Just a Friendly Reminder

Have a good day!

Happy Halloween!

This poem perfectly describes how it feels to work on a ship – sometimes (a lot more recently, for me) you just want to go home because you crave a sense of being settled somewhere.

The Double Life

How very simple life would be 

If only there were two of me 

A Restless Me to drift and roam 

A Quiet Me to stay at home. 

A Searching One to find his fill 

Of varied skies and newfound thrill 

While sane and homely things are done 

By the domestic Other One. 

And that's just where the trouble lies; 

There is a Restless Me that cries 

For chancy risks and changing scene, 

For arctic blue and tropic green, 

For deserts with their mystic spell, 

For lusty fun and raising Hell, 

But shackled to that Restless Me 

My Other Self rebelliously 

Resists the frantic urge to move. 

It seeks the old familiar groove 

That habits make. 

It finds content 

With hearth and home -- dear imprisonment, 

With candlelight and well-loved books 

And treasured loot in dusty nooks, 

With puttering and garden things 

And dreaming while a cricket sings 

And all the while the Restless One 

Insists on more exciting fun, 

It wants to go with every tide, 

No matter where...just for the ride. 

Like yowling cats the two selves brawl 

Until I have no peace at all. 

One eye turns to the forward track, 

The other eye looks sadly back. 

I'm getting wall-eyed from the strain, 

(It's tough to have an idle brain) 

But One says "Stay" 

and One says "Go" 

And One says "Yes," 

and One says "No," 

One wants a home and settled life 

And One Self craves the drifter's life. 

The Restless Fellow always wins 

I wish my folks had made me twins. 

- Don Blanding 

We also had a few visitors (kids of crew) stop by for some trick or treating...

Limassol, Cyprus: A taste of Cyprus

My entire shore excursions team, with the exception of the manager, had never been into Limassol, Cyprus. Imagine selling tours to 2,000 guests and having no clue what you are selling! That’s pretty much the situation here! Again, it was me and Maya as it was in Haifa yesterday going to the Dead Sea. Our tour operator, Savvas, took us today in his own car. It started with a drive through the town of Limassol, which really isn’t that impressive to be honest. Just some shops and restaurants lining the streets of the old town – most quite expensive because that’s just the way that Cyprus is…expensive!

Cyprus folks are primarily Greek and speak an ancient dialect of Greek, but there’s a large population of Russians there as well, but also has British roots. They drive on the wrong side of the road (sorry, Kieran ;)) just like the British! After we got through the rubbish side of town, we made it to the wealthier side with beautiful homes on the water. Even managed to sneak a peek at Roman Abramovich’s home, which is the largest home in Cyprus and it’s even up for sale at a measly $25 million! It was cool because he used to own a yacht, the Polarus, and Kieran and I got to go on it a few weeks ago to take a look around since a friend of ours works there!

Back to Cyprus…

Our first official stop was at the Kolossi Castle, where we took a few photos and walked in. The whole idea of the day was just to get a feel for what we are selling to the guests and how to explain how many stairs there are and the basic information. Ten minutes later we were off…

Next stop: Kourian Theater and Eustolios’ house located right next to the theater. It was exactly what I expected from it - a typical Greek theater, but with a fabulous view of the water. My favorite part was that it’s still used today once a year for traditional Greek comedies and tragedies and the locals go and watch shows there. Eustolio’s house is what’s left of a home built right next to the theater. There are remnants of mosaics and baths/saunas. Several earthquakes damaged most of it, but what’s still there is still quite impressive.

  

For our last stop on the sightseeing tour, we stopped off at the Temple of Apollo. Honestly, more ruins! There was a “fighting place” where the men would cover themselves in oil and wrestle (what’s changed from then to now, right?) The temple itself had two pillars remaining and we walked around and took pictures of the bath houses and saunas there as well. The most incredible part of the whole thing was the view of the ocean. Not too impressed, but I think it’s because I’m getting sick of ruins (as snobby as that may sound!) – They’re all starting to look alike!

