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Grand Mediterranean Cruise Review (Pics)

clarkg

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clarkg

clarkg

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Ship: Norwegian Spirit

Date: Sept. 3rd 2014

About us, we a both in our fifties and empty nesters. This was our first trip to Europe.

 

I will try and post a little each day as I have time. This will be the short generic version. For those who want more info, I have a twenty one part blog of this cruise that goes into more detail, so you don't have to wait for me to finish posting to read about the entire cruise.

 

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We flew into Venice a day early. Venice airport was chaotic but not as bad as London Central. When we went through customs the guy did not look me in the face. He just stamped my passport and handed it back. We found a place to get tickets for the water bus and then made the long trek out to the water’s edge to get on it. We thought we were on the express boat, but it took an hour and a half to get to San Marco (St. Mark’s Square).

 

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We had to lug our suitcases through the square. It will be like hauling suitcases through Disneyland on its busiest day. There were bodies everywhere. Normally I stop for people taking pictures and I did for the first five or so before realizing that there were thirty people taking pictures right in front of me at any given time and all the stopping was losing me my momentum so I decided to plow through. I did run over a teenage girl but she apologized to me so I figured she was okay. One pigeon nearly got run over but managed to scamper out of the way at the last second. The rest of them gave me a wide berth. They had seen tired tourists trudging through the square with suitcases before.

When we finally arrived at the hotel, tired from our long trek with the suitcases, we were dismayed.

 

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We looked through the doorway expecting to see a lobby of a hotel, only to find a long staircase. Thirty steps as I counted later on. I just knew it was the wrong door so I looked around for the right one. It didn't exist. My wife sent me on ahead to make sure that there was an actual hotel up there. Sure enough it was, right across the hall from a glass shop. Two men came out from behind the desk to lug our suit cases up the stairs much to our relief.

 

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After we checked in they gave us three keys, one that opens the door at the bottom of the steps after hours, one that opened the hotel just in case the owners were not there, and one that opened the door to our room. I have never had the key to a Venetian hotel before. After going up six more steps and turning left three times, there was our room. It’s not much to write home about, as a matter of fact it’s not much, period. My wife says we are going on a cruise and the man replies that at least the room will be about the same size. He turned out to be wrong; the cabin on the ship was much larger.

The mattress is hard and there is only a small path on each side of the bed but the bathroom is a good size and it has a bidet. Never had a room with a bidet in it before so that's kinda cool. Didn't use it but I could have. The fact is that we are in Venice and it's not about the room, so we drop off our luggage and head out into the city.

Two things strike me as I am walking around this beautiful city. There are people everywhere, especially in San Marco. The other thing is how amazing Venice is. I can turn in any direction and take a post card quality picture. As we roam the streets we do just that at every corner.

First order of business for the wife is shopping. She had her eye on a scarf during our journey with the suitcases so she goes back for it. Doing so almost makes us late for our rendezvous with my friend from work, and his wife. When I said I was going on the cruise he said, "sounds good, I'm going with you." I catch up with him by the Basilica in San Marco.

 

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It's good to see him. A little later we catch up with his wife. We decide to take a Gondola ride. Actually my wife and I had many discussions about this at home. She didn't think it was worth the money but I was thinking, we are going to Venice, why wouldn't you? She finally came around, so when it came time, there was no discussion. The Gondola ride was about a hour and a half through the amazing canals of Venice.

 

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We had asked the guy at the hotel for a recommendation for a restaurant and he drew it out on the map for us. I asked if it was good Italian food and he got a horrified look on his face. "No," he says, "It's good Venetian food." I had just crossed a line there that I didn't know existed. I really do need to get out more.

So the four of us set out to find the place, but after wandering our way through the narrow streets of Venice, we pass this restaurant with this Italian host standing in the doorway. I gaze at the menu and the prices look good for Venice so I ask if we want to eat here or do we continue on so we can get some of that squid ink spaghetti at the other place. My co-worker isn't all that excited about squid ink spaghetti so we stop there. Beside he has a bonus; if he doesn't like it he has me to blame.

 

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Come to find out that the host / waiter is so Italian that he doesn't speak a word of English past the bare basics but we are able to point and smile at the items we wanted on the menu.

Something was lost in translation so the cook has to come out and ask us a question. She is Japanese; so much for authentic Italian cuisine made from an old family recipe passed down from generations with grandma in the back cooking the food. It does not matter, my goal number is met. I ate spaghetti in Italy.

