Cruise the Eastern Mediterranean! Izmir, Istanbul!
Autumn Cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean! (4)
Venice - MSC Preziosa - Bari - Katakolon - Izmir - Istanbul - Dubrovnik - post-cruise Venice - Prague - Marianske Lazne - Karlovy Vary.
Hotel Dolomiti 2* Venedig here: http://www.turpravda.com/it/venecija/Dolomiti_Hotel-h44717-r105836.html
Part 1 here: http://blogs. turpravda. en/hessen/105929.html
Part 2 here: http://blogs. turpravda. en/hessen/105973.html
Part 3 here: http://blogs. turpravda. en/hessen/106060.html
Izmir is a rather large Turkish city with a population of 3.5 million, located on the coast of the Aegean Sea.
There were no grandiose plans for Izmir. Take a bus tour? zmir City Tour Bus and get off wherever you like.
http://www. echo. gov. tr/Bagimsiz. aspx? id=8&sayfa=4
We woke up when our Preciosa was already peacefully standing in the port of Izmir. From the parking of the liner to the exit from the port, go very close.
Bought tickets for this tour. bus, 10.00 euro/person , 17 stops, but only at 11:00, and in fact the time was about 9:30. There were so many applicants, and so few buses. Buses are one-story, open top, no Russian language.
We stood for a while and decided to walk one stop along the embankment in the direction of the bus. Taxis stand here, taxi drivers pester mercilessly, only they don’t grab hands. One departs, the next immediately sticks.
We walk along the embankment, it's warm, the sun is shining, there are few walkers, there are practically no cyclists, but there are many dogs, homeless, stray ...they just sleep on green lawns. It was strange to see such a picture.
Passed 1 stop, just got to G? ndogdu Platz, to the monument, Baum der Republik (Cumhuriyet Agaci). This is the first stop of the tour. bus. The bus approached, but no one got out of it, so we could not get in, there were no empty seats. We went along the embankment further, to the next stop.
We could not get on the bus either at the second stop or at the third, so we walked and walked along the embankment towards the center. We walked along a wooden bridge over the highway and further to Konak Square (Konak Meydan? ).
Konak Square is one of the central places in Izmir, fountains work here, there are many walkers, and stray dogs were not without. In its central part stands the Saat Kulesi Clock Tower. This tower was built in the 19th century by the architect Raymond Charles Pere for Sultan Abdulahamid II in honor of the 25th anniversary of his reign. The clock mechanism for the tower was donated by Kaiser Wilhelm II and has been serving for more than 100 years. Nearby stands a small mosque Konak Jamiya. Pretty nice place, with pleasure we walked here, sat on a bench ...
Right behind the square, the Kemeralty Bazaar begins. We walked, looked ...we barely managed to unhook from the random "guide". We had to somehow already get on the bus, the tickets were in our pocket, but we had not yet passed a single stop. We returned to Konak Square again and went to look for a stop, judging by the map, it should be somewhere nearby.
There were taxis parked along the road.
They approached, the taxi drivers were asked, naive, hoping for a truthful answer. One of the taxi drivers apparently mechanically looked ahead, where this stop was, and then turned to us and said that it was about 1 km to go to the stop we were looking for. We replied that, okay, let's go look. Then he shouted after us: not 1 km, but 5. Seeing that we were not stopping, he continued: 10.10 km. The husband said, well, that means the stop is somewhere a stone's throw away from us. So it was. Every time I think about these taxi drivers, I involuntarily start to smile...
They found a stop, got on the bus, but didn’t get off anywhere else. There is a stop near a large and very beautiful park. We didn’t go out there, but initially I planned to take a walk there, and since our plan didn’t work out a little from the very beginning, the necessary time was already lost. Therefore, everything was seen only from the bus window. We reached the port, here is just the final and initial stops and went to the ship.
The city left us indifferent, not to say that we liked it, not to say that we did not like it. Maybe they didn’t see something important and interesting, but I don’t want to go back there yet.
The departure was memorable. There were two pilot boats at once, nose to nose. Then loud music began to play on Preciosa, the boats began to move away from each other, and Preciosa began to slowly move away from the pier. And seagulls, seagulls, seagulls astern.
Almost all the time before dinner we spent on the balcony, or rather I. The husband lay lightly on the bed and after a few minutes fell asleep. And we planned to go to the spa - salon. But it was so warm and pleasant to be on the balcony, the shores were floating in the distance, and I thought that I could do massage and masks in my city, but enjoy the sea ...this will not happen anymore. And having persuaded myself in this way, I remained to contemplate the sea, the sky, the shores ...
6. Istanbul.
We went out onto the balcony when we had not yet moored to the shore.
The first impression is that there are a lot of things: boats, boats, water trams ...
I must say that before the cruise we were not in Turkey once. We were not attracted there by hotel rest either, but we were not drawn to this country at all. And Izmir left me indifferent ...the bazaar and Turkish shops, we have all this in sufficient quantities in the Turkish district of the city ...we did not expect special impressions from Istanbul, and as it turned out, in vain. A city with such a rich history, a city that connects two continents, literally conquered, won over, charmed, interested ...it turned out to be simply wonderful!
In unfamiliar large cities, our plan is simple, it's a tour. hop on - hop off bus for an initial introduction to a new place.
http://eng. bigbustours. com/istanbul/home.html
It was planned to take a tram to the historical center of Sultanahmet and take this bus there. But in reality, everything turned out to be much simpler.
