Heavenly Heybeliada

It was one last yurt at the Astana, Kazakhstan airport before my six-hour flight to Istanbul.

It was almost midnight when I arrived at my Istanbul hotel, but the narrow streets were still very full of people.

The next morning I was awake early because of the two hour time change, and this time the streets were deserted. Except for simit sellers and water trucks.

Simits are like sesame encrusted bagels, and I love them when they are fresh in the morning.

Then I headed out to the Kabataş port to catch a ferry to Heybeliada.

I choose the Kabataş port because it was the best location on my path from the airport.

Though it was only 10 km it took about 1.5 hours because we stopped at another port and two islands.

But for 70 lira (Cdn$3) I just enjoyed the boat ride!

It was like a heavenly other world on the island. So close but so different from the city chaos, traffic and horns.

Heybeliada is part of the Princes’ Islands. (Princes’ is plural because it means “islands of the princes” because out-of-favour princes were exiled there in the Byzantine period (which ended with the fall of Constantinople/Istanbul in 1453).

During the 19th century the islands were a popular resort for the wealthy of Istanbul, and Victoria-era wooden houses dominate the architecture.

It is the second largest at 2.7 km long and 1.2 km wide.

There are no cars (except police and utility trucks) so electric carts are the main transportation.

They originally had horses and carts.

Tourism is the main industry, and though there were many little shops, they weren’t overly slick and polished.

Yes, Singer sewing machine tables.

And bougainvillea!

Houses needing some TLC.

I just enjoyed watching the steady stream of boats, coming and going.

And I enjoyed the cats. Turkish people are very caring about street cats.

Bowls of food and water were everywhere.

And dogs.

Bicycles for rent everywhere.

Electric buses had routes around the island.

The boats and buses were all ‘cashless’ and required a reloadable Istanbul-card that I had from the city.

But because it was so small, walking was a viable option.

Looking down at one of the numerous beach resorts. They charged a flat daily rate and had boats that transported people from the main harbour. Seemed very competitive to watch them try and gather customers from the many day trippers.

Though there really wasn’t much beach, just side-by-side loungers, children and music.

I walked up the largest hill to the old monastery (top right)

Street cleaners were always busy with litter and cigarette butts.

There was no chance of starving .

Bakery that sold only baguettes.

Cherries and apricots were in season.

Menemen (scrambled eggs with tomato, onion and peppers) was my favourite breakfast.

Borek (pastry layered with cheese) and tea is a national favourite.

A Greek meze of roasted vegetables, stuffed pepper, eggplant dip and yogurt.

Street corn, boiled or roasted on the cob were the most popular.

Tea, on kindergarten chairs, under a huge tree.

Then a day trip to the next island, Büyükada. 23 minutes.

It was a larger island with many larger hotels and many restaurants.

But it still had cats and dogs.

But I was very happy to get back to my own island. And lovely guesthouse.

It was in a quiet area up a hill just five minutes from the harbour. And my third floor balcony had amazing views of Istanbul while catching a nice breeze.

Everything I love.

It only had four rooms and a well equipped common kitchen.

The owner was excellent, and I loved that he was very involved in the cat sterilization program. He had space on his property to sequester female kittens until they were old enough to be spayed. And took care of them after surgery.

I had one last day in Istanbul before I flew home to Canada.

There were endless hotels with last minute deals for one night, so I could get a nice view.