We sailed over night from Mykonos and arrived back in Istanbul at 2pm as we had the next three days we stayed on the ship enjoying the first sun we had for a week. David was very glad to be getting off the ship and not having dinner in the dining room so we had a casual dinner from the buffet where it was very quiet and we didn't have to wait to be waited on. We planned to go to the show but met some very friendly Aussies and an English couple David had talked to...

The order of ports has been changed because of the wind and high waves expected around Mykonos so we are sailing to Kusadasi in Turkey before Athens and Mykonos. We enjoyed Kusadasi when we had three days there on the Albatross tour. Last time it was very hot and we were able to swim and relax by the pool. This time it is cooler and very windy. We enjoyed the bazaar and doing some bargaining knowing if they accept your price it is already overpriced. Everybody k...

Grand Final Day. A TV had been set up in one of the lounges to telecast the game from 7am but there was no satellite signal coming through until after the game was over would have been fun to watch with other Aussies. We did get messages through from Matt hosting the boys at our place and he was very, very happy. Don't know if he had a hangover next day. As we were sailing through the Bosphorous Strait we were sailing all day. I went to the gym, in the hot tub ...

Sinop is called The Happy City is a charming little town with a population of 50 000. The Celebrity Constellation is the largest passenger ship that has ever docked there. It was an easy walk into town and we walked to the top of the town to visit the prison fortress which was constructed initially in the 7th century BC when the city was re-founded as a Greek colony from the city of Miletus. It was extended and repaired several times in its history by Persians, K...

Trabzon is located on the coast of the Black Sea and the Port is the gateway to Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan which were all located on the Silk Road and provided good access to European Markets. It is only ten minutes walk to the town. We chose to do a tour from the ship to Sumela Monastery which was a 45 km south of Trabzon. It was a Greek Orthodox Monastery built during the Byzantine era. It was abandoned in 1923 when the Turk...