Istanbul: Day 2

Today we decided to go on the Bosphorus River cruise to the Black Sea. Fantastic trip.

We organised the trip ourselves and it only cost about $AUD25 for both of us. Quotes from travel companies were more than $AUD50 per head. So a victory for the 'tight-arses'.
The outward leg is about 90 minutes, we were surprised to see a large queue forming over an hour before departure, especially when we already had tickets and were walking away from the queue. We didn't  panic, well Andy did a little.
We got on the ferry about 25 minutes before departure. All the early queuers were up on the open roof (3rd level) area. By the end of the trip there was hardly anyone on level 3, it was too windy! We sat on the sunny side on deck level.
The cruise stops on both the Asian and European sides of the Bosphorus. The buildings that line the river are magnificent, including plenty of palaces and forts. There is a bit of a Sydney feel about it.

 There are 2 suspension bridges crossing the Bosphorus and a third being built. The last port on the outward leg is Anadolu Kavagi where everyone must get off. This is close to a 3 hour stopover. There are only 2 things to do here, eat and drink or go up to an old fort ruins then eat and drink. We did the walk up to the fort, very steep but probably only half the height of Arthur's Seat. The views from up here were magnificent. We had a light lunch up here with views from a restaurant  terrace.

Then at about 3pm you head back to Istanbul.
From the port, Eminonu, we caught the tram around to Aksaray and went and saw the  Roman aqueduct  and a world heritage listed Mosque, the Shezade Mosque.

On the way back to our apartment,  we decided to go into the Blue Mosque again.

After to freshening up, we used Trip Advisor to select our restaurant for the night. The Sultan Kebab House is currently  ranked number 1 and deservedly so. Only a 10 minute walk away. Not expensive and the food was of a high quality.
A long but very enjoyable day.
Cheers, A & K.