Today started a little late.   I woke up at 6am but noticed the room was still sleeping so just crashed back to bed.

At 9:45 I was finally up and by 10:30 we had left the hostel for our adventures today.

On tap for today, a day trip to one of the Princes’ Islands, Büyükada, about 30km south of Istanbul.

Breakfast

Before we headed to the islands, however, there was a little matter of breakfast.

We took the metro over to Üsküdar (an area near Kadıköy) where we’d previously discovered where all the authentic and cheap Turkish meals were.

We knew exactly where we going to for breakfast.   We went back to the place we went to the other day.

It was so good before and I was so excited to go back.

This time I had the Menemen which is scrambled eggs with tomato sauce, green peppers and cheese.   Today I had it with sausage.   A little spicier than before but, again, so good.

Weight Gain – check!

Büyükada

At noon we caught our 90 minute ferry to the Princes’ Islands.   The price?   An amazing $4.

The islands consist of a grouping of 9 different islands with Büyükada being the biggest and, not surprisingly, the most visited.

By 1:30 we had reached Büyükada and were ready to tackle to island.

For the first time in our time in Istanbul, there was literally no cloud cover today which meant the sun was beaming down brightly on us.

I’ve been pretty meticulous about putting on suntan lotion and staying hydrated, are so far so good – no crazy sunburns and no visits to a clinic for IV fluids.

Success!

Anyway, we quickly got out of the big touristy area right at the ferry port to walk around the island.

You have choices on how to go around the island.   You can walk, rent a bike or ebike, or take a little minibus or scooter.

An uphill climb

We chose to walk cause we really were in no hurry to get from point A to point B.

Outside of the main town area we had just left, the streets were pretty deserted considering this was a tourist destination and it was a Saturday.

I kept playing the game of “find the shade” as we walked down the streets moving from one side of the road to another.

In the end it was hard to find shade and we were sweating bullets as we walked to Luna Park in the center of the island.

The walk there took about 45 minutes and I went through a few bottles of water.

In fact, my water bottle count for this trip is now at 14 bottles.   Yup, I’m keeping track.

Thank God for my water bottle/thermos I bought before the trip.   Easily my best travel purchase I’ve ever made as it keeps the water ice cold for many, many hours.

From Luna Park, which is really more of parking lot than an actual park, was our next challenge.

A grueling 1km walk up a steep, cobbled stoned pathway to the mountain top of the island.

It took a good half hour, if not more, to climb to the top and by the time we got there we were both drenched in sweat.

Our reward, however, was amazing.

The view from atop the mountain to the water around and the Asian side of Istanbul on the mainland was spectacular.

Weight Loss – check!

Lunch

There’s a cool little restaurant on the mountain top as well that we sat down at for lunch.

I decided to opt for a lighter lunch since I knew I’d being doing a proper dinner later on at the amazing place we had gone to last night.

For lunch I had Shepherd’s salad, eggplant with yogurt, and a plate of watermelon.

Now, I couldn’t tell from the photo on the menu what exactly the Shepherd’s salad was but I imagined it to be some weird cold concoction of mashed potato, meat, and vegetables.

Yeah, it was none of that.

It was literally a tomato, onion, and cucumber salad in and oil dressing.

Weight Gain – check!

Dinner

After a much easier walk back into town, albeit still sweaty, we arrived just in time for the 5:30 ferry back to Istanbul.

At 7pm we arrived back in Üsküdar to visit my favorite Turkish restaurant for dinner.

As we entered, I made eye contact with Mustafa, our friendly waiter from last night, and he waved us in to a table in his section.

I had already screenshotted the menu pictures of the items I wanted for dinner so I only had to scroll through my screenshots to show him what I wanted to order.

Sadly alot of those items I showed him were met with a response of “finished” meaning they had already run out of what I wanted.

No worries, though, the main dish I wanted, kebab with tomato sauce and yogurt was still available so I got that.

I had planned on getting a couple side dishes and a dessert as well, but, whatever, it was still an amazing meal again.

Weight Gain – check!

Around 8:00 we were heading back to the hostel and after quickly picking up my laundry from the guy down the street, we were back by 9:00

Nathan headed out to see Hagia Sofia while I decided to take a much needed shower and relax.

My relaxation was temporarily halted thanks to me slipping on the wet floor in the bathroom and slammed my wrist and elbow onto the floor.

A couple bandaids later, however, I was fine.   Just another adventure, ya know?

So, yeah, today I probably lost a bunch of weight but, then again, I probably gained it all back, so in the end, it all evened out…