If ever there was a city in which to arrive by sea, Istanbul must surely be it. It’s a city that deserves a grand entrance; a skyline better viewed in profile than from above, to fully appreciate the curved domes and spiked minarets of the city’s 3000 mosques and the giant Turkish flags that boldly flutter in between.
We arrive on a still autumn morning, slowly cruising up the Bosphorus as the ethereal glow of first light spills over the city, calling us closer. In time, we’ll be drawn into the colourful chatter of the city, which more than 20 million people call home. But from here, she is beguiling and serene. A city with secrets to tell, dating back to around 650BC, when she was first known as Byzantium and settled by ancient Greek colonists from Megara.
Those first colonists would have sailed these same mirrored waters, as did the Romans after them (who renamed her Constantinople), drinking in the same milky morning skies. The similarities end there, of course, as our arrival sees us deposited off our luxury cruise liner, the newly launched Silver Ray, into a state-of-the-art passenger terminal, built during the pandemic. Typically, border control facilities don’t merit a mention in Gourmet Traveller but this one does as it may just be the most polished entry to a city currently operating anywhere in the world. We didn’t so much as pass through the world’s first underground cruise terminal, as glide, emerging in the newly built Galataport district with its extensive retail, dining and cultural experiences. It’s also where you’ll find one of the world’s most lauded new hotel openings, The Peninsula Istanbul.
Of course, none of this is reason to put Istanbul on your next travel itinerary but rather to make the point that this ancient and storied city is far from frozen in time. It is not desperate for your dollars, with touts plaguing you the moment you step outside. Tourists are welcome but not essential. This city will go about its business with or without you.
For a first introduction, we join an official shore excursion, led by the charming Firad, who walks us through the Hippodrome to the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, where he succinctly and humorously explains the building’s 1500-year-history. From there, he leaves us to roam the Grand Bazaar. Disappointingly, this is not the Aladdin’s cave of treasures I imagined, but rather, resembles the counterfeit megamalls of Shenzhen. This, I discover, will be a recurring theme throughout our time in Türkiye, where every port is surrounded by bazaars selling the same designer rip-offs, alongside trays of Turkish delight and evil eye ornaments of every size.
If I expected more from the Grand Bazaar, I had thoroughly underestimated our next excursion, which saw us embark on a traditional hammam (Turkish bath) experience at one of the city’s oldest and most historied bath houses, Hürrem Sultan Hamami. It wasn’t the bathing ritual itself that surprised me – Google had reliably prepared me for what to expect – but rather the magnificence of the building, its curved ceilings and white marble slabs dating back to the 16th-century Ottoman empire. The scent of rose oil hangs heavy in the air as we are scrubbed, soaped and shampooed with vigour over the course of the next hour. It’s like an interactive museum, experiencing history first-hand, exactly as it would have been so many centuries ago (minus the little plastic bottles and branded loofahs).
Any trepidation I feel heading in is quickly flushed away as a bowl of hot water is thrown over my head by Rabia, who begins issuing firm but soothing instructions. It’s nothing like your modern-day spa experience and all the better for it. Rabia is in charge and I come away relaxed and content, knowing I’ve experienced one of the most authentic cultural experiences of my travel career.
Our time in port is limited to two days, just long enough to whet our appetite and move Istanbul to top billing on our “must-return” list. Despite our best efforts, we haven’t come close to experiencing all the flavours the city has to offer so we’re delighted to learn we can continue the journey on board, through Silversea’s S.A.L.T. (Sea and Land Taste) program.
From local wine and custom cocktails in the S.A.L.T. Bar, through to cooking classes in S.A.L.T. Lab, the program is designed to bring flavours of the surrounding region on board to extend and deepen the experience of each port. A chef’s table experience takes diners on an 11-course deep dive through some of the Mediterranean’s most prized and unique ingredients, such as Spanish piquillo peppers, Greek kefalotiri cheese, and Slovenian pumpkin seed oil.
But the hero of the program – and the star of Silver Ray’s extensive dining offering – is undoubtedly, S.A.L.T. Kitchen, which features nightly menus inspired by the local port and showcases signature ingredients and dishes from them. As we sail away from Istanbul, back through the Dardanelles, we feast on Sultan’s Delight (a lamb stew served with thick eggplant purée) and Turkish wines from Anatolia, before finishing with sweet hosafi (compote of spiced apricots). In Kuşadasi, we sample midye dolme (rice-stuffed mussels), eggplant kofte kebab, and izgara kuzu şiş (marinated lamb skewers) while in Crete, the Greek menu includes chteni me fava (scallops with puréed fava beans) and gamopilafo (lemon pilaf with chicken).
The concept may be simple on paper but is more challenging in practice, thanks to the strict protocols around cruise ship supply chains and handling. Picking up the day’s fresh catch from a local fisherman is simply not an option, explains sous chef Juliano Lustosa during our S.A.L.T. Lab dinner.
“It takes us months to develop the menus and source the ingredients,” he explains. “It’s really a lot of work.”
Over the course of 11 days, we bounce between Greece and Türkiye, stopping in Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Kuşadasi, Bodrum, Santorini and Souda Bay, waking up to a new landscape each morning. Each port offers a snack-sized taste of the town and its surrounds, long enough to decide where we might return in the future.
Cruising, as a fellow travel writer said to me recently, is like window-shopping for your future travels. In the past, I had always dreamt of hiring a villa in Santorini or Mykonos but after sailing the eastern Med, it’s now Bodrum that has me captivated.
The joy of cruising, as many will already know, is the luxury of visiting multiple destinations while only unpacking once. This is true of any cruise. But the joy of sailing on Silver Ray (and her identical twin sister Silver Nova) extends well beyond that – to her generous and well-appointed suites, which are expertly serviced by a coterie of personal butlers, to self-service laundries on every deck, and world-class entertainment. Never did I think I would laugh at a cruise ship comedian but Darrell Joyce made me weep with laughter.
Eight restaurants, with menus that span the obligatory pizza and burgers (The Marquee) through to traditional Italian (La Terrazza), polished Japanese (Kaiseki), French fine-dining (La Dame) and more, ensure you need never repeat a meal. Although plenty choose to, particularly when it comes to Silver Note – an intimate jazz club diner that pairs live music with
a menu of international small plates. It is, we discover, the hottest ticket on board – with several passengers offering to buy our booking off us.
As Silversea rookies, we are taken under the wing of those more seasoned, including the delightful Lori, who is on her 14th Silversea cruise. She tells us what to book (La Terrazza), what to skip (La Dame), and how to experience Silver Note without a booking (slide on in for a drink after the last seating at 8.45pm before the nightly show begins at 9.30pm). Others advise us to skip the shore excursions and head out solo, grabbing a local taxi for an unofficial tour.
But the true inside secret to successful cruising is to do just that: cruise. Take it easy. Stroll, don’t march. Take a nap. Take a dip. Book a massage. Drink a cocktail. Order room service. Watch the world go by from the comfort of your verandah. And window-shop for your next adventure.
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