Monday was another scenic sightseeing day. Phil, Sky, Garrett, Julia, and I caught a
ferry from Kabatas to the Prince’s islands. We easily found our way to the pier
in Kabatas, but accidentally got on the slow ferry instead of the fast sea bus
we had planned on. Not a big deal, we still got there in the end.
The Prince’s Islands are a group of 11 islands just off the
coast of Istanbul in the Sea of Marmara.
Only four of the islands are open to the public. During the Byzantine Empire, princes and
royal family members were exiled to the islands, and the same for sultans that
had fallen out of favor during the Ottoman Empire. Now the islands are the summer
retreat for the wealthy of Istanbul and Turkey in general.
We visited the biggest of the islands, Büyükada.
Cars are banned on all the Islands, so the five of us rented bicycles to ride
around the island. Besides bikes and electric scooters, the only other mode of transportation
is by horse-drawn carriage. And there are quite a few horses. Navigating the
landmines the horses left around the island was challenging at times, as was climbing
a few of the steeper hills. But the view from the top was worth it.
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