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Turkey and Greece 2009

a travel blog by DRKester

A cruise around the Greek islands with a visit to Istanbul and Ephesus Turkey.
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Istanbul

Istanbul, Turkey

First stop Istanbul and our hotel in Sultanahmet. The Kybele Hotel had over 4000 lamps in the ceilings of the lobby and rooms. This is our room

Our room at the Kybele Hotel
and the stairs to get to our room.

Marble stairs

And the lobby of the hotel

Kybele Hotel

We were dealing with jet lag, and decided just to walk down to the square between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque and do some people watching.


Blue Mosque
We also went into the Four Seasons Hotel which was beautifully restored from a former prison.

We ate the first night at a sidewalk restaurant recommended by the hotel. The owner also had a rug shop next door. In fact I think everyone in Turkey had at least one rug shop, and they all wanted to be our new best friends.


Sidewalk dining

It turns out that we arrived on the first day of Ramadan. So after our dinner we walked back down to the square, where there was a line for the traditional first meal.

We did most of our touring on our second day in town with a trip to the Suleymaniye Mosque


Suleymaniye Mosque
and the Grand Bazaar. Note the convoluted wiring on the outside of buildings.

Grand Bazaar

Grand Bazaar wiring

After lunch, we went inside the Blue Mosque.


Blue Mosque
and went down to the Basicilica Cistern.

Basilica Cistern
Our hotel was built on top of the Cistern, so it had limited head room in the basement restaurant.

Our hotel was an easy walk to the square near the Blue Mosque, that turned out to be the hub of the celebration.


Ramadan Celebration

There was entertainment in the square with a juggler, magician and other acts. We snapped a picture of this cutie with his face painted for the occasion.

Ramadan

The third day we went to Topkapi Palace.


Topkapi Palace
There are wild cats all around the city, but this mother and her kittens lived on the Palace grounds.

Topkapi Palace

Cats

After checking into the ship, we took a boat ride up the Bosphorus.


Bosphorus Cruise

On our last morning in Istanbul, we walked to the Galata Tower and rode to the top.


Galata Tower
We also passed a restaurant with an apt name, so Rick posed for a photo.

Enginar

permalink written by  DRKester on August 24, 2009 from Istanbul, Turkey
from the travel blog: Turkey and Greece 2009
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Ephesus

Kusadasi, Turkey

Our first stop on our cruise was Kusadasi Turkey. Oceania offered several organized tours to Ephesus, but we prefer independent touring. The ship provided a local representative each morning to answer questions about the city. We discovered that we could get a taxi to take us to the site, drop us at the top, and pick us back up at the bottom for no more than $100. We connected with another couple to share a cab, and the guys haggled the price down to $80 for the four of us.

Ephesus is amazing. We took tons of pictures, and here are just a few.


Ephesus

Ephesus

Ephesus

Ephesus

permalink written by  DRKester on August 25, 2009 from Kusadasi, Turkey
from the travel blog: Turkey and Greece 2009
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Delos and Mykonos

Mykonos, Greece

Our next port of call was Delos Greece.

Delos Lions

Delos Ruins

We also were supposed to stop at Mykonos, but it was too windy to safely tender to shore. So the best we got was a shot from the ship.


View from the ship

permalink written by  DRKester on August 26, 2009 from Mykonos, Greece
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Rhodes Greece

Rodos, Greece


Rhodes
One of our favorite stops was Rhodes Greece. Well preserved old town with an interesting walk between the walls.

Old town

Inside walls of old town


Rhodes from the ship

permalink written by  DRKester on August 27, 2009 from Rodos, Greece
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Santorini

Thira, Greece

Santorini was next. After tendering to shore, Rick decided to ride a donkey to the top. Ask Rick what it's like to ride the Alpha Donkey.

Donkey ride to the top
I took the easier cable car.

View from the top

Very picturesque place with a walk/climb along the edge of the hill.


Church

Church


Church

Santorini city view

We both took the cable car down. The donkeys are limited by gravity on the way up, but on the way down they run to get to food at the bottom. Possibly life threatening.


permalink written by  DRKester on August 28, 2009 from Thira, Greece
from the travel blog: Turkey and Greece 2009
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Old Olympia

Katakalion, Greece

We took the train to old Olympia.

Olympia Train Station

We only had 2 hours to tour before catching the train back to port.

Olympia

Olympia entrance to arena

Ancient Olympia

Ancient Olympia

We ran out of time, but took a quick look at the museum.

Ancient Olympia Museum

permalink written by  DRKester on August 29, 2009 from Katakalion, Greece
from the travel blog: Turkey and Greece 2009
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Corfu

Kerkyra, Greece

We took a bus to town, and then walked around a bit.

Corfu

Corfu

permalink written by  DRKester on August 30, 2009 from Kerkyra, Greece
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Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik, Croatia

One of the more interesting stops was Dubrovnik Croatia. We took a local bus to the old town.

Dubrovnik Old City Walls

Dubrovnik Church


Dubrovnik old port

Dubrovnik

permalink written by  DRKester on August 31, 2009 from Dubrovnik, Croatia
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Crete

Aghios Nikolaos, Greece, Greece

We spent a day at sea and played some ship games. Rick won his Ping Pong game.

Games at Sea

Then we went to Crete.

Crete

Crete

After a bit of walking around town, we walked towards a swimming beach. Rick went back later for a swim.


Crete

Crete beach

permalink written by  DRKester on September 2, 2009 from Aghios Nikolaos, Greece, Greece
from the travel blog: Turkey and Greece 2009
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Athens

Athens, Greece

The final stop on our trip was Athens. We'd been there before, but still had to see the sights. We went to the Parliament Gardens and old Olympic stadium.

Ancient Olympic Stadium
Then walked to Hadrian's Arch

Hadrians Arch
and the Temple of Zeus.

Zeus

Near the Temple of Zeus was the remains of old houses.


Old homes

Lastly we went to the New Acropolis Museum,

New Acropolis Museum
which is across the street from the Acropolis

Acropolis

Lots of walking.

We finished our day with a great dinner on the ship.


Last dinner on the ship

permalink written by  DRKester on September 3, 2009 from Athens, Greece
from the travel blog: Turkey and Greece 2009
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