The Bosphorus - 8th busiest seaway in the World

We did take a cruise up the Bosphorus on a ferry. It left at 1:30pm  dropped us in a ferel little town for three hours and returned at 7:00pm. We resolved to do it again, only this time in our own boat.

It was the penultimate day in the Istanbul area and we were joined by Stina Appelqvist on her way from Sweden to the Reading Festival in England... Thanks for making such an effort Stina!

There is a story about that suit case but I'll let Stina tell you that one....

Blue Mosque

It is a busy waterway, large freighters headed north and south and ferries crossing east and west but all very predictable and just enough to add some excitement.

Al set up the GoPro and time lapsed the southbound journey. The GoPro does make everything look further away, but take a look at the video, it will give you a good idea... Bosphorus South Bound

Dolmabahce Palace

More fascinating than the ships and ferries is the historic opulence on either side. Castles, palaces and summer homes. The last one of which sold for US$150 million.

Galatararay University 

Heading north you are up against a 4 - 5 Knot current so the going is slow. At certain points you can catch a counter current and pick up a bit of speed.

We left Atakoy Marina at 2:00pm and got to our destination, a harbour called Poyraz at the entrance to the Black Sea at 5:35pm. So three and a half hours to cover 22 miles.

Rumeli and Anatolian Fortresses

Esma Sultan Seaside Residence
Under the Bosphorus Bridge

Super modern, super light looking bridges, the Bosphorus Bridge is gravity anchored suspension bridge. It is 1560 meters long and the clearance above sea level is 64 meters. It was completed in 1973 when it was the 4th longest in the world. It is now the 22nd longest...

At the northern head of the Bosphorus is the third bridge. Kali Bridge is under construction and fascinating to see how they do it with no disruption to the seaway.















Our view of Kali Bridge from the restaurant at Poyraz where we moored for the night. In the morning our most ambitious sail yet, 88 Nautical Miles back to Port Marmara but now we would have the wind, the waves and the current to push us along.











Sunrise on Friday the 21st August as we cast off and headed out.














With the sun rising behind the Kali Bridge and all the advantages mentioned we covered the same distance as the day before in less than two hours.

Disregarding the shipping lanes and keeping the boat in the main thrust of the current we reached speeds of 12 knots at times with no sails up.

Beyberbeyi Palace

The long jouney to Istanbul took three stops from Canakkali via Lapseki (20miles) on to Port Marmara (46 Miles) then Silivri (45 miles) and on to Kalakoy Marina, Istanbul (31 Miles).

The trip back from Poyraz which 24 Miles further on from Kalakoy all the way to Canakkali (151 Miles) was done with only one stop, such was the advantage coming the other way
.



We had four more days to get Stina to somewhere she could fly out to London to catch the Reading Festival. The most convenient although a long way was back to Limnos, Greece but there was another 'Bucket List' item on the agenda before then....

We wanted to live the experience sailing into ANZAC Cove just to get an idea of what those guys saw as they arrived 100 year ago straight into the utterly impossible.

The Istanbul Food Tour - The 'Best day of Sally's life'

Being all about food, this one was Sally's baby, 14 places, 14 meals in 1 day and a really good way to get under the skin of Istanbul in the time we had.

Unfortunately, after 10 hours of work on what is a BIG mouth watering blog she lost the lot in a nano second. It is a glitch in this app, it has happened to me a couple of times and it is gutting after so much effort.

So, you'll need to wait for this one until Sally regains her sanity...

Ciya, Istanbul's most famous restaurant

Istanbul Round III - Topkapi Palace

Taken at Sunrise from the Bosphorus and 'borrowed' from Wikipedia

Jarrad had warned us that the Topkapi Palace, which sits on the point of the Golden Horn overlooking the southern entrance to the Bosphorus would take a full day. So right after breakfast we wondered down there and got at it.

A scale model of the palace complex also 'borrowed' 

Built in 1459 by Sultan Mehmed II, the guy who conquered Byzantine Constantinople, it became the major residence of succeeding Sultans for almost 400 years until 1856 when they started building new, more modern palaces along the Bosphorus.

