REVIEW/DIARY of Eastern Med 12-day Istanbul to Athens

[stingraynz]

I am finally finished this review - I hope it helps you with either your planning or your cruise choices.

 

I am under the impression you are allowed to put research and contact information of guides and websites as long as it is included in a review or a inquiry. If this is not the case, my apologies. Let me know if you need further information.

 

 

 

ISTANBUL TO ATHENS 2006

OCEANIA - ANCIENT TURQUOISE SEAS

JUNE 15 – JULY 3, 2006

ISTANBUL PRE-CRUISE JUNE 16-20, 2006

CRUISE JUNE 20-JULY 1, 2006

POST-CRUISE ATHENS JULY 2, 2006

 

PREVIOUS CRUISES

CHANDRIS/MV The Victoria Southern Caribbean Dec 1984

EPIROTIKI/Oceanos Southern Caribbean Dec 1986

NCL/ The Dreamward Western Caribbean Dec 1997

PRINCESS/Regal Princess Panama Canal Jan 1999

NCL/Norwegian Crown Bermuda Oct 1999

PRINCESS/Pacific Princess Bermuda Sep 2000

RENAISSANCE/ R4 Tahiti & French Polynesia Mar 2001

NCL/Norwegian Dream South America Feb 2002

PRINCESS/Pacific Princess Bermuda Sep 2002

PRINCESS/Sun Princess Mexican Riviera Dec 2002

RCI/Radiance Of The Seas Southern Caribbean Mar 2003

CELEBRITY/Constellation Northern Europe Jun 2003

PRINCESS/Dawn Princess Southern Caribbean Dec 2003

PRINCESS/Royal Princess SA/Africa/Med Apr 2004

NCL/Norwegian Sun Exotic Caribbean Dec 2004

PRINCESS/Sapphire Princess China & Far East Apr 2005

RCI/Radiance Of The Seas Western Caribbean Dec 2005

OCEANIA/Nautica Eastern Europe Jun 2006

HAL/Zuiderdam Eastern Caribbean Dec 2006

 

We chose this itinerary because it combined two destinations we have wanted to go to for a few years now. My mom & sister wanted to go back to Greece as their previous visits needed to be done over, they both loved visiting Greece but did not get to see many of the sites due to itinerary and time.

 

The players on this trip were myself, my sister Lisa, my mom Claire and a very close family friend Paula. This was a special voyage as Paula was celebrating her birthday while we were in Istanbul.

 

Just some background…for us, choosing a cruise means choosing an itinerary. That is the most important item. Then we consider ship and price. We have some favorites, but no specific loyalties to any particular line.

 

When we saw this itinerary, we already had a deposit on a princess cruise to Tahiti. We thought about it and moved the deposit to this cruise. It was exactly what we were looking for; a cruise through the Greek Islands and starting in Istanbul.

 

What makes the itinerary is not just the ports visited but also the time in port and time of year. We would have preferred to go earlier, closer to shoulder season, as we like to avoid peak season. We do not like crowds or too much heat while touring. Although this itinerary was just at the start of peak season, we did experience crowds, children and it was already very hot. I would chance rain and not such perfect weather to have fewer kids and fewer crowds.

 

We booked this cruise last summer. We choose it well before but because they had the ‘Free Air’ promotion, we waited until they could give us the deviation we wanted and find out what the fare differential would be. We are Air Canada travelers so we like to use the ‘Star Alliance’ partners if A/C is not available to get our points and we also we deviating to stay longer in Athens and go earlier to Istanbul.

 

In early fall 2005 Oceania offered us a Lufthansa flight through Frankfurt and on to Istanbul and they could not get us Lufthansa coming home from Athens (even though there is one) and gave us an Air France flight. The times for the AF flight we good so we agreed, paid the air deviation fee + a few hundred dollars more for the differential and we deposited the cruise. They gave us flight numbers, seat numbers and file confirmation numbers. We were very happy. We were booked and I started my research.

 

Months went by and I read quite a few books on Greek and Turkish history, studied maps and surfed the net. The next undertaking was finding some good hotels. My criterion for finding a hotel consists of one thing, location. I want to walk out of my hotel and be able to walk to some main areas for entertainment (in my traveling group, this refers to shopping) or sites. We also want to be within walking distance to most things we want to see or very close to a taxi stand or at major subway stop. In a city we want to be right downtown and if we can’t budget for the best hotel, we want to be very close by to that property’s location. In my experiences the urban locations of the Four Seasons Hotels are usually in or around the best location. This is my criteria but I will discuss the locations of our particular hotel in that part of my review

 

Choosing an area to stay in Istanbul was nothing short of agonizing. All the major chain hotels were in the newer section and not close to the Blue Mosque. For some reason I wanted to stay with a view of either the Blue Mosque or Aya Sophia. We started to focus in on the Sultanahmet district. We then narrowed the search down by deciding to stay in one of those charming small hotels…but which one?

 

I checked on trip advisor, at this time the Four Seasons was the top rated hotel and the fact that it was in an old Turkish Prison really caught my eye. I have stayed at the Four Seasons before and the problem with this chain is (other than the unbelievable expense of meals) it is so comfortable, you never want to leave the hotel! We were really looking for a comfortable room, nice rooftop lounge to relax after a weary day and breakfast included was a bonus.

 

We found the Fehmi Bey on tripadvisor.com and the reviews seemed to reflect everything we wanted, good beds with duvets, large bathroom with good water pressure and breakfast included. We checked out the website and we were sure it was for us. Nice earth tones in the room, a huge bathroom and the rooftop patio had a gigantic sultan’s couch and a view of the blue mosque! We also read in reviews on tripadvisor to book corner rooms, as they are the largest rooms before getting into the executive rooms and suites. We booked the corner rooms and they were very fast with responding by email. If you stayed three days or more they provided transportation from the airport and they also offered a discount for paying in cash.

 

The next problem, where to stay in Athens? We were seriously considering staying at the Grande Bretagne. Syntagma Square seemed to be the center of the tourist universe in Athens. Looking back….it definitely was! It was a toss up between the GB and The NJV Athens Plaza. Then I found The King George II for a very affordable price through the website. It was listed on the Leading Hotels of the World site. This group of hotels became my favorite (after the Four Seasons) after we stayed at The Watergate Hotel in DC. We decided to book it as it was located right at Syntagma Square and was in the right price range. My only worry was that it had some very poor reviews on TripAdvisor.com.

 

Now the hotels were looked after, back to the flights. We accepted Oceania’s ‘free air’ but we specifically deviated to an airline in the Star Alliance so we could collect points and stay pre and post cruise. We paid a deviation fee and a fare differential to take Lufthansa. We had to pay this fee right up front with the cruise deposit and we received confirmation number from Oceania. To us the air travel is so important – just as important as choosing a cruise. Everything comes down to selection and timing of the connections if we cannot get a direct flight. We also got seat selection as making those long flights as comfortable as possible is a must. You would think booking so far in advance seat selection would not be a problem, but that is a sermon for another day.

 

It was now Mid May and finally just a few weeks until our cruise. My sister was calling Lufthansa directly to try and secure seats on the inter-Europe portion and just to check our booking. This is where she uncovered that Oceania had cancelled our booking and the Lufthansa booking agent had the time and date it was done. In other words….WE HAD NO FLIGHTS!! They did this after final payment, however, we secured the payment for these flights back in early fall 2005 when we deposited the cruise. Why they did this, we will still never know. What bothered us most was we had the booking all those months. It wasn’t until after we paid final payment on the cruise and THEN they cancel the flight in April 2006! Remember, Lisa found this out by fluke; they did not think to contact us or our TA. What would have happened?

 

Anyway, they did their best to fix everything. However, there was a lot of work now being done between our TA and Lisa. Finally they got us an Air France flight after a lot of bad excuses. At this point I was not too happy with the Oceania pre-cruise experience. At this point I was unhappy we choose them for our cruise. I mean we do cruise a lot, and we do want proper treatment. At this point they were not even providing minimal treatment.

 

THURSDAY, JUNE 15/16, 2006

DEP TORONTO

 

 

We took the overnight flight from Toronto to CDG in Paris and then caught the flight to Istanbul. The flight durations were 7.5 hours and 3.5 hours respectively.

 

Luggage Allotment – 2X23 KG = 2 bags @ 50 lbs each

 

This was my first time on Air France and it was very enjoyable. The food was higher end of the economy airline menus I have experienced. Everyone had their own entertainment screen, which provided various movies, TV shows, news, games & music. Once I figured out how to change the screen menus from French to English I was well on my way to a good nap and entertainment straight through to Paris. I woke up to a great bright morning and a wonderful view of the coastlines near Normandy and then the patchwork quilt-like French countryside. As we approached the city limits, and nearer to the city I caught sight of The Eiffel Tower! There it was…and this marked the official start of our vacation!

 

Once at CDG we had to take the shuttle to our departing terminal. It was a fairly slow ride, but we eventually got there. The inter-Europe terminal was old and gross!

 

We were finally on to Istanbul and I will be honest and say I was happy to leave that airport terminal. After a few hours, we were making our descent, and I caught my first glimpse of Istanbul! I saw everything (left side of the plane) the Cirigan Palace on the Bosphorus, just like in the travel books. Oh and then it appeared….the Aya Sophia and the Blue Mosque!! Fantastic!

 

The cruise lines offer to provide the visas for you. I am not sure of the rules if you are only going to Kusadasi or Istanbul for a one-day port stop. You can probably just buy them at the port building – again, not sure. Look this up on cruise critic. If you are like us do not buy them through Oceania or the cruise line as they charge more than 50% fee on top for providing them. They were going to charge $49usd for a visa that cost $20usd. It is very easy to buy these visas at the airport BUT you must have the fee in USD CASH! Our Canadian visas were the most expensive on the list $60usd. I don’t know why, the visas for Americans were $20usd. There are no forms to fill out or anything it is just like buying a postage stamp and they put it in your passport. This was a very sweet thing about Nejat, our tour guide, a few weeks before we left home he called me one day, I was so surprised it was him, and he re-iterated – buy the visa at the airport, do not pay the extra fee the cruise lines charge you. Nejat is very well versed in cruise travel. He knows all the ships, and all the ins and outs. He certainly reads the cruise critic boards often.

 

Once we got our visas and then got though customs – all very uneventful. We then went outside the secure area of the terminal and found our transportation provided from the Fehmi Bey Hotel.

 

Once at the hotel we checked in and got our luggage upstairs. Right from the start I was delighted with the hotel. It is on the corner just one block up from the Hippodrome. We really liked our corner rooms. They told us when reserving, the rooms did not have a view. However, our room 303 had a very good view of the Fabulous Blue Mosque, so the room above would be even better (room 403). My Lisa and Paula were in the corner room below us, room 203, they could not see the Blue Mosque.

 

The room was really nice, dark hardwood floors, light colored curtains (blackout curtains in front of shears). Everything in the room was earth tones. There was a king bed or it could be two twins. The bedding was nice and white with a duvet. The furnishings included an armoire, desk, safe and satellite TV. I think channel 6 was NBC Turkey or similar with a selection of Sitcoms and movies in English. The room was air-conditioned and it worked well. We always make sure we only use air conditioning or ceiling fans when in the room to not waste power.

 

The bathroom was huge and it had a great big window. It did have good water pressure, just as the reviewer on tripadvisor.com had said. They provided a hairdryer to use. The towels were nice and big. If I had to make one compliant (and this would be the only one I could find and is extremely picky) I did not like that there was no where to put my stuff in the bathroom as it had a pedestal sink. There was a big shelf in the shower to put your stuff, but not by the sink.

 

Although we were very happy with the room upon arrival, we made sure we were out quickly so we were not tempted to nap. Whatever you do, do not nap in the afternoon after the flight. The most important thing is to get on local time immediately. If you do not stay awake as long as possible, you will not be able to get a proper night’s sleep and you will be fighting the time change the whole trip. We usually try to do something we enjoy, but not too tiring or mentally involved. For us, we like to shop and browse so we had decided to go to the Grand Bazaar to get us both acclimatized to the neighborhood, and see early on what was available.

 

We made our way up to the restaurant/rooftop patio to check out the view, see where breakfast would be and most importantly, have a Turkish coffee before we set out. We went up to the top floor, there was five floors in the hotel I always try to take the stairs, but they did have an elevator.

I was so in awe when I saw how beautiful the patio was and it had the most glorious views of the Blue Mosque and on the other side to the Sea of Marmara. This was going to be a perfect perch for us to not only start our days at breakfast but at the end of our days, when we were tired and weary.

 

We introduced ourselves to the bartender/server, they spoke minimal English but enough to know what we wanted. The hotel staff were all so extremely sweet, they really made the stay special.

 

We ordered Turkish coffee & it takes a while to make as it is made to order. Turkish coffee is the same idea as Greek coffee (mud in the bottom, that you do not drink). Just do not call it Greek coffee in Turkey and vice versa! It comes already mixed with sugar so if you are having it for the first time, you may want to order it ‘medium’ to gage if you want it sweeter or less sweet the next time.

 

We had our coffees, regenerated, had some caffeine, enjoyed the view and made our plan of attack on ‘The Grand Bazaar’. I had brought a map of Istanbul I got with one of my guide books that I pre-highlighted the hotel in green and all the sites we wanted to see in yellow, so we could always find where we were in relation to the hotel. The hotel also gave out cards with their address and contact information and a map on the back. So if you need to take a cab you can hand them the card. I always made sure I had this card and my map in my back pocket every time we were out of the hotel.

 

We walked towards the Grand Bazaar (GB). It was about a 10-minute walk from the hotel in the opposite direction from the hippodrome. We passed a number of small restaurants and take out places. There was also a small grocery store where we could buy water and groceries.

 

We finally found the GB, try to not make eye contact with the men, especially if you are women traveling or walking alone, or even just a couple. They were probably harmless, but you don’t need the trouble. They were definitely leering. There seemed to be only men walking the streets and especially in the GB. I guess the women were home making dinner – not sure where they were.

