Sat Aug 26, 2000
7 am : A white stretch limo arrives to pick us up. We made Mimosas
with the half bottle of champagne left from the night before and
since we needed disposable cups, we used plastic (keg) Shiner cups
from Kim and Rich. Really classy!
9 am : Delta flight to Atlanta. Jill started talking to the guy in
the window seat and he was from Istanbul (our first destination.) He
was very excited and wanted us to ask him any question about the
city. His understanding and speaking of English wasn't outstanding,
but we managed to communicate. Using a map in our guidebook, he
pointed out the area where he lives and where his office has been for
40 years. He left us with the phone number of an office mate and said
please call if we needed any help or a tour guide.
11 am : Atlanta. We sat down in the gate area just prior to our
flight and noticed that the older (much) couple across from us had
Princess Cruise luggage tags already on their bags. We talked to them
a little while about the upcoming long flight and exciting trip. This
couple had already been on 14 cruising. Surprise -> they live in
Florida! As we boarded the flight to JFK, we realized a few other
passengers were bound for Istanbul and the Grand Med Cruise,
including one middle aged man from Springfield.
5 pm : Waiting for our 9.55 hour flight to Turkey, there are even
more fellow cruise passengers waiting with us. We are still the
youngest by a long shot.
Sun Aug 27, 2000
We arrive in Istanbul at 10:25 am local time which feels like 2:25
am Houston time. It was a long flight, but Jill managed to sleep for
most of it after dinner. Keith slept a little. The airport was clean
and easy to navigate and customs clearance only took minutes. There
were many Princess representatives, one every 20 feet, so there was
no chance of getting separated. It took a long while for our luggage
but that just meant lass waiting on the bus!
We took a bus to the Conrad where they herded us into a reception
room and did an introduction, then they handed out room keys. It took
a while but it gave the hotel a little time to get bags sorted. We
did spot one other young couple so there may be hope yet. We finally
got to our room about 12:45. We rested/read for a while waiting for
our bags. We were finally cleaned up and ready to see the sights at 2
pm.
A taxi from the hotel took us to Aya Sofya (St. Sophia) which is
right between the Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace. We opted for
Topkapi palace first, since it wasn't closing until 5. Tickets were
4,000,000 Turkish Lira, or about $7. Paying millions of Lira for
something just feels weird. We walked through the courtyard to see
the kitchens with old Ottoman silverware and serve ware, but were
disappointed that the Chinese porcelain rooms were closed. We then
headed straight to the Harem entrance to get tickets and stand in
line for half an hour. The Harem tour was well worth the extra
tickets and the wait. The guide spoke both in Turkish and
heavily-accented English. The Harem showed the opulence of the Sultan
and his family. Most of the walls were brilliantly tiled. It's truly
amazing that most of this was built in the 16th century.
Our first picture : part of Keith's
head, and a blurry ceiling in the Harem
After the Harem tour, we exited into the 3rd courtyard and walked
through a hall with religious relics, like things from the Prophet
Mohammed. There were many Muslims in here pushing to see the exhibits
and there was a Muslim guy singing prayers over a PA system that
added to the aura of the place.
We crossed the courtyard and toured the treasury, which contained
an amazing collection of valuable jewels set into thrones, crests or
jewelry. The two highlights were the emerald handled dagger from the
movie Topkepi, and the 86 carat spoon-makers diamond. Amazing.
Jill admiring some of the items in
the Treasury. Luckily, nothing was for sale.
On the ride over to the palace, we got our first views of the
Grand Princess docked at the pier. She was across the Golden Horn
from the Palace so we had a good view of her from some of the rooms.
We were both feeling pretty tired and out of it so about 4:30 we
left the palace in search of food. Unfortunately it had turned a
little cool and breezy and began sprinkling. We walked through the
streets to the train station near the Galata Bridge (over the Golden
Horn) and looked for a place to eat from the tour book. That failing
(closed on Sundays), we walked back up the street to a place we had
just passed and thought it looked good.
We ATM'ed some cash (50 million Lira!!!) and headed in. We ordered
our meal by pointing, even though one waiter spoke English. Figured
we couldn't go wrong by pointing at what the locals were eating. We
were served slices of sourdough bread to snack on. Our meal was a tin
platter with hunks of cut up pita covered with beef from the donner
and a tomato sauce. IT also had homemade yogurt and some sliced
tomatoes. It was really tasty and hit the spot. We also tried the
sweet rice pudding - very good.
The place we ate lunch. The streets
are still wet from the rain.
We easily hailed a taxi back to the Conrad, got there about 5:30
and crashed immediately, sleeping till 8:15 then reading in bed until
10:30. Luckily enough, we both slept until 7 am, and that was the end
of our jet lag for the trip.
Monday Aug 28
We had the free breakfast buffet at the Conrad (busy but crowded
with cruisers) and then took a walk down to the river and watched the
locals coming across the ferries to work. We walked back up through a
small outdoor fruit and veggie market. We were transferred from the
hotel to the ship (don't ever call it a boat!) at 9:30. Check in was
fast but we were too early to get our room.
Veggie Market
We walked out to the main street to catch a cab (less than half
the cost of the rip-off cabs at the ship). We took the taxi back to
the old city, but Aya Sofya was closed so we started walking to the
Grand Bazaar. Along the way we stopped at a carpet shopped a bit -
prices for Kilim's were pretty good.
The Grand Bazaar was neat to see, but quite annoying, with too
many pushy vendors. Lots of carpets and jewelry. The Bazaar is 80
streets and about 5000 stores all in a central covered area.