The other couple and us part ways after dinner. It is getting late at this point so the wife and I walked around San Marcos to get a feel of night time Venice and then headed back to the hotel to face the thirty steps. We sleep well, despite the mattress.

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clarkg

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It is our last day in Venice so we had to make the most of it. We got out of the hotel by 7:30 in the morning. It had rained a little during the night and was still sprinkling but nothing a north westerner could not handle so life was good. San Marcos was nearly empty, just a few people with umbrellas scampering across the square. Nothing was open yet so it is peaceful. After we take a lot of pictures we wander further afield onto some of the back streets then make our way back to the hotel for a complimentary breakfast.

Breakfast was cold cereal, breads and assorted rolls. I did notice that the milk tasted funny there. There was no hot food but it was really nice never the less. We sat down by a nice couple from New Zealand and come to find out they are going on the Spirit too. Another lady that was going on the cruise also came up to us during breakfast and introduced herself. Her name was Debra and we had arranged a tour on Cruise Critic and she was going with us in Naples. It is a small world.

 

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She had the same problem as us when she got to the hotel but instead of checking with the front desk first, she lugged her suitcase up the steps. When she got there they told her that her room was on the ground floor, so the guy put her case in the window sill, went outside and climbed a ladder and grabbed her cases out of the window sill and carried them down the ladder to her room.

 

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Once breakfast was over we headed back into Venice. Debra had told us about a museum pass so we went and bought one. It got us into all of the Museums in Venice. First we went to San Marco Basilica. It does not have an entry fee but there are several exhibits that cost extra. Deb saw a set of stairs and wanted to go up to the balcony overlooking San Marco. The steps were ancient marble that had been worn down over the years and about twice as high as normal steps.

 

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I didn't count them but I was plenty winded when I got to the top. It isn't until you reach the top of the stairs that you see the sign that it cost 5 Euros to go out on the balcony. If My wife climbs a huge set of stairs you know that whatever is at the top of them is very important to her. She looked back at me while she caught her breath. I didn't have to wait for her to speak; I knew she wanted me to pay the man, so I did.

 

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The balcony was amazing. It looked down into the square and we got some very good pictures. The balcony itself wasn't level and there were several places where the original marble railing had been bolted together. I saw people leaning against the railing and had to ask myself, was the old railing patched before or after someone fell to their death? As for myself, I didn't lean against it. The floor of the balcony was marble and was at angled down towards the edge. We didn't let it stop us but walked very carefully. The stairs had also led us to an area you could overlook the inside of the Basilica. It was amazing and ornamental with a lot of details all made out of mosaics. What the artists could do with little pieces of colored stones was beyond belief.

 

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After climbing another set of stairs to another Museum, we toured around thousands of ancient artifacts from the Romans to the Greeks. We just don't have thousand year old statues lying around in America. When we were finished we were looking for a place to sit and rest. They have plenty of chairs outside the cafes on the square. If you buy bottled water there it cost 1.5 Euros, but if you buy a bottled water and then sit down in the square, the water now costs 6 Euros. We opted for the cheaper one and left the square.

 

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We made our way to Rialto Bridge. It was packed with tourists but we were able to climb up on top of it and get some pictures. On the way back I stopped and bought a slice of pizza. My wife didn't want one. It wasn't that good, but it was pizza and we were in Italy. We were walked out and had seen everything we had come to see, plus a couple of things, so we headed back to the hotel to get our luggage. They had been so helpful carrying our suitcases up the stairs but did not seem to be under the same obligation to carry them down the stairs, so I grabbed both cases as Deb's back was killing her at this point, and we made our way down.

 

We bought our tickets to the water bus, the vaparetto, and then sat down to wait. Everyone there was going to the ship and there was an air of excitement. Soon the water bus arrived.

 

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It wasn't long before we were facing the ship. The bus docked and we got off and pulled our suitcases around this large building and gave them to the baggage handler. We then went to check in.

 

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The ship is old and was built for the Asian market so it is different than any other ship with all sorts of Uniqueness about it. I have always wanted to sail her though and now I was getting to. Getting on board was a breeze.

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clarkg

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Thank you for the review & link to your blog. I took the same cruise last summer but never actually write up a review outside of my regular travel writing. So I always admire those who do. Would you happen to have the name of the captain that was on the Spirit? Thank you again!

