Seeking Spices inside Istanbul

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Leaving Greece the captain informed us that there was a storm on their weather reports so he would be speeding up the ship overnight and we would arrive several hours early. This also meant we’d be starting thru the Dardanelles at 5:45 in the morning instead of 8. I decided for us to try the dining room once again for breakfast; although, I think Sharon was leaning towards the Lido. Still, there was no hurry and at 7 AM we switched on the TV as we were passing by the Dardanelles and Destination Specialist Tom was speaking of the historic significance of this area also known as Gallipoli. Near the entrance of the strait that connects to the Black Sea, the region has always held strategic importance. In ancient times on the Turkish side are the ancient ruins of Homer’s Troy. During World War I Churchill as minister of the admiralty had given orders for British troops to attack and take this land. Ultimately this caused many British subjects, including a large Australian and New Zealand contingent that was stationed nearby in Egypt to die or be injured in what can only be called a completely mishandled operation. There were many problems. The operation apparently was no secret and the enemy knew they were coming and what their objective was so they were dug in and prepared to repel the approaching British forces. Instead of landing on the flatter land they landed by rock terrain making mobility a problem. This was due to either poor navigation, weather or maybe both. Still, despite the odds and bleak conditions the troops followed their orders, held ground and even charged ahead when ordered to do so. They were greeted with relentless machine gun fire from sheltered positions. During one courageous close quarters charge the British artillery from the sea rained down on them. After assessing the abysmal cost for naught, the troops were given the orders to withdrawal from battle. This was perhaps their one brilliant moment, where all of the remaining British forces were safely removed from the field under the cover of night through the troop’s ingenious deployment of time delayed sporadic automatic gun fire. They had rigged some of their guns to be fired by water dripping into a can which when heavy enough would fire off a burst from a machine gun, and do this repeatedly through the night. Sharon went off to mass while I worked on the blog.



We sat with a British couple in the Manhattan Dining Room. They too had listened to the show, but regretted that Tom hadn’t paused for a moment of silence as we passed by Gallipoli. There is a large Aussie, Kiwi and British presence in the travelers on this cruise, many with personal family connections to Gallipoli. I remember an Australian man we had dinner with earlier recall how his grandfather at the age of 15 had enlisted; although underage, and had survived the fighting at Gallipoli, serving in the dangerous capacity as a communications runner. I enjoyed some eggs for a change, if only the whites, in the Frittata Italiano. Sharon had her scrambled eggs, but isn’t up to having bacon yet with her teeth. As she often tells fellow diners, she is still learning to eat. It came out that Sharon has been active in St. Vincent de Paul bringing the records into the 21^st century from two suitcases stuffed with paper files to where now everything is done on the cloud. The lady mentioned that her husband is also a Vincentian. He in fact has been president for the past 25 years of their local chapter. It was interesting that most of the cases that our chapter has been dealing with is helping the poor who need temporary help with utility bills or rent; while most of their efforts deal with visiting the elderly and sick and providing companionship. Their chapter actually has money left over at the end of each month which they offer to poorer parishes they twin with in places such as Africa.



Sharon went off at 10 AM to hear Destination Specialist Tom on upcoming ports; while I continued working on the blog. We had been notified that the captain was planning an earlier arrival in Istanbul than originally planned, speeding up our ship to try and beat an approaching weather front to port. I met up with her in the Showroom at 11 AM for bingo. We never got to stand, not even once, despite there being a relatively small group. They played one regular bingo, one big corner bingo, one little corner bingo and the blackout game for just over a $330 prize.



We went to the Lido for lunch. I stopped in the Asian section while Sharon visited the Dive In for her burger and fries. I sampled some wonderful white fish, some peanut shrimp that was great with lots of shrimp, some rice, some Indonesian beef with and incredibly different highly seasoned taste and some Thai noodles. The food startled and delighted my taste buds! During lunch the captain announced over the public address system that he was needing to slow down because of 65 MPH winds. He noted that the stabilizers had been deployed, and I think he was assuring those who had been on since Barcelona that he was doing everything that he could to avoid another incident. From the Lido Deck we could see the foul weather and poor visibility for viewing the Turkish coastline.



