Azamara Journey - 5 July 2015 - Istanbul to Athens Review of Ports

ABOUT US

DH and I are an off-duty attorney and college professor in our early 30s/upper 20s from New York City. We'e cruised the big ships before and wanted a more authentic, port-intensive experience with cultural immersion. We've previously been to Canada, the UK, Italy, Croatia, Malta, Montenegro , and the Caribbean--and we were looking for a trip that would be different and expose us to new cultures. We'll be posting a separate review of our ship.

DEPARTURE: DELTA FROM JFK

Airport Lounge - Highly recommend the Delta lounge in terminal 4 of JFK. There's a charming outdoor seating area, and this slick, modern lounge makes you forget you're stuck in one of the busiest airports in the world.

Delta Flight - Delta provided a great experience, and comped eye masks/blankets/pillows for the non-stop overnight. And while the announcement mentioned wine would be free, cocktails were comped too in the main cabin.

ISTANBUL

Sura Hagia Sophia Hotel - Location is excellent and in walking distance to the must-see attractions. Hallways are tiled and carpeted in black, so they're very dark. The room was small, but well-apportioned and functional (e.g., a large safe with an outlet that could accommodate and recharge a laptop). The included breakfast offered a fantastic selection of local favorites as well as some American/English foods. Mezzes are included, but we never made it to those. The hotel is modern with proximity doorcards, though there is puzzlingly no deadbolts or peepholes on the doors.

Limon Café - We had a quick doner (spinning cone of meat) at this charming street-side café with good people-watching views and food prepared in the open.

Hippodrome, Hagia Sophia, Cistern, Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar - Much has been written about these popular tourist attractions, so I won't spill more ink here. We enjoyed our times at all of these. Be prepared to drive a hard bargain at the Grand Bazaar--and to get an impassionately aggressive response back from the merchants. The Grand Bazaar was the first of the many delicious Turkish Coffees (you can just call them coffee) we had.

Bosphorus Cruise - A relaxing two-hour cruise to see all the sites along the Bosphorus. It could be passed up if there's other sites to see, but we appreciated an easy, no-stress way to see the coastline while being jetlagged--a relaxing way to end the day.

ISTANBUL - DAY 2

Topkapi Palace, Spice Market - Both must-sees.

Embarkation - A no-stress embarkation. We arrived at 2:30 for a 6:pm sailaway, and the embarkation was very quick and no-fuss. Our luggage arrived quickly in our stateroom too.

CANNAKALE

We were excited about this stop because most other cruise lines make this a sea day. While we departed at 2pm (early on the side for an Azamara ship), it was more than sufficient to get a taste of the city. We also appreciated being in "local" city--we docked at a commercial, maritime port, and the guide described the city as the most authentically Turkish/non-Touristy we'd see on the trip. Nothing was in walking distance of the ship, and it was great to have a guide that chartered a private van for us.

Troy Excavations - A must-see

Town - This was fun to walk around, eat at a local (non-touristy) restaurant.

KUSADASI

House of the Virgin Mary - Sadly, this feels very like a tourist trap. A rebuilt room over some foundation that you are rushed into and out of without any time for prayer or contemplation because of the line behind you. Over the course of the trip, we would visit mosques, churches, and synagogues, and--even though it had the "home court advantage" for us in terms of religion--this site was our biggest disappointment.

Ephesus - very impressive site full of Roman ruins. Pay the extra 10 Turkish Lira to visit the Terrace Houses. The opulence and modern comforts achieved in these residences is astounding. Wear very comfortable shoes and be careful - a lot of walking over marble that can be very slippery. One of our traveling companions says that the site has changed, with many more areas reassembled than 10 years ago. DO NOT MISS.

Lunch - Bizim Ev Hanimeli - This restaurant is run by a family and is near the Ephesus site. We saw some large groups come in (ship tours?) The family is more than happy to tell you about the food they cook, which is very authentically Turkish. You are handed a plate, and can take as much food as you can load onto that plate from a selection of approximately 20 dishes. We then capped off the meal with a coffee and this lightly sweet semolina cake that I went completely nuts over and am working on finding a recipe so I can make it at home.

Ephesus museum - Contains many trinkets and statues as well as examples of columns from the Ephesus site. Our guide informed us that an even more extensive collection is available in Vienna. Much of the sculpture is remarkably intact. The site was much more impressive, but this was a nice corollary and a welcome indoor respite on a hot day! Additionally, this ticket can be purchased bundled with the Basilica of St. John.

Kircilar Leather shop - This shop sells many jackets of butter soft leather, and they give you the hard sell. They serve you the beverage of your choice (even raki - hoping to loosen the wallets) and then perform a fashion show for you. The zippers on the coats are not the standard YKK, which turned us off from the merchandise, but some members of our group did make purchases. Again, this is Turkey, so make sure you haggle in order to get your best price.

