Writing today from The Sultan’s Palace Hotel in Istanbul, Turkey. I always get a little depressed when disembarking the final day and leaving behind our new friends and of course the beautiful Azamara Journey that we’ve been privileged to call home for the past couple of weeks. A quick taxi ride through the busy streets of Istanbul and now we are truly on our own in a very strange land. The hotel will be our new residence for the next few days while we finish up this amazing journey to the middle east.

The ship actually arrived in Istanbul early yesterday morning for a two night visit so we were able to enjoy our stateroom one last time after touring the city yesterday. The tour included visits to the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome, Hagia Sophia Museum, the underground Basilica

Cisterns and finally the Grand Bazaar with over 4,400 stores and at least double that number of pushy salesmen. We had arranged a private tour and our guide, Gizem, was a young energetic Turkish girl who shared information and insight about the old city and made us feel very comfortable in spite of the crowds and excitement. We also enjoyed a very nice lunch with her featuring typical local cuisine at the Pudding Shop Restaurant.

My ankle is pretty shot from all the walking yesterday so today we are taking the opportunity to enjoy unlimited internet and relax with the views of the city and the Bosphorus from our hotel window. It is also the first day of our trip that we’ve actually experienced any rain and the light drizzle is quite peaceful after yesterday’s hectic program. This evening it’s off to see a show featuring the famed Whirling Dervishes then tomorrow we’ll visit Topkapi Palace, the Harem, a Belly Dancing show and a four course Turkish dinner experience. We are scheduled to fly to Cappadocia on Tuesday where we will stay in a “Cave” hotel and visit the area, then back to Istanbul to catch a flight home on Thursday.

It’s 10:00 am under a warm beautiful blue sky and Sue and I are relaxing on the pool deck with our compulsory morning Bloody Marys discussing how to occupy ourselves these last few days. We are tied up in the small harbor in Dikili, Turkey and passengers are slowly meandering off the ship to investigate this charming fishing village and tourist port. Today’s action plan includes completing our refreshment then heading off to do a little sight seeing followed by some local cuisine at one of the many small restaurants littering the shoreline. Of course there are shore excursions to churches, ruins and markets but we’ve decided to wait until tomorrow when we arrive at our last port, Istanbul, before aggressively touring again.

In the last couple of days we’ve visited Patmos, Greece, a small tourist port where it is believed St. John the Devine wrote the Book of Revelation. This was the smallest of the ports we’ve visited and was very low key with no pushy vendors and a very relaxed atmosphere. Following our visit to Patmos we spent the entire day from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm in Kusadasi, Turkey, for access to the magnificently preserved ruins of Ephesus and where Mary, mother of Jesus, spent her final days. Kusadasi is a very lively port city and negotiating your way through the carpet, jewelry and trinket vendors can be somewhat challenging. The day culminated with a wonderful event sponsored by Azamara Cruises.

The cruise line offered a complimentary excursion out to Cittantica Ephesus Park to a replica of the spectacular Temple of Artemis for what they dubbed an “Azamazing Evening”. Once off the buses we were met with a welcome drink, local beer, wine or fruit juice served by tour guides all dressed in historic toga costumes. We were then ushered into the the temple where we enjoyed an evening of Roman era entertainment including a short play featuring Mark Antony, Cleopatra, gladiators, jugglers, dancers and musicians. I must say this was a highlight for us and very interesting to see a recreation of what these ruins may have looked like at one time. We were told that the event was prepared exclusively for Azamara and this was the first of only two performances all performed by local actors, dancers and musicians. An absolutely wonderful experience. Our next report will be coming to you from exciting Istanbul, Turkey!

		The Ocean Princess VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

So to continue from my previous comments about our Sydney, Australia experience, here are some brief comments about the ports of call in eastern Australia and the Ocean Princess.

Safely onboard the Ocean Princess we quickly got into cruise mode and found our way to the pool bar for a sail-away cocktail. With only about 680 passengers we had no problem with lines or crowds and finding our way around the ship was a breeze compared to the average cruise ship with over 3,000 passengers. Our mini-suite was spacious with a king sized bed, sofa, large desk/make up table and the full sized bath even featured a regular sized tub.  The best part however was the full length floor to ceiling glass wall with a slider to the balcony where enjoyed our coffee almost every morning. The vistas were spectacular both night and day and with a port side cabin we almost always had a view of the Aussie shoreline.

A couple of notes about small ship sailing. First, the ship is much more intimate and you’ll definitely see many of the same passengers regularly by the pool, the gym and so on. We actually spent a lot of time getting to know the entertainers who doubled as assistant cruise directors and one of the lecturers and his wife were our tablemates. Also, these ships are capable of accessing much smaller, interesting ports with far less impact on the population. On the negative side, you get to know the ship very quickly and on a long cruise such as this was, we started to get a little bored with the limited venues, activities, and smaller sized shows. Not really a complaint though, just an observation.

So here are some highlights of our ports of call:

		Townsville and Billabong Sanctuary VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Townsville – Our excursion today was a brief tour of the city before heading out to a billabong to enjoy the wildlife. We got up close and personal with a baby crocodile, a variety of snakes, a wombat and then had the opportunity to cuddle a Kuala. After the tour the bus dropped us in town and since it was St. Patrick’s Day we felt obliged to visit two Irish pubs and the local brewery before heading back to the ship. What a way to spend St. Paddy’s Day.

		Cairns and Great Barrier Reef VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Cairns – Today we boarded a catamaran and headed out to the Great Barrier Reef to do some snorkeling. Unfortunately the sea conditions were a bit rough due to the extended effects of a Cyclone that was wreaking havoc on Vanuatu and snorkeling was quite an effort although I did see a lot of marine life. We were happy to get back to the “Big Boat” and as the Cyclone was headed our way the captain made full speed to give it a wide berth as we steamed north through the Coral Sea.

		Darwin VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Darwin – Here at the top of Australia things were really heating up and the humidity took some getting used to for a couple of Nevada desert rats. Our destination today is to check out the jumping crocodiles on the Adelaide River and to get a look at Northern Australia’s “outback”. This is also where I came to the realization that just about everything in Australia is out to bite, sting, scratch or otherwise try to have you for dinner. We enjoyed some great wildlife viewing from the lookout at a nature preserve and learned a lot about how the wet and dry seasons affect the local ecosystem.

Back onboard the Ocean Princess it was time to settle in for a couple of sea days before crossing the equator and landing on Komodo Island in Malaysia. More about our visit to Southeast Asia in my next report.