Dubrovnik!!

Let me just begin by saying that Croatia is a hidden gem.  It is basically unknown as a vacation destination, I think, by Americans, but people, get to know this country!  It is BEAUTIFUL!  We spent time in the northern part (Split) 2 summers ago and fell in love.  Well, Dubrovnik is even more spectacular than Split, so what is stronger than love?  I don't know, but that's how we feel about Croatia!

Aidan's holding the map of the town, with the city wall in the background

Dubrovnik's Old Town, is all walled in, but you can walk on the walls, which we did later in the day. Here we are walking on the Stradun, main street of Old Town.  The streets are made from some kind of smooth stone, and it is SO clean, you can practically eat off it. There are all sorts of alley ways and little streets branching off invitingly for you to explore and just get lost.

At the end of Stradun, is the the Bell Tower and Orlando's Column where most of the "action" took place back in the day.  You can see this Bell Tower from everywhere when you are on the wall as it's the tallest thing in town.

Dubrovnik is cut into the side of a mountain at the Adriatic Sea's edge.  The water is just a cliff's drop away outside of the city wall.  Here we are at the old port.  There is quite the mix of sailboats, fishing boats, and yachts at dock here.

We wanted to find a restaurant/bar known to locals as "the hole in the wall" which Chris and Missy had told us about.  Unfortunately, being that it isn't peak season it's not open yet.  Not that there is really anything to open, as it's just a flat piece of cliff jutting out over the sea with holes in the ground for umbrellas!  We wandered the cliffs for a bit and enjoyed the view, and were actually happy the restaurant wasn't open, as we'd have most likely never left!

Entering the hole in the wall

We spent an hour or so on the city wall.  I think we took 50 or more pics up here, as the views just kept getting better!  It was so cool to see the Old Town from above and kind of understand the damage the war in 1991 did.  All the bright orange tiles are those replaced after the war, the darker brownish ones are originals.  Plus, you just can't beat the views of the sea and islands off the coast.

My attempt at an artistic shot

Looking down on Stradun

Of all the ports we visited on this trip, Dubrovnik is one we all want to return to and spend a lot of time at.  Aidan loved the Old Town, although he can't put into words why.  We bought a lovely painting of the plaza in front of the bell tower.  We'd love to someday sail around the islands too, as that is one of the major tôurist itineraries.  And, the best thing about Croatia, is that since it is Eastern Europe, prices are still pretty low here!

Next Stop: The Ancient Olympics!

Welcome to the Peloponnese islands, home of Olympia, Kalamata, and Sparta! 

We were only able to visit one of the three, so we went to see where the ancient Olympics were held for nearly 1000 years.  Here is what is left of the Olympic grounds, fields, stadium, and other buildings.

This used to be the gymnasium.  We learned tht "gymna" in Greek means "naked", and the athletes worked out here naked, hence the name "gymnasium"!

The highlight of the visit was the Olympic track field.  We all had fun racing each other on it.

This tunnel was the entrance to the stadium, much like today's stadiums are built.

We also saw where the Olympic flame was kept burning.  During ancient times, the fire was never allowed to go out.  Priestesses, who were the only women allowed at the Olympic site, kept watch over it for hundreds of years.  Nowadays, the fire is relit at the beginning of each Olympics and the torch is lit here and carried to wherever in the world the Olympics are held today.

The fire pit isn't much to see unless you read the plaque to see what it is!

After visiting the site, we did some shopping in town.  Jason and Lainey ate lots of kalamata olives and we did our Spartan duty by buying a big bronze Spartan helmet.  We almost didn't get it on the plane as security really questioned it, but luckily we passed. 

Athens,Greece

Athens was the other port added on when Egypt was cancelled.  At first, I was excited, thinking about how cool the Acropolis would be to see.  But then we went to Rome a few weeks ago, and it left such a bad taste with all the scams and tourist traps and all, and I figured Athens would be the same way.

