Day 2 - Istanbul, Turkey
The first full day of the trip began with a guided tour of Istanbul that featured Hagia Sofia - the two photos on the right with the spectacular Blue Mosque on the left.
Our takeaway from Istanbul was that it's one of the most fascinating cities on the planet - and that Turkey is a country we could again visit - but it's not without its turmoil. It's just a bit to close to Syria for comfort and the struggle to keep the government secular is never-ending. We will be watching the upcoming election now with far more interest. Update: The religious conservatives lost ground.
The weather did restrict our sight-seeing the first couple of days so we have much more we could do if the opportunity avails itself. There is one Viking River Cruise that has Istanbul as a terminus - so perhaps?
At 2 PM the engines began to hum, the ship began to move, and the actual cruise began. We had our first on-board dinner at the specialty restaurant - Manfredi's - and it was excellent. We had been less excited about this than the other specialty restaurant - but were very pleasantly surprised. It was wonderful Italian.
Tour Rating: TRIST02 - Turkey's Most Amazing Edifices ($49/person) ... C+
The weather did restrict our sight-seeing the first couple of days so we have much more we could do if the opportunity avails itself. There is one Viking River Cruise that has Istanbul as a terminus - so perhaps?
At 2 PM the engines began to hum, the ship began to move, and the actual cruise began. We had our first on-board dinner at the specialty restaurant - Manfredi's - and it was excellent. We had been less excited about this than the other specialty restaurant - but were very pleasantly surprised. It was wonderful Italian.
Tour Rating: TRIST02 - Turkey's Most Amazing Edifices ($49/person) ... C+