Mediterranean Iconic Shores Ocean Cruise

Day 5: Monday, November 03, 2025 - Cappadocia, travel, and Istanbul, Turkey

The day's statistics:
-  Weather: upper 50s, light rain
-  Steps: Linda: 8,718; Steve: 13,039
-  Miles traveled (approximately): 1,150

Today was going to be an interesting day as we had to travel back to Isantbul.
Our luggage was to be out at 6:30. So we put them out before heading to breakfast.
We enjoyed another buffet breakfast, sitting with Helen, Suzanna and Claude, and another couple.
We had to be on the bus at 7:30. On the way to the bus, I headed inside to drop off our key.
The walk to the bus was downhill, so it wasn't that bad.
We caught the sunrise, just in time.
These are two shots taken moments apart, but one has the exposure a little higher than the other. But I liked both effects and decided I wanted to keep them both.


The landmark of Cappadocia.

We passed the area where the hot air balloon rides were held. Either they all hadn't come down yet, or there was another batch in flight.

We were approaching our first stop this morning - and it actually wasn't the airport.
We were headed to a family ceramic factory called Vanessa Seramik.

We arrived and went inside.

The tour start off with a Hittite decanter pottery making demonstration.
The master potter, using a foot operated spinning wheel, created a four-piece (spout, handle, basin, base) round wine decanter (traditionnly, the decanter is supposed to be used with the pourer putting their arm through the hole, holding the decanter at their shoulder, grasping the small handle at the top, and pouring wine from it while bowing as a sign of respect). It took him about fifteen minutes to make and assemble the entire decanter.








After the master potter completed the piece, he used a string to cut it in half to show how symetrical and even it was.

There were a number of nice pieces on shelves around the perimeter in this room.


After the demonstration, we were brought into the show room to see some more exquisite pieces.
A couple of the patterns include a Turkish classic descign by "Mr. Red" (a famous artist), the Tree of Life, the Silk family design, and a lace design, plus a couple more.

Along with numerous other nice pieces, there were round plates on the wall demonstrate the various phases of the pottery process, from right to left.
First is the bisque, then the design outline, then the colored design, the white overlay, and the final fired piece.

There was a set of pieces that were painted with phosphorus paint so they would glow in the dark.

After the glow-in-the-dark demo, we headed upstairs to the main showroom. The instructions here were rather brief. We were told that the large main room had pieces from apprentices, while the other rooms had a wide variety of pieces that were created by masters, and, let's just say, worth a little more. OK, a lot more.
There were a lot in nice pieces, but the highlights were the pieces from Mr. Red.



We were told that this was their end-of-the-year as they get a lot of traffic, especially from Viking, but we were one of the last ships to be in the area until next year. So they were willing to bargain a little.
After perusing, we departed and headed to the airport.

We arrived at the airport at 9:25 - one of three or four buses - and queued, just to get inside.
We had to go through security, which didn't take too long, and then we got on line at the ticket counter.
It was a crap-shoot regarding which line to get in, but there were about six agents checking people in.
Eventually it was our turn, and I put our checked-bags on the belt. Linda's was 16.4 kg (36.2 pounds), and mine was 17.3 kg (38.1 pounds) since I have bigger shoes...
Then we sat in the waiting area. Linda chatted with Suzanna and I chatted with Claude for almost an hour.
Then they called us for boarding. And we had to go through a security check. Again. (I don't get this because we had to go through security just to get into the terminal, why do we have to go through security again to get on the plane? If anything, we have LESS to check now because some of our bags were checked.)
After we got through security, we stated to queue again, and a security guard specifically told us to get on another line - and it was honestly cutting - but who am I to complain.
We headed to the tarmac to board. I thought this was the exact same plane that we arrived on three days prior. When we got to the last two seats - again - my thoughts were confirmed because I carnved our initials into the arm of the seat. Seariously though, the plastic window frame had a crack in it as it did last time.
Our carry-on luggage was a little closer this time, at least.
By 11:10 we were in our seats.
At 11:27 we were moving, but then sat for three minutes.
After taxiing, we took to the air at 11:40.
We were given another warm snack, but this time it was a breaded chicken sandwich instead of a veggie one like last time.

Along the way there were some interesting sights from high above.



It was a short flight and at 12:48 we landed.
The plane finally stopped moving and parked at 1:05.
We deplaned and had our luggage by 1:55.
We left the airport and headed to the ship's port.

Before getting off the bus, Evren came about and provided us with a QR code to provide feedback regarding the extension.

