Greece: Santorini

Ok, I really, really, really wanted to like Santorini. It was one of the places I was most excited to visit. I mean, anyone who has seen pictures of the stark white buildings dotted with the sky-blue domes of the churches trickling down to the sea, or has seen silly movies like Mamma-Mia and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, probably can’t help but to wistfully idealize such a uniquely sublime looking place. I’m not going to destroy your daydreams by telling you that it is nothing like you might imagine, but it isn’t quite what I expected. Perhaps my expectations we just a little too high, or perhaps it was just the fact that our day didn’t start off or end well, but Santorini is now officially on the “been there, done that, won’t go back” list.

First of all, once we took the tender to the base of the cliffs upon which the city is perched, we had to take the cable car to the top of the hill (the other two options were to walk up 600 steps, or to take a donkey up the same very steep steps, but I was wearing a dress and unsuitable shoes for such an endeavor, plus I had no desire to smell like sweat or beast of burden. Thanks, but no). Crew is supposed to receive admission to the cable car for €1 but for some reason we could not understand the remarkably rude woman would not let certain crew members receive the discount because of the titles on their crew IDs. I happened to be one of them and since some flaw in my character causes me to strongly oppose even the most insignificant injustice, I was pretty, um, annoyed (to put it politely). Many crew members were bugged by the stupidity of the situation and the blatant inconsideration of the cable car workers that day. I mean, they were really offensive. So, do me a favor, if you go to Santorini, wear good shoes and take the stairs or the donkey in solidarity with me. That’ll show ‘em!

This is what I think of you Santorini! 

Stupid Cable Cars

After the ride to the top, we pretty much just walked around and took pictures all day. It is very picturesque and as pretty as you would imagine it to be, but it is really an uneventful place if you will only be there for a day. I imagine it would be a nice place to visit for several days or a week’s vacation, but since the people are either pushy or rude (everyone, not just the cable car people though they were by far the worst), and everything is very expensive, I’d rather go just about anywhere else. Still, I’m glad we got to go and see for ourselves. Here’s some pretty moments of our day. 

It's impossible not to pretend you;re a supermodle whilst posing for pictures in Santorini. Especially when you're wearing a particularly cute dress. Go there and try not to. I dare you. 

After our aimless wandering we had an amazingly overpriced albeit delicious lunch with our friends Ross (the rigger) & Christy (lead female vocalist), bought a souvenir bottle of yummy Greek wine to bring home and share, and begrudgingly took the same stupid cable car (with equally annoying and rude people working at the top of the hill) back down.

We’re enjoying our travels in Europe, but Santorini, You can keep it. Not a fan. 

Turkey: Kusadasi/Ephesus

We didn’t know what to expect when we saw that Kusadasi was on our itinerary. We were initially excited to visit Ephesus because of the biblical implications (ie: Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and the lore that Mary spent her later years in Ephesus), but we didn’t realize that the 11 kilometer excursion away from port would cost us a ton of Lira. So we opted for roving around Kusadasi and though our expectations were initially low, we were rewarded with a surprisingly amazing day.

Wandering the bazaars in Kusadasi is the stuff movies are made from. The whole day had an ethereal feel. it was awesome.  

It took about 30 seconds for us to fall in love with the place. We strolled through two different Turkish bazaars drinking in the atmosphere. Down the center of each walkway sat men and women merchants vying for every passerby to inspect their wares. They drank Turkish coffee from tiny ceramic coffee cups painted with brightly colored, intricate patterns or apple tea from equally tiny clear glasses. The peddlers in their stalls haggled and bargained with locals and tourists alike, each one promising to offer the very best deal in town. 

There was something different here than other places we’ve been where haggling is prevalent. The merchants seemed to have a good nature about them and never felt intrusive or pushy. Nobody was disgruntled when their offer was turned down. Everyone was polite and friendly. 

Eventually I broke down and bought a handmade lamp that I wished I could have bought six of. I can’t wait to hang it in our home… you know, whenever we get one of those. It looks like one of these: 

Spectacular right? I’m in love with it. I also wanted to buy an entire set of hand painted ceramic dishes but showed remarkable restraint due mostly to the fact that I don’t know how I’d get them home. I’ll probably wish I had them forever.

We stopped and had lunch at a restaurant right outside the bazaar. We ate Turkish pizza which does not resemble pizza in any way other than that it is flat and round. It’s a delicious flat bread, with some kind of red-ish sauce and a thin layer of ground lamb that has a smoky, charred flavor. You then sprinkle it with herbs and squeeze a lemon over it before rolling it up like a burrito and eating it with your hands. Incredible. I wish I had another one right now. We also sampled a spicy kebab that was not “hot-spicy” but rather infused with many different kinds of spices. It was also delicious but I think we both liked the pizza better.

We weren’t quite ready to go back through the bazaar so we ordered a baklava and Turkish coffee and Ron about lost his mind over both. The coffee is strong and a little sweet with notes of dark chocolate and so different than anything either of us has ever had before. The baklava was wonderfully flakey and drenched in an incredibly thin, light honey. It was perfect to say the least. I’m sure we’re going to be hunting down Turkish restaurants when we get back to California. Yum!

