Off to explore Istanbul, been warned about thieves and pick pockets.......wonderful.
Docking at 0800, lots of ships in port, reminds us of ships off Newcastle....even have a tug helping us dock.
Fine so far, cool.
Not sure why but on this trip we have been striking all the public holidays.....today is a national holiday in Turkey would you believe.....
It seems that the entire population of 15 million are out on the streets.
Istanbul is the only city in the world to span 2 continents.......Asia and Europe.
First stop the Topkapi Museum, which was the palace of the Sultans......saw the jewels etc, including the second biggest diamond on the world, which was found on a garbage tip and sold to a jeweller for 3 spoons......lucky jeweller!
Unfortunately we are a little museum and mosque'd out, it certainly was far from the best museum we have seen.
Next to St. Sophia, originally built in 600AD as a church and then converted to a Mosque. Now another museum.
Off to lunch as a very nice restaurant, to sample Turkish cuisine, tasty but no Turkish bread.....
Off to brave the Turkish Grand Bazaar....it was huge of course, good to see.
Vendors everywhere again pushing stuff in you face all day, hard to get rid of. Also have a mono toned guide which is a little hard to take.
Had to go to a carpet weaving demo with once again some hard sell tactics, who buys this stuff? So labour intensive to make, all done by females of course. Naturally very expensive and you would have to have the right house to put them in - extraordinary.
Then to the Blue Mosque, named because of the blue mosaic tiles through the domes. Shoes off....very beautiful.
Turks are 98% Muslim and there are 2000 mosques in Istanbul.
Last stop the underground Cistern, a water reservoir built in 6th century. No longer used as a reservoir it is quite spectacular, the roof is supported by Corinthium columns, 2 of which have the head of Medusa supporting them.
Back home to the serenity of the ship after a hectic and fairly hasselled day. Nothing particularly appealing about Istanbul.....didn't feel particularly safe in the city.
About to set sail at 1700 hrs, will be interesting sailing out if the harbour, hugely busy port......the most interesting part of the day, watching the goings in on the harbour.
Apparently we are going to pass Gallipoli at 0130 in the morning.....shame.
Most interesting part of Istanbul was watching the goings on in the harbour........very busy.
Haven't noticed anything missing yet so we must have escaped the pick pockets.
Went to dinner with our new best friends......Funny they really liked Istanbul....

Roger's added thoughts for the day......

I think Eileen is a magnet for the hagglers! You tell them to their face **** off but they just reduce the price!
The muslems have to go to Mecca once in their lives. They pray 5 times a day for 2 or 3 mins.
Back on the ship having dinner. The great thing about this tub is dinner! I just had oysters....I liked it, so I ordered another serving....then I had lamb shank, I liked IT so I ordered another one....get it?