Luckily, I was wrong!  We really enjoyed Athens!  We were there on a weekday, so that could have helped with the crowds, or lack there of, but the people in the city were really nice and helpful!  We took ourselves on a brief city tour, then made our way to the Acropolis, which you can see from anywhere within Athens because it is built on a high hill.

We wandered through alleyways that smelled like such yummy food and wound our way to the back entrance of the Acropolis by following signs.

The Acropolis is a bunch of different buildings, temples, statues, etc.  The most famous is this, the Parthenon.

This is Erechtheion, one of the last temples built here and the statues on the corner are just beautiful and perfectly intact.

After strolling through the Acropolis and overlooking the Agora area, we found a great outside restaurant.  Again, we had some super yummy food: baked feta, pastitsio, and souvlaki.  Even Aidan tried some of it and loved the pastitsio!

After lunch, we walked around Athens some more, and found this store called Detroit!  How funny is that!  It's all sweatshirts and stuff like that, but again, what a small world!

And, being Spartans in Greece, we had to take a few requisite pictures of all the Spartan statues we found!

We made it to Asia! : Izmir, Turkey

 After our cruise cancelled the stop in Egypt due to the unrest there, I was happy they added Turkey to our stops so we could still make it to a new continent!  I have heard good things about Turkey from friends who are from Istanbul or who have visited. Izmir, the city, wasn't so great, but we did have a "small world" moment there.  As we were waiting to use the bathroom at Starbucks (yep, they are everywhere!), a man who heard me talking to the kids asked if we were from America.  I said yes and he told me he used to live there (this is a Turkish man of 60 years old or so).  He goes on to say he went to a university there for his Master's degree in Michigan. Do I know East Lansing, MI, he asks? Seriously?  I meet a Turkish man who went to MSU!!  I hadn't said anything about MI or MSU so that is quite a coincidence!

The point of stopping at Izmir, though is to see Ephesus.  This is an ancient city of Jesus's time.  It is amazingly preserved and rebuilt, but only 15% of the restoration is complete!  I can't imagine how huge it will be in 20 years.  Ephesus is the city where in the Bible the Letters to the Ephesians were written.  Mary is believed to have lived her last days near Ephesus and we went to the house that many Christian scholars believe is the last place she lived.

We were able to walk through the house, which has been reconstructed.  The bottom layer of stones are original though, as is the spring which has been blessed by many Popes.  This is a major pilgrimage site for Catholics, so of course we lit candles and drank some of the water.

Our guide told us that prayers said here are almost always answered, as long as one is specific.  So we lit candles and said prayers.  Guess what both of my kids prayed for?  A puppy!

Before leaving Mary's house, we stopped to have a Turkish coffee.  You practically have to chew it!

Then, we headed to Ephesus.  After Pompeii a few weeks ago, I am a firm believer in history!  This place was just as huge as Pompeii, but more fancy.  Marble streets, more modern sewer systems, huge theatre, etc.  Here are some pics:

Carving of the Goddess Nike

On the Main Street of Ephesus.  You can really get a feel of how big and grand this city once was!

Aidan sitting on a toilet!  It had water running through the bottom so that waste was washed a way and the seats were even heated by another spring somehow!

At the library.  This library once rivaled the one in Alexandria, Egypt.

This is thought to be the world's first advertisement.  It is for the town brothel!  The footstep points the way, and the little dots are in the shape of a heart.  in the top right corner was like a business card with the madam's name and prices on it. Truly the oldest profession!  Right this way, sailors!

This is the theatre where the Letters to the Ephesians were supposed to be read to convert the Ephesians to Christianity.  Unfortunately, Paul was banned from speaking here.

On our way back to port, we stopped to see some Turkish rug makers' demonstration.  It was pretty cool to see, and each rug takes over a year to complete!  I would have loved to buy one, but the ones below are over $10,000!

 

I had always thought of Turkey as being kind of third world or middle Eastern, but it isn't at all! No one is very religious here, our guide said. They are Muslim by nationality so to speak, but very few practice it as a religion. It is very secular.  We didn't see women in scarves or burkas, and the economy is doing better than the US right now.  I would like to someday see more of Turkey, especially Istanbul or the southern coast beaches.



