Swept away

Always expect the unexpected - Saturday, travel day. So I left early for my train to Ankara, in case e.g. the ferry skipped one service or was delayed or something.

Got on my tram, one stop before my stop there was an announcement in Turkish and most of the people got off. Slightly worried. However the tram finally continued and I got to the harbour.

However when I arrived at the harbour, there was no pier! Slightly more than slightly worried. I had just been there the previous evening checking the schedule and there had definitely been a pier! So where could a 100m long pier with a two-story building on it complete with sweet shops, vending machines, ticket sales and huge waiting hall go overnight? Now there were just some bent railings and police tape fluttering in the wind... Wait, what's that low, barnacle covered pontoon in the water with boats buzzing round? Yup, the whole thing had ripped clear of its moorings in the strong winds this morning and turned belly up. I sincerely hope that the process was gradual and all the people got clear before the turtle turn! The picture above shows the new, aerodynamic look of the pier - the long black thing lying in the water to the left of the red salvage vessle isn't the harbor, it's the pier (the pier is dead, long live the pier).

Sooo, Sherlock. Some quick thinking was needed - I could see the train station, mentally I could see the smoke already puffing out of the Ankara-engine as it revvied to go... but the darned station was on the other side of the water, where even a taxi would have a hard time reaching in time - trafic being what it is in Istanbul and the closest bridges being far away.

Finally managed to get on some kind of water bus thingy leaving 300meters up the bay, which claimed to be going to Hayderpasa train station. However the water bust went just 200 meters in the wrong direction to another pier, there was an announcement in Turkish and everyone got off. (see a pattern emerging here?)

Ok, so a third ferry and finally I made it. Unexpectedly.