Basilica of St. John - By the end of the day we were hot and tired and not particularly excited about this site, but our guide convinced us to give it 5 minutes, which we found was the perfect amount of time. We ran in, were impressed with the ruins, took pictures, and ran out!

Azamazing Evening - A concert by a 12-piece string orchestra in the Odeon Theater at the Ephesus site. The ship did an amazing job of organizing the departure and getting everyone where they needed to go and very thoughtfully provided cushions to protect our bottoms from the Roman stone benches. The orchestra played very well, and the selection of songs appeared to be chosen so that the audience would be familiar with them. The leader of the orchestra spent one of the songs turning his lead into a bit of a comedy routine, but he was thoroughly upstaged by the resident felines. If you are on a voyage with the Azamazing evening in Ephesus, be sure to wear comfortable shoes with decent traction to the event, as some of the steps in the theater are steep, and many of the paths have that slippery marble. Dinner dress code is not enforced (wear shorts & sneakers for comfort).

Turkish Guide - Ilhan Atesgoz - ilhanrehber@gmail.com

KOS

Agios Stephanos Beach - After 4 fast paced days in Turkey, we were ready to relax on the beach a bit in Kos. We found a cab driver willing to take us to Agios Stephanos beach on the other side of the island from the port. We chose this beach at the recommendation of one of our travel companions who had researched the beaches in Kos on Trip Advisor. The cab ride is a long one - about 40 minutes, and the cost 50 Euros. (Other shipmates report spending 50 Euros to rent a car and drive themselves for the full day. I find cabs to be much less hassle.) Our cab driver kept up a running commentary the whole way which was quite entertaining, showed us why we didn’t want to go to Paradise Beach (which wasn't much closer to the ship anyway) and recommended that we eat lunch at the Taverna Katerina and order a fresh fish. The view from this beach was absolutely lovely, with some ruins right on the shore, and a picturesque island with a church on it a short distance away. Braver souls than us embarked on a swim to the island with the church. After climbing up to the church they would ring the bell. We did, in fact, eat a fresh fish (and several other delicious dishes) at Taverna Katerina for lunch. The simple and delicious fish (and the starters we had before it) was our favorite meal of the whole trip.

RHODES

We took on Rhodes old town on our own, just walking through the little streets. We did stop at the Synagogue, which is a lovely little building with a lot of history and a small museum dedicated to the history of the Jewish population of Rhodes. Our trek through the town took us to the Palace of the Grand Masters, which is a bit of a hodgepodge of artifacts that ended up in Rhodes through the various passing civilizations, although they are mostly organized by era. A few of the shops have really nice items (and not just the normal souvenir t-shirts) but again, have your bargaining hat on.

SANTORINI

We took a wine tour with a cooking class from Wine Tour Santorini. We did wish the cooking class had been first, as we had already visited two wineries by the time we arrived to cook, which meant that the only knife provided was a lettuce knife in order to prevent us from cutting ourselves! The cooking class was very fun, and then we had a lunch that included some of the dishes prepared during the class. One of the wineries was very nice as well, as we paired 5 wines with little snacks, and we found all of the pairings to be very nice. Our guide was very knowledgeable, friendly and patient and took us to a vineyard to show us Santorini's unique method of vine training as well. It was a very informative tour. Our guide even drove us out of his way over to Oia after the tour had finished. Oia is a lovely town to stroll through, and we took many beautiful pictures of the caldera before having dinner at a rooftop restaurant in order to watch the sunset. After the sunset (more specifically, we reserved a cab to wait for us and left a few seconds before sunset ended to avoid the post-sunset rush), we raced back to Fira through uneven/hilly streets and to the cable car, and made it onto the last tender back to the ship with only a few minutes to spare! DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME--AND ESPECIALLY NOT VACATION! We were the only ship tendered in Santorini that day, or we would have never had the nerve to cut it that close, having read stories about the long lines that can form at the cable car. Also, streets near the cable car that are open during the day close after sunset--so the trip back to the ship takes deceptively longer than one would expect it to take based on getting into the town.

MYKONOS

Agios Ioannes Beach - We took another beach day in Mykonos, visiting what Rick Steves (get his guidebooks--they're perfect!) says is his favorite beach on the island. We were very pleased with this beach, which has a view of the island of Delos. We rented beach loungers at the Hippie Fish resort area--which we expected to be the quieter when we arrived (costs 3 Euro more than other beaches and has a more delicate setup), though post-lunch their restaurant was blasting music on the beach, and the dainty sunbeds for two were monopolized by up to twelve smoking, drinking, loud partygoers hovering around a sunbed. During the afternoon hours, run into the water and just jump in, it will be very refreshing. We found the sea around Greece to be very pleasantly salty compared to that brown stuff that masquerades as sea water here at home. Be sure to bring water shoes to beaches in Greece, as they can be rather rocky, and the boulders once you are in the water can be very slippery. We enjoyed a local lunch at a lovely restaurant on the beach (more fresh fish!). After packing it up for the day, we rode the public bus back to town (apparently we had no choice--cabs are very scarce in the late afternoon) and walked from the bus depot back to the tenders in the old port, allowing ourselves to get a little lost in the maze.