Next Port: Rhodes, Greece

 Our first stop in Greece, was Rhodes.  Rhodes is an island in the Dodecanese part of Greece, just off the southwestern coast of Turkey.  I love how this picture gives perspective of how massive our ship was!

 We spent our time in Rhodes City, in the old part where the walls are.  Rhodes is very picturesque and felt quite different from other parts of Europe.  You entered the city from one of 9 gates off the harbor.

This is St. Paul's Gate. We spent lots of time at the harbor here.  The Collosus of Rhodes once stood over the entrance to the harbor from the Aegean Sea.  It was destroyed by Romans when they took over.

 Here we are on the Avenue of the Knights. Seven different countries posted knights here in the middle ages to protect their sea business.  The street is preserved really well and the old inns now house government offices.

 More pics from the city wall at the edge of the harbor.

 When the Collosus was here,one of his feet stood at the right side of this peninsula.

We just wandered and ate a great real Greek lunch. I had the yummiest tzaziki ever and some authentic saginaki.  I think we'll be visiting Greektown in Detroit more often when we move back!

First Stop: Bari, Italy

Our first stop on the cruise was Bari, Italy on the east coast of the country, nearly in the "heel" of Italy's boot shape.  Not much to see or do here, but I bet the beaches are great in summer.  We decided to explore on our own without an excursion, and I'm glad we did.  We hired a bike/rickshaw and toured the Old Town. 

Just where we boarded our bike, we found this WWII memorial.

Bari, and all of the Puglia region, is known for pasta making, especially orichette shaped  pasta.  We saw one of the Italian ladies making and drying it in her alley.  She let the kids feel it and look closely at it. 

 There was, of course, the requisite church and monuments.  We liked this one, which was used like a "time out" pole in the old times.  People who broke rules or laws were tied to this pole and other people could see them and throw vegetables at them.

Our bike/rickshaw 

There wasn't a whole lot to explore here, so after about an hour we headed back on board to swim and relax.

The Absolute BEST way to Travel!

Cruising is the best way to travel.  Hands down, no contest.  Since I have done a fair share of traveling lately, with all possible methods of transport, believe me on this one. Try these numbers on for size: in 9 days, we went to 4 countries and travelled 2370 miles...all without moving hotels and wasting precious time driving! Even better, the kids slept, ate, and played for free!  Are you with me yet??

We boarded our ship in Venice on April 1.  We embarked as early as possible and then just enjoyed exploring the ship.  Here are pictures of our cabin.  We paid a bit more for the balcony room, and it was worth it!  We had coffee on the balcony a few mornings and enjoyed all the views. Here is the room by day:

And by night with the kids' beds set up:

I wouldn't exactly call it spacious, but it was more than I expected.

Some highlights of the ship were: The hot tubs, all 6 of them! There were 2 pools, but they weren't heated so the kids preferred to play in these. All the water was salt water and each pool and hot tub was drained and cleaned each night.  Cleanliness was exceptional on MSC.

Aidan was also thrilled to find a sport court and other kids to play with.  Both kids spent some time in the Kids' Club, which let us parents chill by the pool!

In the many on-board bars, there were lots of games.  I played BINGO for the first time and played some quizzes.  Jason and I went into the casino briefly one night too.  The kids, especially Aidan, loved the shows in the theatre!  They went a few times with Kids' Club without us even!

Lainey LOVED formal night and the disco- surprise, surprise. Inside the disco was even 2 bowling lanes.  Here is Lainey boogy-ing down in her souvenir skirt from Greece.

Kiddie Cocktails on formal night

I cannot say enough good things about this cruise!  The boat was great, the food (since MSC is an Italian line) was yummy, the kids and adults had plenty to do (or not do if you prefer!), it was clean and the workers were really nice.  Every worker spoke 5 languages (!) and flyers came to us in our own language so it wasn't hard to understand anything. 

Oh yeah, the ports we visited were pretty awesome too!  More on those in the next blog.  Bon Voyage, indeed!