Day 7 Istanbul

We had arrived in Istanbul by the time we were up. So we met up for a more relaxed breakfast and then headed off to see the sights of Istanbul.  We had decided not to worry with a tour as the main city was close to the port.  We took a taxi (TAKSI), and were soon at the Spice Market section of the Grand Bazaar.  Everything looked so fresh and smelt delicious.  There were locals doing their shopping.  A vendor selling freshly squeezed pomegranate juice from a large hand cart.  Huge bags of goodness only knows what, were being transported by large hand carts.  It would take three or four men to heave the bags onto the carts and then one man would push the cart along.  With the block pavement it must have been very difficult.

We had a bit of trouble finding the main section of the market and so after a bit of hand gestures we managed to purchase a map.  If only the streets that were named matched the ones that were named on the map.  Oh well….we felt that we at least knew the correct direction to head, asked a few people, and one chap guessed we were looking for the Grand Bazaar and pointed around the corner.

It was very colourful, lots of jewellery stores, leather bags coats, carpets and mats and just about any spice or dried fruit you could name were also in the Grand Bazaar.

We walked in the direction of the Blue Mosque.  We saw in a café window a delicious looking pastry dish being made, so in we went.  Layers of filo pastry wrapped around either meat, cheese, or spinach – cooked and then cut into bit size pieces.  It was really tasty.  A cup of tea and coffee and we were ready to walk on.

Unfortunately by the time we found the Blue Mosque it was closed for prayer. Julee and Lindsay had seen it before and Den and I were happy to just see it from the outside.

We then caught a tram back to the ship.  That was an adventure.  The tram arrived, it seemed totally packed and yet the four of us and a number of others all squashed in.  We had 5 stops until ours.  We had been told the name of the station which we were looking for on the guide in the tram.  Two Turkish men near us started smiling about our pronunciation of the name.  I heard him say Italiano…’No we are Australian’ I said….they were very friendly and helpful and with a bit of charades we managed to convey that we were from the ship.  They waved us farewell as we squeezed and pushed our way off the tram.

It was great fun once it was over, but scary when you didn’t know if you would manage to get off the tram before it carried on down the track.

Tonight we head to Dubrovnik.  We will sail through the Straits of Bosphorus as well as the Straits of Dardanelles.  At approx. 6pm we will be sailing past Gallipoli and I hope to catch a glimpse of Anzac Cove.

Tomorrow is a day at sea, and Saturday we will arrive in Dubrovnik.

Day 7 Photos Istanbul

The view from our cabin

Dried fruits in the Spice Market

making a purchase in the Grand Bazaar

Fresh Fish stall

Finding our way around Istanbul

Muslim swimwear

Our yummy lunch

The Blue Mosque

Day 6 Izmir Turkey Tour of Ephesus

As we woke this morning we were just pulling into the harbour of Izmir.  It was shrouded in smog.  There were a lot of high rise apartments on the hill side that just looked like shoe boxes. A quick breakfast then of on our tour to Ephesus.

Four million people live in Izmir – 60years ago there was a population of only one million.  Our guide pointed out ‘Goat Tower’ built in 133 bc.  This was one of three Roman watch towers that protected Ephesus.  Izmir was the birth place of Socrates.  The Temple of Dianna in the 5^th century, one of the ancient wonders of the world, was also in Ephesus.

Ephesus was built by Alexander the Great, and on his death, because he had no heirs the area was given to the Romans.  Many of the ancient ruins a mix of Greek and Roman architecture.

Ephesus was built between two high hills.  There was a small opening at the land end and the valley ran all of the way downhill to the sea.  The Romans installed pipes so that the water could be put under pressure and then sent along the plateau at the beginning of Ephesus and on down the hill through the rest of the area.  There were channels along the main pathways that water was allowed to run down and thus had a cooling effect in summer.  The public toilets were built under the bath house so that the water from the baths washed everything and kept the area clean.  There were ruins of terrace homes that had been 3 stories high.  Each one had a balcony that looked out over the fountain water feature in the front area.  No-one had front doors, and entrance to the house was always through a side door and up to the second floor.  The bottom area was not used for housing.

