Turkey and Greek Islands

Cruising the Aegean

Getting There

For about a year Judy and I had been planning a cruise of the Baltic Sea for the summer of 2024. The appeal was in visiting places we’d never been to before, and if I’m truthful, we made the decision in the heat of summer. A trip to northern climes was attractive. Then February came along and the appeal waned, so we called up the good people at Regent Seven Seas and changed course for our summer trip. We went to the Eastern Mediterranean, visiting four cities in Turkey, Cyprus and five of the Greek Islands.

On June 9 we did a pretty good job of getting up, finishing packing and prepping the house and yard, going to church, getting back to clean out the fridge (eating most of it), and heading out toward Atlanta on time. We checked in at the Turkish Airlines counter without problem, having wheelchair access through TSA was efficient, and after a little time in to the Club at ATL for Turkish Airlines, we moved to the gate. We arrived on time, waited some more, and finally took off about 10:20, almost an hour late.

Little did we know that was a warning for our return trip. More on that later.

The eleven-hour flight was as comfortable as it could be, I suppose. Having flight attendants make up the beds with fresh blankets and pillowcases on the lie-flat seats was new to us. Another new thing was hearing announcements starting with “Ladies and gentlemen and dear children.” That was actually quite charming. The food was very good, but we both ate light meals by choice. Service was by far the best we’ve ever had.

Strait of Bosphorus

In Istanbul the Regent people actually met us at the baggage pickup, took over, led us to the exit, connected us with the transport people/guides, and generally made life easy. Because of afternoon rush hour the bus to the hotel took about an hour, and that gave us time to look around the countryside. I do wonder sometimes what makes people in the Mediterranean areas trim their pines like that. I guess it would be OK to ask, but it wouldn’t be in character. Our room in the Hotel Intercontinental Istanbul was very nice, with an outstanding view of the Bosphorus. We enjoyed dinner in the restaurant on the rooftop terrace. I had wondered about the availability of wine and spirits in a country with a ninety-seven-percent Muslim population, but it seems the secular Turkish government does not impose religious beliefs on visitors. That was reassuring.

Republic Monument, Taksim Square, Istanbul

The next morning I took an early walk. I went through the park behind the hotel, and did a mile or so going through Taksim square. At that hour I was out with early commuters, stray cats, a few people setting up their shops/kiosks, and food stands. A lot of delivery people were there with their vans stopped in front of restaurants of every kind. It was disappointing not to have any Turkish money yet. There were bakeries and patisseries ready for me!

When I got back to the hotel, Judy and I went down to breakfast. This was without doubt one of the largest breakfast buffets I have ever seen. As we had found on other RSSC cruises, there was a variety of foods from an amazing number of cultures. After breakfast I went out for some Turkish Liras, we repacked and began the long wait to get to the ship. The bus to the terminal was again slow because of traffic, though it wasn’t far from the hotel, docked actually right at the edge of the Golden Horn.

Fabergé Egg

The ship, the RSSC Grandeur, is brand new and beautiful. Once on board we had another long wait, this one relieved by walking around looking at some of the art on display. We got into the room, unpacked, toured the public areas (a lot of lounges/bars ), cleaned up and went to the observation lounge for drinks before dinner. Judy began her survey of the bars and lounges on board by trying an old fashioned. This one failed. At dinner in Compass Rose, the large primary restaurant on board, Judy tried another failure of an old fashioned. I must say, though, that the two wines on offer that first night were very nice. We ended the first day of our cruise with after-dinner drinks in the lounge next door.

Thus ended the first day of this cruise.