Lauren and I spent the better part of Thursday morning winding our way through the village streets of Kemerburgaz standing up on the awkwardly filled public bus, trying to make our way into the city. Being it Bayram this week (a religious holiday celebrating the trials Abraham suffered when God commanded him to sacrifice his son, Issac. More on this interesting holiday later) the private shuttle from our compound in Kemercountry was not running.
The shuttle takes 30 minutes, the public bus takes an hour an a half. We had to make due with what we had. We had a late start, what with waiting in the rain for the shuttle for the better part of an hour, before giving up running back to our houses for umbrellas and warmer jackets to wait for the bus, and didn’t arrive in Ortaköy (Or-ta-coy) until noon. I purchased an Istanbulkart, a card that will let me have my fill of public transit, and made our way riverside to do some browsing and photographing.
Birds flying over one of the many, many boats that make it’s run up and down the Bosphorus each and every day. You will notice that boats will only run one direction, that is because they are only allowed to head upstream during certain time during the day, and downstream certain times.
A seasoned fisherman and his kindly old fisherman pals doing what they’ve done best for the better part of the last century. (Assumingly.)
The Grand Mejidiye Mosque in Ortaköy stationed imposingly on the water on this overcast, gloomy day.
Beşiktaş(Besh-ik-tash)
The third floor rooftop terrace at the Adresim Cafe. You can see the Grand Mejidiye Mosque in the background.
The Adresim Cafe, where Lauren and I ate baked potatoes with black and green olives, peas, corn, cheese and sıcak sos (hot sauce) for 8 TL and Diet Cokes for 4 TL (over 3 USD!) We sat on the rooftop cafe overlooking the streets of Beşikta.
Susannah Woodbury is an ayruveda-loving expatriate yogic English tutor conquering the world one wipe-off activity book at a time. She writes collections on The English Tutor, which are experiences from a young vagabond living and working in Turkey. She explores what it means to live far outside of your comfort zone–and have the courage to walk into a new yoga studio halfway around the world.
