Blogs from Turkey, Middle East - page 36

Turkey is the 37th country I've visited. I wouldn't say I'm well traveled but I've traveled enough to see similarities between countries. I had reached a point where "the wow factor" doesn't happen much now. Yes, huge buildings/historical sites/natural phenomena are amazing but once you've seen one scenic landscape you've seen them all right? Wrong!!! I hadn't really experienced that feeling of being in awe of the sight of something in recent trips. Cappadocia is known for its picturesque landscapes but not one picture I have seen can do justice to what your eyes actually see. After two flights we arrived in time for dinner & bed. We were staying in a cave hotel, one of many in the area. Our windows looked out to darkness at night, no curtains or blinds. I'm a bit of ... read more

The little ones can't help themselves. They stare in amazement, slack jawed, as shocked as a kid stumbling across the entrance to Ali Baba's cave on their way to school. Their gaze races over your being like a couple of fast moving fingertips. A grandparent's hand may appear to pull small chins back to politeness only to be pushed away like a branch encountered on an explorer's trail. They discover us on the public buses and while we shop. The adults sometimes think we're locals and they'll walk up to us in grocery stores asking questions in Turkish like 'How much is this stuff?' while they hold up some sundried item. The kids smell something strange about us immediately. Maybe it is olfactory. Yesterday we faced a little girl perched on the edge of a seat ... read more

Geo: 41.0013, 28.9791This morning we breakfast on the rooftop terrace of our hotel. The food is very continental consisting mostly of cheeses, cold meats and bread. There are some tasty pastries that we wash down with juice and coffee.After these we head out into istanbul again. We head down to Eminou which is an area near the Galata Bridge which seperates the old and new parts of Instanbul on the European side. We are approached several times by men trying to get us on various boat trips. I did a bit of research before the trip and was told to avoid these as the trips are ivariably on very small, often unseaworthy boats.Instead we had a bit further to where the large commercial and passenger boats operate from. We find one offering a 1 1/2 hour ... read more

Geo: 41.0013, 28.9791We awake in Istanbul. When I venture out onto the balcony we have a spectacular view of both the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia in the distance. The sun is just rising and the eastern skies is coloured with pinks and oranges. We shower and dress before heading to the Oceanview for breakfast. We sit out on the Sunset Bar which has a good view of the Galata Tower. We go up to deck 11 to get some more photos of the city before returning to the cabin to gather our belongings.We head down to the Ocean Liners restaurant where Elite guests can wait for their baggage tag number to be called. They have coffee, juice & pastries there if you want them. We hear that there is a long line at immigration ... read more

Geo: 39.9825, 26.009This is our last full day on the ship and it is a day at sea as we travel further north through the Aegean Sea toward Istanbul. There is a blustery northern wind that we are sailing into which makes it seem worse than it is. The sky is pure blue with not a cloud in sight. As we wake we are passing by the Island of Chios on our starboard and Psara on our port.We are slow to get moving this morning. We don't have to rush to get off ship. Breakfast is in the Oceanview Cafe. We make a start on packing our cases which is strange for me as I only unpacked mine 3 days ago. We didn't want to be worrying about it later and when done we can relax ... read more