Mediterranean Sea Cruise

Tad and I went on a cruise to the Mediterranean Sea the middle of July. Tad earned the trip for work, and when I realized that we would have two 5 mo. olds at the time of the trip, I wasn't planning on going. I didn't think I'd be able to leave them. Tad in his wisdom, realized early on that I would probably be ready for a break by then. He was right, of course. It was hard to leave Dallin and the babies, but we did. I missed them the first half, then really missed them the second half. It was so nice to be together with my hunny to see all of these beautiful sites. We spent anywhere from 5-11 hours in each port. We were always on the go. We did manage to find plenty of time to enjoy the wonderful and plentious food aboard the ship, which I can sadly say helped me gain a few pounds, but it's worth it right?

TAORMINA, SICILY

Sicily was one of the most beautiful places I've been. The colors were vibrant. It was a very romantic setting. We had some sicilian pizza - it was great.

Tad & I in front of a Graeco-Roman ampitheatre built by the Greeks in the 3rd century B.C. The mountain in the background is Mt. Etna, which is an active volcano. During the day we could see steam coming off, and that night as our ship was leaving, we saw lava flowing from the top of the volcano. It was neat to see.

The streets are filled with boutiques, souvenir shops, restaurants. It was so much fun to just walk the streets and take in the beauty and atmosphere.

VALETTA, MALTA

The streets of Malta. Malta is known for it's handblown glass, so we had to get a handblown vase, of course.

St. John's Co-Cathedral. The interior is made of gold, marble, and hand paintings. It really is amazing the detail they put into it. The ground of this cathedral has different tombs of knights.

There are few trees here and most all of the building and walls are made of limestone, which is natural to this island. It is considered "the island of honey".

Another gorgeous view of the island of Malta.

DUBROVNIK, CROATIA

Tad & I with the famous Clock Tower in the background built in 1444.

Massive stone walls and forts (up to 20 ft. thick) were built in 1000 A.D. to protect Dubrovnik, as it is located on the coast and was prone to attacks. We walked on top of the wall which surrounds the "old town" and is about a mile long. It was very hot and humid and just about killed me, but it was worth the view.

The homes enclosed within this medieval wall. This view is from standing on the wall.

We had a typical Croatian dinner in an outside cafe on the cobblestone streets by this building. Tad had spaghetti with a lobster chopped in half atop his spaghetti. I had Dubrovnik chicken, which was grilled chicken with a mushroom type gravy. It was pretty good.

NAPLES, ITALY

A view of Naples. I have to admit that downtown Naples wasn't very clean and reminded me of a third world country with the poor housing and lack of cleanliness in the streets, etc.

This is downtown Sorrento, Italy, which was beautiful. We took this shot because a lot of Europeans drive motorcycles of some sort. Otherwise they drive very small cars due to the very high price of gas.

POMPEII, ITALY

In 79 A.D. Mt. Vesuvius erupted and covered the city of Pompeii with 20 ft. of ash and everyone died. Because it was covered in ash, it was preserved well, and was later excavated. It was amazing to see what a Roman empire was like. The streets are all cobblestone, and many structures still remain. They even have impressions of the people who died in the volcano.

Tad in front of some of the ruins of Pompeii

FLORENCE, ITALY

Florence was another one of my favorites. It has such magnificent architecture. This is the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo). It is made with white, green, and pink marble.

This is the replica of Michelangelo's David that stands outside the town hall.

I loved this bridge and bought a picture of it. It's the Ponte Vecchio bridge. This bridge has shops and artists painting along it.

PISA, ITALY

The famous leaning tower of Pisa. We learned that it leans because it was build on soft ground of sandy mud and clay. The Pisan's wanted to create their own "Holy City" to rival Florence and others, so to make their bell tower the best, they built it with marble steps inside (usually bell towers have wood steps). With the poor ground and heavy marble, it began to lean.

ON BOARD

Tad's sister Zoeanne and our brother-in-law Vance were on the same trip, so we enjoyed meals and site-seeing with them. It was a lot of fun to be there together.

On the cruise, there was an open audition for a jeopardy-type game of useless trivia. We all know Tad has loads and loads of useless trivia, so I made him volunteer. They did four different rounds on different nights to get the four final contestants. Well, of course Tad was one of the finalists. The evening of the final showdown Tad was nervous, it was quite funny. Tad ended up winning the entire event and was kinged the "King of useless trivia". He won a travel bag, luggage tags, a mug, and best of all, a bottle of champagne. My sweetie made me proud!!

TRAVELING TO SITES

To get to some of the sites, we had to travel by bus from the port. This is how I spent some of the time traveling. I would have gone to bed earlier, but watching Tad win, and watching magicians, eating, etc. there just wasn't time for sleeping

GELATTI

This entry of our trip just wouldn't be complete without a little note about gelatti. It is heaven!! I think we had it at just about every port.