Our first two days on the cruise consisted of stops at Istanbul and Kasudasi (Ephesus) in Turkey. Although I had been on a two week tour of Turkey which included time in both cities just a few years earlier, I was looking forward to returning. I had really enjoyed Turkey when I was there before. It was a great country with friendly people, an amazing history, and some fascinating things to see and do that were quite unique.
I had the option of signing up for tours of my choice or just hanging out in each place on my own. We had set sail for Istanbul as soon as we left Lavion and arrived shortly after breakfast. I had signed up for a tour that included Topkapi Palace, the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.
When I had been in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople and, even earlier, Byzantium) the last time, I had been quite ill by the time we were touring those locations. They had also been experiencing a monsoon-like rain while we were at Topkapi Palace which greatly limited my getting around that particular location. This time, the tour began at the Palace.
On my previous visit, I had spent the majority of my time in the harem. I had never seen a harem before and doubted strongly that I would ever get the opportunity to tour one again. This one was famous, enormous, and had been in use from the 15th century to the early 20th century. So, armed with a map showing roughly 90 rooms (out of what is believed to be about 400 rooms total) open to the public, I had explored every inch of it that I could. As wonderful as it was to see, I didn’t have much time left to see much else other than the area with the Sacred Relics.
This time, I headed straight for the Imperial Treasury. One of the prize pieces in the treasury was the Topkapi Dagger. This dagger had been made in 1747 by the Sultan Mahmud I for the Shah of Persia. But the Shah was murdered before he could receive his present, so the dagger stayed at the Palace. It was featured in the film Topkapi during which a heist of the dagger took place.
There is also an enormous diamond called the Spoonmaker’s Diamond. Nobody knows the origins of the diamond, but there have been several legends put forth regarding who may have owned and why they parted with it.
The collection holds several more pieces of jewelry, solid gold candlesticks encrusted with diamonds, the throne of Mahmud I (layered with emeralds and pearls), various weapons decorated with jewels, and the right hand and forearm of John the Baptist encased in gold.
With all of the pieces of him that seem to be on display around the world, I wonder how much of John the Baptist could be left in the tomb that was supposedly his in Egypt. This is one of three alleged right hand and forearms of John in existence and the number of heads claimed by different places as his is staggering.
On my previous visit, I had gone into the part of the Palace containing the Sacred Relics. Most of them had to do with Muhammad, but there was also a room that contained what were reported to be Abraham’s Pot, Joseph’s Turban, Moses’ Staff, and David’s Sword.
This time I didn’t have nearly as much time at Topkapi as during the previous visit, so I wandered around the different courtyards and spent a little time sitting out on the terrace that overlooked the Bosphorus before I needed to rejoin the rest of the group for lunch.
After lunch, we sort of waved at the Hippodrome as we went by on our way to the Blue Mosque. We didn’t stay there long either. But the interior with its tiles and domes is the main thing to see.
Onwards to Hagia Sophia with which I had fallen madly in love when I was last in Istanbul. Built in 532-537 AD over an earlier 4th century church, the building survived many earthquakes over the centuries and the Ottomans as well. Instead of destroying the church, the Ottomans simply covered up the mosaics and turned it into a mosque. Now that the building is a museum, the mosaics have been uncovered and they are glorious.
This trip, we didn’t have any free time in Hagia Sophia to be able to go exploring on our own, so I didn’t get to go up the ramp to the gallery. Instead of stairs, the building still has its original 1500 year old ramps to enable movement from floor to floor. I had really felt like I was traveling back in time with those ancient ramps and felt sad that I didn’t have the time to revisit them or the wonderful mosaics in the gallery.
One of my dream trips would be to return to Istanbul, spend a lot of time at the Hagia Sophia and maybe tour the harem again. Then take the Orient Express from Istanbul to Venice, spending some time in Venice before heading home.
From Hagia Sophia, we continued to the Grand Bazaar. I would have preferred to stay at Hagia Sophia, but…. It was not nearly as crowded or higgledy-piggledy as the one in Cairo had been. It was more shops than stalls. I had really loaded myself up with Turkish tchotchkes on my prior trip. So, other than a small package of pistachio Turkish Delight, I refrained.