The legend is that the area was originally inhabited by Amazon Women.  There is a wall carving of one who is known as ‘Niki’.   Our guide pointed out the curve in the lower part of her dress and told us that it is from this that the ‘Nike’ swoosh was copied.   A lot of these things aren’t necessarily true but it gives the guides something interesting to say.

Another bit of trivia is the word SPA comes from a saying by the Romans – health by water – the initials spell spa.

The disciple Paul lived in Ephesus until he was taken prisoner, held until he was finally executed.  It is also said that the disciple John had originally returned to Ephesus with Mary after being banished from Jerusalem between 37 and 42ad.  John continued to write the Bible until his death.  He was buried in Ephesus.  The English crusaders mission was to collect the remains of St. John and take them to England.  At that time Ephesus had been uninhabited and so the crusaders took over the area.

There have been a number of earthquakes and natural disasters in the area over the years.  In 1850 some Englishmen were invited to excavate.  In more recent time a team from Austria, after heaps of investigation, rebuilt the library from a pile of ruins into the very impressive building it is today.  Over 90% of the materials used was original.

There is also an amphitheatre which was built by the Greeks and then improved on by the Romans.  They counted the number of seats and then multiplied the number by ten to work out the population of Ephesus in that time.  There were 25,000 seats.  This was the formula that was used in ancient times to decide how big to build their arenas. 

There have been modern day concerts held there but no sound systems can be used anymore as the vibrations from one concert sent a huge rock tumbling.  The most recent concert held there was Elton John.  The seating now is limited to 10,000 for safety reasons.

There were many stall holders trying to sell us all sorts of things as we returned to our buses.  One that really amused us was a sign directing us to where we could buy 

'Genuine Fake Watches'

It was a fascinating place, and we enjoyed our tour.

Day 6 Photos Izmir Turkey Tour to Ephesus

Our view of Izmir from our cabin

Hadrians Temple

Medusa

Original pipes with a system of different diameters to build pressure in the pipes to pump the water

Amazonian Woman Niki

The public toilets - men only - thank goodness for that!!!

The reconstructed Library

A statue set in a niche in the Library facade

Looking upwards - amazing how this has been put back together like a giant jigsaw

The amphitheater - you have to look closely to see the seats

Day 5 Katakolon Greece, Olympia

Last night was a special Italian night on board.  The menu was all Italian favorites and the dessert, Tiramasu of course, was brought in with great fun and ceremony with everyone encouraged to wave their serviettes in circles over their heads.  The evening entertainment was a stage production of the most famous Italian songs.  It was a very enjoyable evening.

Today we arrived into Katakolon Greece.  Den and I booked a tour to the ancient ruins of Olympia.  It was a 40 minute bus trip which started at 7.45am so it was an early start to the day.  We were broken up into different language groups which made it easier for the tour guides.  Every announcement on the ship has to be made in about 5 or 6 different languages so it can get a bit tedious. 

The bus ride took us through the fishing village area, which is said to be like a ghost town at the end of the cruise ship season, and on through the farm areas where they grow tomatoes, beans, melons etc. and of course lemons and olives.  There is a large population of two groups of gypsies in the area.  One group is tolerated as they have been there for years.  They work on farms for the exchange of being able to have their tents there and some supplies.  The other group are newer arrivals and they became unpopular because although they gather all of the unwanted bits and pieces from about, once they have sorted through what they want they scatter what they don’t want everywhere making a bigger mess than when they started.

Olympia, the home of the Olympic Games, which commenced in the 4^th century b.c., is set in beautiful parklands with the archaeological digs still continuing except today was a public holiday in Greece.  We walked around the ruins of the gymnasiums and temples, even the remains of the Roman baths that had contained baths of hot and cold running water and under floor heating.  We walked past the stones from where even modern times the Olympic flame starts its journey to the next games.  There were a row of square rocks with names carved into them.  Originally these also had bronze heads in the likeness of those athletes caught cheating.  We then walked under a stone archway which led onto the original arena. This was where only the athletes and the officials would go.  The athletes competed naked.  Women were strictly banned from entering the stadium but one Grandmother wanted to see her grandson compete so badly that she disguised herself as a trainer, she was found out and after that even the trainers had to be naked.

