Black Sea Boat Cruise

A Sunday boat cruise to the Black Sea for swimming

Maren, Birnur, Dirk

The dive of death

Istinye, Istanbul

Summer has arrived very early in Istanbul and although it creates a more aesthetically pleasing environment it is creating concerns for the summer's water supply - same issues all around the world by the sound of it. Here are a couple of snaps taken on the week. Istinye is a 20 minute bus ride from home, along the Bosphorus.

Istinye, Istanbul Turkey

Istinye, Istanbul Turkey

Lightning On The Bridge

I took this picture from our balcony last night at about 10pm. It looks very cold and stormy across the Bosphorus, but in fact this was more like a tropical storm, the temperature during the day was quite high, unusually high for this time of year, and high humidity. The evening was not cold, actually I was wearing shorts and a shirt whilst the storm was passing.

Lightning on the Bosphorus Bridge

Rome Wasn't Built In A Day...

...but Sultan Mehmet II built Rumeli Hisarı (The Rumeli Fortress) on the shore of the Bosphorus Sea in just 4 months, between April and August in 1452. Covering an area of 30000 square meters, Rumeli Hisarı was built on the narrowest part of the Bosphorus Sea to protect the Ottoman Empire from unwelcome visitors.

Arnavutköy, between Ortaköy and Rumeli Hisarı.

Rumeli Hisarı from outside

Looking from Rumeli Hisarı across the Bosphrous Sea
Looking from Rumeli Hisarı across the Bosphrous Sea to Anatolian Turkey

Rumeli Hisarı - The fortress walls

A Lazy Bosphrous Day

A lazy day walking along the Bosphrous Sea