The breakdown of our trip of a lifetime (for now that is)...
Day 1 - Barcelona, Spain
Arrive in Saturday, August 29th - picked up at the airport in a white stretch limo by the transport company I booked with because they had "nothing else available to get us with". Not a bad start to the trip. Taken to hotel (Hotel Claris) where we are upgraded to a duplex room which is a two level loft. Lots of space to spread out. Dropped off bags and went to grab tapas before we can go to our room. The buildings are amazing! Sunny and 85-degrees today. After lunch grab a cat nap for a few hours and then head up to the restaurant on the top patio of the hotel with great city views for dinner. Excellent food and wine with an amazing city and mountain view.
Day 2 - Barcelona, Spain
Sunday, August 30th - Sunny and 85-degrees today. Head to the Gothic quarter to wander around for awhile and then head out on a bike tour of the city for 4 hours. Biked all over Barcelona (except the financial district). Saw many great sites from amazing fountains, sculptures, parks, and beach to Sagrada Familia. Finished with some time spent at the beach having drinks. This was the perfect way to see Barcelona! No way could we have covered that amount of ground by walking. Afterward we grabbed tapas in the quarter then headed back to the hotel for a couple of drinks and then a little nap before catching dinner. Again we just ate in the hotel in the roof top open air restaurant since the food was so good and we knew we needed to be up early the next day.
Day 3 - Barcelona, Spain
Monday, August 31st - met up with guide for private tour at Montserrat monastery. Wow this place was just incredible! Walked through the Basilica which was just amazing. Took the tram up one of the mountains and hiked around for a bit up top. Then went and listened to the European boy’s choir. Beautiful location. Next our guide took us to a local Catalonian restaurant for lunch to have an authentic Catalonian lunch. Food was fantastic and packed with locals. Next it was on to a local winery in Penedes (equivalent of Napa in Barcelona). This region is the major production of cava (sparkling wine similar to Champagne). She took us to winery that produces organic wines. Stacy tried one white, one cava, one red, and a dessert wine. They are extremely generous with pours there and they encourage you to try as much as you like. Learned some things I did not know about wine. Afterward we headed back to the hotel and began packing since we board the ship the next day and also to get ready for our final dinner in Barcelona. Again just decided to stick with the hotel for dinner since we had such good experiences there and we knew we’d need to be up early. Had I mentioned the Suckling Pig for for the main course? Mmmmmmm....
Day 4 - Barcelona, Spain
Tuesday, September 1st - Take taxi to ship port. Massive traffic so this cost us an arm and a leg for cab fare! Up to this point all our taxi runs were quick and easy, so it threw us off. We were lucky since our hotel was on a main street that was easy to get up and down via car. Got checked into the ship quickly due to having "Express Check-In" because we had a mini-suite. Grabbed a quick bite of lunch and then off to La Rambla for our last bits of Barcelona and to walk the market. Sunny and 85-degrees today (are you noticing a trend here?). There was a lot of really amazing architecture and statuary around there. Lots of crowds too. No issues with pickpockets or anything, which we had heard that area was notorious for.
Day 5 - Monte Carlo, Monaco
Wednesday, September 2nd - Decided after meeting some people on our bike tour and them telling us about Monte Carlo to cancel our excursion and just head out on our own to walk around. It was described to us as basically the Beverly Hills of Monaco, expensive shopping essentially. So just got off the ship and walked the marina. Lots of really huge yachts and very hot and humid. Sunny and 90-degrees today with 85%-90% humidity. After walking around for a bit we headed back for a bite of lunch and then both of us ran off for massages. Laid on the hot stone beds for a bit in the thermal suite. We really need one or two of these for the house!
