Europe – 2015 – Day 4

Sunday in Istanbul – we decided to sleep in so we met Jeff and Vera at 11:30am in the lobby and went to a Synagogue with them.  When we arrived at the Synagogue, it was closed for a private party.  Interesting, the entire block was blocked off for most traffic and there were armed security people at three different stations as we approached the Synagogue.  At the Synagogue, there were another 4 security people there.  They told us that it was a private wedding and we could not go inside so we left and will go back tomorrow after we board the ship as the ship doesn’t leave until11:00pm.

After that we headed to the oldest Turkish bath house called the Ayasofya Hurrem Sultan Hamam, dating back to the 1500’s for a Turkish bath, massage and when we got there, we found out that they had no room for us.  So, we made a reservation for the day we get back – should be fun.

We walked back a couple of block to a small, very long street almost totally filled with restaurants and found one that had great food.  Again, we ate all kinds of food for lunch, including octopus!

After that, we took a cab ride to the biggest palace and it was called Dolmabance.  It had been used by Sultans (the rulers of Turkey for many years and was also used by a couple of the Presidents when they stopped being governed by a Sultan.  It was amazing – everywhere you looked it was gold, gold and more gold.

Then we split up with Vera and Jeff.  They went back to nap and we took a cab to see the largest Mosque in Istanbul.  After almost being ripped off by the cab driver you tried to short change us, we had to walk up this huge hill to get to the Mosque and we found out that it was closed.  

We found a cab down and had it take us to the big shopping street that we had been to a couple of days ago but it started raining so we took a cab back to the hotel, and had an hour before meeting Jeff and Vera at 8:30pm to go to dinner.

Dinner in an area called the fish market; however, we never did see the fish market but there certainly were a lot of little small restaurants.  We picked out one we thought we would like and did we have great service and great food, including octopus, anchovies, 4 other appetizers, then sea bass and lamb meat balls.  It was fun once again sharing our food with Jeff and Vera.

Then we took a cab back to the hotel and once again sat in the lounge until it closed at midnight.

It was a memorable day.  Tomorrow we are picked up at the hotel and taken to the ship at 11:00am so we will probably sleep in for a little and then get ready to go.  It is going to be a fun cruise.

Night from Istanbul

The Synagogue

 

Lunch at the Babyonia on the corner

A great lunch

 

Jeff and Vera at lunch with us

 

The front door of the palace - it has 68 bathrooms, 254 rooms and is huge

 

Ariel view of the biggest Mosque in Instanbul

 

Lamb on a spit - it was good

The start of our evening meal

At diner

Sea Bass

 



Europe – 2015 – Day 1 – 3

 

We left Bloomington at Noon to drive to Chicago for our flight to Turkey, the first leg being to London.

We had great seats and the flight took 8 hours.  They served us dinner and breakfast and we arrived in London almost right on time.  After getting through Customs, we met up with our friends from New York, Jeff and Vera who had been in London for a couple of day.

The 4 hour flight to Istanbul was uneventful and we had 2-across exit seats with lots of leg room.  I think that we slept most of the way.

Going through Customs was a breeze, but we had to wait a little bit for our car as there was a mix-up on times, but it was no big deal.

Then came the cab ride at rush hour –it took us 2 hours to get to the hotel!

After checking in, we took a cab to this major pedestrian street called Istikal Ave and it was fun.

It is a mile long closed off street with nothing but tons of people, places to eat and places to shop in.

We found a wonderful little restaurant on a side street and ordered most of the fish plates that was on the menu.  The best was the main course of Mediterranean Sea Bass – wow was it delicious.

After eating, we continued to walk around until taking a cab back and crashing for the night.

We are 8 hour earlier so we woke up to the news that the Cubs had lost the first game of the series with the Cardinals – oh well there is always next . . . .

In the morning, we went to the Executive Lounge to eat and had a great (free) breakfast before meeting Jeff and Vera at 9:45am to a taxi ride to our first major event of the day, a boat ride on the Bosporus, which is the huge waterway that separates Europe from Asia and the two sides of Turkey.  We had to wait for the right boat so we ate right on the Bosporus from a boat that was cooking fresh fish and serving it on a great roll, right on the docks.  I walked to the tour boat eating the sandwich.  It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun on the boat trip which took 1 ½ hours.

Then we took a hop on – hop – off bus tour of the city and it was very neat, taking us also to the Asia side of Istanbul.  We found out that Istanbul is the 2^nd largest city in population within the city limits in the world behind Shanghai. Then it was back to the hotel for a quick nap before going out for the evening.

