The northern terminus of our Bosphorus cruise ended at the fishing village of Anadolu Kavağı. All along the waterfront were open-air seafood cafes and fishing boats.

We decided to get in a little exercise before lunch, so we immediately headed up the hill to the ruins of the Roman fort called Yoros Castle. It was a good little hike. The lower part of the way up followed a cobblestone road. About halfway, we came upon this sign, telling us this was the “Castle Short Way.” It wasn’t.

The “enterprising” locals steered the tourists off the direct route up to Yoros Castle, (mis)leading them, instead, past several more restaurants. They looked good, but we weren’t interested.

We continued up the hill, past the restaurants…

…to the top. Yoros Castle wasn’t much, as castles go, and I expected a more substantial structure, given its strategic location at the northern end of the Bosphorus Strait.

But it was scenic and the view was magnificent. Here’s a picture looking back down to Anadolu Kavağı through a breach in the wall:

And another, back up toward the castle ruins from the same breach:

We walked out to the promontory and looked across the Bosphorus:

And then found a kind soul to take a picture of the two of us together with the Black Sea as a backdrop:

The weather had cleared nicely for us while we were at Yoros Castle, but we were getting hungry, so we decided to head back down to Anadolu Kavağı for lunch. The rest of the ship’s passengers were just reaching the summit as we departed. We really admired this old gal for her stamina:

Back in town, we tried the local seafood, fried right in front of us: mussels, calamari and Sea Bass. Finger-lickin’ good.

A short walk along the main street before boarding for the return voyage led us past this Turkish flag scene and my lucky number: