Visiting Istanbul Turkey

We arrived in Turkey!  After breakfast, we looked out over Istanbul.  The port overlooks the north side of the city.  Istanbul is a huge city that crosses between the European continent and the Asian continent.  Between is the waterway that connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. ​

We had decided not to take any excursions in Istanbul with the war in Israel and protests of the war. Instead we went out to shop in the stores right at the port.  Of course they have massively inflated prices but it did not matter anyway since they were all high end stores.  If you can think of it, they had a store. Louis Vuitton, Versace, Prada, Armani, Gucci,  …   We did not even step in.  Just looked from the sidewalks.

We did stop for something to drink.  I had Turkish Coffee. Shawna had a Turkish Beer.  The coffee is different.  Kind of like an Espresso on top of fine ground coffee grounds in the bottom.  Super strong.

Betty and Paulette were tired and returned to the ship.  Shawna and I took a walk though the shops outside of the port mall. 

Mosques are everywhere.​

We passed lots of police so never felt unsafe.  There were lots of cafes and restaurants along with some shops.  I knew we had found our store when we came up on one that had tacky socks hanging outside. You know, the kind with colorful prints of pictures or sayings. We found a snow globe for Betty and a magnet showing the city for us.

As we started back to the ship there was a mural of Route 66.  It was outside a restaurant specializing in "American" food.

​Soon after that was a call to prayer from the mosques.

In the afternoon, we pulled away.  The port is crowded and boats all trying to stay out of the way.

Back on ship to eat lunch, relax, hot tub, shower, dress up for the formal night in the dining room,  stop for a drink in the Ocean bar, dinner (very nice), a show at the Main-stage, 

Shawna and I finished up the night with music at the piano bar, Rolling Stone Lounge, and a short walk on deck. We really enjoyed dancing in the Rolling Stone Lounge,

​Whew! Vacations can be exhausting.