Something about the Turkish air must be right because we have been sleeping great and getting out of bed much later than at any other location to date. Maybe it also has something to do with the later nights, but either way, the sleeping in has been great.
After breakfast we headed down to the Bosphorous River for a fun day on the ferry. One of the “need to do” things in Istanbul is to take the ferry up the Bosphorous all the way to the Black Sea. Along the way the boat stops at eight separate locations allowing you to get off or at minimum get a close up look at some of the other sites of Istanbul. Along our journey we saw many governmental palaces (most of them used as summer homes), beautiful mosques, structurally impressive bridges and a couple of castle ruins.
Before getting on the boat, most of us patiently waited in a single file line in the beating sun prior to the gates opening for jumping aboard the ferry. Like many situations with large masses… once one person breaks this nice orderly, seemingly logical pattern, the rest of mankind follows like a pack of wolves scurrying to find their rightful place (despite having just arrived and not waited for the past hour for that perfect seat). To make the long story short… some lady got a little pushy with Sam on a couple occasions after chaos broke loose and the line became a mosh-pit. Sam controlled himself for a while but after we started loading onto the boat like cattle, Sam gave a nice little nudge back to the 4’4” lady just to let her know he didn’t appreciate her attitude. She made it clear she didn’t care for his actions either… but they still both managed to get on without any fists being thrown. Sure enough, when all was told, Sam and Jennifer ended up sitting right next to this “I’ll cheat the system,” no holds bar lady. We began a conversation with a nice young American couple across from us and soon after this couple started talking to the foreign “lady” that Sam had nearly gone to fists with and it was apparent she was telling them about how “rude” Sam was when jumping on the boat. She actually seemed to be talking about the situation pretty-light heartedly and over the next hour we got to know their whole group pretty well. By the time all was said and done, they had bought us a round of tea to share with them and then later some local yogurt from one of the ports that is known for the best yogurt in the region. I think both groups really enjoyed one another’s company and it was funny because in the end the “lady” was quite talkative and friendly despite a very edgy personality. 
At the last of eight stops we got off the ferry to visit Anadolukavgl… a small little fish town with beautiful two-story oceanfront homes and restaurants known for their local fish. The biggest attraction to the town however, was up the hill at the Yoros castle built during the Roman period. Although little remains of the castle, there are beautiful views from its breathtaking location. While atop the hill you can look down the Bosphorous in one direction and literally see the separation of Istanbul between Europe and Asia. Turning 180 degrees, you can peer down the Bosphorous and out toward the Black Sea. 
After checking out the castle and the beautiful surrounding views, we headed back down to the docks and grabbed a table by the sea to have a couple refreshing beers, some calamari, and some local french fries.
Our trip back on the Ferry was much less eventful than our originally journey and we sorta missed sitting next to the boisterous lady and her nice relatives. We did see the group though prior to arriving home and wished one another well.
On the walk back to our hotel we were talking about how excited we were to wash up after being out on the boat all day and hiking in the heat up to the castle. This however would have to be postponed after Jennifer saw a sign for a “Whirling Dervishes” performance taking place just down the street from our hostel. The show ended up being quite the cultural experience. This highly spiritual dance involving five men dancing in long white robes accompanied by a band was nothing like either of us had ever seen before. The music alone sets you in a trance like state and then when the dancers take a posture similar to “I’m a little tea cup” and spin around in circles over and over and over again, you start getting quite dizzy. We weren’t allowed to take pictures of the actual performance so below we have included a picture from the venue before the ceremony started and I also included a picture found online that shows what the dance look ed like at a very similar performance.
After the show we got our much-needed showers and headed off for our final night in Istanbul. We had a nice meal, tried out some new food, and called it a night early (a little after midnight) as we want to hit up one last tourist spot (a palace across town) tomorrow morning before heading off to Cappadocia in the early afternoon.
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