Peter's Travel Blog

I keep thinking of things about Istanbul that I wanted to mention but didn’t remember them when writing the blog…   Firstly, there was the bongs…   Several cafes we passed, on the way up to the mosque, had massive bongs on the tables, and we saw several people using them in the restaurants on the bridge… all perfectly normal...

We knew today was going to be a long day. There were lots of things we wanted to see, but knew there was no way we were going to be able to see everything. It’s great having an overnighter on a cruise like this – mostly because it gives you the chance to see the place at night, but also...

Because we weren’t due to arrive in Istanbul until midday, I took the opportunity to do some painting in the cabin in the morning. Satisfied with what I’d produced, I joined Tracey on deck at about 11:30, when we picked up the Pilot to take us into port. We were lucky; the Black Watch had bagged a good parking spot,...

Today, we arrived in Yalta, our final port in the North of the Black Sea before heading South-West towards Istanbul. It was a little cooler to start off with, and when we looked out at passengers heading off on early tours, it was raining, and many were wearing winter coats and sporting umbrellas.   We headed down the gangplank to...

Today, we arrived at our second Urkrainian destination; Sevastopol. More signposts and notices with Ukrainian lettering that means nothing to us, and more of the architecture we’d become familiar with in Odessa yesterday, only not quite so ornate or pristine. Being a Monday, we expected to see more life, but, in truth, Odessa was livlier, and catered for visitors far...