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Greece Chapter 8 - The Cruise Part IV
25-July-2000, Tuesday
We got to sleep in this morning because we don't reach Istanbul until 6 PM. We had a late breakfast & then signed up for the bridge tour @ 11:30 AM. The tour was late getting started so we had time to catch up the diary.
Apparently, the tour was running late because the Staff Captain (the 2nd captain) tends to go on. He says he, early on, acquired the nickname "Big Mouth" because he is not afraid to voice his opinion. He spoke very highly of the ship we were on, the Stella Solaris ("It is a ship! Not a hotel with propellers!"). The ship was built in 1953 (a very good year says L) and has undergone a few changes. The lower decks, ("the blue thing") has remained pretty much intact but the upper decks ("the white thing") was completely rebuilt in the early '70's when the ship was converted from a cargo/passenger to a full passenger cruise ship. Even with the recent renovations, the ship is almost entirely steel construction, not scrap iron and not aluminum like the newer, bigger ships. He says that he used to work on a larger ship but that he prefers the smaller ones. We figure that maybe his nickname had something to do with his shift to a smaller ship.
The ship's bridge, and the Crew Captain
Our ship has a crew of just over 300 (serving just over 600 passengers). The Staff Captain, says that, if any Captain on "those larger ships" tries to tell you that maintaining a staff of 1000+ is no problem, you should "kick him in the ass, because he is lying!". Needless to say, the Staff Captain was quite a character. We imagine that he would be quite demanding to work for but, as passengers, we very much enjoyed his stories and his opinions of the newer, bigger ships. All in all, it was a Bridge Tour only in that we were all standing on the bridge when he talked to us.
Other subjects covered:
-30 new crew a day on big ships
-the union that helps you find work
-8 1/2 months off during the Yugoslavia war
-he is single
-center of gravity of this ship versus newer ships
-open decks on boat deck, versus cramming 4000 people out 4 doors on a "Box" ship with
balconies
-TSS stand for Turbine Steam Ship
(Never got the chance to elaborate on these topics. Sorry).
We finished the "tour" just in time for lunch followed by a leisurely few hours on the spacious Boat Deck. We had acquired a new appreciation for the open space.
Incidentally, we saw the pictures from yesterday (the ones with the folk dancers) for sale in the lobby. The pictures were cropped and mounted inside tacky plastic round life preservers with the ships' name on them. Fortunately, the pictures themselves will be for sale tomorrow, uncut and unframed. We will wait till then.
We docked at the port in Istanbul about 5:30 PM. We got off the ship about 6:00 and caught a taxi to the Grand Bazaar.
The Grand Bazaar, over 2000 shops under one roof
(West Edmonton Mall, eat your heart out)
The bazaar was just in the process of closing for the night (6:30 closing time) but we were able to get our "tourist" book on Istanbul (we have one for each stop so far) and a dozen post cards. We then walked back to our ship & had supper. After supper we went up on deck and took a few night shots of the city. We are unsure of them turning out as they were time exposures and the vibration of the ship may affect the exposures.
By night, by day
Back to our cabin where we wrote the cards to everyone over our bed-time ouzo.
26-July-2000, Wednesday
The alarm went off at 6:30 again this morning. On our tour bus by 8:15 to begin the day. Our first stop was the mosque of Suliman: 4 minarets & 10 balconies (Suliman was the 10th Sultan of Istanbul). A lovely building and the guide gave us a fairly thorough explanation of the symbolism and ideals of the religion. Because you are in sock or bare feet for the tour inside, by the time we left the mosque 15-20 minutes later, L was in a fair amount of pain from her feet & limping.
Outside and inside the mosque of Suliman
Next stop was the church of Hagia Sophia (Great or Holy / Wisdom). It was built by Justinian around 400-600 AD and used as a church for 900-1000 years. It was then used as a mosque for 500-600 years, and has been a museum for 50 years. The columns were looted from the temple of Artemis near Ephesus & other "pagan" temples including the Parthenon in Athens. This, the first officially recorded instance of reuse, recycle in the "civilized" world of the time.
The Hagia Sophia
A slow hike across the park took us to the "blue mosque". So called for the blue tiles wherever you look inside the mosque.
Outside and inside the Blue Mosque
Our next stop was the Sultans Palace, now also a museum with artifacts, clothing, and jewelry from many of the Sultans (27 generations in 400 years) the dynasty ran something like 37 generations, & descendants have only been allowed to return to Turkey in the last 20 years (they left about 1922-23). This was also our lunch stop.