These are a few shots I was either allowed to take or did not get caught taking. Lavish in every centimeter of these buildings. Elaborately decorated tiles, marble, brass, gold leaf, porcelain, robes, weapons, shields, armor, Islamic calligraphic art, murals, Ottoman treasures and intricately designed jewelry from the four corners of the globe, much of it gifts from foreign leaders sucking up to the new conquerors

The reason for Jarrad's warning was that at one time the palace accommodated as many as 4000 people and contained mosques, a hospital, bakeries, a mint and most interestingly a harem where there were anything up to 500 concubines, hand picked from the community and specially trained for the Sultan's pleasure.... fit bloke! Five or so were then selected to bare his princes. No mention of princesses....

The Sultan's mother was in charge of the Harem and it was tightly guarded by eunuchs. (Men who had been castrated)

It is a museum now, contains some pretty interesting stuff like Moses' staff and Mohamed's beard. Yeah.... right.

Photographs were forbidden in many places but in one case, in a place where I genuinely thought they were allowed, I took a photo and within seconds, no more than a whisper in my ear I hear "no photo's" and he was gone....

After 4 hours of queuing for most things, we were hungry and the kids were waning so we decided to go and get some lunch. Nothing inside the palace grounds so we hung onto our audio guides and headed for the exit..... Embarrassing!

As we got to the exit, the audio guides are programmed to go nuts... and all four of them went nuts. Luckily the providers took them back saying we could have them back when we returned, free of charge.

After lunch we left the kids at the hotel to rest because Sal had a big night planned for the four of us. We returned to go through the Harem....

That is the very 'busy' looking complex at the top left of the scale model above.

Easily the most interesting part of the complex. This is the Sultan's entrance. He was the only person allowed in and he always arrived on horseback. He would mount his horse from a special plinth at the entrance and ride in along the pebbled runway you see here. It was specially laid so his horse wouldn't slip.

This experience provided a much clearer understanding of the Islamic culture and its attitude towards females. It made me realise that it is going to take a very long time before any sort of equality is achieved, if ever. Right now it seems to be headed in the opposite direction.

That evening Sal had arranged an evening of dinner and belly dancing at Sultana's in Taksim with the "Worlds Best and Most Famous Belly Dancer - Didem!" The food was great, the belly dancing was simply amazing but the "all you can drink" wine was undrinkable...

Now, if you're looking for a way to lose a few inches around the midriff or strengthening your core, watch this video... Summer Amy Belly Dancing and crank up the volume..

Istanbul - Round II

Day one done....

BIG evening with Mr McGrath and the rip off merchants kept coming.. How much for a taxi back to Atakoy Marina? "Don't worry, we get you Mercedes minibus only 350tl...Atakoy Marina long way" (THat's AU175.00) Ferries way to hard this time of night, tired kids, 6 of us, too many for a cab, what's the alternative? Tried to bargain, no dice, we go to where we are to meet the 'Mercedes Mini Bus'. Al speaks to a cabbie while we're waiting. "How much to Atakoy Marina and can you take 6."  "50tl (Aus$25) and yes no problem".
Mercedes arrives as we're loading into the cab, confused look on driver's face... "Bye!" hand gesture. What is it with northern Turkey!

We chilled the following day, hung out with Jarrad as it was to be his last night with us and decided that commuting with the kids to where the action is every day would become a real mission so we moved into the very expensive but very nice Sura Hagia Sophia Hotel, smack in the middle of Sultanhemet ie: "The Action"

Breakfast, mezzies at midday, high tea in the afternoon included. Pool, spa, hammam... would we ever get out of this place and brave the throngs in 36 degree humidity.





Well, we did. We only made two breakfasts, no mezzies and no high teas... highly unusual for us when its all included in a big price!

The main but one of many entrances

First stop the Grand Bazaar.

Could it live up to that name? I would love to have wondered these halls 100 years ago or more for the sheer authenticity although they really have kept it as authentic as possible while catering for this century's tastes.

Goes on for miles in every direction

The bazaar is a huge, labyrinth of colorful, buzzy, deliciousness.

Every shop keeper has his line to lure you in and a well worn 'F-off' face is required. Everything is bargain-able, the quality of goods vary but are generally of a high standard. They will tell you which is the cheap and which is the expensive stuff and why. We even replaced my lost wedding ring. This one comes with some memorable moments too, though quite different from the last.





