Norwegian Jade Istanbul to Athens detailed review of ports of call

We sailed from Istanbul to Athens on Sept 19th on the Norwegian Jade. As I said in my review -at -

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=854450

I thought I would post separately about our ports of call and I am very happy to answer any questions you may have.

Istanbul

Ah, what a magical place where East really does meet West - literally a city that straddles Europe and Asia!

We flew in one day early and stayed at the Hotel Hippodrome right in the heart of Sultanahmet, just behind the Blue Mosque. It was Ramadan when we were in Istanbul and the whole area around the Blue Mosque has a very festive atmosphere in the evenings after the fast is broken. As we walked out of the hotel in the evening, local restaurants had live Turkish music playing, and just up the road we came across the Cafe Mescale with the Whirling Dervish dancing to local musicians. We watched for a while then continued up to the Blue Mosque which was beautifully lit up at night just as the call to prayer was being broadcast from loudspeakers.

The whole area was beautifully lit with fairy lights, and there were numerous food stalls with locals celebrating the end of the fast for that day. We had a picnic dinner in the park there, sampling local foods and sweets which was great fun, before settling down to sleep.

I was briefly woken at 3 am by the beating of drums in the street outside. I had read previously that drummers go around the streets at this time during Ramadan to wake the locals, alerting them that it is time to rise and prepare the morning meal to eat before sunrise, so I was not alarmed. We were briefly woken again at around 5 am with the morning call to prayer from the Blue Mosque.

In the morning we enjoyed breakfast served across the road at their sister hotel on the rooftop with wonderful views of the Bosphorous.

We then set off on foot to explore Topkapi Palace. We spent a couple of hours here, especially enjoyed the Harem and Treasury areas. Entry must be paid in Turkish Lira – 20 Lira for general entry and an extra 15 lira for entry to the Harem– well worth it in my opinion.

Don’t miss the Topkapi Diamond in the Treasury area, along with other huge emeralds and magnificent jewels which adorned sultans of the past. There is a gold cradle for a newborn prince too. We then walked to the Aya Sophia – entry again 20 Turkish lira. There are signs saying that only Turkish lira will be accepted. All these sites are within very easy walking distance. Our next stop was the Underground Basilica Cistern which was a water reservoir built in the 6th Century. It is very atmospheric with soft music and lighting. Admission is 10 Turkish Lira or 7 Euros.

We made our way back to the hotel, and used their free internet terminals briefly before catching a cab to the port which cost 13 Euros on the meter and spent the afternoon relaxing on board the Jade.

The following morning we decided to visit the Grand Bazaar. We caught a taxi from the port for 10 Euros. The taxi driver wanted to come back and pick us up a couple of hours later but I wasn’t sure how long we would be so we declined. I stopped by an ATM to withdraw some more lira, though at the Grand Bazaar they are quite happy to take Euros too - in fact they are probably quite happy to take your money off you in any form. Having said that however, I must say that we did not find the vendors there to be too pushy at all. If you showed interest in an item then they would bargain with you regarding the price. It is a very interesting place to wander around – many small laneways in the covered bazaar selling just about everything. It is easy to get lost and we exited the bazaar at a different spot to the entry so I was glad we had not organised for the taxi driver to wait for us. We really enjoyed wandering around here- you can sample various flavours of Turkish delight too. Here are a couple of conversations we had with vendors there which we found quite entertaining.

Vendor (giving the price for a box of Turkish delight) – 5 lira

Myself (trying to bargain) -3 lira

Vendor –OK 8 lira

Myself– 8 lira?

Vendor – Yes – my 5 lira and your 3 lira – 8 lira!

And another conversation with my husband who was enquiring about the price of an Aladdin’s type lamp

Vendor – How can I help you spend your money?

DH – I’m just looking

Vendor – and I’m just selling

DH – how much is this lamp?

Vendor-That depends, you want it with or without genie?

And so on. All quite good fun, and we did not feel pressured at all. We spent about 3 hours there then caught a cab back to the port.

All in all we loved Istanbul and I was especially happy that we were lucky enough to have a couple of days to experience it.

Aussicruiser

thanks again for your travel log. Really enjoyed the part about bartering at the grand bazaar-had to chuckle. Keep it coming.:)

Tom and Kristen

Hi Tom and Kristen

You're very welcome. Yes, we quite enjoyed the bartering too. I will post later today about Izmir/ Ephesus. I am happy to answer any questions anyone may have.:)

Aussiecruzer.

