Hello Everyone!
It's so exciting to have a travel blog! I'll try to keep it updated and I hope you all enjoy hearing about all of my adventures this summer! This first post will be a long one because I've been keeping track of my cruise in a Word document which I'll paste in below. Enjoy!
It's so exciting to have a travel blog! I'll try to keep it updated and I hope you all enjoy hearing about all of my adventures this summer! This first post will be a long one because I've been keeping track of my cruise in a Word document which I'll paste in below. Enjoy!
6-9-11
¡Ciao y bienventro a Italia! I know some of this is Italian, but you’ll have to excuse me as I filled in the words I didn’t know with Spanish.
Today has been a very long day. We flew from LAX to Heathrow and then from Heathrow to Fiumicino (Rome). I watched Just Go With It, The Adjustment Bureau, and Rango on the flight. Despite the fact that I’m running on very little sleep, it’s still neat to be in Italy for the first time. I’m trying to pronounce the words I see on signs, but am probably not doing the best job. The driver that took us from the airport to our hotel (near the cruise ship terminal) taught us a little Italian on the way over, so that was really cool! When we went to check into our hotel it turns out that some ill guests needed to stay some extra nights and so they moved us to a nearby hotel. My dad was a little disappointed because it was supposed to be the best hotel in this city, but the one we are in is just fine and I’m so tired I think I’ll probably just pass out soon anyways. We are 9 hours ahead now, so it’s definitely going to be a challenge adjusting to the time change.
We went to a pizzeria for dinner and it’s neat to say that I’ve eaten pizza in Italy! I also had Coke Zero with it from a very skinny and tall can.
6-10-11
Wow! I don’t think I’ve ever slept for 11.5 hours! My body still doesn’t know exactly what time it is, but I’m definitely getting better adjusted. I want to watch the Italian part of Eat, Pray, Love and try to learn some Italian words and my mom wants to watch Under the Tuscan Sun.
6-11-11
Tomorrow we’re going to Dubrovnik, Croatia! I never thought I’d go to Croatia. It’s funny because for some reason or another I called it Dovorjak yesterday (I have no idea where I got that name from) and now my brother called it that as well. Today was a sea day, so I got the chance to relax, go in the Jacuzzi, read a book, and eat lots of food =).
6-12-11
Today we visited Dubrovnik, Croatia. I never thought I’d come to Croatia, or even necessarily Eastern Europe. France, Spain, and Italy were on my must see list, but I hadn’t really planned past that. I didn’t really know what to expect from Croatia, but what I saw was not it. Off the ship were beautiful houses and a sparkling ocean. We explored the Old City, a pedestrian only area surrounded by a tall stone wall. It was a quaint little area and I had a lot of fun. I went to an internet café to check my email and was surprised by the different keyboard. Namely, the y and z keys were reversed. I never realized how frequently I used the “y” key until I sent emails on that computer today. I was also never able to find the apostrophe on the keyboard, and in its place was a Croatian “c” with some sort of symbol above it.
It’s interesting to me how there are so many people in the world and I am just a tiny speck in the grand scheme of things. It’s weird that there are so many countries, languages, cultures, and lives going on and I can travel to another country and get a glimpse into life somewhere else. Their lives have gone on before and will continue long after I leave. You might not understand exactly what I’m saying, but it’s just weird to think there are so many things occurring simultaneously that you are not a part of.
And Keli, I thought of you because your grandma speaks Croatian, if I remember correctly. =)
6-13-11
Today we were in Corfu, Greece. We visited the Old City and the Old Fortress, among other things. We hiked to the top of the Old Fortress, which was quite a climb and I felt very accomplished getting all the way to the top. We had homemade ice cream from a shop and that was quite delicious!
The interesting thing I’m finding is that things really aren’t that different here than they are at home. I guess I expected vastly different living standards or styles of life. I’m probably not getting the most accurate picture because we’re visiting the touristy areas, but it is just striking to me that life is pretty similar over here to how it is at home.
