Dubrovnik, Croatia Day 2 (Alex’s Birthday)

Luke and I spent a few hours this morning lying by the sea. It was a perfect day with no clouds in the sky. Luke wanted to get into the water, I had put my toes in earlier and felt how chilly it was, and so I wanted nothing to do with it. He was convinced it couldn’t be that bad and really wanted to jump off one of the rocks. We had seen many people swimming in the sea, so Luke thought I was being a chicken. I went down there with him, watched him jump in, and have never seen him move so fast to get out. He said the water was like ice, he thought is heart was going to stop. After some fun in the sun, we came back up to the room, and to our surprise found a bottle of water and a brownie with strawberries and whipped cream. I was convinced Luke had told the front desk it was my birthday but he swore up and down he did not. I couldn’t figure out how they would know and then Luke reminded me we gave them our passports at check-in. DUH! Oh well, we got a delicious dessert a much needed bottle of water. We ate a late lunch and shared a pizza and walked around the boardwalk by our hotel. For my birthday dinner we decided to try Mexican food in Croatia. We ordered chips and salsa as a tester for how the Mexican cuisine would be, and it’s a good thing we did. The “chips and salsa” is actually knock-off Doritos and a bowl of tomato paste/marinara. After that we decided that ordering the Mexican food would have to wait until we’re back in the States. We ordered off the Italian portion of menu, figuring that was safe since Italy is just across the sea. We were right – it was absolutely delicious. After dinner we walked around for a bit and bought a bottle of wine before heading back to our hotel.

Dubrovnik, Croatia Day 1

Luke and I once again took foreign public transportation, this time in the form of a bus. Bus number 6 to be exact, we were told to ride it until the last stop and then get off. So, we got on the bus and rode and rode and came to many stops, it was definitely hard to tell which one was going to be the last, finally we get to this stop and the some people get off but not everyone. We figured this must not be the last stop, so we sat there, until the bus driver said “Get off the bus”. Oops! We walked around Old Town Dubrovnik before taking on the city walls. The city wall tour was beautiful, but exhausting. We climbed up a bunch of steps and walked around the city on top of this wall. It’s how I imagine the Great Wall of China to be, but on a smaller scale. It took us about an hour and a half to get all the way around it, but it was worth it. After the city wall tour we walked around the shopping/dining area within the Old City walls. We also ate some delicious ice cream; this habit will need to stop when we get back to the States. We came back from Old Town, read on our hotel balcony, and then walked down this path to a restaurant close to our hotel.

Travel from Athens to Dubrovnik

Luke and I made it to Dubrovnik. This is where the true relaxing will begin. It's gorgeous here! We will be sure to take lots of photos and some video. It's how I imagine the coast of Italy to be. It was a bit rainy today, but the forecast looks good for the next few days.

Athens, Greece Day 3

Today, Luke and I got a little more adventurous. We had talked to Despina (our Athens Walking Tour Guide) about how to catch a ferry to one of the islands. Our cab driver had told us to go to Poros; Despina hated this idea, and suggested we try Aegina instead. She said it’s much bigger and very beautiful. We had spent half a day with her, so we trusted her opinion and went for it. We followed her directions on the tram system to Piraeus (the port) where we boarded a ferry and took that to Aegina. The ferry was huge – not the typical ferries that you think of when you hear the word “ferry” or at least not what I think of. The boat ride took us an hour, but it was well worth it. The island was very nice, a much slower pace from the hustle and bustle of Athens. We walked around the island/marina area. We thought it was neat there were boats that were docked there from the United States and all over the world for that matter, but we liked the boats from the States the best.  After walking around for awhile we decided to grab a late lunch at a café’ right on the water, it was very tranquil. I decided to be brave and order outside of my standard (which has been some form of chicken/rice/veggies) and ordered the fried shrimp. Let me just say – HUGE MISTAKE. The shrimp platter came to me and it smelled delicious but ew…the shrimps had eyes that were looking at me! Not to mention feet and tails still attached, definitely not what I am used to. I didn’t eat one, after seeing the eyes looking back at me, I just couldn’t do it. We laid on the beach for an hour or so, and decided to head back to the main land. Our boat ride back to Athens was a bit different from our boat ride there; we rode back in what’s called a hydrofoil.
It takes half the time of the ferry since it gets out of the water, it was definitely a lot nicer.
When we got back to Athens we, of course, got some gelato and headed back to our hotel room to rest a bit before heading out for dinner. People in Athens don’t really eat dinner until well after 8:00 p.m. We went to the restaurant around 7:30 and we were the first and only patrons for quite some time (we even beat the chef to work). They had a great special though! 10 Euro’s for a Greek salad, pizza, and a glass of wine, and it was called the Smile Café’. The Greek salad was by far my favorite, it was so good. We have been noticing the produce, tomatoes especially, are delicious over here. It was cut up cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, olives (blech, I gave mine to Luke) with a slice of feta on top with oregano and olive oil. So good! I will need to try and make that when we get back. We sat at the café and just enjoyed people watching and talking, afterwards we decided to walk back to our hotel through the Plaka area one more time. It’s really neat because you can see the Acropolis lit up on top of a huge hill from the Plaka area. On our walk back to the hotel we passed by the Athens Sports Bar with a sign for the USA vs. Ghana football/soccer game at 21:30. It was only 45 minutes away so we decided to grab a seat and see what that was like. The bar turned out to be an expats bar, and everyone spoke English. It got really crowded as game time approached and it turned out to be a lot of fun. We even met 3 people that graduated from University of Dayton, such a small world. We sat next to an interesting couple from Wisconsin – I could obviously relate since I traveled to Milwaukee for 2 years of my life. They knew both hospitals I used to work at and they currently live in Buffalo, New York. He teaches Greek History/Mythology at the University and she is a Biologist. They were a lot of fun and we definitely enjoyed talking to them, we also met their friend James, who is an archaeologist and has been in Greece for awhile now digging up ruins. It was a great night; we stayed out way too late to be up at 5:45 a.m. to catch our flight to Dubrovnik. We got back to the hotel around 2:00 a.m. packed out clothes and asked for a 5:30 a.m. wake up call…ouch!

