Bosporus Cruise and Belly Dancers

Usually I’m only will to hit a certain level of ‘cheesy tourist draw’ before I throw in the towel and head towards a café to read for three hours. I totally crossed that line, though, last time I was in town.

One of the tours I was working to photograph was a “Bosporus Dinner Cruise with Belly Dancers”, and since I was trying to do as many of these tours as possible I thought it would be a decent way to add one extra to the end of a long day (and hey, free dinner!).

It was sooo cheesy. ‘Belly dancers’, belly dancers, a traditional wedding ceremony, and the blandest food I’ve ever had in Turkey. Yet, it was actually a touch of fun.

Istanbul is of course a beautiful city, and I rarely have a bad time watching it flow past from any boat anywhere on the Bosporus. Conveniently, I also happened to ride to the cruise with an awesome Iranian couple that own a wallpaper importing business in Tehran and offered to help me with a visa is I ever wanted to come visit. (So, perhaps more on that front later?) They were pretty taken with the belly dancer, though, so in the end I wandered off to take the photos I was sent on the cruise for in the first place.

So, would I recommend most of my travel buddies spend whatever the outrageous cost to make the trip? Probably not. If I were photographing it again and had a free invite for a friend? Absolutely. Even as a long-term traveler, it was kind of fun to change things up and see how the other half travel.

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I was on this tour as a photographer for GetYourGuide. If you’ve read this and are still keen to go, check out the Istanbul Dinner Cruise with Belly Dancers.