Greece Turkey Tour/Photo Blog III

By Dr. Narasinha Kamath

ABOUT CRUISE SHIP

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This is Part III of my Greece Turkey travelogue. I have already published blogs on Part I and Part II of my Greece Turkey tour.

We finished land tour of most of the ancient places of Greece which lasted for 1 week. Now we started preparing for Final leg of our Journey which was a 7 Days Cruise of Istanbul and port city of Kusadasi in Turkey and many beautiful Greek islands such as Mykonose, Patoms, Rhodes and Lindos, Santorini , Crete and Heraklion.

Next day after finishing morning breakfast our tour bus headed towards harbor of Piraeus which is on the outskirts of Athens and was only 30 minutes drive from our Ahens Hotel. After arriving at Piraeus harbor, we had to go through clear the Greek Customs before boarding the medium size cruise ship MS Perla owned by Louis Group. Compared to Alaska Cruise Ship that I took in 2004 which had a capacity for 2500 passengers, MS Perla had capacity only for 750 passengers. But in the end, I found that MS Perla Cruise Ship with lesser passengers was more friendly in terms of services offered by this ship. And I enjoyed very much MS Perla Cruise Ship so much so that I consider this vacation of Greece Turkey tour as the best so far. MS Perla ship had unique on-board ambience that reflected intimacy and elegance.

After we boarded the Cruise Ship, our photographs with the background of GreekIslands were taken by professional photographers which later they try to sell them to you if you like them. At the service counter, as per ship rules, we were asked to surrender our US Passports and in turn they gave us credit card size plastic ID cards with computer coded information of me and my wife. And you have to preserve this card carefully until you finish the cruise travel. If you want to buy anything on the ship on Credit then you have to use this plastic ID card. So that just on the last day of the cruise just before you leave the ship, you have to surrender this plastic ID card and get back your passports held by Cruise Ship. Also you have to clear all your bills before you leave the ship. All the purchases made on the ship using Credit is charged against this plastic Id card. Also we were asked to assemble on the deck to undergo safety drill just in case if there is an emergency on the ship. On every Cruise Ship, all the passengers on board are required by law to undergo this safety drill on the first day.

We (me and wife Lalita) had reserved a state room on 4^th floor of the ship which was small but very neat and nicely furnished. The staff on the ship was very courteous. Food was Great!!. Although I am a vegetarian, I never had any problem and always found plenty of vegetarian dishes and also very delicious vegetarian soups. Cafeteria of course has timings for Breakfast, brunch, Lunch and dinner.

In cruise cafeteria, there were few Indians who were working on this ship were very helpful to Indian passengers. I talked to these Indian employees and all of them told me that ships management treated them very well and there was no discrimination whatsoever. I felt good about this fact. There was one Indian Chef cooking food in the kitchen. And sometimes he would go out of the way and cook some special food for Indian passengers as per their taste. This Indian chef also made chapatis for Indian passengers. That was very nice of him. There were very few Indian travelers on the ship. Most of the travelers were Americans, some Europeans and few orientals. On the ship, I liked Greek Salad very much which is a vegetarian dish and does not contain any oil. There were other Greek preparations where olive oil is used.

The ship had a small Gym with few tread mills to shade few pounds just in case if one overeats. Ship had a small shopping mall with boutique shops, perfume shops and some gift shops. Items sold here were very expensive compared to what it would cost in regular shops outside. However, westerners who were in a vacation mood did not care about the prices in the shopping mall, they went on shopping spree anyway. Casino in this ship was too small. There was a disco bar on the top floor. But surprisingly, I found very few people going there to dance. Ship also had a play room for kids and I always saw few small kids playing there accompanied by their mothers.

Also there was a lounge on top floor of the ship where they had spectacular live shows every night by professional dancers and musicians employed by the Cruise Ship . These live shows were too good. On one of the nights, there was very good Magic Show where sometimes, they called people from audience to participate in the magic. We enjoyed this magic show very much.

During the day time, various type of workshops where held where they taught Greek Folk Dance, Salsa, Tango etc. I and my wife Lalita learnt few of the steps from these dances. The instructor was young professional beautiful17 year old dancer from Russia who taught all of us very well. At the end of Greek Folk Dance, one should express joy by saying in unison OBar!!!!.

Also during the daytime, they had classes where a professional magician taught few magic tricks and card tricks. They also taught handicrafts. Especially, I still remember there was a class by ships chef who taught us how to make various shapes of small Turkish towels which later are kept on the dining table just before passengers arrived for Lunch or Dinner. Ships Director was a British lady, Ms. Elizabeth Hawkins in her mid 40s and was always immaculately dressed and had a very good control over all the employees of the ship.

