Hi everyone. Today I left for a Mexican cruise with 5 of my golf girlfriends. We few to Long Beach early this morning and boarded the Carnival Miracle for a 5-night cruise to Cabo and Ensenada.
Colleen, Jill, Ann, Me, Bev and Allie at the Long Beach Airport.
Checking in and boarding was quite simple, and we were hanging out on the Lido deck for lunch and free drinks in no time. The cabin is small but adequate for our needs. We’ve got a balcony cabin and here’s what we saw while we were docked in Long Beach.
The Grand Dame of Cruising….the Queen Mary.
We set sail at 4pm to a party on the Lido deck and then it was back to the cabin to unpack and get settled.
Some of the entertainment staff at the sail party on the Lido deck.
Then it was off to dinner at the Bacchus Main Dining Room. I was still full from lunch so I only had soup, salad and a couple of bites of cheesecake, but it was delicious.
Bacchus Main Dining Room.
After dinner Allie and Colleen went to check out the casino while Bev, Ann, Jill and I went in search of the perfect after dinner drink. We found them in the Alchemy Bar.
Ann, Bev and Jill enjoying after dinner cocktails. My chocolate martini is in the foreground.
The music was wonderful, and the drinks were quite yummy. Since it had been a very long day, Ann and I went back to the cabin for an early night. Tomorrow is a day at sea and other than going to the fitness center in the morning, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. But I’m sure it will be fun!
I spent last night (Friday) at Lake Crescent Lodge in Olympic National Park in Washington. And, like most National Parks, there was no internet in the rooms. So, for one night I was transported back to the stone age, the time before internet. It was actually quite nice to be cut off from civilization for a night. Well, actually, I could get internet on my phone but there was nothing I needed so I was good with being disconnected.
The ferry ride from Victoria to Port Angeles was only 90 minutes, not the 3 hours I thought, so I got to the National Park with plenty of day light left. Of course, there was no sun, but at least I had plenty of time to do what I wanted before it got dark.
From the Black Ball Ferry.Madison Falls
There was a short hike from the lodge but since it was starting to drizzle, I decided walking on a wet path was not the best idea, so I took a pass and hung out by the fireplace in the lodge lobby for a couple of hours.
Lake Crescent Lodge later in the evening when the lights were on. It was so comfy. Another view of the lobby.Even the dining room was decorated.
For dinner I had the hearty Chicken Pot Pie.
It was very filling. I only ate about 2/3 of it. But it was delicious.
I left early this morning to head back to Seattle. I didn’t have to return the car until tomorrow, so I thought about visiting the downtown area for a while but the closer I got, the rainier it became so I decided to go straight to the airport hotel. In spite of it being only 10am, they still checked me in (I love being a Diamond Hilton member) so I took the bags up and went to the airport to return the car.
My afternoon was lazy and included a little nap, which was wonderful. I had delicious clam chowder for dinner and am now settled for the night. Tomorrow’s flight is at 8:30 so I have an early morning.
Delicious clam chowder at the Doubletree at SeaTac.
This week was just what I needed….a little time away for the holiday. Of course, I missed Peter like crazy, but I think it was easier to be out here than at home with all the memories.
My next trip is in January, a long weekend in Palm Springs where I’ll meet my niece and her family. I can’t wait to see them.
I left the condo before 7am to get back across the border to the ferry for Vancouver Island and the city of Victoria. I’d heard a lot about it, so I thought I go for the day.
I had a bit of an adventure at lunch as the hotel clerk said Fisherman’s Wharf had some nice shops and good fish & chips. It was a bit of a hike (30 minutes) on my new knee, but I saw a few nice things along the way.
One of several totem poles in Thunderbird Park.This is the lower portion of another one. I love the bright colors.This sequoia tree was planted in the late 1800s and is over 100 feet high.
When I finally got to Fisherman’s Wharf, I found out that virtually everything was closed for the winter except for the whale watching cruise (no thanks) and the Mexican Seafood take out restaurant (absolutely not). Needless to say, I was not happy. I wouldn’t have minded the long schlep if it had been worth the trip. But all I did was take a few pictures before hopping on the water taxi (C$12.50) for the ride across the bay as I knew I wouldn’t be able to walk that far back.
A few of the houses and a closed shop on Fisherman’s Wharf. There were quite a few tiny houses along the wharf. It would have been fun to see inside one of them.