Day 6 - Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy
Thursday, September 3rd - We went by bus out to Tuscany to a small town called San Gimignano. The drive out to there was simply beautiful and everything you would expect Tuscany to be with the Cypress trees, olive trees, and grape vines. Everything is very rustic. We drove into the town center where we spent some time window shopping and ate a bite of lunch at a little sidewalk café and on our way back to the bus we grabbed some gelato. Next we drove on to the winery we would be doing the tasting at. It was a cozy little winery called Torciano where we were greeted and educated about their wines in a very entertaining manner by the owner himself, Pierluigi Giachi. Stacy ordered a couple of bottles of their award winning Super Tuscan (seriously good stuff!) and some white truffle oil to be sent home. Afterward it was on to Pisa. Okay so I really expected the Leaning Tower to be quite tall and in reality it’s only 4 stories tall. Reality check. Guess some things you expect to be larger than life and obviously this was not the case. Was still cool to see though. The place was swarming with tons of tourists many of which were taking the cheesy tourist shot of someone acting like they are holding up the tower.
Day 7 - Rome, Italy
Friday, September 4th - Today was lots and lots of walking. We saw the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and St. Peter’s Basilica (unbelievable! It was the last thing Michelangelo worked on before he died). There is history in this town everywhere you look. Very crowded with tourists, but you have to kind of just get over that. Stacy and I each tossed a coin into the Trevi Fountain. Rome was just plain impressive. You could probably go there for a month and not see everything let alone we were there only a day. It was pretty overwhelming, but oh so worth it!
Day 8 - Naples/Capri, Italy
Saturday, September 5th - Today we got out to a cameo factory and the ruins in Pompeii. First was the cameo factory where we learned how cameos are made and watched one of the artisans work. I got Stacy a very beautiful cameo made from onyx and shell that is a pendant and doubles as a pin. Next we went on to see the ruins of Pompeii. It was very, very hot out, but still great walking the ruins. You could actually still see chariot wheel marks in the stone. The bath houses were still fairly intact and had some really nice statuary and mosaics. Saw the various different types of homes, theaters, shops, marketplaces, and yes brothels! Interestingly as far what things were still intact were the frescoes in the brothel demonstrating various different sexual positions, etc. We also got to see plaster casts of bodies from that were found some human and some dogs. Dogs still wander the grounds freely. After a tour of the ruins we very quickly obtained some limoncello to bring home since we would not be going to Sorrento to get it. It was interesting to see the sizes of the lemons. Seriously like the size of a baby’s head!
Day 9 - Day at sea
Sunday, September 6th - Oh for a much needed day of rest! Hung out by the pool and napped a bit. Formal dinner on the ship.
Day 10 - Mykonos, Greece
Monday, September 7th - Today was off to Delos to visit the ruins of the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. It was interesting to see some of the mosaics that were being restored and what some of the houses and the theater looked like. It’s pretty impressive learning the history in particular of this city and learning about how their water system was set up which still houses drinkable water to this day. It also has a lot of diversity of religion there because of the slaves that were brought over. All religions were respected and allowed to have temples built. No one however was allowed to be born or die on Delos. I can’t recall all the details as to why other than something happened when the dead started being buried there where they thought they were being punished by the gods so they unearthed all the graves and moved them elsewhere and from then on out if you were sick or pregnant you were taken from the island until you gave birth, died, or got healthier.
The ferry ride back to the boat was very treacherous as a squall had moved in and had 20 foot swells with water crashing over the front of the ferry. Stacy got a little green in the gills (as well as many passengers on the launch). Grabbed a couple of bites of lunch on the ship and then headed off for a much needed massage!
Day 11 - Istanbul, Turkey
Tuesday, September 8th - Little did we know what we’d be in for this day. Started out that the port authority would only allow one gangway to be open for a ship of 3,000 passengers most of which were heading off the ship for excursions. Our tour got delayed by an hour because of this so we ended up in the middle of rush hour, plus it was pouring rain. No big deal we’re Seattleites we know how to handle rain! So off we go to see the Blue Mosque, Saint Sophia, have lunch on a ferry and sail the Bosphorus River. The Blue Mosque and Saint Sophia were both beautiful! Such gorgeous mosaics. Also, learned a little more about the Muslim religion, which was interesting.
