September 23, 2024
Canakkale (Troy)
Weather clear, sunny low 80’s
The trip, we realize is winding down. This is good and bad – anxious to get home, loathe to leave the pampering and adventuring. We decided to eschew our tour of the ruins of Troy because it is not that amazing (Shirley has been there before) and we need to organize our packing and chill a bit. There is a good lecture, Lobster fest and a Beatles cover show to distract us.
The lecture was good – a 50 minute history of Turkey from Constantine to Ataturk. Then to organizing our packing for our trip to Cappadocia and then to Atlanta. We can tag our large luggage and it will be waiting for us at the Conrad Bosporus Friday when we return from Cappadocia. So, we only have to take one small suitcase and our carry-ons to the short stay in central Turkey. So we had to decide what to wear for a couple of days – not like on the ship when we had an array of choices.
After the organization we lunched at the World Café and they had the good soup (Corn Chowder). Then we had a nap and an adventure taking the shuttle bus into the center of town. Canakkale is a fairly big city of 150 thousand and quite spread out. It took us 25 minutes to get to the center of town. Once we did, the waterfront area is quite nice (and busy). Like all cities we have been to, the drivers are either good or very lucky.
We strolled the waterfront to view the Trojan Horse statue that was given to the city by the production company of the movie, “Troy”. Pretty neat – in fact a lot. Neater than the one at the site of Troy.
Then, on our stroll back, we decided to pop into the Osmanli (Bayramefendi Osmanlı Kahvecisi) Café and try a Turkish Coffee. We did and this was the most fun we had in a while. The owner and his daughter were very chatty through Google Translate. He found out we were from Tennessee and told us that he was in New York during Hurricane Sandy. It was different but satisfying that we could have a conversation.
The Turkish coffee was quite strong – Shirley added 2 sugar cubes). Then the owner brought us 2 teas on the house and we “talked” some more. I think I starred in a commercial video he took as I extolled the coffee and the tea. When I get home, I will give him a few stars on Yelp. We paid $3 for 2 coffees that had more kick than 4 red-eyes!
As we left Shirly took a picture of me in front of the café and his daughter photobombed it with the thumbs up – great people!
We made our way back to the shuttle and the 20 minute grand prix back to the ship. We did a bit more packing then off to the Explorer lounge. While there Paul noticed that we had a tour for Istanbul on the Viking app. We had cancelled the included one as it did not go to the Hagia Sophia. Paul went down to Guest Services and lo and behold, someone cancelled that tour and we were first on the wait list. So tomorrow we tour Hagia Sophia and the Grand Bazaar. Lucky us!
After that we viewed the port talk on the TV and were very pleased with our tour’s specifics. Then to the Explorer Lounge for some chitchat and off to Lobster fest!
It was soooooo good. As was the Sushi and desserts and Gelato and cookies and …
After we got underway we passed under the Dardanelles Bridge. It had the same profile as the Golden Gate. I will have to research that when I get home with better Internet.
Then some blogging and bed.
Sunset over Europe
Oh, and 9745 steps Anna
Comments
Post a Comment