 

Once in the Bazaar, it was so cool. It is made up of blocks and blocks of indoor alleyways. There are certain sections geared to similar products. There is a gold section, an antique section, a leather section and so on. The Bazaar Quarter itself dates back to the 15th century. Apparently there are more than 4000 stores encompassing 60 blocks. We read in the guidebooks to bring a pen and paper and jot down the stall number and browse first. However I would say if you saw something you really liked and it seemed to be a price you wanted to pay, bargain hard & buy it there, cause you would probably never find your way back. There was a very nice leather store right inside one of the main entrances, but tonight we were just fighting jet lag – we weren’t up to any hardcore bargaining. In hindsight, if we really wanted to buy something we should have done it then, as we never really got back in the shopping mode. There was just too much to do in Istanbul, shopping never became a priority again.

 

Istanbul's Grand Bazaar located at Eminonu Harbour, Monday - Saturday 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. Info: http://www.grand-bazaar.com

 

The GB closed at 7pm, so we only had about an hour or two to walk around. We would have gone back to the hotel before dark anyway, as we weren’t sure about the neighborhood after dark. TIP: if you do not want to be bothered with the men, do not make eye contact. Not so much the sellers in the stalls at the GB but the peddlers outside the gates and in the streets. If they are selling something do not stop, do not look at the products, do not seem interested in any way. Do not shake hands or introduce yourself if they ask….and at the same time try to not be rude. If they persist after all this, look straight at them and forcefully tell them you are not interested…but don’t yell. NEVER lose your cool. I had one guy, who seemed very harmless at first, he was selling perfume, I said no thank you immediately but he persisted. He then tried to make small talk, he seemed very nice so every other question I answered. I never give my name, I will give a fake name. He pestered me for a few blocks and finally, I had to lay it on the line. I was worried he would not listen and I did not want him to know what hotel we were staying at…but what if he followed us all the way back? If it came to that I would have just ducked in the first hotel or even the grocery store we passed. Thankfully, he listened and eventually just didn’t follow us anymore. TIP: never ask anyone on the street for directions or help, never let anyone know you do not know where you are. I am always oriented with a map, but even if I did not have a clue where I was, I would still walk with purpose. I bet 98% of the people are very genuine and friendly but who needs the trouble. I act the same way in my own city and every city I visit. Do not attract attention to yourself.

 

We made it back to the grocery store we passed on the way to the GB and stopped in. TIP: the Turkish water was 0.29 YTL and the Nestle brand was 0.60. I bought the one I recognized and then the next time bought the Turkish water. The Turkish water was much better and was spring water vs. filtered water.

 

Once back at the Fehmi Bey we went back to the rooftop patio to watch the sunset.

[stingraynz]

SATURDAY, JUNE 17

ISTANBUL

 

PLAN: TOUR OF OLD CITY OF ISTANBUL – full day walking tour with Kagan Kosagan

 

 

The breakfast hours were from 7:30am until 10 at our hotel & it was included with the price of the room. They offered a lot of cereals, yogurt, dried fruit, fresh fruit, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheeses, fresh bread, toast, scrambled eggs, breakfast meat and pastries. There was a selection of teas, juices and instant coffee (Nescafe) no Turkish coffee or American coffee. Turks seem to drink Nescafe in the morning. The food was very good and we enjoyed it every morning. One morning there was even a Japanese film crew filming the hotel at breakfast, it seemed to be for a travel show of some kind. We razed our bartender/server guy (could never figure out his name, so we called him Tony, after my buddy Tony). We teased him that he was now a movie star!

 

We met Kagan in the lobby at 9am, introduced ourselves and we were off. Kagan (pronounced Kah-an or Kahn) was very easy to get along with right away. He is really sweet and very interested in teaching you everything you want to know about Turkey. Our first stop was the museum of Islamic and Turkish Arts. The admission was 5 YTL. It was very conveniently right on the corner of our block. Right across the road from the Blue Mosque and the hippodrome was in the boulevard in between.

 

We went into the museum and sat in the courtyard while Kagan gave us the background history of the Turkish people. This started with how they originated from nomadic tribes that came down from the far eastern parts of Asia (Mongolia and China) during the time of Ghangis Kahn (sp?). The museum is housed in a 16th century palace. The exhibits feature the Islamic period from The 7th century to 1800s. This museum was a great place to start to get the background history and understand the roots of this country and where they originated. It is open Tuesday - Sunday 9 a.m. - 5:30 p.m., located at Hippodrome 46.

 

When you walk out of the Museum and into the boulevard you are standing in the Roman Hippodrome 1700 years old. It was still an amazing sight even though it was overrun with tour buses and crowds. The Egyptian Obelisks were a majestic sight.

 

Still walking across the street from the Museum is the Blue Mosque. From the Ottoman empire – 400 years old. The Blue Mosque (open daily 24 hours) is another of Turkey's icons. This was one of the main sights that made Istanbul stick out in our minds. We had to see the Blue Mosque. We sure did see it, about a hundred times in the five days in Istanbul. Since our hotel was so close it became the point of reference

 

I wish I can credit where I got the following paragraph but it has some great items about the Blue Mosque so I am going to include them. We did not get to any of these. The Imperial Pavilion, which is part of the Blue Mosque, houses a carpet museum (Tuesday - Sunday 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.) with exhibits dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Behind the Blue Mosque is another attraction worth catching. The Great Palace Mosaic Museum (Wednesday - Monday 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Arasta Bazaar) nestled into an alleyway of tourist shops, exhibits the flooring of the Bucoleon Palace of the Byzantine era. These mosaics were only (relatively) recently discovered in the 1950s and are believed to date back to 527 - 565 AD.

 

Next we were off to the Topkapi Palace. This was the palace of the Sultans during the strongest years of the Ottoman empire. It was originally a summer residence in the pre-Christian Byzantium era, there are the exhibits of gorgeous jewels, religious artifacts, silk ceremonial robes and things like that.

 

We then walked around the grounds, admired the view over the Bosphorus and visited the harem section. The Harem was the highlight. The Fee for the palace was 10 YTL and another 10 for the harem. The hours are Wednesday - Monday 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.

 

At this point we were really tired and needed to sit and rejuvenate. We went to a great restaurant just across the square from the Hagia Sophia and around the corner from the underground cisterns. I cannot remember the name but it was one of those large restaurants that was in business for many years & had a big open front. They offered grilled food, selections from a large hot table or you could just order from a menu. Since this was our first real meal in Turkey we asked for a sampling of selections from the hot table. Everything was fantastic and flavorful. The plates were so big you could definitely share a plate between two people.

 

Now we were ready to take on the afternoon and see what else was in store for us. The next stop was the Basilica Cistern. From the Byzantine era – 1400 years and has been open to the public only since 1987. This was one of my favorite attractions as it was just so cool & I am not just referring to the temperature on a hot afternoon. It dates back to the period of Emperor Justin in the Byzantine era 6th century. The Admission 10 YTL. The cistern is 143 m long and 65 m wide and there are 336 columns. They are arranged in 12 rows consisting of 28 columns, all the different column types are represented, (this will prepare you for Greece).

· Ionic – columns with scrolls at the top

· Corinthian – adorned with leaves at the top

· Doric – very plain and no engravings

 

This site was used in the James Bond film “From Russia With Love” I’ll have to watch for it next time I watch the film. It is open daily from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. on Yerebatan Caddesi.

 

Now we were ready for the highlight of the day the Haghia Sophia. Dating back 1400 years to the Byzantine era of Constantinopolis. Constantinople was considered the Vatican of the east and this was the place of worship. It is open Tuesday - Sunday 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 pm, the admission was 10 YTL.

 

Constantinople was named after Emperor Constantine but Emperor Justin made the Aya Sophia. It was later turned into a mosque during the Ottoman empire.

 

Haghia Sophia is one of the world's finest examples of Byzantine architecture. It is the oldest structure in that condition. It was made into a museum when the secular Turkish Republic was founded. The museum consists of two major parts: the church itself and the gallery of mosaics.

 

While we were admiring the inside, we met Lale, Kagan’s wife who was touring her own group. They make a wonderful couple and any traveler would be lucky to see Istanbul with either one of them.

 

At this point we had finished our itinerary for the day. It had been a great day. At this point we would have been quite happy to conclude our tour for the day and say good bye to Kagan but Kagan had other plans. He mentioned we could still get into the Museum of Archeology, I know we were all tired but we would be happy to be shown the museum if Kagan was willing. This is a tour guide who seems to have endless energy. The museum fee was 5 YTL and was in a beautiful park-like setting. We saw some fabulous sarcophagi and the treasures from the tomb of Alexander the Great. Some of the artifacts they had were truly pristine and worth it if you have the chance. Now we were really tired. We sat for a bit with Kagan in the garden and rested and discussed life in Turkey as well as Canada with him. These moments are truly the best parts of having the intimacy of a private guide. You really get to know who they are.

 

How we mustered up the energy to walk across the Sultanahmet district from the museum past Topkapi and Aya Sophia (this walking tour really got us oriented with this area). During the walk we came across a vendor and I bought a book on Istanbul for $5usd. We then walked down along the hippodrome where we started the day and at this point we decided to check out the Four Seasons hotel and that district. So we walked around the hotel and around the streets surrounding the hotel and back up through the Blue Mosque and up to our hotel.

 

We staggered up to the rooftop patio and had a Turkish coffee and ended our day watching the sunset. We were so tired we didn’t even eat dinner we went straight to our rooms to retire for the night.

 

SUNDAY, JUNE 18

ISTANBUL

 

TIP: GRAND BAZAAR CLOSED ON SUNDAY

 

Today our tour with Kagan included driving to the Asian side of Istanbul, so he arranged for a van and driver for the day.

 

Dolmabahce Palace (Ottoman – 150 years - where the last six sultans have lived) 15 YTL

2006 is actually the 150th year celebration. This is where the last six sultans lived but this was also the time where they were not as powerful. Suleymaniye was the most powerful and the Ottoman power went down after his reign.

 

This palace has a beautiful location right on the banks of the Bosphorus. On the tour you will see about 50 rooms including the Sultan’s receiving chambers (many of them), the Sultan’s bedroom & the Mother’s quarters. In the Grand Ballroom you will see a chandelier weighing in at 4500 kg (over 9000 lbs). They do not even light it any more as the power consumption is phenomenal.

 

In the afternoon around 1pm we took a ferry up the Bosphorus. It was nice to go on the local ferry but it so busy that we were lucky to get seats. Unfortunately we really did not have much of a view. The ferry was very reasonable at 4 YTL but you may want to look into more of a boat tour if you want to see more vs. have the experience of the local ferry.

 

My sister is a huge whirling dervish fan, especially after seeing them on the Amazing Race (of our favorite shows). In the guidebooks it noted the dervish performance at the Mevlevi school is only on the last Sunday of the month. We were going to be in Istanbul the Sunday before. We were not expecting a chance to go. Once we were there we read in some of the reading we picked up the performances were on the Sunday we were there. We had to do this so we sprung it on Kagan we wanted to go at the end of our tour, if he could assist us getting there and some tickets. He was fantastic about this; we called up and made all the arrangements. He worked it so we could be dropped off nearby at about 4pm Kagan walked us over to the place where they are helped us get the tickets and showed us some possible places to eat for dinner and then he retired for the day. The Mavlevi location where the dervishes are, is right at the opposite end of the pedestrian area from Taksim Square. An area we would become very accustomed to.

 

To see the whirling dervishes is cost 25 YTL and you could use your camera – but no flash. This seemed to be something a lot of people could not seem to understand, or they felt it did not apply to them as there was flashing every second. What Losers – they were making me sick! As you can see I hate when people think they are above the rules. The trick to this show is you are let in half hour before the performance and make sure you line up good and early. This is not a theatre it is their actual place of worship. So there are four rows of chairs and if you are not in the first row – you will be behind others and will find it hard to see. Everything is on the same level ground. Kagan explained this to us beforehand and it was very important. Especially if you are interested in taking photos (without a flash!)

 

The show lasts about 1 hour 25 minutes. It is about 45 min of precession, eulogy & prelude and then 45 min of whirling. Kagan said he had some clients who complained it was too short and not enough whirling. In fact, we thought the opposite; I could not believe they whirled for so long. Talk about dizzying. Keep in mind if you go, it is not a show; it is a unique religious ceremony.

 

It is extremely interesting as this is the actual religious act. Not a reproduction show. Honestly, it was kind of weird to be bearing witness to this. What these guys were actually going through and to imagine what they were possibly feeling. Again, you must go early and wait and line up to get the front row seats as there are only four rows of chairs on the same level floor as the Dervishes. One guy was whirling so much I was worried he may throw up on us!

 

Afterwards, we found another restaurant that offered choices from a hot table and you could pick your choices a la carte. We really enjoyed food in Istanbul. Then walked along the pedestrian area in Taksim.

 

Taksim is hilly and up the hill when you cross the Galata Bridge orient yourself with the Galata Tower. Up from the Galata tower square is the area where the dervishes are – Mevlevi Tekkesi. This area is the start of a 2km pedestrian walkway with shops, cafes, restaurants, and places to buy souvenirs, maps and water, fast food eateries, anything you need. Straight down to the other end a 2km walk is where you will find Taksim square and there will always be a bunch of cabs available here. On the other side of the square is Taksim park.

 

MONDAY, JUNE 19

ISTANBUL

 

 

Kagan met us today and we walked from the hotel in the Sultanahmet district over into the Eminonu district where we eventually got to the Grand Bazaar. On the way, we passed through a pedestrian area that was filled with jewelry shops and ‘cruise ship sponsored’ stores.

 

We finally made it to the Grand Bazaar and an entirely different section from where we were the other evening. We loved to visit the bazaar, take pictures and walk through the endless corridors and streets. There are a lot of different offerings and many things of interest; however, you are not going to get a good price there. Buy things you enjoy or if you find something unique. If you can find them else where they will probably be cheaper, you pay a premium at the bazaar.