Hi Tom and Kristen

 

You're very welcome. Yes, we quite enjoyed the bartering too. I will post later today about Izmir/ Ephesus. I am happy to answer any questions anyone may have.:)

 

Aussiecruzer.

Did you take the ship's overnight tour to Cairo? If so, what hotel did they put you in and did you like the whole experience?

Thanks,

Som

Did you take the ship's overnight tour to Cairo? If so, what hotel did they put you in and did you like the whole experience?

Thanks,

Som

No, we did a private overnight tour to Cairo with De Castro. We stayed at Le Meridien Pyramids at Giza and I loved the whole experience!:) :)

We had organised a private tour to Ephesus today for a group of 15 of us from our Cruise Critic roll call with Nejat Incedogan. As we left the ship a group of Turkish dancers were performing to music, and we were given little charms to ward off the evil eye to pin to our clothes. A nice touch.

Nejat met us just outside the port and we piled into his van and drove us to Ephesus. The drive took just under an hour and he told us various facts about the areas as we were travelling. At Ephesus, we stopped first for a

bathroom break as Nejat advised us no facilities were available in the site, until you reach the exit. There was a cost of 75 cents if I remember correctly. We then entered the site and Nejat guided us through it. The ruins at Ephesus are apparently only 15% excavated, so there is still a lot more to be discovered.We saw the sculpture of the Godess Athena Nike pictured below. The uppermost fold of her robe forms the tick logo that Nike uses now.

We also saw the not so private public toilets well preserved from almost 2000 years ago!

The site did become fairly crowded as you can see with lots of tour groups. As Nejat has a mobility problem and walks with the aid of 2 sticks he would find a spot to describe the main features to us, and then give us a few moments to explore on our own whilst he slowly made his way to the next meeting spot. He has a real love for this site which is apparent, and told me it was his favourite site to guide at. In this photo you can see the road with the covered Terrace Houses on the left, and leading down to the Library of Celsus at the bottom.

For me, the Terrace Houses were the real highlight of the site of Ephesus, and I feel it would be a shame to visit this site and miss the Terrace Houses. The preservation of detail inside is nothing short of amazing, with intact mosaics, and beautiful rooms almost perfectly preserved. These houses are being painstakingly excavated and there is an extra cost for admission (15 lira) which Nejat told us is not so much to make money, but more to restrict the number of visitors. I did not notice any of the large tour bus groups entering the Terrace Houses while we were there.

At the end of the site is the massive Great Theatre which could seat 24 000 people. Even today it is sometimes used for concerts such as for Elton John. However Nejat told us that after a Metallica concert there some years ago the site had to be closed for some time because of damage caused by the vibrations of the massive speakers! Not a

good idea! And Nejat was clearly disapproving of his beloved site being used for what he called "Bangy Bangy music".

After leaving Ephesus We stopped briefly at the remains of the Temple of Artemis before having lunch and returning to the cruise ship.

The Jade docks at the new cruise port at Tourlos, about 1.2 miles north of Hora (Mykonos town). There is not much here but luckily NCL offers a free shuttle bus dropping guests closer to the centre of town. We went down to the shuttle around 10 am and waited in a line for about 20 minutes or so to board the shuttle. After a short ride we were dropped off in Mykonos town and walked around the waterfront. We were looking for an ATM to withdraw euros and found a couple quite close by. Euros in hand, the next task was to find an internet cafe as we all wanted to check and reply to e-mails. We asked at a local shop and were directed to the nearby cafe called "Stairs" (located on your left after you walk past the beach). Here, for the cost of a drink (for example, 3 Euros for a coke) you can use their internet for 30 minutes. They had about 5 laptops available. Emails answered, we then set off to explore this picturesque town. We quickly got lost amongst the pretty laneways lined with whitewashed houses with vibrant blue stairs and doors, and framed with pink frangipani.

We found the famous windmills and discovered a lovely quiet spot just past the windmills to dip our feet in the Mediterranean.

It was very relaxing and pretty. Later wandering back into town past Little Venice we spied Pelican Pete taking a drink quite oblivious to the tourists milling around.

