To Asia and back

One of the unique features of Istanbul is that it spans two continents. I'm staying on European side but on Sunday we ventured into Asian before heading north to the Black Sea. We went with six other exchange students so it was fun to hear about their experiences in Istanbul so far. It was a long and bumpy bus ride there so we didn't do much else that day except for hanging out at a student music festival at Boğaziçi University.

On Monday everyone had to go to class so Danny and I took a ferry to the Princes' islands. There are four or five islands that make up the Princes' islands and we stopped at the largest, Büyükada. We rented some barely working bikes for the day and started off without looking at a map. We just biked up and up and up. Like Istanbul, the island was very hilly. We had a lot fun biking around the island and getting lunch there. On the ferry ride back I could get a better grasp at how expansive the city really is.

Upon returning to land Danny and I began searching for a guide book called Lycian Way. After talking to one of the exchange students who had hiked a segment of the lycian way, I decided to give it a go. It's a 510 km coastal hike in southwestern Turkey from Fathiye to Antalya. The trail was finished in 1999 and is Turkey's first long distance trek. Only downside is that there is only one guide book and it was impossible to find in Istanbul. I only discovered this after I purchased my plane ticket. However I met somebody who is borrowing the book and has agreed to let me photocopy it. Hopefully this works out because I fly tomorrow morning! I'm thinking about flying directly to Cyprus from there but I haven't decided yet. Somehow the prices dont increase drastically even if you are buying two days in advance. As for the trek, I'm hoping to do about 200km of it.
The photo uploader for blogspot with an iPad stinks so I can't put captions or increase the size. Maybe if I get my hands on a computer I can fix it.