After visiting those we headed off to lunch on the Bosphorus River. Well lunch got delayed because another bus that was also doing our tour got caught behind a car accident. So that delayed things by almost another hour, so essentially at this point our tour is cut 2 hours short. The lunch was excellent! Probably one of the best we had. Lots of eggplant, dolmades, and baklava. Mmmmmmmmmm! After lunch we were supposed to head to Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar, but as it turned out Ramadan was ending so everyone was trying to get somewhere to eat and it was still raining so traffic was a mess and we were totally stuck and not moving. With traffic not moving our guide had us hop off the bus and almost literally running through the streets of Istanbul to get us to the Bazaar. By the time we got there she said we had 30 minutes to shop (this place is huge and you could spend days there!) before we had to get back to the ship. We basically power walked the main corridor as quickly as possible. Our tour wasn't the last to get back to the ship but close.
For those that have been watching the news we missed the big flash flood that occurred just after we left. Some other flooding happened the day we were there - killing 8, but the next morning a huge flash flood hit and killed another 23 and had 9 missing. We left 15 hours before that happened so we were very lucky! Had we gotten in a day later we would have been right in the middle of all that! We also heard that the Blue Mosque and St. Sofia's flooded as well.
Day 12 - Kusadasi, Turkey
Wednesday, September 9th - Today we head out to Ephesus. Sunny and 85-degrees today. Talk about some impressive ruins! Wow, just wow! They are still excavating this area too. Much statuary still intact. We visited the terrace houses as well that were just amazing. The frescoes and the detailed mosaics that are still intact are incredibly detailed and beautiful. The library facade and the theater were just stunning. Afterward we headed back to the Bazaars to do some shopping since we didn’t have enough time in Istanbul. They are much more aggressive in Kusadasi with trying to get you into their shops to buy. Learned the hard way on just how sneaky they can be about getting you into the Turkish carpet shops. Aside from that it was still fun.
Day 13 - Athens, Greece
Thursday, September 10th - Today is off to see more amazing ruins! We went to the Acropolis and Corinth. Okay the Parthenon is bigger than life! It’s in the process of being restored and still was really impressive. It was really neat to see all the theaters and temples and see some of the statuary that was still intact. After visiting the Acropolis we headed out to Corinth where we crossed over and stopped at the Corinth Canal. We went to lunch at coastline resort that looked out over the Aegean Sea. Lunch was pretty good. We visited the ruins and the museum out in Corinth. Again more really cool ruins with tons and tons of history. We had a fantastic guide on this tour. She knew so much history.
Day 14 - Day at sea
Friday, September 11th - Ahhhhhhh for another day at sea for some rest! Slept in a little and then grabbed a little breakfast and then headed off to the thermal suite since it wasn’t busy yet and laid on the hot stone beds again for bit. Rest and relaxation. Formal dinner tonight (it's Lobster Night!).
Day 15 - Venice, Italy
Saturday, September 12th - We didn’t arrive in until around noon. Stacy and I hung out on the balcony as the ship pulled in and we got to see what insanity we were in for in St. Mark’s Square. Took lots of photos. That afternoon we headed in on a tour to see Doge’s Palace, the Bridge of Sighs, St. Mark’s Cathedral, and a glass blowing demonstration at the Murano showroom. Doge’s Palace was just incredible as was St. Mark’s Cathedral. The mosaics, statuary, and architecture were just stunning! The only real annoying thing I found about Venice was that they hang these huge advertisements for the companies sponsoring restoration. So over the Bridge of Sighs is a huge ad. Tacky! After our tour we headed back on ship to finish packing and to have our last meal on board since we would be disembarking the next morning.
Day 16 - Venice, Italy
Sunday, September 13th - Once we located our hotel (15 minute detour in St. Mark's Square - ooooops!) I would say this was our best day in Venice. We managed to check into the hotel early and then decided to just wander in search of food. Our room was on the top floor of this great hotel (was built as a palace in the hundreds of years ago). Our room had windows on 3 sides and had great roof-top views. There was also a roof-top patio as well. Very nice. We came across some other people that had been on our ship at a little cafe while deciding on a place to get lunch and they said their concierge highly recommended it and they said it was the best Italian food they ever had so we decided to give it a shot. The food was pretty good, but ended up having much better the next day and even later that evening.