Our little group of seven sat together at dinner again. Then we went to the show. It was a rock’n’roll show which might have been why we missed the earthquake. Honestly, there was a 6.9 magnitude (severe) earthquake in the Aegean between Greece and Turkey at roughly 9:30pm. Canakkale (where ancient Troy was located) suffered quite a bit of damage and a couple hundred injuries. There were buildings destroyed and people injured all over Greece and Turkey (and even some in Bulgaria).
We were heading to the Dardanelles from the Sea of Marmara when it struck. Maybe it was the fact that we were on a ship and/or that we were not yet out in the Aegean itself that lessened the impact of the initial earthquake and its several aftershocks (one of which was 5.3 and struck around midnight).
I think it was just a matter of timing. Had it hit right as we came out of the Dardanelles into the Aegean at Canakkale, it could have been very unpleasant, especially if there had been a Tsunami associated with it.
We weren’t docking at Kasudasi until around 3pm, so we could sleep late and do shipboard activities until then. Not wanting to disturb anybody, I didn’t knock on any doors for breakfast. But Mark caught up with me at the stairs (we were only one deck away from where they did the breakfast and lunch buffets), so we had breakfast together. He ran off to the casino and I headed for a Greek cooking demonstration. We were able to sample the foods they cooked and they gave us recipes so we could make the dishes at home.
At lunch time, out by the pool, they made a seafood dish with mussels, shrimp, crab, rice, various vegetables and some spices in a giant wok. It was delicious. Although I watched them make it, I haven’t been able to completely duplicate it (likely because I didn’t necessarily recognize what all the vegetables and spices were).
We arrived in Kasudasi at 3:30pm. I had signed up for the tour of Ephesus and the Virgin Mary’s house. This was where the Apostle John had brought Mary to live after Jesus entrusted her to his care. She had a tiny stone house way up on a mountain near Ephesus. We visited there first. I really liked the atmosphere of the place. It was very serene and peaceful.
Then it was Ephesus. I had been there before too and thought it was one of the coolest ancient Greek/Roman cities I had ever seen (originally built in the 10th century BC). When I had been there before, Trajan’s Fountain had been in scaffolding for some restoration. It was done this time and I could see it in all its glory.
For about three years, the Apostle Paul had lived in a dwelling that had been just behind the Library of Celsus — an exquisitely beautiful building down at the end of the steeply sloping street we took down into the town from the Agora and past the Odeon from the entrance. It was in Ephesus where we began to hear about the earthquake of the night before. It had been felt quite strongly there.
On my prior trip I had begun to run out of time by the time I got to the theatre. This time I made it a priority. It had an estimated seating capacity of 25,000 and is thought to have been the largest theatre in the classical world. It certainly seemed to me to be the largest I had ever seen. Paul preached at the theatre. He got around quite a bit before he got arrested, hauled off to Rome and ultimately beheaded.
On our way back to the ship, we stopped off at a carpet place. We were given a delicious tea and shown loads and loads of carpets. Did I resist? Not 100%. I ended up buying a very intricately woven small wall hanging. I figured that it went well with the curved Turkish dagger I purchased on my earlier trip to Turkey.
We didn’t arrive back at the ship until shortly after 9pm and went to a dinner buffet that was open until 10pm. Slept very well for another night. The gentle rocking that sometimes happens on a ship was working its magic on me.
Next time – Thera (Santorini) and Atlantis
Nearing Istanbul 
Topkapi Entrance 
Hippodrome 
Blue Mosque 
Interior of Mosque 
Approaching Hagia Sophia 
A side view of Hagia Sophia 
Rear view of Hagia Sophia 
Interior of Hagia Sophia 
Bazaar 
Virgin Mary’s House 
Ephesus Agora 
Heading down towards the library 
Trajan’s Fountain 
Library of Celsus 
Part of stage at theatre 
The theatre at Ephesus 
Wall hanging 
Our cruise ship waiting at Kasudasi