Mediterranean Cruise
A 7 day cruise and overnight in Venice. It was a long week, longest we have ever been on vacation in Europe. By the end of the trip we were travelled out to the point that I didnt even care to see Venice but Adam forced me to lol. It was a nice trip although we werent too happy with the cruise line (MSC) we got to see several places in one trip so it was worth it.
When we got to Venice it was storming, like torrential downpour! It was a good thing we had several hours to get to our ship so we hung out in a parking garage until it let up.
Since it was our anniversary we dropped the kids off at the kids club walked around the ship and had a couple drinks.
The kids loved the pool so every time we had free time we tried to take them.
In Bari we rented bikes and followed a tour guide through the city. We got to see the old town with the church of St. Nicholas, a castle, women making pasta, and a man that plays traditional Bari music and he let us join in with all kinds of instruments.
The second day we ported in Olympia but I shot all of the photos on film and havent developed them yet. It was pretty cool seeing the ruins from the first Olympic grounds, but we got to see the crazy amounts of trash piled up everywhere and businesses shut down from the economy crash and strike, as well as the gypsies begging for money at stop lights. I thought we would be seeing that in all of Greece but it was just that area, or maybe just all the rural parts of Greece.
Our time in Santorini was unforgettable. Gracelyn decided that she didnt like kids club after the first day and we couldnt convince Patience to stay with us she liked kids club so much. So Adam, Gracie and I spent the day in Santorini. We took the donkey ride up the hill, it was crazy, donkeys and people everywhere trying to go up and down this steep hill to Fira.
Once we were in town we found a place that rents 4-wheelers and since we had Gracie with us we got the buggy. Adam drove us to Oia since we heard it was a must see. All the buildings there were white, it was a super clean city and very beautiful. It started getting very hot though, one of the shop owners said it was 42 degrees, which is 107 in fahrenheit!
We ate lunch at a restaurant in Oia, we ordered the fisherman's pasta and watermelon with feta, our tour guide in Olympia said was a common treat in Greece. It was pretty good but Adam really liked it, when we came home he had me buy watermelon and feta when I got groceries.
On the way back into Fira we got into some backed up traffic. Our buggy overheated and shut off, in the middle of the street! People were beeping and yelling at us lol. A couple of locals helped us push it off the road and the parking lot we were in was apparently not ok to be in. Adam got into a little argument with the people telling us we couldn't be there. Luckily we werent far from the place we rented from, Adam ran down to the place to get someone. We had about 1.5 hours to get back to the boat but we were done so we headed back. We planned to take the gondola ride down the hill but when we got to the line there was a 2 hour wait! Our only option was to walk down the donkey trail, covered in crap. By time we got to the boat we were drenched in sweat and smelled like donkeys (it was 107 degrees!) There were a couple of old Asian ladies in the elevator that were running out when we got to their floor because we stunk so bad lol.
Athens was our next stop, it was crazy how big the city was! Acropolis was on top of a hill and city as far as you could see surrounded it. It was pretty cool to see but the traffic was like NYC's. Mostly just taxis, buses and scooters but back to back and not very fast moving.
We got to see the changing of the guards, the modern olympic stadium and a look out that the locals call make-out mountain.
There was this weird statue at a shop with a huge penis.....not sure if its some kind of sex god or just some joke.
The last 2 ports were our favorite. In Corfu we went to beach Gylfada. It was beautiful but not enough time, we could have stayed there all day.
We got back to Venice in the morning and I was ready to go to the hotel. It was crowded and I didnt really care to see it. After all the places we went I realized that I could care less about the cities that are so popular to visit. I enjoy the natural beauty of the land more, but just to say weve been there we walked to the main square to see everything. We couldnt check our luggage because the place was full and rather than walk all over and try to find a place to check it we just took it with us. We didnt even do the gondola ride because it was €80, to me that was ridiculous. We even sat down to have a coffee in the square and it was €10! I was done, we skipped the the coffee and got on the water taxi ready to go home.
