Living Pharr: Cruisin'

As most of you know, Matt and I have had a European cruise planned for a while now that was to celebrate 3 things: our 5-year anniversary, my graduation from nursing school and my birthday. Well, we recently returned from our cruise, and it was fabulous! Needless to say, we wish we were still there and are having trouble adjusting back to reality without having maid staff, wait staff and bar staff to fulfill your every need, endless entertainment during the days/nights and beautiful new places to visit.

Venice, Italy

Our cruise embarked from Venice, and we arrived a day early in order to see the sites before setting sail. I had been to Venice on a previous European vacation, but this was Matt's first visit. It was fun to get to play 'tour guide' and act like I knew what to do and see ;) We took a cruise through the canal from our hotel to St. Mark's Square, passing the Rialto Bridge on our way. We had a fabulous Italian lunch and the must-have whenever in Italy - gelato. AND, lucky for us, we discovered a super cheap wine place across the street from our hotel. Seriously, a glass (which was about half of a regular pour at any given restaurant) was only .60 - 1 euro (or $.80 - $1.3 USD). So, we sat on the canal and drank until it was time to go back to the hotel ;)

The Sites

Rialto Bridge

St. Mark's Square

Doge's Palace

Bridge of Sighs (between Doge's Palace and connecting prison)

So many gondolas!

Good Italian Food and (cheap) Wine :)

Super awesome Chianti risotto

Wine for .60 euro!! :)

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Our first port of call was Dubrovnik, Croatia. I had been to Croatia before, and remember it being gorgeous. However, I had not been to this part, and it was amazing to see Dubrovnik, which retains its city wall from when you had to wall in cities for security purposes against invaders. It is like stepping back in time - so cool. After walking half of the wall, Matt decided he needed to jump in the Adriatic Sea, because who knows when you are going to in or near the Adriatic again? So, he jumped in (in his shorts!). However, now he can say he swam in the Adriatic ;) Me being a woman, I could not just jump in by skimping down to my shorts, but I at least got to stick my feet in. So, I too can say I have been in the Adriatic ;)

Dubrovnik City Wall

During our long, hot, sweaty trek along the wall, we stopped off for some local refreshments ;)

In the Adriatic Sea

After our dip in the Adriatic, we walked up a cute little street to the cable car station that takes you up to the top of a mountain for really picturesque views of the city. We thought this was a perfect spot for a snack and some wine, supposedly Croatians are known for good red wine. I thought it was pretty tasty :)

View of Dubrovnik from mountain top

Mountain-top snacks

After coming down from the mountain, we walked through the old market square and main street - so charming. We also stopped by a tie shop, as Croatians are supposed to be the inventors of the neck tie, and Matt bought a Croatian tie. It is super pretty and has cool Croatian writing on it. (You'll see it in some pics later on).

Corfu, Greece

Our next port of call was Corfu, Greece. The best parts about Corfu are the beaches and the scenery. This time, Matt and I were prepared to jump into the water and wore our bathing suits under our clothes. The first part of the day, we were at a beach. Matt again jumped in and swam in the Ionian Sea. So, now he can claim swimming in that one as well :) Even though I also had my bathing suit on, I really am not a fan of swimming in salt water. So, I again just stepped in. But nonetheless, I can say I have been in the Ionian Sea :)

In the Ionian Sea

The second part of our day included a visit to a local taverna where we sampled Ouzo. I am not a fan, but at least we tried it! We also tried our first local brew, Mythos - not bad at all.

For these two beers and a bottle of water, only 3 euro - LOVE Greece prices!

Santorini, Greece

Our next port of call was the one I had been looking forward to the most - Santorini, Greece. I had seen so many gorgeous pictures of Santorini and heard so many great things - it has been on my bucket list for a while. The real experience did not disappoint.

The first part of our day was actually spent at a winery - as Greece in general is famous for wines. The wines we tasted from Santorini were delightful.

