Kusadasi, Turkey

On September 30 we were at sea the whole day as we cruised through the Bosphorus past Istanbul.  Then into the Dardanelles which is  61 km strait that is only 1.2 to 6 km wide.  Water in the strait flows in both directions.  The upper current flows from the sea of Miramar to the Aegean Sea and the opposite direction via an undercurrent.  The Bosphorus and Dardanelles connect the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. 








This is the location were we pick up the pilot to help guide the ship through  the Dardanelles.

Sunset in the Dardanelles.










Docking at Kusadasi allows passengers to see the local sites quicker than from Izmir, Turkey. The disadvantage is that there were four cruise ships in port at the same time.  Too many people in the town at one time.

Highly recommend that you take a tour in this port and limit the shopping.   The best time to return to the ship is later in the day.  At noon when all the tours are returning the line up to get on to the pier through security took 30 minutes so plan accordingly.




Milettus Ruins 

We have been to Ephesus which is a fantastic Roman site and well worth a visit.  We choose to visit Milettus Antique Site and Didyma Aollo Temple which are also located close to the port.

The Milettus ruins have an impressive coliseum and a good example of roman baths.






Upper Level Tunnels in Coliseum



Roman Baths main Pool



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Temple from a distance

Didyma Aollo Temple 



Looking up from the base of the main stairs.





Column laying down. 

 

Notice that the column is in sections.

Columns are built by placing sections together.

Example of decoration on walls inside the temple.

Constanta, Romania

Constanta is a important shipping port in Europe and has the potential to become the second largest after Rotterdam. Currently there is a lot of money being spent in the old town fixing up the streets and building exteriors.  The area will be beautiful when completed.

During the communist regime the wounderful buildings in the old town were taken from the owners and have been inhabited by gypsies and poor people.  It has been a difficult task removing people from the historic buildings and returning the buildings to the original owners.  The government has built apartment to relocate people.  The new apartments' cost as little as 3 Euro per month with subsidized utilities.

In Ovidiu Plaza you will find the Museum of Archeology which has a very interesting display that was discovered in 1962 during construction in this area.  The pieces discovered are from when the Roman era.

Fertility Snake

There is also an excellent collection of gold coins and an interesting glass vessel collection.

Baby drinking cup made from blown glass.

In the Roman Mosaics Museum you will find more than 2,000 square meters
 of mosaic from the 4th century.  This was the major trading area for the Romans as the sea came up to this area and good were traded in this area.  This is the largest area that I have seen of a continuous mosaic.  This are was covered during an earthquake so was only discovered in the 60's and is therefore in fairly good shape.

Up the street is the Folk Art Museum.  They have an excellent collection of costumes from the different areas in Romania.  The dress is very similar to the designs from the Ukraine.  Most of the embroidery is raised and either satin stitch, cross stitch or braid sewn in patterns.  I found it very interesting to see embroidered vests made of leather with the inside still having the fur attached.  I can't imagine how hard it is to embroider detailed designs on white leather.



St. Peter and St. Paul's Orthodox Cathedral

 After the visit of the Constanta highlights we were off for tasting.  Romania has very good wine but does not export a lot to Canada.  We could see that in the fields people were picking red grapes and loading them into wooden wagons.  We did not get to see an actual winery during this tour but were located in the middle of a vineyard.  After the wine tasting we saw some traditional dancing.  The steps are very basic for these folk dances.

Romanian folk dance.

Nessebur, Bulgaria

St. John the Baptist Church

Nessebur old town became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983 because of it rich history.  The town  located on the Black Sea was originally Thracian and became Greek in the 6th century BC.  The Romans and the Byzantines both settled in Nessebur for a period of time.  The first Bulgarian Empire started in 812.  The Bulgarians and the Byzantines lived together in the area until the Crusaders conquered the area in 1366.   During this time remarkable churches were built.

The town was captured by the Turks in 1453 and the start of its decline.  During the 19th century the half stone and half wooden houses were built.  This style of construction is typical of the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast.  The stone construction allowed for the storage of produce and other food supplies as this area of the house was cooler.  The wooden area was used as the living quarters.  If you look at the picture you will notice that the wooden area extends out over the street below to give the family a larger living area.


The cobblestones in the old town are actual rocks which makes walking challenging.  Nessebur is one of the main seaside resort areas for Bulgaria.  Many of the newer hotels are owned and cater to  Russians or Germans seeking the sunny coast.  Unfortunately the day we visited was one of their few rainy days.  We have noticed a lot of fairly large jelly fish from the ship and am not sure if we would swim in the sea.

These barrels are made of Bulgarian Oak.
The first barrel holds 7232 liters of wine.

