Day 13

We first went to breakfast overlooking the Bosphorus Strait as and as usual in a foreign country, lots of healthy choices.  There will be a video in the Video Page on the Blog that I will post towards the end of the trip.

After breakfast, the hotel arranged to a reliable, fixed price taxi to the famous Grand Bazaar which is the largest and oldest shopping center in Istanbul, founded during the Ottoman Empire.

Words cannot describe the maze of tiny walkways with so many shops.  See the pictures of the map of the Bazaar below. 

After that we took a tram abut 30 minutes to the base of this huge bridge.  We walked over the bridge and then along the waterway to get to our boat which was to take us on a 3-hour cruise along the Bosphorus Strait which is a waterway dividing Europe and Asia.  It is interesting in that Istanbul is on both sides of the strait so you could live in Istanbul and be in one of two countries!

After the tour, we walked to our hotel as it was only a 30 minute and was that a huge, huge mistake as the last part of the walk was up the steepest hill we have ever walked.  WE must have stopped 12 time to make it to the top and our hotel.

A fun day – hope you enjoy the pictures and later on some videos that we will post.

Night from Istanbul

          That's 7,508 Turkish Lira wqual to $179.00 - that's a wad of paper money to carry around!

                                                 Traffic on the street below our window

                                                 One of the several entrances to the Grand Bazaar

                                                           Candy and spices

                                                               Yes she bought it

                                                          Just one of many corridors

                                                                  Lunch - A Kabab not Shish Kabab

                                                    Part of the Blue Mosque

                                                         Riding the train

                                                  Fishermen on the bridge, fishing for Sardines

                                                                        On the boat

                                                              Serving us a snack on the boat

                                                       The were very good

    Just one of many Mosques - undeer the main dome, the men can go in pray, but the women pray in a side room

                                         One of the smaller palaces

                                           More food on the boat - they even provided blankets!

                                                            The famous Blue Mosque

                                                            The Grand Bazaar

Day 12

Since we arrived in Istanbul last night, we just had to decided what time we wanted to get off the ship and we choose 9:30am.

We had packed our big suitcases and left them outside our room last night so we just needed to eat breakfast and pack our carry-on bags.  The goal was to pack our carry-ons with our clothes for the rest of the trip.

Our Butler met us at our room and took our carry-ons off the ship with us following.  The distance from the ship to our waiting car was probably a full block, maybe more before we got to where our car was to pick us up.

We checked into our hotel and it was a disaster to say the least!!  Ed had researched the hotel through a company we had used before to book small boutique hotels and hey have been great– this was not.

While Ed researched to find a Marriott Hotel close, Barb went out on the grungy balcony and saw 3 hotels close.

So, we walked to the first one and they were full.  The referred to the second one and they had rooms which we looked at first.  The room was perfect and the cost was reasonable.

After checking in and unpacking, we started walking towards our meeting point for a 3-hour walking food tour.

It was probably the best food tour that we have ever had.  Just Barb and Ed with the guide.

Then it was back to the hotel and go to bed.

Night from Istanbul.

Tomorrow Barb will put captions on all of the dishes we had.

They are also out of order.

                                                         Barb always finds a perch!

                                              Lunch - Potatos and vegitables and fried zucchini

                                                         Our Guide

            Meat wrapped in grape leaves. The white food in the dish to the left is rice and cinnamon

                                            This was lunch with the picture above

                                        All kinds of pickled vegitables in pickle juice - yes, it was good!

                                                    We ate sweets at this place

                                             More sweets to sample

                                           Istanbul from the balcony of our cabin 

                                                     Time to go

                   Cameilia - the Yacht Club Director - we had met her on a prevous cruise.

Leading us out to the ship to the street

An amazing sweet

Sausage and meat balls - a crusty dough with Lamb inside

The place where we ate the dish right above

 

Day 11

This is a day at sea as we head towards Istanbul, arriving about 10:00pm tonight.

Ed went up on deck to get Barb’s breakfast and the Butler delivered it to her in our room.  That’s being really spoiled but it’s part of the perks!

We went up on deck; however, the sun kept going in and out and it was a little windy.

All day we traveled up the Bosphorus Strait until reaching Istanbul.  It is the world's narrowest strait used for international navigation.

Around 1:00pm we had lunch on the Pool Deck, then went in and walked about the ship.  It was really crowded in the main part of the ship as by then it was too windy to be out on the decks.

We only have 2 times left on the cruise when we could play in the casino so we went there when they opened up at 2:30.

After that we were back up in the cabin to rest and then went back down to the casino for our last session.   The casino staff was wonderful to us and really had a great time.  We are hoping to book a January 2026 in South America on this same ship so that will be fun to see most of the staff again.  

We played too long, successfully in the casino and missed the show so, we went to dinner, the last of the cruise

We have had the same two waiters for the last 3 night and they have been wonderful.  Of, course the food is also exceptional in the tastes and presentations.

We were then done for the night except for packing and that was easy as they gave us until 2:00am to have it done.

Tomorrow our Butler will meet us at our room, take us off the ship, gather up all of our baggage and take us to our waiting car, which will be about a block from the ship.

Our next blog will be from Istanbul where we will be for the next few days.

Night

                                 These pictures are not in the correct order.

                                                          The hostess and our wait staff for dinner

                                                  Breakfast in bed by a Pool Side server

                                                 Going our during the day

                                                               Lunch at the YC pool

                                                                Out for the evening

                                                                  Eds shrimp cocktail

                                                                 Salmon for dinner

                                                   Roast Port

Day 10

 We arrived late last night in Piraeus, Greece just before the port was closed due to a strike that I mentioned earlier.   We will leave at midnight for a day at sea and our final destination, Istanbul.

As there is nothing to do in this port, we took a ships shuttle to Athens and the Planka area were all of the restaurants and shops are.

We spent a few hours there wandering about and then had a lunch at, of course, a Greek restaurant.

After that we returned to the ship via the shuttle and darn it was nice out but no sun.

So, we went to the lounge and had drinks and a snack before going back to the cabin to get ready for dinner and the show.

                 The tray from the Pool Deck was too heavy so the Butler brought it to the room!  

                 Now that's being spoiled!!

                                              Out for the evening

Lunch is the Plaka section of Athens

                                           Lunch - a Greek Gyro in a different presentation

                                                                     Ceviche

                                                  The view from our balcony

                                                           Out for the evening - It's White Night

                                              Wine as usual with dinner

                                               Barb and snails - she did't like them

                                                             Octopus

                                                            Ed's Shrimp Cocktail

                                                     Monk Fish for Barb

                                                          Rosoto

                                                     Crapes Suzette

                                    Part of White NIght in the main atrium

The show tonight was a dance production number and a cross between Africa and Irish.

Can't explain it, you had to see it but it was fun.

Then we had dinner which as usual was very good.

After dinner, since we are in port, the casino was closed so we watched the dancing in the Atrium until Midnight.

Night - on our way to Istanbul