It's All Greek to Me

My Dad is an avid camper and hiker and years ago, when we were young, twice a year or more, my Dad would take my brothers hiking and camping for days at a time. I never thought twice about it growing up or felt like it was unfair, but apparently it has been weighing on my Dad's mind and he felt like he needed to make it up to my sister and I. So, when my Dad asked my sister and I if we would like to go with him and my Mom on a 14 Day cruise to Greece, we both said yes. I figured we would have to scrimp and save, as well as beg our husbands to let us go. I was very surprised to find that the trip was paid for in full by my parents and our husbands both agreed to take time off work to watch the kids and let us go on the trip. I know, "freakishly spoiled" is the term that comes to mind for me too. 

So on June 3rd, my sister, Mom, Dad, and I, left for the airport. We headed to New York, then on to Rome for a quick layover, and then to Venice, Italy where we stayed for one day before we caught our Norwegian Cruise ship "The Gem" for the best 14 days of "pinch me I'm dreaming" adventures you can imagine.

We began our adventure with our first stop in Split, Croatia on Sunday June, 6th, where we found a nice taxi driver named Goran, to take us around the city and give us a bit of a tour. He took us around Split and also to Trogir, Croatia. The Croatian currency is the Kuna (Kn). The exchange rate is 5.84 Kn to 1 US Dollar. I freaked out a bit when the first thing I went to buy was 100 Kn. Then I realized that was only $17 US and it wasn't quite so bad. I decided early on in my travels that I had to try Gelato in every city we visited, so of course I ate Gelato in Trogir, and it was about a 4 on a scale of 1 - 10. They also don't serve drinks with ice here (or anywhere in any of the ports we stopped at), which I quickly got used to. You can sure drink more and drink it faster if you don't have ice getting in the way.

Our second stop was on Monday, June 7th, in Corfu, Greece. The very first thing I noticed was how crystal clear and turquoise the water of the Ionian Sea was. You could see the bottom of the sea even when it was 100 feet deep. We took at taxi with a nice guy named Marco for 3 1/2 hours. We got to see the touristy spots as well as the everyday non-tourist spots of Corfu. He even showed us his own house. We stopped off at a nice little place and I was able to try true Greek baklava. The cardboard tasting stuff here in the US that they call baklava is not even close. I am going to have to go back to Corfu just for the awesome food. We took at boat ride to some caves off the coast and were just stunned again by how clear and beautiful the water was there. We then had a quick lunch at Rex Restaurant and then back to the ship. 

Tuesday June 8th, we were in Santorini, Greece. This island of Greece is moon shaped now, but it used to be round. In 1500 BC a volcano on the middle of the island erupted and was so strong that it sunk the entire center of the island. When we got to the docks of Santorini we realized that the villages were at the top of a very steep cliff and the only way to get to the top was either take the tram, ride a donkey, or walk up the 597 steps of switchbacks. We opted to walk it. Once we started up the previously mentioned "steps" we realized that these things they were calling steps were actually 8 food deep steps making it much harder then we though it would be. Plus, we had to walk through all the donkey poo that was steaming in the hot sun. So, we can say we experienced the true Santorini. Once at the top (45 minutes later) we wondered through some of the shops, took a ton of amazing photos, and then found a nice restaurant with a stunning view of the ocean to sit, eat, and watch the sunset. On our way back down to the ship my parents opted for the tram and my sister and I opted for the donkey's. I was pretty sure that we were going to die, but alas, we lived.

Mykonos, Greece was our next stop on Wednesday. We found Christos, our very nice taxi driver, that took us around Mykonos for 2 1/2 hours for only 100 Euro, which was way cheaper than the excursions that we could have taken from the ship. The beaches there were amazing, but the gelato (tiramisu & dark chocolate) was even better. Well okay about 7 out of 10. We also visited a bakery where we bought some fresh baked bread and cookies. I am still craving the cookies we had there. It was a short trip but we got a lot of beautiful photos.

Thursdays port was in Iraklion (Crete), Greece. We were allowed off the ship at 7 am and had to be back at 11:30am so because of the limited time we opted to just do a quick walking tour on our own. We found a Venetian Fort and did a tour of that. We found a secret room full of ancient stone cannon balls and got some really great photos. This was the day that I realized that most of the places that we were visiting dated back to BC times and I was just a blip on the radar as far as time goes. It made me really ponder life and how short it is.

