Cruise day: 116/152Ports days: 54
Sea days: 62
Countries: 20
Continents: 5
Ports: 40
Hello from Istanbul, Turkey. Before we get into today, I forgot to mention something a couple days ago, plus an update from yesterday.
First - Italy. If you are a regular reader, you'll remember that Italy was a little COVID-crazy with all kinds of regulations that only pertained to cruise passengers. If you walked, drove, flew, skateboarded, camel-caravaned, or whatever, you were free to explore. But if you came to Italy on a cruise ship, you were treated like you had the plague, leprosy, and the creeping crud. Our tour guides all said that they hoped that Italy would relax with their new regulations coming out on April 1. We were also hopeful as we're heading back to Italy later this month. The other day, we got our answer - nope.
Italian requirements have been updated. Now, when we leave the ship, not only do we need to be masked, but they have to be KN95-rated masks. Viking thoughtfully supplied everyone with a 10-pack. I think that if Italy doesn't want us there, then I don't want to go and spend one nickel of my tourist money there. Seriously, when will common sense take control here?
Update from yesterday...
Our tilt - the 4-degree one that partially evacuated the water from the main swimming pool - why did that happen? Rumors are running amok that we had to take evasive maneuvers to avoid hitting something. I haven't gotten any confirmation on that. What I did get confirmation of, however, was that while we were fighting 45-knot winds for some time, right about that time, we got hit with a sustained 65-knot blast that lasted for several minutes. That was the most likely cause of the tilt. Gale-force winds have that kind of effect on a ship.
On with today's activities. Let's talk about the weather. So far, on this cruise, we really have been blessed with great weather. Sure, some days could have been a little warmer or a little cooler, but in general, for 115 straight days, we have had good to great weather. That ended on day 116. With the temperature starting at 50-degrees in the morning and dropping throughout the afternoon to the upper 40s, coupled with mist-to-rain, and brisk winds, the weather today sucked. There's just no other way to say it. These photos as we came into the port show just how cruddy a day it was.
It was a miserable day to walk around outside. So, what did we do today? Walk around outside. Our tour was scheduled to take us to the famed Sultan Ahmed Mosque (more popularly known as the Blue Mosque), the fortified complex of Topkapi Palace, and some free time to explore the Grand Bazaar.
We were supposed to arrive today at 8AM but didn't dock and get cleared until after 8:30AM. Of course, that put our 8:30AM excursion departure in danger. The compressed schedule created some serious congestion getting off the ship. By the time we got on our bus and got underway, it was 9:10AM. Off to the mosque.
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| The Blue Mosque, built in the early 1600s, has six minarets (towers) - more minarets mean more importance as far as mosques go |
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| This obelisk is in the middle of the old Hippodrome of Constantinople that dominated the city |
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| Mosques have very specific dress requirements for men and women |
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| To enter the mosque, everyone must remove shoes - here we are |
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| The main dome's interior |
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| Our guide said that this platform was used by those that sing during services |
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| The ceiling detail was beautiful |
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| This is a detail from a rug that adorns the front of the mosque |
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| The main support pillar is massive |
I have to admit, we were a little underwhelmed. Part of it, I'm sure, was due to the renovation work. The rest may come from burnout. We have been inside so many churches, chapels, cathedrals, and basilicas on this trip, including some amazingly detailed and beautiful ones, that the Blue Mosque didn't impress. We had also been told that the Blue Mosque was a "must-see" place, so perhaps our expectations were too high. Anyway, now we've been inside the Blue Mosque.
We walked 850 meters from the Blue Mosque to Topkapi Palace. Along the way, we took in views of Hagia Sophia, a Byzantine basilica that now serves as a museum.
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| In case you couldn't tell it was raining - check out the water coming off the roof via the downspout |
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| The fortification wall that surrounds the palace - the palace was the home to the Ottoman sultans |
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| The entry into Topkapi Palace |
The palace is now a museum with central gardens and several exhibition areas. Photography isn't always allowed, so today, in terms of recording what we saw so we could better remember it all, was a little bit of a bust.
