Well, today Mary and I bid a sad farewell to our home for the last two weeks as we disembarked from Riveria. I must say, it was a delightful two weeks aboard. The food and staff were excellent! It is a smooth running operation with precious little to find fault. Mary and I had breakfast in our suite, made once last "sweep" to be sure nothing was forgotten, and the we left to meet our new guide, Evran.
He took us straight to a beautiful yacht for a 1 1/2 hour cruise on the Bosphorus. This was the perfect weather day to do this cruise with sunny skies and mild temperatures!
After our leisurely sail, we did a short walk around one of the old neighborhoods with its winding streets. Amazingly, types of stores are all grouped together on one street! This is great for the consumers! You can visit twenty lamp stores all in a row and price shop for th bet deal. The same goes for electronics, etc. I think the "hardware" street might be the longest, though!
Traffic here, like any large city is just horrendous! Driving a car or motorcycle is like solving one of those "sliding puzzles" where you have to shift tiles around to arrange them in the correct order!
Good thing we have an excellent driver. It doesn't phase him a bit that there is only 5" between his Mercedes and the dinged up yellow taxi trying to zip around us!
We also visited an ancient Medieval Tower that was used as a watch tower in the Middle Ages. You can take an elevator to the 7th floor but to see the 360* view! you have to climb an additional two floors! Mary was my hero of the day! Stood in a long line for 45 minutes to get into the tower and then Climbed the last two floors to the top! After all that work, lunch was well earned and we visited a local Kebob restaurant for some real Turkish food! I had a version of Turkish flatbread and Mary had chicken Kebobs. For dessert, we tried something that I can only describe as very thin baked Crepes surrounding melted cheese with pistachios sprinkled on top. Yummy, but oh my gosh, the amount of butter and cheese hardens arteries just looking at it!
We are now officially checked into the Four Seasons Hotel for the next three days. Mary is napping and I am, of course, blogging! We haven't heard from the guys, but I know their weather was good. I'm sure the photos will be great. However, we won't see them until around 10:30 pm tonight. Mary and I have dinner resevations in the hotel at 7:30 pm. And then there will be the challenge of trying to remember where I put what, in which of the three suitcases!!! :)))
Scenic cruise on the Bosphorus. We sailed down the European side of the river and then returned down the Asian side. The Bosphorus separates the European Continent from the Asian continent.
Sultan Palace.
The bridge behind us joins the European Continent with the Asian continent. It was built in 1973 and was the 4th longest bridge in the world.
Original buildings that have been restored. These are several hundred years old.
Beginning of the ancient fortress of the walled city at the Mouth of the Bosphorus .
About a year ago there were protests against the Turkish President for being "too much like a dictator". Several of the streets have stairs going up that have been painted as part of the protest for more freedom.
The tulip is the flower symbol of the city. The first Tulip bulb was presented to Constantinople from Holland.
Fresh produce everywhere.
Turkish flatbread! Chopped vegetables, spices and meats.
The Medieval Tower that we climbed up.
The Crepe fried cheese dessert!
Down the Tower stairs!
Entrance to the Tower.
Views from the top of the Tower..
Ok. Off to dinner! Happy Birthday to Mimi Fuller Ritchie today!
Mary needs to stay on the boats. She looks amazing! To climb the stairs - that's our
ReplyDeletegal! the traffic sounds like a Rubik Cube - I could never do one, so no driving for me
in Turkey. Can't wait to her about your time in the grand Bazaar - thank you for sharing great memories - this trip really felt special.