Istanbul & Delos

Istanbul

We learned two things during our one-day excursion to Istanbul:

You have not met a pushy salesman until you've visited Istanbul.
You cannot see all of Istanbul in one day.

Unfortunately, most of the really impressive stuff in Istanbul was indoors. Oddly enough, they did allow flash photography, which was a shame because we didn't have a flash. So, the best we can provide is a few shots of Istanbul exteriors.

We weren't quick enough on the shutter to catch "Sultan Ahmet's Fried Chicken" restaurant near the Blue Mosque. See, the "Blue" Mosque is properly called the Mosque of Sultan Ahmet, under whose reign the mosque was built. Everything in the neighborhood is named after Sultan Ahmet, including the greasy chicken joints it seems. However, since we don't have that on film, you'll just have to take our word for it.

This is Frances outside the Blue Mosque, shortly after we had finished our brief stay there. If you turn around directly from this view you will see...

This view of the Hagia Sophia. Apparently, this was built as a church when Istanbul was still Constantinople, and it meant to be the largest free-standing structure of the time. As a result, it was the only church to survive the invasion of the Turks, who appropriated it and converted it into a mosque. Now it's a museum.

Mykonos and Delos

The last stop on our cruise was the island of Mykonos, and the nearby Apollo sanctuary at Delos. The entire island of Delos is an archaeological site, but much of it is kept unexcavated due to security issues. Apparently, some collectors will land on the island at night, break in, and steal stuff from the site.

We swear all our ceramics were bought in shops. We even have the receipts.

This is a shot from the top of the boat of two of our friends, Peter and Linda, who were one of the couples we were lucky enough to be seated with at dinner. Hi, guys! Sorry Dave & Rhonda -- no pics of you anywhere to be found!

This is a shot from the boat on the approach to Delos. Yes, the water is really that blue in real life, as is the sky.

This is a shot of the famous dolphin mosaic that's on the island of Delos. The really sad part is that those amazingly blue waters in the Aegean sea are so polluted that all the dolphins have left.

This is the Temple of Isis on Delos. This was in the part of the town where, back in the olden days, all the foreign visitors set up their temples to worship their respective gods.

The two of us in front of the famous Lions of Delos. Note that the one to our right has a peg-leg.

This is Petros the Pelican, the mascot of Mykonos. Our cruise director told us that if you get too close, Petros has been known to give tourists a sloppy pelican kiss. We didn't get close enough to find out. Linda is over on the left side of the shot. Note how Petros comes up to her waist. Yes, they really are that big in real life.

This is a photo of our dog Brownie. He wasn't on Mykonos with us, but he did help us finish off our last roll of film. He may have a Deep and Meaningful look on his face, but he's really wondering if that noisy thing in front of Daddy's face has any food in it.

To quote Porky Pig, "Th-th-th-th-that's all, folks!"

	This is Frances outside the Blue Mosque, shortly after we had finished our brief stay there. If you turn around directly from this view you will see...
	This view of the Hagia Sophia. Apparently, this was built as a church when Istanbul was still Constantinople, and it meant to be the largest free-standing structure of the time. As a result, it was the only church to survive the invasion of the Turks, who appropriated it and converted it into a mosque. Now it's a museum.

	This is a shot from the top of the boat of two of our friends, Peter and Linda, who were one of the couples we were lucky enough to be seated with at dinner. Hi, guys! Sorry Dave & Rhonda -- no pics of you anywhere to be found!
	This is a shot from the boat on the approach to Delos. Yes, the water is really that blue in real life, as is the sky.
	This is a shot of the famous dolphin mosaic that's on the island of Delos. The really sad part is that those amazingly blue waters in the Aegean sea are so polluted that all the dolphins have left.
	This is the Temple of Isis on Delos. This was in the part of the town where, back in the olden days, all the foreign visitors set up their temples to worship their respective gods.
	The two of us in front of the famous Lions of Delos. Note that the one to our right has a peg-leg.
	This is Petros the Pelican, the mascot of Mykonos. Our cruise director told us that if you get too close, Petros has been known to give tourists a sloppy pelican kiss. We didn't get close enough to find out. Linda is over on the left side of the shot. Note how Petros comes up to her waist. Yes, they really are that big in real life.
	This is a photo of our dog Brownie. He wasn't on Mykonos with us, but he did help us finish off our last roll of film. He may have a Deep and Meaningful look on his face, but he's really wondering if that noisy thing in front of Daddy's face has any food in it.