Istanbul

As November arrived, so did the end of our cruise. Before I get to today's events, I must add a postscript to last night's entry. This is the night that the crew makes an appearance after the evening show. Boy, are there ever a lot of chefs!

Although I was certain that we wouldn't make the Hallowe'en Party, I erred. We were there and dancing until almost the witching hour. Dawn was not in costume. Neither were most people. As we landed at our final port today, we had created quite a zigzag course across the Mediterranean covering almost 3800 km.

If you want to experience the joys of cruising in one easy lesson, just take a ship into Istanbul. The views of the classic highlights of this city of almost 17 million were breathtaking from the sea, from The Blue Mosque, to Hagia Sophia, to the Topkapi Palace, to the harbour area.

Just as you think you've seen the best, the ship crosses past an area known as the Golden Horn and the ship finally comes to rest as the views continue to astound. Since we arrived shortly before noon, the ship's excursions didn't set out until the afternoon. We opted for a look at the Asian quarter of Istanbul across the Bosphorus Sea from our berth. We were heading out to our bus and were almost at the gangway when suddenly we heard the Code Oscar alarm go off. Now, we had learned from our helicopter evac that Code Mike meant medical emergency - the m in Mike = medical. In a matter of minutes, we discoverd that Code Oscar meant person overboard - the o in Oscar = overboard. Lo and behold, a disembarking passenger had stumbled at the gangway and tumbled into the three foot space between ship and dock. After some very brief scrambling when both Captain and General Manager appeared, they dragged a lady out of the water and she walked back into the ship dripping wet and apologizing for the inconvience she had created. This cruise has not been dull. After this small delay, we met our guide for the day, Vida.

She took us first to a modern mosque designed by a woman. This is particularly interesting given women's position in the muslim religion. This mosque was unlike anything we had seen.

Following the mosque, we went to the Beylerbeyi Palace, the summer home of one of the last sultans. No pictures were allowed inside, but this place was gilded from floor to ceiling. Since the sultan chose this location, an impressive suspension bridge linking Europe and Asia has been built right over the property. The sultan would not have allowed this!

The Turkish are the ultimate hosts and always want you to sit down with them and have a coffee or tea, so we next went to a cafe and did just that. The sun was now going down over the Bosphorus.

On our way back to the ship we heard about the recent rioting at Taksim Square regarding youths protesting the conversion of a park into a shopping mall. When they were forced out of the square by police and tear gas they retreated down these steps which they painted in rebellion. The government painted over them the next day, but the students painted them again and again until the government gave up.

So here we are at our last destination of this amazing journey. We will leave the ship tomorrow and head to our new base, Hotel Hagia Sophia for the next three nights. Tonight was our final hurrah in the Grand Dining Room. We've gotten to know many of the wonderful staff, but my personal favourite was this sommelier named Mirjana from Serbia. Do I have good taste or what?