Savvas asked us if we were hungry and we said that we could go for something to eat and he took us to his favorite spot right on the beach. The restaurant was a typical beach restaurant in décor with its wooden floors, anchors and ropes lining the walls. We sat outside on the patio and had the most incredible views of the cliffs and the water. Savvas got a feel for the types of food we liked and he ordered several dishes of the freshest food I’ve had in a long time! We had fresh pita, tzatziki, fresh shrimp, fried calamari, grilled octopus, a huge Greek salad (sans olives for me, please!) and a side of fries. We ate until we were just ready for a nap…but the end to another lovely day. This job comes with more perks than I could have ever imagined!

Haifa, Israel: The Dead Sea!

I've been to Israel a few times before I started working for Shore Excursions and within those few trips, I’ve managed to cover Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth and many of the religious sites. Yesterday, my manager worked it out for a “fam (shore ex team family) trip” and talked to the tour operator and got us a private minivan to the Dead Sea. It was supposed to be a group of 6 or 7 of us and it ended up being me and my colleague, Maya. Our guide, David, picked us up in an 8-seater van and started the 2 ½ hour drive to the opposite side of the country, through the different banks and zones. It was fascinating to go through all these different checkpoints with armed guards enforcing that Israeli’s and Palestine’s don’t go into an area that they don’t belong. So many cultures live in one country so peacefully at the same time as well, and respect each other’s beliefs and religions.

David took us to the side opposite of where all the tourists typically go – so we ended up at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the Dead Sea and had a huge lunch with fresh hummus, pita, a lovely chicken dish, rice, peas, carrots, meatballs and some other traditional middle eastern food. It was absolutely fantastic and we were stuffed! David was so kind to say that being full is a good thing when you go to the Dead Sea as it helps to weigh you down in the water. Truly doesn't make me feel better, but thanks for trying, David!

Nice and full, Maya and I headed in and changed for swimming in the locker rooms and headed down to the beach area with folks covered from head to toe in the mud and letting the sun bake it into their skin. We walked all the way down the beach to the very end where we found two sun loungers and claimed our spot. Maya got in the water first and put the mud all over her and I took a few photos for her before I made my way into the water. The water felt normal as I walked in and I made my way to the mud first, as the entire Dead Sea bottom is not the mineral-rich mud. I found a large mud area and started to paint it all over myself (while missing a few spots at the same time – but didn't know until I saw the picture) – I mean, who wouldn’t want to look at least 10 years younger in less than 15 minutes. I let the mud dry out a bit and walked out waist deep into the water.

The instructions they give you are that once the water reaches your waist, sit down as though you are sitting in a chair and use your arms to swim/paddle backwards.

 It is the most weird and eerie feeling! I wanted my feet to go underwater and rinse them off, but they won’t stay! I’d push them down and they’d pop right back up. When we’d try to stand up, you really have to force your legs down to the ground so that you can stand back up. For a brief moment, I’d forgotten that I was in the Dead Sea and flipped over to swim a bit and I was quickly told that I couldn’t do that and Maya and I broke out into a fit of laughter when my body just laid on the top of the water like a dead man floating. Luckily, my face didn’t hit the water though! We tasted it and it’s not only extremely salty, but quite bitter as well with all the minerals in it.

Not my most flattering photo, but you have to see this mud.  (Yes, I missed a few spots!) 

After a bit of floating around, we laid out to start the drying out process as the water is actually oily and it took quite a bit to dry out before heading back to meet David so we could drive back to the ship (but not willingly!). David took us by a store because I had asked about a nativity set carved in Olive wood that I had seen the last time, but the store didn’t have what I was after – but Maya and I managed to purchase quite a few of the Dead Sea spa products for ourselves and I got quite a few Christmas gifts in there. I mean, is there anybody out there that would be disappointed by me giving them some Dead Sea skin products actually bought by the Dead Sea? I wouldn’t!

We drove a different route home so that we could try one more store in Jerusalem for my nativity set, but the guy’s prices were way higher than the gentleman that originally was going to sell me one, so I left without one. Just wasn’t meant to be, right?

The Dead Sea has been on my bucket list for many years and when I thought it had become a pipe dream with all that’s happened in the last month there, I was elated to find out I’d be able to go. Just reminds us not to take traveling for granted, because you never know if you’ll be able to go back! If you have the opportunity to travel, stop making excuses that you don’t have the time…do it while you’re able!

