Büyükada Island

İyi Bayramlar! ((Happy Bayram!))

Yesterday, a group of us inbounds went to explore Büyükada Island! It's the largest island of the group with many tourist attractions and beautiful landscapes. We met at Starbucks in Kadiköy and then went on our way to the ferry. {{ Side story, the night before we went to Büyükada Hana, the inbound from Nebraska, slept over at my house because she didn't want to get lost in the morning trying to find the ferry since she had never been to Kadiköy before. So we arrived to Kadiköy around 8am to explore before we had to meet up with everyone. We got breakfast, stumbled upon a secret street of beautiful antique shops, and practiced our Turkish with random locals. Here are some pictures: }}

Just sayin' but if I had a Horcrux (Harry Potter reference), here is where I'd hide it. 

Hana

Breakfast at a cafe, then back to the antique shops! 

By this time, it was getting close to when we had to meet the others, so we got a small Turkish pizza, called Pida, to go and started for Starbucks. We went to the ferry with our group of 6 (we were meeting the 2 boys at the island) and started the hour and 10 minute ride to the island. Here are some pictures from the boat ride: 

Daffne, Julia, Hana, and Gabi

Look, another boat! 

One of the smaller islands we passed on the way

Me, Hana, Gabi, Camila, and Julia

We made it to Büyükada, Yay!

"Jumping for Joy" that we made it to the island! 

Group picture (minus the boys) 

So we waited around for maybe 30 minutes, then the boys' ferry arrived. Let the adventure begin! 

How picturesque is this place? Every Photographer's dream! 

Also, there are no cars allowed on the island. Bikes and horse carriages only! 

Okay, I might be a little obsessed with these purple flowers...

Some horses

More horses

Beautiful display of fruits/vegetables 

Daffne & Gabi with the owner of the resturant we are lunch at

Island map

Gorgeous view 

Town picture

Walking 

Harbor

One of the many boats we saw at the harbor

So much Baklava, I can hardly resist buying some! 

After we explored the town for a while, we heard about a really old Greek monestary on the other side of the island that was worth seeing. So we all rented bikes. And started towards the monestary! Here are pictures of the biking adventure: 

So many awkward candids of me... Thanks Luis. (( Here is his blog if you want to look at it. He has the most pictures from the adventure. mexicaninturkey.blogspot.com ))

Julia, Luis, and I

Julia

Sebastian (my host cousin who also is an inbound) and Gabi 

Camila

A few of the bikes 

Okay, the bike ride to the top of this mountain was excruciatingly exhausting. We biked 8 kilometers uphill on a rough, steep stone path. Once we got to the top, everyone was basically dead until we saw the gorgeous view.

Look at this view! 

So worth the bike ride

The actual monestary we came to see

Panorama 

Our group

Once we were finished seeing everything at the top, we realized that the ride down would be even more dangerous, since the path was so steep. I held my brakes the entire time, and even with that, I was flying down the hill. The breeze made me feel like I was flying. Only one person fell, so I consider that a success! 

Me, Luis, and Hana representing Turkey at the bottom of the mountain. 

Afterwards, we returned the bikes and took the ferry home. Such a fun day with all the Inbounds! Can't wait to go back soon with all of those who couldn't be there :) 

Xoxo, Maggie