stop later when the metro reverses and takes us back to where we came. Attempt 2 was a bit more successful, and we made our way to Karaköy, just in time for a ferry to Kadiköy. Worry set in when we had realised that the ferry was taking us right back to where we caught the metro. Luckily for us, it was only a stop on its way to Asia.

Upon arriving in Karaköy (sounding annoyingly similar to Kadiköy) we explored the market where unfortunately for Alfie, we walked up and down, left and right, forward and back past the same fresh fish vendors, with the poignant smell of fish floating through the air - apparnelty he wasn't a fan. Grabbing some (more chicken doner wraps) we make our way up North with Üskudar being our goal. One stop was a Mosque where we accidently stumbled across a military funeral from which we soon escaped from. If there's anywhere to not stick out as a tourist it's not only at a funeral but a funeral with armed military guards. Simple lesson for sure.

Walking along the coast into Üskudar, we sit and appreciate the small landmark of Maiden’s Tower, a small lighthouse just out from shore. Unfortunately, there was no information so I couldn't tell you anything about it. Meandering about, we almost enter a non-tourist Mosque as I had read the map wrong and then begrudgingly to Alfie, we went in a small local library which we swiftly left after asking 'Why are we here?".

We then take the metro further inland to check out the Çalıca Tower, the highest structure in Istsnbul, which, as you may have guessed, is quite tall. We didn't go up to the observation desk as that was more money which we didn't want to spend. Next, we head over to Çalıca Hill, where we ate dinner and watched a disappointing sunset over a not so disappointing view over European Istanbul. Next was our final stop which was Çalıca Mosque which is the largest Mosque in Turkey (I think?). Best of all, it was completely free and fairly empty. Now this bad boy was BIG. Although as Alfie said, there was definitely bigger Mosques in Hereford (his home 'city'). After starting to master the art of bidets, we reversed our journey and took a night ferry home over the Bosphorus, only stopping to grab some Turkish Delight. And after a while booking onward travel from Thailand to Cambodia, we showered and headed to bed.Read more