After lunch we walked around the streets a little more. We enjoyed ourselves so much. The noise and the scents and the business that is so different from everywhere else we’ve been captivated us. We headed back to the ship energized and excited over our day. 

Greece: Athens

Olympia was really cool but Athens was even more incredible. Well, sort of. Athens is much larger and has many more intact structures than Olympia and the history of the place is just about endless. However, the crowds are also just about endless. I’ll get to that in a second.

We got up and out bright and early in anticipation of a long day. We ran off the ship in search of the Metro. One thing we learned about getting around Greece is that our language skills do not include Greek in any way. I can sing the Greek alphabet and can recognize the letters due to my sorority years (shout out to my DG sisters!) but that is where it ends. I mean, the phrase “It’s Greek to me” makes absolutely perfect sense now. Left to our own devices, we couldn’t tell left from right in Greece. Thankfully most people speak English and even when Ron tried to ask directions in Greek (thanks to an online translating tool) people just answered in English. Thank God. The Metro was the most difficult thing to find though and once we did, it was pretty easy from there.

(I don't know why these pictures are so big. Blogger is being nuts. But internet is expensive on ships and I'm not spending 20 expensive minutes to figure it all out.) 

We found the Acropolis and bought our tickets to enter the park. We climbed up towards the Parthenon but came across two theaters including the Theater of Dionysus which is the oldest theater in the world (I think). It is huge and amazing to think that the ancient Grecians understood sound well enough to create a theater that amplified the voice from the stage to all of these seats. Incredible!

Up we went to the Parthenon where we were herded into a massive group of tourists all seeking the perfect picture with the historic structure. I’m telling you, it was CROWDED. For a few moments I truly hated my life. But it was worth it once we got over to the Parthenon and the crowd dispersed a little. 

This structure is one of the most intact of the Acropolis. It is called the Erechtheion which the Athenians honored as the tomb of Erechtheus, a legendary king of Athens. 

Then we went down the big hill and climbed up a little hill to get a picture of the Parthenon from a distance. It was incredibly slippery due to the years upon years of wear that polished the marble slopes into hazardous condition. But the danger was worth the view. 

Down over the other side of the little hill lies the ruins of Ancient Agora We walked through the town, wandering around headless statues and into little churches with lovely painted walls that have been preserved over the decades.

Our last stop before heading back to the ship was this hill overlooking all of Acropolis. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to add to my collection of “jumping” pictures. 

Hooray for Athens!

Greece: Corfu & Katakolon/Olympia

I don’t even know what to say about Corfu. Here’s a picture. 

That’s about all I’ve got for you. Not really an eventful day for us.

Olympia was our first real day out in Greece. We took the train from Katakolon to Olympia which took about 45 minutes. I imagine a bus or taxi was probably quicker since the train had to stop for cars and animals crossing the road every now and then. But eventually we arrived in Olympia. 

Train Station in Olympia 

We weren’t in port for very long and the train schedule was not super-conducive to the ship schedule so we really had a whirlwind tour of Olympia. We managed to have some fun taking pictures and feeling a little awestruck that we got to stand on the very ground where the first Olympics were held and even where the torch has been ceremoniously lit every four years. 

If you’re wondering why there aren’t a lot of structures still standing, it isn’t just because they were built like 2000 years ago. When Christianity spread through Europe, the Christians thought that the Olympics were a pagan ritual because of the polytheistic and human worshiping overtones of the games and they destroyed all of the structures so that they could never be used again. They did a might effective job. As you can see.

We rushed back to the train and when it arrived we still had a little bit of time to look through the shops and share a Gyro. I can safely say that it was the best Gyro either of us has ever had. The Mad Greek should be ashamed. This thing was unbelievable. Everything else will taste like dirt from now on. 

Croatia: Dubrovnik

Before I start, I have to warn you that I figured out how to use some of my photo-editing software so I might have a little too much fun with some of the pictures on future blogs. I'll try to keep most of them more on the raw side and leave the funky effects for Facebook but I'll probably throw in a few fun ones for you too. 

When we boarded the Noordam in January, neither Ron or I had any idea about what to do in Croatia. We didn’t know much about the little country at all really (I’m sorry to report that we haven’t learned much about it since either). But just before the crossing (from Florida to Europe) a friend told us about a place where we could go cliff diving. His instructions were: Take the shuttle to the town. Cross the bridge. Turn right so that the mountain is to your left and the ocean is to your right. Then go past one or two statues and a church and look for some holes in the wall. Stick your head in and if you can see a bar and people jumping in the water, you’ve found it. Well, OK. We’ve gotten worse instructions than that so we decided that is what we wanted to do that day.

We were lost pretty much immediately after crossing the bridge into town. There are a LOT of tourists all crammed into the walled city of Dubrovnik. Most of them are eating ice cream. Seriously. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen so many people eating ice cream at one time in my life. Anyhow, we wandered around the city for a while and I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures of some of the cutest little streets you can imagine. At every turn there was another darling little street with hanging laundry, shuttered windows, and crawling flowered vines. It was pretty fairytale-esque (provided you didn’t run into a group of people chomping on an ice cream cone). 

