Venice, Italy

We ended our two week journey in Venice. For me, it was the most anticipated city on our agenda. I had wanted to visit Venice from a very young age. I had seen it in movies and read about it in books, and it seemed so beautiful and mysterious to me.




We rode in a water taxi to the nearest exit to our hotel, but finding the hotel was a challenge. Generally, finding things on a map is difficult in Italy. The streets signs are often missing and the cobblestone alleyways are tough to navigate. But in Venice, it is nearly impossible. We also had to take into account the canals, and bridges required to cross them. Luckily I had learned a little bit of Italian before our trip. Not a lot, but enough to ask for, and somewhat understand directions.

Our hotel was very charming and I was glad I had done a little research into it before booking this one. Our room had a cute little balcony overlooking a small, quiet square, where we sat and had breakfast before heading out to see the sights. Breakfast was fresh baked croissants with cheese and jam, and of course cappuccino.





After the morning's events, we knew we would probably get lost in this city, and frankly, we welcomed it. After all, our most memorable events on this trip involved getting lost, talking to locals, and discovering little places off the beaten path. That being said, we decided to see Piazza San Marco, the city's main square, first because it was the one thing we didn't want to miss.




The piazza sits right on the edge of the lagoon, and is surrounded by numerous buildings, restaurants and shops, including the Doges palace and the Campanile, but the one that stands out is St. Mark's Basilica. From the beautifully designed exterior to the detailed Romanesque art, the Basilica is truly breathtaking, and was nicknamed the "Church of Gold" because of it's extravagant decoration. This is a must see for anyone visiting Venice.



Next we decided to wait in the short line to go to the top of the Campanile (bell tower), and it was well worth the wait. The view from the bell tower is amazing. Venice is even more fascinating from above and I realized why I find this city so appealing. With all the beautiful old buildings and no streets or cars, it gives you the feeling of being transported to an earlier time.

 Around the corner from the piazza, we stopped to have a drink in Harry's Bar, which is famous for being frequented by Ernest Hemingway, Orson Welles, and Alfred Hitchcock, among others. I ordered a Bellini, which Harry's is also famous for inventing, and it did not disappoint.

The rest of our afternoon was spent leisurely wandering through the alleyways, listening to the gondoliers sing, and shopping for souvenirs. One of my favorite things to look at were the Venetian masks. Mask making is an art that usually has been passed down from generation to generation, and there were lots of shops selling beautifully crafted masks.






After shopping for a while, we dined on the patio of a small restaurant overlooking the Grand Canal. With the full moon rising over the skyline, the setting could not have been more perfect for the last day of our amazing Mediterranean journey. Venice is a unique and truly romantic city, and it definitely lived up to all of my expectations and more.

Kusadasi, Turkey

Our next stop was Kusadasi. It is a popular tourist destination mostly because it is the closest city to Ephesus, which was an ancient trade center. There are lots of fascinating ruins to see there including the Temple of Artemis, which is one of the Seven wonders of the ancient world, and the Shrine of the Virgin Mary. They say she spent her last years living here. Ephesus was not our goal however. We just wanted to spend a lazy afternoon on the beach and go to a Turkish bath.

We chose Pigeon Island to do just that. It is a small island connected to the mainland by a long isthmus. The setting was beautiful. We swam in the crystal clear water and relaxed on the pier watching the yachts sail by. The main attraction on the island is Pirate Castle, which was used to protect the land from pirates in the Ottoman Era.

After checking out the castle, we decided to go find a Turkish bath. We wandered around the shopping district for a little while until we found the right one, stopping for some mint tea, and a little conversation with the locals on the way. We noticed a lot of the alleyways have small glass "evil eye" beads inlaid in them. The beads are very popular in Turkey and Greece, and are used to ward off the bad luck or injury believed to be caused by others envy.