After grabbing some lunch we decided to walk around a bit more and eventually found our way over to the Rialto Market. Walked around there a bit and off one of the side streets for a gem of a glass shop where we found the coolest spun glass spider web with a spider on it for Stacy. Our feet were starting to get pretty tired and it was getting toward that time when the many of the shops close for “lunch” so we started back towards the hotel. On the way back we both needed to give our backs and feet a break so we stopped by a Gelataria. Lemon gelato with seltzer water is the bomb! We headed back to the hotel after this and took a much needed nap.
After our nap decided to get dressed and figure out what we wanted to do about dinner. We stopped to talk to the concierge about gondola rides and get pricing since the ship wanted $126 per person for a night time gondola ride with serenade. Turns out through the hotel we could get a much better deal - only 80 euros for the two of us. He definitely recommended we do it that night since they were expecting rain the next day and it was the last one of the night. So we talked about it and decided to go for it. It really was very romantic. We traversed the canals in a group of gondolas and had a constant serenade. While on the ride we spotted a restaurant that was right along the canal that was near where the gondola ride was going to end and decided to head there for dinner. We got a table outside right next to the canal. I had the gnocchi with gorgonzola cream and Stacy had the truffle pasta. Amazing! Afterward we decided to pop by a gelato stand on the way back to the hotel. Mmmmmmm! For the rest of the trip it became known as our gelato stand as we hit it a few more times before leaving.
It was such a nice night that we ended up walking around quite a bit and ended up in St. Mark’s Square so I could get some night time shots of Doge’s, etc. When we got there we heard the dueling orchestras playing and decided to have a seat in front of one of them and listen for a bit and have a drink. It was quite the romantic night.
Day 17 - Venice, Italy
Monday, September 14 - Yup rain just as the concierge had promised. So we decided it would be a good day to hit some museums and go in search of real Venetian masks. We decided we wanted to go to the 18th Century museum and popped by the concierge’s desk first to make sure the museums were open since it was a Monday and to ask about where to get some authentic Venetian masks. He suggested we go to the fine arts museum at the Academia and gave us a couple of mask shops and restaurant recommendations. So we went to both of the museums. Lots of gorgeous artwork. The 18th Century museum is a restored mansion that is just stunning! We also decided to visit a Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit we saw going on on our way to the Academia.
We were pretty much starving by the time we did all the museums and our bodies were killing us from all the walking so we popped into an Osteria and Enoteca. This was the best food find of the entire trip! Stacy and I both had ravioli, but mine had arugula, smoked ham and gorgonzola and Stacy's had pumpkin. Afterward we hit our gelato stand. We headed back to the hotel since again “lunch” time was upon us and decided to take a quick nap before heading out mask shopping. After our nap we headed out in search of the mask maker that the concierge told us about. We hit several mask stores before we finally realized that we were in the one he told us about. We met the mask maker while he was working on a mask and he was a very gracious and very helpful man. The masks were much more reasonable albeit not as elaborate as the other place, but still quite nice! So we each picked out a mask to have shipped home. We headed back to the hotel for a little bit and then headed out for our last dinner in Venice. We went to a little family owned and operated Trattoria located a bit off of St. Mark’s. We both had great pasta again (and steak). Since it was Monday the shops were closing earlier then the previous night. By the time we got out of dinner and made it to our gelato stand it had closed. We then spent the next half an hour looking for one open to have a last treat. Found one near the hotel - then called it a night.
Day 18 - Venice to home
Tuesday, September 15th - Had a private transport pick us up at the hotel and take us by water taxi to the airport. Got to fly Envoy class on the way home on the transatlantic portion of our trip and in First Class from Philly to Seattle. That is the way to go for sure! The seats recline all the way to laying down position in Envoy class plus you get much better food and a personal entertainment unit. A great end to the trip to be pampered a little.
In summary about the trip - the art was amazing, the architecture was breathtaking and the food to die for, and best of all the people were wonderful to get to know. You can't beat that.
