Istanbul's Lucky Commuters Enjoy The Bosphorus By Ferry

A little after eight o'clock in the morning, crowds of young professionals and older men in knit hats bundle down the docks at the edge of Istanbul's Kadıköy district and watch similar herds of busy gulls swirling across the Bosphorus, obscuring the panoramic view of the Byzantine city walls and the Hagia Sophia. Istanbulis don't queue, but they don't jostle either. When the gates finally open, they board the commuter ferries with amiable efficiency, holding their briefcases to their chests and casually minding the expanding and contracting gap between hull and dock.
Deckhands stand by to help everyone aboard. Only a few elderly tourists reach for their rope-hardened hands. The trip from Asia to Europe is, despite the staggering views on offer, a routine commute for the thousands of locals who live in eastern Istanbul's patchwork of bohemian and bourgeois neighborhoods and work in Sultanahmet, the city's arrhythmatic Ottoman heart, or Beyoğlu, the more student-dominated peninsula just to the north.
There is a casual familiarity among the passengers. Boats are unlike subways in much the same way cocktail bars are unlike food courts. People talk about their families and admire each other's leather coats.
If commutes are the ellipses bookending the workday, then this literal sail to Byzantium is lowercase and bold, casual and striking. This is how Istanbul's hungry young capitalists get to work and, with the economy booming, there is a palpable feeling of nervous purposefulness on board. Turkey has been through enough rough waters that Istanbul's current fortune -- especially when contrasted with European chaos -- can seem delicate. The professionals on board are all invested in their city's modernity and relevance.