Mykonos is really a very picturesque island. We bought some post cards and, having located the local post office, bought stamps and sent postcards back home. When we were ready it was easy to hop back on the shuttle and return to the ship.

We capped off the day by watching a beautiful Mykonos sunset from our balcony.

Santorini was our only tender port for this cruise. I knew ahead of time that several large ships would be in Santorini that day, so we knew it was going to be busy. It was announced the day before that tender tickets would become available at 8.30 am. However, as we were having breakfast just before 8 am there was an announcement made that the ship had been cleared, and that if anyone was ready to leave, you could just make your way down to Level 4 and board a tender. We did this, and luckily we were able to hop straight onto a tender.

At the port, we headed directly for the cable car ( past the Greek man calling "Donkey, Donkey, Donkey!")and were able to hop on the cable car with no wait at all! Incredibly lucky! Great views going up in the cable car and I felt it was very secure and not scary at all. Having reached the top of the cable car we headed towards the main street. On the way we passed 2 groups of about 10 donkeys roped together making their way presumably to the donkey station to start work for the day. They did not look too happy,I'm afraid to say.

Having reached the main street, we turned right and walked about 5-10 minutes to the bus stop which is on the left side of the street, a few steps down from the taxi stand. A taxi driver did offer to drive us to Oia for 20 Euros one way, but we said we would take the bus. The buses are green in colour and you buy tickets on board 1.20 Euros one way. There is a small office at the bus stop with the schedules posted , including return schedules. We caught the 9.15 am bus from Fira to Oia. The ride takes about 15-20 minutes, and winds around very scenic roads with lovely views. Once we arrived at Oia, we spent a couple of hours just wandering around this beautiful village.

Oia really was one of the highlights of this trip. The weather was perfect, the sea and sky were deep blue and everywhere you looked were picture postcard views with stunning white buildings and blue dome roofs.

When we arrived back at the bus stop, we had just missed the 11.35 am

bus back to Fira. The next bus was at 12.20 but while we were waiting a taxi driver offered to take us for 15 Euros, which we declined, and he then

called us over and offered 10 Euros which we happily accepted. He dropped us near the cable car and after browsing through some tourist stores we joined the line for the cable car which probably took about 1/2

hour at 1 pm. We hopped back on a tender and were back on board in time for a late lunch. We spoke to some people who walked up ( some said it took an hour) and some who took the donkey ( which some said was quite scary). All in all, a great day in Santorini.

Please feel free to post any comments or questions. I feel a bit like I'm talking to myself here!

Fantastic photos and narrative! Thank you so much for sharing your amazing journey with us all. :)

every day I search for your photos and reviews they are wonderful!! tomorrow we are flying to London and saturday to Istanbul our cruise will sail away october 13 sooooooo excited

Maria

thank you so much for the detailed review and lovely pictures. Last march we also had the privlege of touring with Negat and he is a wonderful person.

Aussiecruiser--

We have ben reading your postings with the enthusiasm of a first grader learning to read! We will be doing the same cruise (opposite direction) in a couple of weeks. We're excited anyway, but your posts have only heightened that. One question--we are wanting to do an informal CC gathering some time close to sail away our first day. Can you tell me when you did muster--before or after departing Istanbul? We've done it both ways on other cruises, so we thought you could tell us how the Jade handles it.

Thanks, Beth

Thank you all for your positive feedback!! I'm so glad you are enjoying reading this. I am certainly enjoying writing it and reliving the memories!

Lambs2 - I'm sure you are going to have a fabulous time on your cruise.

Flvaca - Have a great trip to Istanbul -( you will love Istanbul,) and enjoy your cruise as much as we did!

Mountainmare- I have to thank you as I gained a lot of useful information from your posts and review prior to our trip.

gaomm - love your analogy of the first grader learning to read! I think the lifejacket drill was at 2.30 pm just prior to sailaway at 3 pm. They had a poolside barbeque and music for the sailaway and we watched the coastline till about 4 pm. We organised our informal get-together at the Spinnaker lounge at 5 pm which worked out well, though probably any time after 4 pm would have been fine. Have a great cruise!