6-14-11
Today we docked Katakolon, Greece, gateway city to Olympia. If you couldn’t guess by the name, Olympia is where the 1st Olympic Games were held in 776 B.C. (at least that’s the date I think they said). We drove to Ancient Olympia and visited the Ancient Olympian ruins and the accompanying museum. Among other things, we saw the field/stadium where the 1st Olympic Games were held and the remains of the Temple of Zeus, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. It was very neat seeing all of the ruins, but it was hard to stand there and imagine all the history that had taken place where I was standing. It’s interesting how I can know what happened there, but it’s still hard to fully wrap my head around it, and for the importance to really seep in and hit home.
6-15-11
Today we went to Santorini, Greece. When you see postcards/pictures of Greece with white buildings and blue domes, that’s Santorini. The day started out with quite a hike. When you tender into Santorini, the actual city is on top of a hill and you have to take the cable car or the pathway up, either by walking or riding on a donkey. I decided to walk, which was quite an adventure. There were 588 steps, which is a very deceiving count, because you had to take about 3 steps in between steps. There were also donkeys sharing the walkways that you had to avoid, especially the ones running down the hill with no people on them. Thankfully they had bells and they generally avoided people, but it was still a little bit scary. At one point I sat up on a ledge to avoid being trampled and after a passing tour guide laughed at me, she told me you just had to push the donkeys…haha.
Once we got to the top there were cute shops and breathtaking views. We took a cab to Oia (pronounced e-ya in Greek) which is where we saw the white building with the blue domed roof.
6-16-11
Today was Kusadasi, Turkey, gateway city to Ephesus. We saw the ancient ruins at Euphesus which were very neat. We had a really great tour guide who very knowledgeable and knowing the significance of the ruins really added to the experience. After the ruins, we went to a tile store where they hand make their ceramics. I got a chance to try making a sugar bowl and found out that I’m pretty bad at ceramics and that it is a lot harder than it looks. We also went to a Turkish rug store where a man showed us how rugs are made, from harvesting the silk from the silk worm cocoons to the women who weave the rugs. After lunch, my dad and I stopped by a Turkish bazaar. The bazaar was a little overwhelming because all the people were hounding you to buy their things and were very pushy, but it’s neat to say I’ve been to an authentic bazaar.
6-17-11
Athens was definitely a different experience than the other cities so far just because of how massive it is. There are buildings/houses everywhere and not much open space or grass. On our taxi drive from the cruise ship port to Athens, we got to see some of the buildings built for the Olympics. Once we arrived at the Acropolis, we went in and got to see the Parthenon! It was very neat to see the Parthenon, but it was very hot and there were ungodly numbers of people. We also visited the new Acropolis museum, which was neat to see. All-in-all though, Athens was a little too compact and crowded for me.
6-21-11: Florence/Pisa, Italy
We docked in the port of Livorno for these two locations and drove into Florence, which takes about an hour each direction. We drove through Tuscan countryside to get there and I saw some of it, but I also slept for a good portion of the drive. There’s something about cars that just lulls me to sleep. Once we got there we had only 4 hours to look around, which is definitely not enough for Florence. From what I read, the big things to do there are see all of the museums, but because it would have taken time to wait in line and then walk around the museums, we weren’t able to go into any of them. We were dropped off at this giant cathedral which was very amazing on the outside. We eventually went in, but it was pretty disappointing on the inside and not nearly as grand. We strolled along the shops, over a beautiful bridge, and overall just enjoyed taking in the façade of the city. We ate lunch at this little café that overlooked a marble replica of the David statue. On our way to Pisa, our tour guide took us to a location that overlooked the entire town and it was really cool getting that additional perspective. The huge cathedral we looked at previously looked even bigger when compared to the rest of the buildings in the city. At this location, we also got the chance to see a bronze replica of the statue David. According to our tour guide there are 2 replicas of David (both of which we saw) and the original one is in a museum.
