Day 5: Istanbul to home

The weather forecast had been indicating all week that Saturday was going to be a wet day in Istanbul, and when we woke up on Saturday morning that did indeed appear to be the case.

My family had to head back to the airport soon after breakfast, but Tim and I had an evening flight with Wizzair so we had the best part of a day to spend in a damp Istanbul. Having spent some time researching ferry timetables after dinner on Friday evening, I'd come up with an ambitious itinerary which would result in us completing a DIY Bosphorus cruise up the European side, across and then down the Asian side.

The first step was for us to take a tram to Eminönü, from where we took the same ferry we'd caught on Thursday morning when we were off to see the tulips. This time the plan was to stay on past Emirgan until we got to the terminus stop of Sarıyer. The views were not quite as good as last time on the first part of the journey due to the rain; it definitely wasn't a day for sitting outside!

After an hour or so on the boat we passed Emirgan and I went to stand outside for a while. It was still quite dark and wet...

...but I did get some nice views of different parts of the coastline.

We sailed past colourful houses...

...and impressive palaces.

Of course, there were plenty of minarets on the horizon too.

It was around midday when the ferry finally docked in Sarıyer.

We had 90 minutes here until our next ferry, so there was time for a stroll around and to get lunch.

It looked like it would be a lovely town to visit in sunnier weather.

There was an attractive town square with a statue of Ataturk...

...and a nice promenade area with views out to sea.

It was still pretty wet though and we had our suitcase with us, so we didn't venture too far.

We found a restaurant that was right by the ferry terminal and went inside to get lunch.

There were some great views out to sea as we ate.

The Black Sea begins not far after the large road bridge which you can see in the distance.

Our second ferry was only a 10 minute trip across the Bosphorus to the Asian side.

We were sailing across to a small place called Anadolukavağı, where there is a castle overlooking this strategic part of the Bosphorus.

The town itself is very pretty, with some beautiful wooden houses overlooking the water.

There was a small town square just outside the wooden ferry terminal.

With a longer stay and better weather you could probably have climbed up to the castle. It was still rather wet though and we were on a tight schedule to catch a ferry back down the Bosphorus towards central Istanbul, so we were limited to a quick stroll around and a cup of Turkish tea.

By the time we were boarding our final ferry of the day, the weather had brightened up dramatically.

It felt like in the time it had taken us to drink a cup of tea, the weather had gone from overcast to brilliant sunshine.

It was nice that we got to see Anadolukavağı in the sunshine as we were leaving at least.

And the improved weather situation meant that we did get some better views as we sailed along the Asian coast of the Bosphorus.

We passed several suburbs where there were colourful houses lining the hillsides.

We sailed past some more very impressive houses...

...including some beautiful wooden ones.

We sailed under road bridges...

...past large Turkish flags...

...more palaces...

...and mosques.

All in all it was a really scenic journey back and a relaxing end to what has been an exciting few days away in Istanbul  The ferry took us in to Üsküdar, from where we navigated a train and two metros to get back to the airport and I had a fun time playing "guess which medical procedure this passenger has been to Turkey for" I saw hair transplants, nose jobs and a face lift at least! I suspect we'll be back to Turkey one day, though not for any of those procedures