Once back on the other side of the harbor, I had to climb at least 30 stairs to get back to street level. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but I haven’t done many stairs since my surgery. I made it, but it took a bit of time.
I stopped to inquire about afternoon tea at the Empress Hotel but didn’t want to pay C$95 (US$71) for sandwiches and tea. So, I took a couple of pics and went on my way, again, searching for lunch.
Empress Hotel later in the day after the lights came on. They had a nice tree in the lobby.
I found a pedestrian street lined with shops but not a ton of restaurants. I wasn’t desperate enough to eat at Burger King, so I kept walking until I finally found the Bard and Banker. There was a long wait for a table, so I bellied up to the bar and enjoyed my fish and chips. Yes, it turns out I didn’t have to walk to Fisherman’s Wharf for fish and chips. This place was a 5-minute walk from my hotel. Not a happy camper was I.
The Bard and Banker in early evening.
After a very filling lunch I went back to the hotel for a rest before taking the car to the ferry terminal. I wasn’t able to get a reservation for the ferry to Port Angeles, so I queued up for the 15-20 first come first serve spots. Luckily, I was number 6 so I was able to get a confirmed ticket for Friday’s 1030 ferry.
As it was getting dark, I strolled past the inner harbor and back to the pedestrian area to look at the lights. This first picture is of the harbor and the legislative building. It was so pretty.
This is the other side of the inner harbor. One of the shops had this pretty window.
I picked up a native carving by a local artist in one of the shops then headed home. By the time I got back to the hotel I had walked over 10,000 steps!! That’s the most I’ve walked in one day since our Epic European Adventure last year. My knee held up pretty well, but I’ll rest it a bit tomorrow. I need to walk back to the ferry terminal but that should only take about 10-15 minutes. After that, it’s sitting in the car for 90 minutes until I can board the ferry for the 3-hour ride back to Washington. So, my knee will have time to recover.
I decided to head someplace different for my first Christmas without my sweetie and ended up in Birch Bay Washington. I am staying in a nice 2-bedroom condo.
I have a nice fireplace in the living room.The bay out of my living room window. Now I know why half the homeowners at Robson Ranch are snowbirds from the PNW. This has pretty much been the weather since I got here….cloudy and rainy,
Christmas was very quiet and peaceful, which is exactly what I needed. The 26th was another low-key day. All I did was drive south to Bellingham to go to a movie. I saw The Color Purple and enjoyed it very much.
Today (Wednesday) I took a day trip to Vancouver. I’d never been there before and even though it was a bit rainy in the morning it was still a nice day. I spent some time in the Granville Island Public Market before heading across the street to the Net Loft, a small mall filled with artisan shops.
Just a few of the many sweet treats in the market. Christmas decorations made from macarons.The Eiffel Tower was about 3 feet tall and covered in macarons. The fruit looked delicious. I don’t know how they got the berries to stay in those towers.
This was outside the market, next to the bay.
After a little window shopping, I got back in the car and headed to Gastown, the historic district of Vancouver. There I saw the only steam operated clock in the world.
I also found Victory Park with its war memorial.
I wandered some more trying to find the millennium arch. I didn’t find that, but I did stumble into Chinatown.
Entry to Chinatown.One of 3 painted walls outside a restaurant.
I stopped for lunch at one of the only restaurants I found open and had dim sum. Apparently, Vancouver’s Chinatown is famous for their dim sum. I had pork in steamed buns which were delicious and then some beef, which I didn’t like as well.
After lunch I had a pretty long walk back to the car and then headed to Stanley Park. I originally planned to visit the Aquarium, but by this time I had walked over 6700 steps, which is the longest I’d walked on my new knee. Since it felt good in spite of the steps, I decided not to push my luck. I only drove around the park for a few minutes before heading out.
On my way out of town, I found the city’s Christmas tree. I was stopped at a light, and this was the best pic I was able to get. Not bad given that I took it out of the front window of the car. I’m sure it’s very pretty at night with all the lights.
The backup to cross the border back into the US was crazy long, but luckily, I had my global entry card. I was still in line for more than an hour before I realized that the lane going to the duty-free store split into two…one of which was for global entry. So, that’s 75 minutes of my life I’ll never get back, but it could have been much worse. Given that I only moved about 100 yards in that amount of time, and I was still 1km from the crossing, I would have been waiting at least 2-2 1/2 hours to get through the border. So, I guess I shouldn’t complain too much.