Leaving the port, we wanted to go to the tram stop, but we saw 2 BIG Bus Istambul buses standing nearby.
One stood in the direction of the center, we went into it, the other in the opposite direction. The ticket costs 90 Turkish Lira/person. We exchanged euros for lira at home, so we didn’t look for any exchange offices in Istanbul, we did this in order not to waste time searching and exchanging. The buses are large, double-decker, not crowded, it's warm outside, we sit on the second floor, eagerly look at Istanbul, we like everything.
We arrived at the square. Sultanahmet, here we were told to go to the bus in front, we changed and went around the circle. We passed through different bridges, I don’t remember the names, got stuck in a traffic jam a little, stood for a while, and again along the streets and bridges. Delight indescribable! Especially the views from the bridges, this trip gave us super pleasure. It was in an instant decided to return here and for more than one day.
We returned to the square in the historical center, first of all we wanted to see the Hagia Sophia and the Sultanahmet Mosque.
First we went to the Sultan Ahmet Cami Blue Mosque. But it has just closed, and will only open for tourists in an hour and a half. Of course, we could not afford to wait so long, so we only walked around, took pictures and left, postponing her visit for the next time.
Hagia Sophia or Hagia Sophia Museum.
I will not retell the whole story, it is certainly very interesting and deserves attention, everyone who is interested can read, for example, here.
https://ru. wikipedia. org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80_%D0%A1%D0%B2%D1%8F%... "
When we got to the entrance, there was of course a queue. Guides come and offer their services. We said that we need a Russian-speaking one, of course we found one, agreed on a price, 70.00 Turkish liras + entrance tickets. I don’t have prices on tickets, I don’t know how much they cost, I just don’t remember. He led us out of the queue and then the tour began, which lasted more than an hour.
What can I say about the guide, the Bulgarian himself speaks Russian quite clearly, but sometimes you had to figure out what exactly he meant. He possesses information ...learned a lot of interesting things, but still didn’t like it very much, because sometimes I had to strain to understand what exactly he wants to convey to us, so I won’t recommend it. You can find, I think, if necessary, and better.
The temple is undergoing reconstruction, this slightly interferes with the general perception and photography.
Under the main dome, under the chandelier, they stood, as it should be, and made wishes. They did the same at the "column of desires", scrolling a circle through 360 degrees with a finger in the hole.
Then they went up to the second floor. There are everywhere arrows / pointers, where the beginning and end of the inspection. As well as trays with souvenirs and jewelry.
A kind of such a cathedral, with a very interesting history, I think that the best visit to the cathedral is a visit with a guide, then it looks not just like a "dry" museum, but kind of comes to life, and some moments from history are remembered.
Next, they wanted to go to the Basilica Cistern, but changed their minds. There was still a little time, I don’t know what was there and how, but I would have to inspect at a fast pace, but we didn’t want to, so we postponed it for the next time. Istanbul does not tolerate fuss.
In many reviews I read about freshly squeezed pomegranate juice, which is offered right on the street. I never liked either the pomegranates themselves or the juice from it, but we decided to try, God, the taste is divine! The juice was sweet, sweet, if they didn’t do it in front of me, I would be sure that sugar was added. Very tasty, very tasty.
Further, as usual - a cafe: coffee, a toilet, the Internet, it is necessary at least sometimes to tell relatives where we are and how we are.
On the way back from the cafe, we again enjoyed the pomegranate juice.
I am not a very emotional person, some will praise something, groan and gasp ...well, I can say: well, it's beautiful, I like it. Or vice versa, someone scolds something, and that’s bad, and this, but never come here again (and then they go there again, for example), and again, I can say, I don’t like it, endure what I can't there...
What am I for? And besides, just to say about Istanbul that we liked it is to say nothing. Here we have Ah! and Oh! happened. An amazing city, life in it is just in full swing.
Looking ahead, I will say that of all the cruise ports, except for Venice and Dubrovnik, they are already old acquaintances, Istanbul was the best and most interesting city in all respects.
We didn’t manage to do a lot, and we didn’t strive, not hasty walks and trips, for us it was the very thing we needed.
When we were younger, yes, we tried to see as much as possible in the shortest possible time, but now we don’t, just take our time, everything is for our own pleasure.
Well, then, we again sit down on the tour. bus and go to the port, time is running out. The traffic in the second half of the day was slightly slow, on the Galata Bridge it was to our advantage, we could see everyone and everything. It was not possible to pass on foot, otherwise we would have been late for the liner. How many fishermen are here! Throughout the bridge, fishing rods, fishing rods, fishing rods ...and one even had a fish caught.
And now we are on board. The exit from the port, we could not miss such an amazing sight. Running to the upper deck to get the best seats.
As usual, we are accompanied by a pilot cutter and again many, many gulls astern.
Then we passed by different islands, the shores sparkled in the night and flashed with different lights. In some very narrow place we were even accompanied by a boat.
Until late at night, I watched this beautiful night picture. I thought that it would not be bad to make a cruise here in the summer, it gets dark late, you can see all the islands in daylight.
Until that day, the weather was exceptionally warm and sunny, there was almost no wind. I sometimes went out to the balcony and checked: are we standing or swimming? And after Istanbul, for exactly one day, the weather deteriorated a little, just when it was a day at sea. Even sometimes it was noticeable that the ship was swaying, but I would not call it pitching, just a pleasant, light swaying.
The next part about cruise ports will be the last one.
