Just Beykoz

There's a good little tour you can do up the Bosphorus from the Golden Horn ... all the way to the Black Sea.

Well, almost.

For a mere twelve and a half lira, it's an hour and a half cruise up the Bosphorus, a few hours to wander around at Beykoz, and then then trip back.

Lovely little fishing village, Beykoz.

But then two or three times a day (in the busy season) the tour boat disgorges several hundred tourists, and the local restaurateurs swing into action competing to draw customers into their establishments.

And then everyone heads on up the hill to see the castle and catch a glimpse of the Black Sea.

This is a naughty picture. As we climbed we looked back towards the Bosphorus and Peter took a picture, but straight away a little man behind a fence started blowing a whistle.

Obediently we turned away and headed up the hill. Peter lined up a shot of the castle we were approaching ... and again "peeep!" the little man was still watching from a distance.

Well, it was a long, hot climb. We stayed on the road all the way - didn't notice the steep steps leading up through the restaurant, but I think we chose the better part.

And there it was - the Black Sea! Not very black, but definitely sea. And all the ships heading out into it.


We had a look around the castle fort at the top of the hill. It was old and crumbly, but a nice place to relax and great views.


There was a little doorway in the wall that looked interesting and inviting, maybe a good exit ...

Or not. Another forbidden area, of course.

So we headed back down the hill to the boat. This time we saw the path through the restaurant, down the steps, and I was really glad we hadn't come up that way. The steps were obviously built by a very tall man, or just someone in a hurry who thought if you make the steps big enough you don't have to use so many.

Back on the boat, we did another naughty thing.

The window of the boat wasn't madly clean. And from here you can't see the signs nor hear the Whistle Man ... but I know he would have been up there blowing ... The patch of road right in the middle was where we were trying to take photos.

It was a relaxing day out. Beats teaching, and a lot of other humdrum things we could have been doing.