Venice, Italy: A Day for Just Us

Kieran and I set out on our own adventure into Venice today in search of a few sights we hadn't managed to see yet as well as pick up a few Christmas gifts and feast on an Italian lunch…and that we did! Since Kieran had been before, he is able to get us around pretty quickly and easily. Our first destination, the Rialto Bridge, went against my expectations to say the least. As with the many bridges in Venice, I just expected one that was larger because it was so famous but it was actually lined with stores and vendors and VERY crowded. 

We shopped around for a bit and after we took a few photos and picked up a Christmas gift or two then crossed over to the opposite side of the bridge that was loaded with restaurants. Kieran ordered a pizza and I went with traditional pasta that was so simple and basic, but perfect. We make it wrong in the US!

After lunch, we ventured to the other side of Venice to check on our lock on the Ponte dell'Accademia and see if it was still there from a month or so ago when we were there last. It looks like, with the damage done to the bridge over the years, they cut the locks off every year or two to take the weight off the bridge. We were both so excited to see that it was there, just missing its yellow polka-dotted ribbon!

We made our way towards St. Mark’s Square, the most crowded place in Venice, I think! St. Mark’s Basilica sits right on the square and had a line that appeared to be long, but continuously moving. Kieran and I decided we should try to go inside and we are so glad that we did. It was absolutely beautiful with floor to ceiling mosaics and paintings – leave no spot untouched. The entire front of the Basilica was composed of solid marble columns and absolutely unbelievable. We walked through the church with our mouths on the ground. Now, I've seen a lot of churches and Cathedrals, but this one takes the cake. Off to the side, there are some small sections for prayer and Kieran and I sat down for a few minutes and said a few prayers before lighting a candle and exiting the basilica.

On the walk back to the ship, we had to stop and have the mandatory scoop or two of gelato (mine was crème brulee and ahhh-mazing!) for the long walk back to the ship.

I love Venice. Scratch that. I love Italy.

Naples, Italy: A Cruise to the Isle of Capri

Can I start by saying that I had one of the best days ever! This tour has been something I have wanted to do for the last few years that I've been in the Mediterranean, but because its 8 hours long, I could never do it before because of time constraints with my previous position on board. I FINALLY got to go and let me just say that Capri is all it’s cracked up to be…and MORE!

Outside of the ship, the group met up with our guide Paulo – a tall Italian man, but not typical Italian. Paulo had blonde hair and blue eyes and his accent sounded as though he learned English in England with a thick British accent – not what you’d expect of an Italian. He walked us from the ship over to the marina (about 5 minutes) and we boarded a hydrofoil boat for our one hour trip to Capri. Mind you, the weather at this point was pretty terrible with the rain pouring down as we waited to board the boat (but a double rainbow over us!). The water was quite choppy, but thank goodness nobody got seasick – not sure I could have dealt with that. For the duration of the ride, I just prayed that the weather would clear (in between Candy Crush moves ;)) and sure enough- it cleared about 5 minutes before we arrived to Capri – the sun started creeping out behind the clouds.

Upon disembarking the boat, we were then going to take a mini bus up to Anacapri at the very top. The minibuses were exactly that…the motor coaches that we’re used to, cut in half. The road all the way to the top of Anacapri was very narrow and winding. Paulo had prepared us for the “Mama Mia” road that we would encounter at the very top and anybody with a fear of heights should close their eyes. The “Mama Mia” road is where the road meets the edge of the cliff and if you look over, there is a thin fence (that serves no purpose!) and when you look out the window, you can see the sea floor directly below. The reason it’s called the “Mama Mia” road is simply because when folks are driving on it, they typically shout “Mama Mia” when they look down!