That was the end of the trip for some of the people on our ship who signed up for the 7 day cruise so we headed back to Venice. We were able to spend a nice long day touring St. Marks Square and looking at all the beautiful architecture there. The Basilica is breathtaking. I figured that all the artwork was painting, but when I realized it was all mosaics, it was even more amazing. I see now why it took 700 years to finish. I really liked Venezia and would go back if I got the chance, but my first choice so far would be Corfu. It was spectacular. We boarded the ship with a new group of cruise mates and then headed for Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Dubrovnik was great. We ported there on Sunday, June 13th, and were the first group off the ship because we had signed up for the Sea Kayaking shore excursion. I can now say that I have kayaked in the Aegean Sea. We kayaked out to a beach where we were able to swim and snorkel and then we headed back. It took us 3 hours, so my arms were pretty sore the next day from all the paddling. I figured with all that exercise I deserved some gelato, so I got 3 scoops (Chocolate, Rum Raisin, and Nutella). It was also a 7 out of 10. We walked around Old Town Dubrovnik which was crazy beautiful. All the streets, and I mean ALL of them, were paved in marble tiles. Here in America we would pay tens of thousands of dollars for the floors in our house to be tiled like that, and they had it on their streets. They did have very, umm, interesting bathrooms there. It was an aluminum plate on the floor with a hole in it that you would stand on, squat over, and do your business. It was very smelly, unclean, and the floor was covered in "wet". I got out as soon a I could and quickly applied gobs of hand sanitizer. I found it amazing that they had museums showing the amazing accomplishments of the ancient civilizations and their marble toilets, but yet they had an aluminum tub on the floor. Hmmm?

The next port was in Athens, Greece. We had signed up for a guided tour for this day and it was a good thing too because it was super hot and humid that day and the bus we were on had great air conditioning. We took a tour of the Acropolis and saw the Parthenon, the Caryitides, and many other spectacular works of architectural art. The Parthenon, the Propylaea, and the Caryatides were all under construction, so there was a lot of roped off areas and scaffolding around them, but in spite of that they were still phenomenal. We went with our tour guide, Vicki, and the group to a small Greek restaurant in Old Town Athens where we enjoyed a nice lunch and then we headed back to the ship.

Next, Izmir, Turkey. We took a guided bus tour of Ephesus this day, but because it was so hot, humid, and there were so many people we didn't get to see much of anything here except for what we could see from the windows of the bus. We did get to go to a museum and see some very cool artwork and ancient sculptures. We also got to visit a Turkish rug shop where we got to see a demonstration on how the rugs were made, all by hand. A standard 6' by 8' "living room" rug would take almost 7 years to make. Crazy. They were also crazy expensive, so I oooooo'd and ahhhhh'd and then went on my way. My Dad bought some Turkish Delights for us to sample which was nice. We had a great time in Turkey and then headed back to the ship.

Our final stop before heading back to Venice, where we ended our cruise, was Nafplion, Greece. We got a taxi to take us around and give us a nice little tour. He took us to a pottery shop where they made their own amazing pottery. They created replicas of the ancient Grecian Urns and we got to see how the process was done. The gentlemen that owned or worked in the shop were surprised to see us because they weren't expecting any tourists from cruise ships that day and if they had their way would have married my sister. They even asked my Mom if the two of them could be my parents son-in-laws. When my Mom told them that we were already married with kids they were surprised. It was quite funny. We also visited a castle that was very huge and had a TON of stairs all over. I know this because my sister and I got separated from my parents and got lost inside this very amazing, but toward the end, cursed castle. We ran up and down stone stairs to end up at dead ends for about 30 minutes trying to find the entrance. My parents were freaking out trying to find us because they were afraid we would miss the ship. Some nice man in the castle asked if they lost someone and my Mom told them she lost her daughters. I think he was a bit surprised to see her walking out with two 30 something girls once she found us. I think he was picturing "little" girls. Teehee. Okay, and the very best part of Nafplion by far was the gelato. I had finally found my 10 out of 10. We found the cleanest shop, best presentation, biggest selection, and very best tasting gelato in all of Greece. It was a perfect way to end a perfect vacation. 

I boarded the ship for the last time. We spent a day at sea cruising back to Venice where I was able to spend one more day before we headed back to my very missed children and husband. It was truly the trip of a lifetime and I am super thankful to my parents for taking me. Thanks Dad for taking my brothers camping all those years so you could feel guilty and take me on this amazing trip.  This trumps camping and hiking ANY day.