Another day, another workout!! I think with Cristina I have my own ‘Personal Trainer’. Not nearly as forgiving as Rosa when it comes to flogging a dead horse. No choice really but to keep on tagging behind regardless of the amount of trudging and the heat!!
But I have to say that at the end of the I’m grateful for pursuing the ‘path least trodden’. Today we set off on a complicated bus and train voyage down the Bosphorus, which actually worked well!! To my surprise Chris relented enough to engage a few taxi’s along the way. So it was taxi to a bus station, bus to a metro station and then metro up the Bosphorus. From the metro we got a taxi to the museum we were looking for. The Sadberk Hamim Museum. A ceramic museum housed in a most beautiful old home on the Bosphorus.
The best thing for me is that it is in such a gorgeous old home, where you can just imagine the family living and breathing. But the ceramics too breathed life into the pottery industry of Turkey through the centuries, from the 1st and 2nd millennium through to now.
After we left there we decided to (again) get a taxi (very uncharacteristic of Chris…I think she was humouring me!) to another Museum on the Bosphorus, in the direction of the city. The Sakip Sabanci Museum which apparently had a nice restaurant which we were looking forward to for a break and a bite to eat. Got there, no problem, climbed up the hill (now accepted as the norm), tothe Museum…another gorgeous house owned by the Turkish wealth overlooking the Bosphorus. Only to find the restaurant we were hanging out for was closed for renovation. Seriously!! Chris had already been to the Museum so I had a good look around and enjoyed, again, the amazing home in the most amazing setting. Then it was onward and upward.
Chris had waited for me on the Terrace overlooking the Bosphorus and had observed the ferries plying across the Bosphorus to the Asian side so she suggested we hop on a ferry over to the ‘other’ side. No problem!! Oh yeah?? We walked and walked along the waterfront which was fabulous and tried to second guess where the ferry came in. It was up an inlet that made it impossible to see. So we eventually got on a bus to take us around the inlet. Then we ploughed along to fine the ferry around this very pretty little inlet. Only to find we’d gone the wrong way and the ferry was coming in on the other (fucking) side of the inlet. So back we ploughed…high 30’s but no worries!
Anyway long story short, we finally made it to the ferry and boarded. Off the other side and we found the Dolmus (the previously described shared taxis) to take us to Uskudor. No worries except that the step up to the Dolmus nearly did me in. But the last thing is a ‘Note to Self’ which says if you’re going downtime Bosphorus try to avoid Sundays. Having said that it was lovely. The roads were totally clogged and the whole seashore was full of people picnicking with there barbecues and delicious smelling kebabs all along the way. People swimming, although that did seem to be exclusively males, and a general air of Sunday festivity.
We got to Uskudor and were too tired to do anything but jump in a taxi (spelt Taksi) to take us home. Fortunately we have a bottle of wine in the fridge which we very gratefully opened!! Rest time before dinner now. We are going to a restaurant I loved last time I was here…stuffed mussels to die for!!
Back up the hill…good on me!! It occurs to me I should for future reference that the hotel is My Home Garden…excellent value for money. The restaurant we went to tonight is over the Bosphorus at Karaoke and it has the best stuffed mussels of all time. I had them last time I was here and couldn’t wait to get back to them. They didn’t disappoint, nor did the fish and other beautiful side dishes. The name of this gorgeous place to eat is Karakoy Lokantasi. A lovely meal and then a lovely ferry ride back with a wonderful breeze to alleviate the heat that persists well into the night.
Its now bed time and I must say that bed is well deserved.