John and I quickly erased the bad memories of the dreaded 'organised tour' by preparing for the Cocktail party being hosted by the Captain for us high flyers in the Yacht Club:) In actual fact we weren't that excited but thought we would head in early, and I cut looked like being a little 'lame' we would escape out the side door. Well you would have thought the Queen, or in this case, the King was about to arrive. A welcome party of 8 standing at the door, waiters ushering to our seats, 'horses doovers' which had been decorated and arranged with the upmost precision, and of course the compulsory French champers and John's new favourite drink - the dry martini! Well Captain Stubing arrived with his offsiders in tow and proceeded to be introduced by a well dressed women in a white sailors outfit (she may have been an officer?) to every table. Well low end behold, despite being the first to arrive at the function, obviously the table we sat out was the wrong choice , as the Captain swanned in a clockwise direction and it was obvious that we would be the 'lucky last ' table. Choosing the one closest to the exit, came back to bite us;) Anyway, we shook hands and exchanged pleasantries, then slid out the side door. Lovely dinner, casino, Baileys in the front bar as we sailed through the Dardanelles, then bed.
Awoke in yet another new city and today there were no organised tours on our radar. The plan was to walk and walk around Istanbul and that's what we did. What a fantastic city! We explored back streets, front streets , side streets, steep streets and streets that went nowhere. It went from gob smackingly beautiful to quite confronting and had an amazing energy. We both loved it and would def come back - but for much longer.
Same old same old tonight. Tomorrow is a day at sea - this could be a 'tester':) the bingo is looking appealing!