Cruisin' Time!!!!

This has been quite the September! We were spoiled to have our parents come to be with us and to see some beautiful things!

Andy and I saved some vacation days for a cruise:) Since we may not easily get to this part of the world after our few years here, we thought it the perfect time to do a Greek Isles cruise! We found a good deal and booked our reservation some months ago. The time had come!

We said our goodbyes to Mom and Dad in Venice after having a leisurely breakfast and walk through the town. We boarded the boat and set sail at about 3pm. Talk about a beautiful day! Venice is a beautiful city!

Day 1-Kotor, Montenegro

Sunday morning, we had a relaxing breakfast on the ship, then ported in Montenegro around noon. We walked around the town a bit, and then found out about the old city fortress that goes up into the hills. We decided to take a little hike. It was so humid outside, that we only got about halfway up before we were spent, but we did make it to this little church that was right along the trail. Montenegro just became its own country in 2006; it was previously a part of Yugoslavia. The town definitely had that former Soviet Union feel to it, but it was really interesting. The architecture was really pretty.

The Ship!

A church in Kotor

The Harbor

Looking down on Kotor

The little Church we hiked up to

hiking down the fortress

Entrance to the city

Ice cream?

 Day 2-Corfu, Greece

We loved this stop! This is our first time to Greece, so we were pretty excited. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the sea looked stunning! We found a scooter shop and the shops owner recommended that we go to a beach on the other side of the island. So we set off, toured Corfu Old town for a bit, and then set off to look for the beach. Thank goodness for GPS! European roads are all sorts of confusing in general, but Greece takes the cake!We would have never found the beach without it! And the drive was amazing! Greece is such a beautiful country! The ride took us up into the hills through a few villages, and then down to the coast. We parked the scooter, put on our swim suits and took a swim! The waves were big, the water was warm and clear, and it felt refreshing on a hot day! We had such a blast! It was a beautiful, quiet beach, which was nice. We relaxed for a bit, then had to make our way back to the port. Great day!

Corfu!

My cute helmet carrier;)

The sea

My hottie of a scooter man!

View of the sea from our scooter ride

Corfu

The Beach!!!!!!!

After our swim

We love the beach!

 Day 3-Athens, Greece

Athens! This was the only excursion that we booked through the cruiseline; we didn't even want to attempt figuring out this big city all on our own. We boarded a bus and made our way through town towards the Acropolis. We had a good tour guide, although our headsets kept going in and out, so we eventually went off on our own to see the ruins. The Acropolis was awesome! I had studied this architecture in my art history classes, but it is always quite the experience to see these masterpieces in person. After spending some time up on the hill, we were able to go over to Mars Hill, where the Apostle Paul taught some of his sermons. We loved that! Very inspiring.

After parting with the group, we found a little taverna and got ourselves some lunch. We were starving! After having a good meal, we walked through the Plaka, or old town. It was fun to see all the different shops and stands selling the local wares. We got ourselves some gelato, and then walked over to Hadrian's arch and the Temple of Zeus. These were my personal favorite. There are only a few standing columns left of the Temple of Zeus, but they were magnificent! The original temple once had over a hundred corinthian columns, making it the largest temple in ancient Greece. We were there at the perfect time of of day when the sun was shining right on them, but everything around the site was starting to get hazy and dark. Stunning!

We boarded our bus and headed back to the boat. We were tired! After eating some dinner, we just relaxed and watched some BBC in our stateroom:)

The Propylaia

The Erechtheion

The Porch of the Caryatids

The Parthenon

What a Beaut!

Temple of Zeus below

On top of Mars Hill with the Acropolis behind

Ancient Olympic Stadium, restored for the Athens Olympics 

My Olympic Muscle Man!

Hadrian's Arch

Cutie

Temple of Zeus. Went a little photo crazy, sorry;)

I think we hit a wall about here

Favorite Ancient Architecture in Athens

 Day 4-Mykonos, Greece

We got an early start this day. We ported at 7am, and walked onto the island around 8. Mykonos is everything you picture when you think of a Greek island. White architecture, cobalt blue trimming and doors, and Mediterranean blue water. We enjoyed walking through the town, window shopping (I always enjoy that more;) and seeing the windmills. A must see for those who want to see the Greek isles:)
After walking around town, we rented a scooter once more and went to the other side of the island. The port side was so windy, so we thought we would have better luck taking a ride to another beach. We had a nice lunch, and rented some beach chairs. we just relaxed, got into the water for a little bit (was a little bit colder than Corfu) and read our books. It felt good to just chill out.