Tomorrow, I head back into Canada (crossing that way is much easier) and take a ferry to Vancouver Island where I’ll spend the night in Victoria. I’ve heard from so many people that it’s a beautiful city so I’m looking forward to it. I’ll let you know how it goes.
This first video is of the resort from my balcony on Saturday morning. To watch the videos either right click and open in a new tab or just click on it and hit the back arrow to come back to the blog. https://youtu.be/Qa3IzV9LQ40
Pretty lagoon running through the resort.
On Saturday night they had a Panamanian Culture show. There was no explanation of what these dances were about but here’s one of them. https://youtu.be/OIty0hn81oo
At the terminal where we got the bus to head to the beginning of the Panama Canal transit. We came back here at the end of the day.The Pacific Queen – This is the boat we took through the Panama Canal
The station at the first lock. The 2nd lock was in two parts for a total of 54 feet. We dropped 27 feet to the first “pen” and another 27 feet into the Pacific.
This was the grain ship that was our “partner” in the locks. We had to go through the locks together, so we had to wait for her to catch up….about 45 minutes for the first lock. She was tied to 4 small silver cars (can just see on one the right) that pulled her into position in the lock. It was pretty cool.
Bridge of the Americas crosses the canal on the Pacific side. It was built in 1962 and was the first permanent auto bridge across the canal. The Panamanian government has approved a project to dig a tunnel under the canal, but it will take 6-7 years to complete. This is part of the Pan-American Highway that stretches from Alaska to Chile except for a 66-mile section known as the Darien Gap between southeast Panama and northwest Columbia. How cool would that road trip be…all 19,000 miles of it.
Monday
Found this guy by the pool. He was pretty big.
Tuesday
Boat we took from the parking lot to the village. The only way to reach the village is by boat.Women hanging around waiting for their time to dance.
One of the three dances they did for us. The band.A delicious lunch served in a palm frond.The girls made flower head dresses for us. They were very pretty.Fresh fruit. The red “spiky” fruit is dragon fruit; very sweet. The pineapple was delicious. This is one of the houses. See the notched piece of wood leaning against the house? That’s the ladder. If no one is home it’s turned backwards. I’m afraid I’d never make it into the house if I had to climb that. I have a hard enough time with “real” ladders.
Thursday
The museum started with a history of Panama. This dish is from pre-historic Panamanians.
These are the different medals Panama Canal workers got when the canal was completed.This chart is a breakdown of the nationalities of the people who worked on the canal. I found it interesting that so few Panamanians (only 357) worked on the project. The Cathedral Basilica Santa Maria la Antigua.Main altar in the Cathedral. Compared to cathedrals in Europe, this was very simple but still beautiful.Some of the colorful homes in the old town.I took this picture for Peter. He loved his “dead dude on a horse” pictures. It was in the park across the street from where I had lunch. Speaking of lunch, I had a delicious margherita pizza, also for Peter. But he wasn’t there to eat my crusts. 🙁San Jose Church most famous for its Altar of Gold.Legend has it that the pirate Henry Morgan sacked the city to steal the altar but it’s only a story. The altar wasn’t even made until the early 19th century, well after Morgan’s time.Closeup of one of the statues on the altar…it was stunning.
I spent a fortune for my two souvenirs…$20 each and both are hand made. These are the kind of souvenirs we like to have from our trips.
Hand woven small bowl I got at the Embera village. The image inside is a turtle. I thought the colors were beautiful. These are woven so tightly that they will hold liquids. I got this today at the old town. At first I thought these were beads but it’s a wooden mask painted in the Pointillism style. Van Gogh is famous for this style of painting dots.
Ok, so it’s 4:30am and for the 4th night in a row I’m awake in the middle of the night….so irritating.
Anyway, the trip home was very LONG but uneventful. The 3-year-old next to me slept for the first 5 hours of the flight from Istanbul and the was very well behaved for the next 9 hours. He was a friendly kid and mom was very respectful of space. The layover in LA was hectic and we got to our gate just minutes before boarding. But board we did and landed in PHX less than an hour later.