Aussiecruzer:) :)

After the beauty of the previous two Greek Islands, Mykonos and Santorini, Crete was a bit of a shock to the system. Iraklion is a big bustling city, with lots of traffic and people. We decided to visit Knossos using the local buses. The Jade provides a free shuttle to the port entrance. From the front steps of the port building you turn right along the waterfront towards the old fort. When you see the port exit on your left take this and cross the road. The Bus stop is maybe another 50 metres or so to the right. There is a building with various tours advertised. To find the bus to Knossos, go just past this building and turn left. The buses are blue and will have a sign saying Number 2 Knossos on them. Bus tickets are purchased from the little kiosk there - 1.20 Euros

one way. I would advise buying return tickets (2.40 Euros) as we did, because on our return I could not see where to buy tickets from at Knossos. I'm not sure if tickets could be purchased on board on the way back or not.

The bus ride to Knossos (where the bus terminates) takes about 20 minutes and stops at multiple bus stops. The bus was busy with local Greeks going about their business. Young girls, fashionably dressed, gossiping on their mobile phones (some things are the same everywhere, regardless of language, aren't they?), older Greek ladies dressed all in black, and middle aged ladies with their bags of shopping( I helped the lady next to me manage her many bags!)

At Knossos everybody piled off the bus and we purchased our tickets for 6 Euros each (kids were free) There is a nice picture in the entrance showing a recontstruction of how the Palace of Knossos used to look. The site is not very large and we spent an hour or so examining the ruins. We were offered a guide (10 Euros for 1 hour) but we decided to look around independently. Their are sign boards with explanations around the site. Parts of the ruins are reconstructed by Sir Arthur Evans such as the throne room, and some of the frescos show incredible detail.

We joined a large crowd of people waiting for the bus back to the port and when it arrived we all piled on. Spent the return trip chatting to some cruise critic friends we met up with at the bus stop, then walked back to the port and caught the shuttle back to the Jade.

Thanks for all the great insight. We leave tomorrow am and it cannot come too soon. Thanks for all the information about public transportation you weaved through it all.

Tom and Kristen:)

You're very welcome, Tom and Kirsten. Have a fabulous trip and post your experiences when you get back! Say hi to the Jade from me!

Well, one of the main reasons for booking this itinerary with the Norwegian Jade was the overnight stop in Alexandria. Egypt was always going to be one of the highlights of this trip, and happily , it did not disappoint. Seeing the pyramids had always been a dream of mine, and I never really thought it would be possible. Now that dream has been fulfilled.

Firstly, regarding visas for Egypt:- At embarkation, all our passports had been retained for stamping of visas. On our sea day before Alexandria we were told our passports were available for collection at the Alizar restaurant and so I dutifully joined the queue of people, and retrieved our 4 passports. A fellow CC member(thanks Cindi) had previously arranged a private overnight tour with De Castro for a group of ten of us. Our plan was to head to Cairo and see the pyramids and museum on the first day, then to head back to Alexandria on the second day to see the sights there.

The day begn with a bit of a hiccup. We met early at 6.45 am (which was not too difficult as we had a one hour time change going into Egypt which was reversed after leaving Egypt). We all went down to level 4, showed our passports to the immigration officer and trooped off the ship. Well, I thought we had all trooped off, but realised my elder daughter had not disembarked. I went back up the gangplank (dodging the ever present photographer) only to find that her passport had apparently not been

stamped for Alexandria!! Oh no! I told the immigration officer to please check again, as all our passports had been together, and ours all had stamps. He rechecked a couple of times and said - no, no stamp for Alexandria. Firstly we were told to go to the main desk on level 7 and speak to them there. I was worried as the rest of our group was waiting outside for us and I felt very bad. However then the officer said to wait here and the immigration agent would come to level 4 and stamp the passport. So while my daughter sat and waited with her passport, I ducked back down the gangplank, past the photographer, and apologised profusely to the other members of our group. They were lovely, and said not to worry, they'd wait. I turned back to join my daughter, only to see her strolling down the gangplank, smiling broadly, waving her passport in her hand! It seems that while she was waiting she was flicking through her passport looking at the various stamps from countries we have visited, when she suddenly saw a stamp that said "Alexandria!" She showed it to the officer, and disembarked. Phew! What a sigh of relief! Moral of the story - I probably should have checked all 4 of our passports after picking them up to make sure the Alexandria stamps were present, instead of just trusting they had been stamped. Second moral, if the officer says there is no stamp, check again yourself!

Next installment- our Egytian adventures ...

