Bosphorus & Sunset@Marmara Sea

It was 9th August morning in Istanbul. Happy Birthday to Singapore :D We did not fly the Singapore flag but we saw lots of Turkey flags in the city.

Our itinerary for this day was to go for the Bosphorus cruise. Separating Turkey into two Continents - Asia and Europe, Bosphorus is a straits that links the Black Sea and the Mamara Sea. Our boat set off at 12pm for a 1.5hour cruise before stopping over at another port for lunch.

This was my second time on the Bosphorus cruise so the excitement level was not as high but I think my mom and Karen enjoyed it. Cruising down the Bosphorus offers one a different view of Istanbul. Lining the shores were endless rows of beautiful Ottoman wooden houses (called Yali in Turkish), palaces, schools and many other buildings that exude an old world charm. There were also two majestic-looking suspension bridges on the Bosphorus. The first bridge (1074 m)was built in 1973 and is called Bogazici Bridge or the Bosphorus Bridge; the second bridge called Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridge (1090 m) was built in 1988.

Karen and I had fun taking pictures/videos and soon we reached this port where we were to disembark for lunch. We had lunch at Yosun restaurant, which is just by the sea. The restaurant serves typical Turkish meal. We ordered fish as we were getting tired of eating meat. Karen and I ordered a fried fish and grilled chicken to share but the portion was still too huge for us. My mom's fried fish order has 16 fishes (about 10-12cm each) and some vegetables. She commented she has never eaten so many fishes in her life! Well, me too. The weather was extremely hot, the seaview made up for it, thankfully.

After lunch, we hurriedly got onboard again as the boat set off at 3pm. It was another 1.5hours cruise back to where we came from. We felt sleepy after lunch and the humid weather made it worse. We couldn't a seat at the open deck and had to make do with the cabin which was not air-conditioned. Eventually we got a seat at the open deck but we were about to disembark soon.

We saw these boys fishing at the pier and not too far away, a hawker selling what seemed to me like pickles and snacks. They appear very relax, it is not uncommon to see Turks by the beach, pier, parks, cafes enjoying themselves anytime, anyday.

We rested at our hotel before venturing out to the beach next to my hotel to catch sunset. It was a picture of bliss and tranquility before our eyes. My mom has always wanted to see sunset and the sea. Here in Turkey, I am certain the number of times she experienced this was much more than she ever thought she could in two weeks :)