CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE BLACK SEA ON LE PONANT August-September 2004 This is a description, as the title states, of the first ever circumnavigation of the Black Sea by a passenger ship. Zegrahm Expeditions put the trip together and used the 56-passenger French motor-sailer Le Ponant. Although the 30-person crew was French, the Expedition Leader and staff are all from the United States or English. 8/25 Here we are at Uncle Tom's Cabin setting off on an international flight. As usual, chaos reigns. We threaded our way through the general chaos to find the specific chaos of Lufthansa. As we learned when we boarded the plane, Lufthansa has a very large business class section. Therefore it took over 20 minutes for us to check in. Then we encountered the greatest delay, courtesy of the ever efficient TSA. We had to enter a serpentine second line with our luggage for the TSA screening. This was truly classless. All three classes for the 747 were merged into one line for the one very thorough government representative to inspect. After 50 minutes we were free to pass through the personal security check point. There is a check point on either side of the very wide terminal. We found lines for each stretching much over half way across the width of the terminal. The lines to both check points overlapped. Fortunately the line moved with surprising speed. After only 1½ hours of standing in various lines we were free to find the Lufthansa Business Lounge. (First class has a separate lounge.) The lounge was a pleasant place to wait. A group of people on a Sports Illustrated Olympics trip joined us in the lounge. They were advertisers or clients of SI and were being treated to the last four days of the Olympics plus a cruise afterwards. We boarded the plane and departed on time. Business class gets the part of the 747 that has no pilots however we made it to Frankfort on time, after an 11-hour flight. After a long hike we found the lounge which was located right next to our gate. After a pleasant interval in the lounge we went to the gate at the appointed time, only to board a bus and drive and drive to the far end of the airport. Lufthansa continental business class seems no different seating-wise than steerage. There are six seats across located on rather narrow pitch. The differentiation is that the center seats out of each three are not occupied. The free booze and food are the other differences. When we reached Istanbul we quickly passed through immigration and eventually found our bags. We then found the guide who was to take us, along with two other passengers and one of the staff lecturers, to the Ritz-Carleton. We arrived just in time for the welcome cocktail party and dinner, however we needed to "freshen up" before attending. As befitting the recent terrorists attacks on tourist hotels in Istanbul, we were subjected to security checks at the hotel. First the underside of the van was inspected with mirrors before we were allowed to enter the drive. Then our luggage, including hand-carried, were X-rayed. We had to pass through a metal detector. This was required whenever we entered the hotel. After dinner I showered and went to bed. The elegant bathroom with bath oil and salts in our room at the Ritz-Carlton lured Jodie into a hot bath where she slept until midnight when she went to bed. 8/27 Istanbul After the included elaborate buffet breakfast in the hotel we had a full day of touring. We started at the site of the Roman Hippodrome which is now just a big open place with some obelisks surrounded with shops and covered with strolling peddlers. From there we strolled to the Blue Mosque. We removed our shoes and placed them in plastic shopping bags to carry along with us. We also had to pass inspection to verify that shoulders and knees were covered. Scarfs were provided for those who needed them. There was a young man, not part of our group, who was wearing shorts. He used a scarf as a pareo to cover his knees. The large, domed interior is beautifully decorated however the suspended lights interfere with the views. The fixtures were once oil lamps but were converted to electricity. Of course, all the wooden floors are carpeted. Our final morning stop was the Haghia Sofia, once the world's largest domed structure. It started life as a Christian church and along the way became a mosque. Most of the Christian decoration was plastered over and covered with Moslem script. It is now a museum and some of the mosaics are being uncovered. One of the things Atatürk did when he came to power was to decree that all Christian churches that had been converted to mosques were to become museums so that there could be no arguing as to which religion should be able to use it. We returned to the hotel to check out and have lunch. It is very difficult to carry or even wheel any luggage through the lobby. Someone instantly materialized to handle it for you. In the afternoon we visited the Süleymaniye Mosque and Topkapi Palace. Entry to both places required passing packages through an X-ray machine while the people passed through metal detectors. The mosque seemed a bit better than the Blue Mosque, although it had the same distracting light fixtures. Topkapi displays artifacts from the sultans. The final rooms are filled with gaudy, bejeweled things, including the World's largest diamond and John the Baptist's hand encased in gold and jewels. When the palace complex was functional the kitchens fed hundreds