 

I bought really cool business card holder and a matching pad and penholder in a booth called the Harem Gift Shop in the Grand Bazaar. I did not see them anywhere else and I love them, I felt it was a fair price but I’m sure it wasn’t a great price. Another price example is the oil lamps, they resemble ‘Aladdin’s Lamp’ I really wanted one, they were selling the small ones for 25YTL and up when they could be bought for 10YTL and down. I walked away from the stall at the bazaar and the shopkeeper wouldn’t budge and I then saw them later on in Kusadasi and they were less than 10YTL.

 

We meandered out of the Bazaar out by the old book and map area – that was pretty cool as well. We walked through the University of Istanbul and down to the Suleymaniye Mosque 400 years old and the biggest in Istanbul. This mosque was my favorite to visit, first off there was no one there at this time so it’s immense size and grandeur was extremely apparent. We were able to go up to the private balcony of Suleymaniye himself. The entrance was tucked away up a tiny staircase; here is another example of the ‘extras’ you get when with a personal guide. Imagine standing on the very balcony the grandest sultan of Istanbul would watch his kingdom overlooking the Bosphorus. The view was dizzying and you could see all of Istanbul. Kagan would explain his tales of Suleymaniye in a booming yet jovial voice.

 

When leaving the mosque if you walk down the hill toward the Galata Bridge you will pass through many streets where the locals shop. This is where you can get your items for a great price! Just as you are getting closer to the Egyptian market or Spice Market you will find stores that sell more tourist trinkets but they are still a lot cheaper than anywhere else. This is where I got a lot if my souvenirs to buy for people back home.

 

The Spice Market is a great place to take photos of all the offerings. We bought some Turkish Delight, meatball spice mix and real Saffron (they had Turkish saffron, Iranian saffron and one other kind I cannot remember). The booth we bought from was Misircarsisi ici (Egyptian Bazaar)

Booth #49, Eminonu, Istanbul.

 

One thing I wanted to do while in Istanbul was to smoke the nargile (waterpipe) pipe. I asked Kagan if we could go for a coffee break and smoke the pipe somewhere. He recommended the Aruna Café, underneath the Galata Bridge in Eminonu Istanbul. It is on the side closer to the Spice Market. The café is a great place to go even of you just want a small meal or any type of refreshment. It was about $4/eaYTL for Pipe and you could choose from many different flavors. The list is on the back page of the menu if you are interested. The pipe was pretty strong especially for a non-smoker but it was something I wanted to experience.

 

The guys at the Aruna Café were very sweet and they even kept our bags for the afternoon with them. At first when kagan suggested we leave the knapsacks with them I was a bit leery, but I really didn’t have much choice as we were on a walking tour and I did not feel like walking the entire afternoon with 2 lbs of Turkish delight on my back. So we put everything into my bag and they bag sat for us.

 

We took a cab from the Galata Bridge to Taksim Square which was the hub of activity and where you could get cabs and the subway.

 

We needed a quick bite and one thing that is great to eat are the round bagel like bread that you will see everywhere in Istanbul. They are called Simits and you can buy them from vendors on the street or you will see small shops where you can buy them or small sandwiches. They are an excellent option for a quick bite. Simit Sarayi (Simit Palace) had locations all over. Good place for a fast good meal. There was one right beside Burger King in Taksim Square.

 

From Taksim Square we took the subway to the Kanyon Mall, a brand new mall only open since the end of May 2006. The subway system only has about six stops. The first stop is at Taksim and the station is right across the road by Taksim Square. The Kanyon mall was very futuristic and had all the high end offerings such as Harvey Nichols, Louis Vuitton and other stores that had no price tags. This entire area where the Kanyon mall is in the newest and financial area of Istanbul. To go out there and experience the subway and see the newest architecture was a great ending to our ‘endless’ walking tour day. Kagan sure will keep you moving if you are willing participants.

 

We arrived back at the Galata Bridge after an extremely long walk from Taksim Square to the Aruna café to collect our things. They got our bag and we said our thanks to the guys and now it was time to say farewell to Kagan. We had such a good time in Istanbul with him. He was such a fantastic host and he is a real character.

 

A note on Kagan as a tour guide, he is extremely funny, energetic and personable. He born and raised in Istanbul. He is a traveler himself so he knows what groups are interested in seeing, a mix of culture and history. We loved the time we spent with him. He is an excellent guide if you are interested in personal walking tours & getting intimate with Istanbul’s neighborhoods. He will organize any tours you want, with private transport or walking and using public transport. We enjoyed the walking tours the most. Both he and his wife are tour guides

that provide tour guide services in Istanbul and all over Turkey. We are considering having him take us on a cross country tour.

His email & website information is;

kosagan@yahoo.com

http://www.toursinistanbul.com

http://www.tourguidesinturkey.com

http://www.privatetoursinturkey.com

 

TUESDAY, JUNE 20

ISTANBUL

 

Today we checked out of The Fehmi Bey Hotel and said goodbye to the guys who have looked after us for the last few days. We were on to the next adventure and Nautica was going to be our hostess.

 

Nejat Incedogan picked us up at the hotel we had our introductions and packed up our bags into the van and we were off.

 

One thing I really liked about the Istanbul tour guides were they really enjoyed what they did and they made their day fun for them as well. It didn’t feel like it was just another job, another day, another group to these guys.

 

We started our day going to a really old mosque (Zeyek Camii) that just started getting re-furbished. It was very exciting because Nejat said he has gone once or twice, but he had not been in ten years. This is what I was trying to point out above, he wanted to see the work done on the mosque and asked if we would like to make this part of our day. This was very exciting. This was probably my favorite stop of the day. What a great surprise. It is located in or really close to the conservative Islamic neighborhood of Zeyrek-Fatih Istanbul. Right in front is a very nice restaurant we went for a drink afterwards. You can check it out at http://www.zeyrekhane.com. This place had the most fantastic view. This started off the most fantastic day with Nejat as visiting this mosque, especially because of it’s state (basically an archeological site). This is one of many reasons Nejat was so special.

 

Next stop was the Chora Church Museum (Kariye Camii). On the way we drove down a street with shop after shop selling wedding gowns. One thing I noticed in Istanbul above any other city I have visited is there are streets or areas that are devoted to one product or a small range of products. We walked through and area and all they sold was large electrical tools and generators. One area was streets selling jeans and clothes, another street had store after store of lights and light fixtures. This street was bridal gowns and I think it was called Fevzi Pasa Caddesi.

 

The Chora Church was 10 YTL admission. It was a showcase of many religious mosaics. If you were especially interested in this art form this would be a stop for you. Not only was the church filled with mosaics that are restored but there are many stalls outside that are selling Iznik type tiles. They were gorgeous and I wished I could have brought more home. There was a small shop just down from the church past all the stalls, they were some artisans that made the tile right there and they were beautiful and vibrant. I bought just a few to make a grouping.

 

Now we were heading back to the area where the ship was docked to drop off our bags on the way to the Asia side of Istanbul. Once we were at the Nautica we gave our bags to the porters along with enough money to ensure their proper delivery. Yep, they brought them in right away. We are of the firm belief that if you take care of the guys well enough, it is very cheap insurance.

 

By now we were really orientated with the city. We drove to Camlyca Hill one of the highest hills offering a fantastic panoramic view of Istanbul. After taking a few shots and pointing out many places and areas of Istanbul we had been the last few days with Kagan we stopped for a drink in a café with the same view. The day with Nejat was so needed after the previous day with Kagan where we walked right across Sultanahmet, straight through Eminonu and all over Taksim. We were very tired and the day with Nejat was very relaxed and more reliant on the van than our tired feet.

 

We then drove towards our next stop – lunch! This was at a great place on Asia side at a popular restaurant in Uskudar. There was a grocery store next door so we picked up some water and provisions to have on the next few days of the cruise.

 

We then saw the Kucuksu Pavilion a Mansion of the sultan 4 YTL admission. This is also on the Asian side and while it is only a mansion instead of a palace but it is a beautiful example of Baroque style. The Sultan used this mansion primarily for relaxation after a day of hunting.

 

We returned to Europe by ferry. It was nice to get out and stand at the front to take pictures and get a great view. Our last stop was the Galata Tower. You take an elevator up to approx. 2 levels below the outdoor observation area. There is a night club and a restaurant up there as well. It was about 10 to 15YTL to go up. We did not have enough currency on us so Lisa & Paula went.

 

Back at the ship we checked in, all very painless and in no time we were in our rooms (with our luggage waiting for us). We had a little time to unpack and rest and we were off again to meet Nejat for our night at The Orient House for the belly dancing show.

 

The show was about 3 hours or so. The meal was nice and I especially liked tapas or starters. The dancers were really great – I had to see belly dancers. They made the show. Nejat always gets the table right by the stage. He is there many days during the week and you can tell the staff all know and love him. The one thing I did not like as I am a person who always enjoys watching from afar…I do not like the concept of audience participation. I come to watch professionals do a show I do not want to be part of the show! This show was packed with participation from what seemed to be from beginning to end. Of course this front and center table – didn’t help. All in all the show was enjoyable and worth it. You can look it up at http://www.orienthouseistanbul.com

 

It was nice to get back to the ship – I was tired.

[stingraynz]

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21

ISTANBUL

Onboard Nautica

DEP 11PM

 

The weather was very hot today, and not a cloud in the sky. Where the ship was docked the port side balconies had a great view of the Bosphorus, the Asian side and Sultanahmet district. The starboard side, saw the Dolmabache Palace and Taksim, but the port authority building was in the way. For sail away, you wanted to be on the starboard side.

 

Today we were on our own. By this time we really knew our way around Istanbul but the language was still very hard to pick up.

 

We opted out of having breakfast in order to do laundry. You buy the tokens at reception $0.75 each. You do not need to bring soap, it mixes in automatically when you turn on the washer. Go right at opening time (9am I think). The laundry room was always very busy. If you are thinking of doing laundry you will probably have to give up some port time. The up side of the laundry room was we met some very nice fellow cruisers. Actually this was the only place we really met others.

 

By the time we finished our chores, it was time for lunch, we ordered room service. There was a lot of choices and my favorites were the club sandwich, grilled ham & cheese sandwich (I did not eat both, we split them). They also have crème Brule (my moms favorite) on the RS menu.

 

It was amusing to watch all the boat traffic on the Bosphorus and the boats came very close to the ship. There were many boat tours I noticed the main one http://www.turyol.com.tr maybe you may want to check them out.

 

After we ate and watched the world go by on the Bosphorus we went out for our last visit to Istanbul. There are taxi’s lined up available at the port. I would be sure you have specific instructions or the name of the ship’s pier or berth, as getting back could be a challenge if you are not with the same original driver. There are many ferries and other boats docked so there are many berths all along the shore of the Bosphorus. We were berthed just south from the Dolmabache Palace. Bring the ‘Currents’ (the ship’s newspaper) it had the name of the berth.

 

Directly out of the port area and up the road towards Dolmabache, is a gas station where you can get water, sodas and some other convenience items. On the other side of the street there was a pharmacy and a store that sold perfume and personal items like toothbrushes and suntan lotion.

 

Once you are across the street from the port you can take pretty much any of the alleys or stairways up the hill to the Taksim area. This is walking distance. It is a bit further of a hike to Sultanahmet or Eminonu, but very doable. The spice market is just over the Galata bridge probably a 30 minute walk from the ship. Once again, you will have that walk back and few drivers speak English so make sure you bring a map to point out where the ship is and make sure to point out the meter to be used.

 

We decided to take one more trip to what was becoming my favorite place to sit, the Galata Bridge. Once we got there, it was like we were back home with our buddies at the Aruna café. I guess if you make enough of a spectacle of yourself you will be remembered for a long time. Even the guy at the restaurant next door recognized us and said “…you are always going there…when will you come to my restaurant?” The truth was we had to go to what was becoming my favorite perch of Istanbul. In no time our chay was arriving along with our friends coming to say hello. It was very sad when it came time to say goodbye we exchanged email addresses and then it was time to leave.

 

Tonight was the first meal onboard in the grand dining room. It was probably the best meal I had on the trip. The escargots were indulgent and perfect.

 

After dinner we went out on deck to watch the sail away. Istanbul was so beautiful at night. We heard the last call to prayer at 10:20, just before sail away. It was really sad to leave Fehmi Bey, Aruna Café and the rest of Istanbul. As we sailed past the Aya Sophia & the Blue Mosque…so close to our neighborhood at the Fehmey Bey, it was all about to become just memories.

 

With Istanbul just fading into the darkness of the night. We went back to the room. Now I finally felt I had a chance to really relax, knowing I did not have to do anything the next day. Even though I loved Istanbul….it was a very full few days. I turned on the TV to check to see what was available. My mom was wondering what I would do being away for almost 3 weeks and no CSI. Well, to our absolute astonishment, there was a whole channel onboard dedicated to just CSI programming! So I took in a few episodes before drifting off.

 

ISTANBUL GENERAL INFORMATION

 

Before I go on with the next part of Turkey, I will mention a few things about Istanbul and its offerings.

 

If you are first time in Istanbul stay in old section. Or If you have a week, spend the first couple of nights in the Sultanahmet area, but afterwards you may want to move to the Taksim area.

 

Taksim seems to be a smaller part of an area called Beyoglu. Newer sections of Istanbul. Taksim area is always open – always awake.

 

I always take note of hotel in good areas in case we come back and want to stay in a different area. I also like to check hotels I was considering but was not sure about the location.

 

Other hotels in Istanbul Sultanahmet District

 

Fehmi Bey – I would absolutely recommend this hotel I would stay there again for sure.

 

Hotel Contact Information

Hotel Fehmi Bey

Ucler Sok. No. 15

Sultanahmet, Istanbul 34440

Tel: (90-212) 638 90 83 / 638 90 85 / 516 32 97

Fax: (90-212) 518 12 64

 

Email - info@fehmibey.com

Website – http://www.fehmibey.com

 

 

Sari Konak - our friends on board Nautica stayed here and really enjoyed their stay and the location. This hotel was our second choice.

Mimar Mehmet Aga Cad. No:42/46

Sultanahmet Istanbul 34122

 

Dersaadet Hotel - This hotel was our third choice and some other cruise critic friends really enjoyed this location and would stay again.

