Heybeliada

 

Our team of three needs a nickname. Hyde-emy-sonia? Sounds more like a desperate request for Sonia to hide me. Well ok.

Hydeemysonia went for a trip to Heybeliada, the second largest of the Prince Islands (which for some reason people frequently call in English the "Princes' Islands" ...I thought the possessive was already implied). Anyway, the weather was hot and we wanted to swim. We found a beach but they charged an admission fee, which I talked down to half price. It was worth any price to swim and relax in the sun. Heybeliada, like the other islands, forbid the use of cars. Hence the whole place is very quiet save for the occasional cloppity-clop of horse-drawn carriages tours of the island. Heybeliada struck me as being very similar to Büyükada, which I've been to twice. They both have people fishing and jumping on trampolines at the docks (not the same people, at the same time, obviously). They both have those carriage tours, a large plaza slightly uphill from the docks, flowers everywhere, cafes along the water, a healthy dose of tourism, etc.

We will counter all that relaxation with some crazy European-side adventures this weekend. Count on more pictures and sarcasm from Hyde, as well as some notes from me. We'll develop some of Sonia's pictures and try to post them soon.