Jim and Kathy were there to pick us up and we were home in just over an hour. It is so good to be home! I spent the weekend unpacking, both suitcases and boxes we’d shipped, doing 3 loads of laundry (in less time than it would have taken to do one in a euro washer/dryer) and grocery shopping.
So, now we’re starting to get back into our daily routine. I’m meeting a friend for coffee this morning and Peter is going to the library to work on a jig saw puzzle. Tonight, is the Robson Ranch Singer’s Christmas Concert. Tomorrow is lunch with the stained-glass club and Thursday Peter is meeting with the head of the sports club to help him develop a fitness program that is safe for him given his new limitations. I may put the Christmas tree up later this week.
Peter had a repeat EMG yesterday and there’s great news and bad news. The bad news is that neuro still doesn’t know what’s wrong with him, but the great news is that he doesn’t have ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) which has been a very real possibility. That was such a relief as it has been weighing on my mind for months. He goes to his regular neurologist on Monday, and we’ll figure out what’s next in this health journey.
Once again, thanks so much for hanging with us over the last 4 months. We already have next year’s trip planned, a South African safari, but it will totally depend on whether we can figure out why the muscles of Peter’s upper body are wasting and, hopefully, do something about it. Our fingers are crossed that we’ll have another adventure to share with you in May. We’re willing to push the trip into the summer if necessary to give him time to get better.
Happy Holidays everyone! Stay safe and have a wonderful 2023!!
Istanbul airport is beautiful but gigantic. I’ve never seen so much security. As soon as we got into the airport the bags went through x-ray and we went through the mag. Since I’ve had a total hip. I always get a pat down.
Then we answered security questions before checking in. Then passport control. Then regular security…pat down #2.
Then at the gate it was another passport control, pat down and a search of cabin bags.
We got through all of this just in time to board. We always pick aisle seats across from each other as it’s easier for me to help him and I don’t want to get stuck in the center seat for 14 hours. Except, I’m sitting next to a 3-year-old for 14 hours. Lord help me.
We had a late check out at the Doubletree and got a taxi for the 30-minute trip to the Hampton Inn. Unfortunately, the trip actually took over an hour because the traffic in and around Istanbul is horrible. But the cost, including tip, was $18. Not bad for an hour ride.
The Hampton Inn is about halfway between Istanbul Old City and the airport. We still have a 30-minute taxi ride in the morning, but that’s better than the 1-hour drive we would have had if we stayed at the Doubletree. Since we have an 8:00am flight, being 30 minutes closer is a big deal.
Well, our holiday is coming to an end. What can I say about a trip that lasted 133 days, covered 12 countries on 2 continents and spanned 4 time zones (UK, European continent, Israel/Greece and Turkey)? Calling it an epic adventure is an understatement.
We visited big cities…
London, July 29Paris, Sep 18Athens, Nov 25
mid-sized cities…
Canterbury England, Aug 3Strasbourg, France, Oct 3
and small villages…
Rye on Wye, Wales, Aug 14Braemer, Scotland, Aug 31Sarlat France, Oct 8
We saw new stuff…
The Pencil Sharpener building, Lyon France, Sep 23
and incredibly old stuff…
20,000-year-old Neanderthal Cave paintings, Lascaux France, Oct 9
Peter touched the…
English Channel, Hastings England, Aug 6The North Sea, Aberdeen Scotland, Sep 3The Mediterranean Sea, Nice France, Sep 27The Jordan River, Israel, Nov 11
And floated in the Dead Sea…
Dead Sea, Israel, Nov 15
The weather ranged from hotter than hell in England…
I had to buy a hat for the 93-degree temp at Highclere Castle, Aug 11
To cold and rainy in Amsterdam…
Amsterdam, Nov 5
In Scotland, where it usually rains every day, we had several cloudy days, but it only rained a couple of times.
It poured the morning we went to Dunrobin Castle, Scotland, Sep 4
But, for the most part, we had amazing weather for 4 months…
Royal Palace, Torino Italy, Sep 28
We stayed in 45 different flats, houses and hotel rooms. Some were wonderful…
View from our amazing flat in Ghent, OctoberThe living room in our suite in Amsterdam, November
Some tiny…
Smallest double bed ever in our Paris flat…. I slept on the couch. Great location though. September
And some pretty nasty…
It should come as no surprise that we didn’t stay here. Lourdes France. October
We ate way too many unhealthy (but delicious) foods.
