We arrived at the ferry station in plenty of time in order to guarantee we'd get tickets. After purchasing our tickets, we waited in the beautifully landscaped outdoor garden until it was time to leave:
I drank a little flavored water:
Boarding the ferry:
It was full. Everyone had assigned seats, which confused many, many people. Luckily we were able to figure this out from the ticket and quickly found our seats.
The trip took a little over an hour, so we went outside for a while:
Arriving at Yalova:
Our next step was to find the right dolmus to take us to Termal.
The procedure went much more smoothly than anticipated. Here I am, in the minivan:
Once at Termal, we had to decide which of the baths to go to. We decided on Sultan Banyo.
Brian filled the tub up with hot water:
Then he ran some cold water to counteract the extreme heat in the room:
Once finished, we looked at the map to plan the rest of our day:
Even on the Asian side of Turkey, stray cats are everywhere!
We had lunch:
Reenergized, we walked around the town, through parks, and visiting some natural hot springs: 
Right after taking this picture, which includes a giant pipe, I hit my head on the pipe as I was looking down at my feet to make sure I didn't slip! Luckily, no major damage was done -- just a slight headache.
Some foul-smelling steam, supposedly with healing properties, emerged from this stone structure. I was not as into immersing myself in it as Brian was, that's for sure:
More hiking:
He's almost camouflaged:
When we first saw this steamy area, we weren't sure how to use it.Joking around; only partly in bad taste:
And then using it as we believe they were intended: 
We did a bit more relaxing:
Our view from that angle:
We took a dolmus back to Yalova in order to buy our tickets and catch the ferry. It's a good thing we got there a bit early, as tickets were selling quickly. I don't know what we would have done if we would have missed our way back to Istanbul! At the time we took this picture, there were only 9 seats left:
Back in Istanbul: 
We ate dinner at Dubb, and Indian restaurant highly recommended by our guidebook, and specially mentioned for their vegetarian selections. The meal was delicious!
And so was the view (that's the Hagia Sophia):
Only one full day left in Istanbul, we returned to our hotel.
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