Islands of Oppulence

Paul, the Sea of Marmara and Istanbul in the backround
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Our rooftop bunks turn to Saunas around 9:00.  So to escape the heat of the city we decide to walk along the river toward the ferry boat.  We have a nice meal of peta pizza then hop a boat across the Bosporus.to Prince's Island.  Stepping from  the ferry we are immediately surrounded by enormous palace like mansions and swarms of vacationing Istanbulus.  This is the wealthiest part of the city, where the super rich own sumer homes.  The ferry building itself looks like a former palace, with inlaid tiles and a domed roof.

horse and buggy
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Feeling hot and tired, we wisely decide to hike up a mountain for a view.  We didn't make it to the top.  We walked down a few sidestreets for views of the Sea of Marmara and Istanbul behind it, took some pictures, then turned around.

There are no cars allowed on the islands, which is pleasant-- except for the everpresent horse manure.  Trev bought a cherry ice cream cone, and we sat and people watched for the rest of the afternoon A nice little day trip.

We finished off the day with Turkish Tea, Kabobs and Hookah.  During dinner, we made plains to play backgammon long into the night.  Paul called that the score would be 5-4, a cocky statement, considering he was only up one game at the time.  For the first roll of the game, we rolled doubles twice, thereby quadrupling the game.  Paul won, bringing the score to the predicted five games.  However, Trevor then won the next four, uncanny.