Last day in Istanbul

Last night’s Skyping went considerably better than on the ship, so we’ll try it one last time tonight. Since this will be the last edition of my blog for a while, I guess some reflection is in order.

It now seems like a whirlwind trip, but fortunately we were in the same bed for most of it. Dawn & I went through the itinerary again last night and the only place we felt they might have missed was Sardinia. That could be because we didn’t do an excursion that day and the port town itself was just not that interesting. Since we loved next-door Corsica, we would probably love the countryside of Sardinia as well.
After that, and excluding Monaco, which we’d seen numerous times and therefore wasn’t a highlight, we’re not prepared to choose a favourite. Since we visited a very ancient part of the world, I guess that in itself would be the highlight. But we really loved, in different ways, most of our destinations.

As for the cruise itself, it was great! Other than the fact that our ship was very luxurious, the ports of call were what really made this a great cruise. There were no issues about being on a boat and from all the cruise veterans, to whom we spoke, we got the message load and clear that Oceania was a step above the rest.

The size of the ship was another plus that made it much more personable. We were docked beside a Celebrity ship in Kusadasi that was the size of a city and it was scary. It was literally a behemoth dwarfing everything around it, including our ship.
So, will we cruise again? Quite possibly. Any future cruise will definitely have to have interesting ports of call and not a lot of at-sea time. Open seating in the dining rooms is also a must.

Are we happy that we stayed extra time on both ends of the cruise? Absolutely! Both The Hotel Campo de’ Fiori and the Swissotel The Bosphorus were fabulous and perfectly located – the former in a ‘happening’ neighbourhood and centrally located and the latter with extensive grounds and exquisite gardens. Plus, we had a lot of fun getting to explore both Rome & Istanbul.

We took our time getting the show on the road on our last day. A leisurely breakfast in the hotel’s café got us through the middle of the morning. Then we headed out on a hike up the Bosphorus. I’d guess we walked a couple of kilometers passing, luxury hotels and universities.


At the first bridge crossing to Asia, we found a little bazaar and did some browsing. I also found a guy with a popcorn machine – first time on this trip I’ve seen popcorn anywhere and it’s in Istanbul.


On our walk back to the hotel, we sidetracked into the shopping area we found yesterday and it was hopping. We had another Turkish lunch of basically shish – they don’t call them kebobs because they aren’t on sticks – beef, lamb and chicken.
The afternoon was spent around the pool, back at the hotel. This was a nice way to finish up our vacation.
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So, the final pack up happens tonight and we’ll have to find some place for dinner. After that, it’s another Skype with Canada. Then it’s up early tomorrow to catch our 8:55 flight to London and then home with British Airways. By tomorrow evening we’ll be back in Canada and all of this will be but a memory - a damn fine memory!
I’ll sign off now, until my next log on, shortly after we arrive back in France on August 22nd. See you then. La vie est belle!

Istanbul Day 2

Last night was the first time that we’d slept on the ship while it was docked. That was probably a subtle reminder that we weren’t going any further.
When we arose this morning, we went for a final luxurious breakfast at the Grand Dining Room. It was pretty early and definitely too soon to be descending upon our hotel, so we took our time at breakfast and then sat out on the deck watching the boat traffic on the Bosphorus.
We finally bid adieu to the Insignia, our home for the last 12 days, collected our luggage and then went to find a taxi that would take all of our bags. As we came to the taxi stand, we watched many taxis go by with luggage in the front seat and trunks overflowing with bags and bungied closed, so we didn’t feel so bad, especially when the trunk of the Toyota Corolla taxi closed and we got all the rest of the bags in the back seat with Dawn and I sat in the front.

The Swissotel “The Bosphorus”, has amazing grounds and two huge wings of rooms. It also has tight security, as our cab was mirror searched before they lowered the road pylons and let us up to the front door. We were at the hotel by 9:00, but amazingly they had a room ready for us in about ½ hour. Our room overlooked the outdoor pool and had a vista to the Bosphorus – not shabby.

We decided to book a boat cruise on the Bosphorus for the afternoon and then went out for a walk in the neighbourhood to explore. On the way out, we came upon two massive St. Bernards – Calvina & Astor – who are the hotel’s mascots. So far, our apprehensions about our safety in this city of 17 million, have been totally unfounded.

Not more than 200 metres from the hotel grounds, we found an extensive shopping bazaar, this one for locals, not tourists. We decided to stop here for lunch and had a lamb gyros at one the sidewalk cafes. In the wrap, they put shaved lamb and French fries and it was delicious.


The hotel is right across the road from another of the large Sultan’s Palaces called Dolmabahce Palace. It has ornate entry gates, but since signs there said “Forbidden Zone” and they were guarded by guys with machine guns, we assumed it was closed. Of course, we later discovered that the entrance is not here.