PIRAEUS (ATHENS)

We again employed a private guide to take us around for a whirlwind tour as we only had one night in Athens before going home. We visited the Acropolis, the Temple of Zeus, the National Gardens, watched the changing of the guard at Parliament, and took the subway to the ancient Agora to see the Temple of Hephaistos (the most intact Greek temple) and see its museum. The subway was very clean, and the Monastriki station has ruins inside of it that our guide took us to see on the way to the Agora. Definitely very different than what we are used to here in New York - in a good way!

Electra Palace Hotel - Very nice hotel on the edge of the Plaka, but also an easy walk to Syntagma Square. This hotel is also very modern, and thoughtfully puts a map of Athens on the keycards. The included breakfast here was very good also, with Greek and American/English selections (I couldn't get enough yogurt on this last day on the trip--though the food here was much more Americanized than the hotel in Turkey). An accordion player stationed himself just outside the hotel garden while we were eating breakfast, which only added to the atmosphere.

***

Overall, we consider this one of our favorite vacations of all time and a superb way to immerse ourselves in the culture of new places. We'll separately write about the Azamara Journey in another post.

We will be on a similar itinerary, so thanks for the evaluations/suggestions.

Thanks very much for your comprehensive port review. Very useful. You reminded me to take my water shoes too!

Phil

What a wonderful itinerary. Am not at all surprised that you had such a good time.

We were cruising in the Western Med at the same time and found the heat overwhelming. Imagine it was steamy in Greece and Turkey too.

Looking forward to your review of the ship.

Thanks for the heads up on the slippery steps at the Azamazing evening. I'll leave the heels on the ship.

REVIEW OF GUIDES

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On past cruises, we participated in ship tours. On this trip, we toured exclusively through private guides in a six-person group and on our own. We thought the private guides were the way to go--they matched our speed, provided customized visits to our interests, and overall maximized our time in port.

TURKEY (ALL PORTS) - Ilhan Atesgoz - ilhanrehber@gmail.com -- We loved Ilhan! He followed us to all our Turkish ports, traveling on his own at night so he can greet us at port each morning (and always promising to show up early, which he did; and when our ship arrived 2 hours late in port, he was there patiently waiting for us). He was impassioned about sharing his culture with us, yet had a stunningly authentic and objectively honest quality to his presentation, giving balanced treatment to all cultures and faith traditions during his tours (travel companions of several different faiths were very impressed). He was also fun too--making sure we "make memories" and suggesting the perfect spots to pose for a perfect Kodak moment as he kindly obliged in going through the roster of cell phones to take pictures with, and helping us appreciate the finer points of delicacies such as Turkish coffee and food. His knowledge of Turkish history was impeccable, and he always had the the dates and engaging background information on whatever we were seeing (which was very impressive, as we saw many ports) always available at his fingertips. He also served as a concierge, seamlessly arranging transportation and meals for us. Of all the guides we've ever had during our travels abroad, Ilhan was our favorite and gave us the most "genuine" authentic, local experience.

GREECE - ATHENS GUIDE - ONOUFRIOS - onoufrios_d@yahoo.com - Onoufrios was energetic and well-versed in both Greek and American pop culture, and able to draw fun distinctions between both. His knowledge of history/mythology was solid and he was able to take us to all the highlights, as well as some off-the-beaten path places for some genuine views. Our time together was limited, but well-spent.

Thanks to the other shark for the nice write up.

You may find this link useful if you don't already have it.

http://www.tomsportguides.com/plan.html

The port write ups are great and can be put on the ipad or other tablet I guess.

scapel: do you remember the days of live radio and the phenomenon of the reporter who starts talking before the mic goes live? In that vein I ask: what are "AST CRUISES" [in your signature]??? :)

scapel: do you remember the days of live radio and the phenomenon of the reporter who starts talking before the mic goes live? In that vein I ask: what are "AST CRUISES" [in your signature]??? :)

It is when you get old and can't "P"

Thanks, I will try and fix it.

Prostate now working and found the "P" Thanks again for noticing.

Thanks for taking it in the spirit it was intended! Any man of a certain age (or hoping to get there) understands...

It is when you get old and can't "P"

Thanks, I will try and fix it.

:D

Phil