Up (down?) the Bosphorus to Yoros Castle

Today we took a longer version of the trip up (or down, I not sure which) the Bosphorus which we did last year. That time we did not get all the way to where the Bosporus joins the Black Sea. This time we did.

We walked down to the ferry terminal and took a local ferry that made 5 or 6 stops before it reached Anadolu Kavağı, which is now a small village that seems to exist only for its restaurants. Negotiating the purchase of tickets was surprisingly easy because even though it is a local ferry used by local people, many tourists take the same trip we did so there is a sign that says “scenic Bosphorus trip” and a loudspeaker that repeats, ad nauseum, “Dear guests, full Bosphorus trip leaves 10:35.” I memorized the words because after buying our tickets we had to stand in line for about a half hour waiting for the ferry.

The trip to Anadolu Kavağı takes about 2 hours and at every stop people got on and off. When we reached the last stop we made sure we knew what time the return ferry left. There is only one, and we did not want to miss it. Anadolu Kavağı is no place to spend the night. Patricia had read that one particular restaurant—Yosun—was a good place for lunch so we stopped there. This was primarily a fish (balik) place and it sits right on the water so the fish is fresh. In fact, we saw a small boat with an old couple putter up to the pier and a waiter from our restaurant ran over and bought a few fish from them and took them into the kitchen. You can’t get much fresher than that. We both had the sea bass which was served grilled (and with the head still on). It was very good. I was going to have the köfte (meatballs) but discovered the limits of my Turkish (almost nonexistent) and the waiter’s English (limited). I wanted to know what kind of meat (they can be beef, lamb, or a combination). So I asked “köfte. beef? lamb?” and his response was “beef no lamb” which after a few back and forths turned out to mean “Not beef. Lamb.” Did I mention that the sea bass was really good?

After lunch we hiked up to Yoros Castle which sits at a high point and overlooks the confluence of the Bosphorus and the Black Sea. I suppose I should have known better, but the Black Sea wasn’t. It was the same blue as the Bosphorus. My GPS said that the highest point on the walk was 450 feet but it did not note that it was 450 feet nearly straight up. Patricia had to take it in stages, but she made it. The castle is now in ruins and visitors can’t walk inside the walls but the view was easily worth the hike. [The Turkish government has just authorized more archeological research on the site.] There have been fortifications here since the time of the Phoenicians and Greeks with ownership changing hands many times until the late 1780s when it was largely abandoned.

After taking many pictures we hiked back down (much easier) and found some ice cream to cool us off while we waited for the ferry.

While I took quite a few pictures today, many of them did not turn out well because there was a lot of haze, even when looking down from Yoros Castle to Anadolu Kavağı and Macar Bay.

Today’s pictures start here.