Heraklion (Crete Island)

As faithful as the sunrise, our ship docked at Heraklion (Crete Island) at 7am on 12th Aug. As we did not sign up for any land tour, we leisurely took our breakfast at 7 something and slowly disembark after 8am. The port was huge but there wasn't much to see. We were also not familiar with the place since we didn't do our homework :P After taking some pictures and buying some postcards, we went onboard our ship again.

We explored the ship and entertained ourselves by taking pictures and doing silly things. We went to the deck where the wind was so strong, the chairs got blown n tucked beautifully under the table. Karen and I tried to recapture the moment on video but no matter how we tried, we just couldn't have the chair tucked under the table. This is the best that we can reenact the scene.

Most of the waiters on the ship were from Philippines or Indonesia. We had a good chat with one of them and got to know how they landed on the job and the working hours etc. In my younger days, I had thought of working on a cruise ship as the pay is good and tax-free. It is also a good way to see the world if you can't be a Singapore girl :P But after hearing the waiter, I was glad I did not pursue it back then. The hours are super long and it can be quite a tough job. During our few days' cruise, we saw that some of the staff held multiple jobs. They were receptionist by day, entertainers by night and when the ship is docked, they had to double up as coordinators to organize the passengers. Phew! This kind of job sure causes pre-mature aging :P

Greek Islands, here we come

11th Aug 2007. The day has finally come for us to tour the Greek Islands. We set off very early in the morning to catch our 6.35am flight from Istanbul to Izmir. From Izmir, we took a taxi and reached Kusadasi Port 50 minutes later. We sipped tea by the sea and had the best kebab at a roadside stall while waiting to board our ship 'Ocean Monarch'.

Ocean Monarch is considered small, with a capacity for 500 passengers but we still lost our way a few times when we went onboard. We set sail at 12noon and reached our first destination - Patmos island at 4pm. With 63km of coastline, an area of 34 sq km and a population of 3000, Patmos is considered quieter and more peaceful than the other Greek islands. Patmos has always been one of my must-visit places as this was where God gave the apostle John a vision of the endtimes and commissioned him to write them down. That formed the last book, Revelation in the Holy Bible.

We joined a land tour and visited the Monastery of St John, founded in 1088. As it was summer, there were a lot of visitors and we had to take turns to enter the church. Patmos is indeed beautiful, evey corner is worthy of photography, be it the church bells, staircase, cobbled courtyards or the panoramic view of the Aegean sea.

The Cave of the Apocalypse, inside the Church of Aghia Anna (St. Ann) was the place where John lived and worked while he was exiled by the Roman emperor Domitian in 95 AD. It was here that the book of Revelation was written. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed inside the church.

We walked a lot under the scotching sun and were glad to find a drink stall at the hill. I bought a 1.5 litre of mineral water for 1Euro for fear that we might not have enough time to get it after the land tour. When we reached Skala, the main town and port in Patmos, we realised that we could get six 1.5 litre bottles of water at 1.80Euro. Chey...I carried 1.5kg for nothing.

I took some pictures of the nice little corners at Skala before we boarded the ship again at 7.30pm.

We set sail at 8pm and were scheduled to reach Heraklion, Crete island at 7am the next day. The sea was very rough that night and we could hardly walk a straight line, not to mention sleep. My neck, shoulders and back were aching and the constant rocking of the ship made it worse. I woke up at 2 something in the morning after barely 3hours of sleep. I got to know the next day that my mom and Karen also woke up around that time.

On our own

For the first time, we three ladies went sightseeing on our own without any guides on 10th Aug. We took the hotel’s shuttle bus service to Sultanahmet and continued on foot for the next 4 hours. Our main destination today? Grand Bazaar.

Armed with a map and my vague memories of Grand Bazaar’s location (my friend brought me there once 3yrs ago), we embarked on our adventure. It was a bonus for me when we came across Yerebatan Sarnici along the way, also known as The Basilica Cistern or The Sunken Palace. I’ve been wanting to visit this place during my previous trips but didn’t get to do so till now.

Yerebatan Sarnici is a huge underground cistern built by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I during the 6th century. I would never expect to see such a huge cistern beneath Istanbul. I was pleasantly surprised and extremely impressed by the architecture when I descended the 52 stone steps that led to the cistern. It was said that the Byzantine palaces and surrounding buildings got their water supply from the cistern during that era. One of the scenes in James Bond movie ‘From Russia with Love’ was shot here. We tried to take pictures and video, unfortunately the pictures were not ideal due to the dim lightings.

After we left Yerebatan Sarnici, we walked for another 500-600m before we reached Grand Bazaar, one of the largest covered bazaar in the world. We spent over 2 hours browsing through the colourful merchandise on sales. You could find almost anything over there, but bargain is a must. We bought some shaws and bags at pretty good prices.

