Prince Islands, funicular and vegamatic

Today we decided to take a boat south out of the Bosphorus to some islands called collectively and colloquially the Princess Islands, and spend most of a day on one of them: Buyakada. The ride was an amazingly cheap 6 lira (less than $3) each way per person for the 1 and a quarter hour ride. It seems like the Turks have a great way to spend an inexpensive day out on a beautiful island.

Pics from trip out:

Judy:

On the trip out we got a great look at the extent of the Asian mainland side of Turkey. The city seemed to go on forever down the coast, out of sight, with  tall skyscrapers everywhere.

We walked around the island town looking at houses and hotels in conditions ranging from pristine to run down, beach front and further up the hill with great views. Restaurants galore, and thankfully few shops (I am already out of patience with shopping after the Grand Bazaar yesterday.)

All motorbikes and many 4 wheeled vehicles we saw are electric, which was both very interesting and encouraging. Whether out of legislation or economic necessity, the effect on noise and odor was welcome: we could smell all the other things associated with an ocean- oriented town, like dead fish, the horses they use to pull carts as taxis and various things associated with the large cat and dog population.

On the trip back to Istanbul we were treated to a live performance of the vegamatic man, if you are old enough to recall him. A guy with a piercing voice stood on deck and entertained the croud demonstrated a gadget he used to do everything from pealing a tomato to making cabbage salad. When he finished he must have sold 50 to 75 to people right there for around $4 per gadget. Judy bought two.

Arriving back at our dock, we decided to take the funicular back up to our hotel on Taksim square, instead of climbing the rather steep hill. It's always interesting to use local public transportation systems, and this was no exception. We had to find it, which was not trivial (for us anyway) since the station was in the train station. Then we had to figure out how to use the machine to buy a token resembling a plastic Parcheesi piece, which we fed a turn style, to enter the dock where several cars with tilted floors waited. It took us effortlessly up to the square from which we managed to walk to the hotel.