Europe Summer 2023

Today we departed Hvar and sailed back to Split, because Arthur and Natalie, who mostly kicked their stomach bug, had to fly to London. We sailed (actually just drove, as we only sailed once for an hour, over the entire trip, due to weak winds) for a few hours, while we all mostly napped. The wind was quite strong and the sea was a bit choppy. We arrived to Split, said goodbye to Natalie and Arthur, and the Roman, Ilona and I went for a nice swim near the Marina. It was actually the only sandy beach we have seen in the whole week! We then took a taxi to Trogir, which is an old medieval town on a small island right next to Split, 10 min from the Marina. We wandered narrow streets and beautiful squares and climbed the bell tower for great views and a close up encounter with the huge bells. We then had delicious dinner at a Michelin recommended restaurant (begged our way in, without reservation)!Read more

This morning, we went to the Topkapi palace where the sultans lived. Most of the building in the palace Freire life of the sultans and are museum of clothing, kitchen accessories and a treasury. Fascinatingly, the treasury had some peculiar and questionable authenticity artifacts, that were gifts to the sultan, such as Moses’ walking stick, Abraham’s cooking pot (!!) and multiple hairs from the Prophet Mohammad beard! There is also a beautiful harem, which is a maze of narrow passages. In the afternoon, I went to do the VoiceMap Galata tour, that took me around different angles of the Galata tour, which was built by the Genovese when Istanbul was under their rule.Read more