At the top, Paulo took us into a store where they make the inlaid wood tables- they were pretty but reminded me of a Grandmother’s house to be honest. I looked around a bit and then went outside to meet Paulo where he was giving everybody the option to take a ticket and do the chairlift or go for a walk and shopping in the small town. I chose to take advantage of the opportunity to go on the chairlift ride, so Paulo gave me a ticket and I went around the corner and handed a man (who spoke no English) my ticket and he pointed to the floor where there are two yellow footprints painted in a green square. When you stand there, you turn your upper body to see the chair coming and bend your knees to sit because they don’t stop moving. The gentlemen pushed the restraint down in front of me and off I went. For 20 minutes, I was in the most peaceful place going over gardens just green areas working slowly gaining on the mountain that had seemed so small 20 minutes before. The final destination of the chairlift is a panoramic viewpoint of the entire island of Anacapri & Capri and it’s absolutely beautiful from up there – slightly foggy – but breathtakingly gorgeous and again, peaceful. I took a few photos from that point before jumping back on the chairlift to try and catch a few minutes of shopping in the town of Anacapri. The shopping was all about lemons – Limóncello, lemon soap (smells incredible!) and lemons painted on pretty much anything from aprons to plates slippers. Didn’t buy anything in Anacapri, but made it back just in time to meet the group and we jumped back into the minibus again to head to the other side of the island, Capri.

  

The minibus took us back the same route we came and continued past to the other side to deliver us to Capri. We stopped at the furthest point that the minibuses could drive and Paulo took us into a store that makes their own brand of Limóncello and other “lemon” items. We sampled both the standard Limóncello as well as a creamy one – I bought both! They were both so tasty and I think the creamy one will be nice to cook with. The women in the store also let us sample lemon and orange chocolate, which I didn’t expect to like, but they were so nice and smooth and creamy.

The group took a walk from the store with Paulo to a beautiful resort about 10 minutes away, where we were to have lunch in a ballroom overlooking the ocean. Lunch consisted of cheese-stuffed manicotti as an appetizer with fresh bread rolls, followed by baked chicken with a tiny bit of marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese followed by none other than tiramisu. Unfortunately, tiramisu isn’t my thing, so I set it aside and went back to utilize the free time he had given us before we had to start the journey back to the ship. I really wanted to buy some of the lemon soap because it really was lovely, but it was so pricy for soap! Since I didn’t have dessert at the restaurant and I wasn’t having any luck, I went to a stand/kiosk sort of thing that was squeezing fresh oranges and making a local drink that’s half frozen lemon slush and they fill the remainder of the glass with orange juice – let me just say that it was awesome and refreshing!

The last adventure for the day was meeting Paulo outside of the funicular station where he would give us a ticket to take it to the bottom of the island, where’d we gather the entire group and take the hydrofoil back to the ship. The worst part(s) of the entire day – going back to work and not having Kieran there to enjoy it with me :(

I think this is one of my favorite tours by far simply because it includes so many different types of transportation: the hydrofoil, minibus, chairlift, walking, and the funicular down. Just a perfect combination!

Barcelona, Spain: Ole’!

Tonight I went to see a Flamenco Show in Barcelona. It was a beautiful dinner with four courses with dancing and boy was it LOUD! I think they even put microphones underneath the stage and every time the dancers dig their heels in, we all hear it and feel it! Something I never realized was how emotional Flamenco dancing and music was and how sad most of it really is, but man-oh-man the dancers are passionate!

Following the show, we loaded onto the bus where the guide and driver took us on a drive around Barcelona. Honestly, I didn’t think that a drive around the city would allow us to see much, but the Gothic Quarter is incredible in the evening as are most of the buildings with the lighting in place. Barcelona is pretty cool once you get away from Las Ramblas street, which is loaded with tourists and pickpockets!

Venice, Italy: Murano & Burano

Before I go anywhere – Happy Birthday to Robin - one of my favorite people in the world. I miss her all the time on ships but love that every time we see each other, we pick up exactly where we left off!

I knew I wanted to do another tour in Venice, but I was unsure of which one to do.  After reading all of the descriptions of each offered excursion and talking to my colleague, Maja, I signed myself up for “Murano & Burano” because she had nothing but amazing things to say about them.  Like I mentioned yesterday, we’re docked a good distance away from the main part of Venice, so with our tours, we provide a motor launch (a small boat) for each tour to depart on.  My folks embarked onto our vaporatto, the bus-style boat to get us to Murano & Burano, and set off on our small adventure.  

