August 15 Istanbul, Turkey

August 15, Monday - Istanbul Turkey - Day 2

We woke to cloudy skies and went to breakfast. At least the clouds would provide some relief from the burning sun. We have enjoyed all of the sun, but we have gotten tired of the accompanying heat.

After breakfast, we gathered our things for the day and left our room. When we approached the elevator a lady getting off said it was now raining. We had felt a light drizzle on our veranda and thought it would pass. She was quite wet so we returned to our room to wait it out. Surely it would not take long.

I was able to log in to Accuweather and learned that this unusual storm would not pass until mid-afternoon. We puttered around our room clearing up some odds and ends and went for an early lunch in the Lido. It was still raining. The visit to Tony’s church would have wait.

I went into the terminal to use the free wifi. Login required a password and the instructions were in Turkish. A gate attendant kindly entered his cell phone number on my phone in the space provided. His phone rang. He opened a message and entered the code on my phone. He indicated this would get me in and walked back to his post. Well, several minutes passed without access. Just as I was about to go back to him my browser opened and I was online.

I worked until a little after 3 (3:30 was all aboard) uploading pictures by day for my blog. That is the slowest part of the process onboard. Now I just have to work on the text and insert the pictures where I want them.

Back in our room Alice and I talked about how lucky we were that we had not booked any tours here. Many of the passengers on tour got soaked. Some said they had to walk through puddles several inches deep. Their shoes were totally soaked. We remember the discomfort of that from getting our shoes soaked in the leaky tender on our charter before the cruise.

This storm was unusual for its strength and the lightning that came with it. It was the first rain we experienced since leaving home on July 2. This would all have been very disappointing if we had not been here before. 

Here are a few pictures taken during the storm.

We retired happy that our visit was not ruined.