GALATA TOWER AND MORE
- Jul 20, 2014
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 10, 2022
This morning dad woke up to go and watch people swim across the Bosphorus from Asia to Europe, an event that happens one a year. It is about a 3.5 mile course, but they do more than just swim straight across. The rest of us slept in. We headed to the oldest tram tunnel in Istanbul, and rode the tram up the hill to our lunch spot. Since it’s Ramazan, the Muslim’s fast from dawn until dusk so there weren’t a lot of options on the menu, but the view was amazing and the food they did have was great. After lunch we wandered through some side streets, visited the hotel where Agatha Christie wrote Murder on the Orient Express and then walked out into the middle of a very busy street. Mr. Keppler announced “you are now on Istiklal Street", near Takism Square . There we went into several shops. Some were more locally owned and some were chain businesses. After we were there a bit we saw policemen coming in the streets and setting up. It seemed like there were so many of them, as if they were expecting something to happen. Sure enough there were protesters on the street later. We had already begun to leave the area when we saw the police coming, and we just continued to head out. I am not sure what they were protesting, but it was a little bit freaky. Next, we arrived at Galata Tower. At one time this was the tallest building in Istanbul. We took the elevator to the top, and there a gorgeous view of the city awaited us. It seems like Istanbul is never ending from up there. You see the buildings going on forever. You could see the water, boats, city, buildings, and so on. It was remarkable. We wound our way back down the tower and then head to the pier. It was really cool to be up close to the water. There was a bridge that went over to the golden horn and on that there were a lot of fishermen and restaurants. We crossed the bridge and then took the ferries back to our part of the city. We had a really nice dinner, walked around the beautiful city, and then said goodnight to the Kepplers. For a little “bedtime snack” we stopped at a waffle stand on the way back to our apartment. Turkey has a lot of them. They are like the crepes of Turkey. You put different spreads, fruits, nuts, and chocolates on them. They are so good. Since we just ate all that, we walked home and ran up the big hill to our apartment to work some of it off. Then off to bed we all were. Goodnight!
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