I can’t believe I ate the whole thing! Salsbury, England, Aug 10. The ham, cheese and mushroom galette was delicious. Bayonne France, Oct 13Taking a bite out of a gingerbread Christmas stocking, Amsterdam, Nov 5. How is he going to take a bite of this? Amsterdam, Nov 8Delicious Greek pistachio creation and a flaky cream-filled pastry. Athens, Nov 26.
We had high tea at a castle…
Highclere Castle England, Aug 11
And had a snack where royalty has dined…
Royal Yacht Britannia, Edinburgh Scotland, Aug 26
We saw so many castles…
Windsor Castle, Windsor England, July 28Dunvegan Castle, Isle of Skye Scotland, Sept 6
palaces….
Palaces of Westminster, London, July 30Hampton Court Palace, England, July 31
Chateaux…
Vaux-le-Vicount, France, Sep 22Chateaux Amboise, Amboise France, Oct 6
Big churches…
Milan Cathedral, Milan, Italy, Sept 30. St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, July 25Largest mosque in the Middle East, it holds 100,000 people. Asia side of Istanbul, Nov 29
Small churches…
Tiny church in middle of an Athens sidewalk, Nov 20.
and everything in between…
Bourdeilles, France Oct 9Bastogne, Belgium, Nov 2.Saint Antuan Kilisesi Roman Catholic Church, Istanbul, Nov 30
We saw lots of stained glass windows…
Salisbury Cathedral, England, Aug 8Milan Cathedral, Milan Italy, Sep 30Aachen Cathedral, Nov 3
Then there were the ruins…
Raglan Castle, Wales, Aug 15.St. Andrews Cathedral, Scotland, Aug 29.Masada Israel, Nov 15Delphi, Greece, Nov 21
If you don’t count the food poisoning, our 9 days in Israel were amazing.
All signs were in 3 languages – Hebrew, Arabic and English. It made for some pretty big signs. I hate being dirty. I’m still trying to get the salt out of our suits from the Dead Sea.Overlooking Old City Jerusalem.Laura, Peter and Robin at the River Jordan.Walking the stations of the cross on via Dolorosa was incredible.
We had an AMAZING time at the Dana Winner concert…We bought the silver ticket package, so we received a ton of great pictures.
Special guests, Il Divo
We went on river cruises in…
Cambridge England, Aug 19Lyon France, Sep 23Istanbul Turkey, Nov 29
And looked for, but didn’t find, Nessie…
Loch Ness, Inverness Scotland, Sep 3
We visited beautiful gardens…
Hampton Court Palace England, July 31Utrecht Netherlands, Nov 4
And lots of markets…
Lyon France, Sep 23Haarlem The Netherlands, Nov 5Grand Bazaar, Istanbul, Nov. 28
We played rounds at the Home of Golf…
St. Andrews Scotland, Aug. 28
And at the highest 9-hole course in Scotland…
Braemar Scotland, Sep 1
But most importantly, we did everything together…
Tower Bridge, London, July 25Paris, Sep 20Kinderdijk The Netherlands, Oct 23Our 7th Wedding Anniversary, Inverness Scotland, Sep 4
We had a few more challenges than on previous trips (final fall count: Peter 4, Lynn 1), but we don’t regret a minute of it. It has truly been a once in a lifetime adventure.
Thank you to our faithful followers for hanging with us over the last 4 months. Peter and I really appreciate the time everyone took to read about our adventures and your patience with the typos when I was too tired to proofread before I posted. We especially appreciate all the comments. By the way, the prize for the most comments goes to Cynthia, followed closely by Desiree. But don’t get too excited, girl, there isn’t really a prize, just my undying gratitude.
Tomorrow our flight leaves at 8am so we’ll head to the airport around 5am. The flight from Istanbul to LAX is just over 14 hours and we land at 11:30 local time which means we land less than 3 1/2 hours after we left…if you don’t count the 11-hour time change. Then it’s 2 hours on the ground before the short, one hour flight to Phoenix Sky Harbor. Kathy and Jim are picking us up at the airport and hopefully we’ll be home by 5pm. What I wouldn’t give for a little “beam me up, Scotty” technology right now. It is going to be an incredibly long day, but we’ll be glad to sleep in our own beds tomorrow. As much as we’ve thoroughly enjoyed our epic adventure, it’s time to go home.