Like I said before - photos to come!
Arrive in Saturday, August 29th - picked up at the airport in a white stretch limo by the transport company I booked with because they had "nothing else available to get us with". Not a bad start to the trip. Taken to hotel (Hotel Claris) where we are upgraded to a duplex room which is a two level loft. Lots of space to spread out. Dropped off bags and went to grab tapas before we can go to our room. The buildings are amazing! Sunny and 85-degrees today. After lunch grab a cat nap for a few hours and then head up to the restaurant on the top patio of the hotel with great city views for dinner. Excellent food and wine with an amazing city and mountain view.
Day 2 - Barcelona, Spain
Sunday, August 30th - Sunny and 85-degrees today. Head to the Gothic quarter to wander around for awhile and then head out on a bike tour of the city for 4 hours. Biked all over Barcelona (except the financial district). Saw many great sites from amazing fountains, sculptures, parks, and beach to Sagrada Familia. Finished with some time spent at the beach having drinks. This was the perfect way to see Barcelona! No way could we have covered that amount of ground by walking. Afterward we grabbed tapas in the quarter then headed back to the hotel for a couple of drinks and then a little nap before catching dinner. Again we just ate in the hotel in the roof top open air restaurant since the food was so good and we knew we needed to be up early the next day.
Day 3 - Barcelona, Spain
Monday, August 31st - met up with guide for private tour at Montserrat monastery. Wow this place was just incredible! Walked through the Basilica which was just amazing. Took the tram up one of the mountains and hiked around for a bit up top. Then went and listened to the European boy’s choir. Beautiful location. Next our guide took us to a local Catalonian restaurant for lunch to have an authentic Catalonian lunch. Food was fantastic and packed with locals. Next it was on to a local winery in Penedes (equivalent of Napa in Barcelona). This region is the major production of cava (sparkling wine similar to Champagne). She took us to winery that produces organic wines. Stacy tried one white, one cava, one red, and a dessert wine. They are extremely generous with pours there and they encourage you to try as much as you like. Learned some things I did not know about wine. Afterward we headed back to the hotel and began packing since we board the ship the next day and also to get ready for our final dinner in Barcelona. Again just decided to stick with the hotel for dinner since we had such good experiences there and we knew we’d need to be up early. Had I mentioned the Suckling Pig for for the main course? Mmmmmmm....
Day 4 - Barcelona, Spain
Tuesday, September 1st - Take taxi to ship port. Massive traffic so this cost us an arm and a leg for cab fare! Up to this point all our taxi runs were quick and easy, so it threw us off. We were lucky since our hotel was on a main street that was easy to get up and down via car. Got checked into the ship quickly due to having "Express Check-In" because we had a mini-suite. Grabbed a quick bite of lunch and then off to La Rambla for our last bits of Barcelona and to walk the market. Sunny and 85-degrees today (are you noticing a trend here?). There was a lot of really amazing architecture and statuary around there. Lots of crowds too. No issues with pickpockets or anything, which we had heard that area was notorious for.
Day 5 - Monte Carlo, Monaco
Wednesday, September 2nd - Decided after meeting some people on our bike tour and them telling us about Monte Carlo to cancel our excursion and just head out on our own to walk around. It was described to us as basically the Beverly Hills of Monaco, expensive shopping essentially. So just got off the ship and walked the marina. Lots of really huge yachts and very hot and humid. Sunny and 90-degrees today with 85%-90% humidity. After walking around for a bit we headed back for a bite of lunch and then both of us ran off for massages. Laid on the hot stone beds for a bit in the thermal suite. We really need one or two of these for the house!
