After a wonderful night’s sleep in comfy beds, rather than airplane seats, we all awoke refreshed. Today’s plan started with a drive to the Bebek area on the European side of the Bosporus. Once the cars were left in the hands of the valet (parking is quite a challenge here) we walked a short way to a wonderful riverside restaurant called Divan. It was our introduction to a full Turkish breakfast. It was astounding to see the incredible amount of food that was brought to the tables, one delicious dish after another. The breads and cheeses alone were terrific but all the other dishes were equally so. Many cups of tea later we were brought our choice of egg dishes, I don’t know what mine was called- it was a mix sort of like soft scrambled eggs with tomato and cheese. Yum! We ended the meal stuffed but managed to try a cup of Turkish coffee to finish it off. May be the only cup I consume. Dark, thick, unfiltered. Even for this coffee lover it was a bit much.

Fortunately we had a chance to walk off some of the large meal as we walked along the river heading to the next adventure. The weather was perfect for it – warm and sunny. Lots of people out enjoying the day as we headed to the boat that Gözde hired for us. We all climbed aboard, made ourselves comfortable and began a two hour sail up and back along both sides of the river. What sights! The European side had mostly apartments but also an amazing fortress, the Remeli fortress from the Ottoman era, dating to 1452. Once we crossed the river to the Asian side the waterfront had more houses along with a smaller fortress. We were able to also glimpse the palace on that hillside where our hosts were married as well as the Maiden’s tower from the Byzantine period. After a wonderful sunny, wind blown time we descended back along the quay.

Once ashore it was time for our group to split up, with Emrah taking his son and the nanny home while the rest of us headed to the Galata Port. There we roamed around, poked into shops, had lunch and ended up at Güllüoglu, a baklava shop which Gõzde claimed was the number one baklava shop in the city. She insisted on buying a box of multiple kinds for us to savor. I can honestly say I’ve never had better.

By then it was time to head to our evening show. Gözde showed us how to take the tram from the port, across the river to the small theater. For this event it was solely Jayne, Josie and me. We safely navigated the tram then alighted at the designated stop. The area was teeming with people. It was a life risking deal just to cross the street! But we managed and wandered for a bit before Showtime. Now this was something I’d read about for years in novels so I wanted to see it for myself – a Whirling Dervish performance. Well, we were seated in a round theater, with seats encircling about 3/4 of it with a stage for 6 musicians in the remainder. The musicians played drums, a keyboard of sorts, a stringed guitar and an ancient flute, along with two singers. Eventually 5 men came out to perform. At least half of the time they spent bowing, to each other and a floor mat. The rest of the time they did dance in swirling motions, but it was the same thing over and over. While we felt culturally enlightened it wasn’t our favorite thing. Alas, authors made it sound more intriguing.

Afterwards we were tired so we ordered an Uber to return us to our delightful hosts.