Kucuk Ayasofya Caddesi Kapiagasi Sokak No 5

Sultanahmet Istanbul 34400

 

Two best westerns in Sultanahmet district - both had good locations close to main attractions and museums. Have no idea about the rooms but the locations looked good.

 

Behind the Blue Mosque was the Yesil Ev, Four Seasons, Seven Hills & Uyan hotel. These were all together in the same small area, almost right next to each other.

 

The Sultanahmet area was more of a touristy area. Istanbulians do not really live there. It is a great location during the day and at night you can visit the Blue Mosque and walk around that area. However, I probably would not want to walk around any of the other streets at night. There is not much nightlife in this area to speak of. If you are looking for an area where you can get to places close by and walk around at night stay in the Taksim area. We liked the old district it was beautiful and we loved hearing the call to prayer from the many nearby mosques. It is a very good location if you are busy during the day but you probably would not want to walk around the streets after you come back from dinner. At night it became very quiet.

 

CHAIN HOTELS IN THE TAKSIM AREA

 

When I was doing my initial research, I was concerned about staying in this area, as I had no idea how hard it was to walk around. I could not visualize how far it would be to get to other neighborhoods. If you stay in the Taksim area hotels you could walk to the old section but it would be best to just cab it over (it’s a short ride) and then use your energy walking around.

 

Swissotel – directly up the hill from Dolmabache Palace. Nice location but seemed to be on sprawling grounds and a good walk up to any restaurants or Taksim Square. It seemed slightly isolated.

 

Conrad Hotel – in a nice area of Taksim. With restaurants and stores close walking distance.

 

Ritz Carlton – actually a very ugly & extremely tall, high rise hotel. Every room probably has a fantastic view. However, it appeared to me to be a good 10 minute walk to anything and then continue from there. Because it was up on a hill it looked like a fairly steep hill to get back. The long and short of staying here is you will be making use of cabs, unless you are a conditioned walker.

 

The Hyatt and The Intercontinental Hotel both had a fantastic location in the Beyoglu shopping area where I mentioned you could get anything you wanted. From Taksim Square you could see them both and they were definitely within walking distance. They were probably furthest up the hill and closest to this area in Taksim.

 

Another beautiful hotel was the Marmara Hotel located right at Taksim Square. It was a 5 star property. A few times we went there to hail cabs as there was always some waiting.

 

There was also the most beautiful boutique hotel right in the square where the Galata tower was. It was literally 20 feet from the tower entrance. This a very quiet square compared to the busy and bustling Taksim Square. It was called The Hotel Anemone Galata and it looked like a great location. You would always know where your hotel is because the Galata Tower was seen from everywhere. It was so beautiful with the rooms in the front having gorgeous little balconies and high ceilings. It also had a rooftop patio.

 

NEIGHBORHOODS

 

The peninsula where the Sultanahmet district sits at the tip is called Eminonu. It is very easy to walk around this area there is a hill but it is more gradual.

 

Across the Golden Horn is Beyoglu, and Taksim seemed to be the district right at the tip where the two main bridges cross the Golden Horn. Taksim comprises quite a steep hill from the shore up to where the Galata Tower sits.

 

Connecting Eminonu to Taksim is the Galata bridge

 

The Beyolgu district, in the heart of Istanbul, has numerous cafes - and offers great people-watching.

 

WHICH SITES ARE CLOSED AND WHEN

 

Aya Sophia – closed Monday

Archeology Museum – closed Monday

Museum of Islamic & Turkish Arts – closed Monday

Military Museum – closed Monday & Tuesday

Dolmabache Palace – closed Monday & Thursday

Topkapi Palace – closed Tuesday

Chora Church – closed Wednesday

 

 

GUIDES

The guides were fantastic! But I could not give you one that I favored - they actually were all very special for completely different reasons!

 

Kagan (pronounced Kah-an) Kosagan - Loved, loved, loved him. Lived in Istanbul all his life - but is a huge traveller. He was great for exactly what we booked him for. Walking tours. Although we did have a van one day as well. He walked us all over (if you let him, he will walk you to death). Met his wife Lale as well in the Aya Sophia of all places. He takes people all over Turkey and we actually would like to book a trip with him to Capadoccia (sp?). He was great. Really fun & very down to earth. Could not recommend him enough for Istanbul. We spent a lot of time with him, but it was like we became so close, almost like close friends. I just think that is the way he is.

Kagan Kosagan - http://www.tourguidesinturkey.com - email kosagan@yahoo.com

 

Nejat – an incredible man. Unbelievably caring. He called us at our hotel to confirm the time and say hello, made sure we got there OK. He is older, but he moves well considering you think he would be a lot more frail. He is one of those people you come across that is so life affirming. If you told him you were interested in something or collected something, he would make sure you got it or saw it. He took us to this old mosque that was hundreds of years old and now was being restored. I think it has been in disrepair for almost a hundred years, so you could imagine the cool things inside and how crumbly it was. He got the caretaker to let us in. We went in and it was all under restoration and piles of rubble - it was just amazing to feel and see something so off the beaten path.

Nejat Incedogan - **********@yahoo.com

 

Levent – The one word that comes to mind to describe Levent was charismatic! Excellent speaker, you could listen to him and hang on every word. He was so enthusiastic. He took us to Ephesus and I could not imagine seeing it with someone else. Even though he goes there with groups a few times a week. He gets so excited to show you everything! He has pictures of what the ruins would have looked like back in the day so that really allows you to visualize the sites.

Levant Solmaz - http://www.levantsolmaz.com - email info@leventsolmaz.com

 

Levent and Nejat both know each other, they are both from Izmir. I had levent for Ephesus and Nejat for one of the days in Istanbul. I told them this a while back so when we were in Ephesus we kept seeing Nejat throughout the day- so it was funny to see them joke around with each other. Both Nejat and Levent are THE guides to get, that was obvious. At the restaurants and the orient house (belly dancing show) all the staff knew them, the guards at the sights they all new them. They are there all the time and bring them a lot of business so they go out of their way to accommodate them. I noticed this treatment especially in Ephesus with Levent and at the Orient House with Nejat.

 

One thing in common was they were all extremely proud of Turkey so they want to show and tell you everything.

 

Each one of them would take you to special places you were not really allowed at the sites, grease a guy to get into the inner chamber...sort of thing. Go behind the ropes that are supposed to keep tourists out etc. I also like the fact that Kagan would want to take us places he had never went before (that was cool) he would want to check out this building or that building (mostly newer buildings, as we were interested in architecture) of course all the old places he has been probably hundreds of times. We did this one day we got finished early with what we had planned so we went to a brand new shopping/condominium complex (very modern) out in the financial district to check it out and this was nice because he was excited about the day as well. It was neat to see something in so much contrast to seeing things that were so old.

 

TAXIS Fares (approximate)

 

6 YTL from Taksim Square to Aya Sophia

5 YTL from Galata Bridge to Taksim Square

4 YTL from Galata Bridge to Aya Sophia

 

 

 

 

CURRENCY

 

The money for Turkey is the New Lira. New Turkish lira has the six zeros removed. When buying this currency make sure the notes are not old. We always buy some currency of the country we are arriving at so we can pay for airport carts, tips, cabs etc. Since we were staying for quite a few days we brought enough money to get us started. We then used the ATMs and had no problem at all. They had English options.

 

Turkish Lira. Roughly, 1.4 to US dollar 1.2 to the cdn dollar

 

******WHEN MAKIING CREDIT CARD PURCHASES – HAVE THE LOCAL ESTABLISHMENTS CHARGE IN LOCAL CURRENCIES IE: EUROS, LIRA ETC – OTHERWISE THEY MAY GIVE SOME MADE UP HIGH EXCHANGE RATES. NOT BANK EXCHANGE RATES. TRY TO PAY CASH AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE

 

In Turkey, just about every place would take dollars or Euro as easily as Turkish Lira. The only exception is admission fees to museums and historic sites where you will need Turkish currency.

 

All the guides in Turkey were paid in USD. They were very good about paying all the admissions up front and then we would keep track and pay him all the fees in Lira when we settled up at the end of the day.

 

THURSDAY, JUNE 22

CRUISING THE DARDANELLES STRAIT

 

The scenic cruising through the Dardanelles straight was from about 7:20am to about 9am. Make sure you have the TV on the navigational channel to show the map of where you are going through.

 

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and exploring the ship. We had a planned cruise critic meeting at 3pm. We had a nice small group of about 12 cruisers (including my group of four) they were by far a highlight of the onboard life. It was nice to know some people onboard, especially as we did not take any shore excursions and that is one of the few other ways to meet others.

[stingraynz]

FRIDAY, JUNE 23

KUSADASI (342 nautical miles from Istanbul)

8AM – 6PM

EPHESUS (distance from port 8 miles)

 

 

TEMP Not sure of the exact temperature so we will go with 100 degrees in the shade & 90% humidity. No breeze or much shade to speak of at Ephesus – very hot.

 

 

Today we had a full day tour with Levent Solmaz. He is from nearby Izmir, which also is a port of call for lines such as Princess. We were also being joined today by another couple who was part of our cruise critic group. We had exchanged plans online and met at the CC meeting.

 

We walked to the pier and there was Levent waiting for us. Right from the start I could see the day with Levent was going to be superb. There is one word for him that comes to mind – “charismatic”. He is a wonderful speaker, so proud and so articulate. He really brings the ruins to life with his explanations. I could not imagine seeing Ephesus with anyone else. His information is; email - info@leventsolmaz.com or primy@tnn.net

Website - http://www.leventsolmaz.com

 

 

It takes about twenty-five minutes to get to the area of Ephesus from Kusadasi harbor. Levent takes this time to explain interesting things in the area and other points of interest.

 

The first thing we did was drive up to Nightingale mountain to see Mary's shrine. It is said this is where she spent her last years. It is a good idea to visit this first as it gets pretty busy later on and it is a small place. The admission fee is 10.75YTL.

 

Just at the bottom of the hill was the archeological site of Ephesus. The admission fee is 10 YTL. This site is fantastic and if you take a tour with the ship I would suggest the tour that includes the Terraced houses. Those who went to this section really enjoyed it. This was not included on our tour but I am not sure if it can be included or not. I never asked as I did not know enough about them while doing my planning. Looking back, I would have given up the tour of Mary’s house to see the terraced houses at Ephesus instead.

 

The main features are, the Library of Celsus, the Temple of Hadrian, the Roman baths and of course, the theatre. They are the most spectacular ancient ruins on the Aegean coast of Turkey. Levent has some pictures of what the ruins looked like in their glory, this really allows you to visualize what you are looking at. We spent the rest of the morning there and we had enough time to wander around. Levent did a lot of explaining and we took a lot of photos. As usual with a private guide, Levent took us to little out of the way places of interest within the site where none of the tours were going. He showed us some fantastic mosaics that were tucked away.

 

You may want to check into the schedule of what ships are in port in Kusadasi and in Izmir when planning your cruise or visit to Ephesus. We were the only ship in port in Kusadasi and there were one or two ships in Izmir. Therefore, the ruins were not so busy when we were there. There were a lot of people but they did not hinder our visit. Levent was saying in the height of the summer tourist season there can be ten or even twelve ships in total in the two ports and the site of Ephesus is overrun and crazy.

 

After we left the site of Ephesus, we had lunch in a wonderful local restaurant in the nearby town of Selcuk. It was delicious and very reasonable. Take the recommendations of Levent and the waiter they will tell you what is the best. Everything we had was excellent.

 

We saw Nejat throughout the day and it was fun to see him again and again. It was obvious that both of them were the guides to have in Kusadasi. Everyone knew Levent everywhere we went.

 

The museum of Ephesus was located just a few streets over from the restaurant in Selcuk. You must see the museum to see all the actual treasures. The admission to the museum is 5YTL. The most famous artifact is the multi-breasted Artemis, but there are many other fine pieces to see.

 

Afterwards when we were finished with the main part of the tour, Levent does offer to take you to do any shopping you may require. We were not interested in buying any big-ticket items like a rug so we elected to go back to the ship. However, if I was going to buy a rug I definitely would have appreciated Levent’s assistance in taking us to a reputable shop and helping work out the details. So that is an option if you hire him for the day.

 

We saw the ‘Christina O’ Aristotle Onassis’ famed yacht. Levent had told us you could charter it out for small groups now. So if you are in Kusadasi or the Greek Islands you may see it too. We got back to the port about 3:30 - 4pm so we had about an hour to browse the shops and get rid of our Lira.

 

The town of Kusadasi was a lot prettier than I was expecting. It was very resort-like. The port area itself was very new and had restaurants, cafes, Starbucks and Burger King. There were a lot of nice higher end shops selling clothes, cameras, sunglasses etc.

 

One shop that had all the souvenirs we were looking for was MEERSCHAUM KING right in the Orient Bazaar. If you walk out of the pier shops onto the main street, walk straight down the main street and where the street curves to the left, on the right hand side of the road is the ORIENT BAZAAR opening. Not even half way down on the left is the store. Ask for Deniz. http://www.meerschaumking.com. This store has everything you could be looking for from pipes, to iznik tiles, oil lamps, glass lamps, everything.

 

Thinking back on our day brings me to tell you a little story from when we were walking in the port area… we came upon a sunglass shop window where we were admiring some funky shades when two officers approached, also admiring the store display. We struck up a conversation about Kusadasi and my mother continued to ask about shopping in town, when they offered the advice to make sure we bargain hard. We laughed a bit and my mother asks one of the servicemen his name and points to his badge and continues to touch his person while admiring his stripes. He had a number of stripes and I scolded her as we said our goodbyes and went on our way. The men were obviously from some ship and probably were in command of dozens of servicemen and they are used to rank etc, etc…she went on to say he probably didn’t mind and that was that. For now we figured the embarrassment was over…..story to be continued….

 

We got back on board just in time for sail away. Now our time in Turkey was over and we were heading on to the next part of our adventure, Greece. I have the fondest memories of Turkey it will be a tough act to follow.

