Thursday, July 28, 2011

The Prince's Islands





Yesterday, I talked about the Black sea and Bosporus Straight.  The Black Sea is connected to a smaller body of water, the Marmara Sea, by the Bosporus.   The Marmara Sea then connects with the well known Mediterranean.  Many countries boarder the Black Sea, including Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Georgia and Turkey, which makes the Bosporus a vital trading route.  Ancient civilizations used these trading routes more than twenty thousand years ago.

Today, we were headed to an island off the coast of Istanbul which was said to have no cars.  The people who live there,  get around by horse drawn carriages.  This island is located in the Marmara sea.  In order to get to this island we had to cross the Bosporus and enter Asia.  Istanbul is divided into the northern part which is in Europe and the southern area which is in Asia.  After crossing the bridge, we then took a boat for the rest of the journey to the Prince's Islands.

The first thing we did on the island, was find a good beach to cool off before we started sight seeing.  This was no ordinary beach though.  The water was infested with jelly fish and women were swimming fully dressed in the Muslim tradition.  When we had cooled off, we took a carriage to a old town on the island.  I was fascinated with the use of horses to get around the island.  Horses were also being used to carry daily supplies like food and water.  This was interesting to me because I always thought carriages were just something for tourists and entertainment.  I did not know they were used as a functional means of transportation.  The main thing I noted about the old town was the immense number of fish markets.

After our day on the island, Ulrika, Huseyin and Mom dropped us off at home to get an early start on the blog.  They headed off to a nice restaurant, while Dad and I had a quick meal of kabobs on the street and got started on the blog. This has been a great bonding time for Mom, Ulrika, and Husyein.  They have been laughing and loving seeing each other again.


While writing this blog, I heard the exotic and sad Muslim call to prayer.  This is a reminder to the Muslim people that it is time to pray to their God, Allah.

Thank you for reading Rohan Geographic!

4 comments:

  1. Did you worry about being stung by the jellyfish?

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  2. Hi Rohan,
    I'm glad you are enjoying Turkey. It was great to see pics of you and family; your mom looks great as a blonde, don't you think?
    It was also interesting to see Ulrika and Huisen grown-up. They weren't much older than you are now when I knew them.
    We are most happy here in cool Maine. Have done some awesome bikers in Acadia and eaten lobster each day!
    Love, Grandma

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  3. I got stung by the jellyfish...and that was the end of swimming for me! Ulrika, Huseyin and I have had such a great time seeing each other again. More laughing than I've done in a long time! Ulrika is going home tomorrow and I am sad to miss her :(

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  4. Wise man say - if you live near a beach, you gonna eat fish!

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