So, we headed off to our afternoon excursion that started with a visit to the Spice Market, which wasn’t nearly as crazy as the Grand Bazaar. They sold other merchandise as well, but we did spend some time in one spice shop, comparing the variety of aromas.


Following this, we headed out on to the Bosphorus. I guess we were already missing being on the water. This cruise was recommended by many as a must and I have to say I have never seen a greater variety and abundance of beautiful homes and palaces in one short tour in my life. We also saw more of Istanbul and got a good look at both the European and Asian sides of the Bosphorus. Simply fabulous darling! I’ll let the pictures do the talking. The first pictures are of the European side.



These next pictures are in Asia.




Dinner tonight was at the Turkish restaurant called Naz at our hotel. We were looking for an adventure in dining. We thought we were dining at a fashionable hour – 8:00 – but in fact, the place started to fill up as we finished, shortly after 10:00. We dined on typical Turkish fare, starting with a mix of dips and pita bread, followed by a salad of couscous, tomatoes and walnuts in a balsamic/oil dressing. For main course, Dawn had grilled sea bass and I had 3 kebabs – chicken, beef and lamb. All of the food was delicious and we had a nice conversation with the chef, a 40ish lady who spoke good English and loved Rufus Wainwright – that came up shortly after we told her we were Canadian. Our view of the city and the first bridge connecting Europe and Asia was spectacular. The suspension bridge has a light show, with lights strung between its support wires and they change colour every 5 minutes or so. It was not a cheap evening with a nice bottle of red Turkish wine, but an enjoyable one.

After dinner we checked out the rooftop restaurant above us and discovered that this multi-level affair had spectacular vistas of the city – nice to have that as an option if we don’t find a better place for tomorrow.
We ended the day with a Skype call to Jessie and the girls.

Istanbul

Last night after dinner, we went to the lounge for a Variety show featuring most of the entertainers who had been on board. There were quite a few of them. First of all, we’ve been treated to an outstanding band of 8 Ukrainians, lead by a fellow who could have been a concert pianist. They’ve shown up performing all over the ship and are, to a man, excellent musicians. We’ve also had a magician, comedian and four solo singers performing in different genres.
According to an employee we were talking to today, compared to other cruise lines, the employees are well looked after with Oceania. That could be why everyone is so friendly and helpful.



We got into Istanbul at noon today. We were quickly aware of the advantage of arriving in Istanbul from the water, because we got probably the best views of the Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Palace and the Aya Sofya church that one could get. They’re pictured in that order above. They are all located in Europe, where we are also docked. Our hotel tomorrow is apparently also in Europe, so we’ll have to make an effort to see Asian Istanbul.
Our tour today took us into the Blue Mosque first. Noon prayers had just finished as we entered the Mosque. No photo I could take inside the Mosque, would ever do justice to the ornamentation and expansiveness of this place.

We then walked past the Aya Sofya that is 1000 years older than the Blue Mosque – started off as a Christian Church and has now been converted to a Mosque.

Next, we had a tour of the Topkapi Palace, which is mainly gardens, with a small museum of relics. Without going inside the walls, you’d never have any idea from the exterior walls of the beauty of the place.

Our final stop was the Grand Bazaar, which is actually an enclosed shopping labyrinth. The shops pretty much repeat themselves, with lots of jewelry shops followed by rug shops followed by pottery shops followed by leather shops followed by hookah shops followed by….well, you get the idea. If you show any interest in their product, you’ll be pounced upon and only when you’ve said an emphatic “NO” half a dozen times, can you move on unmolested. We will go back here and maybe buy something, but today we were too hot and tired to be bothered haggling.

Our last night on the ship was once again spent at the Italian restaurant aboard, Toscana. It didn’t disappoint and we were seated with some new folks, with whom we struck up some lively conversations.
Our checked bags had to be packed and in the hall by 10:00 tonight, so some free time today was devoted to packing. Since we’re not flying immediately we didn’t have to worry too much about weights, but barring some heavy shopping in the next two days, we should be OK.

Kusadasi & Ephesus

We docked early this morning in Kusadasi, Turkey and by 7:30 we were on the tour bus to ancient Ephesus – these early morning’s are killing us. The origins of Ephesus go back to around 300 BC and it grew at one point to a city of 240 000 people, third largest city in the world. Like Delos, they’ve been digging out the ruins after years of agricultural activity on top on them and like Delos, most of the city is still buried.

This was the first ancient site we’ve been at, where we actually saw archaeologists hard at work. They have a multi-million dollar project on the go right now where they’ve roofed a 40 000 square foot area to protect it from the elements as they recover the original structures. Once finished, it will showcase the finest existing examples of Ephesus homes and business’.

Presently, the three main attractions at this site are the towering library, the 24 000 seat amphitheatre and the fabulous marble streets. They are shown in that order below.




After the archaeological tour of Ephesus, we returned to our port city, where we went to an excellent rug demonstration. The rugs here, as in other places we’ve seen them, are works of art and priced as such. Needless to say, no rugs will make it home to Canada, but Dawn did add some gold to her repertoire along the way.

