Tuesday October 1st, 2013 At Sea & Istanbul, Turkey

Disappointment today as the seas were too rough for us to visit the town of Nessebur in Bulgaria. Overnight we sailed south along the Black Sea coast from Odessa and, for the first time, we could feel the ship rocking and rolling. Without a proper port, a cruise ship stop in Nessebur necessitates the use of tender boats to transport the passengers to shore. Shortly after we woke up the captain came on the tannoy in our cabin - it's never a good sign when messages are broadcast in the cabin, it's always something serious, he delivered the bad news with grace and apologies.

So close, yet so far…

So we went to breakfast contemplating an unexpected sea day; however while munching on my toast, the captain made another announcement that they had secured a birth in Istanbul - this meant we would get an extra night in Istanbul as the original itinerary included staying over on Thursday night, the dining room let out a raucous cheer!

The entrance to the Bosphorus swung into view at about 4PM, we had camped out in the Commodore Club for an hour in order to secure some front row seats, and the ship began it's slow 2-hour transit down the Bosphorus to Istanbul. The weather was overcast with occasional rain, and this made us realize how lucky we had been when we came up the Bosphorus a few days ago.

After a leisurely cruise down the Bosphorus we finally reached Istanbul and the ship pulled into its birth at about 6PM.

In preparation for our Istanbul visit, Sandra had researched a few eating possibilities; CNN rated the 10 best kebab restaurants in Turkey and one of them was in Istanbul - Hamdi Restaurant. A quick look on Google showed that Hamdi was quite close to the Galata Bridge, about a 10-minute taxi ride from the boat dock - so I called and made a reservation. 

We were joined for dinner by two of our table mates from the ship and as we headed out it began to rain; it was bitterly cold and there was a chilling wind - quite a contrast from the rest of our cruise. Still we were excited to be having dinner off the ship and heading for an unknown restaurant in a foreign city.

As we made our way to the restaurant from the taxi we were treated to some breathtaking views of Istanbul at night. In addition to being famous for its kebabs, Hamdi Restaurant is also famous for the views that its diners get from the higher floors across the Galata Bridge and out to the Bosphorus; however, since we had made a last-minute reservation, we were not able to get a great table - the place was busy even for a Tuesday night. 

Our experience at Hamdi was excellent; the menu was very well designed with pictures of each item and an explanation of how it was cooked. In addition we had an outstanding waiter who made excellent recommendations and spoke very good English.

Appetizers, kebabs, plenty of Turkish breads and baklava - all were great!

Back on the ship we ventured onto the balcony where we had this great view back towards the city (sorry it's a bit fuzzy)…