Turkey

November 25
This morning we docked in Izmir, Turkeys third largest city. Turkey is known for clothing and farming. It's warm enough to have two growing seasons. The main attraction was Ephesus which was the third largest city of the Roman Empire after Rome and Alexandria. It had a population of 250,000 which was quite a lot considering the world population was a lot less at that time.



The library is behind us and the shopping area to the right. Only men could go to the library. There was an tunnel connecting the library to a brothel.






Original water pipes. There were also pipes for heating.






This is the house of the Virgin Mary, although there is dispute whether or not this is true.





Holy water



Wishing wall






We passed by a wedding.

November 26
Today we arrived in Istanbul at 1:00. Istanbul used to be called Constatanoble and Byzintine. It is the only city that is in two continents, Europe and Asia. Turkey has a government that also keeps church and state separate. Christians and Muslims coexist. This afternoon we went to the Topaki Palace which used to be the home of the Ottoman's. One part of the palace was for the harem. Once they became part of the harem they never left the palace. The Ottoman's also had Eunuchs. They seem similar to the Chinese Emperors.















Blue Mosque









Turkish delight



Baklava

November 27
This is our last day in Instanbul. We were able to see everything we wanted to.



The Gallata Bridge separates the Asian and European sides of Istanbul. Notice the restaurants on the lower part of the bridge and the people fishing.








The Spice market is near the bridge. I got some Turkish saffron.














The Grand Bazar is one of the world's largest and oldest. It was built in 1455, has over 3,000 shops and 250,000 to 400,000 visitors per day. (Northgate is one of the first shopping malls in the US built in the 50's)




Mom shopping for a Hooka pipe. We were able spend just about all of our Turkish Lira. The stores also took Euros or dollars, but you needed Lira for thr tram and attractions.



The University of Istanbul is in the background. There was some sort of demonstration. We were warned to stay away from any demonstrations. We stopped at a Starbucks on the way back but were not able to log on.

Greece

November 23
Hard to believe that we have been gone over a week. Today we were in Olympia, the site of the original Olympics. At that time you could only compete if you were Greek.






Here we are at our Thanksgiving dinner. You might not be able to tell, but we had turkey, stuffing and pumpkin.



November 24
We are now in Athens, where we visited the Acropolis, which means the highest city. Our guide said it the oldest city in the world. It's where math, science, philosophy and democracy were developed.

























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When in Rome

November 19
We got into Rome about 5:00 pm. It took a bit longer because the train from the airport was late. We met the rest of our cruise companions for dinner. We got a four course dinner for 22 euro which includes a pasta, main course, salad or vegetable, dessert and a drink. However it wasn't that good. We had roast chicken. Mine is better.



After dinner we went to the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain. Mom fell on the steps in our hotel in Paris and her ankle is swollen. It makes it hard to see much since she is slower than usual. Hopefully ice, ibuprofen and an ace bandage will help.







November 20
In the morning we went to the Coliseum. We were just going to see it from the outside, but had to go to the bathroom and the only one was inside.















This is the forum which is next to the Coliseum. We didn't go inside since it requires a lot of walking.

After our pizza lunch, we went to the Vatican.











This last picture is a picture of a picture. You aren't supposed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapple (mom did sneak a picture)

Tomorrow we start our cruise. You won't hear from us for awhile since we will not have a wifi connection.