Day 14, Istanbul, May 17, Part 1

We arrive in Istanbul today. We don’t dock until noon. The restaurants are all jam packed as everyone sleeps in like we do. So we have what will likely be our last restaurant breakfast.

Then we get off the ship shortly after the ship opens the gangway. We have to walk downstairs through tunnels to get out. The ship has provided special paperwork to help us get out and back into the port.

We find the HOHO Bus as soon as we get out and buy 2 tickets. So today we get the nickel tour of Istanbul. We get off at the Blue Mosque and start to look around.

A local Guide, JJ, approaches us and offers his services and we let him. JJ takes us around and tells us about the mosque. He even leads us through the crowd and shows us how to cut the line without getting into trouble. We check the dress code and Elee buys a shawl to abide by the rules.

The Blue Mosque is spectacular as you will see in the photos. It was built in 1609.

We finish our visit and JJ finds us outside. He takes us to a restaurant area to get a bite to eat when we realize that we have to get back on the bus as it’s getting late. JJ helps us get back to the bus stop quickly and we bid him goodbye as I slip him a €10 note. He was worth it!

Traffic in Istanbul is gnarly and it takes quite some time for the bus to get us back to the port. Once there, we have to walk over a mile through security and tunnels to get back on the ship.

It’s 6 PM by the time we get on the ship. We go online and book a night trip we noticed a couple weeks ago. It turns out there are night river cruises available for a meager €12 each.

We grab a bite to eat in the buffet and head back out to the taxi stand after walking that mile plus to get out. See the next Post to see the trip!