every day. The kitchens were in a long building with multiple chimneys. Each chimney was atop a very large cone in the ceiling of the building. All cooking was done over open fires. There must have been a continuous supply train bringing food stuffs and fuel into the complex. We boarded Le Ponant somewhat after 4 pm. The ship is a three-masted motor-sailer. A single Diesel engine provides propulsion when 16,140 ft2 sails are not appropriate. We were all on deck for the sunset sailing up the Bosporus.. (There was no sighting of either Jason or any Argonauts, just a constant parade of commercial shipping working their way through the crossing ferries.) Everyone, especially Captain Maxime Baleste, held their breaths as we passed under the first of three suspension bridges. The tall masts easily passed under. We returned to the top deck after dinner as the sails were raised. Eventually the engine was shut down and we traveled by wind power alone all night. It was rather rough. The heel of the ship required us to walk downhill to the toilet. 8/28. Amasra, Turkey When we woke up we found that the heel caused our bathroom floor to flood. After a morning at sea we entered the enclosed harbor of Amasara. This is a moderately sized town that seems to be a minor resort area. We came ashore for a nature walk which was mostly through town. Eventually we passed a Roman ruins. We were warned to not take any pictures of a military base we passed, although there was nothing to see. Jodie took a picture of a bunch of really cute kids waving at us through a fence, then realized that it was part of the base. A guard with a machine gun just waved at her. Eventually we headed up a very muddy hill, passing through peoples' yards. We finally turned back when it became very steep. The only birds we saw were chickens and domestic ducks. We had passed a tent on the way up. There was a man in front who waved to us. When we passed on the way down he and two women were emerging from a grove of trees. He was carrying a pack basket. They had been harvesting hazel nuts and gave us some. They didn't seem to expect anything from us in return but seemed quite pleased when Jodie took their picture. We encountered several residents walking as the two of us were returning. They all spoke a few words of English and some even welcomed us to their country. They seemed genuinely friendly. A light rain began as we reached the zodiac. We made it back to the ship before the real downpour. Those returning later looked like drowned rats. 8/29. Yakakent, Turkey We arrived off of Yakakent in early afternoon. Zodiacs took us ashore where we boarded big tour busses for the town of Bafra. In Bafra we changed to little vans for the remainder of the trip to the Kizilirmak Delta where we were told we would see "many hundreds" of bird species. We did see many storks both on the way there and back. When we arrived at the preserve headquarters we found the ground literally covered with small frogs. In the course of a brief hike we saw some mist nets that trap migrating birds so that they could be banded and then released. There was little else to see, and, it started raining. We stopped several times on our way back to Bafra to photograph nesting storks. We also stopped in the middle of a wedding party. Sunday is the day for marriages and circumcisions, both with much celebration. Jodie opted to return in the "birders" van. They found a nice marsh area with an small but interesting array of birds. This van came all the way back to the ship, arriving just in time for sailing. Although this is a Moslem country, Sunday is the day of rest. Atatürk decried this along with all the other reforms he directed when taking power. He also secularized the country and put all the mosques under government control. The government writes the sermon that is read in every mosque every Friday. I know that this doesn't sound like secularization however the Imams do not have the control that they do in most other Moslem countries. A word about mosques; if it has only one spire it was constructed by a private party. Because of all our stops, we had no time to spend in Bafra but rather rushed back to the ship once we got back to the big busses. Speaking of the big busses, they are following us as we move along the coast. The same busses, drivers, and guides have been at every Turkish town, including Istanbul. They put in very long hours driving between our stops - no unions here. 8/30. Samsun, Turkey Today was Turkish Independence day. This commemorates the victorious end of Atatürk's war to drive the occupying countries out of Turkey. Because of this I was expecting that nothing would be open. Most stores, however, were open and workmen were working of road construction projects. We left in the morning for Amasya. This old town lies in the Ye ilirmak River valley. This narrow valley with precipitous rock walls allowed easy control of passage from the coast to the inland plains. Nine civilizations have lived here, from the Hittites to the Ottomans. There are Roman tombs carved into the valley walls, along with the remains of fortifications. We arrived just after the Independence Day celebrations but there were still several good photographic opportunities, such as the group of Korean War Veterans. We walked along the river bank until we reached a bridge which led to the Old Town. There are many restored, and unrestored, Ottoman houses there. The Ottoman houses are constructed with wooden