 

I am glad you are enjoying it. Captain Lars Bengtsson.

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We woke up early because we had to get off the ship to catch our tour. When we looked out our window we were in a line of ships waiting to get into the harbor. Piraeus serves some three hundred ships a day so we had to wait our turn. The captain didn't like it and he mentioned it in his daily broadcast. We didn't have time for the Main Dinning room breakfast so we went to the buffet. I am fine with buffets but then again I am a chili cheese dog type of guy. They have several Omelet station so I took advantage of that.

 

There was a total of twelve people in our group, but everyone was ready to go after we finished breakfast and they soon announced that we could get off the ship we headed down to the gangplank. We met our driver, Demetrius, at the cruise terminal. He had the wonderful idea to go to the Acropolis first and then go to the other sites. It was good we did because we avoided the crowds. The Acropolis is where the Parthenon sits. It is on top of a hill that dominates all of Athens. We drove past several interesting places that Demitrius pointed out for us.

 

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When we arrived at the Acropolis there was barely anyone there. We had to make room for soldiers to come down the path; I can only assume that they were guarding it overnight. We then made our way to the top so we could walk in the same places that Plato and Socrates walked. There are lots of ruins up the hill. The Parthenon was largely intact until there was a war in which it was damaged by cannon fire. Then an Englishman named Lord Elgin raided it and hauled away a lot of the sculptures, which Greece is still trying to get back. I am just quoting our driver at this point.

 

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We enjoyed the visit but the day was getting hot. Luckily the driver had water to drink. The next stop was Hadrian’s gate and the temple of Zeus. After that we watched the changing of the guard at the presidential palace. The guard’s uniform is symbolic. Everything on the uniform means something.

We then went down and ate lunch.

 

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I had a Greek Gyro and accomplished my culinary goal. We then walked to the Agra. It was a marketplace with a temple to Hephaestus the hill next to it. It was amazing to see building still standing after two thousand five hundred years. It was almost too much to take in.

 

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The Museum of the Acropolis was the next stop. It has one wall that frames in the hillside where the Acropolis is. It was amazing to see how close it as.

On the way back to the pier we stopped and got some baklava. It wasn't on the have to eat list but I love the stuff and it was a definite bonus.

Athens was amazing. Well worth it.

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clarkg

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I am enjoying your review. We took this cruise last year. Your pictures are very nice. We were told the soldiers were returning from raising the flag at the Acropolis.

 

Oh, okay, all they told us is, "get out of the way the soldiers are coming down."

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clarkg

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We are doing this cruise in May 2015, although in the reverse order. Since we are in the planning stages, I can't wait to read the rest of your review and look at your amazing pictures!

 

Thank you. You will love it. They told us that they were only going to do one more season and then take the ship out of Europe so you are lucky as 2015 is the last year this cruise will be offered.

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The first thing that I saw in Turkey when we entered the harbor was a fort on the hill. Even though we had to meet at seven again we had time for breakfast and to watch us pull into the port. It kinda feels weird to go into foreign countries without a passport as the cruise line still has them. It would be really bad for us to miss the ship as the next port is in Greece. It would not have been so bad yesterday as we would still be in Turkey and would have to take the bus to the north.

 

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After eating we headed down to the meeting point. This group is great to travel with as they all get there on time every day. All of us are going on together again. Our tour guide was waiting for us as we got off the ship. Hadi was from the area which made it nicer. He had a degree in theology which means he knew his stuff.

 

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When we arrived at the city of Ephus or Ephesus in English there were a lot of shops on either side of the road. The shop keepers stand in front of the shop and beckon you in. Some of them get quite aggressive. They were not as bad here as they were at the other entrance. Our tour guide started us up hill and we worked our way down through the city. Ephesus used to be the capital of Asia Minor and was a trading port. As the sea level declined they were forced to dredge an open channel to keep the sea trade open. A landslide filled the channel and by then there were other political enemies in the area so they abandoned the city and it fell into ruin. It was probably good it did because now we have what's left unaltered and the ruins were not built over like we had seen in Athens.