Then we had lunch at a cute little café overlooking a large church and some markets. Now, I know some of you are going to look at this picture and think it looks gross but you’ve got to keep an open mind when you travel or you miss out on some of the best stuff. It really was delicious.

Finally after lunch we found one of the “holes in the wall” and made our way unsteadily down a winding flight of rock stairs that led to a bar and then another longer, more treacherous flight of stairs that led to some large rocks next to the ocean. While it wasn’t exactly cliff diving, we did jump off the rocks into the frigid Adriatic sea. 

After soaking up a little sun and inspecting the war wounds on our hands and feet inflicted by trying to climb over barnacle speckled rocks to exit the ocean, we hiked back up to the city. We were informed later that there was a 60 foot cliff right next to the bar that we could have jumped off of but nobody was out jumping at the time and I wasn’t about to give it a test run before watching someone else make it out alive. I may enjoy a good adventure but I’m not stupid.

After that we just took the shuttle back to the ship and promptly passed out for an hour. 

If you have not been to Rome, stop what you’re doing right now. Seriously drop everything. You need to book a flight to Italy immediately. All other cities now pale in comparison to this one. I’m utterly in love with Rome.  There’s no way I could adequately describe the greatness of this city. It is so big and words are so small. I’ll do my best to give you an idea of why I fell in love with this city but if you have any self-respect whatsoever, you will follow my advice and leave for the airport immediately so you can see for yourself.

For starters, the weather was ideal. Best we’ve had so far in Europe and really, every day has been close to perfect. We took a free shuttle from the ship to town and then a short walk put us at the train station. We bought a day pass for the trail for €9 each. This is a major bargain because it was also good for the Metro and the bus system. The hour long train ride from Civitavecchia through the Italian countryside (cliché but true) went by quickly and we hopped off the train at the main terminal in Rome. 

Ron is great at figuring out how to use public transportation in big cities and he seems to enjoy it quite a bit so I usually let him take the lead and get us where we need to go. So I let my mind wander as I absorb the new sites, sounds, and smells. We made our way downstairs to the Metro and took it two stops to Colloseo. The second we walked out of the station we were greeted with a view of the Coliseum. We walked around it marveling at its history and its sheer magnitude. With every turn of a corner something else popped out or another facet of it was available to view. I just couldn’t stare at it enough. The lines to get in are insanely long and we were on a tight schedule today so we didn’t get to go in but that is now right at the top of the list of things I want to do in life. I never was into the whole “bucket list” concept but I’m starting to change my mind. 

We wanted to see the Trevi Fountain and started walking in the direction we thought it was in but we sensed we were going the wrong way due to the lack of crowds going in our direction. Ron stopped a couple to ask directions and they showed us where it was on the map and wished us luck. We didn’t realize we needed it until we walked for a while longer and then asked again. Thankfully a few American’s crossed our path and were happy to help out. They suggested we take a €10 cab ride to it because it was quite a bit of a walk. We decided to navigate the bus route instead and found it quickly and easily and for free! 

After seeing the very crowded famous fountain, we stopped for pizza in a little shop down one of the side streets. Ron ordered pizza with ham that they folded up and wrapped with paper. I ordered something they called a salad but while I would call it heavenly, I would not call it a salad. It was a ton of dark green lettuce drizzled with a bit of super light olive oil and pressed between two slices of thin crusty bread along with some salted beef. I’m not going to say it was the best thing I’ve ever eaten because it definitely is not, but it was way up there. I mean way, way, way up there. Ron was equally pleased with his choice. 

Yes, of course that is a Diet Coke I’m holding there under my arm. Or rather, it’s a Coca-Cola Light. I have Coca Light (as many people refer to it) in four different countries and I am here to tell you that they all taste just a little bit different from one another and none of them taste anything like Diet Coke. I’m sure there are people that prefer Coca Light to Diet Coke, but I like my canned chemicals the good old fashioned American way. Not that it matters to anyone but me, but I had to get my 2¢ in there.

Anyhow, we walked down the street enjoying the unending number of incredible sites to see. Here are a few of our favorite stumble-upons. 

With much regret we boarded the train back to Civitavecchia to meet the ship. We both agree that we need several full days in Rome to even scratch the surface of doing all that we want to do. We’re considering stopping off for a few days before we meet up with the Eurodam in August. Since we ended up over $100 under budget (hooray!) we might be able to sock enough money away to do just that. If not, we at least get to see the city once more next week when we will visit the Vatican. Meanwhile, I’m still sitting here marveling over how unreal today was. All I have left to say is “wow.” 

(Oh one more thing: I have to send a shout out to Megan Galligan. I thought about my kid sis all day while I came to understand why she loved Rome so much. Thanks for your suggestions and enthusiasm Megan. "Perdomo" was used often and came in very handy! I can't wait to try your favorite restaurant! Love and miss ya sis. xo)