 

SATURDAY, JUNE 24

RHODES (177 nautical miles from Kusadasi)

8AM – 6PM

 

TEMP Not sure of the exact temperature so we will go with 100 degrees in the shade & 90% humidity. There were fleeting moments where it was a little breezy.

 

Rhodes is the furthest south eastern island of Greece and the largest island of the Dodecanes, which is a group of islands in the south of the Aegean Sea. It is a very popular, cosmopolitan island, where both Venetian and Turkish influence are apparent, giving it a special charm. There is continual sunshine, an average 300 days of sunshine a year.

 

Rhodes itself is a large Island where the old town is only a very small part but this is what we choose to explore. You can walk to the old town from the cruise ship pier

Get a map and do a walk through old town

 

KEY SIGHTS in the Old Town of Rhodes

· Street of the Knights

· Palace of the Grand Masters

· Best Greek island for shopping (jewellery / olive oil /souvenirs/Olympic souvenirs)

 

Please note that when I list ‘key sights’ they are from the DK Eyewitness Guides. They are my favorite ones.

 

In this port the Silver Cloud and two other very large European cruise ships were docked. We left the ship soon after it docked and started out toward the old town of Rhodes. After a very short (no more than10 minute) walk we arrived at the gate entrance to the old town.

 

We did not have any specific agenda just to walk around the streets and browse the shops. I used the map of the old town from Fodor’s ‘Exploring the Greek Islands’ as an aid. The old town has a maze of alleyways and tiny streets. I would recommend making a stop to see the synagogue as it was full of history.

 

We found a little souvenir shop that sold Olympic gear and souvenirs from the Athens 2004 games for 50% off the ticket price. The items were all marked as official souvenirs. I got a great poster of all the Olympic logos through the years. I also bought a mug for my mom who was not feeling well and stayed on board. You will see more Olympic gear for sale in Katakolon, Oylmpia and Athens and it was all 50% off the ticketed price. If you see what you want you may as well get it in Rhodes when you have the chance. We only had a half-day in Olympia so if we waited until then we would have not had a chance to look. In Athens, we were doing too much walking, I would not have wanted to carry the stuff around. In Rhodes, the old town is so close to the ship that you could go back to drop off your purchases and go back into town.

 

There are a lot of other options in Rhodes such as taking a side tour to Lindos, or to see the Butterflies. There are also quite a few really nice beaches. There are many beaches available to choose from with the closest one being right in front of the entrance of the walls to the old town. I saw extensive lists of beaches, their locations and amenities on the Greek tourism websites.

 

The sail away from Rhodes was really nice to watch as we sailed along the Island I did not realize how big it was.

 

 

SUNDAY, JUNE 25

DELOS (159 nautical miles from Rhodes)

8AM – 12 NOON

 

TEMP Not sure of the exact temperature so we will go with 100 degrees in the shade & 90% humidity. No shade.

 

Nautica was the only cruise ship but we were joined by a few huge yachts. We joked that perhaps Johnny Depp or some other celebrity were onboard them.

 

Delos is one of Greece’s most important archeological sites & most importantly, the birthplace of Apollo. The admission to the site is 5 euro (we are in Greece now!)

 

The only tour available was the one offered by the ship. We did not find it worth it so we used a map from the Fodor’s book “Exploring the Greek Islands”. It would probably be worth your while to find some maps and info before you go to save on the tour fee. If you are really interested in the history go see the museum on site. If you do not get enough information ahead of time you may want to book the ship’s tour to understand everything the site offers. Those who did take the ship’s tour thought they were well done and enjoyed them. Below I will list some of the main features of Delos.

Delos is a small, rectangular, waterless and uninhabited island and one of the most important archaeological sites in Greece where according to the myths the god Apollo was born.

Archaeological sites cover almost the entire island, starting from the harbor at the west side. The most important ruins in this district are:

The temples of Apollo:

The three temples dedicated to Apollo

The Altar of Dionysos:

Remains of a huge phallic monument

The Lion Terrace:

The famous lions of Delos, gift from the Naxian’s.

The sacred lake:

The place where Apollo was born.

Cleopatra’s House:

A building (2nd c BC), which took its name from the two headless statues of Cleopatra that where found in it.

The theatre:

Built in 2nd – 3rd century BC, it could seat 3.000 to 5.000 spectators.

It was very windy and hot on Delos make sure you have sunscreen and preferably something like a hat or long sleeved shirt to shade your skin from the sun.

 

At about noon we got back on board Nautica. We took up anchor and sailed away from the island. As we sailed closer to Mykonos, we noticed the winds were really very harsh and picking up speed. As the Winds picked up it became very evident to us we were not able to tender into this port. Even though everyone was disappointed, you cannot do anything about the weather. It is amazing how you always get those who complain, they were even getting down on the fact that maybe if we did not go to Delos that we would have been able to go. I’m not sure how they thought the winds would die down enough to get back on!

 

The fact is that I read in almost all my readings in both Mykonos and Santorini are subject to constant high winds and even the ferries are often cancelled.

 

We decided to relax on this unexpected free afternoon.

 

Later on in the afternoon, I started feeling as if I had a brick in my stomach. Just really achy. I decided not to go to the dining room for dinner.

[stingraynz]

MONDAY, JUNE 26

SANTORINI (85 nautical miles from Mykonos)

 

8AM – 6PM

 

TEMP Not sure of the exact temperature so we will go with 100 degrees in the shade & what felt like 90% humidity. Not much breeze to speak of.

 

Santorini - AKA Thira

 

A cataclysmic volcano eruption around 1650 BC caused the once round island to sheer off and tumble into the sea, creating a submerged caldera at the center.

Steep cliffs now rise almost horizontally out of the water. It is a very cool sight.

Fira and Oia were all but wiped out in an earthquake in 1956, and have been rebuilt in traditional style.

 

 

KEY SIGHTS

· Akrotiri

· Ancient Thira

· Fira

 

As I am sitting here typing this my mother appears beside me drinking her morning coffee in her brand new Santorini mug. How fitting! So I thought I would share that with you.

 

However, back to the brutal reality of this day, I am forced to remember how horrible I felt in this Island of endless beautiful views. I had full on stomach upset or flu. I was on a mission and I was going to that town on the top of the cliffs. I almost changed my mind when I saw the tenders rolling and pitching. I got out of the line once and then pulled myself together and got back in line. I have been very fortunate through the years and have not been sick on a trip, I hope this does not happen again. It just becomes an endless circle to try to keep your energy up while you do not want to put any food in your stomach.

 

Cable car cost 3,50e each way and it ran fairly often – but I can see where the lines could get daunting. 6 pax fit to a car and there are 5 or 6 cars. So 30 to 36 pax per trip. Since I was not feeling well I waited until the crowds went ashore so I did not have to wait in long lines in the heat.

 

The heat, smells and crowds got to me to while my family went on to find that quintessential church in every photograph of Santorini. I parked myself at a café with the most fantastic view. Sipped my 4e chamomile tea and enjoyed every moment of it.

 

Akrotiri was closed and I think this was due to a roof collapsing and it was unsafe for tourists to be there. I am not sure but I thought it was re-opening not until 2007

 

A while later, my family came back and were going to head back to the ship. The famously photographed church was nowhere to be found in Fira, apparently it is on the other side of the Island. However, there are a lot more views and scenes to photograph so no need for worry.

They decided to walk down the donkey path and they got some fantastic photos. I took the cable car back down. This way I could see the cute donkeys with out having to smell them.

 

Once back at the ship, I went upstairs and had a burger (a fantastic burger). Sometimes when I feel hung over (this is usually the only time I feel sick to my stomach – getting feverish and feeling sick to my stomach has never plagued me on my travels) eating grease helps me feel better. I hoped if I could eat this burger and keep it down, I would be on the road to recovery.

 

I do not remember the sail away too much as I was lying in bed feeling groggy.

 

Tonight was my second night of the forced diet of eating very little only enough to keep my energy up and nothing else.

 

I did not want to take any chances of feeling sick again, so I did not go to dinner. The next day was our stop in Katakolon, which meant our tour to Ancient Olympia! I was not going to miss that!

 

Other ships in port – Wind Spirit, one of the Seabourn yachts

 

 

TUESDAY, JUNE 27

KATAKOLON (254 nautical miles from Santorini)

 

8AM – 4PM (now 12pm – 6pm)

 

TEMP Not sure of the exact temperature so we will go with 100 degrees in the shade & 90% humidity. No breeze

 

Other ships in port – Costa Mediterranea

 

The starboard side of the ship had a view of Katakolon. The port side had a view of the Costa ship.

 

Ships call at the sleepy port of Katakolon at the western edge of the Peloponnese because it's close to the archeological site of Olympia, where the ancient Olympic Games were held.

 

In my research, there was not much choice. You can take the ship’s tour or get a cab to take you to the site of Olympia. The problem with the ship’s tour is too many people. Also, we have been stung too many times by poor tours, that now we basically refuse to take half-day ship tours. We find they are just not well-done and cost top dollar. On the other hand, the fact that this was only a half day port stop we were uncomfortable just taking a cab and fending our way around the site and then hope to get back on time. I read many reports of travelers who took the cab and made them wait and drive them back to the pier afterwards. They all seemed to get back to the ship on time and this looked like a very good solution to the ship tour problem. Most paid between 50 & 80e, this seemed very doable. The only problem was we had no direction and guidance once at the site. That is when I did some hard searching and found Gemma.

 

She came out from Athens, to give us a special tour of Olympia. I could not find anyone else to guide us around the ancient sites. She was willing to come to Katakolon so that made our decision. We met her right away on the pier, she was waiting at the main gate. She arranged a car to take us and we were off for the fairly short drive to Ancient Olympia.

 

Key Sights

· Olympia Archeological Museum

· Palaestra

· Temple of Zeus

 

9 euro to get into Ancient Olympia site & the Museum

 

Tour Guide’s Name : Gemma Economopoulou

Email : geconom@otenet.gr

 

 

Gemma was very cosmopolitan and very fantastic!

 

Since this port stop was from 12 noon to 6pm, unfortunately we were visiting Olympia in the heat of the day. And it was hot!! Gemma, who never seemed to break a sweat, always directed us to areas we could sit under trees to have our discussions on the different ruins and sites.

 

Make sure you bring more than enough water, sunscreen and some head protection like a scarf or hat. We brought evian spray atomizers to spray cool water on our faces, and that really helped cool us down. I also carried an umbrella to shade myself from the sun.

 

The Olympic Games originated here in 776 B.C., although the Sanctuary of Olympia dates to the 10th and 9th century B.C. This is also where the Olympic flame of the modern games is lit (using sunlight and a lens).

 

All the buildings at Olympia were built either for the early games or to celebrate Zeus and the other gods. Visitors today see the remains of the temples & the outdoor stadium where the competitions were held.

 

Competitors in the ancient games had to be Greek, born free (not slaves) and without criminal convictions. The oldest contests were foot races, but eventually the challenges grew to include warrior games, a pentathlon, and wrestling and chariot races. As with the modern games, in 1896, the original games took place every four years. But in the ancient games all competitors were male and competed in the nude. The winner's reward was an olive oil branch and a wreath said to be from a tree planted by Hercules.

 

Olympia has been inhabited since prehistoric times but it only took its final form in the 5th c BC with the impressive temple of Zeus and other ancient buildings like the Heraeum dedicated to Zeus wife Hera, the Stadium, the Hippodrome where ancient horse races were held, the Palestra (wrestling school) and the Gymnasium.

A Look at the Past (I believe I got this from one the Greek tourism websites)

There's really no modern equivalent for ancient Olympia, which was both a religious sanctuary and an athletic complex, where the games took place every four years from 776 B.C. to A.D. 393. Thereafter, the sanctuary slipped into oblivion, and buildings were toppled by repeated earthquakes and covered by the flooding of the Alfios and Kladeos rivers. When the English antiquarian Richard Chandler rediscovered the site in 1766, most of Olympia lay under 3m (10 ft.) of mud and silt. The Germans began to excavate here in 1852 and are still at it today.

Reports of the rediscovery of Olympia prompted the French Baron de Coubertin to work for the reestablishment of the Olympic games in 1896. The first modern games were held in Athens in 1896, and Greece was very sorry to lose the 1996 100th-anniversary games to Atlanta. Greeks are hoping that at least one event in the 2004 Olympics in Athens can take place here, where it all began. At a minimum, the lighting of the Olympic torch will take place here, as it always does for the Olympics.

The Ancient Olympic Games

- The 5-day Olympic festival was held every 4 years

- between 776 B.C. and A.D. 393 at full moon in mid-August or September, after the summer harvest.

- Participants came from as far away as Asia Minor and Italy

- the entire Greek world observed a truce to allow athletes and spectators to make their way to Olympia safely.

- During all the years that the games took place, the truce was broken only a handful of times.

- By the time the games opened, literally thousands of people had poured into Olympia

- much of the surrounding countryside was a tent city.

- Women were barred from watching or participating in the games, although they had their own games in honor of Hera, Zeus's long-suffering wife, in non-Olympic years.

- Any woman caught sneaking into the Olympic games was summarily thrown to her death from a nearby mountain.

No one knows precisely what the order of events was, but the five days included footraces, short and long jumps, wrestling and boxing contests, chariot races, the arduous pentathlon (discus, javelin, jumping, running, and wrestling), and the vicious pankration, which combined wrestling and boxing techniques.

The 3rd-century A.D. writer Philostratos recorded that participants in the pentathlon "must have skill in various methods of strangling." The most prestigious event was the stade, or short footrace, which gave its name to the stadium. Each Olympiad was named after the winner of the stade, and athletes like the 2nd-century B.C. Leonidas of Rhodes, who won at four successive Olympics, became international heroes. In addition to the glory, each victor won a crown made of olive branches and free meals for life in his hometown.

 

I highly recommend you visit Olympia on a tour with an experienced tour guide. You can get there on your own (the cab ride is about $50 roundtrip), but will miss the commentary about what you are seeing, which really adds to a visit of the site. Most tours last a half day, your ticket to the archeological site also includes entry to the museum. You return to Katakolon with plenty of time to enjoy lunch at a cafe and poke around the shops there.