When we got to Venice it was storming, like torrential downpour! It was a good thing we had several hours to get to our ship so we hung out in a parking garage until it let up.
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| Melissa trying to figure out how to wear a poncho as the wind was ripping it in half lol. |
The kids loved the pool so every time we had free time we tried to take them.
In Bari we rented bikes and followed a tour guide through the city. We got to see the old town with the church of St. Nicholas, a castle, women making pasta, and a man that plays traditional Bari music and he let us join in with all kinds of instruments.
The second day we ported in Olympia but I shot all of the photos on film and havent developed them yet. It was pretty cool seeing the ruins from the first Olympic grounds, but we got to see the crazy amounts of trash piled up everywhere and businesses shut down from the economy crash and strike, as well as the gypsies begging for money at stop lights. I thought we would be seeing that in all of Greece but it was just that area, or maybe just all the rural parts of Greece.
Our time in Santorini was unforgettable. Gracelyn decided that she didnt like kids club after the first day and we couldnt convince Patience to stay with us she liked kids club so much. So Adam, Gracie and I spent the day in Santorini. We took the donkey ride up the hill, it was crazy, donkeys and people everywhere trying to go up and down this steep hill to Fira.
Once we were in town we found a place that rents 4-wheelers and since we had Gracie with us we got the buggy. Adam drove us to Oia since we heard it was a must see. All the buildings there were white, it was a super clean city and very beautiful. It started getting very hot though, one of the shop owners said it was 42 degrees, which is 107 in fahrenheit!
We ate lunch at a restaurant in Oia, we ordered the fisherman's pasta and watermelon with feta, our tour guide in Olympia said was a common treat in Greece. It was pretty good but Adam really liked it, when we came home he had me buy watermelon and feta when I got groceries.
On the way back into Fira we got into some backed up traffic. Our buggy overheated and shut off, in the middle of the street! People were beeping and yelling at us lol. A couple of locals helped us push it off the road and the parking lot we were in was apparently not ok to be in. Adam got into a little argument with the people telling us we couldn't be there. Luckily we werent far from the place we rented from, Adam ran down to the place to get someone. We had about 1.5 hours to get back to the boat but we were done so we headed back. We planned to take the gondola ride down the hill but when we got to the line there was a 2 hour wait! Our only option was to walk down the donkey trail, covered in crap. By time we got to the boat we were drenched in sweat and smelled like donkeys (it was 107 degrees!) There were a couple of old Asian ladies in the elevator that were running out when we got to their floor because we stunk so bad lol.
Athens was our next stop, it was crazy how big the city was! Acropolis was on top of a hill and city as far as you could see surrounded it. It was pretty cool to see but the traffic was like NYC's. Mostly just taxis, buses and scooters but back to back and not very fast moving.
We got to see the changing of the guards, the modern olympic stadium and a look out that the locals call make-out mountain.
There was this weird statue at a shop with a huge penis.....not sure if its some kind of sex god or just some joke.
The last 2 ports were our favorite. In Corfu we went to beach Gylfada. It was beautiful but not enough time, we could have stayed there all day.
The next and my favorite was Kotor, Montenegro We hiked up the mountain, stopped at a little terrace where a local man gave us a little treat, then we climbed through a window of the fortress and hiked back down. The views were gorgeous, theres nothing I love more than being in the mountains.
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| There were stray cats everywhere in town! Gracie loved it. |
We got back to Venice in the morning and I was ready to go to the hotel. It was crowded and I didnt really care to see it. After all the places we went I realized that I could care less about the cities that are so popular to visit. I enjoy the natural beauty of the land more, but just to say weve been there we walked to the main square to see everything. We couldnt check our luggage because the place was full and rather than walk all over and try to find a place to check it we just took it with us. We didnt even do the gondola ride because it was €80, to me that was ridiculous. We even sat down to have a coffee in the square and it was €10! I was done, we skipped the the coffee and got on the water taxi ready to go home.