Istanbul (Turkey)
Istanbul is the only city in the world to span two continents,
Europe and Asia and is such a busy city with so much to see.
We took a private tour and had a good start being the first group
off the ship and found our tour guide waiting for us. Our tour started with a visit to the
Hippodrome where the Romans once held a circus and is now the site of several
monuments including an obelisk from Karnak.
Then we visited the huge Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, now a museum
rather than a place of worship.
My personal highlight of the day was the underground cistern, which was
used as underground water storage and is a marvel of engineering. Large carp and two Medusa heads now inhabit the
waters.
We wandered through the Grand Bazaar and had a quick bite to eat
before buying some genuine turkish delight, yummm.
Our final visit was the to Topkapi Palace and Harem which took about
two hours to explore, before returning exhausted to the ship where we were
treated to a glorious sunset sail-away.
The next morning we were up early for a dawn service off Anzac Cove,
a very moving moment with the beaches cliffs and resting places of so many of
our fallen military in plain sight.
Following the service we slowly cruised the area with historical
commentary from the bridge pointing out the various landmarks and retelling the
history….
Next stop Naples.
Hi Joan and David
ReplyDeleteHaving a fantastic time with your blog. I am so pleased to see you are having a fantastic time. Will you ever want to permanently leave the ship and come home or will you just continue. Linda