The weather was finally a bit cooler, but this morning, we definitely were wearing wind breakers on the boat because it was quite chilly heading over (despite the slow speeds of the boat, causing minimal wind). We had an incredible panoramic tour of all the islands around Venice and an overview of the area and its statistics. After a 45 minute scenic boat ride, we reached Murano, our first stop, and disembarked the boat. . Murano is an island that sits a bit northeast of Venice and is known for its glass making and production of beautiful and colorful masterpieces and we entered for our glass making demonstration and shopping.

The glass making demonstration was performed by a man who had been working for this particular factory for 28 years, as far as I could work out. He worked very quickly simple because of the need for speed to create his product before the glass cooled. In a matter of five minutes (if that), he had picked up the clear glass from an oven at the back, picked up the colors that he was going to roll into the clear glass and had blown the blob of glass into a beautiful vase. It’s so incredible to see the manipulation of the liquid glass to the final product of a beautiful vase in a matter of minutes. As soon as the vase was completed, he had already picked up more of the clear and liquefied glass and put some ruby colored liquid glass in the center of it. Never could I imagine that within 60 seconds, he’d have created a horse that was able to balance, and stand on its hind legs. Just blew me away!

When we had finished the glass making demonstration, we continued back to an overwhelmingly large shop located up one level in the building. From the minute I set foot into that showroom swarming with vultures (uh…I mean, sales representatives) to the minute I left, my jaw was on the ground. Yes, most of it was beautiful (most) but the prices as well. The ceiling was covered in chandeliers ranging from clear and classic to vibrant colors and modern in design. Just glancing at a few of the prices on the chandeliers, they ranged from 5000 euros to 37000 euros. Nope, I didn’t add any extra zeros there either, folks! I wandered through all the rooms of the store and after quickly discovering everything was out of my price range, made my way towards the exit. I had heard one woman behind me say “I thought there was a bargain room!?” One of the gentlemen that worked there overheard her and escorted her (and me!) down to the bargain room that was down the stairs, around the corner and through a very small door. Lo and behold a dream for me – things with red lines, -50% stickers and labels with “imperfects”. They were PERFECT for me! Three vases later, I walked out the door proud as punch to have made purchases that I adore with prices that my bank account could agree with.

Outside the factory and store, the guests gathered ready to board our water coach and head to Burano and see what the little city 20 minutes away had in store for us. So, Murano is known for glass and Burano is known for lace making and for the colored houses. If you look at the pictures below, you will see rows of brightly colored homes with a story to tell. Some of the homes we saw were actually four colors on the outside, which indicated that four families resided within that one home. The story behind these colored homes on this tiny fishing village island goes like this… At the end of hard work days, fisherman used to go out to the bars and drink quite a bit. When they returned back home each evening, they had a hard time distinguishing which home was theirs, so they would “randomly” wander into the wrong home and sleep with whatever woman was there. The wives all got together and developed the idea of painting each home its own color so that the men could easily find their way home each evening. I absolutely love this little town – walking up and down the streets of the village lining the waterways and exploring the colorful rows of homes with fresh linens hanging on the line out second floor windows – it was just picturesque. I almost felt as if I was part of some movie and that it wasn’t real! 

 

While wandering the streets, I made my way into a store that had packaged their own fresh pasta flavored with all sorts of things like cuttlefish and bitter cacao. After examining each package, I decided to purchase curry flavored pasta, bitter cacao pasta and chili parmesan pasta. The most unusual is definitely the bitter cacao. I did ask the girl running the store how she would prepare the bitter cacao pasta and she said to take some crème fraise, mushrooms and parmesan and that’s exactly what she would do at home. I must admit, I’m pretty excited to try and make them when we get home!

We had about an hour ride back to the ship, slow and steady because of the speed limits on the canal, but the beautiful weather combined with the two great islands just made for a perfect day – can’t rave enough about it!

Venice, Italy: Locked into the Relationship!

First off – a moment of silence for all that were lost and all who have fought because of what happened on this day 12 years ago. Still takes my breath away every time I remember watching the plane crashes replaying over and over again while sitting in my Pre-Calculus class in high school.

