Istanbul - Day 5

The horse ghetto. These stables resemble a shantytown, located at the other side of one of the islands. Most of the horses roam around free, but a few wait their turn for a carriage ride. Had a bit of a photography break today and let my sister play with the X100S, which I should mention she's been trying to steal all week, giving me her D5200 instead. Pffft. There's a reason I left my D5100 at home...

Today we hit the Prince's Islands, named as such because they were used as a place to dump all the royal exiles and stray dogs back in the days. It's a set of islands on the Sea of Marmara which you can see from Istanbul. We took a boat there after grabbing fish sandwiches (they're big on those along the riverside) and spent most of the day on one of the islands. The plan was to hit the water, we'd even brought our swimsuits, but it just wasn't meant to happen. Instead we walked all round the quiet island. It's rammed with cats, dogs and horses here. The village is wonderful, it looks like an old colonial town overgrown with flowers.

In the afternoon, we grabbed the boat back and walked home, hitting a couple shops on the way, and ending up at Sofa restaurant on the rooftop again, as it was our favorite place and tonight is the last dinner! Ended up going to bed too early though and couldn't sleep what with all the prayers being recited over the giant minaret speakerphones.

Oh and I forgot, we also visited the famous Hagia Sophia in the morning. It's a beautiful and immense church that got converted into a mosque. Fusion. Makes it really stand out!

peace