Photo review Nieuw Amsterdam 24-n Med cruise July 11 2014

[Laurino]

Day 3, July 13, Katakolon, continued

We sailed quite early at 3pm. We had beautiful views of the Greek coastline throughout the evening.

 

 

[Laurino]

Day 4, July 14, Piraeus

We docked in the farthest away cruise terminal B. Luckily there's a new public express bus line X80 that runs from the cruise terminals in Piraeus into Athens via Acropolis to Syntagma square, the Piraeus metro stations was way to far. You buy a day pass 4€ from the bus driver, the ride takes 30min.

 

We tried to head out early and go to Acropolis first, to beat some of the crowds and the heat. We got there before 9am, but there was quite a lot of people already.

 

 

Crowded entrance:

 

Theatres on the southern slope:

 

I didn't expect the cliff to be so tall, it was quite a climb and I wouldn't want to do that later in the day because of the heat. The views were amazing:

 

The Parthenon was being re-restored:

 

The Erechteion with its columns is the most amazing structure on site:

[Laurino]

Day 4, July 14, Piraeus, continued

The ticket to Acropolis was 12€ and it included 5 (I think) other archeological sites. We walked down the northern slope of Acropolis and into the Ancient Agora.

 

View back towards Acropolis:

 

The Stoa of Attolos, a recent replica:

 

The temple of Hepheastus was impressive:

 

We also went to Hadrian's library (not so interesting) and the Tower of Winds was unfortunately covered in scaffolding:

 

We also visited the charming tiny church Panagia Gorgoepikoos and had a Gyros lunch in the Monastiraki/Plaka district:

 

We even had time for a short visit to the National Archeological museum:

[brookeinmn]

Great review! Can't wait to read more.

[Laurino]

Day 4, July 14, Piraeus, continued

After the museum we took a bus back to Syntagma square and then we took the X80 bus back to the cruise terminal.

 

It was fascinating to watch the busy ferry traffic in and out of Piraeus. Our departure backed up traffic quite a bit.

 

 

 

 

I can't remember dinner nor show for that night. However it's always nice to return to the cabin after turndown service:

[Laurino]

Day 5, July 15, the Dardanelles & sail into Istanbul

We sailed into the Dardanelles like 5-6am (wasn't awake then...). We could se cities, monuments, cruise ships and even two Turkish submarines in the straits.

 

 

We went to MDR for the Mariners Champagne Brunch when crossing the Marmara sea, it was nice. Dessert:

 

We wouldn't arrive in Istanbul until 4pm, so we were surprised to see the huge city sprawling along the coast hours before. We sat in the Crows Nest and played cards and watched the views:

 

The sail in to Istanbul was amazing, we could see the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia:

 

We could see the suspension bridge and the Asian side:

 

We docked and were 1 hour early, so we had a head start!

[Laurino]

Day 5, July 15, Istanbul

We were early to Istanbul and there was only one other cruise ship there, tomorrow three more ships would arrive, so we thought we should as much as possible the first afternoon. We docked not too far from the Galata bridge and they had opened the closest terminal, so we just walked to the tram stop 'Karakoy' at the bridge head. We purchased tokens 'jeton' for 4TL, and took tram #1 to 'Sultanahmet' stop.

 

First we went to Hagia Sophia. As I mentioned before, we could not purchase e-tickets or museum passes online. There are also minibuses selling the passes, but when we got there the lines were short. There was no line at all to the ticket machines, only the manned booths, perhaps the others thought you could only buy passes and not tickets in the machines? Anyway it cost 30TL and we got in right away. There's a security check point.

 

Haghia Sophia:

 

Fountain for ablutions:

 

The armory of Hagia Sophia:

 

The amazing interior of Hagia Sophia:

 

 

There was a lot of scaffolding inside, but it wasn't too bad. The main room and dome was much higher up and had much more space than I had anticipated. I think the interior had a nice mix of unearthed christian mosaics & paintings vs preserved more recent muslim decorations.

 

It was worthwhile to climb up to the gallery upstairs:

[Laurino]

Day 5, July 15, Istanbul, continued

After Haghia Sophia we continued to the Basilica Cistern. Here we had to stand in line for a short while, no machines, 20TL admission.

 

Just before the cruise, I had read Dan Brown's new book 'Inferno', which was a great prelude to many of the ports, I can recommend it for this cruise!

The cistern had a very eery feel to it, but it was difficult to photograph. I use a Canon Powershot S100, a little more advanced point-and-shoot compact.

 

 

We were on a roll and next we headed to the Blue Mosque. It was prayer time and it was very annoying with men approaching us and lying to us about how long the mosque would be closed, presumably to get us to follow them and 'wait' in their carpet shops...

 

The Blue Mosque:

 

Anyway we waited inside the mosque courtyard for prayer time to end. Mind you it's not forbidden to enter just because of prayer time, but it might be disrespectful if one's merely visiting and not worshipping. Our shorts covered our knees so we didn't need the provided shawls for covering up.

