We arrived in Istanbul, Turkey at approximately 2:00 this morning. Several passengers disembarked the ship this morning as this morning was the end of the fifth segment of the World Cruise. In the afternoon new passengers embarked the ship for this next segment of the World Cruise. The ship is scheduled to stay overnight in Istanbul. As we understand, there will be a total of 500 passengers on the ship for this segment.
We awoke at 6:00 AM this morning to have an early breakfast in the Lido Café We said our goodbyes to some of the passengers we know who will be departing the ship this morning. We hope to see them again on a future sailing. After breakfast, we worked out in the Fitness Center. We did our regular workout with Anne Marie working out on the treadmill and Keith working out on the elliptical machine. There were only a few other passengers working out so it was nice and quiet in the Fitness Center.
This is our second time to Istanbul. The first time we were here we did an extensive tour of the city so this time we decided that we would go to the Grand Bazaar. We went with one other couple and one other woman. The ship provided a complimentary shuttle which dropped us off right outside the main entrance of the Grand Bazaar. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there and we stayed from 10:00 AM to around 2:30 PM. There were so many nice shops to walk around and we really did not find those working there to be as pushy as we expected. We enjoyed our bargaining experience and we went to a couple of shops that the couple we were with had shopped at before and that was very helpful. We did not look for any rugs as we really have no need for any rugs and we have heard that shopping for a rug can be an all day experience not to mention a big hit to the wallet ☺
We walked through several major portions of the Grand Bazaar and we also looked at some of the nearby stores that were located outside the Bazaar. While many tourists shopped there we also observed that many from the local community shopped there as well so that made it even more interesting. We did purchase some items there as well. Weather permitting, our plan is to return back to the Bazaar tomorrow morning.
By the time we arrived at the ship most of the luncheon venues were closed so we ate lunch at the Trident grill. We sat with the Rabbi and his wife and had a wonderful conversation with them.
This evening we dined at Silk Road with the couple who we shopped with earlier today. We invited them to join us this evening while returning to the ship on the shuttle bus. This evening is open seating in the main dining room since there is an evening tour so we thought it would be a nice night to eat at our favorite specialty restaurant. We enjoyed a fabulous meal with outstanding service and we had a wonderful conversation.
We also wanted to add that this is a wonderful time of the year to visit places such as Istanbul and many of the other places that we will visit over these final two segments of the World Cruise. Unlike the summertime, when the cities are even more crowded with tourists and the humidity and overall temperature is quite high, we had wonderful weather for walking outside without wall to wall people. We have also found that the Fall is another nice time to visit these cities.
Keith & Anne Marie
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