Once I was playing my small flute on the upper deck right above the Captains Cabin. After Captain heard sound of flute, he came out and started looking towards me. I thought I may have disturbed him. So I stopped playing flute. After I stopped playing, Captain insisted that he liked my flute and requested me to continue playing it. Once I was playing my flute in gangway of the ship and one crew member came to me and asked me if he could purchase my flute, since he liked the melodious sound of our Indian Bamboo flute. But this is my most precious personal flute which I will never part since I am carrying this flute at every vacation to play at different destrinations of the world. This flute has traveled many parts of the world. I declined to sell it. The crew member was very disappointed. Then I realized that next time I should carry some extra flutes which I can dispose to anyone wanting to get from me.

On the last night on the cruise, they have Passenger Talent Show where any passenger with some Talent can participate with whatever talent he may have. In the afternoon, the program manager Wilson called everyone who wanted to participate for audtion. And only those were relatively good were allowed to participate. I gave audition for 3 flute songs and 2 Mouth Organ Tunes. Wilson liked my flute and mouth organ, so much so that he told me that he would allow me to enter the stage from where there professions artists enter for performance. I felt very elated. I was given 20 mintues to perform 3 Tunes on my flute and 2 tunes on my mouth organ. The 2 tunes were Hai Apna Dil To Awara (Film:Solva Saal of 1958) and Yaad Kiya Dil Ne Kahan Ho Tum (Film:Patita of 1953). The ship orchestra supported me by harmonizing my tunes with their violin, guitar and drums. I was surpsried to see how accurately these musicians accompanied me although they know very little about Indian melodies. I played Raga Bhoopali, then Song Rasik Balama (Film Chori Chori of 1956) and Famous Pahadi song Kora Kagaz Tha Ye Man Mera (Film:Aradhana of 1969). Most of the audience was from western countries and few orientals. But they liked my performance which was evident by the fact that lots of people in audience said OBarr!!! (expression of joy, the Greek Way) at the end of my performance. This also proved that the music truly transcends all the barriers such as Nationality, Religion etc. Program director awarded a small gift to each participant. In fact, one of the ships singer entertainer filmed my entire performance on his movie camera. Maybe, he wanted to analyze Indian Classical Music later.

Almost every day, early morning, ship landed at one of the ports so that passengers could disembark and spend few hours on the island. We had to book in advance for the island tours. After completing sightseeing on an island, the Bus driver would bring us back to the pier right on time to board. Also before any island arrived, on the ship, they would show us documentary giving information about the island before we landed there. This helpd us a lot to know about attractions at the island ahead of time.

Also on the ship, professional photographers went on taking photographs of most of the passengers while engaged with various ship activities so that at the end they tried to sell all these photos to you at reasonable price. I bought few of the photos which I liked.

Now in this blog, I have attached photos of my day tour of Istanbul and Kusadai Island of Turkey and very picturesque Mykonose Island of Greece. Below I have given detailed description of these places. Also photos attached will speak for themselves.

ISTANBUL

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Note that Istanbul is the only city in the world where 2 continents meet. East meets West somewhere close to the center of the city of Istanbul. Two continents Europe and Asia meet at one place inside Istanbul city. So reader can see here that Turkey is a country where one part comes under Europe and remaining part comes under Asia.

PHOTO TAKEN FROM SHIP's DECK WHEN OUR CRUISE SHIP WAS APPROACHING PORT OF ISTANBUL IN TURKEY IN THE EVENING

PHOTO TAKEN AFTER DISEMBARKING AT ISTANBUL PIER IN THE EVENING. ISTANBUL IS IN THE BACKGROUND

Istanbul is a modern city, a metropolis half in Europe and half in Asia. It is a city who derived its culture from civilization of the Byzantines, the marauding crusaders, the arrival of Islam in 1453, the rule of Ottomans and subsequent invasion by Greeks. Note that present day Turkey is crafted during the war of liberation from 1919 to 1922, led by their national hero Kemal Ataturk. He fought against Europeans to liberate his people but at the same time founded a free secular country.Today, Turkey is officially a Secular Country.

Our Cruise Ship had docked Istanbul port for one full day so that we could disembark and take a sightseeing tour of Istanbul city. At some intersections, when I saw the traffic congestion in Instanbul, this city reminded me of my hometown Mumbai.

Blue Mosque (Istanbul): This is the most prominentlandmarks of Istanbul especially when observed from First Hill or from the AsianShore of the Sea of Marmara. It is very impressive with beautiful domes and semi-domes, nice courtyards and six slender minarets. The location of this mosque is right opposite Hagia Sophia Church. The mosque was founded by Sultan Ahmet I. Architect Mehmed Aga wanted to build a bigger dome than the dome of Hagia Sophia Church. But he misunderstood Sultans instructions and instead of making planned 4 minarets of gold. He constructed 6 goldless minarets. No Sultan had ever constructed before a mosque with 6 minarets. This is really unique indeed.

