Day 10 – August 15th, 2006

We arrived this morning in Istanbul. We’re in Turkey! Gosh, who would’ve thought this day would come. And to top it all, we beat Mom and Dad B. here. We’re pretty sure they’re not happy about that. We plan to buy something here to give to them to try to make up for it. As we pulled into port, we watched from our balcony as the sight of the large Turkish flag came into sight, surrounded by mosques and minarets plastering the coastline. We got ourselves ready and headed down to meet our tour group.

We’ve definitely run into our share of strange people on this cruise. Today was no exception. As we were walking down the gangway to the land, at the end they have a photographer there who takes your picture which you can choose to purchase later. We stop to have our picture taken, and the couple behind us jams in front of us, right as the picture snaps and runs down the rest of the gangway. They were trying to be the first on the bus to get a front row seat (which is definitely worth it). We complained about them on the way to the bus, but had our laughs when we boarded and realized the first two rows were saved for handicapped seating on this tour bus and they were stuck a few rows back. HA!

Anyway, back to Turkey. Our first stop on the tour was Topkapi Palace. This used to be the palace where the Sultan and his harem would live. It was in use from 500-1900, when they built another seaside palace. The Palace is closed to the public on Tuesdays, but our tour groups had private access. That was nice because it made it much less crowded. We were in awe at the architecture within the palace. The architecture in Turkey is so different from anything we have ever seen before. We got to see some of the old Sultans’ belongings - including thrones, swords, jewelry, and an 86-carat diamond. YOWSERS!

From the Palace we went to the Grand Bazaar. We went to a carpet store for a demonstration on how they make the famous Turkish carpets. It was cool to see how it was done. One carpet he showed us took 3 ½ years to make and enough silk to circle the globe! We then went into the Bazaar. It was intimidating at first. It was very crowded, and shop owners working their stands and store fronts would come after you trying to get you to buy their goods. We tried our hand at the haggling and negotiating. We think we were successful, being able to talk down a few different merchants into what we thought were good prices. Go us!

We met back up with our tour group and headed to the Blue Mosque. It was strange going inside of a mosque for the first time. We were both blown away by the incredible architecture inside with all of the blue and white tile work. Something else blew us away here. While standing in a group with the tour guide provided insightful commentary on the majestic building around us, some guy next to us unabashedly ripped one big time. There was no disguising it. Being the mature honeymooners that we are, we stepped away quickly, looked at each other, and burst out laughing.

We then crossed the Hippodrome to the Saint Sofia Museum. The history of the Hipodrome was impressive – there was an Egyptian obelisk was brought here from Egypt and spent the first 100 years on the shore until it could be erected inland. The Saint Sofia Museum was built almost 1500 years ago and is still standing strong. It was originally built as a church, but was converted to a mosque a few hundred years ago. Because of this, there were mosaics and paintings of Jesus and other Christian elements inside the mosque. Since the 1930s though, it has been used as a museum only, not as an active mosque. We toured through the museum, seeing its enormous columns and grand mosaics.

It was time now to return to our bus. While we waited for our driver to return, locals on the street saw easy prey in our tour group, trying to sell water, bagels on a big stick, pashminas, and other items. We still have ringing in our heads the sounds of “two for one dollah, two for one dollah!”

We got back to the ship and headed to the pool for a while. While in the pool we felt the reverberations of the jets of a Jacuzzi, however there were no jets in this pool. We looked at each other, sensing that the guy from our tour group must not be too far away. The sun tired us out though, and after a while at the pool (and a few slices of pizza), we came back and took a two hour nap before dinner! Dinner tonight wasn’t up there on our favorites list. Oh well. After picking at his dinner without eating much, the waiter offered Seth the choice of ordering a second entrée. Knowing that there was an all-you-can-eat 24-hour buffet not too far away, he declined. However, he did order two desserts to make up for it. After dinner we went to one of the lounges and watched the movie-version of Rent on the big screen. Then it was time for bed. Tomorrow we dock in Kusadasi!

Day 9 – August 14th, 2006

This morning we arrived in Mykonos, one of the Greek Isles. After a nice room service breakfast on the balcony, we got ready to see what this island had to offer. We decided not to go on a formal tour today, but to explore a bit on our own.

When we got off the boat, we took a shuttle into Mykonos Town. We were both expecting the island to be covered with bright white sand beaches as far as the eye could see with crystal blue waters. Well, it wasn’t exactly what we were expecting. We walked for a few minutes through the quaint but kind of dirty little town, and finally found a small (very small) beach. The sand was littered with cigarette butts and trash, and it was clear by the plethora of blue and white striped Princess towels that this was clearly just a tourist spot. Oh well, it’s a beach, we settled down for a bit.

The water was amazingly clear. We waded out for a while and enjoyed looking out one way to the vast openness of the Mediterranean, and the other towards all of the identical white buildings with blue shutters dotting the hillside. We could see little fish swimming around our legs in the water. Seth enjoyed seeing them; they kinda freaked out Amy. The feelings may have been reversed had there been dogs in the water instead of fish.

After lying out to dry off, we walked through the town for a while. There wasn’t much to it. There were lots of little touristy shops and restaurants. Everything was completely Americanized, it looked like a city made just for tourists. Everything was in English. We suppose if we had taken a tour around to other parts of the island it would’ve been different. (sigh) As much as we’ve tried out local food joints, we figured “burgers and hot dogs” wasn’t exactly the local delicacy.

We got back on the boat in the afternoon and enjoyed the afternoon sun for a while by the pool. It was relaxing lying poolside, soaking up the sun while watching The Incredibles on the big screen theater screen outside by the pool. We enjoyed dinner tonight. Seth got some good spaghetti and meatballs and Amy tried Mahi Mahi for the first time. It was actually quite good! Then, another losing round at the casino (we’ve gotta stop this!) and to the movie under the stars- Mission Impossible 3. Another successful day on the waters…tomorrow it’s off to Istanbul!