 

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Ephesus was amazing. The old senate meeting place was mostly intact. The roof was gone but the columns that used to hold it up were there. There was seating for 1500 in an amphitheater style plan. We then went down into the city where we saw a small shrine to Zeus. We then passed through the gate of Hercules which separated the political part of the city from the commercial. It had a lion carved into the gate as killing of the lion was one of Hercules’s tasks. We had opted to go to the Terraced Houses instead of the house of Mary. The Terraced Houses were in the heart of Ephesus.

 

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They are on a hillside and covered so they can preserve them better. It is an active archeology site. The houses were built on a hillside so the roof of one house was the terrace of the one above. You could see mosaics on the floors and walls. Hadi would explain what was in the different rooms as we went. Some of them had private baths which was a sign that they were the uber wealthy. Kitchens and their own toilet was also another sign. If you were not part of the rich there were public toilets down the street which was a lot of seats side by side and that men and women we do their business while the talked of the events of the day.

 

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The library of Celsius in Ephesus was amazing. They pieced together most of it and it was a two story building in the middle of town. Ephesus is only partially excavated. Only about 15% is uncovered so far. We would pass by areas with the tops pillars sticking out of the ground and wonder what was under there. We then arrived at the commercial area where bulk items were bought and sold. The apostle Paul's family were tent makers and they bought the fabric in that area. A larger amphitheater was around the corner. This was where Paul was arrested for preaching.

 

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At the other end of the ruins was another area of shops once you go through the gate. Deb bought some scarves and I bought a watch. How could I resist, the sign said “Authentic Fake Watches.

 

We then caught the tour bus where we were taken to a rug factory. It wasn't so much of a factory; there was only one woman our front making a rug. Inside there were rugs everywhere. We were led in into a large room where they sat us around the edges and started rolling out rugs to show us. Soon the numerous rugs were stacked three high in places and covered the large floor area. It seemed to be worth their while as our group purchased two of them.

 

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Then we arrived back in port where we had the choice of running the gauntlet of aggressive merchants or get back on the ship. My wife chose the merchants. You would try to walk by one shop and the guy would tell you to come into his store, he had the best leather goods in town. As you passed the next guy would tell you that his stuff was better than the guy you just talked to.

 

We then decided to get on the ship. We had lunch in the main dining room and then went up to the room to rest from our journey.

We had put our name in a drawing to have dinner with an officer and we were selected. It was the hotel director, the one that always smiled and said, "You again," when he saw us. He said something to the effect that he just couldn't get away from us. Dinner was served by one of the best waiter teams. They didn't seat anyone at the tables around us which helped with the conversation. Mr. da Silva was articulate and was able to converse on a wide variety of topics. With us was a couple from England, a lady from New York and a couple from Oregon. We could have had wine with our dinner but since we don't drink we opted for a soft drink instead. Dinner took a long time but it was informative. He explained a lot of things the cruise line was doing. We came away with a different understanding of what was going on.

 

We hit the late show after dinner. It was three men that sang Bee Gees songs. They had people dancing in the aisles before the end. It was fun to feel the excitement.

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clarkg

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I am going on this cruise in June and am really enjoying reading about your experiences. Could you please tell me Where did you get the museum pass? It sounds like a good deal.

 

There is an information building right next to the vaperato station (sea bus station) right at the San Marco stop. That is where we got it.

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Enjoying your review. We are doing the same cruise next year. You don't mention if you used ship tour operators or found locals on your own. I would appreciate knowing who you used.

 

Also if you have any tips. I am wondering if most places take credit cards or we need to be prepared with cash and exactly how to handle that. Any info you can give would be appreciated.

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Enjoying your review. We are doing the same cruise next year. You don't mention if you used ship tour operators or found locals on your own. I would appreciate knowing who you used.

 

Also if you have any tips. I am wondering if most places take credit cards or we need to be prepared with cash and exactly how to handle that. Any info you can give would be appreciated.

 

We did private tours, In Athens we used PK Travel.

In Kusadasi and Istanbul we used Ekol Travel they had a two ports for the same price deal.

In Naples we used AP Tours

In Rome we did Rome Cabs.

Sunflower Tours in Florence.

 

We did a lot of research before we booked anything and were delighted with all of the tours and trips. Everyone was agreeable to customize the tours. The only issue we had was that Ekol wants half down, everyone else waited until the end of the tour to get paid.

In their defense, Ekol will pay all of your entrance fees and I was able to talk them into 25% down. There were twelve of us going and I didn't want to have to coordinate all the money.

