After having spent two weeks in Istanbul, most of us have
“checked” off the big tourist sites and turned to explore more of the local
areas of attraction like Istiklal Street
(or Independence Street in English) or even our local gourmet shops. Today
however we explored another area of the Istanbul favorites, the Princes’
Islands. These nine islands off the coast of Turkey in the Sea of Marmara hold
a strategic place in Turkish and World History. Leon Trotsky for example took
refuge on these islands during his exile in the 1930’s. However these islands
have a different appeal to the Istanbul locals, they are more of the week-end
beach and shore then exile locations.
Our destination was the biggest
of the nine Islands, Büyükada, which literally means Big Island in Turkish. We reached Büyükada after an hour and a half
ferry boat ride provided through the Istanbul Public Transportation System. On
a ferry boat with maybe even more Turkish then tourists, we were carried away
from the tumults of the Istanbul life to the quiet(er) beaches of the Big Island.
The island was a site to behold
with its tall hills and houses hanging of the forest-y cliffs before forming
miniature enclaves of sand, where lawn chairs and parasols were tetrissed in as
tightly as possible, in front of a clear blue/turquoise ocean.
Not being one for sea or sun
bathing, as lobster red has never been a color which suits me, I decided with
three other explorers to try and find one of the historical legacies of the
Island, St Georges’ Monastery.
From the guide books
information, we knew that it would be an hour long walk from where we left off
the group at the beach, but armed with the confidence that the journey would be
valuable, we set off with our free commercial map as our only guide. Oh and
what a journey it was… What I believed would be a nice leisurely walk albeit
somewhat long to the monastery turned out to be a real calorie burning,
marathon training hike to the top of the highest peak of the Island (I think my
Mediterranean decent is showing here…).
After the first quarter of our
“walk”, we reached a plaza where two options were presented to us, a 50°
incline on small cobbled stone or a longer flatter dirt path. For the sake of
my knees, we chose the dirt path which still had an average incline of 30°. So
we set of to climb the deserted path overlooking the western side of the
island, opposite from where we had arrived.
We had as such a view of the Sea of
Marmara with music blasting beach clubs and what I believe to be the other
monastery of the Island. We rejoined the main path after a forty minute hike
for the last stretch and reached the St George Monastery (or church depending
on the signs we read).
It was a beautifully restored
orthodox church with magnificent point of views which made us forget the
extensive journey we had just taken to reach the peak, or at least until we had
to walk back…
From this trip to the Istanbul
vacation area, I have two main remarks, first the inhabitants of the island
must be very good walkers because those hills where deadly and I can’t imagine
myself wanting to ascend them daily. As a no car island, carriages, bikes or
feet are the main transportation modes. Even the drinking water canisters were
delivered by a horse tracked cart… My second remark and only piece of advice on
how to navigate these islands is to pay close attention to where euphemism may
be and to always wear sturdy shoes when in doubt because as I quickly realized
the long skirt and flip flops were really not the best attire for a hike…
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