 

The mosque courtyard:

 

The fantastic interior with blue Iznik tiles:

 

 

We decided to walk back down the hill towards the Galata bridge, it was farther than I thought. We got to the Spice market at 7pm, when they closed. I took a photo (the day after) of the New Mosque, but it too had closed:

 

We decided to walk back over the Galata bridge, but it started to rain and the restaurant (on the lower floor) waiters were quite persistent, it was a long and annoying walk back to the ship. We would use the tram more tomorrow.

 

When we returned to the ship, we ended up having pizza from Slice for dinner. It was really disappointing and the only bad food onboard.

[Ejelizajo]

Loving your review. We depart on August 28th and have Tamarind and Pinnacle Frill reservations already!

 

Are you sure that the Atrium sculpture is plexiglass? The other HAL ships have custom Lalique sculptures I think!

[ANSalberg]

Your photos are SPECTACULAR -when we were in Istanbul about 15 years ago they were cleaning/renewing the blue tiles [ I believe hundreds of years of coal-burning had covered and/or destroyed ALL that color!] It is amazing to see YOUR beautiful camera work on a city I was AMAZED that we would EVER visit! Talk about whetting the appetite for international travel; Turkey simply open a door and my heart! THANK you for your beautuful camera-work! ;)

[Lizzie68]

Fabulous photos - you are obviously a very talented photographer. Thanks again for sharing.

[Laurino]

Loving your review. We depart on August 28th and have Tamarind and Pinnacle Frill reservations already!

Are you sure that the Atrium sculpture is plexiglass? The other HAL ships have custom Lalique sculptures I think!

 

Good for you! I took the iPod art tour, it said plexiglass. The other ships might have crystal, I don't know.

[Laurino]

Thank you for all the feedback so far :D

[Laurino]

Day 6, July 16, Istanbul

Three more ships arrived that morning and that meant that they closed the terminal near the Galata bridge and opened another terminal far away in the opposite direction. It was an annoying walk in the morning and afternoon, we later realized there was a free shuttle running along the pier.

 

Anyway we got out early and took tram #1 from the 'Findikli' stop instead and we got off at 'Gulhane'. We were going to Topkapi palace. Again there was no line at the ticket machines, admission was 30TL + 15TL for the Harem. They didn't open until 9am, so there was quite a line to get in.

 

Gateway to Topkapi palace:

 

We headed straight to the separate entrance to the Harem and wanted to visit it first to beat the crowds, we succeeded. The Harem interiors were amazing:

 

 

 

 

[Laurino]

Day 6, July 16, Istanbul, continued

I forgot to mention in the previous post that we were in Istanbul overnight, later we would also have overnights in Venice and Barcelona, it's great in these larger / more important cities.

 

After the Harem, we continued to explore Topkapi palace. We saw the armory, the treasury, the mosque, pavilions and gardens etc. Best part besides the Harem, was the treasury. I've never seen that large emeralds etc before, or the sheer quantity of gemstones, it blew the Tower of London out of the water. Photography was not allowed in many of the galleries.

 

Some more photos from Topkapi palace:

 

 

 

 

We could see our ship from the Topkapi gardens:

 

The visit took most of the morning. After 10.30am the lines really started to grow, both into the palace and into the different galleries.

 

We continued and took tram #1 from 'Sultanahmet' stop to 'Beyazit', for the Grand Bazaar. We walked around a bit, it's a very special place and I'm glad we went there, but we didn't feel comfortable buying anything there. Wherever we went in Turkey, only the carpet salesmen seemed persistent. We also strolled along a very high-end shopping street to the east of the bazaar. HAL offered a shuttle for a fee to that street, 'Nuruosmaniye Cadesi'.

 

Grand Bazaar:

 

We took tram #1 again from 'Cemberlitas' to 'Eminonu', to visit the Spice market, we missed it yesterday. It wasn't that impressive after the Grand Bazaar, but some might consider it a less intensive alternative. I would've really liked to see the Suleymaniye mosque also (or any other mosque) but we couldn't manage much more.

 

We took the tram back to the ship. The tram system was absolutely perfect for us. The ship arranged a 'Turkish Delight BBQ' around the sea view pool during and after sail away. These 'on location' bbq's would be arranged several times especially on the second cruise leg, and I think they were a nice alternative to the regular Lido. It's a bit strange though having dinner around the pool when lots of people were running around in speedos still... One time they had the bbq at the Lido pool with a half-closed roof, that wasn't a good idea with all the smoke. The sail away was spectacular again, but the photos are similar to the sail in, so I won't post those.

[fm6175]

Great review . We sail on the NA Jan 2015 so I have a special interest . Very much enjoying your pictures and comments . Thank you .

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Laurino]

Day 7, July 17, Mytilini (Lesbos)

We headed back to Greece. When I planned the trip, I couldn't really find anything that interested us on Lesbos, so we decided to make it an easy day after the busy days in Athens and Istanbul. Also we arrived late 11am and it was a tender port, so not much time left.

 

We went ashore, took a break in a cafe with wifi and had a frappé. Then we took our first swim in the Mediterranean and returned to the ship! We swam from a pier, but there was a beach nearby. We're not really beach and tanning types. We asked our cabin steward and got beach towels, they weren't mentioned anywhere (?), so many guests just took pool towels ashore.

