Getting trip prepared

Our home grown chauffeur

Marriott upgrade . Good way to start the trip!

After our stay at the Marriott Bonvoy hotel last night we woke at 3:30 am to go downstairs to airport and left Calgary on time. We arrived in Montreal for a 5 hour layover and chilled at the Air Canada Lounge (made a brief appearance at the Air France lounge but liked Air Canada’s better). Made our way at 5pm EST to our priority boarding and 1st class seats (eek!)

We have arrived in Athens! I would say well rested but since it was our first time first class we did not have much sleep. We were blessed with a room upgrade at the Grand Hyatt in Athens. Enjoyed some time in the Club Lounge as we waited for our room. \240As we were very tired we had a nap that could have turned into a sleep and got us into trouble with jet lag but we forced ourselves up. Went for a walk to have a nice affogato / iced mocha. Enjoying view from our room of the Acropolis.

Today we woke up early to start our day with a nice rooftop breakfast and then a private tour of the Ancient Agoros - The Agora's initial use was for a commercial, assembly, or residential gathering place.

We learned about the Greek Gods, the political and market sites, the different occupations of Athens (including Roman, Ottoman, etc). We also learned about some of the philosophers including the origin and meaning of hedonism and the symbolism in Greek history and art. We also stopped at several ruins and monuments. We were then treated to Greek coffees at a cute cafe that was in a traditional Ottoman age home. After this we were shown the markets and the road to the Acropolis. We then had a nice Greek lunch, proceeded to look around the markets and then go back to hotel for a quick rest. After our rest we went to the Acropolis. Managing our way up a steady incline on marble stones. We were able to see the ruins including the Parthenon. After we were finished wandering and taking pictures we made our way to enjoy a traditional Greek dessert.

Pictures

Today we visited the Acropolis Museum where we saw ancient treasures or items from long ago. We also witnessed ruins of a home from 500 BC. \240After we stopped by a chocolate cafe for coffee,chocolate drink and apple pie. Followed up with some pool time and then out for a fabulous Greek dinner downtown at Zohos.

Today we woke up and had breakfast at our great breakfast place in the hotel on the rooftop. We faced the ocean instead of the Acropolis as we were headed there later. Then we packed and made our way to the cruise terminal. The terminal was behind due to missing immigration people but it all worked out. We then spent time exploring the ship, getting our questions answered (including changing one of our tours) and then had lunch. Once we received our bags we headed to the pool. Hung out for a while then checked out more of the ship. We had some lounge time and then got ready for our first dinner. I am feeling a little under the weather so probably rest of the eve in room. It was beautiful watching the ship leave the harbour and Soo quiet. Almost a full moon as well.

Oh and we are loving the biggest bathroom that we have had on a cruise ship so far.

Today was a sea day. Vanessa woke up not feeling well. Spent a lot of time in room.

This morning we woke in Istanbul Turkey. Vanessa is still not feeling well. We weren’t sure we would make our excursion for that reason. But we did. The Istanbul dock and bus system was new and well organized.

We started at with a tour of a palace that most Sultans lived. We saw the gardens and the jewels of the family. From there we went to a very good lunch at Pera Palace hotel which used to be thr last stop along the Orient Express. The hotel reminds us of Fairmont hotels. From there we went to see a demonstration on Turkish rugs (which was more like a sales pitch). the rugs were stunning. We then made our way to the Grand Bazaar which is one of the world first malls that was covered with 3000 shops. We didn’t buy anything there but had a Turkish coffee in a place outside the bazaar and bought some Turkish delight! Our tour then took us to the blue mosque. Beautiful places we had to be covered and take off our shoes.

After our tour we made our way back to the

Today was our second day at Instanbul. Our night was very interrupted by a very loud nightclub right outside of our balcony. Things died down around 3am.

Since I am sick (Vanessa) we made it a rest day. Spent most of the day in room. Had lots of hot water with lemon and honey. Still blessed to have room service and lots of made food on ship.

Today we are in Izmir. We started the day with th in room breakfast and then went on our tour. Our tour took us to Ephesus Museum. We met the archeologists who discovered many of the treasures in the museum. We learned so much about the history of the area. The different occupations and the movement of the city (was moved 4 times).

We then went to the third iteration of the city of Ephesus. This was the Roman Occupation around 1st century AD. We walked on the original marble roads. We were told the city was completely built in marble. The Apostle John walked the roads we walked on and we saw the Agorra where he would have spoke to the crowds. The ancient ruins were amazing. The city was a very important city to the Roman’s only second to Rome. The largest theatre in the world at the time was in Ephesus. It was also interesting to learn about some of words come from in our language and the Bible.

After our tour of the ruins we went for lunch at Pasha Rugs where women learn how to weave and other cultural activities. The Turkish carpets were gorgeous especially the silk ones. So tempting to purchase but a very large investment. We bought the book that was created by the archeologist that toured us instead. We were treated to a wonderful Turkish lunch and Turkish tea.

We then went back to the ship. Went for our dinner and then relaxed as Charles is now getting sick as well.

I would definitely come back to Ephesus. Such a beautiful area. We learned that there crops can be turned over into 4 different crops in one year.

Today was an at sea day. Travelling from Turkey to Italy. We spent the day relaxing as we are both still sick. Beautiful scenery especially as we were sailing past Greece.

