One of the family running the Istanbul hotel suggested a tour of the Princes Islands that I may like , as it turned out there were two, one on Monday the other on Tuesday.
Still suffering from the nights events, I managed to get up in time to join the tour at eight in the morning. Being picked up from the hotel just so convenient, probably wouldn’t have gone if they didn’t.
Once we had collected everyone for the tour it was 9.30 when we started boarding the boat. Again the method of putting the bow at the jetty level for people to access the boat intrigued me as it did in Montenegro.
Once negotiated with the help of crew, it was up to the top deck in a prime position overlooking the back (aft) of the boat.
As we left the jetty the boat reversed easily and headed out to the Princes islands in the Sea of Marmaris. There are nine islands of various sizes, we were off to spend some hours on the big Princes island.

Happily the boat was of larger build than the one in Bar and  fairly stable in the sea. We did indeed have lovely views across the harbour to the city of Istanbul, seen from a distance, it gave more of an indication of the size of it. I believe something like 14 million inhabitants. We passed by the Sultanahmet, with beautiful views of the mosques and their minarets.
The first island came into sight and the boat made a brief stop before heading onto the Princes island for us to get off.
The tour included a ride around the island on one of the horse drawn buggies. Something I had wanted to do in Vienna but ruled out because of the price.
It was going to be the first and last time. I was appalled at the state of the poor animals being used. It wasn’t just one or two, it probably included 60-70 % of them. Fortunately the horses we were allocated were sound enough, and I didn’t feel quite so bad. I wouldn’t have wanted to have spent much longer than I did in the buggy, because it stunk of horse manure, which didn’t go away at any time.

It was a very pleasant and pretty ride, the purple flowers of bougainvillea stunning in their displays in every conceivable position, on arches, in hedges, over walls. We tried to get the driver to slow to a more relaxed pace, to really enjoy it but I think from his point of view it was quick to get back for another fare, sadly for the horses, given the heat as usual was a very hot 33 degrees.
It was pleasant sharing the ride with a lovely german couple, who I’m sure would have preferred to have had the carriage to themselves. We stopped for ten minutes at the top of the island for glorious views ,and of course the inevitable souvenirs. It was also a dumping ground for piles of horse poo from the catchers ,which added nothing to the ambience of the place. I wasn’t particularly impressed with it at all. There were walks to a nearby monastery for those that were keen, we saw it as we went past in the carriage! We asked the driver to slow as we went down the hill back to the seafront, but that only lasted a few minutes. The forces of gravity combined with a horse at a fast speed did nothing for our collective peace of mind.

Glad to be back down on the more level ground , we wandered to admire the shops and stalls before being taken to lunch at the restaurant down on waterfront. A very nice meal with a choice of fish, chicken or meat balls for mains, with an eclectic entree of hummus, various other nibbles and tasty things of which I didn’t know the name. Finished off with some of the wonderfully sweet watermelons that are currently in season.
We had an hour or so after lunch to wander and enjoy the place, before it was back to the boat for the trip back to Istanbul. I used some of my hour for a coffee and wifi fix at Starbucks with an outstanding views across the Sea of Marmaris. The resulting picture giving me another red dot on the map picture on my ipad, showing how far up the coast we had actually travelled.

The trip home a relaxing one. This time I spent on the lower decks enjoying the peace and quiet. The toilet another one of the squats that were so popular in Asia. Arrgh!! I cannot get the reasoning behind installing these in modern premises. I noticed not a few women deciding to give it a miss and cross their legs until they reached shore again, so I’m not the only one who thinks the toilets are an insult.
The haze over the city skyline wasn’t very good for pictures on the way back so snapped a few as we came close to the shore and docking, bow first!