Heybeliada

A couple of weekends ago Meltem and I, in desperate need of a break, decided to bust loose and take a trip to Heybeliada, one of the Princes' Islands. The Princes' Islands are a group of islands off the southern coast of the Asian side; they get their name because that's where the Byzantine emperors sent their out-of-favor or "retired" family members (often after gouging their eyes out for good measure, but I digress). It's remarkably easy to get there – from our door to the dock at Heybeliada was about 2 hours total, and that's because we took the slow ferry. Boy, what a difference. You go from trafficky, congested, concrete-laden urban chaos to cool breezes among pine forests with one ferry ride. Herewith a few pix so you can be jealous. (This time I'll put the descriptions before the pictures.)

Below, a nice view of the old city as you pass it on the ferry. On the left is Hagia Sophia and on the right is the Topkapi Palace with its many chimneys. In the center, on the water, is a ferry like the one we took this picture from.



Our ferry attracted lots of seagulls, not least because people (including me) like to throw bits of bread out to them as they tag along. One or two seagulls were intrepid and quick enough to catch their tidbit in midair. This picture is also nice because you can see the many sailboats along the shoreline of the city.



When we disembarked at Heybeliada, we started strolling along the waterfront and one of the first buildings that caught our attention was a pastry shop (pastane) with a familiar name! That knockout in the red jacket is my one and only.



And speaking of familiar names, literally across the street from Meltem Pastanesi was a real estate office. One of the ads in the window had "kelepir" (Turkish for "bargain" and Meltem's maiden name) in red ink! (The ad is selling a ceramic factory in Bartin, which is the town where Meltem's father was born. Heybeliada, island of weird coincidences!)



We quickly found a street which went uphill a ways and promptly turned into a staircase (this is mainly because there are no motor vehicles on the islands except for public services). You got a nice view over the water and the far, faraway city.



And when you get to the top of the stairs, you're at the tippy-top of the island and look down on the other side.



The top of the island is pretty much forest, and there are nice trails to walk on. We went a ways but didn't want to get overcommitted, especially since we hadn't had lunch yet.



On the way back down, we saw a cute scene with a couple of seagulls waddling around right near a group of cats. Oddly, there was no inter-species tension, probably because both knew that a given seagull was big enough to kick some serious kitty butt. There was some wary eyeballing, though.



Finally, here's a picture of me in front of one of the many flower-bedecked houses. Heybeliada is a wonderful place; we semi-seriously talked about moving there when our rent-free situation ends in 3 years.