Istanbul At Night ! .....see the concierge

We had heard this announcement repeatedly as the ship was entering the Bosphorus to dock overnite at our port in Istanbul. We were probably on day three or four of our Greek Cruise, and were really not 'that into' going on another group gathering. It was late afternoon & we had pretty much decided to stay on board ship, but the hype for trip was persistant. Oh, what the hell, everybody we had made an acquaintance with was going, so we decide to sign up as well.

The rule is to take your identifying tag from the roster as you disembark. We are close to our destination when I realize neither Vicki nor I had ours. Oh well, we are one big happy family here........no problem. We were'nt the only ones to forget. So we load up in our transport vehicle and set out for our Istanbul by night excursion. And, what an excursion it turned out to be! We unload, shuffle & stand in line what seems forever. Our group must have been the last to arrive, because by the time we were seated waaaaaay back in a corner, (binoculars would have been handy), the bellydancing had already begun. OMG! not another BELLY DANCE! We had seen 'our fair share' since leaving Oklahoma eight or ten days ago. After about thirty minutes of this, and, still no drinks served to our table, I told Vicki I had seen enough & was ready to go back to the ship. She was too, so we bid our table farewell and headed out. As we leave the nightclub & head up the street to find a taxi, we notice several military men standing guard with rifles.......what the heck is this about? hmmmm, this is strange......and, I'm a little concerned. We see a lone taxi parked. We climb in & tell him we want to go to our ship. 'Solonu', please.......he doesn't understand......'solonu, solonu'..(is this the right word)? 'Ship, ship', still nothing, so we get out & run up the street and around the corner. Oh, this is much better, there are several taxi's lined up. We hop in another one....'solonu please'...he smiles & nods. Just as we are about to pull away from the curb, a buddy of his starts hollering something & runs over & climbs in the front seat, and away we go. They're chattering away and now I'm getting really concerned. I look down & notice both back seat doors are minus door handles! We can't escape if it comes to that. My mind is going places I don't want it to go....what can I do to defend us against these characters? I look at Vicki with non verbal communication, but don't want her to know how frightened I have become. I secretly start feeling around in my purse for something to use as a weapon, only to find a few swizzle sticks I had collected along the way. Not very comforting, but they had sharp points & were better than nothing. Then another horrible thought,.........we didn't take our disembarkation tags! They would'nt even know we were missing. What seems forever, we keep winding around narrow streets & I keep asking 'are we there yet'? & they keep talking & laughing with each other. We top a hill & just below sits the harbour & the glorious sight of ships. STOP!, STOP!.....the driver stops, I throw him enough money & they let us out. Thank You, Jesus. We are safe! I learned Vicki had exactly the same thoughts running thru her head as me during our taxi ride. She had also searched her purse for a weapon. The ship was still several blocks away, but we didn't care! The streets were dimly lit, but we didn't care. As we walked along, we could hear foot steps behind us, so we sped up. The foot steps behind us sped up....another fear creeps into my mind. 'Run, Vicki, run'...the foot steps are running........'Mrs King, Mrs. King! We stop & turn around. It was one of the steward's aboard ship. We walk back to the ship together, us telling him our horrifying experience and have a big laugh. As we board ship, it becomes crystal clear why they were promoting 'Istanbul by night'.......the ships Captain was throwing a huge party for another ships Captain docked next to ours. We were invited to join in and had a way better time than those still sitting in an overcrowded nightclub watching one more belly dancer. Can't remember your name right now, Mr. Steward, but will never forget that nite!

Next morning we head out for a wonderful day of historical sight seeing. Istanbul is the only city in the world that spans over two continents, Europe & Asia. We got to have the experience of standing on the suspension bridge connecting these continents. We went inside the Blue Mosque, then to Hagia Sophia, a Christian cathedral, The Hippodome, & the Grand Bazaar which has literally thousands of shops. It was a wondrous, exhilarating, exhausting day. We set sail in the evening, on to Ephesus.