Turkey and the cruise

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Istanbul by Michelle



Feel a bit queasy this morning. Perhaps all the travel and excitement catching up with me? Perhaps the 4:30am wake up then unable to go back to sleep in case we miss the alarm for the flight to Istanbul? Most likely the mental taxi driver to the airport! Lovely man and all and only to too willing to chat about sights on the way and point them out. No I mean really! He’s driving us down the motorway looking out the window and pointing to something to show Mike whilst madly gesticulating with the other hand and I look at the speedo and it reads 155km/hour. Feck - my blood pressure can’t take this!!!



By the time you account for airports, transfers flights and time differences it’s around 4:30pm when we arrive at our hotel in Istanbul. What a fab spot we are in. Old city, cobbled streets, tiny hotel surrounded by little shops and restaurants. We settle in then pop literally two buildings over and have our first traditional Turkish meal. Back to the room and we leave the teenager to rest from his stressful day and go explore. What a fantastic vibe here! Everything is busy, buzzy and colourful! The shop keepers again do the hard sell “yes please, yes please, come in please” but seem to accept a “no thank you” better than in other places. Quiet night as we ready ourselves for another early start tomorrow as we do a tour of Gallipoli.





Gallipoli by Mike – a good day for wearing sunglasses



The alarm goes off at 5.45am – we are being picked up at 6.30am, so dazed and confused we ready ourselves for the long day ahead. We hit the road and the whole city is waking up. We proceed into the countryside. The landscape is open, green and brown. In the middle of nowhere you will see a group of 20 houses pop up, swimming pool in the middle of one grouping, these little communities except they have these little identical modern houses there. Weird. Lunch at Escaba and on to tour at about 1pm.



It was an emotionally draining afternoon. We stopped at Anzac Cove where I had a good sob. To see the gravestones in one of 60+ cemeteries on the peninsula is just sad. No other word for it. The degree of loss is apparent. What set me off was the headstones inscribed with ‘believed to be the body of’ – hell we don’t even know. The beach – the hills and cliffs that faced them. The stand-off, the loss. The youngest ANZAC was 14 – Jake’s age.



We go up Lone Pine Hill and the sadness is contrasted by the memorials and the magnificent views of the peninsula. More cemeteries. The trenches – chest deep. Only 20 metres from the enemy in areas. “6000 died here, 4000 died over there…” One armistice day to bury 10,000 - the smell was so bad it triggered the parlez…they could only bury 4,000.



The area is a worthy tribute to the men who fought there and recognition of the loss suffered and sacrifices made. Turkey are very proud that their troops defended their country and their monuments stand proudly beside their brothers from another country who died there too.



A heavy day – tears fell today. As I said to Jacob, “it was a good day for wearing sunglasses”.





Istanbul and the boat – by Michelle



After our big day in Gallipoli we have a cruisy start to the day and check in at 12 noon onto the Celebrity Constellation, our ‘home’ for the next 12 days. Little chance to explore as an outbreak of gastro bugs on last cruise means they are in sanitation mode so rooms won’t be available until later. Fine by us we just want to check luggage in then go explore the Grand Bazaar. As we were warned it is huge! Over 3000 shops in this undercover market place. They are all along similar themes however so you could just do one aisle and feel you had mostly covered what is on offer. Very bright and blingy, very pushy and whilst expensive compared to normal shops you can barter and pick up a deal. The Grand Bazaar is a must do of Istanbul but after a wee while the noise and bright lights do get to you (as well as everybody smoking in an enclosed space!) so back to the boat we went.



The boat is an OMG moment once you start to explore. Pools, spas, restaurants, bars – it’s all here. Food in the basic restaurants is all inclusive (includes the San Marco which is 4 course dining!). Drinks are well overpriced and worth buying a package for. We have a cocktail poolside and watch the magical skyline of Istanbul from 10 stories up with 270 degree views – WOW! Mosques, towers, beautiful lights which only brighten as the sun sets. One of the five daily prayers starts at 7:45 and we listen to the mosques praying and calling across the city to one another – simply stunning and moving! If I close my eyes I swear when I open them I will see Ali Baba on his flying carpet darting across the horizon.





Thoughts on Istanbul – Jacob



Istanbul is such an amazing city and it has a great atmosphere. It is a huge city and a religious center. The culture in Istanbul truly expresses the whole of Turkey (Actually pronounced Turkia according to the locals). The whole experience was amazing.



Religiously speaking even though I’m not Muslim when you go to the mosks you feel all tingly inside due to the sheer size of the buildings. At prayer time all across the city you hear the mosks communicating to each other (told to us by the tour guide). They all are singing their chants and then the others reply in chant, its truly amazing.



At the Istanbul markets including the Grand Bazaar it’s just full of people trying to sell you stuff... And those sneaky pickpockets of course. You literally see a ton of repeating shops that all sell the same stuff, after a while it gets annoying. Nonetheless all the items available are simply amazing, from the jewellery to the tea sets to the clothes. It combines modern items with the antiques.



The people in Istanbul are all different nationalities (mainly Turkish of course). They all welcome tourists and thus Istanbul is a heavily touristic city while also being very Turkish and not too western.



Istanbul was a great city and I can’t wait to go back.



Add on by Michelle

Istanbul has a population of 15,000,000 and is split over the continents of Asia and Europe. So the day with our taxi driver started in Europe and after a bit of sightseeing he drove us over the Bospherous Bridge and we were actually in Asia - how cool is that?

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Comments

[Dion Johansson]

Edu-ma-kational, Thank You Thompson Clan
Jacob, Living in OZ, I have met, worked with and befriended many of The Muslim Faith. I am fairly informed, however... I did not know that Mosques communicated with chanting. Thank you for that. Michelle, driving between Asia and Europe... how cool! As Borderless Kiwis', we all grew up KNOWING only that The Entire World revolves around NZ! I recently stood astride The NSW/QLD border and on a much smaller scale, understand your awe. Subjective lines are purely psychological, yet powerful. In an afternoon you became Inter-Continental. Rest assured, that as a Patriotic State-Of-Origin Cockroach, whilst astride my border-experience, I took a Dump on The Queensland side... Mike, No words to express Gallipoli, Anzac Cove etc. Yours were perfect. Since 1989, I have felt that I live in The Anzac Zone! Anzac Day for me is special. However, daily here, The Anzac Spirit is alive with great natured NZ/OZ banter. The Anzac Brotherhood is alive and well, due to those blokes a hundred years ago. Re-Spect! Skip to 2013 and recent war events/fallen ANZACS in Orezgon Province, a radio program/interviews I listened to, reassured that the ANZAC Sisterhood/Brotherhood is 100% intact and solid. Thank you Thompsons for representing us all, at such a sacred-site. Lotsa love, Dion p.s 155kmh taxi ride? Sounds a bit like "pedal-envy", as you only had your campervan up to 149kmh, in reverse! xx d