The starting line was still visible.  The athletes started a foot race standing rather than crouched as they do today.  We were all encouraged to run the length.  It was a thrill to run on an Olympic field but I soon realised I was not the girl who 50 years ago was the under 12 sports champion.

From there we visited the Museum which houses some of the statues and artefacts recovered from the excavations.  It was a very memorable experience.

Back onto the bus and the ship departed by 2pm

This evening started with a Cocktail Party to meet the Captain.  We drank some cocktails but didn’t worry about queuing up to have our photos taken with the captain.

Every passenger is given a set restaurant and table place for dinner.  It is really nice to meet up with the same people and share what we have been doing through the day and hearing about some of their adventures.  One of the members of our table is a Cuban gentleman who lives in Miami, U.S.A. – that is when he isn’t cruising.  He spends little time at home as he loves to travel and meet people.  (Tonight escargot was on the menu so of course I ordered it – delicious – anyway back to the story.)  He encouraged us to go to the Black and White Club tonight to have a dance.

The program at the Black and White Club is ‘Let’s Dance’.  There are members of the crew who invite people up to dance.  It breaks the ice and gets the dancing started and also as there are a lot of ladies travelling by themselves or with partners who don’t want to dance, everyone has an opportunity to ‘have a dance’.  So male and also female dancers invite passengers up to dance.  Den and I had only just arrived and had a couple of dances when one of the girls asked Den to dance.  A bit later he was asked to participate in a dance competition.  With a little bit of encouragement from me, yeah well maybe more than a little bit, he agreed.  His partner was professional dancer from the performance team.  She was a great dancer.  It was like watching Dancing with the Stars only Den was the ‘star’.  There were two other male passengers and three female passengers paired with professional dancers/stage performers from around the world.  Four passengers had been chosen to score.  The dancers ‘performed’ – the waltz, cha cha, tango and finally rock and roll.  Everyone had great fun.  At the end Den and his gorgeous partner won third prize so he now has a plastic bronze medal and a few souvenirs from the ship to remember the fun night we had.  We are looking forward to going back for another dance tomorrow night.

Day 5 - Photos Katakolon Olympia Greece

the view from our cabin

wandering around the ruins of Ancient Olympia

the gymasium

All that stands of the Temple of Zeus

the arched entrance to the arena

beautiful scenery

standing on the original block starting line ......on your mark

Go ...Go.. I was trying to catch up the the little girl who had started at the same time

Go Go Den too

the arena with the grass slopes where the spectators stood

the stones where the Olympic flame commences for each Olympic Games

The statue of 'Hermes' which stands in the museum

Day 4 Bari, Italy

We woke as we were pulling into Bari, Italy.  Very hazy but by the time we had enjoyed our breakfast the sun had decided to finally appear.  We could disembark from 10am but we decided to try and miss the crowds and left at 10.30.  We bought our tickets for the shuttle bus to Bari and joined a queue.

It only took about 10 minutes and we were in the heart of the new part of town.  Instead of joining a tour group to visit the cathedral and historic church we walked in the direction of the old town.

Although it was Sunday there was washing hanging from most balconies.  The pathways were worn down marble blocks.  There were many interesting little lane ways going off in all directions.  It was really lovely – well except for the many ‘Vespers’ that went past and left us to breathe in their petrol fumes.

Around one of the corners there was a small market selling mostly straw hats of all shapes and sizes.  They seemed to be doing quite well selling to the tourists who hadn't brought a hat.

We returned to the shuttle bus.  We seemed to be ahead of the crowd so the cafeteria was relatively quiet so we enjoyed some lunch in peace.

Den and I have booked a tour for tomorrow.  

Day 4 - Photos Bari Italy

Our first view of Bari from or cabin

views of the 'old town'

the market