The title of this blog is so fitting for our amazing trip to Turkey and Greece because it became a huge joke for us the entire trip, and I will explain in a bit. First, let me start by saying that it was an incredible adventure that Ann and I had with my parents. We saw and discovered so much, so this blog will hardly do the trip any justice, but I will hopefully capture some of the highlights. We took in so much history, new cultural experiences, and as you can imagine, the landscapes and sunsets were breathtaking every single day. It will be a trip that we will never forget.
Ann and I met my parents on a Thursday in Istanbul(Constantinople if you ask the Greeks!!). Wow, this city completely blew away any lofty expectation that had already been pre-planted in our minds. It was extraordinary. Istanbul is where the East meets the West. The Bosphorus River that runs through Istanbul separates the European and Asian continents. It was cool to be able to cross the river and pass into Asia. Turkey is also a country that is 98% Muslim, so you can already imagine the cultural differences that we encountered. It is a secular state, however, meaning there is a separation between church and state, unlike any other Muslim country. This was my first time in a muslim country though, and I was enthralled. Istanbul is a huge city. It has a population of 17.5M. There are over 2500 mosques there, and they are all incredibly unique. For Ann and I, one of the coolest things was hearing the call to prayer. Every mosque projects over a loud speaker a call to prayer when Muslims most stop their day. It is so cool to hear this resonating throughout the city. Due to our short time there and wanting to see so much, we hired a private guide and a driver. Our guide was awesome and so knowledgeable. We were able to tour the Blue Mosque, probably the most famous landmark in Istanbul. The Blue Mosque gets its name from the handmade Isnick tiles that adorn the interior and give it the blue color. It is beautiful and still an active mosque, so we were able to see people praying there. Just across from the Blue Mosque is the Hagia Sophia. This was probably our favorite. The Hagia Sophia was originally established as a Christian church. When the Ottoman Empire conquered Turkey, they converted it into a mosque and covered over all of the murals. Today, it is only a museum, but it is one of the few places in the world that there is a depiction of Jesus next to a depiction of the Prophet Mohammed. It is completely mesmerising inside. The other highlight of Istanbul is the Grand Bazaar. It is one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world. It was opened in 1461. It encompasses 58 streets and 4,000 shops. Now is probably the best time to talk about Turkish rugs. Turkey is very well known for their hand woven wool and silk carpets, many of which can be found in the Grand Bazaar. I am pretty sure that there are more carpet salesmen in Istanbul than car salesman in the US. One of the things that I love about my mom is that fact she is one of the most approachable people that you could ever meet. She has the ability to engage anyone and they will be sharing their life story within 5 minutes. Well, let me say that this is not an asset in Turkey. I am not sure if it was the large Chanel's on her face or her warm smile, but we had every carpet salesman in the city following us around. I felt like a wounded sea lion with blood thirsty bull sharks circling in for the kill. No matter how much I told her to not respond to them and please do not make eye contact, it was no use. She apparently had "I love Turkish rugs" stamped on her forehead!!! Overall, Istanbul was a fantastic start to the trip. We stayed at a beautiful hotel called the Pera Palace and enjoyed 2 really unique dinners out on the town.
On Saturday, we headed to the Port in Istanbul and boarded the Wind Star. It is a beautiful ship and just an incredible crew. There were 117 passengers that week and 80 crew, so you get to know everyone quite well. As we had expected, Ann and I were definitively the youngest on the ship, but we mingled fantastically with the AARP members and crew alike and I believe that we received the passenger MVP awards!!! It was funny because Ann and I definitely developed a party reputation. It is not hard when most people are in bed at 10 though. They usually had live music every night for dancing, and Ann's second home on the ship was the casino. There was just one blackjack table, so it was not exactly the MGM. By the 2nd to last night, George and Christina, the dealers, had brought in their computer to take us through their wedding slideshow. That is how much they liked us and how personable these dealers were. Anyway, a normal daily occurrence for my parents was to have people come up to them and say that they had met Ann and Kevin the night before and had so much fun. Our problem was that we could never remember anyone's names. I am pretty sure that we helped some of those old timers rediscover their youth that week though.
After leaving Istanbul on Saturday afternoon, we sailed through the Sea of Maramara and into the Aegean Sea. That Sunday was a full day at sea, so we all had massages that first morning and then set up shop by the pool. The 4 of us were definitely the most dedicated to the sun. That first day was so crucial because we became great friends with Tata the Terrific and Noel, the pool deck bartenders. These guys were so incredible. They would drop anything they were doing or anyone they were serving to come and take care of us. It probably did not hurt that we started tipping them from the first minute we boarded the ship;) They were really great guys though and we really enjoyed our many conversations with them. My mom said at the end of the trip that she wanted to take them all home. They clearly had a profound impact:)
I am not going to bore you with details of every port and every day, but here was our itinerary and some highlights:
Monday - Kusadasi, Turkey - small and quaint mountainous resort town. We watched this beautiful sunset over this small fortresses island which was once their port lookout. The highlight here was seeing the old Roman city of Ephesus. It was once the 2nd largest city in the Roman Empire behind Rome, which dated to around 2000 BC. It is thought that the gospel of John was written there.
