The Princes' Islands

We've visited the Princes' Islands twice so far: once on our own, and once together with my mother-in-law.  They're a little farther away, but the ferry ride out is nice - and cheap - and they make for a nice little escape from Istanbul.

There are four main islands that the ferry stops at: Büyükada ("Big Island"), Heybeliada, Burgazada and Kınalıada.  So far, we've only visited Büyükada.  The ferry takes about 1hr 45 minutes to get there, but the views along the way are magnificent.

 

Dolmabache Palace and Topkapi

Galata Tower

New Mosque - Eminonu

 

A view of islands off in the distance and the red rocky shore of another of the main islands

View of one of the smaller islands

The old monestary

The Iskelesi on Buyukada

You arrive at the Iskelesi, which itself is an impressive building, and there are lines of restaurants and shops along the water.  It's a short walk up to the square, where the main line is for the "cabs" -  that is, horse drawn carriages.

There are no cars (except for emergency and municipal vehicles) on the islands, so you get everywhere by walking, biking, or horses.

The main square

On our first trip, we walked up to the square and grabbed a carriage to the park at the top of the hill, where the driver agreed to wait for us for an hour so that we could enjoy the park.  The ride up was picturesque, as was the view from the top.  The park itself was full of free ranging horses and there were shops and cafes nearby.  We stopped in for a small meal before continuing our tour along the island.

The ride back down at sunset was even more amazing, but because of the bumpy carriage ride, most of my pictures didn't turn out so well.  My only regret was that we didn't get to spend more time there, but we needed to make it back in time to catch a ferry back.  We ended up buying tickets on a faster, but slightly more expensive (5TL - still cheap in my book!) ferry line.  It got us home in about an hour and 20 min instead.

The view from the ferry were also incredible.  Istanbul is a beautiful city at night.  Below are some of the images from our journey back.