Welcome to İzmir, Turkey

Insignia’s presence in İzmir today was occasion for a double celebration. For one thing, this was the ship’s maiden call on this port. As well, it’s been six years since a cruise ship has called on the city. We were thus greeted by the Mayor and his entourage … and a whole slew of media.

Mui and I were on deck 5 as the ship was tying up and a photo of us and a few other passengers made it on to the Mayor’s Instagram page. Footage will also appear on the evening news, but we’ll be long gone by then. Thus we had our five minutes of fame today.

We left the dignitaries and the Captain to their ceremonies and were first off the ship when it was cleared. We had somewhere important to be. But I’ll leave that for the next footprint.Read more