Day 5 - Athens, Greece

As everyone knows, the Euro Zone is voting on Greece's future. As we arrive from Istanbul everything at the airport is normal, just as we remember it from the last time we visited the land of Greek mythology...

We landed 30 min early which give us ample time (we hope) to get to the Titania Hotel, the location of the mom's conference and presentation. As we follow our map, my co-pilot wasn't able to read Greek fast enough so we got diverted around a little but made it with time to spare.

Once our package was delivered (conference presenter), the rest of the family headed to Vouliagmeni where the Westin is located. Since we have stayed here before it was a quick and easy drive from downtown.

Upon arrival, we checked in and off to the pool.

As we enjoyed the pool, someone with fun money to offload on a toy with watercraft attached to the side of their personal yacht.

We plan on spending days 6, 7, and 8 pretty much the same way...pool side with tunes and maybe a few adult beverages. After picking up our presenter at the Titania Hotel, we walked by a sports store and picked up a few water toys for the week.

Thursday we are planning a trip to the Acropolis...

Day 4 - Moving Day

Another beautiful day in Istanbul! I watched the sun come up over the Bosphorus River this morning around 5:45 am. I showered and headed down for breakfast. Today we are headed to the Hyatt Regency Hotel by the airport (http://istanbulatakoy.regency.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html) for our last night in Istanbul.

Tomorrow we leave for Athens, Greece. We have been watching the news and based on all the information we have, things are normal in Athens. As long as they are negotiating then I think everything in Greece will be status quo! We are flying Aegean Airlines (http://en.aegeanair.com) to Athens. Unfortunately Aegean is part of the Star Alliance (http://www.staralliance.com/en/about/airlines/aegean_airlines/) so we will have to pay for bags this time. When we travelled to Greece last time, US Airways was part of the Star Alliance and all bags were free.

Flight Information:  Aegean 991 (http://tr.flightaware.com/live/flight/AEE991)

Our flight time to Athens is approximately 1.5 hrs and we land around noon on Monday....

After breakfast, I walked over to Starbucks and to my surprise at 7:30 am on a Sunday the doors are closed. Can you image that...a coffee place not open till 10:00 AM. How will I survive without my Venti Ice Late? Kids be warned that dad will be grumpy till 10...LOL.

Kristen and Abey are convinced that Sunday in Europe is an official shopping day! We should have a poll to see who agrees? We made our way to the Hyatt, and the first stop was the pool and spa.

We spent a few hours lounging around and then had lunch pool side. The food was great, the mash potatoes had Kristen licking the bowl. So for dinner, Kristen ordered 3 of them...LOL (amazing what butter and potatoes can be like)

Abey and I then went out to fill up the rental car, and she convinced me to stop at the mall. However she was disappointed with the selection. What she did learn was that each floor at the mall had a them, level 1 groceries, level 2 kids, level 3, chain stores like the gap, level 4 had home furnishings, and level 5 had food and a movie theatre. We did see another Starbucks and image to our surprise a Popeye's Chicken getting ready to open.

Abey at the mall!

Puppet Show at the Mall.

Redneck made it all the way to Istanbul...

Kristen's favorite is coming soon!

As we got back to the room, kids wanted to swim one more time before we settled down for the night to watch Mall Cop 2. We have an early morning.

Day 3 - Beaches of Poyrazköy, Turkey

We started our third day slowly...Kristen slept until 11 am...not even a teenager and she is getting bad habits. Jacob and dad had breakfast and walked up to Starbucks for a our morning coffee.  We talked about what we will do today and it was an unanimous agenda...head to Asia and make our way to the beaches of the Black Sea.

The Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosphorus (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia. Turkey's location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia makes it a country of significant geostrategic importance. 

The Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge (Turkish: Yavuz Sultan Selim Köprüsü), initially named the Third Bosphorus Bridge, is a project to construct a bridge for rail and motor vehicle transit over the Bosphorus, north of two existing bridges in Istanbul, Turkey.

The bridge will be situated between Garipçe in Sarıyer on the European side and Poyrazköy in Beykoz on the Asian side.^[2] The foundation stone laying ceremony was held on 29 May 2013. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yavuz_Sultan_Selim_Bridge)

Efes is the number one beer in Turkey (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efes_Beverage_Group). Dad and Jacob enjoying a few pints.

Jacob - "Dad I can't drink this! It smells awful! "

Kristen look at me, I am the coolest!

Cruise Ship passing by as we enjoy the view from the club lounge.

Our drive from the hotel up to Riva, Beykoz a small village was about 35 mins. We crossed the famous Bosphorus bridge. Traffic wasn't bad so we made great time.  We parked for 5 lira and headed for the beach.

Kristen headed for the Black Sea!

Jacob, Abey and Kristen splashing around! It was windy today and the kids loved the big waves...

Mouth of the Bosphorus River. 

Another thing we got to see was the Turkey Soccer Federation Sport Complex just outside the village of Riva.

As we come out of the hills headed back to Istanbul, we see the skyline of the city from the Asia side of the river.

As we arrived back at the hotel, Jacob wanted a taste of home, so Kristen and I walk down the street to grab Domino's Pizza. We also picked up a few Donar Kebab for a more authentic turkish dinner.

We nestled in for the night and watched Grown Ups 2 as a family before an early night.

Day 2 - Istanbul shopping the Grand Bazzar

Well it was a good nights sleep which was much needed after a long day of travel. We woke up to a beautiful sunshiny day. Today's high was in the 80's very nice this time of year. Much cooler than back home in SC. Weather Channel indicates a great weather week. (http://www.weather.com/weather/hourbyhour/l/TUIT0013:1:TU)

Dad woke up first and headed downstairs for breakfast and the rest of the family slowly got moving. After some lazing around it was time to find....yup Starbucks! To my surprise we have one just down the street. (http://www.starbucks.com/store-locator/search/detail/5973)

After our walk back, we got the rental car and headed out on a tour of downtown. We found a place to park and first stopped at the Arasta Bazaar. As we walked through the bazaar, it was amazing that this is how some folks live. A small shop had toy soldiers, others had spices.  Most of the stores carried similar items, Kristen did purchase a bracelet but she didn't barter. How could a future lawyer (per Kristen) not negotiate the price. Yes it's dad's money that's why!

After strolling through the bazaar, we headed up towards the Blue Mosque (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_Ahmed_Mosque). Sultan Ahmed Mosque, its very busy on prayer day which is Friday. Friday is congregational worship, which has two rakats. Speakers are placed through the area so everyone can participate. Here are some men praying on a street near the Grand Bazaar.

We have various pictures of the mosques, Topkapi Palace, Basilica Cistern and the Grand Bazaar.

Grand Bazaar

Starbucks near the Grand Bazaar!

Men passing near the Basilica!

Basilica

Police present in case of protest on day of prayer!

İnönü Stadyumu under construction!

Jacob eating a minced meat turkish pizza!

Abey eating goat baked with cucumber yogurt!

Kristen eating french fries with Turkish Ketchup!

 Abey getting some school work done!

The bazaar behind the Blue Mosque!

As we headed back to the hotel, Jacob remembered that we saw the Grand Bizaar on the Amazing Race. So we looked up the season and episode. We are going to watch online tonight. Here is the link:

http://www.watch-tvseries.net/series172/The-Amazing-Race/season-21-episode-06-Get-Your-Sexy-On

I even had time to work today and attended a conference call...gotta love technology.

Off to the executive lounge to enjoy a cocktail or two!

şerefe