Or maybe we can borrow Glinda’s wand and click our heels home.
I’ll touch base over the weekend. Until then, love to all and thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Lynn and Peter
We didn’t’ expect to do too much today as we weren’t’ sure we would be able to get to the places we still wanted to visit. We met Aslan yesterday. He was the guide from the boat tour and was a big help getting Peter on/off the boat. He mentioned that today was his day off and asked if we were interested in seeing anything else in Istanbul. We told him where we wanted to go and, since his price was ridiculously inexpensive, we arranged to meet him at 9:00 for our half day private tour.
Peter and Aslan
After a trip on the Metro, our first stop was Taksim Square in the heart of modern Istanbul. A few weeks ago, there was a terror bombing in the square which killed a few people and injured scores more. We were there pretty early, so the square wasn’t very crowded.
Taksim Square
There is a monument dedicated to the formation of the republic in 1923.
Other side of the monument.
We visited the Taksim Mosque which was completed in 2017.
Taksim Mosque
We learned that the inside of every mosque in the world follows the same basic design. The “altar” is inset into the wall and faces Mecca. The emblem on the right side of the altar is Allah written in Arabic and the one on the left is Mohammed.
On the other side of the mosque, there are 4 additional emblems with the names of the next 4 prophets after Mohammed. Even though this mosque is 600 years newer and much smaller than the Hagia Sofia we saw on Monday, it was easy to see the resemblance between them. These are the only 2 mosques we’ve ever seen but now we have a better idea of how they look.
After leaving the square, we walked a pedestrian street of İstiklal lined with every type of shop you can imagine.
Fresh fruit juice stand.Sweet treatsThe fresh fruit looked amazing.
We stopped for our morning snack at Saray Muhallebicisi, a landmark Istanbul pastry shop. Oh foodies, you would have loved it.
Left to right: Peter’s Oreo Cheesecake, my Strawberry and Creme cake, Aslan’s rice pudding. It was so delicious.
Once we finished our amazing snacks, we continued our walk to Galata Tower. In 1267 a Genoese colony was established in Constantinople, and they built the tower as part of the city walls. The walls are long gone and now the tower is a museum.
Galata Tower
This is something we would have never been able to see on our own as the road to get there was about 5 blocks long and straight downhill. And, once we left, we had a walk just as far back up the hill. I actually felt pretty bad as Aslan was pushing the chair and it was very difficult in both directions.
Once back on the top of the hill, we took the 2nd oldest metro in the world (London has the oldest), down the other side of the hill to get to the tram.
This metro is from around 1860.
Then we used to tram to get to the Spice Bazaar. This is the one place we probably could have gotten to on our own as it’s on the tram line with a stop in front of the hotel but we’re glad we went with Aslan. The Spice Bazaar is also known as the Egyptian Bazaar and is the center of spice trade in Istanbul. While not as large as the Grand Bazaar, it’s still quite spacious with a total of 85 shops.
Dried fruitSpices
Every shop sold the same basic products, and the scent of the stores was amazing. Aslan’s nephew works in one of the stores, so that’s where we went for our purchases. Like in the Grand Bazaar, we were treated to tea. Peter had apple tea and I had pomegranate. I don’t like pomegranate, but this tea was absolutely delicious.
I had never heard of most of these spices. These are a few of the many types of teas they had.
We bought some saffron (most expensive spice in the world), tea, dried fruit and nuts. We also got a box of 5 pieces of Turkish Delight. Everything is vacuum packed with labels, so we won’t have any difficulty getting them through customs. We got Peter a small bag of nuts he can munch on over the next couple of days and on the long plane ride home. Anything not eaten by the time we get to LAX will have to be thrown away before we go through customs. Although, if LAX is like the other airports we’ve been through, there won’t even be anyone at customs. We’ve not been stopped even once.
Our Turkish Delight are made from honey rather than sugar, so they aren’t as sweet as I thought they would be. We got one of pistachio and one hazelnut, but I don’t remember the flavor of the other three. The logs are about 4 inches long and are served by cutting them in small pieces.
