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istanbul is a city with a population of 15 million that straddles the east and west. the european side of the city has most of the touristy sites whereas the asian part is mostly residential. while the two parts of the city are connected by two bridges, many of the people travel on ferries and on boat taxis, like the one in the picture.

in the background of the picture, you can see the density of the city. there are very few trees, aside from those along the water. apartment buildings dominate the city.

yesterday, we were so tired from all the walking we did that we decided to take a boat ride along the bosphorous. it took us all the way to the opening of the black sea. as we headed out istanbul, we noticed much more green spaces and trees. we saw many mansions and palaces along the shore. what suprised me the most was that the bosphorous was very polluted. one could see tons of garbage just floating along. it is actually not recommended to swim in the bospohorous although we saw a couple of kids swimming along the shore. we also got lucky and saw two dolphins swimming toward the black sea. who knew there were dolphins in this part of the world!

after a four hour cruise, we were hungry! we found a nice vegetarian restaurant. after a week of eating meat, it was a welcome change. tomorrow at 4 am we head back to montreal for a pit stop on the way to ireland!!! stay posted for more.