Of course, I had always had high hopes of making it to Venice, and I could only imagine the world of possibilities with things that I could do and places I could see. Little did I know, that the glimpse of Venice that I’ve had over the last two days would be as incredible as they were. Granted, three weeks ago, I found myself sitting in the harbor and I did manage to go and do a daytime gondola ride (see a few posts back) but didn’t manage to make it out to explore this magnificent city on foot. Can’t say that anymore!

We had an overnight stay again, so we (Kieran and I) got two long full days to spend in Venice. Luckily, I worked it out with my team mates to get the afternoon off (after swapping for another afternoon of work that I would give them off later in the week). It worked out wonderfully because Kieran is off at noon and so we had the afternoon to do as we pleased. We started by going to visit some old friends on one of our signature class ships (and newest ship to the fleet), the Nieuw Amsterdam, as it was in with us for both days in Venice. After an hour or so of saying hello to friends and touring the ship, we came back and changed into non-uniform clothes and headed ashore.

Because of the location of where we’re docked – we’re about a 30 minute walk from St. Mark’s square, so we decided to go via water taxi. The water taxi drops everybody off in front of Doges Palace and from there you can walk through the square full of shops stocked with Murano glass and pricy name brand clothing, bags and jewelry. After bypassing the masses of tourists, we started towards our first mission of the afternoon, Ponte dell'Accademia. There is a tradition at this bridge, for lovers to attach a decorated padlock to the bridge railings and to throw the keys into the water. Much to our dismay, we looked at the oldest locks on the bridge and most were from 2012 as the rest had been cut off. After reading some articles, they do so because of the damage done to the bridge from the extra weight of the locks.

   

A few days prior, we picked up a large padlock in Katakolon, Greece and wrote our names on it along with the year and the ship that we’re on.  With my love of polka dots, I added a piece of yellow spotted ribbon for a bit of extra flare.  The big heart is for Kieran and I and the small ones are for our (God willing) future children.  After selecting what we deemed to be the perfect location, we put the lock on and took a few photos for memory’s sake and continued onto the next mission – some delicious Italian food…what else?

While in search of the ideal spot for our Italian cuisine, we wandered in and out of shops containing walls of Venetian masks of all sorts. Kieran had surprised me with one this summer when we got home, so we weren’t in search of a new one, but they are absolutely stunning…as were some of the prices. Some that we picked up were a couple hundred euros a piece – but they were pieces of art work! We had quite a bit of fun as the pictures below illustrate!

Kieran lookin' like a mon-kay!

Playing with the masks really tired us out and we were quite famished. We turned a corner and saw the “Raging Pub” (which we later find out, came from the owners love of the Raging Bull – as illustrated by a very large arm tattoo). It really was a hole in the wall type of pub, but the food ended up being fantastic – the salad, gnocchi and pizza that we shared was worth every last bite! To top off the lovely Italian meal, we stopped for a cone of gelato (why can’t we have the real gelato in the states?!) and picked up a couple of cannolis for another day (again – in the US – we don’t make them right!) Slowly but surely, we strolled around a bit more and walked back to the ship instead of returning via water taxi. Between the incredible weather and beautiful scenery, a walk just seemed appropriate.

A stop at a local grocery store and look what we find...soda to match his hair!;)

Upon returning to the Noordam, the sun began to set behind the ship and it was absolutely incredible!!  It was one of those nights that was just right and one more reminder of life’s little blessings like the ability to travel the world with the man I love and who loves me more than I could ever imagine someone would or even could for that matter.  Pretty sweet deal that I’ve got myself here J

Santorini, Greece: Two Asses on a Trail

The one thing I've always wanted to do in Santorini was ride the donkey up the trail, because that’s “typical Santorini.” Whenever you hear or see anything about Santorini – you hear about riding a donkey up to the city of Fira at the top. In the past, I had always taken the cable car to the top, but Kieran and I have decided that we’re going to stop putting off the things that we’ve always wanted to do in certain ports and cities. With the recent issues in Egypt and Israel, the company has stopped allowing the ships to go into the ports (for very valid reasons, I believe!). Lucky for me, I've done the pyramids and the Giza and been all over Israel, but Kieran never has and he’s quite bummed about the possibility of never going into those places again and seeing the symbolic and iconic sites.

