Istanbul 2nd day_1/3 ; The Sirkeci station - The Bosphorus channel - Rumeli Hisar - Kumpir
After breakfast, we went to the Sirkeci station on foot for a 1 day tour. It took only 15~20min. from our hotel(the center of Sultan Ahmet). The weather was still rainy, but felt so good for walking. The tour that we booked on the Internet in Korea was "Korean guided 1 day Istanbul city tour" and the meeting point was at the Sirkeci station.
1) The Sirkeci station (9:30 AM)
In 1883, the Orient Express began service from Paris to Istanbul at Sirkeci station via Venice and other European countries for travelling of noble class.
The Southeastern (t
hus "Oriental") long distance passenger train terminus in Europe for the Oriental Express. (From Paris - Switserland - Venice -Yugoslavia - Sofia- Istanbul)
: I took this photo at the Sirkeci station with my mom.
In 1982, the Venice - Simplon Orient Express was established as a private venture. It operated a train line that travelled from London to Venice for travellers. Currently the company offers occassional services between Venice and Istanbul as well as to other European cities.
The station, which was an Indian pink color, was very unique for me because I'd never seen an old building with that color before. Pretty indian pink color!
The Sirkeci Tram station:
2) Crossing the Bosphorus channel by ferry
Many people(perhaps, most of the people were travelers) on the ferry even the weather was so cold due to rain.
About 15-20 min. later, a peddler selling yoghurt came inside. We bought some yoghurt from him, but not much since we didn't know what it would taste like. (I have often eaten
yoghurt when I was living in Japan. But I was not sure if its taste would be similar to the ones that I had before.) However, this turned out to be a needless worry!I like Turkish yoghurt! You should try this one, if you have never eaten it before.You should try it if you have never eaten it before.: I ate Turkish yoghurt on the ferry. I like this taste better than the sweet one. You can buy this for 2YTL.
You can see a lot of luxury villas from the ferry. Unfortunately, I couldn't take any good photos of them due to the bad weather.
3) Rumeli Hisar(1452)
At the narrowest part of the Bosphorus(width 698m), Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror ordered the great fortress of Rumeli Hisar to be built on the European shore in order ro control commercial and military traffic in preparation for the siege of Constantinople. - http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/
We arrived at Rumeli Hisar. Luckily there weren't many people (most likely due to the cold and rainy weather). We climbed to the top of Rumeli Hisar to see the surrounding scenery. The stairs were very slippery and there was no railing for us to hold on to. However, two korean kids who came from Paris managed to reach the top(This family were staying in Paris for a while) with their's parents, went up towards the top.
The scenery was as beautiful as I had imagined. It was so nice. If the weather was clear, we would have been able to see another fortress at the opposite side.
: the Bosphorus channel, Bridge and Rumeli Hisar
4) Kumpir (1 pc= 6YTL)
This is a famouse snack in Turkey. Kumpir is really really LOVELY.. T-T I miss the Kumpir. Several toppings such as cheese, sausage, pickle, mixed salad, macaroni, etc upon a potato as big as an adult's head. I felt quite sad because I couln't eat the whole Kumpir! (My parents call me a "potato stalker" ...) Unfortunately, we had only one umbrella and the weather was pretty cold. Really sad..
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