Kusadasi to Istanbul

Saturday, April 25, 2010

Kusadasi to Istanbul

That 4:00 am wake up call came mighty early this morning. We all appeared quite bleary eyed for a sparse breakfast of boiled eggs, bread, a few vegetables and fruits, juice and coffee. Our driver picked us up at 5:00 am for our flight to Istanbul.

We all said our goodbyes to Mary Anne and Steve as we left the airplane in Istanbul. They headed off for their connection back to the states, while we went down to claim our bags and meet our transport to the ship.

We were dropped off at the pier and had been led to believe we would be able to board the ship right away to drop off our bags and then go into the city for some individual sight seeing. But instead we were told we couldn’t get on until 2:00. Did I mention we arrived at 10:00 am?

Joanne, who can’t sit still, went outside to bargain with the cab drivers on the street. She came back and announced that she had found one who would take up to 4 people on a 5 hour tour for 90 Euros. That’s about $120 US, He would keep their bags in his truck and drop them off wherever they wanted to go, wait for them, and go on to the next stop. Shelli was the only taker. We knew there would be a good story to come out of this, and Augie and I predicted that he would drop them off and take off with their luggage. But Joanne must have thought of that too, because she made the driver give her his drivers’ license to hold so that he wouldn’t run away. The funny part of the story is that she forgot to give it back to him. So the poor guy is without his license until we return six days from now.

The rest of us passed the time looking for a pharmacy (Mary Ann has now passed her cough to Rhonda), Brian and I went off to find a cafι for lunch, and Augie read a book. Finally, at 2:00, as promised, we were allow onto the ship. We went to our rooms and got settled in, then took a quick run around the ship. It’s much nicer than we expected, although it is an older vessel. There are no balcony cabins, but we all have ocean views, with big picture windows.

Most everyone stayed on the ship, but Augie and I walked around the city. We found some charming little areas around the water tower, and walked across the bridge to the Spice Market. It was extremely crowded, much more so than when we were here before. I guess because it was a Saturday. We tried to make it to the Grand Bazaar, but we got tired of fighting the crowds and gave up. We made our way back to the ship and decided to see if we could smuggle on some Cokes and water. They charge an arm and a leg on the ship for these things. Most cruise ships won’t let you bring anything on board, but no one seemed to care here. Hopefully, in Mykanos tomorrow we can find some booze!

They have a set dinner time here (7:30) and assigned seating, so we all met at our places -- all except Mary Ann and Rhonda, who are still not feeling too well. Karen and Dave joined us and we heard all about how they spent their two days while we were in Kusadasi. Sounds like they had a nice relaxing time, with leisurely strolls around the city, nice restaurants, massages, etc.

Joanne and I were the only two interested in tonight/s entertainment of Broadway show tunes. The guys because, well….it was BROADWAY SHOW TUNES. Everyone else was just too tired from our 4:00 am wake up call. The show was interesting. The singers and dancers were all from the Eastern Block, singing American show tunes with their accents. The two male singers looked like they belonged in the Russian Army, not singing on a stage. But the music was good and they were pretty talented.

Tomorrow we will arrive in Mykonos.