Istanbul to Athens

We arrived in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city with 15 million people, around 7pm for an overnight. It’s quite unusual to arrive at a cruise port in the evening. A number of people decided to get off and have a look around, but I stayed on board. I had developed a cold. 

Istanbul is “mosque city” – 3000 of them which is as many as the whole of the USA. The call to prayer started and could be heard all around the city. 

The following morning we got off the ship quite early and made the fatal mistake of hiring a taxi driver for five hours. He really only needed to take us to the centre of town where we could walk around and then get a taxi back when we felt like it. He was a nice chap though and had a nice Mercedes van.

There were three things I wanted to see – the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, and Topkapi Palace – all next to each other. Sadly, it was a Friday and the Mosque was going to be shut until later in the afternoon. I had been there before though 20 years ago but I forgotten what it looked like. I managed to get a fast track ticket to the Hagia Sophia. Some enterprising chaps bought a load of tickets in the morning, and then sold them at a premium for anyone who wasn’t a patient queuer. Me!

The inside was incredible. At one point a woman police officer told me to cover the American flag on my green jacket. Apparently, this was offensive! I obliged. I’ve seen Midnight Express. 

The palace was not quite as spectacular, but it was a sprawling complex with lots to see. 

We reconnected with our driver and headed for the bazaar which was more like a mall. No cobblestones and squalor, just some high end shops selling all sorts of paraphernalia. 

Last was the Cistern Basilica which wasn’t on my radar at all. It was a welcome surprise. I’m not sure why it’s a basilica. It was basically an underground water tank built by the Romans. It featured in From Russia With Love when Bond walks down the steps and gets into a small rowing boat. Once again I nabbed a tour guide to skip the line. It cost me double, but the queue was rather unappealing. 

The Ottoman Empire (1299-1922), was founded in Anatolia in modern day Turkey. In 1453 the Ottomans conquered Constantinople, now Istanbul, which saw the end of the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines had been around for almost 1000 years since the decline of the Roman Empire. The most famous of the Ottomans was probably Suleiman the Magnificent (1494-1566). The Ottomans were finally kicked out in 1922 when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk came to the rescue. Constantinople was changed to Istanbul in 1930.

After leaving Istanbul the captain took us back down the Dardanelles towards Mykonos which was our final stop. We passed under the longest suspension bridge in the world which separates Asia from Europe. 

We arrived in Mykonos at 1 o’clock in the afternoon and it was overcast, windy and cold. I don’t think this is what people were expecting for Mykonos. I hadn’t been feeling well for a few days so I stayed on board. It was a tender port anyway which only added to my reluctance to venture out. We didn’t leave until 10pm and I had my last spin in the casino where I was a big winner for the second night in a row. 

Did I mention winning one hit wonder music trivia by a country mile, on my own. I was rewarded with a fairly unimpressive plastic tulip. 

I didn’t wanna take everything back to the UK with me for 10 days so I enquired at guest services if I could leave a bag, and they said, yes.

Dimitra has been great company on the whole trip. She’s so easy-going, makes no demands on my time, and it’s difficult to offend her. Not that I was trying, of course. 

I taxied to the airport with Speedy Spiros who missed his calling as a getaway driver. 33 days away and I’m looking forward to being home for 10 days.