Next installment- our Egytian adventures ...

Hey aussiecruzer,

Your "ports of call" review is proving to be just as enjoyable as the cruise review.

As I said on the other board, the suspense of waiting for each new post is just terrible !!! Now I know how the folks felt when I posted mine in daily chapters.

Hurry up and get it done :D

Cheers

Roy

Hey Roy, I'm working on it! :) :) If I hadn't spent all of yesterday evening reading your review, I would have covered more of Egypt (or at least got out of the port gates!). Anyway I'll post some more this evening.

Hi, Aussiecruzer. We leave London in the morning and are down to the wire with out packing/prepping here! Your posts have been so helpful and enjoyable. Thanks so, so much!!!

Virginia/USFaminUK

Hi, Aussiecruzer. We leave London in the morning and are down to the wire with out packing/prepping here! Your posts have been so helpful and enjoyable. Thanks so, so much!!!

 

Virginia/USFaminUK

You are very welcome! Have a great trip and enjoy every moment! :D :D

As soon as we exited the port gates we saw a man in a suit holding a sign saying "De Castro" and the name of our cruise critic colleague who had organised this tour. That's always a welcome sight, isn't it? Our guide Dahlia immediately introduced herself to us as our guide for the 2 days. We were very happy to have her as our guide as we had read great reports of Dahlia. She led us to our minivan and we immediately set off for the 3 hour drive to Cairo. On board with us, and throughout our time in Egypt, were Dahlia, our driver and a very polite gentleman in a suit who did not speak much, but was our armed security guard. He took very good

care of us throughout, especially at the Pyramids and sphinx area, politely guiding us around and I think keeping vendors at bay, as we were really not hassled by any vendors at all.

Now, Dahlia, I really can't speak highly enough of her. What a lovely lady! She speaks excellent English, provided us with great information about the places we visited, and was happy to answer any questions about anything really. And we did ask lots of questions and were able to learn a lot about the everyday life of Egyptians. For example, we learned that in the countryside, girls need to be married by about age 23 or 24 , or else they are considered too old. In the city with education and girls attending universities etc, the age of marriage is often older, but anything over 30 is again considered very old for marriage. Egyptian women, including Dahlia, wear headscarves when out in public, and dress with long sleeves and long skirts or pants. I asked her what women wear at home with their families, and she replied " anything - even bikinis.."! However, if a visitor arrives, or if a woman wants to go out on her balcony then she must be appropriately covered. Dahlia told us that marriage is the only acceptable relationship available to women. Living together type arrangements

are not accepted at all in Egyptian society. Most married women do not work, as it is looked upon as a kind of shame if the husband cannot support his family, but these days some married women, especially professional women such as doctors and nurses, do work. These are looked upon as honorable professions. She told us that working in tourism or in the service industries like hotels is somewhat frowned upon for married women, especially if these jobs require the woman to spend any nights or evenings away from home.

It was Ramadan when we were in Egypt, and Dahlia was fasting from sunrise to sunset. We found it very hot and were very gratfeul for the cold bottled water and soft drinks provided by De Castro for us (our CC colleague had set this up). I really felt for Dahlia as she was constantly talking to us and explaining things and was not able to drink. She said that, by the 27th day of fasting which this was, food was not a problem, despite the fact that she had last eaten at 3 am both days, but she did certainly feel the thirst. However, at least Egypt was much more liberal than Dubai where we had stopped over on our way to Istanbul, where, during Ramadan,our guide told us that eating or drinking in public is not allowed and is punishable by a large fine ( 1000 dihrams = $350)

whether you are Muslim or not. Our Dubai guide had advised us that we could drink water in the van, but when out seeing sights, we must not eat, drink or chew gum.( Just as an aside, I felt very sorry for the many construction workers in Dubai toiling in the extreme heat - even hotter than Egypt- and unable to drink in public during the month of Ramadan!)

Anyway, we drove from Alexandria to Cairo along the desert highway, making a stop for a bathroom break half way (you need to tip the attendent $1 US). About a half hour into the drive, all traffic came to a standstill, and it seemed as if we were in a parking lot! Luckily we only had to wait 10 or 15 minutes and then the traffic started to slowly move forwards again. We soon passed the cause of this traffic jam - a large truck had overturned and was lying on it's side alongside the highway. This incident highlighted to me the need to return to Alexandria with plenty of time in hand if you are on a private tour. Accidents like this are unpredictable and if one were to block the highway when you were returning close to sailaway time,it could cause major problems.