This area is also a very well known for it wine production.  They do not produce a large quantity of wine but a new plant has just opened and signed a contract to provide a large quantity of wine We started with a Chardonnay that was light and not heavy oaked.  They use large Bulgarian oak barrels that have been used multiply times therefore the oak presence is minimal.  We tried a Sauvignon Blanc, a dry rose made from Cabernet Sauvignon, a dry Muskat, Merlot and Pinot Noir.  Elaine purchased a bottle of the Pinot Noir for 5 Euros and we enjoyed this on the cruise.

Trabzon, Turkey

This remote Turkish port is along the north coast of Turkey on the black sea.  Not too many cruise ships come into this port so when we arrived we were the talk of the town.

We went to the Sumela Monastery which is 28 miles from the cruise port.  This monastery is located high up on the side  of the mountain.  The monastery was started in the 6th century.




Sumela Monastery

It took about three hours of walking to reach the monastery from the end of the switchback road which we rode up to the top in mini vans from the main entrance.


Interior Buildings of Monastery

Paintings in the interior of the monastery.

 Returning to Trabzon the tour visited  Gulbahar Hatun Mosque. 

We also visited Atatuk Country Home and gardens.

Sinop, Turkey

We were tired of tours when we arrived in Sinop. The town is very close to the port so we decided to tour the town on our own.

From the pier we had a great picture of the M/S Riviera an Oceania Cruise ship.

Prison Gate

Sinop is located on a narrow strip of land.  It is easy to walk from one side to the other.


Walking around town we had the opportunity to see the shops and mingle with the people.  We decided to find the Sinop Fortress Prison which is where the movie Midnight Express was filmed.  The prison is no longer used. 

















The walls of the prison fortress are made up of ruins from Greek and Roman ruins.  In this picture you can see sections of columns cut and used in the base of the wall.

 

Sinop Turkey

Sochi, Russia

Winter Olympics 2014 Sochi Russia

Sochi is in Russia and therefore has restricted entry.  You can get off the ship if you are on an organized tour and the company has filed the correct paper work or if you have a Russian Visa.  Getting through the customs officials is the worst part when visiting Russia.  This takes a long time and you have to sign a temporary visa slip which you need when leaving.



You can tell that Sochi is a popular location for rich Russians to holiday.  There were beautiful yachts in the harbour and private beach clubs along the water.

Water Fall

Sochi was the host city for the 2014 Winter Olympics so a lot of money has been put into developing roads and the rail system.  The city was also fixed up to look good for the visitors for the Olympics.


We took a tour that allowed us to get into a national park and walk to a waterfall.  It was great getting off the ship but the waterfall was nothing special.  When choosing a tour don't have high expectations regarding what you are going to see.

What we did notice this time was that there were no undercover police shadowing our tour like we had in the past when touring in Russia.  Maybe things a getting a little less restrictive or because of the Olympics there are more freedoms in this city.

Hiking to the Waterfall

Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul what an experience.  We certainly did not do enough planning before we arrived.  Our flight arrived at around 11:30 PM so by the time we were ready to catch the hotel shuttle it was a few minutes after midnight.  By the time we found the stop and sign for the Holiday Inn we discovered that the last shuttle departed at midnight and did not start again until 7 AM.  Next time we book a hotel we will check to see when the shuttle runs. 

Our next plan was to change money so we could take a taxi.  You could not just walk back into the arrivals terminal.  Because of security you had to go through the whole process.  We ended up lining up in the cue to get a taxi.  The driver could not speak English which I had expected so we should him the address of the hotel. 

Holiday Inn Airport Hotel is not close to the airport and is located in an industrial area with a huge freeway on the north side.  The hotel is very new and has a great pool area.  We decided to have breakfast at the hotel since there is nothing around and you can't even walk to the Istanbul Mall because the freeway is between the hotel and mall.

 

When it was time to leave we took the free hotel shuttle to the city centre and got off on the waterfront below the Sophia which is located across the harbour to where our cruise was docked.  I had to check in the morning where the ship was located because it could be a two possible locations.  Thank goodness it was the closer location.  We caught a taxi immediately exiting the van and he drove us to the port entrance.

Our next challenge was getting through the port because I did not have a ticket or boarding card.  We dropped off our luggage and proceeded to check in.  Our timing was excellent there was no bus dropping off passengers so we did not have to line up to get our boarding cards.

We spent the rest of the time exploring the ship.  Getting organized in our room, Bill was in the hot tub and of course eating.  We departed at 8:00 PM which was wonderful as the lights in Istanbul along the Bosphorus River are beautiful and the bridge was sparkling with lights.