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?

Kavala and Philippi Greece

They say a little rain must fall, but this is day 40 of our European Adventure and it's the first time we've had rain during a daytime outing. We've dodged the bullet on numerous ify days, but heh, with weather, you get what you get. Anyway, we found ourselves in the port of Kavala today, with its Roman Aquaduct, still used until the 1950's for delivering water.

Kavala also has an acropolis featuring a citadel.

Our excursion took us about a half hour out of Kavala to the archaeological site of Philippi with our guide for today, Athena.

The ancient city of Philippi, originally called Krenides, was started in 360 BC. When Philip ll of Macedonia captured it in 356 BC, he got his own name planted on the outskirts of town. It was buried for many centuries before being discovered in 1914. They found the top of this theatre first and then knew where there is a theatre, there must be a town.

It turns out that in the peak of its prominence, Philippi had a population of between 35000 and 40000. All we saw today were the remains of the common areas of the town like the forum and basilicas.

There will be no stunning photos today since it drizzled the entire tour. One unique highlight of the tour was the common area toilet used only by men. Women could only go potty in their own homes.

Also, we walked along a section of the original road through Philippi called the Via Egnatia. This Roman road stretching from Albania to what is now Istanbul, linked up with the other famous Roman road the Appian Way.

Philippi is known to Biblical scholars, because Apostle Paul founded the first Christian church on European soil here in 49/50 AD. Earthquakes and Slav raids accounted for the area's demise and abandonment. Following our soggy visit, we abandoned it as well and returned to Kavala and the ship.

Heh! Happy Halloween! Someone on the ship seems to be getting into the spirit of it.

Of course noone in this part of Europe - or most of Europe for that matter - knows anything about Halloween. But we're on an American ship and later tonight there will be a party - dress up I'm guessing - because even though Dawn really loves costume parties, we'll be giving this one a pass. Tonight was our last visit to a specialty restaurant - once again Polo, the steakhouse. There is nothing wrong with this restaurant, but generally it is always too much - too much meat in particular. Anyway, we wandered up to the show this evening and called it a night.

Kusadasi, Turkey

One of the most interesting things about cruising is that you sleep in the same bed every night, but the view out your front window each morning is totally different.

When we met our guide Julia for today's outing, we discovered that yesterday was Turkey's big national holiday celebrating 91 years as a country. The man responsible, Ataturk, was featured on posters everywhere about town. We also discovered that we had arrived at "The Cradle of Civilization". So much for Athens' claim.

I guess the main reason Turkey hasn't gained entry into the European union, is that only 3% of the country is actually in Europe. Today, we were in Asia. As we had visited the amazing archaeological site of Ephesus on our last visit, we gave that a pass today and opted to tour the countryside a bit on a panoramic journey. It was pretty much obligatory that Tony and Jackie visit Ephesus however and I think they liked it as much as we did. On our way to our first stop of the day we passed by Ephesus and had a peek at one of the theatres on site.

I'll have to research this further for the absolute truth, but apparently we visited the home where Virgin Mary spent her remaining days after being spirited out of an unsafe Jerusalem by Apostle John. Of course, when we asked where she was buried, the answer was that she ascended straight to heaven. OK! More mythology!

Next, we visited a mountain village outfitted to support the tourist industry, Sirince.

They seem to have an overpopulation of cats just about everywhere we go in Europe. But apparently they don't have a problem with mice or snakes.

We continued out panoramic tour with a drive through Selchuk with its impressive fortress, ancient church and Turkish baths.

Before we knew it, we had returned to Kusadasi, which at this date in October is at the end of its Cruise season. They did however get one more kick at relieving the tourists of their money with a carpet demonstration. I have to confess, I think they succeeded. Holy carpets!

As we left Kusadasi this evening, it crossed my mind that this port was a lot prettier than we remembered from 2009. I guess the Cruise industry has been good to Kusadasi.

Most evenings and actually any time we have the time to dine here, we are in the Grand Dining Room. We haven't commented on cuisine lately, but that would be because every night it is phenomenal. For example, for me tonight it was frog legs vol-au-vent, cucumber salad with radicchio, rack of lamb and strawberry brandy snaps for dessert. Heaven!

Athens

Athens - the cradle of civilization. Well, at least Greeks would like you to think that. The Egyptians might have some argument with that. But certainly if drama, art and philosophy count for anything, then Athens may have its glory. This morning's view from the ship was Piraeus, the harbour city of Athens.

We met up with our guide Ioanna, pronounced Joanna and reminded ourselves once we got on the highway, why road travel for Westerners in Greece is difficult. I don't know how I did it when we drove here in 1978.

Athens is not the prettiest city, but it has its moments, as you'll see later. Of course the country is in deep economic doo doo, with an unemployment rate upwards of 25%, which brings with it a whole new set of problems.

Every tourist who arrives in Athens heads immediately to the historic centre of the city and almost the highest land, the Acropolis. Fortunately we were ahead of the throngs and also the drizzly weather that came later.

This was our third visit here and only during our first time was there no scaffolding. This will, I believe, be the norm here for many years to come, if not forever, especially if the British Museum gives back some of the pieces they purloined.

Due to bombing during Turkish occupation, many of the sections of columns, especially on the face towards the city, have been lost forever. They are continuing to put the existing pieces back in place, hopefully in the correct place after doing two incorrect reconstructions in the past. The Greeks may not be best known for their puzzle building ability.

The other major temple on the Acropolis is the Erechtheion with the dominant female statues of the caryatids. None the art work here is original anymore, as it is being protected from the elements and pollution in the new museum at the foot of the Acropolis.

Apparently they are not very particular about who they let on to the Acropolis, because look who popped up just as we were leaving.

We actually knew we might run into Bill and Brenda Fraser today, because Bill and I had been texting since we met up with their Oceania ship, the Riviera in Santorini. But the crowds, by the time we left, were mighty impressive, so it's a wonder that we stumbled across them. The remainder of our excursion took us to the original site of the modern, or present day Olympics, as well as a driving tour through downtown Athens.

I'm going to guess that this is the last time we'll be in Athens, but never say never.