Yesterday lunchtime the AidaDiva arrived with typical German punctuality in Istanbul. I quite like the fact that the cruise ship harbour is in the middle of the city, and that (if one would be so inclined) I could venture to the Golden Horn or the Hagia Sophia on foot. Instead I stayed in my cabin and worked on my Open University assignments, looked over the street scape and listened to Steely Dan. There are worse ways to spend a day and self imposed isolation feels like a true luxury when you’re surrounded by the masses. The alternative would be something like this:

Highly professional facial blurring by GIMP 2.

Now imagine this being accompanied by somebody jumping up and down in front of them with a microphone. And annoying schmaltzy schlager music. That makes the cabin so much more alluring. By the way, the temperature on this picture was 12 centigrade. You would think that the Eastern Mediterranean would be a bit warmer. Not these days, it isn’t.

If this looks suspicious, imagine it with ‘Agadoo’ as accompaniment. It gets immediately 20 times worse, innit?

After a few days of this, I have decided if I ever will venture on a cruise ship again, it will be with one of the Planetary Society ‘s cruise or Geek Cruises, otherwise my brain will atrophy (even more). Fortunately the ship has a well working satellite internet hook up (technical term there), though the bandwidth is rather small. But hey, the fact that it’s working in the middle of the sea at all is a technological marvel. At 159 Euros a week it’s a bit steep, though. But then the drinks are far  better value than in London.

Beat that, Tower Hamlets.