July 24, 2015 Skiathos Island. Home of part of the Mamma Mia movie and neighbor of Skopelos another Mamma Mia Island

Today we visit the island of Skiathos which is approx. a 2-2 1/2 hr. cruise from Volos.
We left Volos at 9 pm last night and arrived in Skiathos at 8am. The captain must have taken a very slow speed to make the trip to Skiathos.

We had to take a tender from the ship to the port- a ten minute ride. The port was very scenic and beautiful.
Lots of yachts docked in the new port. The island ferries docked at the old port.
We walked along the promenade from the pier towards the old port where there were cafes, restaurants, shops and markets.  Above the old port was a  Church that was in Mamma Mia. We took the stairs for the hike up to the Church.
The view from the Church plaza was breathtaking- we saw the city below as well as the sea where our ship was  moored.

We took another way down that let to the main pedestrian street that goes from the Post Office to the docks of the old port. Lots of people about- tourists arriving, tourists departing, cruise ship visitors and locals.

This island is my idea of a place to restful place to stay compared to the hustle and bustle of Mykonos and Santorini. It is green and the weather more mild than the Cycladic Islands. Not so many high end shops nor jewelry shops every 10 feet.

 view of old port from tender

 new port

 views from Church plaza

 pedestrian area

 promenade

 ferry to Skopelos

 new port promenade

 Normally we try and have lunch in every port we visit and today was no exception.

 We stopped at Nikos Taverna Restaurant for a gyro and fries. The usual Greek food was also available but we wanted something simple.

After lunch we walked up towards the Post Office and then slowly headed back to the old port to take the tender back to the ship.

If I could on a future trip I would like to come back to Skiathos and also visit Skopelos.

July 23, 2015 Our visit to Volos gate way to the monasteries at Meteora

Today we will visit the port city of Volos. The main reason cruise ships stop here is that visitors can take an excursion to the Monasteries at Meteora.
Since we had seen them on a previous visit to Greece we did not sign up to go. Another factor why we did not go was that it was an 8 hr trip- 2hrs there and 2 to return.

Instead we took the shuttle bus to town to do some sightseeing, shopping and have lunch.

Downtown has a good selection of stores and shops as well as the ubiquitous number of coffee shops.

After a stint of sightseeing we stopped at a cafe for refreshments and a break.

To our surprise the server brought us complimentary donuts- what a treat.

After a break we continued walking downtown and found the Church in the center plaza. We went in and lit candles and then continued our stroll.

We then started walking back to the bus stop along the promenade looking for a restaurant to have lunch before returning to the ship. We stopped at the tourist information office and got some literature about Volos and asked the two men working there for a restaurant recommendation. The directed us to continue walking towards the bus stop and to look for Dionysus seafood. It was one block away and when we stopped we looked at all the tables and diners and saw appetizing seafood and Greek salads.
We sat down and ordered a Greek salad, fries, appetizer and two entrees. The portions were Huge.
Food very fresh and delicious. Had we know the size of the entrees we would not have ordered the appetizers.

After enjoying our repast we continued on to the bus stop to get the shuttle back to the ship.
Since it was so hot and humid we headed to the cafeteria to get a scoop of ice cream to cool off.

Volos is very close to Skopelos-Mamma Mia Island- and Skiathos - our next stop and where some of Mamma Mia was filmed.  One could have taken the local ferry for a day trip to Skopelos to see the actual places where Mamma Mia was filmed.

July 22, 2015 Canakkale (Kepez) Turkey - tour to Troy

Today we are going to dock in Canakkale- near the ancient site of Troy.
Canakkale is about 200 miles from Istanbul by ship.
This is one port visit that played a factor in taking this cruise. We will be able to take an excursion to the ancient site of Troy and then into the city of Canakkale to visit the museum.

Sailing into the port we were able to see the two monuments dedicated to the Turkish and ANZAC soldiers that died at Gallipoli.

 British

Turkish

Our ship was able to dock which made it easy to get off the ship and find our tour bus. The port is unimpressive- see photos. It did have a small gift shop which we visited when we returned from our tour.

 City views

Weather was sunny but very windy at the port.

Our bus ride to Troy was about 20 minutes. There is nothing but land/fields surrounding the site of the ruins.

The biggest surprise when we arrived at the museum was the giant Trojan horse. It was open to climb up and stick your head out the window for photos.

Our guide took us around the excavations explaining how the site was discovered and scientists are still digging.  The ruins are on a hill or bluff and have a view of the lower land towards the Dardanelles.
The tour of the site is via a path and wooden bridges over the excavated parts of the ruins. Fortunately there are handrails and benches along the path.

Visiting Troy was one of the items on my bucket list. It was an incredible place- per the guide the walled portion was not very big.  On the way out we saw a chariot and had to have a photo.

If you have a chance to visit Troy do it.!

Our next stop was the museum in Canakkale. It was not very big but had some nice artifacts.
The only drawback was all the descriptions were in Turkish! How can one read about what is on display if one does not read Turkish. I mentioned this to our guide who was an expert on Troy and he said the museum will be relocated to a location near Troy.
Hopefully the curators will update the descriptions by adding English.

Our ship was scheduled  to leave at 3pm so we did not have any time to go into the city and sightsee.

I really enjoyed this visit.

