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Venice to Turkey 16

Day 16, Ankara, May 19

Breakfast in the Palace hotel was very good! They redeemed themselves from last night. All kinds of traditional Turkish dishes, olives, cheeses, spreads and breads!

We are in the capital of Turkey, Ankara. It’s the anniversary of Turkey’s founding in 1919 after being freed from the Ottoman Empire after WWI. The weather is quite cool here at 14C. Oz is giving us historical info on the city. Flags and banners are everywhere along with photos of the founder of Turkey and the current president.

We drive to a castle. We visit the Avrupada Zilin museum here. A travel friend poses with a statue! We see artifacts from well before 1000 BC. Amazing uses of metal, stone and colors.

Now it’s back on the bus and we entertain our cameras with sights of the architecture. We learn that the Ottoman Empire failed because they stopped progressing. Europeans developed better technology and better armies.

Next stop is the Mausoleum of Mustafa Kimal Ataturk (Father of the Turks). The mausoleum is interesting and we walk through. Cameras afre totally welcome! There are views of the city from one end. Inside and out there are very lifelike statues of guards on pedestals. Hey wait! That one moved! It turns out the ‘statues’ are live guards! We must be at the Pageant of the Masters! Not! As we are leaving, we are interrupted by the Changing of the Guard where those ‘statues’ come to life! Fun ceremony to watch. Then we are back on the bus.

We now drive for one and a half hours through the farmlands of Golbasi. I’m not sure I thought of Turkey as fertile and beautiful, but here we are!

We drive through Central Anatolya in the middle of Turkey. We see what turns out to be a ‘Salt Lake’ in the distance. Soon we make a roadside stop for lunch and to comply with Turkish law for bus drivers at “Tuz Golu”, the Salt Lake. Food was poor and barely even warm. The health department back home would have a field day with Turkish roadside restaurants.

We know Turkey has good food, sadly, just not where our tour is taking us. The ice cream stand at Tuz Golu at least had good ice cream! This part of Turkey is also known as Asia Minor.

We stop at the entrance to “Saratli”, the Underground City and vendors assault our senses with colorful displays of goods. We walk through them and enter the underground caves. Narrow tunnels with steep up and down steps that are very uneven.

We only spend less than a half hour in the caves but it is enough to experience them. We stop in the local gift shop and look around. We see a sign advertising Natural Wine and we inquire. When the lady finally understands us, she shouts, “Shaddup” or something like that. It almost sounds like she is saying, Shut Up”, only very fast. We taste what she gives us, pouring it from a refilled water bottle, a pinkish liquid, and it tastes like a crude honey mead or grappa. We decline purchasing any. Then we walk back through the vendors and board the bus.

We drive next to ‘New City’, Kapadokya around 4 PM. We know it as Cappadocia, pronounced more like the Turkish spelling! It’s symbol is Fairy Chimneys in front of Tulips and Horses. We arrive at the Avrasya Hotel and are in our room before 6. Part of our group signs up to go four wheeling in the local area but having spent decades as an off road photographer, the allure of that is over. We will take a walk and check out the neighborhood. There are a few stores in the area but no restaurants.

So we eat at the hotel and we are pleasantly surprised as they have a buffet of delicious authentic Turkish food! There is even a full bar in the hotel so we get a glass of wine with dinner. The wine is even a new grape I’ve never tasted and it stands up to the taste test!

Tomorrow will be an early morning so a glass of wine in the room and it’s time for a shower and bed.

Venice to Turkey 15

Day 15, Leave the Ship, May 18

This morning we pack the last items our bags and go to the buffet for breakfast. We have our last decadent morning meal and visit with an Aussie couple from Sydney that we have met several times on the ship. We forgot their names (shame on us) but I will refer to him as the “Arrive Alive” guy. If he reads this, he will know! I grab a couple shots of a mosque right off the side of the ship.

Then it’s to our room to collect our bags and head off the ship. We have elected to handle our own luggage as it is faster. We hire a cab and go to a hotel to be picked up for our next tour. We have to wait in their lobby for a couple hours. It turns out we probably could have walked to this hotel as the ship is right in sight of the hotel.

We are picked up by a black van at 11:30 AM, right on time. The van picks up 6 more people and then brings us to a large tour bus. There are a total of 20 people on our tour. So we will have plenty of room on the bus, being a standard 47 seat bus.

Our tour guide, Oz, is personal and well spoken. Our driver is Akmed. Istanbul officially has 16.5 million people but it is estimated there are 3 million more, undocumented. Gee, where else does that happen? We are headed for Ankara today, the origin of Angora Wool from special goats.

All the flags around Istanbul are in preparation for the celebration of the beginning of the country on May 19, 1919.

Noon in Turkey is not considered 12:00, but instead is when the sun is highest in the sky.

We go across the first bridge to connect continents built in 1973. In a short while, we go through the modern section of Istanbul with modern architecture and a mosque or two thrown in!