As you wander through the streets of the bazaar, every shop has one or more aggressive hawker positioned in the street, waiting for anyone to show the slightest interest in their product. And of course, nothing has prices posted, so bargaining is a must.
I haven’t spoken much about wine on this trip, but it’s actually been a pretty wonderful wine education. As well as emptying half of the ship’s wine cellar, we have picked up local wines at each port. Whites have been our prime drink due to the temperatures – high 30’s today, by the way. Even a predominantly Muslim country like Turkey, because of their secular nature, are producing and consuming some pretty good wines. The wines of the Greek islands were also very good – Santorini in particular - but they really like their vin santos – sweet aperitif and dessert wines – not our favourites. Bottom line is – it’s been a great wine trip! Surprise!
We’ve noticed lots of stray dogs and cats at every destination. The dogs mainly sleep, but the cats, today especially at Ephesus, are looking for a spot in your suitcase.

Delos & Mykonos

We spent the morning on Delos, a small island that is totally an archeological open-air museum. The history of the island goes back 5000 years when it was designated as a sacred place for protection and about 3000 years ago Delos civilization was at its peak, with a population of 50 000 people. Considering the world’s population at that time was


20 million, Delos was quite the metropolis. On a rocky outcropping with no water and no food – in other words everything to sustain life was imported – that’s pretty amazing. In 88BC the population of the island was annihilated, 20 000 murdered and 20 000 sold into slavery by, you guessed it, the Romans. From that point onward Delos became slowly abandoned and the 3 and 4 story buildings that hadn’t already been destroyed, collapsed and fell into ruin and over time the ruins just looked like jagged hills.

About 150 years ago, the excavating began and is still a work in progress, with much of the lost city still buried under hills. Because the destruction and deterioration of the site is part of the history, what you see on the island is pretty much exactly what they found when they dug down through the rubble and there has been only minimal restorative work, like re-erecting columns and gluing together artistic marble pieces.


The row of what used to be 16 marble lions, dating back 3000 years and the amphitheatre, are probably the most impressive artifacts on this totally fascinating island.
We were fortunate to have a good interpretive guide named George, lead us through the site. He had us imagining that we were visitors to the island 3000 years ago and every turn on the original streets, under which was the original sewer system, we saw the vitality and community that was Delos.

Every time we’ve had an opportunity to visit ancient civilizations or the remnants of them and we see how much culture, art and organized commerce there was, we realize how oppressive the middle ages must have been, to send us so far backwards and make us learn things all over again. I might reiterate, at this point, that Christianity and the Church were the greatest perpetrators of what I like to call this negative progress.
Our guide George also introduced us to the original crocodile, which are the lizards that populate Delos. The bigger ones are only around 6 inches, but apparently Homer, who was already familiar with these little guys, gave the same name to the big ones he saw on the Nile, probably saying something like, “Man, the crocodiles you’ve got, are sure a lot bigger than the puny ones on Delos.”

It was another torch of a day, so after a couple hours wandering around this open-air museum, it was nice to have a cool break back in our staterooms, before heading out on our afternoon excursion to Mykonos.

As we quickly discovered, Mykonos is a tourist favourite because it has the sun but doesn’t get too hot due to a mistral-type wind that blows daily. That would explain the famous windmills and that would also explain why cruise ships don’t like coming to Mykonos – it tough to tender passengers.

Immediately upon entry to the town, we were met by the town mascot, a great big, ornery pelican. You’re allowed to try to feed him fish, but most weren’t impressed when he snapped at them to gobble down the prize.

The layout of Mykonos was designed to confuse pirates. Its streets are narrow and extremely convoluted. I’m sure they’ve eaten up many a tourist. Our walking tour was good, but not quite up the standard of other tours we’d been on. It was basically a walking tour of the town, but we started off at the museum, which was a collection of patched up Greek urns. Don’t care if I see another Greek urn – ever!


The walk through the streets of white houses was the highlight. Of course the Mykonos landmark are the windmills, once used to grind the wheat and barley on the island, now just tourist attractions.


One of the last things we did on our tour was sit down in a taverna and sample some local specialties – ouzo, dolmades (rice wrapped in grape leaves), tzaziki(sp), terasalada(sp), aubergine dip, fried anchovies and calamata in 2 forms. We would have been disappointed had we not had the opportunity to sit in a taverna and eat local fare, so this was a real treat.

Getting back to ship was a bit of a challenge for the crew, as the seas had grown during the day. Jumping from the tender to the ship’s platform could prove difficult for some of the passengers, but we made it, no problem. When we commented, “That was interesting!” one of the ship’s officer’s simply replied, “Mykonos! Always windy.”
Well that’s it for the Greek islands. We’ve enjoyed them all in different ways and we’re really happy to have had the opportunity to see them, albeit briefly. Tomorrow, Turkey!