July 21, 2015 a day in Istanbul/Constantinople

We  took a back to back cruise from Piraeus to Istanbul (Constantinople) and return. Today passengers debark and new ones embark for the trip to Piraeus.

I had contacted our guide from previous visits to Istanbul and Ephesus and booked him to guide us today and on the 25th when we are in Ephesus. It was a fluke of good luck that he had other tours in Ephesus and was able to be with us then. More on July 25 post.

Since we were in Istanbul in May 2013 as part of a group we saw some Churches that we wanted to revisit privately with our guide.
We arranged to meet at 9am at the pier and our itinerary was:

• Patriarchate and Church of St. George
• Church of Mary of the Mongols- was supposed to be on May 2013 tour but bypassed.
• Monastery of the Mother of God at the Spring 
• Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora
• Maria"s garden restaurant
• local pastry shop

We had made some inquiries to see if it was possible to have an audience with His All Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew but his office said he was unavailable. This is our third attempt and maybe we will be successful the next time.

Our guide Arman gave us a tour of the Church of St. George showing the tombs of Sts. interred in tombs in the Church as well as part of the column where Jesus was flagellated before his crucifixion.

We then stopped at the gift shop for some gifts before we left the grounds to walk to our next destination, the Church of Mary of the Mongols.

The Church of Mary of the Mongols was a few blocks from the Patriarchate and up many flights of stairs at the top of a hill. We went through a neighborhood that used to be all Greek until the 1920's when the Greeks were resettled out of Turkey. It is pretty rundown and some of the homes as well as the Church and the High school have high walls topped with barbed wire.

Fortunately the stairs have landings and railings to hold onto for safety. Once we reached the top we saw the high school on our left and the Church on the right. The door was locked and Arman had to shout for the caretaker to open the door and let us into the courtyard. 

We then walked to the church entrance and then into the church. It is the only remaining Byzantine Church in Istanbul and never converted to a mosque.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St._Mary_of_the_Mongols

We then walked a short distance to see the front of the Phanar Greek Orthodox College, he oldest surviving and most prestigious Greek Orthodox school in Istanbul, Turkey. The school, like all minority schools in Turkey, is a secular school.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phanar_Greek_Orthodox_College

We then started our descent back to the main road to our van. We passed through the neighborhood and noticed the old homes. Arman said that the area will be redeveloped and the old beautiful homes destroyed.

Our next stop is the 

Monastery of the Mother of God at the Spring .

In May 2013 we had a visit with our tour group but it was short and incomplete. We could not go to visit the tombs of the Patriarchs because the caretaker was washing the grounds.  

On the way here we passed the Greek cemetery which was locked up for security reasons.  It is open on Sundays for visits.

At the Monastery we visited the Church, the underground springs and then went to the courtyard where the Patriarchs and important citizens were entombed. 

Greek Cemetery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St._Mary_of_the_Spring_(Istanbul)

Once we were done we went on to the next stop, 

Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora (Turkish: Kariye Müzesi, Kariye Camii, Kariye Kilisesi — the Chora Museum, Mosque, or Church).

Photos from 2013 visit

Again we are revisiting a site we saw in 2013. At that time the Church was very crowded with tourists and it was hard to hard to hear Arman explain about the icons on the wall as well as see them.

We were fortunate then that the center of the Church was open for us to see.

When we pulled up in the van for the visit we saw that the dome of the Church as well as the surrounding walls were covered with tarps- supposedly for the rehabilitation of the structure. We were there on a weekday but saw no work or workers on site.

There were few people in the Church so we were able to hear Arman explain about the life of Mary and Jesus. Per Arman this one of the few Churches that have icons of the life of the Virgin Mary.

2015 photos

 Vendor near the Chora Museum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chora_Church

If I ever go back to Istanbul and have time I would visit this Church again along with Agia Sophia. Both are beautiful and inspiring.

Since it is now approaching noon we are on the way to Maria's Garden Restaurant from lunch.

In the last several years Maria has had a show on Mega TV and now Alpha TV featuring scenes of Istanbul and the surrounding area where she cooks local dishes. She even cooked on a  Bosphorus cruise.

She is a renown chef and has won awards in Turkey for her cooking.

http://merveozaytekin.blogcu.com/benim-hayatim-yemek-yapmak/4761535

http://www.mariasrestaurant.net/

The restaurant is in  a residential area of Istanbul. It has indoor and outdoor seating. Since the weather was warm we chose to sit outside. The menu has a variety of vegetarian and meat dishes. We chose the lamb stew with pureed eggplant and beef kabobs. The eggplant was fabulous. I never ate anything so light and fluffy before. We topped off the meal with Turkish coffee and a slice of homemade orange cake. Delicious.

Time is running out and we have to head back to the ship. We planned one more stop at a well known pastry shop to buy some sweets to enjoy on the ship. This shop is near the old cruise terminal. When cruise ships stopped at the old terminal, debarking passengers would leave the port and see all the pastry shops and restaurants across the street.

The new cruise terminal is in an isolated area a couple of blocks from the main street and the tram. No local pastry shops or restaurants close by. There is a Starbucks approx. 5 blocks away.

After purchasing our sweets we boarded our van and the driver took us to the cruise terminal to board our ship. We bade goodbye to our guide Arman and the driver and thanked them for a great day of touring Istanbul.

Our next stop will be the port of Canakkale to visit Troy.