vertical posts. The gap between the posts is filled with any convenient material, such as stones or hunks of wood. Then the whole surface is plastered or stuccoed over. Modern construction is surprisingly similar. The basic, load-bearing structure is made with poured-in-place concrete posts and lintels which have steel reinforcing inside. Then the gaps are filled with hollow, red clay tiles which are not load bearing. Stucco covers the whole surface. During our stroll we were startled by a loud explosion. There is an old Italian cannon emplaced in one of the fortifications at the top of the valley walls. It was fired continuously until the afternoon call to prayers. Our stroll also took us to a functioning mosque where worshipers were following the proscribed cleansing ritual with the outside water faucets before entering. While we were waiting outside the mosque an ambulance delivered a body accompanied by several men. When someone dies their body is washed and then placed in a casket and then taken to the mosque. It stays there until the next time of worship when special prayers are said. Then it is buried. Only men participate. Women must mourn at home. If the deceased is a female a scarf adorns the head of the casket. We boarded the buses for a steep drive up the side of the valley to the Ali Kaja restaurant. Our tables were set on a tree-shaded patio overlooking the town. The meal started with a plate of various Turkish items. I can't remember all however there were cucumbers in a mint/yogurt sauce, a very spicy red item of unknown content, a pea salad they called Roman salad, and flat bread. All this was washed down with either Turkish beer or wine. There were also bowls of locally made fresh yogurt that was very good. The meat course consisted of a chunk of chicken, lamb chunks, ground lamb. The meal concluded with a fruit plate. We left around 3 pm to return to the ship. 8/31. Trabzon, Turkey We set off in the morning on our usual busses for a visit to the Sumela Monastery. When we reached the lower parking lot we transferred to small vans that struggled to the top. One must go up then down some rather steep stairs to reach the ruin. Upon first sight we were reminded of Mesa Grande in Colorado. The craftsmanship here was quite a bit better. Many walls and ceilings had been decorated with frescos however the Moslems, as usual, did their best to destroy them. When we left we were given the option of walking down to the lower parking lot rather than riding. The switch-backed trail was slick from recent rain and had, in addition, many little round rocks that would roll under foot. It was, however, not a bad hike. The wild flowers were beautiful. After lunch on the ship we visited Aghia Sofia church and Atatürk's villa. The villa is a revered place and filled with memorabilia of Atatürk although he spent only three days there. It had been owned by a Greek merchant. We asked the guide about some ships tied up in the harbor. He said that they were Russian ferries. The majority of the legal prostitutes in Turkey are from Russia and are brought in on these ships. They are permitted to stay for 6 months. While working, they must have a medical examination every week. 9/1. Poti, Georgia We have left our familiar busses behind in Turkey. Georgia is still suffering from the collapse of the Soviet Union. There are abandoned buildings and factories everywhere. Unemployment is 60%. We drove through the countryside to Kutaisi to visit the Gelati Monastery. This is a typical Russian Orthodox monastery that has seen better days, although it is still functional. Everyone was bustling about because Ilia II, the Patriarch of the Georgian church, was due for a visit. When he arrived he was escorted in with great pomp. Shortly after his arrival Nino Burdjanadze, the female Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, arrived. We left before a US senator and the US ambassador arrived. We encountered their entourage as we were driving back to town. Almost all the cars we saw in Georgia were old, nondescript Eastern block econoboxes. All of the cars we saw parked outside of the monastery after the arrival of the dignitaries were either new Mercedes or BMWs. This definitely isn't a classless society. Along the way the guide told us that there are no public restrooms available so that we would have to make use of "bush toilets," which we did at one stop. Lunch at a local restaurant featured many different kinds of cheese. We were entertained by a wonderful and talented group of children performing traditional dances. After lunch we were to visit the Bagrati Cathedral however the road was closed so after hanging out for a while we went back to the ship. We were escorted both ways by two policemen driving a private car with bald tires. Their function was to allow us to bypass the many security check-points we encountered. Jodie went to the museum in Poti. The locals tried very hard to show what life had been like. Although there was no electricity available they had borrowed a small generator to illuminate the displays. The rural areas seemed to be in better condition than the urban areas. One frequent sight was grazing live stock being tended by a herder. There could be a single cow munching on the road-side grass with a child or adult sitting nearby or there could be several head of stock. We also encountered pigs wandering unattended in Poti. 9/2. Sochi, Russia After Georgia, the prosperity of Sochi was quite a contrast. It