Istanbul Fun

October 6, 2008
Istanbul, Turkey

Yesterday marked the first time the ship’s itinerary was affected by the weather since I started my contract. Strong winds stopped the ship from holding schedule with its noontime arrival; additionally, another ship which was scheduled to leave our berth was forced to stay in port until wind speeds died down, so the Queen Victoria’s gangway was not clear for crew and passengers until after 7:00pm. I was scheduled to go on a cruise of the Bosporus Strait yesterday afternoon, but after looking at the description of the tour again, I was not sad to miss it.

After finishing work yesterday evening, a bunch of the musicians (myself included) headed back to the Ali Baba hookah bar for an evening of smoke and kebabs. We stayed till nearly 4:00am before heading back to the ship and going to bed. I decided (in my infinite wisdom) that it would be a good idea to help out the excursions department by escorting a tour this morning, so I got just shy of four hours worth of sleep before I set off to learn more about Istanbul and its vast history.

The tour I went on was entitled “Discovering Istanbul” and I had a fabulous tour guide who spoke excellent English and knew lots about what he was talking about. I even had a chance to discuss Armenian status in Turkey, and what it is like almost a century after the Armenian Genocide. We made three main stops: the Blue Mosque, Ayasofya (a basilica-turned-mosque-turned-museum from about 1,500 years ago), and the Grand Bazaar. It was exciting to walk through these massive structures that have been preserved so very well. Ayasofya is actually closed to the public on Mondays, and the only people permitted inside were cruise passengers, so the building was pretty empty and I was able to take some good photographs without too many people getting in the picture.

The Grand Bazaar is the epitome of chaotic tourism. Inside, one can find Turkish lamps, cheap jewelry, pashmina, trinkets, and souvenirs (among other things), and it is surrounded on the outside by shops selling higher-end merchandise like fancy watches, hand-made rugs, gold, diamonds, and other precious stones. It makes the sidewalks in Times Square look like a ghost town. Nonetheless, it was still exciting to witness all that is Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar.

Before returning to the ship, I stopped off and tried a piece of baklava and picked up some food to eat when I got back on board, and upon returning to my room, my lovely roommate wasted no time yelling at me for waking him up last night. Apparently it is my fault for being extra quiet and creeping in before I fell asleep. He said if it happened one more time, he was going to “take it further,” so I figured it would be a good time to tell him it would not happen again because I am going to be moving out at the end of the voyage (October 12). That’s right folks; the theatre orchestra’s trombone player will be going home so I am going to take his bunk and get out. I will be living with the trumpet player from my orchestra for twelve days until he goes home, at which point I will be living with his replacement.
That’s all for now; ports left this voyage: Samos, Zakinthos and Pyraeus (all in Greece), then Dubrovnik, Croatia before reaching Venice on October 11.