Hey there and happy Friday! We are back from our 2 week Mediterranean cruise to Italy, Spain, Croatia, France and Montenegro and I’m finally over the jet lag and ready to share some of our dream trip details with you. We did a lot in the 2 weeks we were away and I took over 1200 photos so this could take a while.
Just kidding….
The history, the beauty, the food! Yes, we did a lot of eating. Actually, we sought out delicious goodies at each port. You know…pizza and macarons in France, pizza, pasta and gelato in Italy, pizza in Montenegro. It’s the little things, right?
I won’t bore you with every detail and every meal we ate, but I would like to share a few photos and small snippet from each of our eight ports.
Barcelona
We sailed out of and back into this port. Barcelona is a beautiful city with so much to see and do. Unfortunately we only had one day here before we sailed so I would definitely like to return and spend a little more time.
Nice, France
Our first port and it was spectacular. We took a private tour with 6 others that I met through the internet. It was a busy day visiting Nice, Eze and Saint Paul de Vence. I would love to go back to spend more time exploring (and shopping…and eating).
Pisa/Florence, Italy
No organized tour at this port. We just did our own thing and took the train into Pisa and walked around. I wish we would have booked a tour to Florence but it still was a great day. Hey, we were in Italy…how could it not be a good day. 😉
Rome, Italy
O.M.G…one of my favorite ports and I was lucky enough to visit on my birthday. I didn’t have a lot of expectations going into Rome because of everything that I read but I loved it. It was a full day visiting The Colosseum, The Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, The Spanish Steps, The Vatican Museum, and the Sistine Chapel. A lot to squeeze in to a 10 hour day but it was awesome!
We also had beautiful weather. Sunny and in the mid 70’s. Perfect.
Dubrovnik, Croatia
A beautiful city with the friendliest people. We decided to do the Game of Thrones tour at this stop because we are huge fans. We’d love to go back one day and explore the city some more.
Venice, Italy
We spent 2 glorious days and one night at this port and it was fabulous. No organized tour here, we just wandered the cobbled streets and ate a lot of great food. We did end up taking a gondola ride at the last minute and I’m so glad that we did. We loved spending time here and it was everything I had hoped it would be.
Ravenna, Italy
Not my favorite stop but we had a good day. Ravenna is known for their mosaics so we took a self-guided tour of their beautiful churches with their colorful mosaics. Oh, and we did have an awesome lunch with some newfound friends from the ship. This region is known for their Bolognese sauce and it didn’t disappoint.
Kotor, Montenegro
Our last stop and possibly the most beautiful place I’ve ever been…Kotor, Montenegro. Before we left I read that the sail in was spectacular and they were so right. I can’t even describe the beauty of this region. We took a private tour with another couple and it ended up being the perfect way to end our dream trip.
This was truly a dream trip for me and I’m so grateful that we were able to do it.
Thanks for all of your nice comments and good wishes while we were away. I tried to post on Instagram as much as I could and I want to thank you for following along. I will be sharing a few travel tips I learned on this trip so if you have any specific questions you would like answered you can either send me an email ([email protected]) or leave a comment.
Enough of the fun and games, it’s time to get back to work. I have so many projects to catch up on and Christmas will be here before you know it. Lots of good things going on here for the next couple of months but the first thing on the agenda is to lose the LB’s that I gained eating all of that delicious food. It was so worth it though. 😉
Happy weekend!!!
Visit the Doctor
North Carolina, Here We Come!
I’ll be sharing a post or two on what you need to do when you’re getting ready to move, and our house hunt journey, so stay tuned. Happy weekend!
The following day was our sail day. Because we weren’t going to set sail until 8:30 that evening, we spent the morning wandering around the city and eating, lots of eating.
Once we got on the ship, we went right to our cabin to drop our bags. If you’ve never been on a cruise before, the cabins are really similar to a hotel room, but a lot smaller. This time around we booked a cabin with a balcony. An inside room is usually less expensive, but we splurged a little this time and stayed in a balcony room. We both love to stand out there and check out at the beautiful scenery as we pull into a port.
The water was perfectly clear, and I was out up to my chin. I could even watch the fish follow me around. We were in a little cove so there were no waves and very few people. Let me just say that I spent 3 glorious hours in the water and the mister had to practically drag me out so we didn’t miss the ship. I will definitely be back, someday.
After a day at sea, we stopped in our next port, Aruba. This island was totally different from St. Kitts in that it was a desert, complete with cactus. Not a very pretty island but the beaches were absolutely beautiful.
Although the scenery wasn’t particularly beautiful, we had a great time taking a tour of the island on 3 wheeled trikes. We had so much fun and I would highly recommend it. I was a little nervous about my back hurting but the trikes were actually very comfortable.
Our last port was in Curacao, which is 17 miles from Venezuela. This island was similar to Aruba in that it was a desert, and very hot, I think it was about 104 degrees on the day we were there. We rented a car to explore on our own that day and, although the signs that we saw (which were few and far between) were all in Dutch, we managed to find a beautiful beach.
After we dropped our car off we explored the cute little town near the ship. Like I said, it was really hot and I wasn’t feeling well, so we ended up going back to the ship early.
Our last day was spent at sea and we just hung out and relaxed (and ate a little too much). We had one last dinner with our new friends (we dined with the same people every night at the early seating) and packed our bags. We were up early the next morning to get our flight back to Chicago. By Sunday evening we had unpacked, done wash and opened all the week’s mail. It felt like we hadn’t even gone away. Do you ever feel that way after a vacation?
Whenever we travel we try to spend as little as possible and this trip was no exception. Our airline tickets were insanely cheap, we got a great deal on a rental car and I rented a nice condo on Homeaway.com about 8 miles from WDW. I love staying onsite at a Disney resort but the prices were outrageous this time and we are in the room only to sleep so, for us, it wasn’t worth the expense. Make no mistake though, WDW is an expensive place to visit so we try to spend our money wisely by cutting corners when we can, like staying in a condo 8 miles from WDW, so that we can visit a park and eat dinner at a great restaurant.
I also downloaded the Disney app on my Iphone which listed my itinerary, including my fast pass times and our dinner reservations. I could also check wait times for rides and the times for fireworks and parades. We used the app tons, even to find the nearest restroom.
I read about Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto at the Polynesian so we stopped in there for an afternoon cocktail. It was a fun and unique bar but the drink prices were a little steep. After our Grotto experience we headed to dinner at the Beach Club’s Cape May Cafe…love the steamed clams and crab!
Instead of driving our rental there, we took the resort bus from the park to the lodge. This was our first time at this restaurant and we ended up having a great meal with awesome service and a curious dining companion. We sat right next to the window looking out on the savannah and this guy (or gal) stood there watching us for a good 30 minutes.
All the food we had was delicious but they are known for their bread service…fresh made naan with dipping sauces. OMG…so good.
A step back in time, at least for me, because this place so reminded me of my childhood in New Jersey. Walking down the street, looking at all of the big beautiful homes with their gorgeous covered front porches and the simple farmhouse style homes with their white siding, the smell of freshly mown grass and burgers on the grill kept bringing me back to a time when I was a child.
This week, while staying in a beautiful bed and breakfast and taking my daily walk around this small, quiet town, I had time to remember the good things about my childhood and where I came from. I also realized that, although I spent my childhood in the country, I’m still a city girl at heart. My husband could move to a place like Ridgway and be happy for the rest of his life, me…not so much.