 

Some photos from Lesbos:

 

 

 

[Laurino]

Day 7, July 17, Mytilini (Lesbos), continued

So we returned early to the ship, and had a hamburger lunch at the Dive-In grill. I really like the new menu and the new concept, you order and get a buzzer and can wait at your table for your order to get ready to fetch.

 

I'm not kidding when I say the 'Cannonball' burger, is one of the best burgers I have ever had! Obviously we had more later in the cruise...

 

It was the second formal night. We had 3 formal nights per 12 day segment. We had dinner in MDR and I had duck, tournedos and vanilla soufflé. As I said before, we could always get a table for two (if we wanted to) between 6-7pm without waiting, and service was always efficient and speedy. I noticed that there was quite a line to MDR after 8pm, I suppose that was because we had lots of southern europeans aboard (who eat late in the evening).

 

 

 

 

I don't remember much of the shows or acts, but either this or the first formal night (and also on the second segment) I went to the 'Cantare' show, featuring 4 male lead singers, harmonizing and singing parts etc (no dancing - no musical). That was the only production show I really enjoyed, otherwise I preferred the guest performers in the showroom and the music around the ship. I didn't bring the 'dailies' home.

[Laurino]

Day 8, July 18, Kusadasi

So we were back in Turkey. Another reason for taking it easy yesterday was our plans for this day. There were fours ships in port that busy day, that formed quite a line getting back into the terminal in the afternoon.

 

 

We had prebooked a rental car with Budget, for only 117TL. We drove to Ancient Ephesus, about 30min and 20km. The admission to Ephesus was 30TL + 15TL for the Terrace houses. There was a parking fee too, but I don't remember how much.

 

Ephesus certainly had impressive ruins, almost on par with Pompeii.

 

An overview of a part of the site:

 

The theatre:

 

The astonishing Celsius library:

 

Impressive frescoes and mosaics in the Terrace houses:

 

We skipped the nearby Mary's house. After Ephesus, we wanted to take a swim and drove back and past Kusadasi to the south into the 'Dilek peninsula' National park or 'Milli park'. You pay a small park fee when entering (even if you walk or ride a bike) and then there are several beautiful beaches shaded by pine trees. We stopped by a supermarket on our way and bought lunch for a picnic.

 

Our beach was perhaps not the prettiest choice but at least it wasn't crowded:

 

We were actually joined by a pack of wild boar at the car park, unfortunately getting fed by the Turkish children from their family picnics.

[Laurino]

Day 8, July 18, Kusadasi, sail away

We got back to Kusadasi and returned the rental car. We got a little worried because traffic was horrible in the town in the afternoon. Before we got back to the ship, I decided I wanted a Turkish souvenir. So I boldly launched myself into the carpet salesman's grip. It was a daunting experience, because I only wanted a little thing, but it took so long and they brought out so many different carpets. In the end I chose a 30x30cm silk on silk blue carpet. I have no idea if I paid a good price, I should've been better prepared. At least I bartered a little and was pleased with my choice.

 

The carpet would decorate my bedside table in our cabin:

 

We had a nice sail away. This fortified island is close to the port:

 

That evening we had dinner in Pinnacle Grill, we returned once later in the cruise. I had crab cakes, filet mignon and trio creme brûlée. The amuse-bouche and the pralines are a nice touch. The steaks and sides were to die for, but the rest of the menu was a bit limited. I liked that there was more Asian crew this time (compared to the Zuiderdam a couple of years ago), as they smile more and are nicer etc than the eastern european crew (that HAL used to think so important).

 

 

 

 

[Laurino]

Day 9, July 19, Thira (Santorini)

Now you're in for a photographic treat, Santorini!

 

Btw I forgot to mention that I got my bag back after sail away from Istanbul, I was so relieved! I thought I might get it in Piraeus (Athens having a major airport) but it was not to be.

 

I had been before to Santorini, but that was 19 years ago, my partner had not been there. Originally I had thought we would only make a simple trip up to the town. I'm so glad I changed my mind and we decided to go to the village Oia instead. It's a bit of a hassle with tenders first to port and then cable car up to town and then a walk to the bus station and then bus further on.

 

Oia is much prettier and has prettier views than Thira.

 

Sailing in to the caldera at sunrise:

 

Tendering to port & cable car:

 

Luckily we were the only ship that day:

 

Rest of the pictures are from Oia:

 

 

[Laurino]

Day 9, July 19, Thira (Santorini), continued

Some more pictures from beautiful Oia:

 

 

 

 

 

 

We didn't get to experience the sunset as we sailed away 4pm, but we had some beautiful views of Oia anyway:

[Bimmer09]

Superb photos from a great itinerary. All I am missing is the heat, the smells and the sea breezes! Most of these places I have yet to set foot in- but they are now on THE LIST.

 

Thank you.

 

Norris

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[Love the beach]

Absolutely gorgeous photos!! Thanks so much!

Marge