The streets were absolutely jammed and we knew we never make the Dance Theater we were scheduled to go to so we took the subway and made it in plenty of time.

We went to see “The SEMA Ceremony which is a spiritual journey of Dervishes Whirling for Divine Love” and in a 550 year building. It is actually a religious dance still apparently practiced by some today.  No way to describe the dance that we saw unless you go to their website.

Then we took the ferry to the Asian side to look for a place to eat and finding nothing close to the ferry stop, we went back over to the European side and had a fish dinner at a restaurant under a major bridge.  It wasn’t as good as last night, but it was fine.

Then it was back to the hotel and we sat in the lounge sipping a little wine before going to be after midnight.

It has been a fun start to our vacation.

First Course

Main Course - Sea Base

The view from one of our windows

A mansion on the river

A fish sandwich right from a river barge

Barb with the fish sandwich

A beautiful Mosque - one of many

Spring 2015 - Day 10

Today is the last full day of our cruise and we are in St. Thomas.   We have been so blessed to travel a lot and enjoy places in the world that others only dream about.  St.Thomas has always been one of our favorite islands – with store owners we knew and neat places to shop for jewelry for both of us

Today however, we are not even going into town as we were just there and really don’t need or want anything!!

For years we have passed by a butterfly farm on the way into town and it is only a short walk from the port so that is where we headed first.

After the butterfly farm, we walked back to port and through the shops that had been built for the cruise ships.  Then it was back to the ship and lunch with our friends at12:30pm.

The rest of the day you probably know by now but we will tell it anyway!!

After lunch we went up onto the deck to sit out in the sun for the last time for this cruise.  Barb has really, really gotten a tan.  Ed’s tan is less in the face because of the medicine he was taken made his skin sensitive to the sun.

After the sun we came back to the cabin and started to pack and then took a nap.

After our nap, we walked around the ship looking at the shops on the ship which we had not even gone into during this cruise.

Then we went to see the show in the theater which was a good production number with the cast of the ship.

Our last dinner was fun and a little sad, but we know we will see all of our tablemates again on a future cruise as we have already made plans.  Barbara and David had asked the chef to make special bread and also two pastries for a Jewish tradition and he was planning on doing it yesterday, but didn’t have all the ingredients.  Today he sent someone to the store and he made the bread and pastries just for our table – what a treat.

After dinner of course we went to the casino where Barb won and Ed lost.  The great news is that for the cruise we were both up nicely, the weather was great and we made new friends.

We will be home tomorrow and are looking forward to spring with our families and our new puppy.

Tomorrow is San Juan and we will go to the Marriott for a few hours and then go to the airport for the plane home, arriving in Bloomington on Delta at 9:43pm.

Night



The Butterfly Farm

 

 

Beautiful



Just landed



The pool deck



Almost packed!

 

Spring – 2015 – Day 9

Our first and only day at sea on the way to St. Thomas. 

Ed woke up early at 9:00am to go up on the deck and save some lounge chairs and then eat.  Barb followed at 9:30am and we stayed in the sun until Noon.  We have had some wonderful sun days and Barb of course has a great tan.

Then we met our friends on the back of the ship for lunch.

After that it was time for the slot tournament where both of us qualified for the final.  Ed came in third and won our entry fees back.

 

While waiting for the blackjack tournament we entered the no-cost craps tournament and didn't win anything.

Then Ed played in the blackjack tournament and was leading going into the last hand.  He had to bet first and needed not a 4,5,6,7,or 8 to win; however, he busted and our friend Tim won.

After the tournaments while Barb played slots, Ed booked our Oct 2016 cruise from Hong Kong to Singapore, including Vietnam and Thailand and boarding October 30.  It should be a fun cruise.

So the cruises that we have booked are:

Oct – Turkey, Croatia and the Greek Islands
Jan – South America – Buenos Aires, Argentina to Valparaiso, Chile
Mch – Ft. Lauderdale to Columbia, South America and back
Oct - Asia – Hong Kong to Singapore

Barb did well at slots in the afternoon and then it was time for a nap.

After our nap, we dressed for our second formal night and went to the theater to see a comedian who was funny but not great and we had seen him before.

We sat with Tim and Barb people watching and then went to dinner.

Dinner was good and we had to leave before desert as they were have a drawing in the casino.

After the drawing which was very good, we all went up to the casino for their big $1,000 give-a-way drawing.  None of us won anything.  Then we gambled where Ed broke even and Barb hit a small jackpot.

The great news is no matter what happens tomorrow night, our last night on the ship we will come out ahead in the casino!!

