Our first stop was Mykonos, the most metropolitan place we went. I got to spend my time getting lost in the alleys being followed by a pelican, and watching the sunset on the Mediterranean. I wished we had gotten to spend more time there, because I just loved the atmosphere of the entire island.
The next day, after being terribly seasick (I was the entire time) we docked in Kusadasi, Turkey and went on an excursion to Ephesus, the lost ancient city. Only seeing a small portion of Turkey makes me want to go back so much.
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| I guess I also have a thing for running up to the tops of amphitheaters, as seen here and in my last post |
After going to Ephesus, our group got on a bus and went to a Turkish rug manufacturer, where weavers make the rugs by hand, knot by knot. Depending on the size of the rug and the thread used to make it, the rugs can take over a year to finish.
On our way going back to the port, my mom and I made the bad decision of walking through the bazaar with a carpet bag. All of the shop owners then know that you have money with you and try to pester you into their shops. The technique I used to not be harassed by these people was to not make eye contact, pretend to be deaf, and if those didn't work, I just spoke German to my Mom to pretend that I didn't know English. These techniques worked, except my Mom decided to the opposite and look at everything in EVERY. SINGLE. STORE. I almost left her to walk back to the ship because of this.
After that exciting journey, we went to Patmos. There's not much to do in Patmos, so we decided to go on another excursion to go on a tour of the island and the cave of the apocalypse. The town was pretty and very traditionally Mediterranean with white washed walls and blue trim on all the buildings. The cave of the apocalypse, on the other hand, was not that spectacular because it was just a cave that was made into a small church that John the Divine apparently received visions from god. (if you believe in that sort of stuff).
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| Windmills were also a reoccurring theme throughout the cruise |
The next day, after more sleepless seasickness, we were in Crete. In Crete, we went to the Palace of Knossos, once thought to be only a myth because of its ties to mythology. Truthfully, there wasn't much else to do in Crete with the limited time we had there, but I enjoyed it anyway. Unfortunately, though the ruins that we went to see were mostly replicas because the real artwork from the walls were removed and brought to the museum for display and preservation.
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| According to my tour guide, there is a peacock farm next door to the palace and the peacocks frequently jump/fly over the eight foot, barbed wire fence |
Lastly, we docked at our last destination, and another new favorite of mine before going back to Athens, Santorini. We took a boat from the ship to a bus that took us across the island to its most famous village, Oia. Coincidentally, I presume, the only good tv channel was planning a marathon of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which was partially filmed in Oia as well. I truly wish I could have spent a week in each of the places we went, to immerse myself into the lifestyle that I want so badly right now (especially because its been really bad weather lately). Walking through the town though was amazing. My mom almost crashed a wedding accidentally, we saw the sunset, we got handmade ice cream, and saw donkey climbing up the steep and narrow stairs from the Caldera below.
The next morning we docked in Athens and went to the hotel to drop our bags off and see some last minute sights and do some shopping. To say this was a good vacation would not give it nearly the amount of credit it deserves. I definitely want to go back to Greece and Turkey sometime soon to recapture the energy the atmosphere gives off. See you Tuesday with a handy dandy Halloween DIY craft.
Talk to you later,
-Karin xx
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