 

There is one main street in Katakolon. It is very quaint and has some shops that sell the regular tourist needs, such as postcards, water, drinks and souvenirs. I bought a book on ancient Olympia, I think it was 12e. Olive oil is also a good buy here as this whole area is filled with olive groves. There are also some nice oceanfront cafes to enjoy ouzo, grilled chicken skewers, calamari and other fine Greek dishes. The town is literally right at the end of the pier.

 

If you need there is an ATM in the town of Katakolon. In some of the shops I’m sure you could use US dollars but at a bad exchange rate. This was common in most tourist shops and markets. Museum fees, local stores and taxi drivers all want the local currency – Euros, so you will need them.

 

 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28

CORFU (160 nautical miles from Katakolon)

 

8AM – 6PM

 

TEMP Not sure of the exact temperature so we will go with 100 degrees in the shade & 90% humidity. No breeze / burning hot

 

KEY SIGHTS

· Achilleion Palace

· Old town

· Kassiopi harbour

· Korision Lagoon

· Palaiokastritsa coastline

 

No need for a guide if you are going into the old town. It is easily done on own with a guide book. You could go to the palace or the fort but it was very hot, so only the really hardcore history buffs, seemed to fully enjoy these sites.

 

Shopping -wise Corfu is known for it’s Olive Oil and a liqueur made from Kum-Quats a tiny orange-like tangerine that is grown locally.

 

There was a shuttle but it really didn't go very far. It just took you from the gangway to the port building at the exit. The shuttle ran constantly and it was hot. Once outside the port building, there were a lot of taxi’s waiting. Be aware, they want to sell their tours of the Island, which may actually be a nice option to do in this port. We just wanted to go into the older section of town for a little while so we had one specific destination in mind. It was just too hot to do anything ambitious. The drivers did not like this and gave us a bit of grief. We were warned to get them to use the meter but ours would not and insisted on 10e for the fare. This is where the problems lie, 10e was not so much and we could have forced him to use the meter and he then would have probably drive us the long way around until the meter got to 10e (or more). So we agreed to the 10e price as we figured this was the most direct way of getting there. The way I see it is, unless you have been there before you have no real defense against this. Coming back home the driver again, asked for the price of 10e so they all seem to demand this. It was not so bad as there were four of us in the cab, but if you are two or only one person, this may seem too much. Perhaps you can get together with another couple to keep the price down for yourself.

 

The following websites may be of some help-

http://www.corfu-greece.biz/corfu-town.htm

http://www.greekisland.co.uk/

http://www.corfunext.com/services_for_cruises_corfu.htm

http://www.pelekas.com/index.html

http://www.gogreece.com/travel/places.html

 

it was really nice to have met the CruiseCritic group and have people you know onboard. The Oceania ships are such a nice small size you always tend to be running into someone. Tonight we organized to have dinner all together.

 

THURSDAY, JUNE 29

DUBROVNIK (211 nautical miles from Corfu)

 

8AM – 6PM

 

TEMP Not sure of the exact temperature so we will go with 100 degrees in the shade & 90% humidity. Slight breeze, but the crowds make it unbearably hot!

 

 

Carnival Liberty was also in port but they did not get in until 10am. We then knew the small walled city was to get really small so we planned to do the wall climb as early as possible.

 

Both the Nautica and the Carnival docked at Gruz Harbour. There did not appear to be anything at the port as far as money exchanges, ATMs or any other facilities. There was a very small over priced market out front of the Carnival ship, so I see absolutely no reason to hang around the port area.

 

There were a number of cabs lined up and waiting when the ship docked. This is where we had the worst experience of our trip. We got into a cab (like a big old Cadillac) and said we wanted to go to the old city and get dropped off at the pile gate. I did a lot of research before I left and people really talked up the wall walk. My 70 year old mother had already done the wall walk on a prior visit and she liked it, we knew what we were in for and it sounded very cool, so that’s what we wanted to do. Once again, we got a brutal taxi driver which all he saw was four women and wanted to relieve us of our tourist dollars and take us on a driving tour. This guy started off fairly nice and then once we were out of the port area, he became very negative. Told us everything we were doing wrong and everything he could do to make it right. He addresses us as ‘hey, lady’ and referred to my mother as ‘the old one’. This is not the way to get us to spend the day with you. I said we had our hearts set on the wall and that was that. Then he proceeded further on insulting us and we tried to stay pleasant (as hard as it was) as we were worried he would take us to the wrong area or dump us off somewhere. He said my mom, excuse me ‘the old one’ would never be able to walk the wall, and when we came back with the fact she was the only one of us whom had already walked the wall! Then he said we were ‘ugly Americans’. What a jerk, especially since we were ‘ugly Canadians’! What an idiot! As if we were going to be talked into spending the day driving around with him – since he did nothing but put us down from two seconds into a 10-minute drive. I’m sure that going on a drive into the hills and having a fantastic view of beautiful countryside and a medieval walled city would be fantastic, however, his sales approach was all wrong. Needless to say – we could not wait to get out of that car!!

 

It cost 10euro to get to the walled city of Dubrovnik from the port. He seemed to take any currency. I think we used euro we were wanting out of that car so bad, my sister just handed him the money and we made tracks.

 

Once you are at the old city there is an ATM to the right before you cross the bridge to go to the entrance at the Pile Gate. We took out 100 kuna each (about $20 usd) at that was gone in seconds when we paid for the admission to the wall walk (50 kuna) and the headset for the tour (40 kuna). We didn’t have any currency to even buy well-needed water during the walk. So take out at least 300 kuna per couple, just for admissions and incidentals. In the town you can buy lunch and gelato and pay in euros – but know the exchange rate.

 

In the information I collected it mentioned the wall opened at 9am, we arrived at 9am and it was already open and seemed to be opened for a while so go as early as possible. The ship’s documentation was the worst for Dubrovnik, they said the wall cost 19 kuna (it cost 50). And that it didn’t open until 10am. If we followed this information we would have been walking the wall in horrible heat and crowds.

 

I would highly recommend walking the wall in Dubrovnik, and renting an audiotape. We did it first thing in the morning, and avoided the crowds. Walking the wall is a fantastic way to view the city. There is another entrance to get up on the wall (other than Pile Gate) but I do not know where it would be located, other than it was near the harbor where the sailboats are, so I am not going to try to direct you there. I read in a CC post that this other entrance is at the sea gate.

 

We ate lunch and rested at a really nice café within the walls right where you board the boats to take you to Cavtat. We had some terrific calamari, pizza, beer & lemonade. There was a great gelato stand right there for dessert. My group enjoyed the gelato but I was still avoiding dairy at this point. But it looked fantastic and they were really enjoying it! The restaurant was called Poklisar Restaurant. The card said it was a family restaurant and it is right where you board the boats for Cavtat Island. http://www.poklisar.com

 

 

I don’t know who to credit this with but it was from a posting on cruisecritic. It’s very good info. So I am going to include it.

-Historic Stuff: Begin at the entrance to the walled city - the Pile Gate.

-Among the highlights include the circa-14th century Franciscan Monastery (Placa 2).

-Check out the adjoining pharmacy - opened in 1391, 3rd oldest.

-The Dominican Monastery(Sveti Dvorom 4). dates back to the same century.

-The Rector's Palace (Pred Dvorom 3) was the government seat in the 15th century; now you'll find a museum with Baroque paintings and historic artifacts.

-The Synagogue (Zudioska 5) is Europe's second-oldest Sephardic synagogue.

-Other highlights include the city's cathedral (Poljana M. Orzica) and the Fort of St. John Maritime Museum and Aquarium (Ul Od Margarite & the waterfront).

 

 

 

On the way back to the ship, we had the opposite taxi experience. We had the best taxi driver of the trip (not including Paul, the driver we pre-booked in Athens). This guy was big and tough to look at, but he was actually young and really sweet. My dad’s parents and family is from Slovenia, which was part of the former Yugoslavia, just like Croatia. So my sister and mother have traveled this area. He discussed the life there and where he likes to go, just a happy, funny and fantastic driver. He was upset we had such a bad experience and he was the absolute opposite, so our good feelings about the locals were reinstated. This is an unfortunate thing that happens to cruise ship passengers; you are only in port a short time, we often have very few meetings and experiences with locals outside of a few cab drivers and maybe some restaurant servers. If you come in contact with some that want to take advantage of you and treat you poorly, it is hard not to get a bad feeling from the place. So we were glad we ended on a good note.

 

Tonight, we had a very special engagement! We were invited to dine with Captain Luca Manzi, master of the Oceania Nautica. We met with Amanda, the social hostess & she was very sweet, then we waited in the lounge of the Grand Dining room for the Captain to arrive. A couple from our cruise critic group was also invited (what a nice coincidence to have someone you already know at dinner as well). We had a glass of wine and started some conversation and next thing you know, the captain had arrived. Actually, he showed up and he was so young and unassuming, that I did not think he was the captain. Actually what I mean by unassuming is ‘good looking’!

 

We sat down, and Claire my mother was sitting next to Captain Manzi. As she made light conversation, by asking him dozens of personal questions about his life, I began to have a slight case of déjà vu. Claire was leaning in and I saw her touch his arm and all of a sudden I was flooded with a mental picture from the pier in Kusadasi. Why have I seen this before? I asked myself. I then excused Claire from her interrogation and asked her if he could possibly be the guy from the pier in Kusadasi (remember back to the story I told earlier….)? she looked at me with furrowed brow and said “no way”. Then I saw her in deep thought for a slight second and she came back with “Luca Manzi” OMG that is what the badge said!

 

At this point, the captain was wondering what all the whispering and discussion was about. God forbid we were embarrassing another officer, but here goes….I asked him if he was ashore in Kusadasi? He replied ‘no’ (there was an invisible sigh of relief as my mother nudged me). Then he continued…”well, I was on the pier”. “Were you in the shops at all?” I asked. “Yes, around the shops” he replied. OK then, this was it….”Did you come across some ladies, while looking in the window of a camera shop?” He was looking down, then he lifted his head and looked at us and said….”It wasn’t cameras, it was sunglasses!” OMG, It was him, what are the chances!

Well that created roars of laughter at our end of the table! Those at the other end of the dinner table, looked up completely startled and said “clearly we are at the wrong end of the table”.

 

Well, that’s one for the memories….

 

 

FRIDAY, JUNE 30

CRUISING THE IONIAN SEA

 

Today, the order of the day was relaxing and hopefully getting a bit of sun. Oceania has probably the worst case of ‘chair hogs’ I have ever seen in my life. These people should be ashamed of themselves. I am the type that cannot spend an entire day out in the sun. I like the sun but after a few hours, I am done whether I like it or not. We knew from the first sea day to get out there early or we would never get a seat. So we got up and were out on deck at 7:30am. There were a few walkers and a couple swimmers and maybe two others sitting out at this time. In all less than a dozen people on deck.

 

By about 8:30 people started walking through and placing “items” on chairs. Still, no one further was sitting in them, however they were ‘taken’. By 9am, 9:15 at the latest, no word of a lie, every single chair was claimed and about 25% were actually being used. Since we were there from the beginning and watched the whole thing transpire it became a very interesting study in human behavior for us. People were coming to sit up there and there was nowhere they could sit even though the chairs technically were not being used! By 10:30 we were ready to leave and we gave up our chairs to others. This is precisely what makes me sick is I would love to use a chair and I would probably be gone by the time it would really be used. There were packs of ladies traveling together saving chairs for others in their group who would come by and even say “I can’t sit out I’ll burn” or something to that affect. But would they give those extra chairs up? NO! Please don’t do this! It really is the epitome of being a selfish pig! You know who you are and you aren’t fooling anyone.

[stingraynz]

SATURDAY, JULY 1

ATHENS (592 nautical miles from Dubrovnik)

 

ON BOARD NAUTICA

 

TEMP Not sure of the exact temperature so we will go with 100 degrees in the shade & 90% humidity. Slight breeze

 

 

KEY SIGHTS

· National archeological museum

· Kerameikos

· Agora

· Acropolis

· Tower of the winds

· Panagia gorgeopikoos

· Benaki museum

· Museum of cycladic arts

 

In my research on cruisecritic, I read good things about Paul at *****. I emailed him months before and asked him about a full day tour on our first day in Athens. We decided on going to Athens in the morning and driving out to Cape Sounion to see the Temple of Poseidon in the afternoon and then back to the ship.

 

He was waiting for us at 8am.

 

We went to the Acropolis first, before the crowds and before it got too hot. The ticket you buy to go into the acropolis is also used t get into the Temple of Zeus, Roman Agora, Kerameikos, Theatre of Dionysos

 

Paul gave us a great guide book to take with us up to the acropolis and use around the sites up there. Being up there, is one of those moments that seems larger than life, almost surreal. It was like, look ahead and see the Parthenon, look to the left and see the Erechtheion, turn around and see the temple of Nike, look over the edge and see the Odeon, look over the other edge and see the ancient agora, look anywhere out into the vistas and see the greatest views of Athens!

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ACROPOLIS INFORMATION

 

I got this from a Greek Tourism website. I can’t remember which one but it is such good information I wanted to include it for you. I did not write this and I wish knew who to credit it to.

 

Hours - The Acropolis is usually open Summer daily 8am-7pm; winter daily 8:30am-2:30pm. The Acropolis Museum usually closes at least half an hour earlier than the Acropolis

 

locations Dionysiou Areopayitou

 

Transportation - Metro:Acropolis; From Syntagma Sq., take Amalias Ave. into pedestrianized Dionysiou Areopayitou, and follow marble path up to the Acropolis

 

Prices - Admission 12€ adults. Free Sun. This ticket, which is valid for one week, includes admission to the Acropolis, Acropolis Museum, Ancient Agora, Theater of Dionysos, Karameikos Cemetery, Roman Forum, Tower of the Winds, and Temple of Olympian Zeus. It is still possible to buy individual tickets at the other sites

The Acropolis is one of a handful of places in the world that are so well known it's hard not to be nervous when you finally get here. Will it be as beautiful as its photographs? Will it be, ever so slightly, a disappointment? Rest assured: The Acropolis does not disappoint -- but it usually is infuriatingly crowded. What you want here is some time -- time to watch as the columns of the Parthenon appear first beige, then golden, then rose, then stark white in changing light; time to stand on the Belvedere and take in the view over Athens (and listen for the muted sounds of conversations floating up from the Plaka); time to think of all those who have been here before you.