I hopped on my donkey first and had asked Kieran to hold the camera awhile I got on and when my first foot was comfortable in the stirrup, the horse took off with me and without the camera. Kieran and I had made sure that each of us had a camera to take photos of each other going up the 500+ steps to the town of Fira. He got a few shots of me, but I didn't get to take any of him on his donkey. We had a blast! My donkey stayed well ahead of his and I now fully understand what “stubborn as a mule” means. They have minds of their own and zigzag all the way up the pathway (apparently, the shortest distance between two points being a straight line is of no importance to them). They run into the other asses all the way up and have no regard for people walking down the trail. We even had one girl yell at us “People, control your donkeys.” Wasn't sure who the bigger ass on the trail was at that moment!

My donkey stopped a few times and I was worried that he was going to sit down and tell me to get my fat ass off of him, but we made it all the way to the top safe and sound! Worth the faint smell of donkey poo for the remainder of the afternoon ;)

Came Across this sign today at the top of Fira!

Side Note: We walked around Santorini today and we found this lady that has really cool jewelry made from Legos and other fun stuff. I got this necklace and I'm in love with it as well as some mustache earrings in remembrance of Kieran's 'tache being laid to rest!

     

Iraklion, Greece: For once, we're the fish food!

We’ve wanted to do this for a while and we told each other that the next time we were in Iraklion, we were going to do it – and so we did!  It’s a weird feeling and tickles like crazy as they suck the dead skin off your feet.  We both really enjoyed it - Kieran even asked to do it again!

Nafplion, Greece: Cruising the Corinth Canal

Because of the unrest in Israel, the Captain cancelled our two ports of call in Israel this voyage and traded them out for two ports in Turkey and a call in Nafplion, Greece. Before they announced the change, I’d never heard of this particular port, so I was anxious to see what tours we were going to offer. I checked through the list and saw that we offered “Corinth Canal Cruising” and instantly got excited. When we are in Athens, we offer a tour that goes to the Ancient Corinth Canal, but it doesn't actually go into the canal – just view it from above, but THIS particular tour was a cruise through the canal and I knew I had to do it. 

I don’t think the weather could have been any more perfect than it was – a perfect sunny day! From the ship, it’s approximately a 45 minute drive to reach the canal and our first stop was the opportunity to take a picture of the canal from above. It’s amazing that this canal is man-made and looking down into it and seeing how far below it is, it’s a sight to behold! I took my photos and it only made me more excited to get on the boat and go.

A few minutes on the bus later, and we were at the dock and ready to board the boat. I waited for all the guests on both buses (about 80 people) and then I got on and found my “spot” and got situated. Many of the guests (between our cruise line and one other that joined our boat) were arguing over spots to stand on the top deck with their cameras etc. Honestly, I did want to be on the top in the sunshine, but when I heard the bickering, I was happy in my corner of silence. Where the stairs from the top deck meet the bottom deck is where I found my little nook and it was perfect for taking photographs and there was nobody there to crowd me or get in the way of my photo!

The entire journey through the canal, I kept thanking God for the opportunity to see this incredible creation. We cruised all the way through the canal (4 miles) and turned around and went back through the canal to return to the same spot where we boarded. With the sunshine and the sound of the boat cutting through the water, I didn't want it to end!

To give you an idea, the canal is 276 feet high, 80 feet wide, 25 feet deep and 4 miles long. I took a ton of pictures and just had an amazing day!

   

Everybody has a “happy place” in the world – a place that makes them at peace with themselves and the world. Mine is anywhere involving water – it puts me at ease.

Istanbul, Turkey: A Spin around Istanbul

I’ve been to Istanbul several times over the years and have always really enjoyed walking around the International Spice market and walking around. Before Kieran went for the first time (without me), I described it to him as “sensory overload” and he agreed that my definition was quite suiting. Other than the Spice Market and walking around the bazaar, I hadn’t done much of the sightseeing in Istanbul like the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace. We decided that we’d go out and have a long walk around the city and stop by the market to do a bit of shopping.

