Friday – At Sea: As we are at sea from Kusadasi to Istanbul we have one whole day traveling through the Dardanelle Straights and the Sea of Marmara. We approached the straights around 10:00 AM and could see a very large monument on the European side commemorating the battle of Gallipoli where over 250,000 soldiers lost their lives during the First World War. The announcement by the Windstar staff about the battle made the event sound much more balanced than it was. And to be honest, the Turkish government has gone to great lengths over the last 20 years to make the fierce, and at times atrocious, loss of life all more like “brothers” from the point of view of the horrors of war. In fact it was a poorly planned and executed allied push to ... read more

Wednesday - Bodrum: Not the early birds today. Casual breakfast and then into the launch/tender ashore in Turkey. We walked through town to the castle built in the 16thcentury by the Knights of St John and abandoned when Rhodes fell. It is a lovely castle, brought back by the town very diligently. It has many rooms and a fortified harbor. But the most interest part of the castle is the Underwater Archeological Museum. Several wrecks – one from the Minoan era with glass on board and one from the Roman era with many amphora – are highlighted with actual scenes from the finds and recreations of the location itself. Very well done and interesting. After completing the walk through the museum – and avoiding the mess left by the peacocks (dirty but lovely birds) – we ... read more

Monday – Santorini/Ancient Arkratiri: Up early to enjoy the arrival in the caldera of Santorini. Amazing place … except for the many huge ships that come into port. We were chased the last few miles by a ship the size of San Francisco with a mere 5,000 people onboard. Their arrival did not dampen the beauty of the place … and the history! Amazing to think that this huge area, surrounded by islands, was once a huge volcano that totally disappeared in a massive explosion 3,600 years ago. What remains is hundreds of feet of debris, mostly what was mined here for many years: pumice. Since the caldera is so deep we were not able to anchor so for the next six or seven hours the ship slowly moved back and forth depositing people on shore ... read more

Saturday: We slept in … until 7:00 AM when we realized we had to be packed and have our bags out in front of our door for pickup at 9:00. We made the time and then checked out of the hotel and wandered the streets, homeless and alone! Actuyally we visited a replica of one of the temples – the colors were beautiful, vibrant and alive – and went to one of the biggest stores in Athens (Attica) and looked at everything we didn’t need. We did stop for a coffee at a nice street café and had a quick bite at a café on the main square. It was a little quiet as the transportation strike was still underway. Everyone who is responsible for driving or handling public transport was on holiday. We had no ... read more

Thursday: Not up early today … but well rested and joining the tourist world at 9:00 rather than 7:00. Another nice breakfast overlooking the Acropolis. We have new neighbors on our floor, someone who (according to the concierge) is not very important … but has TWO bodyguards outside their room! These are not your ordinary well-dressed plainclothes folks but more like grizzled musclemen in T-shirts. We are very polite as we sneak by on our way to our room. Out the front door and into the day, walking down toward the Plaka and Monistiraki Square. We stopped for some small gifts for the ladies and then proceeded to the Flea Market and all the “junk” being offered, some of which was interesting but most of which could be thrown in the garbage. Still it was fun ... read more