is a very popular resort area where people have come for years to "take the waters." There are many fine hotels, including four Radisson/SAS facilities. The holiday makers also dot the beaches bordering the Black Sea. The only beaches I saw were covered with large round stones. Apparently some have much smaller pebbles and perhaps some even have sand. As we drove out of town we saw piers jutting out into the sea in front of many of the hotels. Some have walled-off areas near the end. Since the walls were low I assume that they provided windbreaks for the Sun bathers. Sharing the road with cows and goats, we drove over an hour to reach Krasnaya Polyana, a mountain resort area. The route led up a increasingly more narrow canyon. Eventually we reached a point where there was a line of stopped traffic. A large section of road beyond that point was one lane so we had to wait for our turn to proceed. When we did we encountered a very narrow, twisting road clinging to the sides of the canyon. This area is being bypassed by a tunnel which will open next year. Our first stop in Krasnaya Polyana was at an apery where we tasted four kinds of honey served with crepes. This was accompanied by a good, local tea. After the honey tasting we indulged in an unproductive hike up the service road for the chair lift. Some members of our group rode the lift to the top of the mountain and encountered rain and a 20o temperature drop. We didn't buy any honey since it was very expensive. They claim great medicinal value for honey similar to what is claimed for vitamins here. Lunch was at a local restaurant. The first course was cold cuts, cheese, and bread. The meats were tongue, very greasy salami, a very spicy, red beef jerky, and ham. The main course was local, farm-raised trout. Local wine and beer accompanied the meal, both quite good. For dessert we had delicious ice cream. After lunch we made our way back to the ship which immediately left for the Sea of Asov. As we left the ship we had to stop at an inspection station where they looked at our passports and then issued us tourist cards. When we reached the terminal building we had to pass through passport control where they entered our information into computers and stamped our passports. When we returned we again passed through passport control where the information was again entered into the computer and our passports stamped. When we reached the inspection station at the gangway we returned our tourist cards. We learned of the Chechen rebel seizure of the school after we reboarded the ship. We also learned that the authorities thought for a while that there was a bomb in one of the warehouses near the ship. 9-3. Sea of Asov and Kerch, Ukraine We spent most of the day at sea. A large part of it was passing through the very wide channel between Russia and Ukraine to enter the Sea of Asov. As we approached the channel we passed a very large number of anchored freighters, crane barges, and other vessels. There seemed to be no exhaust from any of their stacks so I assume that they are inactive. This part of the Black Sea and the Sea of Asov was off limits during the Cold War. This was apparently because of the industry located in the Ukraine. Now all of the industry is gone, the machinery stripped from the plants by the Russians, and the vacant buildings stare out to sea through broken windows. We picked up a pilot to guide us through the winding channel into the sea. It curved and stayed close to the Ukrainian shore. A large lighthouse on the Ukrainian shore marked the inside end of the channel. We curved around it so that we were well out of the channel and then dropped our anchor. Several people swam and one of the Zegrahm founders, Jack Grove, attempted to water ski without success. After about an hour we got underway back up the channel to Kerch. Kerch was an old Greek town so it was appropriate that we visited the ruins of Panticapacum, located on the slopes of the highest hill in town. The ruin was really a ruin with little to distinguish it from the rocks. We then visited the recreated tomb of Demeter. The original was heavily damaged in a flood in 2002 and has been sealed until it can possibly be restored. The replica includes exact copies of the beautiful frescos that adorned the original. Both of these stops were not very interesting. We did briefly encounter a group of four young girls who were roller-blading on the street outside of the tomb replica. We were sitting on the bus waiting for the remainder of our party to return from viewing the tomb. One of the girls skated up beside the bus. Jodie waved at her. She grinned and waved back, then quickly retreated to her friends. Soon she came back and we both waved. Again she returned our wave and then went, giggling, back to her friends. Before we left they were all standing beside the bus waving and continued as the bus departed. Our last stop was the most interesting and reminiscent of Maes Howe. This was Tsarskiy Kugan, or the Royal Tomb, built in the 4th century, BC. Like Maes Howe, this is a giant dome of earth covering a chamber constructed of mortar-less stone slabs. Entrance is by a long passage way with a stepped triangular shape. The roof of the burial chamber is constructed concentric rings. One further similarity to Maes Howe is that it had been looted long ago. When opened in 1837 it was empty. We were fortunately able to finally spot some hawk (or sphinx) moths outside the tomb. These are very large and have flight patterns similar to hummingbirds. Since there are no hummingbirds outside of the Western hemisphere the moths fill the same niche. 