When we went to Pisa, I was expecting a tour where we’d just see it, take a few pics, and be done. Basically, I was expecting to be very underwhelmed with it, but I actually really enjoyed this stop. Upon first approaching the statue, it didn’t look like it was leaning at all, but once you turned the corner and got a different perspective, it was obvious just how much it leaned. As we went to different locations on the site, I kept taking new pictures that tried to capture how much it leaned, but the pictures just couldn’t quite capture what I saw in person. I think that extra dimension from actually seeing it really made all the difference and I think it’s interesting how my camera wasn’t able to fully capture what I was staring at.
When visiting Florence, you definitely need more than 4 hours (and more than a day) and it’s probably best not to see it from the cruise, as it’s a long distance to drive there.
6-22-11: Monte Carlo, Monaco
Monaco is a very nice and upscale place, but I’m very glad we visited it through a cruise ship because supposedly hotel rooms here cost $700 and upwards a night. We took the hop-on hop-off bus around town, but only got off at the royal palace. We couldn’t go in and there was no changing of the guards because of Prince Albert’s wedding coming up soon. I haven’t researched the details of it yet because of sparse internet time, but by the looks of the flags, it appears that Prince Albert is marrying a woman from South Africa. Near the palace is a beautiful cathedral where Prince Reiner and Princess Grace (Kelly) were married and buried. Monte Carlo is where the Grand Casino is, shown in movies such as James Bond and such. The dress code is formal and I didn’t go in, but I’m sure it’s nice. Every May there is a Grand Prix held, which is apparently very popular, although I hadn’t heard of it previously. They speak French/Italian and are the second smallest country in Europe, after the Vatican. Basically Monaco is a little piece at the bottom of France carved out along the French Riviera. While on the ship, I also saw a yacht will a hot tub on the top…pretty fancy if you ask me. Overall, it was a nice and clean place (apparently one of the few countries in the world that doesn’t have graffiti), but I didn’t find there was a whole lot to do there.
6-23-11: Barcelona, España
We got to spend 2 days in Barcelona, which is great because there is so much to see in this city! We purchased a 2 day hop-on hop-off bus ticket and took the red route to start out with. There were 2 other routes as well. Although the bus information said the route would take 2 hours, it took at least 2.5 hours and felt like a day. I think the contributing factor is that there was a good deal of traffic and we were sitting on the top of a double decker bus, so the sun was zapping our energy. Barcelona is a beautiful city though, and this bus route allowed me to get a general overview of the city and its amazing architecture. Gaudi has a strong influence on many buildings in Barcelona and his architecture/art is now a favorite of mine. After getting off the bus, I fully understood how large Barcelona is and didn’t think 2 days could possibly see the city justice. We walked down a picturesque and bustling street and from there explored alleyways filled with shops, the occasional cathedral, etc. After this walk, I felt that I had a better idea of Barcelona.
From my high school Spanish class, I knew that they spoke Castellano in some parts of Spain, but what I didn’t realize is that they speak a completely different language called Catalan in Barcelona! I was expecting to be able to understand a lot of what was being said and read a lot of the signs, but I didn’t realize Spanish wasn’t as common in Barcelona. For example, I was asking a security guide for the restrooms and asked for “baños” and he looked at me like I was crazy! That was a very odd experience for me and it taught how different these languages truly are.
6-24-11: Barcelona, España
The main attraction of our second day in Barcelona was la Sagrada Familia, a cathedral by Gaudi that is still under construction. We purchased tickets online in advance to visit here, which I highly recommend if you ever go, because this is a very popular destination and we completely avoided the long line! La Sagrada Familia is the coolest cathedral I’ve ever seen and probably will ever see. First of all, it’s HUGE and is something I can’t adequately describe with words, even though I’ll try a little bit. I definitely recommend you look at pictures for this cathedral. The outside was intricately constructed with many scenes, but the inside is what surprised me the most. The tall columns supporting the roof were artsy and hard to describe. In each of the four corners there were tall spiral staircases that went from the floor the ceiling. My favorite part though, was the stained glass windows. Unlike most churches, la Sagrada Familia didn’t have stained glass windows depicting a religious scene. All of the glass fragments were colors, many of them bold and full of life. My favorite of the windows is the one where the colors start with reds/oranges/yellows at the bottom and end in blue/purples, approximately simulating the rainbow (as my mom pointed out). What I’m saying probably doesn’t do justice to this cathedral, but I highly recommend you look at the pictures and visit if you ever have a chance to visit Barcelona.
