Egypt Day Three - Airplanes and Boats -- and the Azamara Pursuit

Rather than go back and update Day Two, I'm going to include this picture -- this was in Egypt and this was most of our group!

On to Day Three - Saturday, October 12

We headed to the airport while the sun was rising to catch a flight back to Istanbul. It is a 2 1/2 hour flight from Cairo to Istanbul. While we were on the bus headed to the airport, I actually watched someone run across the interstate in the pre-dawn still dark hours. I'm still amazed at the roads and driving in Egypt.

Several people sent similar photos to me. Mark is not a patient man and he does not "wait well." He would walk to a couple of gates away and ride the moving sidewalk back to where we were waiting. He was carrying my $29.99 pink Atlanta bag with my laptop!

We arrived at our boat - the Azamara Pursuit which was docked in the bustling Bosphorous. The Bosphorous Strait is very a very important water way connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara. It separates Europe and Asia. 

We upgraded our room to a suite and we were very pleased. I love the mat at the end of the bed -- a luggage mat so you can unpack and pack without putting a dirty suitcase on the white linens. I slept on the side of the bed closest to the wall . . .which was important later in the week.

We never turned on a TV while on this trip.

We had a complimentary bottle of champagne in the room.

Our bathroom was very spacious. The last time I went on a cruise . . .was a long time ago and the bathroom was miniscule!

We had a nice balcony and we drank our champagne while sitting outside.

It was perfect!

This was the view on the other side of the ship -- the port! There was live music and there were lots of people.

After we settled in, we headed to the pool bar. It must have been cool that afternoon because Mark and Lu both have on long sleeves and pants!

Our upgraded room included the ability to eat at any restaurant on the boat but we ate at the buffet almost every night. The first night was seafood night! The tempura battered shrimp was amazing. I was so glad to see veggies that I felt safe to eat!

Mark really loved the seafood buffet!!

Mark ate a LOT of Gelato on this trip!!

I've mentioned our travel group -- EO or Educational Opportunities. They do a greaet job. We had a special agenda/travel schedule.

The pool deck was really nice BUT I never swam in the pool!

We loved being able to sit on our balcony and watch the other boats.

We headed to bed after dinner. Every morning, we had to get up fairly early to head out for our day of sightseeing.

When we first boarded the boat, we met Omar, our butler, and Christopher, our room steward. They took such good care of us. Omar kept our mini fridge stocked with our favorite beverages and he brought distilled water for me to mix my meds. I cannot believe I didn't get a picture of them. I felt so spoiled all week! We were on the last cruise of the season (for the Pursuit) in this part of the world. Omar and Christopher were both from the Philippines. They said they work six months on and have a couple of months off and then "sign up" again for another six months. During the winter months, they do Asian cruises. Omar said the water is very rough on those cruises. We enjoyed cruising so much . . .that I think we may plan another one!