Dec 3, 2013 Day 2 in Istanbul, Turkey

Dec 3, Istanbul, Turkey.   Day 2 - a free day. 

Günaydın - Good Morning 

“A must! To enjoy Istanbul on our own”

Immy and Jennie opted to go back to the Grand Bazaar while Marcel and I went for a 4 hour stroll through a part of Istanbul.   Loved the little crowded streets and see the locals in their daily activities, tasting the true colors of Istanbul.  

The little narrow streets amazed us.  How they get their cars in and out was a puzzle. The world’s second worst city in traffic congestion is Istanbul, second to Moscow.  Istanbul is drowning in traffic chaos.  Cars are everywhere.  We saw a large tow truck towing a car. How it got through...I have no clue. 

Walking still farther away from the docks, we climbed up this very long and steep road.

Love, love all the small streets.

We walked through the Kılıç Ali Paşa neighborhood exploring the narrow streets lined with shops, cafes, restaurants, and of course stopping for cappuccinos.

A red basket was lowered to the ground from the top floor.  The boy on the right has a package to be put in the basket. 

He took out some money and put in the package.  

We saw it pulled back up to the top floor. 

When we got to an open area, we made sure we could still see the docks with their ships, so we could find our way back.

We explored the nooks and crannies.  It was definitely a man's world.  No women were seen anywhere as sales people.

Had to try some roasted chestnuts.  Delicious.  We got back to the ship at 2:30.  A pretty cold but dry day.  Only 7c today.

Meanwhile, Immy and Jennie were having their own smashing fun time!

At the Grand Bazaar.

They both bought a gorgeous leather jacket.  Immy sipping a cup of sweet tea.

Jennie with her new jacket.  

All that shopping tired them out and they headed for the Turkish Bath to be pampered. 

First time for Immy.

 Our experience in the Turkish Bath:  Immy's story. 

We walked in and were handed a little pouch.  We got changed and put a towel around us,  and walked into this huge steam filled room,  with a huge round marble bench in the middle,  big enough for many people at the same time. We were told to put our bikinis on.  What bikini?  Turns out the pouch contained a bikini - one size fits all;  Jennie got into hers no problem;  me,  that was another matter.

But we both lay down on a piece of the marble on our stomachs,  and waited.   Heard a scream from Jennie:  turns out they doused her with a bucket of warm water.  My turn was next,  but I was prepared because of Jennie's scream.

They then proceeded to wash us with some sort of loofah cloth.  We were  rinsed off with a bucket of warm water.

Then they squirted something on us,  I assume some kind of soap,  and we got lathered up,  again with a loofah cloth.  when our backs and the back of our legs were done,  there was an unceremonious "turn",  accompanied by a slap on the back.  They then repeated the same washing.

After we were rinsed off again,  they shampooed our hair and we were told:  Jacuzzi.  So we walked over to this huge Jacuzzi with warm water on the one side and cooler water on the other.  Back and forth between the two.  Wonderful!

By the time we got out we felt soooo clean,  and our legs felt like rubber because of the Jacuzzi.

An experience I would not have missed!

Freshly squeezed pomegranate juice. 

More excitement on our taxi ride home:  Jennie's story.

Immy and I wanted to go back to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, so we took a cab.  We were quoted 10 euros to go into town, but bargained the driver down to 8 euros.  When we wanted to go back to the ship, we were quoted 20 euros by the first cab driver, so we approached a second one.  He told us that it always costs twice as much to go back!  But we offered him 15 euros and he accepted.
 
Partway there he started talking about the amount on the meter, and that we would have to pay more.  Immy said "No", but we don't think he heard.  We were almost there and he started asking for 25 euros because of the traffic and the cost of fuel.  Immy was starting to waiver, but I was having none of it.  I informed him that a deal is a deal!
 
Then he said something about going to the police.  Later on Immy saw a policeman, pointed him out and said "Let's go talk to him", but the driver ignored her!
 
When we got to the dock, Immy held out the money to him, but three times he pushed her hand away.  She got out of the car and handed the money to me.  Again he started to argue.  I told him "How would it be after we had agreed on 15 euros, if I now said I would only give you 10?"  He was still adamant that we pay 25 euros.  So I placed the money on the front seat beside him and started to get out, when he put his hand on my leg and tried to hold me back.
 
He didn't succeed.  We paid the agreed on price.

A great acrobatic aerial show at the Stardust Theater in the evening.

Celia and Julien  "Come Fly with Me"

At 8:30 we left Istanbul for our next 2 days at sea. 

iyi geceler - Good Night