We arrived in Cairo about 10.30 am and, after a quick photo stop on the banks of the River Nile, we headed straight for the Cairo Museum. What a wonderful place filled with treasures. You could easily spend all day here, but we spent about 1 1/2 hours. Dahlia was great, explaining things to us. Tutenkhamen's collection on the second floor is really amazing. I should warn you the museum is hot (the building itself is about 100 years old and is not air-conditioned). Take bottled water, and a small hand held or battery operated fan would have been good too. Cameras and video-cameras are not permitted inside the museum so afterwards I bought a small post-card book with the highligts of the museum at the museum bookshop.

After the Museum we headed to lunch which was a buffet style meal served at a restaurant right on the bank of the Nile. Good food and great setting! We took care not to eat any salads, and stuck to the cooked dishes. Luckily we did not suffer any stomach upsets during or after our Egypt trip.

After lunch we drove to Giza to see what we had all come to see - the pyramids! Wow - we were driving along, and then suddenly there they were!

Up close they did not disappoint - quite magnificent, and of course, huge! How they were constructed 4500 years ago without the use of machinery is really amazing. The largest pyramid has 2 1/2 million blocks, and each block weighs as much as 2 cars. We took photos of the pyramids from a couple of sites and then drove around to the Sphinx - another amazing monument which has withstood the test of time. As I previously stated, we did not feel hassled by vendors at all here, but that may have been at least partly due to our security guard. I kind of found it hard to believe that I was really there, seeing the pyramids and the sphinx, and marvelling at them as others had done for thousands of years before!

Following our visit to the pyramids and Sphinx we stopped at the Papyrus institute and we ended up buying a couple of papyrus paintings to give as gifts. They will paint on the person's name in heiroglyphics. Makes a nice light portable and non breakable gift which is quite unique to Egypt. Those who we have given these to have been very appreciative of them.

We then checked into our hotel - Le Meridien Pyramids - a lovely hotel. We had 2 adjacent rooms - one for us and one for our daughters and, although we had not paid for pyramid view rooms, they upgraded us to rooms with a view of the pyramids, and I have to say, it was rather special to wake up with a view of the pyramids in the morning.

At 6.45 pm we met in the hotel lobby with the representatives from De Castro and we were escorted to the Sound and Light show. Video cameras are not allowed unless you pay extra (I think it was about 35 Egyptian pounds or $7), so there were lots of camera flashes going off constantly. I just blocked these out and sat back and watched the show which I really enjoyed. We had a magical moment in the middle of the sound and light show suddenly a shooting star shot across the sky above the middle pyramid and my daughter and I just kind of looked at each other in amazement! To think that even Alexander the Great had

stood before the pyramids and marvelled, and now, thousands of years later, we were doing the same! Quite incredible.

After a good sleep and breakfast (which was served from 3 am at the hotel, I think to cater for those who were fasting), we checked out and met with Dahlia and the rest of the group at 7.30 am. We drove back to Alexandria and spent the day visiting the sights there - the Catacombs, Pompey's pillar, the new Alexandria library, the Palace, and Fort Qaitbay. We returned to the Norwegian Jade around 3 pm and thanked Dahlia and the team profusely for looking after us so well. I would certainly recommend De Castro based on our experiences. We felt completely safe at all times, the boss Mustafa came to meet our group as we were having lunch in Cairo on day 1, and we were given business cards with a number we could ring at any time if we had any problems. Pretty good service!

Just outside the port gates at Alexandria there is a row of about 25 shops selling souvenirs etc, so this is a good option if you need to make purchases. Remember you can bargain with the vendors. When we re-boarded the Jade, our passports were again collected for stamping for re-entry to Greece.

aussiecruiser,

What a wonderful review. It sounds like you had similar experiences to us when we were in Egypt last month; as well as in Ephesus when we were there last year. I am glad to see that Nejat is still providing his fine tours. It is amazing that a man as crippled as he is, gets around so well. Did he have Atilla as his driver?

I am wondering if your Mustafa is the same as our tour guide boss Mostafa, which is pronounced the same. Here is his picture with my wife. Is it the same person?