* Highlight* Monday night, while Ann gambled with Clare and Jan(Ann's every night gambling friends from Canada who loved us), I had beers and shots with Fab, the Aussie Sports Director, and Tomas, the Slovakian Masseuse. Fab's wife, Carol Anne, the other sports director from Scotland, was not pleased as the next morning Fab had to sleep an extra hour due to our late night shenanigans.
Tuesday - Rhodes, Greece - awesome medieval town that once was home to the Colossus, one of the seven wonders of the world. Ann and I went on a guided walking tour of the city that was pretty cool. It was fun to go back and forth between Turkey and Greece because you got to here each side say they there were the ones that were responsible for the history.
Wednesday - Bodrum, Turkey - this was probably my 2nd favorite stop. Big destination for the Turkish celebs in the summer. It is a beautiful port with these quaint little resorts that dot the beaches and the cliffs overlooking the sea. Ann and I took a guided tour this day as well which included a tour of Bodrum Castle, which was a 15th century fortress built by the crusaders. It also included a gullet cruise. A gullet is a 2 masted wooden sailing vessel. There were 8 of us on board and they took us to some great swimming spots and then served us a fresh fish lunch prepared on board. It was a really great experience.
Thursday - Santorini - By far the most beautiful stop. Santorini is essentially what remains of this huge circle of islands that was almost completely destroyed by a massive volcano. The volcano created the Caldera, which is the cauldron like shape that Santorini is now so highly recognised for. We anchored off of Fira, which is one settlement on the island. All of the villages on the island sit on top of these 1000 ft cliffs overlooking the Aegean. Our 3 options to get to the top were to walk, ride a donkey which took the same walking path, or take a cable car. We opted for the cable car, and great choice because people said that the path was just covered in donkey crap. Anyway, once at the top, we took a taxi to the other side of the island to the village of Oia. Every picture that you see from the Greek Islands comes from Oia. It is the most captivating architecture and views that you could ever imagine. The white washed houses and blue roofs just cover the cliffside. Every corner you turned, you had a more magnificent view overlooking the sea.
*Highlight* - Thursday night was the top deck BBQ and staff dancing and singing exhibition. All of our staff friends asked Ann all week to come up and dance with them, and she did not disappoint. This turned into a late night dance party, and Ann sadly disappointed Clare and Jan in the casino because she did not make it there before closing time!!!
Friday - Mykonos - Sadly, we were not able to port in Mykonos because of the incredibly high winds. Instead, we got permission to anchor off of this tiny island called Sifnos. The 4 of us decided to stay on the ship that day.
Saturday came so quickly and we made our final port in Athens early in the morning. We left the port and checked into our hotel. It was an awesome hotel called the Grand Bretagne, just across the street from the House of Parliament. If you have been following the news at all lately, you will definitely recognise this building as it is where all of the demonstrations and protests are taking place over the Greek debt crisis and employment situation. Athens is a really pretty city and it is very sad what is happening there because all of the protests are causing so much damage and tourists are afraid to go. We were actually pretty lucky and we had just gotten back to our hotel in the afternoon when a protest started and they had to close these barred gates around our hotel to protect the windows and the hotel guests. We were able to watch it all unfold from the rooftop restaurant. Despite all of that though, we were able to enjoy several hours out in Athens seeing The Acropolis and Parthenon, the Temple of Zeus, The Olympic Stadium, and a lot of fun and unique areas around town. We had dinner in at the hotel that night and sadly had to say good bye to my parents.
Well, I apologise for the ridiculously lengthy recount of the trip, but there was so much to capture and some details that we definitely want to remember. The best part of the trip though was being able to spend all of that time with my mom and dad. We had an absolute blast.
I guess that about wraps it up. We have our second weekend in a row of relaxation and no plans in London this weekend. I think that we are almost getting bored;) We are getting so excited for Ann's parents to arrive this coming Thursday. We have a fun trip planned next weekend to Bruges, Belgium. This is also Jeff's first trip over since we have been here, so we are so excited for him to experience everything.
Finally, I can't end the blog without another plug for my Cardinals. It is 2-2 going into the last game at Busch tonight. We got to take this one boys before we head back to Milwaukee. Let's Go Cardinals.
Have a great weekend!!
Kevin and Ann
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