9-4. Yalta and Sevastopol Entrance to Yalta was quite spectacular with the Sun reflecting off of the many onion domes adorning the various churches. After clearing immigration we strolled up and down the heavily developed beach front. Like many of our other Black Sea stops this is a thriving resort city. And, like some other cities, the beaches are covered with rocks. There were quite a number of delightfully attired young women. Typical clothing is an extremely tight top of some sort accompanied by very, very short, tight shorts or mini skirt. While on the walk we saw what might be Capitalism's ultimate triumph; there is a heroic statue of Lenin whose view is now a McDonalds. After our stroll we went up to St. Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral. The exterior is quite beautiful with many brilliant gold domes. When we entered we found a service underway, attended mostly by women. They were gathered around the priest who was singing or chanting. There was a women's chorus responding to him. The interior was as beautiful as the exterior, adorned with many ikons. After the service a group of women spruced things up. They polished the floor, dusted, and removed the candle wax from the carpet with newspaper and hot iron. We then boarded busses for a ride to Livadia Palace, the summer home of Tsar Nicholas Romanov, the last tsar. This was the location of the Yalta conference near the end of WWII, attended by Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. The circular table they used is still present however it has been moved from its original location in the grand ballroom to make room for very long tables for current conferences. After the tsar and his family were shot by the Bolsheviks, the palace was used for various things, including a convalescent hospital. Now it has been restored to closely resemble what it may have looked like during the Romanov's occupancy. Lunch was at the palace. It consisted of items that the tsar's chief might have prepared. It was also accompanied by copious amounts of Ukranian vodka. It was by far the best lunch we have had so far, perhaps the best meal we have had anywhere on the trip. It was only 5 courses rather than the 15 the tsar would have had. Jodie passed up dessert for some power shopping in the very nice gift shop. She was accompanied around the shop by the English-speaking manager who carried a basket for her purchases. When I went to tell her that we were leaving she was just checking out. I asked how to pronounce the name of their currency, the Hrivnja. The manager explained that the "H" is pronounced like a "G" and then gave each of us 1 Hrivnja as a souvenir. For me, things deteriorated after lunch. The group was split in two, with my group going to the submarine tunnels in Balaklava. I had left things on my seat. When I got on the bus I found someone else in my seat and had to search to find where they had dumped my stuff. I wound up sitting is the middle of the last row on the bus. When we reached Balaklava we strolled a short distance along the water front and then waited. Eventually a sail boat pulled up and 10 passengers boarded. Soon another boat showed up and 10 more boarded. This continued, slowly, until all were on boats which made a brief circuit of the harbor and then deposited us on the other side at the entrance to the armory tunnel. This was a massive tunnel complex in which ammunitions were stored, atomic weapons assembled and stored, and submarines maintained. The Soviet atomic weapons had very critical storage requirements, both for temperature and humidity. It is difficult to understand how they would survive a field environment. There is no longer any lighting or ventilation in the tunnels so many of our group carried the provided flashlights. There isn't much left in the tunnels, just the structures themselves. We never saw anything of the submarine area. To make matters worse, we had to rush our departure and the bus wouldn't even slow down as it crossed the bridge at the entrance for photographs. Jodie went on the archeological tour which was much better. They visited Chersonesus, a Greek ruin overlooking the sea and a beautiful church where the choir was rehearsing. This was the largest Greek port on the north coast of the Black Sea. It was founded around 525 BC. The reason for our rush was to reach the diorama depicting the battle for Sevastopol during the Crimean War before closing time. It is quite remarkable, however given the size of the group and my always being the last off of the bus I was always in a location where I couldn't hear the narration. The diorama consists of a mural combined with manakin figures and is presented as if you are standing on top of Malachov Hill. Thus as you walk around the circular platform you are treated to all aspects of the battle, in which the greatly outnumbered Russians defeated the English and French armies. Trying to take pictures of the diorama is like trying to view the Grand Canyon through a key-hole. The ship dropped us off at Yalta and picked us up in Sevastopol. We were able to see some of the countryside by bus. We were supposed to view the ship sail by, under sail, however the president was in residence at his seaside dacha which required the ship to remain 4 miles off the coast. We drove by many stands selling onions and miles