Tomorrow is our final stop – St. Thomas and we are not sure what we are going to do except first sleep late.  We will tell you tomorrow.

 

Night

Barb at Craps

 

Carla - our very special Pit Boss

Going out for our second formal night

Spring 2015 - Day 8

We are now in Grenada which is a very small island and not many cruise ships stop here – about 9 a month.  Grenada is called the “Spice Island” because of all spicy products they produce.  They produce cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and many more spices.

Once again, after a late night, we woke up late and finally left the ship at 10:00am and walked down the pier into town.  Town is very, very tiny so it didn’t take long for us to finish walking around and we came back through the port shops and went to the ship.

We met our friends on the back of the ship outside at 12:30pm and had lunch and just talked until time to go up on the deck and get some sun.

After a couple of hours in the hot sun, we came in and napped – we are in such a rut!!!

After our nap, we walked around the ship and booked a cruise for next October, a 10 day one that goes from Ft.Lauderdale to Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba with an overnight in Curacao.  We will do this trip instead of going to Europe or Asia in2016 as there are no new itineraries for us to try.

We then went to the 7:00pm show and after that people watched until it was time for dinner.

Dinner was again with all ten of us and they gave us a new table on the first floor and the service was terrific.  We have asked for that table for the next two nights also.

Then it was time for the casino where Barb and Ed were both down, just a little.

Tomorrow we will also sleep late as we have a sea day before stopping at our last island, St. Thomas.

 

Night

Ready to go out in the morning

 



The island and the smaller harbor



A trip around the island



Food stand!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring 2015 - Day 7

It is the island of Dominica today.  Dominica is a very little island and when we were here before, carnival was going on.  Today it is just a little peaceful island with just our cruise ship in port.

After the very long night last night, we woke up and left the ship at 10:00am.

The town is a nice little town and it had a lot of tent type souvenir stands.  This is one of the few ports where there was not a made for the tourists buildings right at the end of the dock so it was fun going into town.

For lunch we found a local restaurant and had their stew, consisting of pork, rice and beans, plantains, breadfruit and coleslaw and it was very good.

As we were heading back to the ship around noon it started to rain so we sat inside a shop for 10 minutes while it cleared up. 

Then we went back to the ship and sat inside with our friends for about an hour before it cleared up and of course we then went to the pool deck to sit in the sun.

We all talked about what cruise we would take next March for our “Blackjack Reunion” cruise and we settled on an 11 night cruise starting February 22 from Ft. Lauderdale that goes all the way to Columbia, South America – so we booked it.

After our nap, we got ready for the evening and went to the show in the theater that we had seen last cruise.  It was one of the best magicians that we had ever seen.

Dinner in the main dining room was with everyone and it was a typical dinner but tonight they had corrected the service problem that we had experience two nights ago.

Then it was to the casino where Barb lost a little and Ed had a great run and we left the casino at 1:00am after playing two hours.

Tomorrow is Grenada so night from the ocean.



Night

The town from our ship

 

Downtown

 

Yes - this is a local real bar!!

 

Lunch at Pearl's

 

 

Spring – 2015 – Day 6

 

After a very late night, we woke up at 8:00am when the Captain made the announcement that the ship was ready to disembark guests at St. Kitts – we went back to sleep.

St. Kitts is a very small island with lots of dormant volcanoes, pink beaches and gorgeous green hills.  As we have been here a number of times, there was nothing that we wanted to see and instead of going to a beach, we decided to just sit in the sun on the ship.

We finally made if off the ship at 10:00am and walked into town, stopping at tourists shops along the way.   We found nothing that we wanted to see so we came back from town and did a little shopping in the stands leading to the ship.

Barb bought some earrings and Ed a shirt and we were back on board at Noon.

We ate lunch with our black jack group outside on the back of the ship and sat around and talked for a couple of hours.

Then it was back to the cabin to change to sit out on the deck and work on our tans.

Ed came back to the cabin early to work on a web site he needed to finish and then went down to the future cruise sailing desk to see what was going to be new in 2016 and 2017.  So far we have a South American cruise booked for January of 2016.  We are looking to find a cruise for all of our black jack friends to take a year from now.

Nap time was next.

After our naps, we went to the theater to see a trio singing Motown songs and they were very good.

The Casino Manager and our Host had invited us all to dinner in the specialty restaurant so we met them at 8:30pm for a delightful evening meal.

Then it was to the casino where we both did very and finished the evening at 2:00am!!

Tomorrow we arrive at the island of Dominica and we have no plans but to sleep late and simply walk around in the port.

Night for now


Two ships at the dock

 

The clock in the center of town

 

Barb buying earrings