The Sultan's Palace, they knew how to use accent tiles here
Sultan's tea services (two of many), us in European Turkey
looking across the bay to Asian Turkey
Lunch was a 5 course affair. A nice meal, but they were serving many tour groups as well as other visitors and it was very crowded. After lunch we went to Lapis, the carpet and jewelry dealer of choice for many of the tour companies that come through Istanbul. It was also close to the Grand Bazaar so, with 2 hours available, you had several options on how to spend it. We opted for the 15 minute introductory speech to Turkish Carpets and then playing it by ear. Unfortunately (or fortunately, we like to think) our love of Turkish/Persian carpets led us astray. We ended up buying one 9' x 12' wool on cotton carpet and 2, 2' x 4' silk on silk carpets. All three carpets were roughly the same price. After much hemming and hawing, and almost walking away, the sales person dropped the final, final price to about 1/2 the sticker price. How could we refuse? Besides, the price included letters of authenticity and free shipping to Canada. Apparently, since Turkey is still considered a 3rd world country, there is no duty/customs charges on the goods in or out of the country.
Did we mention that Lapis also sells jewelry? We went into the jewelry showrooms to look at "Harem Rings" as a novel investment. Gold is cheap in Turkey (again due to its 3rd world status) and so is the labour. The Harem Rings, though, turned out to be rather gaudy and nothing L would ever wear. Since L showed an interest in her birthstone the Ruby we were shown a number of rather attractive rings (as well as many more gaudy ones). In the end, L picked out a very nice ring with four rubies in a diagonal channel setting and five small diamonds on each side also channel set along the curve of the ring. The ring itself is 18 carat gold. Having just bought 3 carpets, we managed to haggle the ring down to half price as well. (L's birthday gift to herself.)
L's birthday ring
So much for our 2 hours of free time, and so much for the financial restraint that we had been exercising up until now. On our way back to the ship, our guide pointed out the Golden Arches ("M") of what he referred to as "The American Cultural Center". He also said that the traffic lights were just decorations for the drivers (similar to the lines on Cairo streets). He said that, if one car actually stops at a red light, the other cars will also stop but only under the assumption that the first car must have spotted a traffic cop.
Local Police Station
Dinner on the ship tonight is formal, assuming we wake up from our nap in time.
27-July-2000, Thursday
We slept in! Got up at 8:30 showered & made our way upstairs for a leisurely breakfast. Went to the lounge to play Bingo (didn't win) then to the boat deck to watch the sea go by. We pulled into Mykonos as we were finishing lunch. A quick dash downstairs, & we were changed into our bathing suits for an afternoon of "swimming and refreshments". The bus dropped us at a lovely sand beach on the other side of the island on what could be called hotel row. We claimed a couple of chairs under an umbrella and went into the sea. ("It's okay once you get in!" is the cry). The day was very hot (which probably made the sea seem even colder). The sand burned your feet & staying in the sun was not an option. The refreshments were one soft drink each (some disappointment here, we were expecting more for what we had paid) but better than nothing. The shuttle returned for us about 5 PM and dropped us in town to explore.
The beach at Hotel Row, Windmills converted to
Condos, and a part of town
nicknamed Little Venice
The handout from the ship said the streets were made narrow & winding to confuse pirates. We aren't pirates but it worked on us! We eventually found our way back to the harbour in time to see 2 of the famous pink pelicans.
Streets of Mykonos, and a local pelican
We returned to the ship, showered and got into the last of our clean clothing for supper. We were packed, and had our suitcases in the hall for pickup at midnight with just over an hour to spare. So to bed on our last night on the ship.
28-July-2000, Friday
The alarm went off @ 6:30 AM. We redressed in last nights supper outfits, and made our way to breakfast. We ate with the ladies from the adjoining cabin. We hadn't seen them since the first day. Said "bye" to everyone we knew, grabbed the carry on bag from the cabin and left the ship for the last time.
Took a bus to the airport where we put our luggage into storage, and then took another bus downtown. It was another swelteringly hot day, so we spent most of our time looking for shade and/or air-conditioned buildings. We visited the National Historical Museum which displayed info & artifacts ranging from the Greek War of independence on up to and including World War I.
We checked out the subway system, & found our way to the National Archeological Museum. This museum contained the ancient history and artifacts of Greece. It would have been far more interesting had we not been so tired and hot. The museum had no air-conditioning and the windows were all open in hopes of a non-existent breeze.
We left the museum and went to the internet cafe next door to check our mail. It was mercifully cool in there & we would have stayed a couple more hours but the meter was running on our terminal so we left. We headed back to where we would catch the bus back to the airport. On the way we passed by a clothing store & had a waft of conditioned air hit us from the open door. In we went. We proceeded to shop for about 20 minutes until L was satisfied that she was no longer perspiring!
We finally caught the bus & returned to the airport. Friday is not a good day to fly. Everyone is either going home like us, or going away for the weekend. Either way, everyone is going somewhere and seats were at a premium in all of the terminal lobbies. Every flight on the board was late. Most of them about 1/2 hour, some 1 hour. Ours was no exception, and we finally boarded just over 1 hour late. We then got to sit on the tarmac (inside the plane, of course) waiting for a new take-off window, as the control tower had to fit us into a new slot having missed our original take off time. An otherwise uneventful flight and we arrived back in Ioannina safe and sound and very happy to be home again.