On the way back from the Cathedral we took a different hop-on hop-off bus route that took us by a former palace, a university, and the stadium the Barcelona Football Club plays in (referred to as Barça), among other things. We also learned that public restrooms don’t really exist here. The architecture really was amazing and I’m glad we got 2 days to explore Barcelona, although you could probably spend a week there and not see everything there is to see.
6-25-11: Palma de Mallorca, Spain
This was another more relaxed day. It was nice because Spanish was more popular instead of Catalan, so I could understand a little bit more. We started off by seeing a cathedral where Gaudi worked on some of the inside and then wandered around the city for a little bit and looked at the shops. Apparently the beach is a popular thing to do here, but we didn’t go there, so I can’t exactly comment on that. Overall, it was a more relaxed day and there definitely wasn’t as much history and as much to see and do as Barcelona.
6-27-11: Tunisia
I first must say that it’s exciting to say I’ve now been to Africa! Tunisia is definitely not what I was expecting Africa to be like and it strikes me much more as a Middle Eastern country than an Africa country. They speak Arabic here and it was required that we wear clothing that covered our knees and shoulders. Although it was pretty warm today, our guide told us that it gets up to 50 degrees Celsius or even higher in the upcoming months! On top of that, everyone wore clothes that covered a lot of their skin, with women covering everything except their face and hands. The majority of the people are Muslim I think, and have the skin coloring I associate more with the Middle East, rather than the darker coloring I associate with Africa.
We first saw 3 locations of Carthage ruins, with a Roman bath being the best preserved. A lot of the ruins are really started to blend together and look the same, especially the ruins that aren’t very well preserved and are basically just pieces of stone, marble, column heads, etc.
We then went to the city of Sidi Bou Said for an hour, which was just a collection of shops with some very aggressive salesmen. Some of the reading I did on Tunisia said that their culture is very different and what we consider “aggressive” or “pushy” in our culture is normal and accepted in theirs. I suppose that explains the attitudes of the salesmen. My favorite line was “My shop is your home.”
When we came back to the ship there were camels and for a small fee you could ride the camel. After my dad and my brother, I decided to give it a try and I’m very glad I can now say I’ve ridden a camel in Tunisia! Haha…Getting off the camel was definitely the scariest, because their front legs would bend and collapse before the back, so you would be lurched forward…definitely a unique experience. I thought the donkey’s fur would be a lot softer, but it was pretty tough. At some of the sites we saw cats and 2 kittens! The kittens were so cute and one was climbing a tree.
I’m the first to admit that I’m not very informed about the recent political struggles in Tunisia, but from what our guide was telling us, it seems like the ex-president was a pretty powerful dictator. All these buildings he mentioned belonged to the ex-president and people couldn’t even take pictures at one of the ruin sites because the president’s palace bordered the ruins. Guarding the former palace of the president (which now houses the prime minister, or something of the sorts) were these two guards with black uniforms and long tan capes…it was pretty cool looking.
6-28-11: Palermo, Sicilia
Today we visited Palermo, Sicily, the capital of Sicily. We didn’t have a formal tour planned, so we just wandered the city a bit. It was very hot today, which zapped a lot of my energy and cut the visit shorter than it probably would have been if it was cooler. We saw a couple of neat looking buildings, but other than that not much. One of the most interesting things here was trying to cross the street. When there was a green pedestrian signal, that didn’t necessarily mean the cars were going to stop, so I felt like I spent my day playing Frogger. The city was busy, crowded, hot, and had a lot of graffiti, so I don’t see myself seeking out Palermo as a place to visit again.
Our last cruise port was Naples, Italy, but I haven't gotten a chance to write up information on it, so I'll do it as soon as I have time.
