Greece, Part II

A Mediterranean cruise.  The Greek Islands.  I still can't believe I was able to check that off of my bucket list this past April.  Definitely a dream come true!

(For a recap of the first part of our trip, click here.)

After yet another delicious breakfast at our hotel before Mass at the Church of St. Paul in Piraeus (where Justin lectored on Paul's preachings in the area), we proceeded to check in to the ship.  Oh, how I love the sea!  As always, I was taken back in time to my fond ocean memories: both Semester at Sea and our anniversary Alaskan cruise.  This ship was much smaller, but it was wonderful nevertheless.

Celestyal Nefeli - our home for three days

As always, there was a safety drill right off the bat and yummy food to enjoy on our way to our first stop: the island of Mykonos.  En route to the island, we enjoyed a nap and spent time outside reading and enjoying the ocean breeze.  We also tried our hand (and lost) at Greek BINGO.

We docked in Mykonos in the early evening.  I had been looking forward to this part of the trip for a while, and it was incredible.  The town square, the white-washed homes, the windmills on the water....so absolutely picturesque!  After Andi (our amazing tour guide) gave us a brief rundown of the island, we had about 3 hours to enjoy the area for ourselves.  Justin took many pictures, and we enjoyed dinner at a delicious restaurant overlooking the water.  Perfect.  We spent time shopping and strolling the quaint streets before stopping on a bench to soak in the memories of a wonderful Greek island experience before heading to the shuttle to take us back to the ship.

The next day, we had breakfast at the crack of dawn before we docked in Kusadasi, Turkey and boarded a bus to visit Mary (mother of Jesus)'s house.  How wondrous it was to be where we believe Mary spent the last of her years with St. John.  We prayed and had Mass there before driving to ancient Ephesus to see more ruins (including the theater where St. Paul had preached to the Ephesians).

Mary's House in Ephesus


This was an ancient sign that indicated that a pharmacy once was here


Know your roots, haha.

After lunch, we took a much needed nap before heading down for some fresh air.  I ended up walking 5 laps (supposedly 1 mile) around the ship, again being reminded of how I love the water and open air.  I went up to the bow of the ship to see us dock at our next port and was surprised to see dolphins out of the corner of my eye!  I ran close and got a brief video of them playing in the water.  I couldn't believe I had no one to share this moment with since Justin ran back inside for a moment!



We docked in Patmos and took a bus to a cave where St. John wrote the book of Revelation.  We even got to touch the "desk" he used and the rock he used as a "pillow" of sorts.  Amazing.  We then went to a monastery to see a Greek Orthodox church and a museum to see of the the oldest transcriptions of the Gospel of Mark, as well as an original el Greco work.  We had some time to browse the main center before we boarded the ship for departure.

Our next day was our last full day.  We docked in Crete in the early morning where we went on a rather boring excursion to Knassis Palace to see more ruins.  Afterwards, we went to a Greek Orthodox church to St. Titus (they actually have his skull on display!) and to walk around for a brief bit before returning to the ship to head to Santorini.  Aboard the ship, we had lunch and took a nap to recharge before saying Palm Sunday Mass in a meeting room (probably the weirdest yet most memorable Palm Sunday Masses I'll ever go to) where Justin and I helped read the gospel.

Finally, Santorini.  Ahhh.  As we were docking, we sat outside to capture pictures of the volcano as we pulled into the windy port.  We had to take a tender boat to dock and then we road a bus to Oia. It was as stunning as I imagined!    The view, the scene, all of it.  Absolutely incredible.  I longed to sit at a restaurant to soak it all in and started to get a little irritated at Justin for using virtually all of our free time chasing a perfect picture.  In fact, I was so irritated, I told him that I was going to explore the next stop on my own because I didn't want him to stop me from enjoying this island - the one island that I was most looking forward to on this whole cruise.  He (thankfully) ended up feeling guilty, and when we got to Thira, he asked our guide to recommend a nice restaurant, and we ended up enjoying one last dinner together overlooking an amazing view of both Santorini, the ship, and the volcano over the sunset.  We stayed until the end - taking one of the last cable cars and the very last tender boat to the ship.  Aside from my moment of irritation with Justin, it was most definitely worth the wait and was absolutely my favorite spot during the ten days.

And here are a few random pictures that don't really have a place, but I wanted to include just for documentation purposes:

We got a kick out of the sign.


The American aisle at the market

This whole trip was an experience of a lifetime.  Realistically, I know I will most likely never come back (there's just too much of the rest of the world I want to see), and I will definitely cherish these memories forever.  In all, this was a wonderful child-free vacation.  I learned a lot about my faith and valued the quality time with Justin.  As when all vacations come to an end, it was difficult leaving Greece to head back to reality, but hugging and holding my kiddos made it a little easier.