We found this staircase outside of the port - it's so pretty!

Some of the spices and how they are displayed - yum!

The walk was about 45 minutes over to the area where the Blue Mosque is and we passed by the Egyption Spice Market on the way. We chatted a bit, as per usual, but I was reciting some fun facts that I learned about the night before on my “Night out in Istanbul” tour. The tour guide told the group that Istanbul has 17 million inhabitants and 5,000 mosques. When I raised my hand and asked if he meant in all of Turkey and he quickly replied with "no" – that’s just in Istanbul. If you ever go to Istanbul, you’ll understand how 17 million people live in one city….one on top of another! One of the most crowded cities I've ever traveled to, to say the least!

When we arrived at the Topkapi palace, the line was very long so we decided to head to the Blue Mosque, only to find out that it was prayer time so we could only enter the courtyard area, which was amazing all on its own. It’s called the Blue Mosque because of the tiles coating the walls and their blue colors and patterns. From the courtyard area, it was very impressive, so I can imagine that the inside is breathtaking. Since we weren't going to wait around for the mosque to open, we walked out the back area of the courtyard and found a man selling corn on the cob. If you aren't a street food person or have never tried it, corn on the cob is one of the best street foods! We sat outside with a beautiful view of the mosque and ate our corn while listening to the prayer time (not the most soothing of sounds) and hanging out with two stray dogs chillin’ in the sunshine. Sometimes on ships, you forget how awesome your life is and we become jaded. Kieran said it perfectly on his Facebook status:

“Yesterday, I sat outside the Sultan Ahmet Camii (Blue Mosque), with the woman I love, eating corn on the cob, trying to figure out a way to give the stray dog who sat with us a drink of water. It made me think how even though we get blasé about it sometimes, its days like yesterday that make us do what we do.”

The Blue Mosque Courtyard

             

                                     

Kieran's new Turkish friend!

 After basking in the sunshine on a park bench in the square, we meandered around town for a bit longer and then started thinking about what we wanted to do for lunch. Along the way, we began looking in the window of a Turkish Rug store and the guy came out with his calculator in hand ready to bargain for one that we had been admiring. Before we knew it, he had convinced us to come inside and down the flight of winding stairs to reach the bottom level, a room drenched in more rugs than any palace could handle. The plopped us on a wooden bench on one wall, stuck a cup of Turkish apple tea in our hands and began the flying carpet demonstration. They literally throw the carpets in the air and with a flick of the wrist it spins before floating gracefully to the floor. It really is quite a display! They were all beautiful but the prices, even after lots of bargaining were around $600 for a tiny little rug. We thought on it for a few minutes and decided that we weren’t “in love” with any of them and it wasn’t worth all that money if we didn’t HAVE to have it! Finally, we made our way out of the store by telling them that I was hungry and I’m very grouchy if I haven’t eaten – so we’d talk about it over lunch and then come back. We never did make it back, but we did make it to lunch!

On our walk, we went through a park and found a Sister Squirrel - always an Alpha Gam!!

Backtracking our way out of the city and not far off of the carpet store, we found a restaurant off the beaten path with an outside patio, which is something I always look for when the weather is nice. Fresh orange juice was promptly delivered to the table and shortly thereafter, we received a beautiful platter of assorted Mediterranean appetizers including tzatziki (of course), hummus, red pepper dip and a few others that I don’t have a name for, but they were spectacular as well – all served with fresh pita bread. Then we shared an assortment of meats with lamb and chicken and port with roasted peppers and other vegetables. The food here is unbeatable as I’ve said a million times before!

Unfortunately, Kieran and I both love sweets and to eat and you can’t beat some Turkish Delight treats! We went into a store that Kieran had visited on past trips to Istanbul and the guy remembered exactly who he was. He asked us what we liked and, of course, we both said everything. The gentleman put together an assortment of his finest treats, all five pounds of them! Not only are they tasty, but they are beautiful as well – so pretty you almost don’t want to eat them, but of course, I did…and Kieran helped…sorta ;)