Med Cruise!

We left on Aug 27 for our Meditterranean cruise out of Venice on Norwegian Cruise Lines. We took the train over to Venice. It was quite funny because when we got on the train in Lausanne I hear someone saying my name and speaking English. I turned around and it was a couple that I work with and we've hung out with some since they have moved from the US to Switzerland. They were on their way to Milan (a last minute trip for them) and just happened to be in the same train and same car, just a few seats away. I sat with them the entire way to Milan (Gene did for a while until someone came to take their seat). We chatted the entire way, catching up as it had been a while since we had seen each other due to my travels for work. It made for a nice trip! Once we got to Venice, we hiked it over to the port to get on the boat. We were drenched when we got on to the boat which had great a/c going to cool us off. It was sweltering in Venice...over 100 degrees with extremely high humidity. We grabbed some lunch and then hit the top deck to watch the views as the boat left Venice. The week before at work in Amsterdam, I had heard from a person I was auditing, that the views of Venice from the boat are great. We were quite amazed. You could see the entire city since it was so low compared to the top deck of the boat. We also met a couple from St. Louis that is living in Turkey...they saw the Cardinal's hat and also Gene's t-shirt about the police being the fireman's hero and stopped to talk to us. From Venice, we headed to Dubrovnik, Croatia.

On Sunday, we hung out on the top deck for a while getting some sun in the morning. We arrived right before lunch in Dubrovnik. In Dubrovnik, we took a walking/cable car tour. The cable car took us up to the top of the city, which had some amazing views of the harbor, old town, new town and the city walls. The city walls were about 12 foot thick and surrounded the old town. After coming back down to the bottom of the cable car, we walked around the old town for about an hour hearing about the city. They have 35 or just a few more Catholic churches in the old town, which is probably about a 20 minute walk from one side to the other. The patron saint of Dubrovnik is St. Blaise...the patron saint of throats. We walked around the old town on our own after the tour was over and found some great artwork to add to our collection! We got some gelato (it was supposed to be comparable to Italy...but...we didn't agree) and then headed to the beach. The beach was quite rocky but the water was so clear and the brightest blue I've ever seen. It looked amazing and would have gotten in if I would have had a swim suit and a place to change. We headed back to the boat a bit before we had to take off. We got cleaned up and headed to dinner. We ate dinner with a couple from the UK and two sisters from there, as well. The couple from the UK had actually been on the boat before when the boat had been in Hawaii several years ago.

The next day was an "at sea" day. We slept in a bit and then got up in enough time to grab some lounge chairs on the top deck at the front of the boat. We spent almost the entire day out enjoying the sun, the Greek islands we kept passing, reading, sleeping, and relaxing. We got some sun, but not crazy burnt too bad. Just some on the back of my legs (ya know, the area that really doesn't see sun anymore!). That night we had reservations for the typannaki restaurant on the boat (10 pm...everyone else had the same idea). We didn't mind though. It was worth the wait. While we were waiting for dinner, we sat in the main lounge area to listen to a guy named RJ Red. He played guitar and sang, mostly in the evenings in the same area. We were about to get up to go to dinner and he actually pointed at me and said "this one is for you". It was Adam Sandler's "Grow Old with Me" from The Wedding Singer. Hilarious!!

Monday was our Athens, Greece stop. We took a tour that took us via bus to see the Olympic Stadium (the original one) and then to the Acropolis! The tour guide was a typical Greek and talked, talked and talked some more. It was all good stuff, but wow, at least walk and talk! The Olympic Stadium was cool to see. It was all some kind of rock...not sure if it was marble or what, but imagine sitting to watch the games on a rock seat for a few hours! They had recently held the opening ceremonies to the Special Olympics there a few months ago. They have built a new stadium outside the main city now where most of the main events are held. The Acropolis was amazing. Just to be at the Parthenon, the Temple of Nike, and where the Greek gods had supposedly been at was awesome. The crowds here were extremely large and it was very hot! We ended up skipping out of the tour because we were afraid we would not be able to see everything because the tour guide would not shut-up or talk and walk. After the tour was over, we found some great artwork again and we went on our own to go to the Hard Rock for our nachos, shot glass and teddy bear! We walked to the Temple of Zeus and got some great pictures looking back up at the Acropolis. We then headed to the shopping area. I was in heaven. Shoes stores EVERYWHERE! Although, the shoes I stopped to see were not in my size. I finally found a pair a bit later in a store that had thousands of shoes. :) We had to head back to the boat by catching the metro back to the port. That night back on the boat, we ate dinner at the Tex-Mex restaurant. I had fajitas and they were so yummy! The restaurant overlooked the main lounge, so we were able to hear RJ Red again.

