Istanbul 3--Bosphorus Strait

Pat's conference, ESERA, hosted a cruise on the Bosphorus Strait. Here are some pictures of Istanbul from that cruise.

Note the mixture of 19th and 20th century apartment buildings with the shining new office tower. In the foreground is the Katabus sea shuttle port. Each of those ferries can hold about 1500 passengers. Every day, more than a million people cross the Bosphorus Strait via ferry to go to work. It costs 1.5 TL (Turkish Lire) each way, which is about 95 cents.

Old Ottoman fortresses line the European side east of the New City.

A small mosque on the waterfront. I went in this one. It is bedazzled with gold, and shining blue and white tiles.

One of many mansions on the Asian waterfront.

Note the little, old fortress behind the modern mansions.

This mansion dates back to the Ottoman Empire.

This is a university...all housed in one really big building.

This was the sultans' summer home during the 19th century. It is on the Asian side of the strait.

This is a fish for a family meal Pat and I ordered and devoured at a restaurant on the lower level of the Galata Bridge, which connects Old City and New City. Eight different types of fish. All fried. Be still my heart. When it was served, there was an oil-fed, wild fire burning in the aluminum thing in the middle. We were eating outside over the water, it was breezy and the flame was high. I thought the waiter was going to catch on fire.

This is taken from the fish market, looking toward Old City. Suleymaniye Mosque is on the left. From here, we walked up hundreds of steps and zigzagged up the tiniest and curviest streets to Galata Tower.