 

As for the money, we got a chip and signature card from Bank of America to use over there. A chip and pin card would have been better, but it worked just fine. It was a travel rewards card so it worked out great for us as we got $95.00 off of our trip just for using it. The Europeans do better with credit cards with chips in them as they are set up for that. However all of the major hotels and shops will take the regular cards its just in the small shops that you might run into trouble.

We took a lot of US dollars in cash over there and we also brought all of it home as we could not find a place with an exchange rate we liked. I would suggest using your ATM to get Euros when you are over there as that will give you the best exchange rate. I would only do that at the major banks. It worked out well for us. We would just go to the ATM at a bank every time we started running low on Euros.

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I am loving your review and photos. We are on this cruise in Nov. I have been on the Spirit before and I adore Mr. Armando Di Silva. He is one of the most gracious people I have ever met. You were lucky that he was your dinner date!

 

I really did enjoy him, he was very knowledgeable and entertaining.

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We were supposed to dock at 8am but somehow we were docking at 9am instead so the night before I ran around letting everyone know of the time change. When we got up we headed for the buffet. I do love the omelets stations on the ship. You can get eggs cooked just the way you want them. Somehow, even though we had an extra two hours, we were running late. When we went down to the meeting point, nobody was there. It didn't take the rest of the group long to catch up with us though.

It was a long walk from the ship to the terminal. The two of our group that had mobility issues found a shuttle to take them out of the loading area; the rest of us hoofed it. Once we arrived at the terminal Yavin was there to meet us. Again the driving was scary. We were in a large van going down narrow streets with two way traffic and parking on both sides. Yavin would lead us around to explain everything to us as we went. We started in the Hippodrome. It was the sight of the ancient chariot races in Roman times. When we arrived we were suddenly surrounded by street merchants trying to sell us tour books, then suddenly they all ran off. A police man in a three wheeled scooter was chasing them.

 

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The street vendors don't pay taxes so the authorities were trying to catch them. All that was left of the site was three pillars. One of those was from Egypt. The Romans of the city had stolen it and transported it Constantinople as a memento of their great victory. Later the crusaders came and sacked the city and destroyed almost everything. We had seen this in Athens too where the invading armies destroyed a lot of the temples and shrines.

 

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After that we headed towards the Blue Mosque. The women had to wear head scarves and everyone had to cover their knees. I even saw men with scarves wrapped around their waists and hanging down so their knees would be covered. We also had to take off our shoes, but they did give us a bag to put them in. Inside the mosque was amazing. It had to take forever to make the ornate and wonderful ceilings. It was blue and white mosaic all around the domes. There were people everywhere.

 

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Hagia Sophia was closed on Monday. The massive building was built in 537AD. At first a Greek Orthodox Church, then it was a mosque and now it has been converted into a museum. The Ottoman Turks had a habit of converting churches into mosques in the areas that they conquered. We went down into the Basilica Cistern instead. It was built in 565 AD by Emperor Justinian. There are 336 pillars down there. Pillars are of different styles. Instead of carving all of the pillars they took some from captured lands. When in use the water would have been up to the roof of the structure, but there was just a little water beneath the walkway with fish swimming in it. There was two Medusa heads in the water. One was upside down and the other was right side up.

 

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We then walked over to the Topkapi Palace. The grounds of the palace were massive. We did a lot of walking just to get there. We did stop at the gift shop to relax and use the restroom.

 

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The Sultans built the palace so it overlooked the entire city. Istanbul is half in Asia and half in Europe with a bridge that spans the two continents. The bridge gets very busy at times, but there are boats and car ferries that transport people across the water also.

 

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After the palace it was time for lunch. The poor waiter had three different languages to deal with as three tables were of three different nationalities. He did the best he could. My friend ordered two things and got three, but the wife and I got what we ordered. The prices were in Turkish Lira so they had to be translated into Euros because that was all the group had. We then looked out the window and saw a massive downpour. It was raining in buckets, but by the time we got outside, it was mostly over.

After lunch we all went down to the Grand Bazaar. It covers 75 acres of shops and one could get easily lost in there. I didn't venture too far from the main street. The shopkeepers are all trying to get you into their shops, some came from blocks away and would suddenly be walking next to you telling you that you just had to have a leather jacket. We walked into a spice/candy store and the guy in there was talking to the other clerk in Turkish. When I walked up he handed me a date and told me in English how good it was. It was good. When another couple came up he switched to Spanish. When they didn't understand him, he asked them in English where they were from and when they said Germany, he switched yet again to German.

