North on the Bosporus

There is a publicly run ferry that goes all the way up the Bosporus to Andalou Kavagi. The boat was pretty big, with three main levels of seating. Down below, with no windows that open, Mid-decks, where half the windows are open, and up top, with no windows (but a hard roof) at all.

When we got on it all the up top seating was full. The below part was all empty, and we chose to side at mid-decks. It was mighty windy:


As the boat left there was a great view of the Golden Horn:

(That is the Hagia Sofia up top) and it made me think about what the Crusaders saw as they were attempting to invest the city. Of course, there would have been a great wall around the city at that time.

We kept heading north, and saw the Orakoy Mosque from the water:

We even saw the little restaurant where we ate. It was a nice trip.


A bit farther north we steamed by Mehmet II's "Castle of Europe" that he built (in only 6 months!) in 1452 as he was getting ready to take Istanbul from the Byzantines:


We never got inside that castle. That was OK, too.