For this adventure to the Middle East, we chose a 1-week cruise on a sailing ship, Windstar's Wind Spirit, from Istanbul to Athens and then backed it up with a Road Scholar cruise around the Black Sea. We had time between the two trips to spend a couple extra days in Athens and then to do a 2-day excursion to Gallipoli and Troy. There is so much history in this region that we really like to tour there. The food is terrific, also.
| 8/15-17 | Estes Park to Istanbul |
| 8/18 | Transiting the Dardanelles and in the Aegean Sea |
| 8/19 | Kusadasi |
| 8/20 | Rhodes |
| 8/21 | |
| 8/22 | |
| 8/23 | Delos; Mykonos |
| 8/24-26 | Athens; Fly to Istanbul |
| 8/27 | Gallipoli |
| 8/28 | Troy |
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Windstar: Greek Isles and Turkish Delights: Istanbul to Athens |
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Thurs., 8/15/13 - Estes Park to Newark to Istanbul
We got up at 5 AM, drove to DIA, and boarded our United flight for the three-hour trip to Newark, NJ. We changed planes and flew another nine hours (in the air) on United to Istanbul. We spent 1 1/4 hours on the ground after boarding in Newark because there were about 24 planes in the queue to take off ahead of us. We were lucky there was a strong tail wind because we were able to make up the time in the air and landed on time in Istanbul.Fri., 8/16/13 - Istanbul, Turkey
We landed in Istanbul at 12:15 PM. That is 3:15 AM Denver time. The line to buy our $20 (one crisp US bill) Turkish visa was short but the line for passport control took over an hour. By the time we got to baggage claim, the carousel was full of luggage. At least ours was there.
A yellow taxi with no meter took us to our hotel, the Golden City Hotel in the Karakoy district on the east side of the Golden Horn. We are on the seventh floor looking out at the water and Topkapi Palace (in the distance).
Gale walked toward the Galata Bridge and then up the hill to buy a big bottle of cold water (still only 1 TL or 50 cents for 1 liter) and bought a ring of bread to keep us happy until dinner. It is hot out and I was dripping wet and happy to get back to the air-conditioned hotel.
At 6 PM we walked down to Karakoy Pier to see where our sailing ship would dock. The dock area was alive with people many of whom were coming and going on the many ferries. We ate chicken shish kabobs at the Olimpyat Restaurant on the quay. The menu had pages in many languages - Russian, German, English, and four others for which we could not identify the flags. We watched people and looked at the choppy Bosporus Bay and big and small boats.
Dinner cost 38 TL (about $17 US for two of us) and included beer, water, and bread. Then we walked up the hill to and around Galata Tower and back to the hotel.
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Istanbul and the Golden Horn from our hotel room
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Istanbul and the Golden Horn from our hotel room
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New cable-stayed transit bridge across the Golden Horn |
Sat., 8/17/13 - Istanbul
The buffet breakfast at our hotel was served on the rooftop (10th floor) terrace and had everything imaginable except bananas and an omelet station. There was no rush, the scene was active with all the boats on the bay, the view across the Golden Horn was of Topkapi, Hagia Sofia, and the Blue Mosque and the slight breeze was comfortable.
We lounged at the hotel until 11:30 and then took a taxi to the docks. The poor driver spoke no English and did not know where to drop us off. He asked several times and drove us around the area until we finally spotted a Windstar crewman with a Windstar clipboard. The ride should have cost 8 TL but the meter read 15 by the time he dropped us off. At least he did not leave us at the wrong place.
We waited another hour at the port before our passengers were allowed to head to our ship. We got on board, filled out more paperwork, handed in our passports (kept on the ship during our cruise), checked into our stateroom, and got settled in. We went up to the veranda deck and had some lunch - pastry, fancy sandwiches, fruit, salad, and desserts. At 4:15 we had the mandatory safety lecture and life vest drill. At 4:50 everyone was on board so we sailed off into the Sea of Marmara. As soon as the captain cleared the busy port, he unfurled four of the six sails and we headed toward the Dardanelles Strait, which we will sail through tomorrow. It was very pleasant - and windy - out on deck.
At 6:45 we attended a briefing about the ship, our destinations, and optional excursions. We then went to dinner in the Amphora Restaurant. We had starters, salad, NY strip steak, and dessert. It was all good and the presentation was worthy of any cruise line.
Windstar's Wind Spirit |
Our stateroom
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Dining room |
Unfurling the sails - by computer, of course
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The rigging |
Istanbul, looking east toward the Bosphorus
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Istanbul, the Blue Mosque on the far left |
Sun., 8/18/13 – Transiting the Dardanelles and in the Aegean Sea
Today was an interesting day of sailing. We entered the Dardanelles, the strait that connects the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean Sea, at 8:30 AM. A pilot was on board for the 40 miles of narrow passage (one to four miles wide) that separates Asian Turkey from the Gallipoli Peninsula of European Turkey. This is a strategically important piece of water because it permits shipping between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Both sides (Asian and European) of the Dardanelles have low hills and seem to be easily accessible.
As soon as we entered the open space of the Aegean Sea, the captain turned off the engines and we sailed with four sails until 6:30 PM. It is much quieter when under sail.
Gale attended several presentations on board to help pass time today, including the galley, which is quite small on this ship. Sixteen people run the whole operation and, as usual on cruise ships, there is food available almost all day and every thing is presented with fancy decorations. Three of the kitchen staff demonstrated fruit and vegetable carving. One made animals out of marzipan, one cut a flower design into a watermelon, and one made two swans out of a pineapple.
Gale also toured the noisy engine room and attended a knot-tying demonstration. The young third officer was not very good with knots!
In the evening we had champagne and hors d'oeuvres at the captain's reception and then had dinner.
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