But the best part of this day was by far the Turkish bath. I had heard a lot of horror stories about them, but our experience was quite the opposite. After undressing (I wore bikini bottoms), we were led to a huge, steamy sauna room, elaborately decorated with mosaic tiles. The ceiling was dome shaped, with small windows to let in rays of sunlight. In the center of the room was a huge, waist high granite slab, and the sides of the room were lined with dozens of beautiful fountains pouring out warm water. The air in the room smelled so good to me, like wet clay and exotic oils. We laid on the slab as two men poured warm water over us, scrubbed our bodies with hot, sudsy towels and proceeded to give us the best massages we ever had. It was truly heavenly, and one of the best experiences I had in Europe. I would definitely go back and do it again.

Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul was definitely one of my top favorite places that we visited. As we came into the city, what really stood out was the beauty of the skyline. Being a primarily Muslim city, there seems to be mosques everywhere, and their towering minarets can be seen from anywhere in the city. Five times a day, the minarets blast music throughout the city to signal a call to prayer. When the music plays, Muslims all over the city stop to pray, no matter where they are, or what they are doing. Some carry small rugs that they roll out to pray on. It was inspiring to see them taking the time to stop and worship throughout the day.






Istanbul is a very old city, rich in history, and there is a lot to see here. It is the only city in the world that lies on two continents. We only have one day, so we decide to see a couple of the things in the most historical part of the city, the Blue Mosque, and the Hagia Sophia.

Visitors entering the Blue Mosque are required to remove their shoes and women must cover their arms and shoulders. It was absolutely amazing inside, though our photos didn't come out very well because of the lighting. Every inch of the ceiling and walls are covered in intricate mosaic tiles, and there are hundreds of stained glass windows which offer the only source of light, other than the hundreds of  tiny glass candle holders that hang from huge iron chandeliers.

Next we went to the Hagia Sophia, which is right across the street. Built in 360, it is now a museum, but was originally an Orthodox Cathedral, and later used as a mosque as well. Until around 1500, the Hagia Sophia was the largest and most ornate church ever built. It was currently going through a restoration process to repair the cracked dome and replace some of the mosaics, but we could still get a sense of it's great beauty. The walls are covered in huge marble slabs of all different colors, and there are gold mosaic tiles on the ceiling depicting the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. We learned from our tour guide that many of the gold statues and mosaics that were here at one time were stolen by Latin crusaders, and shipped to the Doge of Venice, who organized the invasion.





After a long day of sightseeing, were were tired and hungry, so we walked across the street and stopped in the first restaurant we saw with food displayed in the window. We didn't know what it was, but it looked delicious, and we hit the jackpot. This was probably the best food we had during our entire trip. After dinner, we drank some raki, which is a licorice flavored liqueur popular in Turkey, and enjoyed the beautiful sunset.

Mykonos, Greece

Our stop on day 8 was Mykonos, an island off the coast of Greece which is pretty well known for it's partying. Tourists come here from all over Europe to drink and dance all night long. During the day, it's a pretty sleepy little town, which was good for us. Plus, we had already done enough drinking and dancing the night before. We were pretty hung over and relaxing on a beautiful beach was just the thing we needed.


The first thing we did was take a nap on the beach, under an umbrella. My husband was a little shocked to wake up to a hairy, nude Greek man walking on the beach. I guess clothing optional doesn't only mean topless women. We ordered a drink from the long list of cocktails named things like brain food and devil's tongue. Of course we had to go with the suffering bastard.



Now we were ready to go explore the town. I has always wanted to visit the Greek isles, since I was very young, and they did not disappoint. The buildings are very simple, but all painted white, some with blue or red roofs and doors. The contrasting colors of the houses and the ocean are so beautiful, they seem to elicit a very peaceful feeling.



There are quaint little churches everywhere and a row of rustic old windmills on the cliff, near the main pier. Our last stop was my favorite, an area called Little Venice, where the buildings seem to sit right on top of the water. We sat and ate the best gyros ever at a cafe where the waves crash up right next to your table. It was a perfect ending to another perfect day.