The giant cruise ships, the Bosphorous, the half-built bridge at the Black sea

Some things are impossible to stop looking at.  The massive wind turbines that have shown up so many places are impossible to ignore while revolving.  Unfortunately, messages on t-shirts are difficult for me to not read.  I was absolutely exhausted of reading them this trip - as there were so many, and they were so utterly meaningless and often idiotic - and I had to force my tempted eyes to swerve away from them.  Ships of every sort while active demand to be watched, but none more than the modern cruise ships - and they demand attention still or in motion.

Istanbul is a major terminal point for Euro cruises to begin and end.  Many start in several Spanish ports as well as Italian ports and all seem to visit Istanbul  There are parking spaces for them within sight of all of the bridges and ferries and much of the land.  Passengers I met said they all carried between 3,000 and 4,000 with at least 800 staff.

In the top two images, you can squint and see the little tiny people along the top and rear enjoying the fine day as they begin their cruise.  The Istanbul Modern, the city's contemporary art institute is a  former port warehouse converted into a museum.  The ships are about 20' from the window as you can see above.  In the street scene, you can see the rear of one, and the front of another.

This is a new bridge right at the entrance to the Black sea (No, it is not black). It will be the first long bridge in Europe to handle cars and truck as well as trains.  The sea freight business is immense.  I counted 150 large cargo vessels in port as I passed and I think there were another 100 as well.  It must equal Singapore and Hong Kong in size.  I asked where most of the freight was headed and the response was "Russia."

I took a four hour cruise out to the Black sea and was surprised as were all the others on board at the old palaces, grand hotels and the endless fine houses way up the hills for the entire trip.  All the time we were hearing the P.M. of Turkey saying it was a poor country, and what we saw of Istanbul and the coast looked really prosperous.  The locals said there were poor sections of the cities and the country was quite poor.