Istanbul: crossing cultural bridges

The Outlying Islands ferry is crowded for a Monday afternoon. Schoolchildren race around the upper deck dodging elderly women with shopping trolleys and commuters who have clocked off for the day. Mainland Chinese tourists lean against the rails to photograph the receding city skyline and restless waterborne traffic.

We could be heading to Cheung Chau or Lamma but this is Turkey and I'm bound for the island of Heybeliada, or "Hey Belinda!" as the American tourist sitting next to me pronounces it.

is undergoing a transformation. The economy is booming and, in 2011, the city was described as the fastest growing on Earth. Construction cranes jostle with minarets for aerial supremacy; power dressers bark urgently into mobile phones and the cost of living has reached parity with parts of Western Europe. There was a time when Turkey begged to join the European Union. Now the EU begs Turkey.

In common with Hong Kong, you're never far away from water in Istanbul. Boats relentlessly criss-cross the Bosphorus and the first challenge for a visitor is working out which goes where. Eminönü, Kadıköy and Üsküdar hint at adventure and exotic possibility but those double dots above the vowels make asking for directions to the piers something of a lottery.

Most popular among tourists are the passenger ships that shuttle between Europe and Asia in a matter of minutes. There aren't too many intercontinental ferries left in the world - even fewer that cost only three lira (HK$13).