When you climb up the Acropolis -- the heights above the city -- you know that you're on your way to see Greece's most famous temple, the Parthenon. What you may not know is that people lived on the Acropolis as early as 5,000 B.C. The Acropolis's sheer sides made a superb natural defense, just the place to avoid enemies and be able to see any invaders coming across the sea or the plains of Attica. And, of course, it helped that in antiquity there was a spring here.

In classical times, when Athens's population had grown to around 250,000, people moved down from the Acropolis, which had become the city's most important religious center. The city's civic and business center -- the Agora -- and its cultural center, with several theaters and concert halls, bracketed the Acropolis. When you peer over the sides of the Acropolis at the houses in the Plaka, and the remains of the ancient Agora and the theater of Dionysos, you'll see the layout of the ancient city. Syntagma and Omonia squares, the heart of today's Athens, were well out of the ancient city center.

Even the Acropolis's superb heights couldn't protect it from the Persian invasion of 480 B.C., when most of its monuments were burned and destroyed. You may notice some immense column drums built into the Acropolis's walls. When the great Athenian statesman Pericles ordered the monuments of the Acropolis rebuilt, he had these drums from the destroyed Parthenon built into the walls lest Athenians forget what had happened -- and so they would remember that they had rebuilt what they had lost. Pericles's rebuilding program began about 448 B.C.; the new Parthenon was dedicated 10 years later, but work on other monuments continued for a century.

As you enter the Acropolis, you'll first go through the Beulé Gate, built by the Romans, and named for the French archaeologist who discovered it in 1852. After that, you'll pass through the Propylaia, the monumental 5th-century B.C. entranceway. It's characteristic of the Roman mania for building that they found it necessary to build an entranceway to an entranceway!

Just above the Propylaia is the little temple of Athena Nike (Athena of Victory); this beautifully proportioned Ionic temple was built in 424 B.C. and heavily restored in the 1930s. To the left of the Parthenon is the Erechtheion, which the Athenians honored as the tomb of Erechtheus, a legendary king of Athens. A hole in the ceiling and floor of the northern porch indicates the spot where Poseidon's trident struck to make a spring gush forth during his contest with Athena to have the city named in his honor. Athena countered with an olive tree; the olive tree planted beside the Erechtheion reminds visitors of her victory -- as, of course, does Athens's name.

Give yourself a little time to enjoy the delicate carving on the Erechtheion, and be sure to see the original Caryatids in the Acropolis Museum. The Caryatids presently holding up the porch of the Erechtheion are the casts put there when the originals were moved to prevent further erosion by Athens's acid nefos (smog).

However charmed you are by these elegant little temples, you're probably still heading resolutely toward the Parthenon, dedicated to Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin), patron goddess of Athens, and, of course, the most important religious shrine here. You may be disappointed to realize that visitors are not allowed inside, both to protect the monument and to allow restoration work to proceed safely. If you find this frustrating, keep in mind that in antiquity only priests and honored visitors were allowed in to see the monumental -- some 11m (36 ft.) tall -- statue of Athena designed by the great Phidias, who supervised Pericles's building program. Nothing of the huge gold-and-ivory statue remains, but there's a small Roman copy in the National Archaeological Museum -- and horrific renditions on souvenirs ranging from T-shirts to ouzo bottles. Admittedly, the gold-and-ivory statue was not understated; the 2nd-century A.D. traveler Pausanias, one of the first guidebook writers, recorded that the statue stood "upright in an ankle-length tunic with a head of Medusa carved in ivory on her breast. She has a Victory about 2.5m (8 ft.) high, and a spear in her hand and a shield at her feet, with a snake beside the shield, possibly representing Erechtheus."

If you look over the edge of the Acropolis toward the Temple of Hephaistos (now called the Theseion) in the ancient Agora, and then at the Parthenon, you can't help but be struck by how much lighter and more graceful the Parthenon is. Scholars tell us that this is because Ictinus, the architect of the Parthenon, was something of a magician of optical illusions. The columns and stairs -- the very floor -- of the Parthenon all appear straight because all are minutely curved. The exterior columns are slightly thicker in the middle (a device known as entasis), which makes the entire column appear straight. That's why the Parthenon, with 17 columns on each side and eight at each end (creating an exterior colonnade of 46 relatively slender columns), looks so graceful, while the Temple of Hephaistos, with only six columns at each end and 13 along each side, seems so squat and stolid.

Of course, one reason the Parthenon looks so airy is that it is, quite literally, open to the air. The Parthenon's entire roof and much of its interior were blown to smithereens in 1687, when the Venetians attempted to capture the Acropolis from the Turks. A shell fired from nearby Mouseion Hill struck the Parthenon -- where the Turks were storing gunpowder and munitions -- and caused appalling damage to the building and its sculptures. Most of the remaining sculptures were carted off to London by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century. Those surviving sculptures -- known as the Elgin Marbles -- are on display in the British Museum, causing ongoing pain to generations of Greeks, who continue to press for their return. Things heated up again in the summer of 1988, when English historian William St. Clair's book Lord Elgin and the Marbles received a lot of publicity. According to St. Clair, the British Museum "over-cleaned" the marbles in the 1930s, removing not only the outer patina, but also many sculptural details. The museum countered by saying that the damage wasn't all that bad -- and that the marbles would remain in London.

The Parthenon originally had sculpture on both of its pediments, as well as a frieze running around the entire temple. The frieze was made up of alternating triglyphs (panels with three incised grooves) and metopes (sculptured panels). The east pediment showed scenes from the birth of Athena, while the west pediment showed Athena and Poseidon's contest for possession of Athens. The long frieze showed the battle of the Athenians against the Amazons, scenes from the Trojan war, and the struggles of the Olympian gods against giants and centaurs. The message of most of this sculpture was the triumph of knowledge and civilization -- that is, Athens -- over the forces of darkness and barbarians. An interior frieze showed scenes from the Panathenaic Festival each August, when citizens processed through the streets, bringing a new tunic for the statue of Athena. Only a few fragments of any of these sculptures remain in place, and visitors will have to decide for themselves whether it's a good or a bad thing that Lord Elgin removed so much before the smog became endemic in Athens and ate away much of what he left here.

If you're lucky enough to visit the Acropolis on a smog-free and sunny day, you'll see the gold and cream tones of the Parthenon's handsome Pentelic marble at their most subtle. It may come as something of a shock to realize that in antiquity, the Parthenon -- like most other monuments here -- was painted in gay colors that have since faded, revealing the natural marble. If it's a clear day, you'll also get a superb view of Athens from the Belvedere at the east end of the Acropolis.

Near the Belvedere, the Acropolis Archaeological Museum hugs the ground to detract as little as possible from the ancient monuments. Inside, you'll see the four original Caryatids from the Erechtheion still in Athens (one disappeared during the Ottoman occupation and one is in the British Museum). Other delights include statues of smiling korai (maidens) and kouroi (young men). You'll have to decide whether you find their smiles insufferably smug or becomingly modest. While you're deciding, don't miss the graceful 5th-century relief called the Mourning Athena, the athletic Calfbearer, and the three-headed figure of the Tryphon, whose tripartite body ends in a snaky tail. You can see clear traces of the ancient paint that decorated much ancient sculpture on the Tryphon.

As you leave the Acropolis, you'll probably feel that you've seen a great many monuments. In fact, almost all of what you've seen comes from Athens's heyday in the mid-5th-century B.C., when Pericles rebuilt what the Persians destroyed. In the following centuries, every invader who came built monuments, most of which were resolutely destroyed by the next wave of invaders. If you had been here a century ago, you could have seen the remains of mosques and churches, plus a Frankish bell tower. The great archaeologist Schliemann, the discoverer of Troy and excavator of Mycenae, was so offended by the bell tower that he paid to have it torn down.

If you'd like to know more about the Acropolis and its history, as well as the Elgin Marbles controversy, you can check to see whether the Center for Acropolis Studies, on Makriyanni just southeast of the Acropolis (tel. 210/923-9381), is open (usually 9am-2:30pm; admission is free). The center has been shut intermittently since excavations in 1998 for the adjacent new museum unearthed important Byzantine (and earlier) antiquities. The center houses artifacts, reconstructions, photographs, drawings, and plaster casts of the Elgin Marbles.

If you find the Acropolis too crowded, you can usually get a peaceful view of its monuments from one of three nearby hills (all signposted from the Acropolis): the Hill of the Pnyx, where the Athenian assembly met; the Hill of the Areopagus, where the Athenian upper house met; and the Hill of Filopappos (also known as the Hill of the Muses), named after the 2nd-century A.D. philhellene Filopappos, whose funeral monument tops the hill.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, BACK TO OUR TOUR!

 

After the visit to the acropolis, we then went on to the Temple of Zeus, which is right at the side of the road near Hadrian’s Arch. At this point, I have to admit (and I have to stop this) I was thinking Oh God! More temples with columns, but the truth is I really liked the Temple of Zeus. I don’t know if we just lucked out but there was no one there, and it was absolutely fascinating. One of the columns was toppled over and the sight of how it landed (like dominos) was great picture taking. You could also get a lot closer to the actual columns so all in all a very worthwhile stop. Especially if you like taking photographs.

 

The next stop was the all white, all-marble Olympic Stadium from 1896. Now, we were getting pretty lazy, (but it was also hot), we barely got out of the car. But this stadium is truly something and it is nice to see it up close and then from the roof of the Grande Bretagne.

 

One thing we requested was to go take in the view from Lycabettus hill. So Paul took us up to the funicular station and we went up and looked around and came back down. It was a nice stop to get a good panoramic view of the city and take some pictures.

 

Paul then drove us around Plaka and area of the agora. He showed us a lot of the areas and places and how to walk there from our hotel. That was what we were doing the next day on our own. This orientation from Paul was great because then we knew exactly where we had to walk to and had a good idea of what to expect. I am sure there were small streets he was taking us through that were pedestrian but Paul was driving us through them to show us the main crossroads. He was too funny!

 

After the drive in the Plaka, Paul showed us our hotel. It has the best location, literally adjacent to the Grande Bretagne and right at Syntagma Square. I knew it was at the location of Syntagma Square but I had not idea it was beside the GB. It had re-opened in 2004 in time for the Olympics, Paul had told us. He said they spent a lot of time refurbishing it. This made us very excited to see what it looked like inside.

 

Drove back toward Piraeus and then drove along the coast, through many towns and along the numerous beaches and coves. The drive out to Cape Sounion had really nice scenery.

 

We stopped for lunch at a great place, we actually saw the ship’s tour there as well. To give you an idea for prices, for around 50e we got mineral water, Greek salad, slouvlaki, mousaka, two orders of calamari & two Greek coffees. This fed four of us and had a seaside view.

 

One tip Paul gave us, which was very helpful, was to get the frozen squid calamari it was much more tender, the fresh can be very rubbery and it cost twice as much. If you are getting grilled squid you may want to stay with the fresh. Since calamari is fried anyway, the frozen was much better.

 

Onto Cape Sounion and the Temple of Poseidon – this temple sits at the southernmost tip of the Attica Peninsula. It is the southernmost point in continental Europe.

 

Paul was always waiting where you expected him to be. His car was very comfortable and he was the greatest host. It was like driving around with a Greek-American relative. He was caring and accommodating and extremely sweet. He lived 20 years in America so he barely has a Greek accent when speaking English. In fact, if it wasn’t for staring out and seeing the Acropolis, I felt like I was driving around Jersey with a friend.

 

Paul will do any kind of tour you want. Just email him and he will quote you a price. He is full of information but he is very clear about not being a guide and he does not accompany you into the sites. If you want a guide to explain the sites you need to hire a guide.

 

Tour with Paul at http://www.***** email - admin@*****

 

Tonight, at dinner, we were joined by two of our traveling companions we met through the cruise critic roll call. Altogether we met 3 other couples and one other group of two ladies traveling together (like us). We really lucked out meeting these fellow cruisers and we will stay in touch afterwards as well. We enjoyed their company and would be lucky to meet up with any of them onboard future cruises. Other than these people, we did not really meet any other people traveling onboard. We got to know many staff members, but no other cruisers. I found it very hard to meet people, unless you strike up conversations on the deck or on tours. We did not take any ship tours, so we missed out on meeting others.

 

I have only taken a few cruises where you have anytime dining and all the other lines, will seat you with other passengers at breakfast, lunch and dinner, to fill up tables. On Oceania, if you come to the dining room as a group of four they will seat you as a group of four. You never sit with others, unless you come together and ask to be seated together. So that, I find as a drawback, as we like have the option to sit with other cruisers. I also thought it was odd that they had so many tables for two, but they were so close to each other that they may have well been sitting together at a table for six.

 

SUNDAY, JULY 2

ATHENS

DISEMBARK NAUTICA

 

Today, for obvious reasons was a sad day. Saying goodbye, vacation nearing it’s end…

 

Thank God when we arrived at the dining room, we ran into our Cruise Critic friends, so we could share one last meal with them, before we moved on to our last leg of the trip.

 

We disembarked the ship, got to say our last goodbye to Amanda from the Captain’s Table. We found our luggage immediately; a real bonus to a small ship…the sea of luggage was more of a small lake. Once we went outside the terminal building, there was Paul!

 

Today we requested him to bring his bus to transport us, and all of our luggage to the hotel.

 

TEMP Not sure of the exact temperature so we will go with 100 degrees in the shade & 100% humidity. Zero breeze. Hot and stifling.

 

Someone on cruisecritic recommended Zorbas Taverna/restaurant, so when we were tired and hungry and in the Plaka and we saw Zorbas – we went on their recommendation. We really enjoyed it there. They had fresh bread right from the oven that we dipped in to some excellent tzatziki.

