24th June

Istanbul Turkey Sunny Temp 26c

Overnight we steamed a North Easterly course making our way towards the Strait of Dardanelles. The Dardanelles is a narrow strait in north western Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. When we woke we were already in the Bosphorus which is the waterway that Istanbul straddles with Europe on one side and Asia on the other. Our plan today was to catch the tram to the other side of the Galata bridge to the Eminon stop which is near the Spice Market. The Spice Market or Spice Bazaar is second only to the Grand Bazaar and we now actually think it is better, but we did not go to the Grand Bazaar this time so we are working on memory. It certainly is full of stalls selling spices but there is other goods as well. After walking through part of it and buying a fancy bowl (good for nuts etc at happy hour), a fridge magnet and some dried fruit we walked back the way we came towards the tram and I saw a nice pair of trousers for &15A$ and a Tee Shirt 7.50 A$. Betty got nothing this time. We then found a nice café for coffee, watching people and WiFi were I downloaded a Chess game and the Herald Sun onto the iPad. Afterwards we caught the tram back to the ship. What I forgot to tell you is that before we could catch the tram we had to change some Euros to Turkish Lira in a Bank opposite where the ship was docked. I will never again complain about having to wait at any of our banks. This bank had one teller working and there was a queue waiting when we got there just to change money and one couple had waited 30 minutes. I am not sure what their system is but what should have taken a couple of minutes took 10.

Back on board we went to Deck5 for coffee and a chance to read the Herald Sun and to try out my new game of chess. It’s been a long time since I have played chess so the computer wiped the floor with me. Tonight as we are not sailing until 7.30pm the dining arrangements are what is called Open Seating which means you can go at any time after 5.45pm to any dining room and sit at any table providing it’s free of course. As Istanbul is quite pretty to sail out of we decided to go up to the Horizon Court and get what we wanted to eat and take it back to our cabin to sit and eat on our balcony. The temperature was just right and we had a good time. As a consequence we missed tonight’s entertainment which was Lisa Lawton who you may remember was on a few nights ago. Her show tonight would no doubt be a new one but we missed it. It is still light here until after nine o’clock. Tomorrow we will be at Anzac Cove at 6am and I see in the Princess Patter that there is an Anzac Service at 8am. On the last world cruise we were on it was so hot during this service that a lady in the choir fainted. We have not decided yet if we will attend. The service is held on deck 15 where there is not a great deal of shade.