When we decided to go the Princes' Islands for a day trip on a Friday, we probably should have decided to get plenty of sleep the night before. But, alas, we didn't. As study abroaders exploring a new city for the first time, we learned that during Ramadan the city is awake all night. Since those who are fasting can only eat between sundown and sunrise, the restaurants stay open all night, and people are out and about just as they are during the day. And it turns out the city is incredibly beautiful at night, so temptation to never sleep was everywhere.
Needless to say, I was very tired for this trip to Sedef Adası, one of the smallest islands. (I had been told by a lot of people that there are five islands, but upon Googling it just now, it appears there are actually nine; some are really, really small.) I planned to sleep for a couple hours at the "beach", but there was a big speaker playing dance music, so I danced instead—for five hours.
As you'll see in the pictures, the beach wasn't really a beach. Instead of sand, big concrete slabs jut out into the water, and the chairs and umbrellas sit on those. But we were not deterred in the slightest. We spent a wonderful day sunbathing, dancing, eating ice cream and reading.
Both directions we took two ferries. In the morning, we took a ferry from Beşiktaş to Büyükada, the biggest island, and then another ferry from Büyükada to Sedef Adası. This is a video from one of those ferries!
On the way back, we took a ferry back to Büyükada and
then a really long ferry that stopped at all the other Princes' Islands
and several ports before stopping in Beşiktaş.
That ferry was a bit cheaper but two hours long. And in our extremely
tired state, we were slap happy and probably annoyed everyone else on
the boat. This picture is of the sunset on the way back to Beşiktaş.
Please go to Istanbul the next opportunity you get. The city is beautiful, and there are amazing islands just 6 TL away!
XXOO
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