Istanbul 7 Bosphorus boat ride

http://www.tourvideos.com/ Now it is time to reward yourself with the most pleasant out-of-town diversion -- a ferry ride on the Bosphorus, the strategic waterway that divides Asia and Europe. This excursion offers beautiful views of palaces and villages along the waterfront and a wonderful choice of fish restaurants in one of three villages on the north end near the Black Sea, Sariyer, Rumeli Kavagi or Anadolu Kavagi. It takes about 2 hours to get to the end of the line, 3 hours for a meal, and 2 hours to return the same way. You could shorten the ride by turning around sooner and just buying a snack on board, but the fish restaurants at the various stops are world-famous. Organized tours can make all the arrangements, but it is easy and much cheaper to do on your own.

Bosphorus ferries leave from the dock at Eminonu, by the Spice Market and Sirkeci Railway Station. An alternative trip to Princess Islands by hydrofoil is also available at the Galata Bridge end of the dock. The ferry terminal is a busy area where you can feel the pulse of the city, especially at rush hour when thousands of locals are walking between here and work.

To find the Bosphorus ferry, look for Pier 3 and the sign that says "Bogaz Hatti," operated by the official Istanbul Sehir Hatlari Boats. Don't let yourself be misguided by aggressive salesmen to one of the smaller boats alongside the commercial ferry, because this is another rip-off with a shorter cruise that takes longer. (Ferry departures are at 10:35a.m., 12:45p.m. and 2:15p.m.; with returns from the last stop of Anadolu Kavagi at 2:15, 3:15 and 5:00p.m.)

The Bosphorus is one of the world's busiest waterways with 130 large ships passing through daily, carrying petroleum products and other valued cargo, as well as a myriad of small craft. One of your first sights will be the extravagant Palace of Dolmabahce you just visited, with its 600-yard frontage on the water. Leaving the city, you soon pass under the Bosphorus suspension bridge, one of the world's longest.

Soon, you come to two remarkable fortresses facing each other across the straight: Rumeli, built by the invading Muslims in 1452 in their final siege of the city, and Anadolu, on the Asian side, built 50 years earlier as part of the same long-term attack. The forts enabled the Muslim forces to block food shipment to the city and prevent Christian allies from entering in support. It took the invading Muslims nearly a century before they conquered what was then Constantinople, the last refuge of the once-mighty Byzantine Empire. The ferry then passes under Fatih Sultan Mehmet, a newer suspension bridge linking the two continents, and then continues north past small suburban villages and lush green hillsides.

More palaces and historic old wooden mansions called "yali" line the shores on both sides as your ferry zigzags from Europe to Asia, stopping at several towns along the way. Many luxury apartments have been springing up along this desirable stretch and the older wooden homes are nicely maintained with colorfully-painted facades. When you have reached your preferred end destination and finish a meal, you could return to Istanbul by return boat or by a local bus, which would give you a different perspective and new scenery. You could even hop off along the way if you wish to see more sights, such as the beautiful Rumeli fortress, which is open as a museum.

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• Bosphorus
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• denniscallan

[alonesmaug]

İstanbul is such amazing city

[speedypuffy]

thanks for the preparation...good job...wwooww

[iorixs]

awesome videos.

[aporia82]

@AnimalFriendSpain you should visit there. a nice small town in bosphorus.

[AnimalFriendSpain]

My grandpa is boring in rum kavag....the name is giannis apostologlou...cerseris...milo­nas

[sazji]

@norelojon I agree, the US certainly doesn't have any moral high ground. I think Turkey should recognize the whole truth behind the Armenians for example. But if it does, then let the US acknowledge openly what it did to the Indians, as Australia's prime minister did. Let Norway acknowledge the forced sterilization of the Sami; let everyone acknowledge their abuses and ethnic cleansing and decide to put it firmly into the past.

[sazji]

@norelojon One could also argue that the modern republic's assimilation policies did little to solve their problems; rather, they exacerbated them. It certainly hasn't made the Kurds go away. Good education would have done a lot more to unify people. These assimilation politics were misguided attempts based heavily on German notions of stability by ethnic purity; it's cost Turkey dearly and the only thing that has helped is as you say, acknowledging all the peoples living here.

[sazji]

@norelojon Well...that's a bit revisionist. :) It had a lot more to do with corruption, opposition from the Ulema to progress in many areas, new trade routes in the world and the Empire's inability to compete in world markets. The British Empire was huge competition. Corruption in the military was especially a big problem, and the fact that they couldn't do devşirme any more after the abolition of the Janissaries was another drain.

[norelojon]

@sazji And yes I agree with you wholeheartedly. We lost from many aspects, these multi-ethnic lands were replaced with boring, single religion, but I think we still have a chance. Even religion itself does not make that much difference. The importance is keeping the culture, than you evolve your religion as well. Just like Alevis. Even though many are Muslim now, but they practice it according to their culture in Anatolia. Their world-view isn't changed much, and that's give me the hope.

[norelojon]

@sazji And yes it was the fashion of those times, everything was different. Australians have lost generation problem, they have done worse things. In US we have seen different kind of problems but they are rooted in the same reality. The importance is to acknowledging and reversing our mistakes now. We are the same people at the end of the day, even greeks in greece and turks in turkey are the same people, only cultural difference is religion.

[norelojon]

@sazji Yes, that's true, but Ottomans collapsed mainly from the same problems, being a multi-national empire was a big disadvantage when nationalist movement started in Europe. So, if he would create a another model like Ottomans pursued, it wouldn't make a difference. So, assimilation was needed a bit, like how cultures are assimilated in the US, but now the conjuncture is much different, we can make a difference now by acknowledging every language, culture, ethnicity living in this land.