Last Day in Istanbul

Farewell to Istanbul. We had such a nice morning today as we left the ship and just walked along the street that was beside the dock. It was not like most areas where ships dock-it had a nice park along the waterfront one way and we found the lovely little café that we wrote from this morning also. We continued down the street in the opposite direction and there was quite a lot to see in that area. There was a mosque that dated from the 1500s and another lovely one from the 1800s. It was very scenic and the weather was perfect for a morning walk. We really enjoyed the sunshine today and it warmed up nicely as well. We found our one of our needed items that we forgot, however, I don’t believe here they wear shoes with laces as no one seemed to know where we could buy any! The nice lady at the tourist counter in the terminal looked like it was th first time she had ever been asked that and knowing us, it probably was! We found a store that seemed promising and had all sorts of sundry items, but no shoe laces. Alas, Jim is resorting to changing laces if he has to wear those shoes! But we enjoyed ourselves and the beautiful day in a fabulous city. I am still amazed at Istanbul. It is so pretty and clean and we have really enjoyed our visit here. We went back on the ship for lunch and relaxed and read and walked the decks. When we set sail, it was really a pretty site as the minarets and towers dot the skyline. We sailed around beside the Blue Mosque and palace and other of the most famous spots as we left the port-so we got one final look. So now it is on to Izmir. We have been to Ephesus and had such a great tour there already, that we decided to go with our one shore excursion to Pergamon instead. We should have time to explore Izmir a bit too on our own -who knows, maybe they sell shoe laces there! We hope at least to find an internet spot so we can send this note. It is pretty easy to write these at night and upload them when I get to a place with internet. We missed the mandatory life drill this AM when we were on shore, as did many others, so they had a make up drill for us at mid afternoon. Then we had a GCT get together later in the afternoon and I enjoyed exploring the shops onboard since they finally opened once we were out to sea. This ship is not as large as the Pearl and I do believe that it was the one we were on when we sailed around Hawaii. I had read it was totally redone and put in their regular fleet and that one was ready to be redone, as I recall. This one seems totally new but it is similar to the Pearl but it doesn’t have the bowling alley and the rock climbing wall. The shops are very different as well-more one big shop instead of several smaller ones. Of course, there are the usual jewelry shops that I don’t even look in! We ate in the restaurant that has the huge windows along the back and it was really nice. The food was good and the waitress was great about getting the food right for me. No telling how much we will gain on this cruise. It was so good!Well we have an early wake up call so will close for now.