Istanbul - Turkey

5th November 2009

Hello from the amazing Istanbul, where the East really does meet the West!

I have visited Istanbul on many occasions and have seen quite a lot of change over the last 29 years as the city has become more westernised. Many years ago Mandy and I had a memorable meal in a restaurant which was actually on the Galata Bridge over the Golden Horn. At that time tourists were quite a curiosity to the locals, particularly those with blonde hair!!

As promised today I am going to tell you about my trip ashore in Venice on the 31st October.

I had the great pleasure of being on the Navigation Bridge for an hour and a half doing the commentary on our approach. I then went down on the quayside to help the tours department dispatch the seven tours available in this port. I had my trusty fold up map of Venice with me and also gave assistance and advice to a great many passengers travelling independently who were not on tour. It was a bit on the chilly side on the quayside, only 9c at 8.30am but it did warm up later on in the day and reached a high of 18c, which made it a perfect day to be in Venice as it was not too hot, just clear and sunny.

After my stint on the quayside I quickly got on my jeans and walking boots and headed off to the Rialto Market to the delicatessen Casa Parmigian, it took me half an hour to walk there from Stazione Marittima where Oriana was docked, it then took me 35 minutes queuing up before I was served! The deli was full of locals, with children and dogs in force, apart from myself there was not a tourist in sight! When I was eventually served I just pointed to the biggest slice of Parmigiano Reggiano I could see and asked for it to be vacuum packed, it cost 56.54 Euros, and is 2.57k!!! It’s a really big slice and should last my wife Mandy at least nine months! The deli is wonderful; it’s a little local piece of Venice among the thousands of tourist shops available.

To get to the deli I walked over the new Ponte della Costituzione, (Constitution Bridge), across the Grand Canal, it was only opened on September 11th 2008 and the designer was Santiago Calatrava. It links Piazzale Roma with the railway station, and has a span of 590 feet. The bridge links the Piazzale Roma with the railway station, it is only one of four across the Grand Canal, the others being The Scalzi, (built in 1934), the The Rialto (built in the late 16th Century) and The Accademia, (built in 1932), Venice in total has 409 bridges!

The Grand Canal is the most famous canal in the world and has 46 side canals entering it, 48 alleys running down to it and 10 churches built along it. It is two and a half miles long and runs from the Piazzale Roma to St Marks Square, it is between 98 to 230 feet wide and no more than 15 feet deep.

After I crossed the new Constitution Bridge from Piazzale Roma, I walked alongside the Sante Lucia Railway Station, which was built in the 1930s when Italy was under the dictatorship of Mussolini. It has 8 platforms and is used by up to 450 trains a day! Most people arriving in Venice do so by train.

The trains travel to Venice across the railway bridge that was opened in 1846 and has two tracks each way, this is 2.39 mile long and is across the Venice Lagoon.

There is also a road bridge that runs alongside it called the Ponte della Liberta. It was opened in 1933 by Benito Mussolini as the ‘Ponte Littorio’ but renamed after WW2 as the Ponte della Liberta, (Freedom Bridge) to honour the end of the Fascist dictatorship and Nazi Occupation.

I do hope you enjoy the shots I took of my day in Venice!

The new Ponte della Costituzione, (Constitution Bridge), it spans the Grand Canal.

Sante Lucia Railway Station, shot taken from across the Grand Canal.

Rialto Market Delicatessen ‘Casa Parmigian’ without me!
Rialto Market Delicatessen ‘Casa Parmigian’ with me! I was on my own at the deli so I had to ask an American tourist if he would please take this shot. He must have thought I was mad having a shot taken outside of a deli when the Rialto Bridge was 100 metres away!

Ponte della Liberta road and Railway Bridge.

A typical shot of the magic that is Venezia.
Paul Loxton, (Headliners Theatre Company Show Singer), and Kathy Jones, (Executive Purser), at our Venice Classical Music Inspired Sailaway. Paul looks rather pleased to see Kathy, I wonder if it’s anything to do with the Bellini he’s drinking! We play all types of music at our sailaways but always classical when we depart Venice. Kathy and Paul have known each other for many years, and have worked on a number of company ships together.

Venice is unique, you must go, or go back!


Bye for now.

Nigel