Day Trip to the Trout Farm

Yesterday our family took a drive almost 2 hours outside of Istanbul to a freshwater trout farm in the mountains between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara.

On the highway, we drove under a McDonald's. Yup, under-- this McDonald's has buildings on both sides of the highway (I guess in order to get business from both directions of traffic), with the dining room on a bridge across the highway. Pretty impressive.

Once we got up onto the mountain roads, we passed a beekeeper who said he is also the Imam (Muslim leader) for his area:

(Ethan was SO excited, because we just studied bees, pollen, nectar, and how honey is made in school a little over a week ago!)

Street life in the village we drove through was decidedly more conservative than in Istanbul, with almost all of the women we saw covered in either scarves or burqas. However, the younger generation largely wasn't buying into the conservative dress of their elders.

We passed school aged children climbing trees to pick fruit, an elderly couple enjoying a quiet dinner out in their garden, and bought some incredible bread at a bakery that we devoured on the drive home.

And here's some of the beautiful view we enjoyed on the way home:

What a great day for a trip to the mountains!