Istanbul

Happy Independence Day! We spent this American holiday in Turkey…Istanbul, specifically, so not a very American place at all. This place is really beautiful, and there are so many mosques.

We got to the port a few hours later than we had been told we would, during the night, our ship’s propeller stopped working, so we had to slow down to about half speed. Instead of getting to port at 8:00, we got there at about 2:00, and had to be back on board by 7:00. Dang, only a half day. So we made the most of it. First, we went to the Blue Mosque, and since I was in shorts, I had to borrow a dress from them on my way in.

We all also had to borrow head wraps. Husband was the only one that didn’t have to put anything, lucky guy. After the mosque, a local fellow took us to his carpet shop (yes I was nervous he was kidnapping us the whole time) to get a good picture, and boy did we.

They tried to sell us a carpet next but the price they quoted us was so high, we just straight walked out. We then walked around the city, which was sort of difficult because there were some kind of protests going on, and the police was shutting down part of the city. But after we walked around for a while, we made our way to the Grand Bazaar, and that was something. So many things, so many people. We bought some Turkish Delight and a whole bunch of fun spices, and that was neat. Then, it was time to catch a shuttle to the ship – lest we get left behind again. Turkey was really pretty, but this city made me nervous. Maybe it was all the protesters, maybe it was all the police, but I was so grateful to get back on our ship and skedaddle out of there.