Day 159: Sunday 24 August - Istanbul Day 2: Derv and Nursel on Büyükada Island, by Ken

Other than the bed there wasn’t anywhere in our hotel room to sit and work on my laptop – there wasn’t space for a desk and a chair! At 7:30 I walked up the stairs to the 5^th floor terrace where breakfast was served. I peered over the railing and down into the street – Smarty was still there, I wondered how many major cities there were where you could get away with that? I took a seat at a table to catch up on my email and poured myself a glass of tea from the dispenser. Almost immediately one of the staff said “no”, took the glass from me, poured half its contents away and topped up the glass with hot water from the second tap on the dispenser. Now I knew why our tea was so strong yesterday!

Jane joined me at 8:00 and we had a very good breakfast I started with cereal and fruit while Jane went straight to a boiled egg, fried potatoes, sausage, cold meet and cheese. I did likewise after my cereal. Over breakfast we decided neither of us needed a leather jacket and we wouldn't be returning to Davut's shop on Monday. After eating and spending time on our laptop/iPad we were ready for our next adventure in Istanbul, or rather out of it.

We had arranged to meet Laurence’s father, Derv, and his partner Nursel at their home on Büyükada, one of the Prince’s Islands in the Sea of Marmara just over an hour from Istanbul by ferry. Büyükada is the largest of the group of islands. The Prince’s Islands name relates to Byzantine times when they housed banished emperors, empresses and princes. Büyükada’s other claim to fame was that Leon Trotsky lived there from 1929 to 1933. 

Providentially, Nursel had spent Saturday night in Istanbul and we arranged to meet her at the ferry terminal at Kabataş and travel over to the island together. Jane and I walked back up the steep hill towards the tram stop at Bayazit. Jane was in her element, there were cats everywhere! Jane had been worrying about how we could use the one Istanbulkart to get us both on a tram. It couldn’t have been simpler, I placed the card on the reader at one of the turnstiles and Jane went through. I repeated the process and joined her. From Bayazit we took a modern tram to the end of the line at Kabatas crossing the Golden Horn on the Galata bridge. We arrived at Kabatas about an hour early, checked out the meeting point and then sat by the water whiling away time over a tea.

One Of Jane's New Found Friends

Our Tram Pulls In To Bayazit

We had no problem finding Nursel at a practically deserted ferry terminal from where we walked to a very busy ferry to the islands that departed at 12:00. On the trip we learnt a lot about Nursel’s background. She was born in Greece to Turkish parents, the family emigrated to Germany while Nursel was young and she went to school there.

Blue Mosque, I Think,  Seen From Ferry

Sulemanye Mosque Seen From Ferry

About an hour after setting off the ferry docked at the island of Burgazada where a number of pasengers disembarked and then reboarded after learning they were not at Büyükada. A man boarded with them carrying a plastic crate. He immediately launched into a wonderful sales pitch for a stainless steel vegetable peeler. He started by producing a potato from the crate, held it up and proceeded to peel it shouting “Turkish peeler”, “Inox” and “Ten lira”. Then he used the peeler to produce wafer thin slices loudly accompanied by “Potato chips, Turkish peeler, ten lira”. Next it was a carrot that was peeled and then julienned while he continued to chant “Turkish peeler”, “inox” and “ten lira. He strutted around the deck demonstrating how effective the peeler was on a cucumber, then it was back to a potato. All the while he continued with his Turkish peeler, inox and ten lira mantra. After doing a complete circuit of the deck, he stopped by the exit stairs and got an enthusiastic round of applause for his efforts. We wondered who had boarded the ferry intending to buy a vegetable peeler, but he was doing a roaring trade as passengers filed past him when we arrived at Büyükada. Subsequently, we regretted not buying one, it did look a useful tool. And only ten lira.

Turkish Peeler

Derv met us on the dockside and we walked up to their apartment together. The town was very busy with tourists, there were long queues for carriage rides around the island (cars are not allowed on the island, horse drawn carriages and bicycles are the only means of transport). We soon left the crowds behind on our short walk.

Over drinks and nibbles on the patio we learnt a lot about island life from Derv and Nursel. There were plenty of shops in the town to meet their daily needs, but other items, like furniture had to be bought on the mainland, shipped over, and transported to the house on a trolley. That meant they were always having to think twice before making a significant purchase. They had done a lot of work on the apartment after spending a long while finding good tradesmen. Derv had supervised all the work himself and pleased he had. A doorframe arrived one day that was too wide for the opening in the wall. The builder wanted to widen the opening, Derv made him take the frame away and alter it. His efforts certainly paid off, the apartment looked very comfortable and attractive with Turkish carpets everywhere.

After a couple of hours chatting we walked down into the town where Derv shouted us lunch of donor kebabs. He and Nursel were well known at the restaurant and the owner took a group photograph for us although I’m not sure why he chose to shoot it through a potted plant!

Lunch Party

After lunch we had a conducted tour of the town, there was no shortage of shops selling all the groceries anyone could need and there were also plenty of places to eat. Derv and Nursel were clearly well known in the town and we stopped frequently for them to chat to locals. The sea front was jam packed with tourists perched precariously on the sea wall rock armour and swimming. Some seemed to be getting in and out of the sea via steps from a restaurant. Other visitors were lazing on the grass in front of houses, it couldn’t be much fun for the residents. Derv was critical of the town for not making better provision for visitors, it wouldn’t take a lot to build a beach.

The Streets Of Buyukada Were Very Busy With Day Trippers

Not A Lot Of Provision For Bathers

Here We Are On BuyuKada

We stopped for a round of drinks at a café and then completed our walk around the town. We said our goodbyes, explored a little more under our own steam and then caught a ferry back to Kabatas. We had a Bosphorous cruise on our 'to do lis't and having read there could be long queues for tickets before the boat departed each morning we decided to get off the tram at the Eminönü stop by the Galata bridge and buy tickets for a cruise on Tuesday. While a good idea, we had to battle our way through a huge crowd to reach the cruise office only to find it was closed. We struggled back to Eminönü and boarded a very crowded tram as far as Sultanahmet. It was approaching 20:00 and we were in need of a meal.

Hands-Free Phone Seen On Ferry On Return Journey

The Maiden's Tower Marking The Entrance To The Bosphorus
(It's now a restaurant)

There were lots of places to eat at restaurants with tables on the pavements of side streets and we stopped at Pasha where we ordered a mixed meze. It was gone 21:00 by the time we got back to the hotel. Smarty was still there sporting a man leaning on her bonnet texting.

Man Texting On Smarty