As our trip comes to an end

Here is Stan's photo blog of England and Iceland - he'll have one more with our daily evening wear selfies from the grand lobby staircase - watch for it :)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PTTV4cnBnLXFsZHc/view

Malta and Lisbon by Stan

We've been home almost three weeks but Stan is still working on photos. Here's his look at Malta and Lisbon.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PcVQxbWx3cFoxRWc/view?usp=sharing

Istanbul by Stan

Here is Stan's view of Istanbul. We enjoyed this port stop.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PX1VzaGRLTlNsX28/view?usp=sharing

Suez and Gallipoli

This is Stan's photo blog about Suez and Gallipoli.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PcUFqNEEtaWlXN1E/view?usp=sharing

Lisbon

We were in Lisbon a little over a year ago, so it's somewhat familiar. Last time we walked up and down the hills in the old city but this time we were planning to take the "tourist" tram. We knew that we could get a day pass, but it took a bit to find the metro station and it only had machines with no information our ticket counter. It worked ok, but was a bit of a hassle. Having the pass did make using the public transit easier.

Our first experience with the tram was an "everyone for themself" situation -  no sense is queuing - just rush on. With Stan moving slowly with his walking stick, people just pushed past. He was about to give up since he couldn't stand on the tram without injuring himself when the tram driver made a teenager stand and gave Stan a seat. We didn't really know where we were going (and I think we should have actually been going the other direction), so just took two trams to the end, then wandered looking for the famous tarts. We had a nice cup of coffee, good Wi-Fi and shared a few bites of a cream filled tart. We had thought we'd take a tram back around, but for whatever reason it seemed like they just weren't coming anymore (and there was a long line at that point). We opted for the metro (also on the pass) and took it back to within a few blocks of the ship.

I think by this time, after 80 days on the ship, we were definitely shopped out and were fine just enjoying lunch in the Lido overlooking the skyline of Lisbon. We were late for dinner since we wanted to enjoy our final sailaway. It's a beautiful city to sail into and out of - a good way to end our voyage.

Malta

Of all the places we saw on this world cruise, Malta is one that I'd most like to spend more time in.  It was just a delightful place and so beautiful. We took the somewhat new elevator from the seaside level right up into downtown. Valletta is a city of hills, but they aren't terribly high. That being said, Stan's knee had not been happy since our two days of wandering Istanbul, so we tried to avoid aggravating it. We pretty much stayed on the upper level, only venturing down to a few spots. It's a city we'd like to explore, up and down the narrow streets and across the harbors or to other islands. It was a low key and nice day.

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.