and miles of vineyards. Notes on Le Ponant The shower is circular and 28" in diameter. There is a small refrigerator under what could be a dressing table. The two 240 v outlets use round pins and are located at the dressing table. There is also an outlet above the mirror in the bathroom. There is almost no storage space available in the bathroom, just a small shelf which will hold pills. In addition to the two-door hanging closet there is a third closet with shelves by the couch. The two end tables have drawers however they are almost too small to be of any use. There is no place to hang things to dry except in the shower. The walls are metal and will take magnets. The big suitcase will not fit under the bed however the duffel bag will. The bar charges for alcohol and mix separately, i.e., scotch is $4.50 however a scotch and soda is $9. They use Perrier water. The ice bucket in the room is replenished daily. A word about the ship's stability; it rolls heavily. When the sails are up the deck is canted slightly to leeward and it rolls. When using the engine it just rolls. In the dining room one night, which is in the bow, the rolling caused things on the tables to fall over and one passenger fell out of his chair. All of this has been in very moderate seas. 9-5. Odessa We were given the option of taking a bus to the promenade where a walking tour was to begin or climbing up the 192 Potemkin steps. Jodie opted for the bus. (Dale opted to remain on the ship near the "facilities.") There were many musicians of all ages along the promenade playing a wide variety of music, hoping for a donation. We also saw many wedding parties because the "wedding palace" was nearby. We also viewed the exterior of what was claimed to be a beautiful opera house. It was difficult to judge since it was hidden behind scaffolding. We also visited the silver-domed Ilinsky Cathedral and the fine arts museum housed in a former palace. We also visited the tomb of the unknown sailor. Children are supposed to act as the honor guard at the tomb but weren't present during our visit. Because of the renovation of the opera house we were entertained at the travel agency salon by a male and a female opera singer and a string and piano trio. They were quite good however too loud for the size of the room. The performance ended with a champagne toast. We walked back to the ship through the business district and down the 192 steps. Even though the ship was within easy view it was a serpentine route to reach her. 9-6.. Danube Delta The Danube Delta has the largest concentration of reeds of anywhere in the world. After a night of rolling it was pleasant to enter the breakwater at the entrance to the channel. This was not a natural part of the river but rather a channel that was dredged to move access away from a route controlled by Russia. As we proceeded up stream we encountered small settlements, open cultivated fields, and finally reeds. All along the way there were birds, causing Greg Homel, the bird man to go wild. We finally reached a small settlement where we transferred to a smaller, shallow draft boat which took us into some of the natural, winding channels of the delta. The bird life became much more profuse. The reeds present an almost solid presence broken here and there by trees that grow on patches of land that are above the water level. Here and there we encountered cows. Lunch was served aboard and boat, consisting of a salad plate, some kind of fish, perhaps catfish, and grilled chicken. Eventually we worked our way back out to the dredged channel where we found Le Ponant waiting for us. It had moved further up the channel after dropping us off. We then turned around and made our way smartly back down to the Black Sea. We had to exit the channel before sunset. 9-7. Istrea, Romania After our pleasant break from busses yesterday we were again on a bus. It took us across the vast rolling steppes of Romania to the excavated site of a Greek fort. What we saw was mostly the remains of a Roman fort since they built on top of the Greek fort after they kicked the Greeks out. It was a little difficult to determine what was in its original state and what had been rebuilt. There still wasn't a lot left, just enough to get an idea of a basic floor plan. There was also a museum at the site displaying artifacts recovered from the dig. Part of the group eschewed ancient ruins for bird watching. After making a token pass through the ruins they wandered slowly back up the road looking for birds and were quite successful. Perhaps the highlight was watching a harrier flush out a sandpiper. The group was picked up by the bus on the way out. We got back to the ship and had lunch then made a quick trip into town for a bit of shopping. At 4 pm we again boarded the buses for an hour's drive to a restaurant for wine tasting and entertainment. We were greeted at the door by musicians, violin, string bass, pan pipes, and accordion. We found 8 glasses at each seat. They poured 5 white and 3 red wines ranging from dry to sweet. All were Romanian and unremarkable although we bought a bottle of cab which was the best of the lot for about the equivalent of $9 US. The musicians continued playing during the tasting, at times accompanying a very talented local professional dance group. We got back to the ship and had dinner at 8:15 as the rolling resumed. After dinner Greg presented an illustrated talk about the virtues of digital video photography which included some