Kilyos, Istanbul

 This week we finally made it to Kilyos.  I had been wanting to go for a long time, but I never quite knew how to get there on my own.  It turned out to be pretty easy, though admittedly it is a little far.  We took the 25E from Ortaköy to Sarriyer, and from there caught the 151RE up to Kilyos.  It took about two hours (including the transfer), but it was a very pretty bus ride all along the Bosphorus.

Once we got off the bus, it was a short walk to the beaches.  All along the way there were markets and shops selling beach supplies.  We got a few snacks and toys for the beach, then continued on our way.

We ended up going to a place called Nonstop Beach.  Normally it is 15TL to get in, but Tuğce negotiated with the people at the beach and got us in for free.  We got there around 9:30-10:00, and the beach was almost completely empty, but they were also still cleaning it.  There was a bit of seaweed on the beach, but we were still able to have a good time there.  The biggest problem was that there were little bugs in the shallow water.  Once you got further out into the deep water, they were not a problem, but it really made wading unpleasant.

We spent almost 6 hours there.  The boys loved the water and it was hard to separate them from it.  Before we left, I also got to go for a short walk along the beach.  I was able to check out a few of the other beaches in the area from the shore, and it looked like Solar Beach and a few others would be nice destinations for our next trip up.

All in all, it made for a bit of a long day (and we all got pretty sunburnt) but it was definitely worth the $2 bus fare to go to the beach for a day!