Day 6 - Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy
Thursday, September 3rd - We went by bus out to Tuscany to a small town called San Gimignano. The drive out to there was simply beautiful and everything you would expect Tuscany to be with the Cypress trees, olive trees, and grape vines. Everything is very rustic. We drove into the town center where we spent some time window shopping and ate a bite of lunch at a little sidewalk café and on our way back to the bus we grabbed some gelato. Next we drove on to the winery we would be doing the tasting at. It was a cozy little winery called Torciano where we were greeted and educated about their wines in a very entertaining manner by the owner himself, Pierluigi Giachi. Stacy ordered a couple of bottles of their award winning Super Tuscan (seriously good stuff!) and some white truffle oil to be sent home. Afterward it was on to Pisa. Okay so I really expected the Leaning Tower to be quite tall and in reality it’s only 4 stories tall. Reality check. Guess some things you expect to be larger than life and obviously this was not the case. Was still cool to see though. The place was swarming with tons of tourists many of which were taking the cheesy tourist shot of someone acting like they are holding up the tower.
Day 7 - Rome, Italy
Friday, September 4th - Today was lots and lots of walking. We saw the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and St. Peter’s Basilica (unbelievable! It was the last thing Michelangelo worked on before he died). There is history in this town everywhere you look. Very crowded with tourists, but you have to kind of just get over that. Stacy and I each tossed a coin into the Trevi Fountain. Rome was just plain impressive. You could probably go there for a month and not see everything let alone we were there only a day. It was pretty overwhelming, but oh so worth it!
Day 8 - Naples/Capri, Italy
Saturday, September 5th - Today we got out to a cameo factory and the ruins in Pompeii. First was the cameo factory where we learned how cameos are made and watched one of the artisans work. I got Stacy a very beautiful cameo made from onyx and shell that is a pendant and doubles as a pin. Next we went on to see the ruins of Pompeii. It was very, very hot out, but still great walking the ruins. You could actually still see chariot wheel marks in the stone. The bath houses were still fairly intact and had some really nice statuary and mosaics. Saw the various different types of homes, theaters, shops, marketplaces, and yes brothels! Interestingly as far what things were still intact were the frescoes in the brothel demonstrating various different sexual positions, etc. We also got to see plaster casts of bodies from that were found some human and some dogs. Dogs still wander the grounds freely. After a tour of the ruins we very quickly obtained some limoncello to bring home since we would not be going to Sorrento to get it. It was interesting to see the sizes of the lemons. Seriously like the size of a baby’s head!
Day 9 - Day at sea
Sunday, September 6th - Oh for a much needed day of rest! Hung out by the pool and napped a bit. Formal dinner on the ship.
Day 10 - Mykonos, Greece
Monday, September 7th - Today was off to Delos to visit the ruins of the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. It was interesting to see some of the mosaics that were being restored and what some of the houses and the theater looked like. It’s pretty impressive learning the history in particular of this city and learning about how their water system was set up which still houses drinkable water to this day. It also has a lot of diversity of religion there because of the slaves that were brought over. All religions were respected and allowed to have temples built. No one however was allowed to be born or die on Delos. I can’t recall all the details as to why other than something happened when the dead started being buried there where they thought they were being punished by the gods so they unearthed all the graves and moved them elsewhere and from then on out if you were sick or pregnant you were taken from the island until you gave birth, died, or got healthier.
The ferry ride back to the boat was very treacherous as a squall had moved in and had 20 foot swells with water crashing over the front of the ferry. Stacy got a little green in the gills (as well as many passengers on the launch). Grabbed a couple of bites of lunch on the ship and then headed off for a much needed massage!
Day 11 - Istanbul, Turkey
Tuesday, September 8th - Little did we know what we’d be in for this day. Started out that the port authority would only allow one gangway to be open for a ship of 3,000 passengers most of which were heading off the ship for excursions. Our tour got delayed by an hour because of this so we ended up in the middle of rush hour, plus it was pouring rain. No big deal we’re Seattleites we know how to handle rain! So off we go to see the Blue Mosque, Saint Sophia, have lunch on a ferry and sail the Bosphorus River. The Blue Mosque and Saint Sophia were both beautiful! Such gorgeous mosaics. Also, learned a little more about the Muslim religion, which was interesting.
