Mediterranean Sampler Pack - Part One

In the past few days we have been asked "what was your favorite part?" and "how was your trip?" more times that we can count. The thing is... we don't have an answer for those questions. Really, our entire trip was, for the most part, beyond description. Hopefully the photos and snippets from B's travel journal will help to explain just how incredible the whole experience was for us. We have posted many photos from the trip on PicasaWeb - which can be accessed by clicking here. We have tried to use photos here that are not included in those posted on Picasa (just to keep things interesting).

Getting There
Our first day was the composition of more than 24 hours spent entirely with the desire to reach our final destination. Thank you to Mancini for the ride to the airport - hopefully you were able to enjoy your Shmiscuit on the way back to Oberlin. We amused ourselves on the plane (which was packed with white-haired retirees... possibly heading for a cruise) by watching movies and attempting to sleep. It was a good thing that one of us (C) got some zzz's because getting to the ship in Barcelona ended up being more of an ordeal than it needed to be. The problem was that, well, we didn't know how to get to the boat and after walking more than 20 minutes in the wrong direction we hired a cab to basically take us back to where we started at when stepping off the metro. We finally boarded the ship and after exploring the ship a bit, meeting some fun Canadians at our life preserver training, and eating an okay dinner, we hit the hay.

Snicks within loogie distance of the ship

We're On a Boat
Choosing the cruise made sense for two reasons: 1) it was a comparatively inexpensive method of travel amongst the amazing ports we visited and 2) it offered us the ability to relax between ports. Our stateroom was nice and more roomy than we had expected. In fact, I was quite pleased with the amount of storage space that the room allowed. We chose a room with a large picture window which was a great choice as it let us enjoy the sites from the privacy of our room if we so chose.

Storage in our stateroom

Some good things about the cruise: Our meals were "free" on the ship if we ate at the four non-pay restaurants (Snicks had to keep reminding Chief that the meals were not, in fact, "free" as we had already paid for them in the cost of the cruise); there were plenty of activities (Snicks found a fun bridge group on the first day and played each sea day thereafter); and there were fun people to meet and eat dinner with (hi, Mark and Renae!). Heck, Chief even found a Rotary Club meeting to attend!

No we weren't the only people on the ship without grey hair!

Some drawbacks: Chief was a bit stir-crazy by the end of the cruise; many "extras" had an additional cost ($50 bingo and $2.00 soda); and the natural possibility of "rough" sea days that keep at least one member of your group in the room most of the day.

Rome, Italy (Easter Sunday)
The ship docked in Civitavecchia, which is about an hour from Rome. We weren't anticipating to be wowed by the port city, but we were impressed. Our first stop inside the gates of Rome was the Colosseum. B loved it. Really, it was definitely one of his favorites. The structure and its history seemed larger than life as we explored it. There were rooms, tunnels, entrances, and arches that once housed slaves, lions, and gladiators.

B in front of the Colosseum

Following the Colosseum, we explored subterranean Rome beneath San Clemente Basilica. We passed as much as 45 feet beneath street level and walked by what had been streets, front porches, a former garden, archways, rooms, and a flowing spring. Lunch following the Basilica was not memorable and then we headed to the Vatican. What a place to be on Easter! It was exciting to be standing in a place where, just hours before, the Pope said Mass. Looking around, it was hard to imagine that, almost 2,000 years ago, this was a refugee camp of sorts as the first Christians gathered together. Chief was on cloud 9 and Snicks was captivated by the magnitude and brillance. After walking through St. Peters we stood for awhile outside just taking in all of the splendor... B is not sure if he has ever seen C as happy and in a new, particular way that she was that afternoon.

We saw many more sights on our drive through the city and back to Civitavecchia and vowed to be back someday in the not-too-distant future (B will be back in June with a basketball team).

Athens, Greece
We chose to explore Athens "on our own" to save some $$$ and use the multitude of advice we had received from friends who had lived and visited. In our journey to the train station we ended up connecting with a couple from Vancouver who were also doing the town without a structured tour. They were funny and it was nice to have others along to make sense of where we were going. It was only one euro to ride the train to the Acropolis (what a deal!). Although the weather was a bit drizzly, nothing could diminish the impact of walking out of a subway station, looking up a hill, and seeing the Acropolis.

The Acropolis

All smiles in Athens

C in front of the Parthenon

We climbed up stairs that have been there for more than 2,000 years and emerged amongst some of the most ancient piles of rock we have ever seen.

View from the top of the Acropolis

We enjoyed absorbing our surrounds and then headed to La Plaka to find some lunch. The skies opened as soon as we said down for lunch but we were protected by a huge awning and warmed by gas heaters. We spent the afternoon shopping for Greek treasures and hunting down olive oil (which we now know was very worth it). The sun came out as we returned the ship which was a great way to end the such an enlighting day.

Part Two will follow to avoid one super-long post.