We went for a stroll today, looping around the historic penninsula along a newly opened walkway. To reach the walkway one had to go through the most congested and unpleasant bits at Eminonu, shuffle through one underground chokepoint where an elderly woman used her very large belly like a bludgeon, knocking me out of her way.
The new park bit at Sarayburnu is nice, though very manicured, and there was a freezing wind blowing from the Black Sea. I was in sandels and wore a light linen hoodie, while the GF wore only a linen t-shirt and had brought an iced coffee. So we froze for a bit, and then walked on. It became less manicured and there were pretty little metal piers have been built, jutting over the rocks for the fishermen, and lots of Mediterranean flowers.
As we turned around the penninsula towards the Marmara sea the wind was blocked off and though it wasn’t warm exactly, it was bearable. And in the sun, just off the coast were dozens of dolphins leaping out of the water singly and in pairs. It was an astonishing sight, so close by, and we stoof watching for about 20 minutes until they went further on.
A shame about the huge road that also loops around the penninsula, a relic of the car-focused demolitions of the 60s, but maybe one day it’ll disappear too, like the train line that’s been turned into a tramline with a walking/cycling path next to it. We walked down the walking path and then looped off to Yenikapi for the metro back, but decided to stay on to Taksim and go for some lamb chops. They were superb, some of the best I’ve ever had, but the only table available was outside and though they gave us blankets, it was incredibly cold.