We rushed back to Sultanahmet to catch the shuttle bus at 2.30pm and reached the hotel at 3pm. We rested a while and proceeded to Galleria for our lunch. To me, that was the best lunch I’ve had since I arrived in Turkey. First, we found a foodcourt. Next, I got my Chinese food and the quality is not bad too. I ordered fried noodles and a plate of fried vegetables (something I miss a lot after eating salad for days) What a wonderful reward after a hot and long walk at the Grand Bazaar!

We shopped around after lunch but didn’t get anything as the style was not to our liking. Generally, men shoes are very fashionable and affordable in Turkey. Sale prices are usually around 99 YTL for genuine leather and the designs are fashionable. I can’t say the same for ladies shoe. I personally find the designs too loud and impractical, and the quality is also not as good. We left shortly as we need to prepare for our early flight the next day.

Bosphorus & Sunset@Marmara Sea

It was 9th August morning in Istanbul. Happy Birthday to Singapore :D We did not fly the Singapore flag but we saw lots of Turkey flags in the city.

Our itinerary for this day was to go for the Bosphorus cruise. Separating Turkey into two Continents - Asia and Europe, Bosphorus is a straits that links the Black Sea and the Mamara Sea. Our boat set off at 12pm for a 1.5hour cruise before stopping over at another port for lunch.

This was my second time on the Bosphorus cruise so the excitement level was not as high but I think my mom and Karen enjoyed it. Cruising down the Bosphorus offers one a different view of Istanbul. Lining the shores were endless rows of beautiful Ottoman wooden houses (called Yali in Turkish), palaces, schools and many other buildings that exude an old world charm. There were also two majestic-looking suspension bridges on the Bosphorus. The first bridge (1074 m)was built in 1973 and is called Bogazici Bridge or the Bosphorus Bridge; the second bridge called Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridge (1090 m) was built in 1988.

Karen and I had fun taking pictures/videos and soon we reached this port where we were to disembark for lunch. We had lunch at Yosun restaurant, which is just by the sea. The restaurant serves typical Turkish meal. We ordered fish as we were getting tired of eating meat. Karen and I ordered a fried fish and grilled chicken to share but the portion was still too huge for us. My mom's fried fish order has 16 fishes (about 10-12cm each) and some vegetables. She commented she has never eaten so many fishes in her life! Well, me too. The weather was extremely hot, the seaview made up for it, thankfully.

After lunch, we hurriedly got onboard again as the boat set off at 3pm. It was another 1.5hours cruise back to where we came from. We felt sleepy after lunch and the humid weather made it worse. We couldn't a seat at the open deck and had to make do with the cabin which was not air-conditioned. Eventually we got a seat at the open deck but we were about to disembark soon.

We saw these boys fishing at the pier and not too far away, a hawker selling what seemed to me like pickles and snacks. They appear very relax, it is not uncommon to see Turks by the beach, pier, parks, cafes enjoying themselves anytime, anyday.

We rested at our hotel before venturing out to the beach next to my hotel to catch sunset. It was a picture of bliss and tranquility before our eyes. My mom has always wanted to see sunset and the sea. Here in Turkey, I am certain the number of times she experienced this was much more than she ever thought she could in two weeks :)

Istanbul vs Singapore

Some facts about Turkey for people who has loads of complaints about Singapore.

Parking in Istanbul is expensive. Regardless if it's downtown, the average parking fee for an hour is US$3. One of the carparks we went to (at Taksim Square) charges were:

First hour 5.50YTL
1 - 2hours 6.50YTL
2 - 4hours 8.00YTL
4 - 8hours 9.ooYTL
8 - 12hours 10.00YTL
12 - 24hours 12.00YTL

Petrol is not cheap either. We make noise when our petrol prices went up to S$1.80/litre. Over in Turkey, one litre of petrol costs 2.80YTL (S$3.22). Cars are cheaper though. I was told a BMW 330 sports car costs approx 65k Euro. Then again, the traffic is really bad. In one of our worst evening peak hours jam, I fell asleep and woke up only to find our car moved metres away from where we were. Forgo the car and take the metro (MRT) you say. But their metro network only has about 5-6 stations in the whole city.

We make a big deal of our 2% hike in GST but the VAT Turks pay is 18%. And if you're thinking of visiting a public toilet, be prepared to pay 0.50YTL (S$0.58). The most expensive toilet I've been while in Turkey charged me 1YTL (S$1.15) and there was only one cubicle, no aircon or exhaust fan. As you can imagine, I was losing more water than I should while getting my business done.

Foodcourts are also a rare sight in Turkey and I think we have more varieties and cheaper prices here. Of course, there's also something about Turkey that makes us envy. Housing for one, is cheaper than ours. We pass by this condomunium each time we travel to the city. It's a new development in the prime area and it faces the Mamara Sea. I was told the floor area ranges from 160 - 200 sq feet and costs between USD300k - 400k a unit.

Oh, it's freehold too. There's no such thing as 99 or 999 year lease over there as land is plenty. Anyone interested?