Athens, Greece Day 2

The second day we were in Athens was our pre-planned walking tour of all the major sites. Our tour guide, Despina, took us around for four hours and explained everything about Athens. She is Greek and majored in Greek history and culture. It was extremely informative. We went to the Greek Parliament and watched the changing of the guard, the Royal Gardens, Olympian Temple of Zeus, Hadrian’s Arch, through the Plaka, and up to the Acropolis (which is not really an acropolis) where the tour ended. We also met two girls from Ohio that were on the tour. They are both law students at Ohio State and studying abroad this summer in Oxford, England. This was their big trip before classes started. It’s amazing traveling to a different country and still finding people that you have something in common with. After the tour Luke and I were pretty hungry so we got lunch at a café in the Plaka, and then headed back to the hotel for a nap. Waking up early and walking around Athens for over four hours really takes it out of you! After we woke up from our nap, we headed out to get some gelato. We got gelato almost every day we were in Athens – so yummy! We then ventured to the New Acropolis museum which houses many replica’s from the temples/ancient ruins. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, so you will need to go there to see it yourself!  We have a few snapshots from the outside of the building, which are posted in our album. After the New Acropolis museum we walked around the Plaka area some more and found another restaurant where we stopped to have some wine. We sat there for awhile and enjoyed people watching and the weather and then on our way back to our hotel we had our first American style gyros. So tasty! All in all it was a very good but busy day!

Athens Greece - Day 1

We had a slow start to our day. I am finally feeling a little better, but to be safe we took today slow and stayed in the area around our hotel. We went to the Plaka a shopping area full of café’s and shops and then ventured to the bigger shopping area. It was weird to see American stores such as; Sephora, Mac, H&M, etc. We came to this bigger shopping area in hopes of finding a La Coste store, while we were there, it started to rain and Luke was pick-pocketed (thankfully he only lost cash and his hotel key). We also discovered that the La Coste store no longer exists. After being down on our luck we decided to come back to the hotel and re-group about what we wanted to do during the evening. We went to an amazing Greek restaurant near the Plaka – it was so good! I had the best taziki sauce I have ever had and we had some really good glasses of wine. After dinner I got some strawberry gelato and we continued walking around for a bit. We came back to the hotel and researched the best ways to get to some or one of the islands for a day trip. Currently, we are looking at going to Poros, since that is what our cab driver suggested and it seems to be very beautiful online. Tomorrow morning we have to be up early for our Walking Athens Tour, which I had booked before we got over here. Athens is much more Westernized compared to Istanbul, so it’s been a welcomed change, especially after we both were sick from something we ate/drank in Istanbul.

Travel to Athens Day

This day didn’t go so well for me as something made me really sick. I am starting to feel better today (it’s June 23rd as I write this) but not back to 100%. Luckily, it’s a short flight from Istanbul to Athens and we didn’t have a lot planned last night, so we just watched TV and relaxed. We ended up sleeping close to 12 hours so we obviously needed the rest. The hotel in Athens is much nicer and there are a lot more English speaking channels. Luke prefers the shower in Istanbul, remembering now why he disliked European bathrooms so much. We are planning on visiting the Plaka and an early Olympic stadium to ease into the experience. We will post updates once the day is over.