INSIDE BLUE MOSQUE, ISTANBUL

ME AND MY WIFE LALITA AT A SCENIC SPOT BEHIND BLUE MOSQUE, ISTANBUL

Hagia Sophia Church: This church is located right opposite the Blue Mosque. This church is one of the most extraordinary buildings in the history of architecture and from the golden age Byzentium. The word Hagia in Greek means Divine and Sophia in Greek means Wisdom. So this is a Divine Wisdom. This church was first completed in 360 AD but was burnt in 404 AD during a revolt. A new church was built by Emperor Theodosius in Oct 405AD. It was also destroyed in fire. Then third and the last church was built by Emperor Justinian I. It was completed in 5 years. Emperor Justinian was a staunch believer of Christianity.

INSIDE HAGIA SOHIA CHURCH, ISTANBUL

This church is now painted in Red Color and has splendid dome. This church is huge and vast. At the second entry hall, one enters the church through a massive bronze gate. This was an imperial gate and in old days, the gate was reserved for the Emperors passage.

Right above the gate there is a mosaic which is from 9^th Century which shows Jesus Christ in the middle, on the right side is Angel Gabriel and on the left is the Blessed Virgin Mary. The ceiling of this church is reveted with floral mosaics.

The interior of church is vast. The big central dome is 150 feet high and 72 feet in diameter. The dome was decorated with Arab calligraphic writings during the Ottoman Era. The building is strengthened with columns in green and purple color. Purple was a sacred color of Byzantium. All the Byzanite Emperors were coronated in Hagia Sophia Mosque.

Then to reach the Gallery on the second floor, you have to climb an impressive ramp. There are 3 mosaics here in this section.

1) Jesus Christ in the middle on the left is John the Baptist and on the right is the Virgin Mary. This mosaic is very spectacular since very small pieces were used to make this mosaic. This mosaic almost looks like a picture. See one of the photos below showing the mosaic.

2) Second Mosaic depicts Emperor Monomachos IX with his wife Zoe and Jesus Christ is in the middle.

3) Third mosaic depicts Empress Irene and Emperor Komnenos II with blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ.

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The oldest and the largest palaces in the world is TopkapiPalace, a Museum since 1924.

The palace complex has area of 700,000 sq. meters and is surrounded by 5 kilometers of walls. The TopkapiPalace was second palace built by the Turks in Istanbul after young Sultan Mehmet II conquered the city in 1453. This palace is typical of Turkish palaces. It has series of open courtyards with lots of trees to provide shade. Today, this palace is a museum exhibiting work of Art, many priceless artifacts and priceless jewelery and precious stones. This is a museum with few rivals.

During the Ottoman Empire, TopkapiPalace was used as the official palace of Ottoman Sultans.

THE FIRST COURT: The first and outermost court of the Palace is entered through the Bab-i-Humayun (Imperial Gate). The monumental fountain outside the gate is a precious example of 18^th century Turkish art.

THE SECOND COURT: The actual entrance of the TopkapiPalaceMuseum is the second gate called Bab-i-Selam (Gate of Salutation), through which one enters the second court that was reserved for the administrative functions of the state in ancient times.

THE HAREM: The Harem section of the TopkapiPalace is made up about 400 rooms scattered around small inner courts. However, Sultans immediate family members such as his wife, kids, mother, servants lived in private quarters close to this Harem. Sultans women lived in the Harem. And these women were handpicked by Sultan from the most beautiful and healthy young maidens of various races or were given to Sultan as gifts.

THE KITCHEN AND PORCELAINS SECTION: On the right side of second court one can see the Palace Kitchen with its 20 tall chimneys. More than 1000 cooks worked inside the kitchen. A part of the kitchen has been kept in its original state and rest has been converted into a museum. About 2500 of the 12000-plus pieces of chinaware of Chinese and Japanese origin in the Palace collection is on display here.

IMPERIAL COSTUME SECTION: There is no exhibition in the world that can compare to the Imperial Costumes Section of the TopkapiPalaceMuseum. The costumes made of fabric woven on the Palace looms and ornamented with gold and silver braids have been carefully preserved here since 15^th century. They are in excess of 2500 in number. Also on display are silk prayer rugs, masterpieces of Turkish art that were used by Sultans.

THE TREASURY: The treasury collection of the TopkapiPalaceMuseum is the richest collection of its kind in the world. All the pieces exhibited here are authentic originals. In each of the 4 rooms there is an Imperial throne used in different period of the empire. First room displays ceremonial attire and accessories, weapons, water pipes, Turkish coffee cups and other vessels adorned with gold and precious stones.

Second room displays emeralds and other precious stones. Huge uncut emeralds weighing a few kilograms each and the Topkapi dagger with 4 large emeralds on the hilt and embellished with diamonds has become symbol of the palace in this room.