 

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After shopping we headed back out to the assigned meeting point. As we waited Judy was accosted by a guy selling perfume and my wife was also approached by a guy selling scarves. The scarves started out at 20 Euros each, but my wife got him down to 13 Euros for two. The 20 Euro perfume also became two for twenty. My friend started to have fun and bought thirteen more perfumes for 20 Euros, total. By the time the other street vendors saw that we were buying and started flocking to us. It was time to leave at that point. One perfume seller followed me for six blocks insisting that I needed to buy his perfume. When we got back to the van I commented on it and my friend says he had so many perfume guys around him that he told them I was really interested in perfume just to get rid of them. I don't know if he was kidding or not. They dropped us off at the port after that.

We walked back to the ship. We would run into pieces of our group on the ship at different activities, but nothing planned.

 

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The wife and I went to dinner way early. We were put at a window seat facing the harbor and really enjoyed watching the many ships in the channel come and go. It was mostly small ferries taking passengers between the Asian side of the city to the European side across the strait. There were also car ferries making the same journey.

After dinner we hit the show. It was a magic show and the guy was amazing. The last part of the show he did more talking than magic, but the first part was all magic tricks.

After dinner the wife went to write in her journal but I went up to the ‘not so newlywed show’. After that I went to bed.

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clarkg

clarkg

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Great review- I can't wait for more! We're going on this cruise in July and are so excited! Thanks for sharing your experiences! :)

 

Thank you very much. I am taking this from my blog so if you don't want to wait you can click on the link at the bottom of the page.

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clarkg

clarkg

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We were not scheduled to arrive in Mykonos until early afternoon so we made a day of it. After breakfast we went to the cake decorating with the Captain, the Cruise Director, the Hotel manager and the head chef. The Captain announced that if he didn't win we would all be swimming to Mykonos. I thought that the chef did the best job. The Hotel Director was the funniest. The Captain cut the top off of his cake and then frisbeed it at the audience. The Hotel Director kept putting rum on his and then complaining that it was leaking. His was just a mess when he was done. The Captain won.so we didn’t have to swim to shore. No surprise there.

 

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There was a pool deck barbeque so we stopped there and on the way through the ship to find somewhere to sit, we found My friend and his wife so we sat down with them. I think they were just finishing breakfast. It was a tender port but we were able to get on the second ship.

 

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In Mykonos, we tried to climb up the hill but it was a very long way so we gave up. We then ran into a man that said he would take us in his small pickup. He had a board tied across the back. Having the same option again, I would not have done it, but it looked fun at the time, so we did. Traffic was crazy. Narrow roads that barely held one car were two way, and they did not drive slowly either. On the tight corners they had mirrors to see if there was any oncoming traffic. I was holding on for dear life, but still nearly got tossed out a couple of times. We were taken to the top of the hill where we had an amazing view of the harbor.

 

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We then learned how truly horrible the Greek economy was from the driver. He said that they even taxed the unemployed and that the government was completely corrupt and stealing everyone's money.

 

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Afterwards we drove down to the beach. It was way away from the port and very relaxed. We had some milk shakes there while we logged onto the internet to catch up. We then headed into the little town to look around. My wife had a list of things that she wanted to accomplish, get money out of the bank, buy postcards and find a candy store. We hit a bakery where I got some baklava and a cherry pastry that was amazing. We found some side streets and started taking pictures. We then went further into the town and in our wanderings found a bank and bought some post cards.

 

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Our quest to find a candy store got us lost. My wife wasn't having a problem with it but I was tired and wasn't liking wandering around aimlessly. In our wanderings we came across the same bank that we had seen twenty minutes before. It was really frustrating me to waste all that energy walking around in a big circle. Finally my wife asked the right person and we found the candy store and the way out of the maze, all at the same time.

 

We then went back and bought some more of those cherry pastries. It was a reward for getting unlost. We then found an out of the way restaurant and I ate another gyro, it wasn't as good as the first one which wasn't as good as the Americanized one, but I ate it. My wife ate some grape leaves which she loved.

 

After we got back onto the ship we sat upstairs and watched the comings and goings below us. My wife liked Mykonos a lot better than Istanbul.

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