Huge flags hang from the walls, some with the image of the president. About 30%of the country likes him.

We stop for lunch at a highway roadside restaurant area. We don’t know the names of what we eat, but I have an eggplant and pepper dish and a bowl of spicy lentil soup.

We head out again and drive 4 hours. Then we stop for 45 minutes as per Turkish law. The law states that tour bus drivers have to take a 45 minute break after driving 4 hours. It also states that drivers cannot drive more than 6 days in a row and then have to take a day off! Then we drive for about two hours to our hotel where we will have dinner.

Not many photos today as the drive is interesting but not overly spectacular. Fun sunset as we come into Ankara!

5.7 million people live in Ankara. Not as many as Istanbul, but still enough to cause traffic jams. We arrive at our hotel, the Meyra Palace Hotel. It sure is palatial! Everything down to the furniture and room lights are shiny and ornate. Crown molding is ornately decorated.

Dinner in the hotel dining room is tasty yet unspectacular. We didn’t recall that meals are a part of the tour. At least it is money not spent! Food we could have at home. Chicken was dry. Salad was undressed. Oh well, can’t have it all. We settle in the room looking forward to tomorrow.

Venice to Turkey 14, Part 2

Day 13, Istanbul, May 17, Part 2

We are quoted €8 round trip to the river boat and think it’s a bargain. So we get in the taxi and happily ride the 15 minutes to the boat. We get a view of the Galata Tower on the way. This Tower will become more important later in our vacation!

Once there, it takes 15-20 minutes to find the correct boat. It turns out the boat wasn’t back from a previous cruise until the last minute. We find the boat and board it right as sunset was beginning. We get underway and begin capturing photos of the city as it lights up at night. The cruise lasts 2 hours and the views are great! We even pass by our cruise ship as we start the tour! And yes, those are random rainstorms you see in the cloud formations!

Continuing on, we watch as the city wakes up at night. A lot of the passengers on the cruise go to the lower lever because it is enclosed and the crew serves them tea and biscuits. I opt to stay up top and keep my camera entertained.

We finish the cruise and are glad to get off the water for it is very chilly. Luckily, we dressed appropriately. As we wait for our taxi driver, suddenly The Call To Prayer erupts from loudspeakers all around us! It seems that we are surrounded by approximately 6 mosques, all broadcasting simultaneously! We find our taxi driver and go back to the ship. I ask him for €10 change from the €20 note I hand him and he looks at me strangely.

He informs me the fare is €80, not €8. I object and insist we were quoted €8. He either calls his boss or pretends to and the price drops to €50. Still not acceptable, I argue the price again. We settle on €40 round trip and I cave in. So beware of scams like this and possibly get your quote in writing.

We get back on the ship and get most of our packing done as we get off the ship in the morning.

Good night everyone!

Venice to Turkey 14

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!

Venice to Turkey 13

Day 13 Thessaloniki, May 16

We had a ships tour scheduled today that we managed to cancel at the last minute in lieu of riding the HOHO Bus and doing our own thing. We have been less than impressed with the ships tours as their organization is somewhat lacking.

So we have a leisurely breakfast in the restaurant and get off the ship around 9:30 AM. We see the HOHO Buses right in the taxi area. How convenient!

We pay €18 for the bus and board it right in front of the ship. It takes us around the city, stopping at all the ancient buildings and we get off at the top at the Fortress of 7 Towers, or the Heptapyrgion, an old castle. It actually had 10 towers, and we never find why it is called 7 Towers. Situated at the highest point of the city within the Situated at the highest point of the city within the historic Ano Poli (Upper Town), the fortress offers panoramic views of Thessaloniki, the Aegean Sea, and on clear days, Mount Olympus days, Mount Olympus. We don’t spot the Mount.

Walking around the ruins keeps our cameras engaged and we marvel at the vistas. We walk back down to the bus stop and ride for a bit more. We get off at the Rotunda and the Arch and entertain our cameras once more.

We choose to get a bite of lunch here and have a tomato and cheese dish along with an eggplant dish. Wash that down with some local beer and wine and life is good! More street art and graffiti are everywhere.

While we eat, we watch the HOHO Buses come every 15 minutes. So we time our finishing eating a couple minutes before the bus comes.

We step over to the bus stop and wait. And wait. And wait some more. A half hour later another HOHO Bus comes and accepts our tickets. There is a White Tower that we would like to see but it means we will have to ride the bus two more times. So when we get back to the stop at the ship, we opt to just get off.

Back on the ship, we get back in shipboard mode and begin by relaxing in our stateroom. We visit with Patrick and Sue from the west coast of Ireland in Palomar Restaurant during dinner. Fun chat!

Tried to get seats for “The Prom” in the theater tonight but it was standing room only. We stood and watched for a short while but sitting down has a real value. So back to our stateroom it is to catch a movie. While watching the movie, I felt a bit of movement so I looked out the window and there are two meter seas! Yay!