The weather in Istanbul as we left was beautiful, and the aircraft took off due east, right over the city. After gaining a bit of altitude, we turned north, flew up the Bosphorus and then did a slow sweeping turn to the right to head southeast away from the city. The consequence of this was some fabulous views of the city from the air - many of the places we visited, some we wished we had, even a look back a the airport!
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| Climbing out, we see the new racetrack being built on the west side of the city. | A great look at the City Walls, Yedikule is near the sea side of the walls. | |
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| A good view of the "old" part of Istanbul. Tokapi Palace in the top left, Haghia Sophia and the Blue Mosque to the right of it. The large green space near the middle is the Istanbul University. | A great view of Taksim Square, where we had gone to dinner the night before. | |
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| The Dolmabache Palace on the shores of the Bosphorus in the centre of the photo. | Over the Asian Side of Istanbul. | |
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| A look back along the Bosphorus, the old part of Istanbul ahead. | A look across the Asian side, the Bosphorus and "old" Istanbul. In the distance you can see Atatürk airport, where we had just left from. | |
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| As the aircraft turns to the southeast, we get another look at the Asian side... | And finally pass over the coast to the Marmara Sea. Below us are the Princes islands, one place we would have visited with a bit more time... |
The flight took us across Turkey, over Ismir and other parts we'll have to explore on our next visit.