Team Trivia was at 1 PM so we headed up to do our Suduko Challenge where Sharon beat me by a few seconds. Our teammates showed up as we were finishing up in the Crow’s Nest. We added two new players to our team; playing I think for the first time with six people. It started easy enough, naming Donald Duck’s nephews (Hewey, Dewey and Louie). Then we were challenged with what is a cluster or chain of islands called. Our teammates knew archipelago. I knew what the largest lake is in Africa, thanks to the cruise director on our Alaska cruise who was from Zimbabwe who had regaled us with all sorts of Victoria Falls questions. The answer of course is Lake Victoria. I also came up with the flamboyant and garishly ornate period in art, music and architecture that defined the 17^th century. One team wrote Victorian (but they were off by two centuries, another said Gothic and I think they must have been off by more than that). Somehow I knew to write down Baroque. Our teammates all knew the area of Berlin that symbolized the desire for freedom of those in the east longing to be in the west: Checkpoint Charlie. We were stumped by what is the largest lake in the world, and I’m sure we’ve missed this one before! Our answer was Superior (and I think that’s what we said last time). The actual answer is Caspian Sea! We were into the bonus questions. What two countries consume the most cheese per capita? What are the first names of the members of the Boy Band NSYNCH? We came up with France and Netherlands for the first answer, and while there is often a link to the cruise in the answer, and Netherlands and Holland America is definitely a link, a better link would have been the country that we just left where they consume an awful lot of feta cheese (if you can count that as cheese). The answer: France and Greece. Sharon knew that there was a Joey on Dancing with the Stars would had been in a Boy Band; but, she didn’t know which one. That was enough to give us victory, for the second day in a row! The other names were Lance, JC, Chris and of course Justin (Timberlake). We more or less strong armed our latest team members to take the champagne.



Our tour started at 2:30 PM. We have an overnight stay in Istanbul and a long day tomorrow. Our tour guide said that Holland America requires him to have everyone write down their names on a sheet for him, and so he did. He says he’s never lost anyone yet, but just in case, he wants to be able to tell Holland America who is missing. That way, he claims, Holland America can sell the room to someone else!



We visited the large underground water cistern that had collected water for the metropolis in ancient times. Today, there are about 17 million people living in Istanbul with is at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. The Bosporus Strait separates the two continents and the city is sprawled on both sides. The importance of having underground protected water sources is that a common practice in ancient times by invaders was to poison the water coming into a city. More than one James Bond movie has had scenes filmed in the cistern. Many rooms of large columns support a high ceiling. The ancients had carved these cisterns out of the rock and their size boggles the mind to imagine the effort that must have taken. It is very, very humid in the cistern, and it was a relief to get back outside where the breezy misty air refreshed us again. Always it was threatening rain, but it did not actually rain.



Next we went to the spice bazaar, entering through a stone gate where a long row of vendors could be seen with many Turkish flags waving overhead. There were lights and gaudiness everywhere. Each vendor’s space was about twenty-five feet wide, each with a store that was perhaps 100 feet deep. Spices and pastry/confection treats were primarily what was being sold here. At one intersection we could see that the rows and vendors extended both up and down and across our path. We stopped at one vendor where our guide directed us to sample the Turkish Delight, which I did. It was a hard rubbery feeling chuck of deep red translucent confectionary with pistachios embedded throughout. The red comes from the pomegranate used to make this treat. It was a taste unlike any I’d ever had, which I guess for me makes it unique. It was good, it was interesting; still, for me it’s still all about chocolate, and there wasn’t any in this spice bazaar.



Our final stop was the boat ride on the Bosporus, up the European side and then back down the Asian side. Everyone got one drink and had to surrender the drink coupon. I had a Coke and Sharon had a Sprite. Most people stayed inside the warmth of the cabin but had to deal with the fogging windows, poor weather and retreating sun and could see all that much. I went back on the stern and took what pictures I could, going in briefly to finish my Coke which Sharon had saved for me when they came around collecting glasses. When I went back outside I secured a position on the side of the boat and leaning against wall I found a spot protected from the chilling wind and with stable footing on the pitching deck.



It was 8:15 PM before we got to dine in the Manhattan Dining Room. We sat at an inside table for 6 with others who had tours returning late. The gentleman across from me who spoke nearly perfect English with just the slightest hint of an accent inquired about the heavy accent of the woman seated next to him. She said her family was from Poland initially. His mother was Czech and he began chatting with her in Polish which amused her. Their spouses were both Americans and I’m not sure how much they understood. The gentleman next to me said he only knew the bad words, which I guess you learn after 40 years of marriage. Sharon was incredibly hoarse, with her voice fading from a barely audible raspy whisper, but occasionally would come blaring out with full volume as she tried to explain where we are from. It’s the old, do we say Ohio, or do we say Las Vegas dilemma? She just looked at me pleadingly with those “Say Something” eyes. I enjoyed the Phyllo pastry with cheese and spinach appetizer, which everyone but Sharon seemed to have. We both enjoyed the Italian wedding soup, which is much better than I remember from the past. I went with the seared tuna with horseradish potatoes, I was torn between that and the Indonesian vegetable dish I often get and enjoy; and, think I should have gotten that instead. The tuna was more than seared, which had toughened it up a bit and was more flaky chewy chunks than anything else; besides, there was no wasabi to accompany it. Sharon got the beef pot and her dish of pot roast and potatoes was served in a little black kettle on her plate and looked like a very hearty meal which she took the time to eat and enjoy. Sharon got the Chocolate cake with white chocolate mousse and gave me a dirty disgusted look when I ordered the cheese plate which I do now and again (No, not to see that annoyed smirk of hers).



There was no show tonight so we went back to our rooms to call it a night before a full day in Istanbul tomorrow.

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