After the winery, we were on to the best part of the day - Oia. This is the most beautiful village. It is the picturesque blue and white village that is so famous on all the postcards/pictures you see of Santorini. We really enjoyed waking around this village and just taking in the scenery. Unfortunately, we were not able to be there for sunset, but Oia is famous for its breathtaking sunsets - next time ;)

In Oia, we tasted another local beer, Alpha

Our last stop on the island of Santorini was Fira, the capital of the island and where we had to catch the tender boat back to our ship. On the way to the boats, we stopped for some 'meze and wine' - when in Greece... We asked our server for some recommendations on local wine; the wine was again delightful. Then we jumped in the cable car that took us down the mountain to the tender boat that took us back to our cruise ship.

The view from our 'meze and wine' stop

Our ride back to the tender boats

Ephesus, Turkey

Ephesus was probably the port of call I was looking forward to the most after Santorini. While I am not a history buff (or really even particularly like reading about history), I absolutely love going to archeological sites, looking at the ruins and listening to stories about how they were found, how the people lived there, what has been learned, etc. Ephesus was an especially interesting city for Matt and I regarding the historical Christian significance of Paul and the Ephesians.

In Ephesus, we booked a private tour guide, which was amazing. I did this only because I really didn't like any of the excursions the ship offered for Ephesus, but I am so happy we did. The private attention was nice, we moved through sites faster than you would with a big group and I feel like we got much more interesting information. And, Matt was super excited about getting to speak one-on-one with our guide about the current political environment in Turkey ;)

Of course, we saw the ruins of the city of Ephesus...

The latrines - ha!

After the ruins, we visited the village of Sirince, which was a cute little village on the side of a hill. Here we had an amazing Turkish lunch, got to walk through a traditional Turkish village, drink lots of fruit wine and bargain with Turkish merchants. Matt was very proud of himself for bargaining down 23% on my birthday earrings :)

Sirince Village

Tons of fruit wine!

At lunch, we tried the local beer, Efes - good beer!

One last stop off on the way back to the ship for traditional Turkish coffee - thick and strong!

Athens, Greece

What can I say - Athens is all about the Acropolis. So, that pretty much sums up our goal for Athens - see the Acropolis. However, I was pretty sure we could do this without an excursion - I was armed with Rick Steve's Mediterranean Cruise Book, after all. We only got lost on the way to the Acropolis once ;) And, we actually really enjoyed walking through Athens and feeling as though we got to know the city and see parts of it we wouldn't see if we were with a big tour group.

At the Acropolis

The Parthenon

Views from the Acropolis

Experiencing Athens

"Restaurant Steps" (per Rick Steve) leading to the Acropolis

The Acropolis is pretty much in view from anywhere in the city center

Our third Greecian (or Hellenic) beer!

A nice treat after a long, hot, dusty day :)

Olympia, Greece

Our last port of call was Olympia, Greece. Of course the main event here was seeing the ruins of the original site of the Olympic Games. Even though this was our 3rd ruins/archeological site of the trip, they were all cool in their own way. We enjoyed seeing the ruins and imagining how the original Olympic games happened here.

The Olympic Stadium... just a bunch of dirt (kind of disappointing, but the rest of the ruins were cool)

The lighting place of the Olympic torch

The Olympic Gymnasium (where the athletes trained for the games)

However, the best part of this visit was the winery that was also part of our excursion - yes, this is a trend ;) This was a unique winery visit. The winery, Mercouri Winery, is a family-owned business, with the 4th generation currently running the business. After a very behind-the-scenes tour of the grounds, the cellars and the inner workings of the winery, you are sat at a picnic table overlooking a very scenic view of the ocean and surround greenery. On the picnic table are two bottles of wine (full bottles - not little tastings) and a large plate of 'meze', including feta, veggies, olives, bread and olive oil, that are shared between a group of six. There was definitely enough for all of us to have 2 full glasses of wine plus a little extra. Also, the feta cheese was made at the winery from their own goats - best feta cheese I have ever had :)

Mercouri Winery Estate

The dilapidated house the matriarch lives in and won't let anyone touch/update while she is alive - love the eccentricity!

All of the ports of call were fun and fabulous. I have to say, I think my favorite was Turkey. I really enjoyed the experiences there plus the people were amazingly fun and friendly :)

Fun Cruise Tidbits

We cruised with the Royal Caribbean Splendour of the Seas, which was perfectly lovely as far as cruise ships go. The staff was very nice and attentive, the food was good and there was always something to do.

Fun Dress-up Nights