One of the things we didn’t get to do when we traveled through Turkey two years ago was a visit to the Black Sea region. Since this trip up the Bosphorus offered a site that overlooked the Black Sea, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
After a climb straight up through the center of town, there were a million more steps to get to the top where the castle was.
The castle tower — if only we could have climbed around inside.
The two points of the shore marks the beginning of the Black Sea.
More doggie friends
And kitty friends. This cat loved Camille until she tried to pick him up and then he bit her. A little Turkish rabies as a souvenir?
The castle sits on a large green plain with shrubs and trees and the boys all ran, had acorn wars, and discovered a million hiding places for the next hour.
And they found this vertical embankment and decided to see if they could climb it. It reminded me of the beginning of the Princess Bride when they climb the cliffs.
He made it to the top — and then ran down to try it again.
After working up an appetite, we headed back to the coast to have lunch on the water. The best calamari, mussels, and fish we’ve ever had.
Watching the boats pull in the catch of the day
This cat kept stalking Carter’s fish
A real live (dead) shark
Turkish pottery is incredibly detailed and beautiful. The intricate hand painting amazes me.
I couldn’t buy anything because we have too much traveling still to do. Maybe when we come back to Istanbul at the end of our trip.
It’s never too cold for ice cream
Or cat sex apparently.
We walked by this pair as we were boarding the ship to return to Istanbul and Carter and Caleb started yelling, “He’s killing him!” thinking they were witnessing a cat fight. It was hard to stop laughing long enough to explain that that violence is actually how kittens are made.
Feeding the seagulls the last of the simit.
Warming up with some tea. The tea is cheap and good — we’ve drank it all over Turkey this trip.
The sunset cruise home
back to shore — Galata Bridge
If you ever make it to Istanbul, this is a must-do day. The kids already are asking to do it again at the end of our stay.