Seabourn Cruise - Athens to Istanbul

(June-July 2015)

By Mandy Brown

For seven fabulous days we cruised on Seabourn Odyssey around the Greek Islands, skimming the edge of Turkey, up through the Dardanelles and finishing at one of the most beautiful cities, Istanbul.

This cruise was our second, having cruised the Caribbean with Seabourn on-board Odyssey’s sister ship, Sojourn. As cruise ships go Seabourn is a great fit for us, which is one of the keys to finding the perfect cruise ship for anyone. Seabourns crew make you feel like you are part of their family right up to the Captain. The luxury of course is a drawcard and the fact that there can only be a max of 450 passengers on-board ticks our box.

Our Itinerary was very busy with full day stops at a different destination every day:-

Saturday Depart Piraeus(Athens)

Sunday Santorini

Monday Rhodes

Tuesday Patmos

Wednesday Kusadasi (Ephesus)

Thursday Mykonos

Friday Myrina

Saturday Arrive in Istanbul

Our first morning waking up to the beauty of Santorini was exciting and the excitement was felt throughout the ship. I was surprised with Santorini as I had never realised that the villages didn’t run down to the sea, but were perched very high up on the Volcanic rock that the island is made of and the ship was anchored in the Caldera far below. The black rock glittered in the sunlight and the blue of the sky made the beauty of the white and blue buildings shine.

Our second morning was very surprising. We had arrived in Rhodes and you would have been forgiven to think you had arrived in a medieval English or French town. Standing proud is the 14^th century Grand Master’s Palace built by the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem as the residence and administrative centre of the Grand Master who oversaw the Crusades. The beautiful cobbled streets have been beautifully restored and maintained. Now days the Gothic architecture coexists with mosques and other buildings dating from the Ottoman period.

We arrived at Patmos on our third day and anchored off shore as the very small harbor couldn’t accommodate our ship. We ferried across to the small town and my husband and I decided we would hire scooters and drive ourselves around this small island. I had seen a picture of a beach online many months ago and the title declared that this beach was the clearest in the world. I couldn’t remember the name of the beach, but on viewing a video of Patmos I saw it presented as being on this lovely island. I knew it was sort of horseshoe shaped with a very small entrance from the ocean. We scooter around the Island stopping for coffee along the way and then as we were coming down a slope in the road I looked down and there it was, “My Beach”. That was the highlight of my Patmos visit and I can tell you it was extremely clear and lovely.

The next day we woke to much more excitement as we had arrived at the port of Kusadasi, Turkey. Only a 30 minute drive away is the incredible ancient city of Ephesus. We spent a couple of hours wandering the ruins of Ephesus, admiring the beauty that is still there and dreaming of what it once looked like. The marble roads, the Roman baths, Library, Theatres and the restoration of the Terrace Houses give you a very strong sense of what life would have been like living there. Later on in the evening all the passengers ate an early dinner and then along with some of the crew piled into buses and were taken back to Ephesus arriving at about 8ish. We all walked through to the Marble road that lead up to the huge theatre. Set up were lots of tables and chairs beautifully decorated along with beautifully dressed waiters offering Champagne, Wine or whatever your choice was. We were then entertained by a small, but impressive group of musicians. Looking up at the colours hitting the marble of the theatre before us changed with the setting of the sun. An evening that everyone agreed would be well remembered.

The next day we were back in Greece and arrived at Mykonos. The bright white, blues and reds of the buildings were a giveaway to being a Greek Island. We managed not only to find a Zorba the Greek Café, but our own Zorba the Greek playing his Sabouna, a bagpipe type musical instrument. We found the windmills again, having seen them in Santorini and Patmos. They never seemed to go around and with just sticks as arms with no actual wings I’m still not sure how they work and what they are for. Along with Santorini, Mykonos is extremely touristy. The maze of very small alley ways are difficult to navigate as they are, but with great numbers of people passing through them it can be near impossible. Luckily we were the only ship in the harbor along with a few super yachts, but I can’t imagine what it would be like with large cruise ships carrying thousands of people visiting.

The last Island visit of our cruise was Myrina. Situated very close to the beginning of the Dardanelles and Gallipoli. This Island’s hospital was used during the WW11 by many New Zealander’s either as patients or staffing. The Islanders are extremely fond of New Zealander’s and a cemetery with some of the fallen can be found nearby. Being such a small island and so very far from mainland Greece the Greek Government were going to close the schools and hospital and other services as a saving cost, but in doing so it would have destroyed the island. The Islanders revolted and stood up to the government and they backed down. Of course they are very pleased to have cruise ships calling in to spend some time.

As we sailed away from Myrina we were all getting into party mode as this was our last night and the whole crew were coming out to celebrate with the passengers. It was fantastic fun around the pool with amazing food, great cocktails and music to dance to. The Captain was in party mode too, well until he had to leave us to meet the pilot who would be assisting the ship through the Dardanelles. He did let us Kiwi’s and the Aussies know that at 8pm on the Port side of the ship we would be passing the ANZAC and Turkish Memorials at Gallipoli. I am so glad I have seen them and as we were sailing past we didn’t know until a few days later that some boys from Scots College in Wellington were taking a photograph of us. It was then shared and re shared I imagine on Facebook and ended up being sent to me. The world’s a village!

The next morning we woke up and knew that the cruise was over. We were pulling into port in Istanbul. It wasn’t until we were up and having our last breakfast that were looked out at the city and thought wow how amazing. I’m glad we have some time here to explore, but that’s another story……….

At the end of the Caribbean cruise my husband made a deposit for a future cruise, which if you do entitles you to a 5% discount on any cruise you book in the next 4 years. It also makes you start thinking about another holiday to plan. And yes he did it again. He’s clearly won over by Seabourn like I am.