Heading home tomorrow....

Yesterday (Sunday) dawned bright and clear (as usual) and so I wanted to go on an all-day boat trip on the Bosphorus.  I went down to the boat docks and bought a ticket for 25 TL (about $US12.50) for a very pleasant 95-minute ride on a large passenger sightseeing boat that traveled up towards the Black Sea to the north.   Along the way, we stopped at several small towns before finally arriving at A.Kavagi, a thoroughly delightful little tourist village with many seaside restaurants specializing in fish dishes of every sort.  The boat stayed there about 2.5 hours so everyone had plenty of time for lunch and shopping.   Looking northward, we could see that the Turks were beginning to construct their third suspension bridge connecting Asia to Europe just before the land widened into the Black Sea.   On the way back, I snapped a nice picture of the sun setting just behind the Suleymaniye Mosque.   Monday will be dedicated to shopping, packing and resting up for the long flight home.  By the time I arrive back to the lake, I probably will have been up for almost 30 hours.  All in all, it's really been a fantastic trip, and I'm looking forward to the next time that I'll be a "stranger in a strange land."