Third room displays enameled pieces, medals and decorations given to Sultan by foreign countries.

In the fourth room, one sees the display of the Grand Throne of Turko-Indian origin and many pieces adorned with precious stones which fascinates every visitor.

In addition to 4 rooms there is also very rich collection of watches and wall clocks.

The Holy Relics of Islam which used to belong to Prophet Mohammed are kept and exhibited in a special sanctuary by the third court. Also on display are the personal items and garments used by Prophet Mohammed.

THE KASIKCI DIAMOND : The pear-shaped 86 Carat, the second largest diamond in the world (after famous 108 Carat Kohinoor Diamond being the largest) is on display in the TopkapiPalaceMuseum. Its origin is not known. Legend attributes its name to its sale by a pauper, who was unaware of its value, to a merchant in return for a few wooden spoons.

However, the consensus of the experts is that the Kasikci Diamond is in fact the Pigot diamond named after an officer in the French army who is known to have bought the diamond from a merchant and then shaped it in India in 1774. This pigot diamond can be traced, after numerous owners, to Napolean Bonapartes mother and then to Ottoman Governer. Since the Kasikci Diamond was transferred to the Ottoman Treasury Governer

Pasa who was executed in the 1840s after his conviction for rebellion against the state. So it is highly probable that Kasikci and Pigot diamonds are the same. When I saw this diamond, I could feel its brilliance even from a distance. This diamond is so beautiful, it is beyond description.

THE THRONE: This throne, made and presented to Sultan Mahmut I in the 18^th Century, is a masterpiece of Turko-Indian art. It is actually a portable throne dismountable into 233 pieces. The most outstanding feature of the throne, even surpassing the multitude of emeralds, rubies, pearls used to form motifs of spring, is the excellence of the gold inlay and enamel work rated by some as ultimate in these techniques. Although, you are supposed to move forward immediately so as to allow other visitors (behind you) to see it without delay, I waited at this location and saw this brilliant Throne for full 5 minutes while visitors behind me moved forward.

Note that the photography is not allowed inside the TopkapiPalaceMuseum.

KUSADASI (TURKEY )

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Awesome!!!. This is Great Port of Turkey which is a Great tourist attraction. We had again a private tour which took us around the House of Virgin Mary. This is the place where many think that Virgin Mary lived during her last days. Later, we did a sightseeing tour of Ephessos which is an archeological site that ranked as one of the ancient wonders of the world. Turkish Government has carefully preserved this site.

MYKONOSE ISLAND (GREECE)

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After the tour of Kusadasi, Turkey, our Cruise Ship headed for picturesque island of Mykonose. Our ship docked early morning at the island. And we were given full day to spend at this island. All the houses in this island (as well as all other GreekIslands) are painted in while color on outside and windows and doors are painted with blue color. So the island looks very spectacular. You can verify this fact after you see some of the photos below.

MYKONOSE ISLAND AS SEEN FROM THE WEST (GREECE)

PHOTO TAKEN AT MYKONOSE PIER (GREECE)

This is a pretty island with some very picturesque spots. Also there are lots of small but pretty churches which are very ancient. You can see lots of windmills close to the shore.

There are lots of clubs here since this is a party island. The food on this island is very delicious. Especially, the Greek favorite, Yogurt with honey became my favorite desert which I enjoyed all over Greece after every dinner. This island has lots of small gift shops which sell gift items made in Greece at reasonable price.

One of the most spectacular area on the shores of this island is Little Venice. As the name suggests this scenic part of the island is an exact replica of Venice waterfront of Italy. I have attached a photo below taken at this Little Venice.

WINDMILLS OF MYKONOSE ISLAND, GREECE

Mykonose is popular with its labyrinth of winding alleyways and whitewashed buildings, basket-laden donkeys, cascading geraniums and upscale shops and cafes.

We had a wonderful time in Mykonose and weather was perfect when we visited.

In fact, the famous Bollywood duet song Tauba, Tumhare Ye Ishaare

(from New Film:Chalte Chalte of 2003) was shot on location here with Shahrukh Khan and Rani Mukherji. If you get this song to watch on video, then you will yourself see how beautiful MykonoseIsland is. Also photos attached below will also give the reader an idea about this island.

ANOTHER SCENIC PHOTO OF MYKONOSE ISLAND (GREECE)

Authors Note: I will appreciate your comments on this blog.

References:

1) www.guideistanbul.net

2) En.wikipedia,org

TO BE CONTINUED:

Article on my Greece Turkey tour will continue and I will publish the final part (Greece Turkey Tour/Photo Blog IV) within next few days. Please watch out for it. This final part will cover remaining GreekIslands which includes spectacular Island of Santorini with breath-taking photographs.