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Decades ago, officials
of Istanbul's
ferryboat system noticed
a strange thing: foreign tourists were
riding the ferryboats up the Bosphorus,
all
the way to the Black Sea at Sariyer and Anadolu
Kavagi—and sometimes
they rode them all the way back to
the Galata
Bridge on
the Golden
Horn without getting off!
(The tourists may have gotten the
idea from a guidebook.)
Of course, these smart travelers were
getting a good cruise-tour
of the Bosphorus,
guidebook in hand, for a fraction of
the price they'd have paid to a tour
company to take them in a private boat.
So the ferry officials designated
several Bosphorus ferry sailings as Bosphorus
Tours, and reduced the number
of dock stops so that the "tour" would
not take so long.
The
voyage from Eminönü to Sariyer,
a northern Bosphorus town
on the
European shore,
takes just over one hour,
but the entire round-trip voyage
from Eminönü past
Sariyer to
Anadolu Kavagi on the Asian shore
(with a 1-1/2-hour wait at Anadolu
Kavagi), and return to the Eminönü ferryboat
docks, takes 4-1/2
hours. Here's the schedule
(subject to change), applicable to
all days of the week, including holidays:
Eminönü |
Besiktas |
Kanlica |
Yeniköy |
Sariyer |
Rumeli Kavagi |
Anadolu Kavagi |
10:35am |
10:50am |
11:15am |
11:30am |
11:45am |
11:55am |
12:05pm |
13:35 1:35pm
|
13:50 1:50pm |
14:15 2:15pm |
14:30
2:30pm
|
14:45
2:45pm
|
14:55
2:55pm
|
15:05
3:05pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anadolu Kavagi |
Rumeli Kavagi |
Sariyer |
Yeniköy |
Kanlica |
Besiktas |
Eminönü |
15:00
3:00pm
|
15:10
3:10pm
|
15:20
3:20pm
|
15:35
3:35pm
|
15:50
3:50pm
|
16:15
4:15pm
|
16:30
4:30pm
|
17:00
5:00pm
|
17:10
5:10pm
|
17:20
5:20pm
|
17:35
5:35pm
|
17:50
5:50pm
|
18:15
6:15pm
|
18:30
6:30pm
|
You can check for schedule updates
and changes here.
(TurYol
boats do
the entire round-trip cruise in only
1.5 hours. More...)
Many
people cruise for 1.5 hours, get
off at Sariyer (23
km/14 miles north of Istanbul by
road), have lunch (especially
seafood), then take a bus, minibuses
or taxis southward, stopping at various
sights along
the way. More...
The
ferry continues beyond Sariyer to Anadolu Kavagi,
on the Asian shore,
where the route terminates.
The
ferry then waits at Anadolu Kavagi for
several hours, giving passengers
time to have a picnic or a seafood
restaurant lunch and/or to climb
to the ruined fortress of
seven towers on Yusa
Tepesi (Joshua's
Hill), reconstructed by the Genoese
in 1350, and repaired thereafter
by Byzantines and Ottomans.
Frankly,
if you've done the cruise from south
to north, you needn't do north to
south. But if you end up at Anadolu
Kavagi, there's no good way to travel
south except via the Bosphorus Tour
ferry, when it departs for its return
trip to the Eminönü ferryboat
docks.
On weekdays,
the most popular Bosphorus
Tour departure
is at
10:35 am, but in
the warm months there are later ones
at 12:35 pm, and 2:10
pm as well.
On Saturday,
Sunday and holidays, departures
are traditionally at 10 am, 11
am, noon, 1.30 pm, and 3 pm.
Times
may change of course, but they've
stayed pretty much the same for
years. A one-way ticket costs YTL7,
round-trip YTL12.
Get
to the Eminönü ferryboat
docks at least 30
minutes before departure if possible,
buy your ticket and board the ferry
in order to get a good seat. (Ignore
the guys asking "Bosphorus tour?"
as you approach the docks. Buy your
ticket from the clerk in the ticket
booth.) The boats fill up early in
summer, particularly
on weekends.
You
can return
south by land from Sariyer.
Here's an hour-by-hour
itinerary.
Besides
the traditional ferry, a boat cooperative
named TurYol runs
smaller, faster boats on Bosphorus
cruises that take
only 1.5 hours. More...
The Bosphorus Tour ferries have
been popular with Istanbullus and visitors
ever since. Even though the Bosphorus
bridges have reduced the need
for ferries, and fast "sea
bus" catamaran ferries now
carry many of the commuter passengers,
and
the Turkish Maritime Lines has
followed its Ottoman predecessor,
the Sirket-i Hayriye,
into the pages of history, the most
popular and useful Istanbul ferry
routes are still in business, operated
by IDO.
Thank goodness! I've
always loved the short intra-city voyages
on these
great old boats. Sitting on the rear
deck of a traditional Istanbul ferry
on a fine summer's day with a glass
of
Turkish
tea at
my lips is a living example of the
title of my humorous travel memoir, Turkey:
Bright Sun, Strong Tea.
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