Baltic Sea and Greece Cruise - October 9-24, 2014

Eric and I went on an amazing adventure to Istanbul, followed by a Silversea cruise to Greece, Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria.

It was a long series of flights from Orlando to Istanbul.  We flew through Miami and London.  The last flight was the killer.  The British Airways flight was late and we didn't arrive until 2:00 am, and then the taxi took us to the wrong place.  At 3:00 am we finally fell asleep.

October 10-13 - Istanbul

After the late arrival, we slept until after noon.  The Grand Bazaar is the largest indoor bazaar in the world.  The merchandise was amazing with hundreds of jewelry, clothing, rug, and spice stores and everything thing else imaginable.  I bought a beautiful gold ring.

The Grand Bazaar

Aladdin's hats and slippers 

Turkish pretzels

Spices galore

We walked for miles through the old town taking hundreds of photos.  The next day we did the Hop On Hop Off buses.  The weather was dreary, so we mostly stayed on the bus.  There must be 1000 mosques in Istanbul.  Our final stop was the Egyptian Spice Market, which we were warned would be very crowded.

The following morning it was back to the Grand Bazaar for a few gifts and my much needed Iranian saffron.  I'll add this to my collection of Greek and Spanish saffron.

After noon we took a taxi to our home for the next nine days - the Silversea Silver Cloud.

October 13-22, 2014 - The Silversea Silver Cloud

I felt right at home rejoining the Silver Cloud.  Many of the crew remembered me from my previous journey.

October 14, 2014 - Kavala, Greece

This Greek city is the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia.  We stayed in the old city which overlooks the Aegean Sea.

A beautiful aquaduct

 

Local fishing boats

October 15, 2014 - Thessaloniki, Greece

This is Greece's second largest city and seaport.  We wandered the town, but found nothing to buy.  Well we did find some erotic postcards which only the recipients can see.  We then walked along the seawall.  There was a lot of trash in the water, which was picked up by a trash boat, kind of like a street sweeper.

The farmers market with amazing tomatos

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair

October 16, 2014 - Volos, Greece

Volos was not a very picturesque city, yet we did manage a few hundred shots.  There was really nothing to see, so we walked a few miles to the beach.

Greece has 1000s of fishing boats

The Silversea Silver Cloud

October 17, 2014 - Piraeus (Athens), Greece

Eric and I spent four days in Athens last year, so we skipped the Acropolis and other mob scenes.  We went to the farmers market and bought some more tomatoes for our caprese salad on board.  The other passengers were jealous of our "red tomato" caprese salad.

We ate at a local restaurant for lunch, having Greek salad and chicken souvlaki.

The Piraeus train station

Calamari

Beautiful lemons and limes

October 18, 2014 - Izmir, Turkey

We took the cruise excursion to Ephesus.  I had been there 20 years ago, but there was so much more to see following recent excavations.  The guide was very knowledgeable, filling my brain with useless information.

The library

I should have bought these for my nieces

October 19, 2014 - Cruising the Dardanelles

This was the most relaxing day of the cruise, despite the cold weather.  I read and did crossword puzzles.

October 20, 2014 - Constanta, Romania

Today was a real adventure.  We took the shuttle bus to the main city park.  After a stroll through the park, we decided to walk back to the old town.  It was about two or three miles away.  I don't know what happened, but ten miles later we finally found it.  (After returning home I checked the camera's GPS tracking, and saw where we made two wrong turns.  We didn't even have any local money.) Then we could not find the shuttle bus, so we walked back to the ship.  At least I could have dessert without feeling guilty.  The ABBA show was fantastic, and yes we were dancing and singing in the aisles.

A view from city park

With these directions, how did we ever get lost?

October 21, 2014 - Nesebar, Bulgaria

Nesebar was another beautiful port.  Unlike yesterday, it was impossible to get lost on this tiny island.  We covered almost every street and continued our shopping spree.  How will it all fit in the suitcase?

Amazing architecture

More fishing boats

We had dinner with two more of the cast members, Kelly and Jason.

October 22, 2014 - Istanbul, Turkey

How sad, the cruise is over.  But I will be back on the ship in December for a cruise of the Caribbean and Central America.

We walked around Istanbul and it was difficult not to buy more clothes.  The prices were so cheap.  For dinner we had a local dish.  Chicken and lamb were cooked in an earthenware container and then the top is cracked off (falling to the ground) allowing the cooked meats to be served.

October 23, 2014 - Istanbul to London

We had a nice dinner with Norman and Ann Shuker, who met us at our London Heathrow hotel

October 24, 2014 - London to Orlando

Home sweet home