Aug 24, 2011 | Princes' Islands

Teaching hours fell off sharply this summer—many Turks lose their enthusiasm for learning English when the weather is 35C and they're fasting for Ramazan. Lack of income meant I couldn't join the party on the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts, so I spent several weekends having a poor-man's holiday on the Princes' Islands, located in the Marmara Sea only a 45-minute ferry ride from Istanbul. The four biggest islands are inhabited, but cars aren't allowed, so it's possible to walk along the roads without getting mowed down. Everyone seems to have their favorite island, and mine is Kinaliada—a Turkish Sausalito minus the overpriced boutiques, swank bistros, and pretentious galleries. Winter must be a drag on these windswept rocks, but the summers are a bargain hunter's paradise.