Gigi and Bearpaw travels

April 24, 2026 Today we visited the ruins of Troy.  We discovered that the Trojan war certainly was real, but the story of the Trojan horse was apparently a myth, even though there are replicas of the wooden horse located throughout the area. The city of Troy was built some 5000 years ago.  Over the centuries the city was destroyed and rebuilt a number of times.  During archeological digs it was found that there were nine levels of Troy.  When one city was destroyed (either by war or fire, etc.) the new city was built right on top of the old ruins.  The earlier levels of the city included a number of features that were rare to find at the time. One of the features was an entrance gate that was around a ninety degree turn.  This feature would prevent an invading army from using a battering ram to gain entry by force. Another feature was a ramp leading to an elevated gate.  This feature made moving heavy objects in and out easier. Troy’s downfall was sim...

April 23, 2026 We had one excursion scheduled today.  We found out that it covered some of what we had already seen over the last few days.  So we cancelled the excursion and instead went to the modern art museum that was located just outside the port authority. It was the quickest we had ever gotten through an art museum.  Ever!  There were some interesting pieces, but mostly it was not even worthy of “Meh!”.  We will probably not go back. Once we finished at the art museum we came back and chilled for the afternoon.  No plans, no schedule, no worries. After dinner this evening we heard a talk from the ship’s historian about the Ottoman empire.  It was interesting.  This is something we as Americans don’t usually hear about in school. After the history talk and dinner we called it a day and prepared to take in a movie. Tomorrow we visit Troy.  We are looking forward to seeing some history up close. Flat Lizzy spent most of the day with us....

April 22, 2026 Today was very uneventful.  It was a moving day.  We woke a little later than normal (whatever that is), had a leisurely breakfast, put our luggage in the designated place, hopped on the shuttle, and checked aboard the Viking Jupiter. We must say that the port authority building Viking uses in Istanbul is the cleanest port authority building we have ever been in.  It was immaculate.  So I’m guessing that it is fairly new. We were on shuttle number four to travel to the ship.  The lower the shuttle number the earlier you were allowed to check in.  We met another couple, from Australia, that was supposed to be on bus number nine.  We were having a good conversation when the agent came by to tell us that shuttle number four was ready to load.  Being the smart aleck that I am, I asked if we could have them bumped up to shuttle four.  Someone must have thought I was important because they were put on shuttle number four.  I rea...

April 21, 2026 Today started like nearly every other vacation day.  We woke up, got dressed, and had breakfast.  Afterward we headed out for another tour of the city. On the way to the Blue Mosque we stopped in the area that used to be a Roman hippodrome, the horse racing arena (think Ben Hur).  You could still tell where the track was located.  The grandstands of course are long gone and have been replaced by buildings, but you still got a sense of their location and the sheer size of the arena. Still located in the hippodrome area were a couple of original columns.  One was Roman and was built with blocks.  The other was Egyptian and was made of one large limestone column.  You could even tell where the original ground level was.  Over time the ground level has risen or filled in. There is an interesting story regarding the Egyptian column.  It was originally thirty meters tall but the largest ship of the day that could transport the column...

April 20, 2026 After breakfast we began our day with a bus ride through some of the city.  Istanbul dates back to roughly the fourth century BC and has had many names and many wars.  The most prevalent names have been Byzantium, Constantinople, and Istanbul.  Each time the area was conquered the victors got to rename the city if they so desired. We spent nearly the entire day in old Istanbul, which lies in Europe.  If you cross the Bosphorus you will be in Asia. Our day began at the Hagia Sofia, which was built some 1500 years ago when the city was called Constantinople.  It was the largest Christian church at the time.  When the Turks invaded and took over the city they named the city Istanbul and eventually changed the Hagia Sophia to a Mosque. The tour was disappointing as the building was being renovated both inside and out.  Scaffolding nearly covered the entire structure on the outside and massive scaffolding had been erected inside.  Furthe...