The end of a long hot interesting day it was time to say goodbye to Jarrad, off to further his tattooing career in Denmark where his work has been featured in their magazines.

It feels like it will be a while before we catch up with him again.... Knock'm dead J-Rad!!

Istanbul... OMG where do I start...

One chunk at a time.....

This is a BIG city with a BIG history and any attempt to get under its skin as we always like to do in a week to ten days would be met with resistance. So where does one start...?

As a damn tourist of course. Complete with audio guide, guide book, map, camera (IPhone), something to carry water etc and comfy shoes.... Just like everybody else!

Here's a potted history...

The gateway to Asia Minor the city straddles the Bosphorus. A highly strategic, narrow seaway linking the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea thus providing Russia with its only ice free sea access to the Mediterranean and basically the World.


Founded by Thracian tribes 12 Centuries BC. Colonised by the Greeks in the 7th century BC and fell to the Romans in 196 AD when it became know as Constantinople (after Emperor Constantine when he moved the Roman Empire's Capital from Rome to here. This caused some disagreement in Rome so it was declared the Capital of the Eastern Roman Empire or the Byzantine Empire and outlasted Rome and the Roman Empire by several centuries. Then along came the Ottomans in 1453 and Constantinople became the capital of the Ottoman Empire which ended after the First World War in 1923 The Capital of Turkey was then move to Ankara and Constantinople became generally known throughout the modern world as Istanbul.

The architecture, the food, the culture is a mix of the two major periods... The Byzantine and the Ottoman... Read Christian and Muslim.

So, where do you start? The Golden Horn encapsulates nearly all the must sees where everything is within hot, sweaty, crowded walking distance of each other. 36 degrees, two young kids and very old buildings... This is going to be fun! 

Luckily we still had Jarrad with us who had already spent 10 days here before joining us on the boat way further south so he became our default tour guide.. First stop, the Spice Markets. Not what it used to be way back when, but you can still get all the spices you always could and Oh, the aromas....

Needless to say, Sal being the great cook and we being somewhat into our food, we have a ton of vacuum packed spices to bring home. More on that when I cover our amazing food tour..

On to the Basilica Cistern. Confronted with a mile long queue we nearly gave it a miss until we were hustled by a guide. "$25 plus your tickets and I'll get you passed this queue and tell you what this place is all about..." Deal! Straight past the sweaty plebs and into blissful coolness of what used to be where the Romans stored their water. Built using columns taken from temples no longer in use throughout the Roman Empire, This huge space with domed roof from pillar top to pillar top and still holding up a good part of the city, The water was viaduct-ed here from 20kms away. Clever those Romans.

It fell into disuse when the Ottomans took over because Muslims do not drink still water. (they use fountains) and slowly silted up until recently when somebody decided to find out what it was other than a small hole in the ground where you dumped your garbage. What an amazing find. Two pillars were found to be topped with the head of Medusa. (Gaze upon her and you turn to stone) but they were placed upside down and sideways at the bottom of their respective pillars, It is assumed to negate Medusa's powers...

The Hagia Sophia. Originally a Greek Orthodox Church, so we're talking 7th century BC here, It was converted into a mosque by the Ottomans in the 1400's. They simply plastered over all the mosaic references to Mary and Jesus etc thus saving the fortune of building a whole new Mosque.

It is now a UNESCO historic site and as part of the restoration some of those beautiful mosaics have been unplastered, but in so doing, Muslims are now forbidden to prey here.. Make of that what you will. It was declared by Old mate Mustafa Ataturk to be a museum encapsulating the very history of the city and it really is a magnificent place to contemplate.

Not a single complaint from the kids so far... they have been amazing! Lot of bitching from the adults but....

And so to the Blue Mosque. Not its real name but the name given to it by tourists, this is the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. It is imposing and beautiful and can be taken in in less than an hour. No entry during prayer and a strict clothing regime. Worry not if you are not properly attired, you are given what needs to be worn as you enter.

By sheer coincidence, our mate Terry McGrath was in town on business. What better way to round out day one than to pick a cool restaurant under the famous Galata Bridge replenish our food supplies and completely overdo it on the liquids! didn't we Terry?

Sally is not actually being the ever loving wife here, she is covering the ubiquitous food stain on my shirt!

