Italy Greece in 2017

All great things must end, and our trip is winding down. The MSC Poesia, our home at sea for the past week, has docked back in Venice. The day is cool and dreary, with occasional rain.We grab our carry on luggage and head to the breakfast buffet. Afterwards we sit around for a few hours waiting for our turn to disembark. We got off the ship and gathered up our luggage from the baggage area, and walk out the door. That was it - no other security or customs checks. This was Bruce's 7th cruise (my 4th) and he said that it was the easiest disembarking he's ever had. I agree. Once outside, we grab a cab. Our final hotel is across on the mainland, right next to the airport, and we say goodby to Venice again and head out.       It took about 20 minutes to get to the hotel. It is the newest hotel we've stayed in on this trip -probably only 3 or 4 years old. Most of this area looks like it is newer construction. We had to wait in the reception  area for 2 ho...

Today our ship docked in the port city of Dubrovnik, Croatia. We have been looking forward to this, our last stop, because this is supposed to be a beautiful medieval city and on a lot of recommended travel sites as a place to visit.        Another early breakfast and back to The Zebra Bar to meet up with our tour group. Everyone was feeling good today, and the weather was exceptionally sunny with an expected high in the low 60s - perfect walking weather.       We boarded our bus for a short ride to the old Inner City. This original city of Dubrovnik is surrounded by a massive stone wall, completed in the 16th century, and our first view of this barricade was astounding. We got off the bus and followed our guide into the Inner City, crossing over a small draw bridge and through the outer fortifications. Once inside, the city was amazing, with the original look and feel of a medieval town. It is no wonder that the TV series "Game...

Over night we left Greece and headed to Albania for a one day visit in the city of Sarande. Sarande from the left of our cruise ship. Tender Boat Floating Dock for Tender boat  When we booked the cruise, we didn't find any tours that interested us, so we left this as a free day. Sarande on the right of our cruise ship We decided all the walking we did in Greece we would rest today.   We sure needed time to get better for a final tour.           Last night Bruce became ill. He is sure that it is a severe food allergy from something he ate at dinner, and he didn't sleep most of the night. This morning, he is still very nauseous, and can't eat anything.        The rest of us went to breakfast, then back to the cabins. Bruce seemed a little better, and we all sat around talking and enjoying the sun. By early afternoon, being up sick all night caught up to Bruce and he laid down and slept. More...

Today is another big trip - going to see the Acropolis in Athens. The bus leaves early so we grabbed an early breakfast and headed out. Dad didn't sleep very well. as he has been coughing every night. He decided to stay behind and relax another day. Besides, he didn't think he could manage all that walking. Our tour group was unusual in that it had two guides - one for English, and one for the German participants. This quickly became a nuisance, as everything had to be explained in two languages, and riding on the bus we sometimes missed some points of interest. The ship docked in Piraeus, a harbor city right next to Athens. Our first stop was the Panathenaic Stadium, a large all-marble stadium built for the first modern Olympic games. It was constructed in the late 1800s on the site of an ancient race track. It is the only stadium to be made of all marble, and can hold over 40,000 people..    We headed to the Acropolis, which is easy to see as it sits on top of a high r...

We started the day with the ship docking early in Mykonos, Greece.  Today's tour of the Island of Delos  (pronounced THAY-los) met at 9 am  in the bar del Poeti.   We only had breakfast with Alan as Dad was again not feeling well and opted out of the tour today. The tour met by 9:15 and we did not leave until around 9:45.   We were tour number 17 today and left together to meet our guide. Her name was Mia and she took us all on a water taxi the other side of the inlet , then onto another boat for the trip to the island. The 2nd boat was a tour boat to Delos and it was packed with people. We had to sit on a bench near the bathrooms for the ride over.  One of the tours guides sat next to us since it was standing room only by the time we left.        We arrived at the historic island of Delos; an archaeological site in the Aegean Sea.  Nobody lives there except 14 to 20 researchers, archaeologists, and staff. We...

      A time change happened tonight as we passed into Greece's time zone and we lost another hour.  Yikes!!!!  We made sure we set our clocks for our early wake up so we can have a good breakfast and time to get ready for our tour.    This is an exciting day for me, since I have been to Italy a few times, but have never been to Greece. We actually started to plan a trip here in 2009, but it didn't work out at the time. Also, our tour toady is to Olympus, the site of the birth of the Olympics, which I love. We docked in the small town of Katakolon.       This cruise is super prepared for excursions and we had a 10:45 meeting time in Teatro Carlo Feliz.  We arrived around 10:30 and we check in with our excursion tickets that had been delivered to our cabin.  They give us a group number 10 sticker (very stylish) to put on our clothes to identify our English Tour.      The group was called ...