We had about an hour drive through the city to get from the airport to the cruise terminal.

As one of dozens of buses, we arrived in the large cruise terminal and, after identifying our luggage, headed inside.
And we had to go through security again.
We then checked in at the Viking desk, confirmed our identity, checked a credit card for any purchases (though I would sware I did this before we left), and aquired our ship ID.
We continued on and... went through security again - though this time it was also coupled with passport control.
Then we had a long weaving walk to get to the ship - called the Vesta.
Holy cow! Compared to the river ships, this thing is gigantic.
As soon as we got onboard - having to have to go through security one more time, we were immedaitely directed to report to the Star Theater for a safety presentation. In the event of an emergency, we were shown how to put on a lifejacket, where to assemble (where we were during the demo), and how to proceed. It only took a few minutes, and it is very important.
After the safety demo, we headed to our cabin.
These ocean ship cabins are much larger than the river ship cabins. Our cabin was on the third deck, and was more fore (forward) than aft (rearward).

Every room - unlike the lowest level of the river ships (and some other cruise lines, from what I've heard) - has a veranda too.

The bathroom is rather spacious as well.

Since we had to wait for our luggage anyway, we decided to tour the ship.
As our room was on the third deck, we walked toward the atrium. The atrium was three stories - which happens to be the same height as the atriums on the river ships. The big difference here is that there were five more floors above this atrium. Upon arrival, there was a pianist playing - he played every day and night at various times.



We found that a number of areas had digital interfaces that included Deck Plans, the Star Theater schedule, restaurant menus, ship tracker map, and more. The ship is big enough that it could be easy to get lost, so the Deck Plan are convenient.



Essentially, decks three through six were just cabins. seven and eight had a few also, but those were the more expensive, higher-end rooms.
There is artwork all over the ship, be it hanging on the wall or on a bookshelf, and pretty much in both stairwells at the top (or bottom depending on your direction of travel) of each flight.

We went from our deck - three - to seven. We happened to start walking down the port (left) side of the ship.
The Wintergarden - only "open" during the 4:00 afternoon tea - is up there with window seating nearby - that is also used for the tea if / when capacity necessitates (which was pretty much every day based on what we saw).
Daily we walked through this area on our way to the World Café - or on the other side of the ship - until we figured out a better path to take that was a little less maze-like, with fewer doors.

While we were visiting the seventh floor, I got a couple pics of the Bosphorus Strait, and Asia.

We then went into the Wintergarden.

From the Wintergarden, we saw the pool that has a retractable top - that was retracted at the moment.

Another angle of the pool.

It was warm enough that the windows in front of the lounge seating in the pool area were open.

A zoom in on what should be the Blue Mosque.

We continued heading aft and just beyond the pool was the pool grill (there is a bar in the same spot on the other side).

To the left of the pool grill was a flight of stairs up to the sundeck on the eighth deck. We headed up there.
On the water below was a family [assumedly] enjoying a meal on a yacht - that also had solar panels.

We saw the Aquavit Terrace - the outdoor seating area of the World Café (the river ships have an Aquavit Terrace too) - the infinity pool, and another hot tub (there was a hot tub by the large, covered pool too).


One of the mosques in the area, and the Turkish flag.


After reaching the stern (rear end) of the sundeck, we returned fore via the starboard (right) side.
I don't think this was an intended design - why would they want a large pool of water to collect on the roof? Or is this the world's largest bird bath?

This side of the Wintergarden seating was similar to the other side.


At the bow (front) was the two story Explorer's Lounge.
There was a number of seats, a fireplace (that had the Owner's Suite [the most expensive room on the ship] on the other side), a bar, a snack bar called "Mamsen's", and an upstairs.




(The picture sequence shows that we went from the eighth floor aft sundeck, to the seventh floor fore lounge - why we then went aft again, I'm not sure, but we did.)
The World Café - which serves a full buffet - is where we had lunch when we were on the ship - because The Restaurant isn't open for lunch - and most breakfasts - The Restaurant doesn't open until 8:00 and we frequently had to be getting ready for an excursion before we would have finished breakfast - and a few dinners as we usually ate dinner in The Restaurant.


There are little signs indicating what each dish is, and indicators for those with various food alergies.


Every day in the World Café and at the Living Room bar, these three cookies were pretty much always available.

We headed down to third floor again, and got a shot of the long hallway.