After visiting those we headed off to lunch on the Bosphorus River. Well lunch got delayed because another bus that was also doing our tour got caught behind a car accident. So that delayed things by almost another hour, so essentially at this point our tour is cut 2 hours short. The lunch was excellent! Probably one of the best we had. Lots of eggplant, dolmades, and baklava. Mmmmmmmmmm! After lunch we were supposed to head to Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar, but as it turned out Ramadan was ending so everyone was trying to get somewhere to eat and it was still raining so traffic was a mess and we were totally stuck and not moving. With traffic not moving our guide had us hop off the bus and almost literally running through the streets of Istanbul to get us to the Bazaar. By the time we got there she said we had 30 minutes to shop (this place is huge and you could spend days there!) before we had to get back to the ship. We basically power walked the main corridor as quickly as possible. Our tour wasn't the last to get back to the ship but close.
For those that have been watching the news we missed the big flash flood that occurred just after we left. Some other flooding happened the day we were there - killing 8, but the next morning a huge flash flood hit and killed another 23 and had 9 missing. We left 15 hours before that happened so we were very lucky! Had we gotten in a day later we would have been right in the middle of all that! We also heard that the Blue Mosque and St. Sofia's flooded as well.
Day 12 - Kusadasi, Turkey
Wednesday, September 9th - Today we head out to Ephesus. Sunny and 85-degrees today. Talk about some impressive ruins! Wow, just wow! They are still excavating this area too. Much statuary still intact. We visited the terrace houses as well that were just amazing. The frescoes and the detailed mosaics that are still intact are incredibly detailed and beautiful. The library facade and the theater were just stunning. Afterward we headed back to the Bazaars to do some shopping since we didn’t have enough time in Istanbul. They are much more aggressive in Kusadasi with trying to get you into their shops to buy. Learned the hard way on just how sneaky they can be about getting you into the Turkish carpet shops. Aside from that it was still fun.
Day 13 - Athens, Greece
Thursday, September 10th - Today is off to see more amazing ruins! We went to the Acropolis and Corinth. Okay the Parthenon is bigger than life! It’s in the process of being restored and still was really impressive. It was really neat to see all the theaters and temples and see some of the statuary that was still intact. After visiting the Acropolis we headed out to Corinth where we crossed over and stopped at the Corinth Canal. We went to lunch at coastline resort that looked out over the Aegean Sea. Lunch was pretty good. We visited the ruins and the museum out in Corinth. Again more really cool ruins with tons and tons of history. We had a fantastic guide on this tour. She knew so much history.
Day 14 - Day at sea
Friday, September 11th - Ahhhhhhh for another day at sea for some rest! Slept in a little and then grabbed a little breakfast and then headed off to the thermal suite since it wasn’t busy yet and laid on the hot stone beds again for bit. Rest and relaxation. Formal dinner tonight (it's Lobster Night!).
Day 15 - Venice, Italy
Saturday, September 12th - We didn’t arrive in until around noon. Stacy and I hung out on the balcony as the ship pulled in and we got to see what insanity we were in for in St. Mark’s Square. Took lots of photos. That afternoon we headed in on a tour to see Doge’s Palace, the Bridge of Sighs, St. Mark’s Cathedral, and a glass blowing demonstration at the Murano showroom. Doge’s Palace was just incredible as was St. Mark’s Cathedral. The mosaics, statuary, and architecture were just stunning! The only real annoying thing I found about Venice was that they hang these huge advertisements for the companies sponsoring restoration. So over the Bridge of Sighs is a huge ad. Tacky! After our tour we headed back on ship to finish packing and to have our last meal on board since we would be disembarking the next morning.
Day 16 - Venice, Italy
Sunday, September 13th - Once we located our hotel (15 minute detour in St. Mark's Square - ooooops!) I would say this was our best day in Venice. We managed to check into the hotel early and then decided to just wander in search of food. Our room was on the top floor of this great hotel (was built as a palace in the hundreds of years ago). Our room had windows on 3 sides and had great roof-top views. There was also a roof-top patio as well. Very nice. We came across some other people that had been on our ship at a little cafe while deciding on a place to get lunch and they said their concierge highly recommended it and they said it was the best Italian food they ever had so we decided to give it a shot. The food was pretty good, but ended up having much better the next day and even later that evening.