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| Those chimneys are located in the kitchen area that produced the food to feed all the residents of the palace |
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| Some of the original flooring is preserved under glass |
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| This place was nowhere near as fun as its name sounded (Circumcision Pavillion) |
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| The stone inlaid sideways in some areas was lovely |
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| A cleric was singing prayers |
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| The palace library |
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| Looking up inside one of those massive chimneys |
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| A model of the palace complex |
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| Another model shows the palace complex in the middle of the 26-kilometers of fortification walls around the city |
We boarded our bus and got out of the liquid sunshine for the ride to the Grand Bazaar. It was around noon on a Monday and traffic was nuts. Istanbul is home to 16 million residents. For reference, only the US states of California, Texas, Florida, and New York each have more residents than the city of Istanbul. The fifth most populated US state, Pennsylvania, only has 12.8 million residents.
After we finally arrived, we had a short walk in the higher-end outdoor area of the bazaar before entering the covered area of the Grand Bazaar. To say we were overwhelmed is an understatement. There are more than 4,000 shops on the 61 streets that make up the covered area. In continuous operation since the mid-1400s, the Grand Bazaar is one of the oldest and largest bazaars in the world.
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| Outdoor area - a main shopping area |
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| The place was packed and it was not a busy day - the Grand Bazaar attracts 250,000 - 400,000 visitors every day |
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| I'm no expert, but if that's how you're supposed to wear these jeans, bathroom trips will be an adventure |
It was an interesting experience, but we grew tired of people walking into us and vendors continuously approaching us to come into their store. The big items we saw in the bazaar were jewelry, leather goods, nuts, spices, and sweet treats like Turkish Delight and baklava. There were also lots of coat and clothing shops and general souvenirs.
After 90-minutes of exploring, we boarded our bus and headed back to the ship. The terminal in Istanbul is new, huge, and a pain to negotiate. We had an extremely long walk from the ship to the bus and back. The walk back was aggravated by an unnecessary and very long walk through their duty-free shop that took us in the exact opposite direction of our ship. It will get better for smaller ships like ours as they will dock in a closer location, once the construction is complete. The other factor that made the return trip aggravating was the complex security procedure with TSA-like security where you have to remove coats, belts, and such. The fact that they only opened a single lane with multiple returning buses made the situation worse. They finally opened a second lane after 50-60 senior citizens were standing in line waiting to get back to the warmth of the ship.
Some interesting tidbits about Istanbul and Turkey:
- It was formerly known as New Rome, Byzantion, and Constantinople
- Istanbul has 16 million residents, Turkey has 84 million - 99% are Muslim and the remaining 1% are Christian or Jewish
- It is the only city split between two continents, Asia and Europe, although there is some debate on this as Suez, Egypt sits on the border between Africa and Asia - there are more examples as well
- There is a crazy amount of traffic in the harbor - ferries make up a lot of it, but there are a ton of cargo ships going to/from the Black Sea
Viking arranged a special excursion tonight. They are taking interested guests to the Sultan Adile Palace for a concert performed by the Antioch Choir. The choir features100 men and 100 women representing the three main faiths here, Muslim, Christian, and Jewish.
We walked the incredibly long walk through the terminal to a boat.
That boat transported us up The Bosphorus, the channel that connects the Marmara Sea with the Black Sea, north of Istanbul. We went about 1/3 of the way to the Black Sea. We then boarded buses that took us up the hill to the Sultan Adile Palace. The venue was beautiful.
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| We found this painting interesting as we saw a street vendor selling roasted corn today - must be an Istanbul thing |
Finger foods were waiting for us as well as drinks.
We eventually moved upstairs to the performance venue.
The evening began with Captain Olav bidding us farewell as he ends his contract and will be returning home for the birth of his first grandchild and continued marital harmony. It is sad to see him go as he is a wonderful Captain.
For tonight's performance, ten men and ten women sang and were accompanied by 12 instrumentalists. They played a mixture of Muslim, Christian, Jewish, English, and Turkish pieces.
It was a very nice performance and evening. After the performance, there was more food and drink while we waited for our buses. Once on the boat for the ride down The Bosphorus, we thought everything was good. And it was, until...it took over 30 minutes for the boat to actually dock and let us off. We have no idea what the delay was, but at nearly 1AM, everyone was getting a little irritated. To further aggravate things, once we made the long trek back to the terminal and got felt up by security, they still forced us to walk away from the ship so we could peruse the Duty-Free shop at 1AM. No excuse for that.
Of course, when we got to our room, Viking had snacks waiting for us. Those went into the fridge for breakfast tomorrow to buy us a few more minutes of sleep.
Thanks, Viking, for putting together a wonderful evening. Thanks, boat company and Istanbul silliness for taking the luster down a notch.
Not much time for sleep as we have an 8:30AM excursion tomorrow today.
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