We grabbed a few sandwiches to take back to the room for lunch as we didn’t want to spend a ton of money again in the hotel restaurant. We spent $65 yesterday for lunch. Today we spent less than $6.00 for 2 large sandwiches and one can of soda. Good deal for delicious food.
Deli next to the hotel
After lunch it was time for my spa treatment. First, I had tradition Turkish bath or Hammam. This was a 40-minute bath on a marble slab and includes a body scrubbing with a handwoven was cloth called a kese. The bodywash is followed by a foam wash where I was covered by soap bubbles which were massaged into the skin. Then, my hair was washed followed by gallons of water were dumped on me to get all the soap off.
This is what the marble bath looks like. You lay on the slab while the therapist gets water from a large deep sink adjacent to the slab.
This ritual, which is an important part of the Turkish culture and has been around since the 1600s, is not for the modest as the very small towel I was originally covered with didn’t last long. The amount of dead skin the therapist pulled off my skin was disgusting but my skin is now baby soft.
The spa at the Doubletree.
After the bath, it was time for my 60-minute massage. My back has been very tight, and I could barely move my neck this morning, so I was really looking forward to this part. The massage was incredible and, while still sore, my neck is much better.
It was certainly a very interesting experience. I get massages regularly, but I don’t see myself doing another Turkish bath. Being bathed in that manner by another person was too weird. I’ll invest in a good loofah when I get home and do that part myself in the shower. I’m glad I tried it, though.
Tomorrow, we’ll stick close to home as I have to repack (again) and get ready for Friday’s flight home. We arranged for a late checkout, so we have someplace to hang out before grabbing a taxi to our last on the road. I’ll check in with you tomorrow. Night everyone.
The minibus picked us up at 10am for an 11:30 cruise but we were the first of 5 hotel stops. Traffic was horrible so it was actually closer to 11:45 before we were on the boat heading down the Golden Horn to the Bosphorus River.
The Golden Horn is the bay that leads to the Bosphorus Strait. The Strait connects the Black Sea to the north with the Marmara Sea to the south.
Istanbul is one of only 5 cities that are transcontinental. About 65% of Istanbul’s population live on the European side. Most of the big tourist attractions are on that side as well.
Galata Tower in the middle. We may see that tomorrow. One of the many mosques we saw on our trip.
As you can see it was a cloudy day and it was also cool. But it’s the end of November so I guess that’s not a big surprise.
We passed the Dolmabahçe Palace, which was built in the mid 19th century by the Empire’s 31 Sultan. He felt that the Topkapi Palace lacked modern style and amenities, so he had this palace built in the European style. It was home to 6 Sultans from 1856 to 1923 when the Monarchy was abolished.
The palace contains 285 rooms, 46 halls, 6 baths (the large Turkish bath style), and 68 toilets.
Next, we passed the Ciragan Palace built in 1863 by Sultan Abdulaziz because he didn’t want to live in the palace built by his predecessor. Now it’s a 5-star hotel and is the most expensive hotel in Istanbul. The Sultan’s Suite goes for the whopping price of over $35,000 per night. Some of its high-profile guests include Madona and Michael Jackson.
Maybe we’ll stay here next time we’re in town.
The Ortakoy Mosque is a beautiful building on the edge of the water. It was completed in 1854.
Ortakoy Mosque
We stopped on the Asia side for about 30 minutes to visit the gardens of Kucuksu Pavillion. This was a royal hunting lodge rather than a residence. After the hunt, the Sultan and his party would hang out here until they were ready to go home.
Kucuksu PavillionThe back of the building. Side garden.
Then it was back on the boat for the last 45 minutes of the cruise. We thought about joining the group for the bus part of the tour but changed our mind after we found out about all the stairs we would need to climb.
By the time we got off the boat, the rain had started. It was only a 10-minute walk to the tram station, but we had a lot of curbs to get up/down. Luckily, friendly strangers stopped to help when I had trouble.
After getting back to the hotel, we dried off and headed to the hotel restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner. Seated next to us was an American from Texas who has been living a nomad’s life in Europe and Asia since 2013. He’s heading to Bangkok on Friday. We had a lovely chat over lunch then headed back to the room.
It’s just after 6pm and it’s very exciting to get the blog posted so early. We may watch a movie tonight before a good night’s sleep. We may head out again tomorrow to visit the Spice Bazaar, but we’ll see what the day brings. Good night my friends.