 

15, lissiou street, Plaka. We found it by walking up Flessa then where Flessa either ended or curved to the left, immediately down the street to the right was Zorba’s.

 

HOTEL IN ATHENS

King George II Palace

3, Vas. Georgiou A' Street

Syntagma (Constitution) Square, 10564 Athens, Greece

Reservation Assistance by Email

For assistance with online reservations:

reservations@lhw.com

For general inquiries: info@lhw.com

 

We loved our rooms at the KG II, they had a huge marble bathroom with big tub and separate shower with a rain head shower head. There was a big puffy bed and a separate living room with beautiful & very ornate furnishings. The living room had a lovely Juliet style balcony. The two rooms we had were slightly different as our room had a queen bed but had a separate shower, and the other room had a king bed, but only a bath tub. But both rooms were luxurious and had a separate living room from the bedroom. The hotel had really nice cozy bathrobes and fabulous bath products.

 

Rain changed our plans for a nice dinner in the Plaka so we got a quick bite at McDonald’s where we were lucky enough to see the hottest cop in history. Talk about a Greek god! Anyway, prices at Mcd’s where slightly higher, quality control was right on but they had some cool alternative choices such as a ‘McGreek’ burger and a Greek salad. The Greek salad was fantastic but no one ventured out to get the McGreek, which was a gyros but a burger patty replaced the shaved meat usually found in a gyros. We walked around the square afterwards and decided to check out a rooftop patio.

 

The KG II did not have a roof top patio, however, we just went over to the Grande Bretagne to enjoy their roof top patio and take in the night view of Athens and some Ouzo. The view from the GB roof top patio was really fantastic. Not only just to see the Acropolis at night, which was stunning, but the Olympic stadium was pure white and all lit up against the black night. Absolutely incandescent!

 

Athens even provided a pretty cool lightening storm while we were up there. I LOVED ATHENS!!

 

GENERAL TIPS ON ATHENS:

 

CURRENCY

 

We used our ATM Debit card without trouble in Athens, and this is the cheapest way to get local currency, but many places will take US$ and you can use you credit card in almost any store and most restaurants for the best rate of exchange.

 

ATM and credit cards make travelers' checks nearly obsolete. For exchange rate based on bank industry wholesale rates, use ATMs found everywhere, including the harbor.

 

GREETINGS:

 

When entering shops and restaurants, it's considered polite to say "kalimera" (kal-ee-meh-ra) for good morning, "kalispera" (kal-ee-speh-ra) for when it's not morning and "efharisto" (ef-har-is-to) for thank you.

 

 

SAFETY:

 

In Athens and Piraeus particularly, purse snatching and wallet picking are common; this is one place where a secret stash of travelers' checks (even for committed ATM users) is a good safety net.

 

SHOPPING:

 

Athens is a marvelous place to shop. Honey, olive oil, jewelry, leather goods especially leather shoes are great buys.

The prices for items such as olive oil and olive oil soap were the best at the airport duty free shop in Athens or even some of the Duty free shops at the pier. The Olive Oil soap was 0.40 euro and we got a great big 2L bottle of olive oil for about 9e. I think the most expensive olive oil was about 16e for a good-sized bottle.

In the shops on the Islands some of the olive oil soaps were 1e or even 2e each. You do not have to pay that. Even the small bottles of olive oil cost the same as a large bottle at the airport. Maybe you should buy a small bottle to make sure you get some, and then get more at the airport.

 

Monastiraki Flea Market is open on Sundays. Go early. We happened to be in Athens on a Sunday so we took in the market and there were some pretty cool things like skeleton keys, old currency, china, old RCA victor phonographs.

 

Taxi’s: A word of caution: MAKE SURE THE TAXI METER IS ON AND VISIBILE.

 

On the Web: http://www.greektourism.com

 

I loved Athens and I have to admit, I read a lot of posts with a lot of negatives when it came to Athens. I read it was dirty, polluted smoggy etc. Yes there is a lot of traffic, but what large city does not have a traffic concerns. Athens is not a specific case. I did not find it polluted, dirty or smoggy. I actually found it friendly, welcoming and glorious.

 

I certainly would not have changed the days I spent in Istanbul. Istanbul was in a class all in its own. But if I had a few extra days I would have been disappointed if I did not stay longer in Athens. The truth is, in my case, I had to get back to work. So that time is all I had and I tried to make good use of it. But in a perfect world I still would have stayed five or six days in Istanbul and stayed three or four days in Athens. I actually liked Athens slightly more than some of the Greek Islands, but I really love the pace and bustle of cities.

 

A NOTE ON OCEANIA:

Once on board Oceania became a great home away from home! Everything just seemed just that much better than the regular cruise lines. You saw my sailing list at the beginning to see the ones I can compare to. However, their pre-cruise treatment was very unsettling. It is just really hard when the ship was the best I have ever sailed on in all aspects important to me personally. Yet, everything leading up to us leaving home was the worst I have experienced. How do I convince myself everything will be all right when we ourselves had no flights and others on our infamous sailing had no cabins & were being threatened of being bumped. Especially since we all paid for these items in full and booked them ten months in advance?

Back to the positive, once we were on board they more than made up for their mistakes. They were definitely a step up! Nice sized, beautiful smaller ships. Due to the fact there were not as many passengers, I felt the staff could cater to your needs a little better. I enjoyed that they had glass glasses at the pool instead of those thick plastic ones. I thought that was a really a nice touch! They also had servers that would bring you your food or drinks to your chair and take away your dirty plates when done. That just made the pool deck a lot cleaner.

I also really enjoyed the musicians that played around the ship. For example the string quartet that played in the area by the Grand Staircase.

In the rooms, everything was a little more like home. The verandas were teak and the chairs were woven – not plastic. The pillows and duvets were feather, just like I have on my own bed. I love that hotels and Oceania are using duvets because I felt like it was my bed vs. a bedspread that hundreds of people before me had used without washing.

The food was really wonderful. The portions I felt were slightly larger, so you did not have to order a second. However, if seconds were what you desired – they would bring two. The escargot and the 9 minute chocolate cake are worth mentioning. I absolutely loved the ‘Versace design on Rosenthal china chargers and bread plates they were so beautiful.

I cannot comment on the other dining venues we only ate in the Grand Dining Room, as we liked it so much. I did not use the spa or health club – very port intensive itinerary. I did not see one show. In my experience smaller ships do not have the best entertainment and that is just economics. I would not expect them to get huge acts like celebrity does. On an itinerary with so much walking, I am very happy just to walk around deck after dinner and then go back to my room and rest or read. I like to settle in with some good TV or a movie. One note: I have to say Oceania, for the TV selections alone, is my new favorite line! Lots of movies, documentaries, news, sports, popular shows, and of course, CSI. Do not change the TV programming Oceania! It has definitely taken the lead over Princess as the best TV at sea with Celebrity being by far the worst.

The best part was the staff. Amanda was super sweet and Capt Manzi of course. We had quite a few favorites on the wait staff. Our real favorite was Jonathon. This crew really did seem to enjoy their jobs and they told us they did as well. Many times you can see that the crew is just not happy and they are trying to put on a smile. We just didn’t feel that way on the Nautica. They were genuine and that makes such a difference if the crew is happy as well.

The overall award goes to Catalina our room stewardess and A Ketuk, her assistant. Everyday in our room it was presented as if we just boarded. A Ketuk even folded up our robes every time he came into the room. However, my sister claims he just did that for us, theirs weren’t like that – I guess it was because I made such as big deal to him how nice it was that he took the extra few minutes to even do that. But that made me feel special. They also took care of me when I was sick those couple of days and I had to eat in the room.

Great cruise and will most certainly sail on Oceania again soon.

I can only hope your cruise or trip was as positive, life affirming and as fun as mine was!

[ama22]

What a great review of your cruise. You've gone into so much detail, I will need to read it over and over. We are cruising on Sea Dream II next Sept. from Istanbul to Rome. Some of our ports (Istanbul, Kusedasi, Santorini, Athens) are the same. I really appreciate the time it took to write your diary. Many thanks.

 

Mary Lou

[nvbabe]

Thanks for the wonderful review.....we will be touring with Kagan in Istanbul in Oct. So glad you liked him so much. Renee

[Phoenix cruiser]

Thanks for the chance to relive a truly memorable cruise. We are already talking about going back to Greece and doing different islands along with more time on land. Hope Oceania will mix things up with different itineraries in 2008. Sylvia and I will echo that taking advantage of meeting people through Cruise Critic adds a wealth of enjoyment to the experience.

[NH Cruiser]

Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed review. We are stopping at some of these ports in October 2007. I have already booked Paul in Athens, and Kagan for Kusadasi/Ephesus. I really appreciate the time and effort you spent -- your excellent review will help many of us plan our visits to these ports.

[nosnibor]

What a great review - thanks! We are visiting many of those ports in November, so I took notes!

[aneka]

Thank you for such a comprehensive report. We are doing the exact same trip in October on Nautica. I am glad to hear you enjoyed Nejat. We will be going to Orient House with a group which we arranged with him and also touring Ephesus with him. We are also using greek taxi with Spiros for an Athens tour. It was wonderful to read about all your experiences. We are anxious to "live" them ourselves.

Thanks again for a wonderful report.

Annette

[mandiecandie5]

A big thank you for all the detailed information, posts like this are invaluable when planning cruises to new cities! :) Sounds like you had a great time!!!

[Liv4cruzin]

What an enjoyable, detailed review. Brings back some of the same fond memories of Regatta "Gems of Antiquity" in May. Thanks for taking the time & sharing w/ us.

[EASYTRAVEL777]

Nancy,

 

Wow, what a great review! Thanks for sharing your memories.

[TudorSue]

Stingraynz-

Thanks so much for your wonderful review. DH and I have booked Kagan Kosagan for several days in November while on Nautica (Rome-Istanbul): one day in Ephesus, half-day when we arrive in Istanbul, and full day following. All told, we will be in Istanbul for three days after disembarking.

 

A question for you: If our party remains at two persons, do you think we can do Istanbul with Kagan via foot and/or taxi rather than by private car? My DH is a slow-moderate walker, so I appreciated your comments about Kagan's natural energy level and enthusiasm. Sincere thanks, and any additional observations much appreciated.

[patlanta]

I sincerely appreciate your taking the time and effort to put together such a thorough review. It brought back many good memories and, even though we've been fortunate to be there several times, I'll be happy to return with a renewed perspective.

 

We too had pre-cruise difficulties with Oceania: having our return flight changed to a later date, and only a personal Email notification to us (not our TA) within hours of our departure. Then, come to find out, the correction didn't include assigned seats before departure--when the plane lifts off! Imagine midnight at an airport in a far off foreign country, having seen fellow cruisers all leave on the earlier flight to the same destination as yours, and then being the very last passengers for the second flight in the waiting area (after having been searched thoroughly twice), worrying if they were going to have a seat for you on the plane. We eventually boarded when the double-duty flight attendants closed the gate area and took us on board with them and sat us in bulkhead seats.

[foreverr]

Some friends and I are going on this cruise next year. You really got me excited. We have been on Oceania before and loved it. We were on the Regatta and did have the option of joing other tables for dinner and we met some nice people that way. My only negative was that on my cruise many of the people were elderly and didn't have much in common with us even though they were lovely. The crew is the best, we loved them.

[scdreamer]

Thank you for such a wonderfully detailed review. I really enjoyed reading it.

 

We will be sailing on Insignia next year to some of the same ports, and I have printed parts of your review to keep on file. Great resource!

[Lexizmom]

I second Phoenix Cruiser -- you brought the trip back to life! Thanks for such a comprehensive review. It will go nicely in Rachel's scrap book.

 

Adrienne

[joandbun]

Thanks so much for taking the time & trouble to post such a marvellously informative review. You obviously had a wopnderful time & its great that you can share tips & experiences. Well done. thank you. :) Ive saved it all for future reference. :p We had looked at Oceana as an aletrnative line to Celebrity & Princess so always interesting to hear peoples views.

Definitely need to into it in more detail now.

thanks

jo

[stingraynz]

Thanks for the great words of praise. That makes spending all that great summer nights typing at my computer much more worth it :)

 

I always write a diary for myself and I never make a move planning a trip without the guidance of CC. It is usually my second stop - right after my TA!

So I really appreciate all the help I receive from the boards and want to give something back.

 

Phoenix & Benjzmom - My cruise critic friends. Meeting you guys really made our trip complete. Hope to meet up again! Say 'hello' to Sylvia and Rachel!

 

TudorSue - You were not sure if you wanted to book a car with Kagan or just make use of cabs. I think it really depends on your day planned, such as are cabs readily available in those areas? or if you are going to be in a museum for hours - why have a car waiting. If you are doing shopping you probably would want a car to keep all your purchases. That is why we had to leave my pack with the guys at Aruna Cafe, I could not enjoy my day slugging that bag around. Honestly, I would ask Kagan his opinion, if a car is necessary or not. I'm sure he will be quite honest with you. That's what he did for us.

 

Foreverr - it's funny that you mentioned the elderly passengers on your sailing as our demographics were quite the opposite. I forgot to mention this. We were expecting an older more experienced crowd....but our sailing had quite a few 'kiddies' which I was not expecting on O. So it does happen. Followed by a huge number of teens with nothing to do....and most others were probably under 60. So between your sailing and ours it appears you can never know what to expect. :)

[TudorSue]

Thanks very much for the advice. I will contact Kagan once I've sorted out our sightseeing "must see" lists.

[Ken&Vivian]

I am leaving on Saturday for Athens, Greek Island and Turkey:D . You report is greatly appreciated. I just sent an email to Kagan in Istanbul. Hope it's not too late:( .

 

I will share you report with my fellow cruisers.

 

Again, thank you for taking the time to write this report.

[Kiera99]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you Stingraynz for a great, detailed trip report. I will spend 3 days in Istanbul, at the beginning of October. After reading your review, I am so excited about it. I am looking forward to seeing all the places you have mentioned. I believe I am staying at the bouteque hotel you described.