When the time came to head back to the port, we returned the scooter to the shop, got some of the best gelato we have EVER tasted and boarded the ship. We were able to watch ourselves a good bellyflop contest by the poolside, play some shuffleboard, and have a good dinner. Another great day!

Mykonos!

Lovely Blue Door

16th Century Windmills

A really windy part of the island:(

Andy having his photo op. meany.

Famous Church in the town. LOVE IT!!!!

Hope I am just like these ladies in 50 years!

yay for relaxation!

Our fun beach spot. We are definitely the whitest ones on the island!

Our Sweet Ride!

View of the harbor

Farewell Mykonos

 Day 5-Argostoli, Greece

This day was memorable! Unlike the other sunny days, we woke up to cloudy skies with a big chance of rain. We figured we would walk into town and find a car rental shop. Argostoli is a town on a big island, so a car would be a great way to see the sights. Unfortunately, all the car shops within walking distance had rented everything out for the day, but one of the shops had some four-wheelers left. We figured that if it rained, we would be safer on a four-wheeler than on a scooter, so that is what we did. We started driving, and less than ten minutes into the ride, it started to rain. We kept riding along the coast, hoping to get past the rainy patch, but it just started to rain more and more. We looked pretty funny with our rain jackets, sun glasses to block the rain from getting in our eyes, and a four-wheeler in pouring rain. We were soaked through by the time we made it back to the main town. We haven't been that wet in a long time! We decided to call it a day, and headed back to the ship to dry off. we had some warm lunch, and once again, relaxed!

Sorry, no pictures this day! It was raining so hard we couldn't even get the camera out;)

Day 6-Day at Sea

We spent this whole day at sea. It was actually pretty nice. We slept in a little bit, watched a movie in the theater, and found a quiet place on the deck to read our books. Kinda sad we hadn't discovered this spot earlier:(  We did have a little surprise. There was a medical emergency on the ship, and the ship had to make a quick stop in Croatia to get this person to a hospital. Still don't know what the person was sick with, but he or she was able to get the proper care. And we got to see the coast of Croatia! It was really beautiful, and it is a place we would love to see more of someday!
Day 7-Venice

It was time to leave the boat. We were actually okay with that, the previous day had  been a little wavey and the boat was rocking quite a bit. We took our bags, exited the ship, and made our way to our hotel. After checking in, we took a shuttle to the island to see Venice! The day was sunny and clear, which makes Venice that much better. We played tourists, and just soaked the whole town in! It was pretty crowded, it being George Clooney's wedding day IN Venice. Everyone seemed to be on the A-List watch! The closest we got to seeing George was his face on a watch ad down an alleyway! But kind of cool that we were in Venice on that day!

We windowshopped, found some gluten-free pizza and pasta, went to San Marco square, and had fun wandering down all the alleyways and bridges. It seemed that around every corner, there was something beautiful and photo-worthy to see.  Andrew loved it! He definitely got the history bug and wanted to go and read all about Venice.  We also toured the Doge's Palace, which was amazing! It represents all of the grandeur and splendor that used to characterize and still characterizes Venice.

The architecture was so detailed and decorative. It left us in awe. It was also amazing to see how Venice used to run politically. It actually had a surprisingly long period of peace and prosperity....which fed the history bug more:) Loved seeing this place.
Afterwards, we got on a waterbus to go to the other side of the island. It was pretty crowded but still fun to tour the canal a little bit. I had found an Italian paper shop earlier that day that I wanted to go back to. Andrew indulged me and came along;) After, we found another restaurant that served gluten-free pasta! It was so delicous! I got to eat some delicious, warm bread with oil and vinegar, and some carbonara pasta, and Andrew got this delicious seafood pasta. So yummy! And the atmosphere was very Venician, which made it fun.

In front of San Marco and the Doge's Palace

About the closest we got to Georgy

San Giorgio Maggiore

View of San Marco inside the Doge's Palace

Love this Canalway

Doge's Palace Courtyard

Sexy Ray Bans Pic

On the Water bus taking a canal ride

What is Italy without ginormous chunks of Parmesiano Reggiano Cheese!

This critter was on top of our pasta. Ahh!

A day is not complete without a gelato! We got our classic hazelnut and chocolate, and then made our way to the shuttle to go back to the hotel.  Great day!

The next morning, we slept in a little bit, played some phase 10, had our own church via conference talks, and then headed to the airport. After a great week, or should we say month of travel, we were ready to go home and be home!