Istanbul

Once again, we enjoyed wandering Istanbul on our own. We had a full evening and following day, which is great, especially for a city within walking distance.

We had thought to go up the funicular "Tunel" to Tasmin square, but had heard that there would be activities related to the 100 Anniversary of the Armenian massacre. This is still very emotionally charged and we felt it would be prudent to stay away from the area. Instead, we crossed the Galeta bridge and walked along the waterfront as far as the historic railway station. This was (and still is) the terminus of the Orient Express from Paris. We actually saw the modern version in Verona and Venice and from a distance here in Istanbul a few years back, but hadn't gotten to the station itself - so that was our evening excursion. You can get tickets to Paris, the the special Orient Express runs very infrequently.

The next day we had a mission to find the Grand Bazaar itself, having been on the fringes last time. We started at the Spice Bazaar near the bridge (deciding to buy our Turkish Delight on our way back - another story - should be in Stan's photos when he gets that done). Then it's a continual uphill walk, but we got there (Stan's knee was not helped by this ports wanderings). It's pretty cool, but I don't think I was as impressed as I expected to be - maybe part of that was being 75 days into our 82 day voyage. We've been to markets in most every country we stopped at and while this was the largest it wasn't that much different. After wandering through, we stopped at a vendor outside and got some little last minute things for the kids.

Then it was off to the hippodrome so Stan could find the serpent column that Constantine took from Delphi (this was follow-up after our Greece trip in 2013). By then the throngs were out and the buses and people were everywhere. Apparently this was the first nice spring weekend, so the local were also out. The tulips were everywhere (we were told they originate here, not in Holland as we thought) and were beautiful.

We wander a block of the main street through the smaller boutique hotel areas - where we'd stay if we ever came on our own. We had thought to take a tram our taxi back, but just kept walking. Later we heard that traffic was terrible and others had trouble getting back to the ship. Since we were on for, that wasn't an issue for us.

One thing we did note is that the area between the port and the bridge is getting a facelift and should be a nice area to explore in the future. There are already a lot of small, inviting restaurants, but newer hotels are being built, too. Definitely up-and-coming.