Princes Island, Istanbul April 15th, 2012

view of blue mosque and hafia sophia from ferry boat

view of asian side of Istanbul

must be fun to sail so close to istanbul

as we got close to island

second largest of princes island

late 1800's ottoman style ferry dock in Buyukada which is where we disembarked

it was the greek orthodox Easter Sunday and these cute flower tiaras were on sale all over the island

Splendid palace hotel on largest island of Buyukada

wonderful, huge wooden homes on island

reminded me a bit of some new england mansions

so pretty!

great views of asian side of istanbul

only way to get around on island was by horse and buggy, or on foot -no cars allowed

the sea gulls follow the ferries as people feed them, made the ride quite interesting as they dove into the water for the tiniest speck of bread. incredible sight they must have.

mosque next to Istanbul modern museum

this is such a wonderful pattern in iznik tiling and the Turks have more or less adopted it into their national emblem for tourism advertising now

great modes of transport in istanbul: boats, ferries, trams, buses etc.

after heavy touring we all deserved to relax at the glorious old Pera Palace, where agatha christie wrote "the murder on the Orient Express". The passengers in the 1800's who would arrive by the Orient Express would all stay in this stunning hotel. On my first visit to Istanbul in about 1998 this is where the Scott and I and our boys stayed.

Susan and I making the most our birthdays - any nice place and we are willing to use our birthdays as an excuse to celebrate

inside of hotel

hotel

hotel domes

finally all four of us in a photo at Zubeyir restaurant in Beyoglu area. fun dinner

yummy meze

love these lamb chop legs sticking out and it was delicious!

some kind of sticky dessert with kaymak (clotted cream) on top

roasted quince with kaymak. we had these almost every night for dessert!

view of princes island from the top terrace of our hotel

hard to resist taking photos of blue mosque!

scott checking out the sea of marmara from hotel terrace

view from other side of terrace of hagia sophia

one never tires of looking 

what a dome!!

Scott and I took a ferry over to the Princes Island for the day. Great bargain- wonderful ferry ride over (about 1 hour) for 5 turkish lire, about $3.00. Ferry ride back was 1. 5 hrs, as it made more stops and was 3 turkish lire, about $2.00! Even if one doesn't get off at islands it is worth it.  During the byzantine period, princes and other royalty were exiled on the islands, and later members of the Ottomans sultans family were exiled there.  During the nineteenth century, the islands became a popular resort for Istanbul's wealthy, and Victorian era cottages and houses are still preserved on the largest of the Princes' Islands, Buyukada which was the one we visited. Don't think I would mind being exiled there! We went for a very long walk on island till we got tired and then flagged down a cart/horse which took us up near the monastery and then back to ferry port. lots of fun