At Sea

Boarding Louis Cruise's CRISTAL in the port of Piraeus.





The lifeboat drill. (No, we don't wear our life jackets to dinner.) Our fellow passengers are mostly from Italy, Spain, France and Australia. Lots of families, many teenagers. A lively roster. We're happy the girls will be surrounded by young people from so many different countries. Not sure if they need a curfew, but ours is ten p.m.











Going through the Dardenelles.














Dancing on the windswept decks, our traveling ballerinas capture the moment! (photos by Isabelle and Clare)





Enjoying life at sea.



















Formal Night. The ladies looked elegant, especially the dynamic duo, but there was not a tux to be seen and very few ties, much to Jerry's relief and delight. (He was comfortable and handsome in his long-sleeved shirt.)



























Our arrival in Istanbul! A panoramic view of the only city in the world to straddle two continents, Europe and Asia. We were greeted by dozens of friendly dolphins, two of whom posed briefly for us.
























A skyline like no other - the Blue Mosque with its six minarets on the left (the Hagia Sophia -"Divine Wisdom" - behind it) and the Suleman Mosque on the right. Why six rather than the usual four minarets? Supposedly the sultan asked the architect for four GOLD minarets, but "gold" sounds like "six" in the Turkish language, and that's what the architect heard.

Location:Aegean Sea and Sea of Marmara