It is Saturday evening and haven't been able to update till now....hopefully, i can download some pictures once we get to an internet cafe on land......Wednesday, we were in Athens...what a beautiful place......and crowded!!!!!!!! There is a new transit system in place built for the Olympics four years ago and that has made the city more accessible to people. We did a WALKING tour and saw so much.....it has changed since we had the chance to be there before the Olympics. The Parthenon is still undergoing refurbishing, but what a sight!!! We saw the Olympic Temple of Zeus, the Stadium used for the first Olympic games and much more.
There were dogs everywhere......people acquired them before the Olympics in 2004 and then after the games were over, abandoned them.......the older unhealthy dogs were put down, and the younger ones were collared and set loose. They wander around the city.....people feed them.....they are everywhere. We had one or two tagging along with us....they are friendly, but SO MANY DOGS!!!!!!!!!! The weather was beautiful, our guide was very knowledgeable....it was a good time.....

Thursday, we arrived in Istanbul, Turkey at 4:00 p.m. and ran off the ship to the grand bazaar and spice market. What a city......15 million people!!! Very narrow streets....cars everywhere....traffic jams!!! They are very friendly, courteous people. The bazaar was very large.....corridors going every which way and merchandize galore with the merchants wanting to dicker and bargain. Dave, Brett, Debra and Melanie chose to have a turkish bath and the rest of us opted out of that and found a turkish restaurant......enjoyed the atmosphere...not the food.
We had spent the night, so up early Friday for a day long tour of the city.......will write about that tomorrow.......we are really enjoying the trip.....the weather has been warm and sunny everyday....hope all is fine at home.......tom and sheri....hugs and kisses for macey and connor!