My last journal entry was written in FCO waiting to go home. We got off the ship at an ungodly early hour, maybe 6:30 or so, when it was still dark. I had never made contact with the people we were sharing a ride with, but I knew her name and just looked for the driver that was looking for her. We got to the airport in plenty of time and we said our goodbyes to JoAnne, since she was going on a different airline she got off at a different terminal than us. The lines to check in, then go through security and passport control were very long, so I was glad we were early. For some reason they had lots of kiosks but few people manning them so we had to wait. Once through ... read more

Finally! A sea day to rest and recuperate. This itinerary would have been so much better if there was one more sea day, either right before or right after Istanbul. But, there wasn’t so I savored this one day that we had. I slept until 9:30, which isn’t real late, but just enough so I felt more rested. I did the bridge tour with Rick, which he got more out of than I did. The one thing that I realized is sometime during the trip we changed masters of the ship (captains), because this tall dark handsome guy was not the captain they introduced at the first night’s show. That night it was a short, fat, balding guy. I remember seeing the first captain getting into a car on Mykonos, so maybe that is when they ... read more

I had pre-arranged a tour with EKOL tours of Turkey to take us to the archaeological site of Ephesus. While chatting with people online I met up with someone who wanted to join us to help keep costs down. We met Lianda, Joe, Alice and Alice’s husband at Cova Café and we headed off the ship as soon as the gangway opened, even before it was announced that we could leave the ship. We met our guide Yelda and our driver and headed to Ephesus. It was great being part of such a small tour group. Yelda was a licensed guide from Turkey, having studied Turkish history to get this job. She is from a city to the south of where we were, Izmir. She was very knowledgeable and personable and told us a lot about ... read more

Istanbul! I did not sleep well the night before, convinced that something would go wrong and Istanbul would be a disappointment. It was a gray day as we approached the city, our arrival time scheduled for 1pm. We had been told there was a schedule change and we would be tendering instead of docking, so I hoped that meant we would drop anchor closer to the old part of the city and shorten our trip to the area that most of us passengers would want to visit. Through the mist we could see lines of ships waiting to enter the Bosphorus en route to the Black Sea ports. Then the skyline of the city started to appear and all of the minerettes rose above the buildings. The Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia stood out among all ... read more

Rhodes was not what I envisioned a Greek island to look like. We did not have specific plans today, other than to check out old town. Rhodes old town is a walled in medieval city with cobblestone streets and old and restored buildings. And as a typical tourist trap, lots of little shops and cafes. We had a map, but the map had the names in English and the signs on the buildings with the street names were in Greek. So we got lost. But it was ok, because we ended up finding some interesting places. We walked up the stairs of one museum (I don't remember the name) and found some really cool black and white mosaic floors, patios and rooms. I think it was a hospital at one time. When we finally found the ... read more