Turkey, Greece and Egypt on the Norwegian Jade

Mom and I recently returned from our 11 day cruise to Turkey, some of the Greek Isles and Egypt. The flight over was relatively uneventful, and when we arrived in Istanbul it was about 530 pm. We finally got through customs, and got on the shuttle to take us to the Jade and arrived at the Jade at about 9 pm. We were exhausted, but we signed up for our shore excursions and are dinner, and then went to bed. The next morning we went on a tour of Istanbul. We started with the Blue Mosque, or the Mosque of Sultan Ahmet. It is the only mosque that has 6 minarets. It was beautiful. It is called the blue mosque because of the large number of hand painted tiles on the interior using predominantly the same shade of blue, and making the inside seem to be mostly blue. It was beautiful and impressive. Then we went to the Topakapi palace. It was the residence of the Sultans of turkey for hundreds of years, and we got to tour through the Harem, and the treasure rooms. The kitchen was under renovations, so we didn't get to see it. In the Harem we saw the same hand painted tiles that decorated the inside of the blue mosque and got some really cool close up pics of the tiles. The walls were covered with these tiles. We also saw the treasure room, and all the riches of the sultans that are in there, including the dagger, and this diamond that was about the size of my fist. We also saw a whole lot of other jewels and jewel encrusted all sorts of things. Then we had the opportunity to go to the grand Bazaar. The bazaar is a large building that has hundreds of shops in it. All of the shops are very small. About 8 feet across, and 10 feet deep, so full of merchandise there is barely room to walk. All of them are selling things and call out, "Hey lady, buy a nice peshmina scarf/hand painted pottery/purse/bag/jewelry/etc, best price!" One scarf seller proceeded to use me as a model for his scarves in an effort to sell mom on the idea of buying one after she told him, "I don't wear scarves." "Then as gift." he says and ties scarf after scarf around my neck, finally topping my head with a hat for the picture. We laughed and finally worked our way through the maze of shops back to the bus that took us to the ship for departure. We took some time on deck to pose for pictures, as we were between two continents. The one side is Asia, the other is Europe.
The next day we were up ridiculously early and watched them dock the boat in Izmir, and then we made our way on a tour to Ephesus, and a carpet weaving place. Both were very cool. Ephesus is the ruins of an ancient city that was a thriving Roman city. The library has been reconstructed using as much original material as possible, and the marble paved streets have been excavated out to be able to be walked on. They had a water system running under their public toilets which effectively was a flushing system. There are 40 something side by side holes! Pretty impressive. We also stood in the theater where the apostle Paul taught the Ephesians. Then we went to the carpet weaving school where we learned how they get silk from the silk worms, how they dye the threads with natural dye, and how they weave carpets, as well as we saw hundreds and hundreds of hand woven carpets with brilliant colors. They were beautiful and soft and $150+. Less expensive than any you'll find in the states, but still more expensive than any of us could afford.
Our next port was Myconos. Myconos was built with narrow maze like streets to confuse the pirates that used to plague the Island. The streets certainly were maze like, and confusing to these two tourists, but it was a beautiful place, and the colors of the buildings were stunning. The buildings were painted white, with blue shutters, and doors. There were a few shutters and doors painted a green color, or a yellow color, but mostly blue. That shade of blue is believed to ward off evil, so it is used quite readily. We played in the Mediterranean sea there, and the blues in that sea are stunning.
Our next port was Santorini. Santorini is an island that is shaped like a crescent moon. It was a volcano that erupted and much of the volcano fell off into the sea. The volcano is still present on an island across the way. The bay where the Jade stopped was so deep it was impossible to lower the anchor. We stayed in place by using the jets that maneuver the ship. And we were ferried to shore aboard ships which they called tenders. The dock sits at the base of a very steep cliff that stairs have been carved into. Older houses were carved into the cliff face. We were ferried ashore to the dock where we had three options, ride a donkey to the top, where the town was, ride the tram, or walk. The donkey was 5 euros, the tram 4. The distance, about a mile. We were informed of an earlier planned departure than was scheduled because of an impending storm that they believed would shut down the tram. We chose to ride the tram up, and wander around the town for a while. We had planned to go to the beach, but with our time cut short we didn't think we could make it. Besides that it was rather windy and cloudy which made it a bit chilly if you were wet. It was a shame really, I would have liked to see the black sand beaches.
That night we had 4-7 foot swells. Mom woke up really tight. That day we were on Crete. We went to Knossos. The ruins of the ancient Minoan civilization, which is believed to have met its end by a natural disaster, namely the eruption of the volcano at Santorini. They had some really big pottery and there were some reconstructions of what the palace would have looked like. The minotaur gets its start here.
The next day was our day at sea, then we went to Alexandria. Our tour group picked us up and we had a whirl wind tour of Egypt that day and the next. We visited Giza where we saw the tomb at Saqqara, the first pyramid to be built, then we went to great Pyramid where we rode camels, and got to touch the pyramids, and see them up close, then we went and saw the Spinx. Where mom was offered 10 thousand camels for me. That night we had a Nile cruise, which was a bit of a disappointment, and we stayed at the Sheraton that night. The next day bright and early we went to the citadel, where we visited another mosque, and then we went to the Cairo museum. The mosque was impressive, but like the rest of Egypt in dire need of a good cleaning, and the museum was like no other I have ever been in. The museum was almost like a warehouse, with Egyptian artifacts scattered through the whole thing. There were sarcophagus in the middle of the floor with no rope or glass or anything exept a sign every so often saying, please don't touch. The museum needs updated, and there are supposedly plans for a new museum, but I don't see that happening at any fast rate. Egypt over all, very dirty, and I came back to the ship smelling horrid.
The next day we were at sea, and lazed about the ship all day, the next day we were in Katakalon. We rode the train to the ancient site of Olympia. We were told the museum didn't open until 130, but we later found out that it had opened earlier even though the sign said Mondays 130. The archeological site was cool, and we got pictures next to some really cool stuff. The pillars are huge, I got a picture of mom standing next to a section of a fallen one. It is wider across than she is tall.
The next stop was Napthlion, but we got hit with some type of Egyptian bug that mom was afraid to get off the ship and be ferried to port, so we just looked at the island from the ship, and we watched them put the ferry boats back on board at the end of the day.
The next day we disembarked in Piraeus where we took a taxi to Athens to our hotel. We then explored a bit of Athens. We saw the acropolis, the theater of Dionysus, the Accropolis museum, currently only 1 euro, and the temple of Zeus. Then we went to bed woke up really early and flew home.
We arrived in Jackson hole more than 24 hours later, and subsequently crashed in our beds, ready to sleep for a day. We had a blast, and enjoyed our time together. We also had a marvelous vacation, and came back ready to get to work preparing the house for the Holidays, after we had recovered from Jet Lag that is. :D