remarkable close-ups of birds. He concluded with video he has taken of passengers on this trip. 9-8. Neseba, Bulgaria This was our last full day on the ship. We had been told we would have a morning at sea and were therefore surprised when we were alongside by 7 am. Turns out that the staff had planned to stop at sea and indulge in some water sports however the day turned out cold and windy so we came on in. This was nice since it allowed packing on a stable ship. Right after lunch we set off on a walking tour of town. It was a strange mixture of Roman ruins surrounded or buried in tacky souvenir stands. The streets were jammed with tourists. It seemed that most of them were German however I did hear some English spoken. The streets were paved with very large, uneven cobblestones, making it very difficult to walk without looking where you placed you feet. All in all, an unsatisfactory introduction to Bulgaria. The Captain's farewell cocktail party and dinner were that night. Contrary to any ship I have ever been on, the passengers were required to buy their own cocktails at the party. We did venture out onto the aft deck for a single glass of champagne for a farewell toast. It was free! In fact, we managed to get two. 9-9. Istanbul, Turkey We have completed our circuit of the Black Sea. The ship entered the Bosporus around 4 am and docked around 7. We left the ship at 9 and were transferred to the Ritz-Carlton. It took about an hour to get checked in. They had our reservation however they didn't have a nonsmoking room with a view of the Bosphorus. They did have a park view room available however Zegrahm had not negotiated a rate for that room and the desk clerk couldn't give us a rate. We took the park view room temporally. While we were getting ready to leave a heavy shower broke out so we delayed a bit. About the time the rain quit we received a call from the desk stating that our room was now available so we moved. Then we set out for the Galata Bridge. It was a very long walk down through a bustling shopping district. We reached the bridge after about an hour and found the restaurant complex underneath. We selected a restaurant based on how it looked and if the personnel spoke English. We found one displaying a platter of fresh fish and discussed them with the manager. We decided to eat there. After we were seated this same platter was brought to our table and the waiter discussed each kind of fish with us. We selected the turbot and he told us the price would be 70,000,000 lira a kilo then they weighed it at our table. We also had a bottle of Turkish wine. It was a very pleasant 1½ hours dining while looking out at the boat traffic on the Golden Horn. After our meal we continued on across the bridge to the Spice Market. This is an incredible complex of little shops selling everything, even spices. Many booths had piles of a lime green power. I finally asked what it was and found out it was henna to turn your hair red. We didn't buy any. We returned to the hotel by taxi as the rain was resuming. We enjoyed cocktails in our room while watching the traffic in the busy straits. While we were drinking, the attendant prepared the room for sleeping. This was no simple thing. He first removed the bolster and cover from the bed. Then he placed a white mat on the floor on each side of the bed upon which he placed slippers. Of course he placed chocolates on each pillow and then handed one to each of us. He put a bottle of water and glass on each side table and got out the terry-cloth bathrobes. His final action was to turn on the TV and hand me the remote. We had a very pleasant dinner at the hotel. During dinner a brief fireworks display broke out along the waterfront. 9/10 We finished our packing at 5 am and checked out before 6 am. As we left the hotel I noticed that a manned police car was parked just inside the hotel drive entrance. A cab whisked us off to the airport. I was a little concerned because the driver kept straddling the white line. I suspect he was as sleepy as I was. When we entered the terminal we found that we, and our luggage, had to pass through an immediate security inspection. All luggage was X-rayed and we went through a metal detector. We were then free to find the ticket counter. After processing our tickets the agent gave us an invitation to the business lounge but added we probably wouldn't have time to use it. Since it was only 6:40 and our flight was at 8:10 I thought we would have time. That feeling changed when we encountered the line at passport control. By the time we passed through there clearly was not enough time to bother with the lounge so we headed toward the gate. At the gate we found another screening point, X-ray and metal detector. Our flight to Munich boarded and left on time. We reached Munich with over an hour to make our connection. We headed toward the gate and found another security screening point that we had to pass to get to the gate area. The flight home on the A320 was especially pleasant since it had recently been equipped with flat reclining seats. They are especially comfortable and allow sleep. The food and service were also good. This aircraft was also equipped with wireless Internet access, $29.95 for unlimited access and a per-use rate that I didn't learn. We arrived at LAX on time and quickly passed through immigration and customs. We were home by 4 pm. As always, it was good to be home. Now we faced the major task of unwinding the 10 hour time difference.