Canakkali to Istanbul - potential nightmare to a dream run...

The Sea of Marmara is a rough, windy confused and very uncomfortable to punch into 270 days of the year but as Istanbul has always been high on our bucket list, we were just going to have to grin and bare it...

The first leg we would like to have moored in Gallipoli Harbour but this is now actively discouraged and so the harbour/ferry terminal Lapseki right across the seaway was the only choice before entering the Sea of Marmara.

It was a windy run straight into our face but thanks to the narrowness of it, the sea was quite smooth. Lapseki is a large, ugly harbour full of dilapidated fishing boats, no room on the dock, but thankfully large enough for us to anchor.The adjacent highway choked with hooting, frustrated trucks and cars all waiting to board the ferry to take them across to Gallipoli. The queue did not clear until well after midnight. So, if you were thinking of putting Lapseki on your 'must visit whilst in Turkey list' I'd advise against it.

The good news was that the wind was predicted to abate sometime later the following day and we were just hoping the prediction was accurate. It was going to be a 46 Mile voyage that none of us were looking forward to...6 - 7 slamming hours.

At 8:22 on the 10th August we weighed anchor and headed out into it... The first three hours were as expected. I'd had attended a 3.5 hour board meeting by phone from 1:30 - 4:00am so the crew allowed me some shut eye. I pretty much missed the bad stuff and on waking found the sea to be quite sedate. By the time we arrived in Port Marmara, it was smooth as..

And a very pretty Port it is. Power and water and cheap by Turkish standards, the sort of place we would normally stay a couple of days but the weather window and Istanbul beckoned.

Next stop Silivri on the northern shores of Marmara. We woke to the most perfect, windless day, took our time over breakfast and headed out at 10:30.










As we left the harbour we waved to the guys on the super slick looking Coast Guard boat and noticed there was a female on board... Unusual.

15 minutes out and they came roaring by, right up close and gave us a quick blast on the siren... Highly unusual!

The things we do to impress the ladies hey?

We could not believe our luck. Any wind on The Sea of Marmara and it becomes uncomfortable unless it is coming from behind.

We are looking forward to that on the way out.

Nil wind is unheard of and here we were motoring on glass, Fishing rod out, hatches open, music pumping and Sally for the first time ever, sunbathing on the sunbed on the trampoline.

And then came that sound a fisherman lives for! It's when a big fish takes the bait and a high pitched shreek issues from the reel.

Neutralise the engines, grab the rod before the fish takes all the line and start the fight... Cameras out, everybody gathers, this is only the second time since we began this whole caper that this has happened.

While the boat still had some momentum, the fight was on, but as we slowed to a stop, the fight was little too consistent to be something you can eat...

Yep, a synthetic hessian sack...







Everybody back to their bunks, there's nothing to see here....

We arrived in Silivri at 4:30pm. Not a pretty harbour. We were tricked twice by slime lines that weren't in fact slime lines but bits of line hanging off the harbour wall attached to nothing at all.

We eventually dropped the anchor and Med moored, found a power outlet that worked, plugged in, shut the boat up and headed into town.

A nice surprise. Probably the best and longest promenade we've seen. The kids had their bikes, went off to explore and returned with news of many activities for which they needed money.












Trampolines and aerial tramps only $2.50 a go. Fine,if they only want one go, but it is things like this that makes them want to stay a few days and whinge when we explain that that ain't gonna happen.

And then there was the shooting 'gallery'. A string of balloons 15 meters out or a row of eggs 10 meters out. Me, always bragging of my marksmanship as a young man had to have a go, as did everybody else.
Who was the only person not to hit an egg... You guessed it.... Your's truly!

It gave everybody a good laugh, but what was not so funny was what greeted us when we returned to the boat.

The local bird life had discovered a nice new vantage point on the upper spreaders of our mast from which to survey their domain and poop and poop and poop!

A disgusting cleaning job, Al heaving with the pungent aromas of rotting digested fish....

A lovely farewell as we headed off on the last leg to Istanbul, the sea still like glass. everybody assumed the same position as the previous day as we played dodgems with the hundreds of freighters and cruise ships that proliferate these waters.

As we entered the Istanbul precinct, we were greeted by a pod of dolphins... How about that?