Our luggage still wasn't delivered yet, so we continued on, going down one deck and returning to the Star Theater.
In addition to the large stage at the front, and seating for hundreds, there are two cinemas in the back corners (with the white seats). These areas were open every time we were in the Star Theater, but there were separate doors to access it, and folding doors that would close off the whole section so the "wall" could be used to show a film (each cinema seats 62).


This bar - one of at least six - is outside the theater.

There were some game tables on the second deck near the atrium. Under the glass top was a touch screen interface that allowed various games to be played head-to-head, such as chess, checkers, backgammon, solitaire, ice hockey, and more.

The grand staircase ended on the second level, even though the atrium was three stories.

On the first floor, the last two major restaurants are reservation-only.
The first is Manfredi's Italian restaurant which has a fixed menu.

The second is The Chef's Table which has about five differnt menus that continuously rotate every two or three days, each consisting of a five course tapas-style meal paired with different wines.

Outside Manfredi's on the first floor, adjacent to the atrium, is a section called the Living Room. There was a bar here (too) that also had a cooler with some snack foods in it (the only bar that has one that we saw) that included cookies, pastries, and a variety of small open face sandwiches including roast beef and baby shrimp.
The food selecting in this case changes a bit depending on the time of day too.

More of the Living Room, a little further away from the bar.

Further toward the bow, and mostly under the Star Theater, were a hair and nail salon, a gym, and the Nordic Spa (there are no pictures of that, but it is rather extensive).

Our self-guided tour was over, and we returned to our room.
The luggage was delivered, so we spend some time putting our clothes in the closet, and various drawers.
While we were unpacking, I thought we'd listen to some music.
I clicked on the TV to listen to some music as that is the portal for all things ship related, just like on the rivers. For the most part, the layouts were identical, and the music was last on the right. I picked up the remote, turned it on, pointed at the TV to change it and heard "menu, menu, menu, menu."
"What?" "Volume up, volume up, vo- vo- vo- volume up, menu."
Oh come on... there was no "TV menu" button to turn of the vocal assist.
Sumi, our room attendant was nearby so I called her and showed her what was happening. She said she'd escalate to let someone know that can help. It was no rush, everything worked fine except for the vocal assist, and we continued to listen to music while we unpacked.
Within a couple mintes, Sumi showed up with someone else. I went through the exercise of showing them what was happpening, and they said they would escalate the situation to IT.
OK, no problem.
A few minutes later, someone else showed up. Again I went through the exercise and they told me they would escalate the situation to IT (which I thought was already being done).
A once again, a few minutes later... someone else showed up. I guess no on really understood what was happening, or when they tried to explain it up the chain, the next person must have said "What?"

Eventually we finished unpacking and then we headed to The Restaurant for dinner.
On the way, we passed by the atrium and heard the pianist.

We were seated in Section 1, at Table 53 (a table for 2 at the window).
Our main server was Alyssa, and her "assistant" was Gede.
Like the river menus, the right side of the menu was the "Always Available", and the left side was updated every day. There is also a section at the top marked "Destination Menu" that has flavors highlighting selections that are specialties of the... destination.

Linda had the Roasted Sweet Potato Soup, Grilled Scallops & Shrimp, and the Mango Páte De Fruit Tartlets.



I had the Tiger Prawns, Grilled Scallops & Shrimp, and the Baklava.



Our first meal on the ship was very good. We had our wine glasses topped off, and we headed out of The Restaurant and stopped at a table near the atrium.
We heard the resident pianist play a couple songs, followed by two resident classical musicians: a pianist and a cellist.

In addition to the digital game tables, there were some board games available for play that included Cribbage, Backgammon, Chess, and Scrabble®.

After hearing a couple songs from the musicians, I briefly left Linda in the atrium and even though we ate and were sated, I wanted to go up to the World Café to get an idea of what it was like up there. While we visited when there was no one and no food, this time was a little different.
This would hopefully give us an idea what dinners would be like.
There were a number of sections of the buffet: salads, entrees including a carving station, and Asain-flare. (On this first night there was shrimp cocktail and crab legs on the buffet [they may have been available on other nights, but we usually ate in The Restaurant].)







Around the corner... there was more!
One section had various breads - the same breads that were served in bowls in The Restaurant - and a pizza section.


And lastly: desserts, including freshly scooped ice cream. On this first pass, I missed the entire display of more desserts that was around the corner to the left.

When I returned, we took our glasses of wine and headed to our cabin.
Upon turning the TV on for some music, we found that the vocal assist issue was finally addressed.
After finishing the wine, we washed up and went to bed.

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