Today we are in Bari, Italy. Our first time in Italy!!

We started today pretty relaxed. We made it to our tour late morning. Our tour took us to Castellano Caves where we saw cool grottos with Stalagmites and Stalactites. Pretty cool. Then we went to a beautiful seaside and picturesque town- \240Polignano a Mare. Here we saw the town and had our first real Italy gelato. We ended the day in our first specialty restaurant on the cruise where we sat with 4 other really cool people from New York and Kansas. Great dinner and great people.

Today we were in Dubrovnik Croatia. We woke up to a beautiful scenery. What a beautiful port. Fell in love instantly.

We started our day with breakfast then our bus tour. Todays tour was Game of Thrones! Which took us to several different sites where Games of Thrones was filmed. We had a great guide who also showed pictures of some of the scenes. We visited the fortress and the walled Old Town. We also had a nice lunch of calamari and oysters. Then we had some really good gelato (farm to table style). After this we walked through the shops then we walked the wall! Our calves are in pain this evening from all of the steps. Gorgeous views. Then we head back to the ship and had a quick dip in the pool and laid in the sun. After this a rest in the room before dressing up for dinner at the French restaurant on the ship - Jacques. We had a private table tonite. Then off to drink our nightly hot water /lemon (room service) before bed to get rid of our viruses.

Today we are in Kotor Montenegro. It was our earliest wake up. I woke up at 5:30am and experienced a beautiful scene of the boat manoeuvring through a small bay to our destination. Renaissance homes and lit up churches. Was amazing! We had to depart the ship on small boats today as the boat couldn’t dock. There were 3 other cruise ships. The area is Uneaco so they are limited in what they can do to build and they are limited to one highway which made traffic really bad. We started our tour in Perast. On our tour we went to Our Lady of the Rock. A small man made island with religious and healing significance. We also passed by the Saint George’s island which was a monastery and home of sea captains. Our tour then took us back to Kotor where we were shown Old Kotor and a church. Kotor has many churches. We then headed back to ship to eat and relax. We had a really good dinner at the specialty Italian restaurant where we shared our table with 2 interesting women from Maryland (Nancy and Illi). Tomorrow is our last full day on the ship ☹️.

Today our ship was at Pula Croatia. We made the decision to skip our tour and stay on the boat for a relaxing day. We took some pics of the city from the ship. We enjoyed just relaxing playing games and eating. Today we finally went to the Aftenoon Tea service. It was yummy and fun. We spent time packing up to get ready for our next bit of time in Rome. Also we are feeling healthier. Today was first day I could really smell again. This means that for almost all of the cruise I lost taste and smell. Had taste come back slowly over last few days - so o it’s I really enjoyed tasting the food. Sad I missed so much flavours.

Today we had to leave the ship ☹️. Our port was in Trieste Italy. We headed to the train station exchanged our ticket for an earlier train. Got some snacks then headed to Rome on our 9.5 hour train ride. We were able to see some of the country side but a lot of it was covered by trees and with the train moving so fast it was hard to see. We enjoyed relaxing, playing cards and an hour long phone call to the EI office in Canada 😝.

Once in Rome the train station was chaotic and packed. We managed to get a ride after some time to our hotel. Cute hotel room close to Vatican. We went out to grab a quick bite and then crashed to get a good sleep for tomorrow.

We are in Rome!

Today we started early with breakfast and headed to Vatican with skip the line tickets. We were half our early (and half hour til it opens) but the line ups were already getting very long. The Vatican museum was unreal. The most amazing treasures are kept there including a real mummy of important stature. Treasures from Roman Empire that are in perfect condition. Unreal art and art collections. It was overwhelming. We were in the Sistine Chapel which has layers of significant art. No pictures allowed in Chapel. We then walked over to St Peter’s Basilica square which was unreal in architecture and full of thousand of people. The lineups to get into basilica were unreal. We did not line up. Every turn in the area seems like more grandeur of buildings and monuments.

Charles was not feeling well so we took a break and then headed to the Fontana dell'Acqua Paola. Then came back to room and rested. I went for a walk to the pharmacy for Charles and grabbed a gelato. \240We then went over to Trevestere area for dinner. Was soo good. Then walked to St Peter’s Basilica square. There they had a a candle light procession in honor of Mother Mary. Then headed back to our room for rest for tomorrow.

We awoke in Rome again today. We headed to the Colliseum for our timed tickets. There was a crazy amount of people there once again but it was pretty well organized. The Colliseum was pretty awesome to see and we learned it had been used for other purposes since the end of the games in the 500 BC timeframe.

After the Colliseum we went back to room to relax. Being around that many people is tiring. We went for a golf cart tour in the afternoon. We saw way too many things to mention and honestly I think I have forgot a bunch of them. Some highlights were the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and Spanish steps. Also the shopping district had me feeling out of place with the wealth and style there. We also got to see the Rome version of Central Park which was pretty cool.

Tomorrow is our last day. Sad that it’s all ending.

Today is home day. We headed to the airport fairly early and the lineups were just as to be expected for Rome. The flight was 10.5 hours and yep we were right next to a baby. It wasn’t horrible.

What an amazing experience we have had. So much that we did and saw. We managed our way through three different virus/bugs between the two of us. And ate some wonderful food (some that I couldn’t taste due to virus 😛) . Very grateful!