After grabbing some lunch we decided to walk around a bit more and eventually found our way over to the Rialto Market. Walked around there a bit and off one of the side streets for a gem of a glass shop where we found the coolest spun glass spider web with a spider on it for Stacy. Our feet were starting to get pretty tired and it was getting toward that time when the many of the shops close for “lunch” so we started back towards the hotel. On the way back we both needed to give our backs and feet a break so we stopped by a Gelataria. Lemon gelato with seltzer water is the bomb! We headed back to the hotel after this and took a much needed nap.
After our nap decided to get dressed and figure out what we wanted to do about dinner. We stopped to talk to the concierge about gondola rides and get pricing since the ship wanted $126 per person for a night time gondola ride with serenade. Turns out through the hotel we could get a much better deal - only 80 euros for the two of us. He definitely recommended we do it that night since they were expecting rain the next day and it was the last one of the night. So we talked about it and decided to go for it. It really was very romantic. We traversed the canals in a group of gondolas and had a constant serenade. While on the ride we spotted a restaurant that was right along the canal that was near where the gondola ride was going to end and decided to head there for dinner. We got a table outside right next to the canal. I had the gnocchi with gorgonzola cream and Stacy had the truffle pasta. Amazing! Afterward we decided to pop by a gelato stand on the way back to the hotel. Mmmmmmm! For the rest of the trip it became known as our gelato stand as we hit it a few more times before leaving.
It was such a nice night that we ended up walking around quite a bit and ended up in St. Mark’s Square so I could get some night time shots of Doge’s, etc. When we got there we heard the dueling orchestras playing and decided to have a seat in front of one of them and listen for a bit and have a drink. It was quite the romantic night.
Day 17 - Venice, Italy
Monday, September 14 - Yup rain just as the concierge had promised. So we decided it would be a good day to hit some museums and go in search of real Venetian masks. We decided we wanted to go to the 18th Century museum and popped by the concierge’s desk first to make sure the museums were open since it was a Monday and to ask about where to get some authentic Venetian masks. He suggested we go to the fine arts museum at the Academia and gave us a couple of mask shops and restaurant recommendations. So we went to both of the museums. Lots of gorgeous artwork. The 18th Century museum is a restored mansion that is just stunning! We also decided to visit a Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit we saw going on on our way to the Academia.
We were pretty much starving by the time we did all the museums and our bodies were killing us from all the walking so we popped into an Osteria and Enoteca. This was the best food find of the entire trip! Stacy and I both had ravioli, but mine had arugula, smoked ham and gorgonzola and Stacy's had pumpkin. Afterward we hit our gelato stand. We headed back to the hotel since again “lunch” time was upon us and decided to take a quick nap before heading out mask shopping. After our nap we headed out in search of the mask maker that the concierge told us about. We hit several mask stores before we finally realized that we were in the one he told us about. We met the mask maker while he was working on a mask and he was a very gracious and very helpful man. The masks were much more reasonable albeit not as elaborate as the other place, but still quite nice! So we each picked out a mask to have shipped home. We headed back to the hotel for a little bit and then headed out for our last dinner in Venice. We went to a little family owned and operated Trattoria located a bit off of St. Mark’s. We both had great pasta again (and steak). Since it was Monday the shops were closing earlier then the previous night. By the time we got out of dinner and made it to our gelato stand it had closed. We then spent the next half an hour looking for one open to have a last treat. Found one near the hotel - then called it a night.
Day 18 - Venice to home
Tuesday, September 15th - Had a private transport pick us up at the hotel and take us by water taxi to the airport. Got to fly Envoy class on the way home on the transatlantic portion of our trip and in First Class from Philly to Seattle. That is the way to go for sure! The seats recline all the way to laying down position in Envoy class plus you get much better food and a personal entertainment unit. A great end to the trip to be pampered a little.
In summary about the trip - the art was amazing, the architecture was breathtaking and the food to die for, and best of all the people were wonderful to get to know. You can't beat that.
Like I said before - photos to come!