Transportation pioneers!

I may have to rename this blog to reflect its emphasis on getting around in Istanbul, but aside from teaching, transportation dominates my existence here. So, in October the Marmaray train connecting Europe and Asia through a tunnel under the Bosphorus was completed. For us, though, the closest Marmaray station wasn't particularly easy to get to, so we hadn't tried it yet. Yesterday, however, a long-awaited extension on the subway line that we use was opened--and it goes to the Marmaray train. Since we had plans to meet friends on the Asian side, we took advantage of this new connection (from Hacıosman to Yenikapı in Europe and then from Ayrılık Çeşme to Kadıköy in Asia.)

Click here for a bigger view of this map and more info

They hadn't recorded all of the automated announcements for the new stops, and one station wasn't even open yet. There's a bridge over the Golden Horn, which is the only above ground section, and we joined in the gawking out the windows with the rest of the passengers as we crossed over.
Of course, the governing party is gloating over this project, and hoping people dismiss protests against destruction of green space and government corruption as anti-progress. Also, the subway bridge over the Golden Horn is a special kind of ugly, which you can see in this recent post of the blog, The Istanbulian.
On the way home, though, we took the familiar two mini-buses and a taxi because the subway goes to sleep by midnight.