A Mosque (we think) connected to the
Grand Bazaar
Inside the Bazaar. Jill's shopping
for carpets.
After the Bazaar, we walked back to the carpet store we had passed
earlier, as prices and quality were much better than the Bazaar. The
store owner served us apple tea while we looked. We ended up buying
two carpets (Jill's bargaining class paying off again).
Sitting out in a park with the Blue
Mosque behind
Had lunch down the street, Keith had a lamb donner sandwich and
Jill had the shredded chicken with mashed potato top (Turkish
shepherd's pie!) and of course a rice pudding dessert.
We walked through the Hippodrome to the Blue Mosque, but had to
wait outside for about 20 minutes since it was midday prayer time.
The Hippodrome with 2 Egyptian
obelisks
Inside the courtyard of the Blue
Mosque
We carried our shoes in plastic bags into the Blue Mosque (why
they don't make tourists just leave them outside with everyone
else's, I have no idea.) It was very cool, but didn't take long to
see. Blue tiles everywhere.
Inside the Blue Mosque
The ceiling of the Blue
Mosque
More Blue Mosque
More
Jill and Keith in the Blue Mosque
(Scott and Carrie, this one's for you.)
We exited the Mosque into a courtyard between the Mosque and Aya
Sofya. It was a great view of the two buildings.
Aya Sofya from the Blue
Mosque
We walked all the way to the spice market (Egyptian Bazaar) - not
a short walk at all. It was much better sight seeing that the Grand
Bazaar, as they were sacks of spices, tubs of olives and tins of
cheese.
Two kittens asleep on a stand at the
spice market. Five cat mom (Brigitte) - this one's for you.
Spices
Figs
Olives
Tins of white cheese
Since we were close to the Galata Bridge we just walked over the
bridge, then saw a little fish market to look through and then just
deciding we could walk the rest of the way to the ship.
The view across the Galata bridge,
with the Grand Princess in the background.
Local fish market
Looking back across the Galata
Bridge
When we got back to the ship, our room was ready, but we only had
our duffel bag and no clothes or shower stuff. We walked the ship
for a while with our maps in hand, had a couple of glasses of wine
and finally got our luggage around 7:30 pm. We showered and changed
just in time for our late dinner seating at 8:45. Our dinner was at
a table for eight, but two were missing the first night. The others
were Norma from Scotland, Carol from Tampa and Larry and Jar from
New Jersey. Dinner was good. After dinner, we went to the 11 pm
comedy show, with our annoying cruise director Keith Cox singing and
dancing a little. The comedian was actually pretty good though, but
the cruise dancers left much to be desired.
We headed up to the top of the ship to Sky Walkers club, but were
just there for a few seconds. It had a great view of Istanbul, but
it was loud and smoky. The casino wasn't open while we were in port,
so we crashed at 12:30.
Tuesday Aug 29
We had breakfast in the Da Vinci dinning room, then we headed out
to Aya Sofya. We got there early (9 am), but it didn't open till
9:30. We walked around the hippodrome, where tour busses where
showing up en masse, and the main street to buy postcards and
bookmarks. We decided to go into the underground cisterns while we
waited. It was a neat walk through 300 columns, used to store water
in case the city was under siege.
The columns in the cistern were lit
up with colored lights
This column had a Medusa head carved
into the base
When we came out the church was open.
Aya Sofya was formerly the largest Christian church, but was
converted to a Mosque. It was very impressive and we were in awe of
its size and historical importance. We dodged the tour groups and
headed upstairs to view the impressive mosaics that were uncovered.
The original Christian decorations were tile mosaics similar to St.
Marks in Venice, but everything was scraped off or plastered over
when it was converted into a Mosque.
Aya Sofya, and all those
tourists.
A recovered Christian mosaic between
two Muslim signs
A tour group looking at 2 recovered
mosaics on the second floor
Jill standing in front of a
recovered mosaic (and a big tourist group)
We bought a 2.5 liter of Coke and Fanta to use with our duty free
rum and then grabbed a taxi to the ship around 10:30. We napped for
a little while then went up on deck for the sail away. Once the boat
pulled away (2 pm), we finally felt like we really were on a cruise.
The views of the shore from the ship were awesome. We even saw the
Catherine Knutsen, a ship Jill's company has chartered, as we sailed
out of the harbor.
Topkapi Palace from the ship
Jill, with the Drink Of The Day, in
front of old Istanbul
Topkapi palace on the right, Aya
Sofya in the middle and the Blue Mosque to the left
Aya Sofya from the ship
Goodbye to Istanbul
The weather was cool, in the mid 80's, so we didn't feel like
swimming, so we headed back to the room for another nap (seems to be
a trend here...) and then had a snack in the Horizon Court, the 24
hour buffet, around 5:30. We relaxed in the room a little (there
might have been wine and/or rum involved) before getting ready for
the first formal night, the Captain's cocktail party and dinner.
Jill wore the navy blue dress from Jen and Chris's wedding and
Keith got to wear his new tux for the first time. We dressed and
then headed to the atrium for pictures, a big deal on any night that
wasn't casual. Cocktails were free so we each had a gin and tonic
and talked to the cruise sales lady, Ramona. The captain gave a
funny welcome address and some lady from Hong Kong snook up next to
the captain for a picture.
Dinner was lobster thermador and Kenwood Sauvignon Blanc and
chocolate Hazelnut souffle.
We danced in the Painted Desert, saw the boring show Glamour, and
then walked around the ship's deck before retiring at 2 am (not that
hard with all those naps.)
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