Today we participated in the Fun Run portion of the Istanbul Marathon. The annual marathon is the only day all year when pedestrians are allowed to cross the Bosporus Bridge and travel by foot from Asia to Europe. After getting up early and taking a taxi, metro and a bus, we finally made it to the starting line along with thousands of other people.
The vendors were out in force selling everything from water to sandwiches to scarfs and there were free Turkish flags for everyone. The run was unlike anything we have ever seen with some women wearing burkas, some men wearing leather jackets and still others wearing high heels. Once the race started, it was a struggle to run or even jog given all the people, but we had a good time anyways and were fortunate to get some amazing views from the bridge as we made our way across. Some people even sat down on the bridge and had a snack and some tea to celebrate their "run." Christa lead the way with her flag covered backpack as you can see from the pictures.
After we crossed the bridge we decided to cut the run short - not so much because we did not want to run anymore, but because we were not looking forward to the big crowd at the finish and the struggle to get transportation back to our place. Instead we headed down the hill and went to breakfast in Ortakoy. We were rewarded with hot tea and coffee and menemen at our favorite place in town. Ultimately our 10K wound up being something more like a 5K, but it was still a lot of fun. Enjoy the pics..
The vendors were out in force selling everything from water to sandwiches to scarfs and there were free Turkish flags for everyone. The run was unlike anything we have ever seen with some women wearing burkas, some men wearing leather jackets and still others wearing high heels. Once the race started, it was a struggle to run or even jog given all the people, but we had a good time anyways and were fortunate to get some amazing views from the bridge as we made our way across. Some people even sat down on the bridge and had a snack and some tea to celebrate their "run." Christa lead the way with her flag covered backpack as you can see from the pictures.
After we crossed the bridge we decided to cut the run short - not so much because we did not want to run anymore, but because we were not looking forward to the big crowd at the finish and the struggle to get transportation back to our place. Instead we headed down the hill and went to breakfast in Ortakoy. We were rewarded with hot tea and coffee and menemen at our favorite place in town. Ultimately our 10K wound up being something more like a 5K, but it was still a lot of fun. Enjoy the pics..