If Istanbul is proud of its airport, it’s absolutely wild about its underwater port!! As proud as it may have made Türkiye, it pretty much made us wild with worry. An underwater port?? How does that work, exactly, we wondered. We expected, & certainly hoped for, an above water cruise! By the time we’d experienced this modern wonder, we also wished for a somewhat more direct approach to our ship! It was impressive, I’ll give them that; the buses drove into a spotless underground area where they were met by security officers with ferocious dogs. The dogs (to our great relief) searched the luggage holds of the bus then cleared us. When we reached the end of the line for the buses we began the familiar security dance; lines, machines for the bags, bins for the electronics, belts off & a pass through the arch that I always send into conniptions (I have metal in my neck, shoulder & back & always get wanded at the very least. If I get patted down I always smile at the woman & tell her it’s a lot more fun when my husband does it.) After passing through security & passport control – & walking for what seemed like miles – we reached the Viking check-in area, a long walk followed, through a duty free shop which everyone thought strange, &, at long last, we turned a corner, spotted daylight, & started up a last ramp. There – above water – sat Viking Sky, in all her splendor & a welcome sight to weary travelers. We tramped up the gangway, sanitized, presented our cards to the machine, were warmly welcomed by name, handed icy cold cloths for our hot faces & glasses of champagne then found ourselves at the elevators, free to roam the ship (& have a second lunch) or search out our quarters.

As long ago as we booked this cruise, our stateroom is still far, far aft; nearly in the stern. It’s on a great deck, just a long walk. We met our room stewards (they’re the best), but, still, it’s a daunting walk & we’re learning not to forget anything! Since we had already eaten & our luggage was waiting for us in the room, so we got right to unpacking. The penthouse stateroom is quite large with a nearly incomprehensible number of drawers, shelves, nooks & crannies. I guess we didn’t overpack; we needed extra hangers, but actually have empty drawers. Everything fit neatly in the bathroom & the passports & wallets went into the safe. From here on we’d carry only our ship ID aboard & a backpack when we went ashore, cash & credit cards secured in zipped pockets in Larry’s safari shorts. Actually, we let someone convince us not to bring any shorts – a decision we deeply & immediately regretted. By the time we boarded the ship, however, Larry had remembered that he had brought a pair of safari pants because they are lightweight & have multiple pockets. Then he remembered something else; they turn into shorts as quickly as you can pull a zipper & remove the lower legs!)

The following morning we had breakfast (Eggs Benedict) & took our first excursion of the cruise, around Istanbul. The old city walls still stand & are extensive & beautiful. There are 5,000 mosques, many of them huge, & there are too many minarets to count. They all have loudspeakers for the call to prayer…five times a day (loud & endless). We walked forever, had an hour & a half “free time” (read “thrown to the wolves”) in the spice market & entered a mosque, minus our shoes, ladies with heads properly covered. I was interested to learn that, while Christians are asked to “tithe”, or give 10% to the church, Muslims are expected to give only 1/40th. We then boarded a big boat for a wonderful cruise on the Bosphorus, up the European side & back down the Asian side right back to our ship (after that endless walk through Galataport!) By the time we reached the ship we were hungry again & found our way to the World Cafe, skidding in just in time to eat before it closed at 2:30.

There’s plenty to do on the ship, pools for example, & a wonderful (included) spa with a hot tub, wave pool, steam room, snow room, bucket (of cold water) shower, sauna, plunge pool, & showers. There’s even a cruise industry-renowned afternoon tea. There’s just no time to partake since the Port Talk is at 4:15 in the theater, followed a bit later by a talk by the resident historian. Both are available on the TV in our stateroom as well. And the stateroom deserves mention. We are in a Penthouse Veranda Stateroom (PV1); huge by cruise ship standards, it’s 338 sf with so much storage that we didn’t fill all the drawers. (We actually had a “junk drawer”). It has floor to ceiling glass on one end with a slider opening to a full width veranda. Very nice!

There is a wonderfully comfortable king-sized bed, very firm; I sleep better on a Viking cruise than I do anywhere else on earth! The sitting area has a couch AND chair, a coffee table AND a desk, and there is counter space all across that side of the room with drawers and shelves below. The minibar is stocked with alcoholic beverages as well as mixers & snacks, refreshed daily…& at no additional charge. There are more drawers in the closet which is big enough that it accommodated everything even after they brought an extra dozen hangers. Pressing is included and there is a laundromat on every level so it’s a breeze to throw in a load, set a timer to move it to dry and send it out to be ironed. Viking provides the detergent and I never found all the washers busy. Probably enough about the ship. I’ll revisit it in a blog just about Viking and this cruise.

Then it’s time for dinner &, frankly, bed. Tomorrow we visit Troy & I am beside myself with anticipation.