Istanbul, Turkey

This is it, our last day. We were very excited to be in Istanbul and had big plans. Of course, it's just our luck that it is a holiday here. Everyone is off work and ALL the museums, palaces and monuments are FREE to the locals---making everything impossibly crowded. Plus the best palace of all---Tokapi Palace is closed. Are you kidding me? The traffic is horrendous---prohibiting Karolyn and I to go to the Grand Bazaar after our tour. Real bummer!!! By the time Butch and Bruce got there from their tour, they only had a few minutes to look around. Still, we made the most of it. It's a beautiful city and we both enjoyed our tours.

 Our view from the ship as we sailed into Istanbul---the European side. Istanbul is the only city that lies in two continents.

Butch and I with Istanbul in the background. It's not really all that cold, just really breezy on top of the ship. We could hear the chanting from the ship. I thought it seemed pretty eerie. Almost surreal---more like wailing. Kind of creepy.

 This is the palace that Karolyn and I visited. It was incredible with so many crystal chandeliers. I've already forgotten the name (or at least I can't pronounce it). It begins with a "B" and I'm much too tired to go back and look it up. I'm trying to get a few pictures downloaded before I go to bed. It's nearly 10:30 and I have to get up at 2 a.m. to leave for the airport. I'm in a rush.

The gardens were gorgeous. There were many trees I had never seen before.

These have been the most beautiful gardens of the entire trip.

 After our tour, we had the most wonderful Turkish tea. We went to a palace that is now a hotel---the Cigaron. They started us off with champagne. Then came the tea---I liked it just fine.

 While we were on our tour and at tea, the "boys" went across this bridge to Asia to a different palace. It was the summer palace to the one we saw.

They got to go to the grand bazaar. Can you see how crowded it was? They said it wasn't that much fun.

This is the palace that they toured. They got to hear all the chanting at 5 p.m. We girls missed it because we were inside. 

After we all met back on the ship, we had a final cocktail and then dinner. It's over, done. We're packed and our bags are outside our door waiting to be picked up. Now comes the long ride home. Tomorrow will be a very long day. You may not hear back from me for a few days. It will be good to get home.

Where ever I wander, where ever I roam, one thing's for sure, there's no place like home---or something like that!!