On Tuesday, we were in Izmir and Ephesus, Turkey. Izmir is the port city and really had nothing to see. Ephesus is where the tourists go. It is a ruin city. The Virgin Mary spent the last 9 or so years of her life in this area and there are tons of religious sites to see. At the height of the city times, this was the site for the 3rd largest library of scrolls. St. John had also spent a lot of time in the area. After we were back and done with our cruise, we finally put a few things together and realized that this was the town the book of Ephesians is based upon from the bible. Very old and ancient, obviously. After leaving Ephesus, we stopped at a Turkish rug factory. Tourist Trap! It was neat to see how they make the rugs and the different beautiful designs, but they try and trap you in to buying a rug. You could see all the salesmen just waiting in the side rooms. We were all stuck in a back room they use for the demonstrations and the sorta trap you in. You have to walk through the salesmen to get out and they all try and get to you. Luckily, I was smart and waited to use the bathrooms until the end of the demonstration. So, I got us out of there quickly! While we waited outside, we met a nice couple from Canada, eh. Their son does bike races and has spent a lot of time in Europe and Switzerland specifically as it is a hugely popular biking country. They were extremely nice and talked for quite a while with them. That night on the boat, we ate in the smaller main restaurant. It was not that nice...low ceilings (that caused it to echo) and VERY loud.

The next day, was another day at sea. We were traveling back to Croatia. We slept in again. This time, we had some difficulty finding lounge chairs! Gene eventually had to move some from the shade around to the back of the boat. We again relaxed, read and slept a bit while the Greek islands passed again. I finished my book on my kindle and had to wait until we were close enough to an island with 3G network so I could download another one! :) We headed back to the room early and caught a quick nap before dinner. We ate dinner in the main lounge and got a nice table by the window. After dinner, they had a chocolate buffet in the buffet on the top of the boat. It was pretty, but they didn't have much that I liked. :( I ended up finding crepes that were awesome though!! After the chocolate buffet we hit the hot tub while we were cruising along!

Our last day was in Split, Croatia, which ended up being my absolute favorite and would love to come back here some day! I would highly recommend this city/area to anyone interested in a fabulous beach city!!! When the boat arrived in to the port, the view of the city port was amazingly beautiful! The boardwalk was lined with palm trees and had a view of the palace in the background. We took a walking tour of the city, which is mostly contained within the Diocletian palace. The city was easily walkable and had so much to see and do. After the tour was over, we ate some pizza and walked around some more on our own. Again, we found some great art to add to our collection...the first pastels we've bought. We had some gelato and sat along the waterfront and just enjoyed the amazing city views. Then, back on the boat so we could head back to Venice. We ate a quick dinner in the main restaurant and then sat and listened to RJ Red until it was time to go pack up our suitcases and put them in the hallway for the next day. We chatted with RJ during one of his breaks since he saw us coming to listen almost every night. He's a Philipino that is living in Ohio and singing/playing guitar on Norwegian Cruises.

On Saturday morning, we arrived in Venice and got off the boat shortly after 8 am. I was definitely sad that this vacation was over. It was extremely relaxing and got to see so much! We added 3 more countries to our list, as well. We ran back to the train station. When we were on the "people mover" metro line (basically a small train that takes you from the port to the main land), we ran in to the couple from Canada again. They commented that they kept seeing Gene in Split and knew they were not lost or late for the boat. They saw his Cardinal hat and he was wearing a bright red Swiss soccer shirt so he was quite noticeable. ;) We were happy to get to the train station and be able to get on the early train at 8:50 which would allow us to get back home about 3 pm instead of 9 pm, which is when our train was scheduled for. We got back to our apartment and started laundry again so we could be back on the train at 6 am to head to the Geneva airport and fly back to the US the next morning.