Istanbul, Turkey Day 3

Istanbul, Turkey Day 3

Today Luke and I ventured to the Blue Mosque check out the inside. We happened to arrive with about 15 minutes left of the prayer time, so we had to wait in the courtyard. It also rained on our walk, not long or hard, but enough that the temperature afterwards was perfect. After prayer ended we were allowed to enter the Blue Mosque and it was amazing! It’s so big, hard to imagine it’s full of Muslims all praying at the same time but also very neat. After the Blue Mosque we went over to the Topkapi Palace, but it was closed. We found these gorgeous side streets and wandered around for awhile. Then we decided to go to the Archaeological Museum. It turned out to be really cool and had a lot of really old stuff, 6th century B.C and further back. They also had a display from the Byzantine Period in Egypt – very cool. We saw a ton of sarcophagus’s that were extremely detailed. After the museum we went to a Turkish café to try some Turkish coffee. This could have been my “fatal” mistake, but I don’t think we will ever know. Luke ordered a Turkish coffee and I had read that it’s super strong so I ordered a cappuccino. We also shared a plate of delicious hummus! Since it was so nice out we continued walking to different parts of the city and eventually back to the Grand Bazaar. Luke had spotted a watch he was interested in the day before so we decided to go back and take another look. We had a really good time talking with Denniz, the sales guy we dealt with the day before. He had some questions regarding his English and taught us some Turkish. All in all it was a good time. We ended the night by going to a free concert between the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque. It was neat to see both of these attractions lit up at night as well.

Notes about Istanbul:
1. It took awhile to get use to Call to Prayer 5 times a day, and woke Luke and me up every night around 4:40 a.m.
2. Don’t drink the water!
3. Taking the tram in the old city is the easiest way to get around, even if it took us a few minutes to figure out how to get on the tram.
4. There are knock-offs of everything imaginable.

Istanbul, Turkey Day 2

We have been having a rough time sleeping, waking up at odd hours of the night. We went to bed last night after midnight and we both woke up at 5 a.m. wide awake, which would be 9 p.m. our time back in the States. I’m guessing we are still getting used to the 8 hour time difference from CST. We had an eventful evening, we made friends with the locals that worked at our hotel and watched some football (soccer) with them. Then we made friends with a guy from the U.S. that lives in D.C. and works in Homeland Security. He was very interesting and told us a lot of stories.
Today, Luke and I were much more adventurous. We tempted our fate with public transportation to find the Galata Bridge. This is where we were told we could get on a ferry and see the Bosphorus River. I am not sure if we took the ferry or not, we found a boat, and decided to get on. There weren’t many tourists on the boat, we actually only saw one other couple now that I think about it, but it was a beautiful day and very scenic. We also crossed a bridge over to the Asian side of Turkey, so it was fun to say we touched another continent. We ate lunch at a local shop where we received free Turkish tea, I am not a big tea drinker, but this tea was very good. We then got back on the tram and headed back to our stop, which also happens to be the stop for the Grand Bazaar. We wandered around the Grand Bazaar for awhile. Luke looked at some knock off watches, the watch shop owner, told us that the movement was made in Japan followed by they have little eyes so it’s easier for them to see the parts. He was one of the more creative sales people we met while in the Bazaar. After the Grand Bazaar we wandered down our street and bought some delicious pastries and fresh squeezed juice. We came back to the hotel because Luke had a little work to do, and I read and relaxed. We are getting ready to head back out and walk to the sea. It should be another good night in Istanbul.

Istanbul, Turkey Day 1

Luke and I slept off our jet lag (for the most part) and headed out to explore Istanbul today. We left our hotel to find the Topkapi Palace and instead took a wild adventure. We ended up at a random mosque where we met a local named Miles. We went into the Mosque and then Miles took us all around and showed us the sites; random royalty grave sites, The Blue Mosque, The Hagia Sophia, Underground Cisterns, etc. You get the idea, all the major sites in Istanbul. Well we are behind Miles a bit and Luke tells me he is going to take us to his brother’s shop and shake us down for money. I misunderstood Miles and I thought he was going to take us to his brothers’ house (which probably isn’t better). So, Luke is right, we end up at his brothers’ rug/carpet shop with custom handmade rugs. Miles leads us upstairs where we’re in a room full of rugs and couches. He has us sit down and offers us Turkish tea. Of course, I say “yes” right away and Luke says “no” then informs me Rick Steve’s Turkey said not to take the tea when they offer because it’s a sign to them that you are going to buy something. Too late now…I have some apple tea (hot apple juice) on the way. So, we sit and talk to Miles and his brother the rug shop owner, and he is flattering us and telling us about these rugs, how they are double knot, and most rug shops now use the single knot method. Long story short, we bought a Turkish rug….haha.

With our Turkish rug in tow we go on to further explore Istanbul. We actually go into the Underground Cisterns (which might be my favorite), The Hagia Sophia, and into the courtyard of the Topkapi Palace. We have not gone in there yet, saving that for then we do the Blue Mosque. While in the Toakapi Palace I decide that I am hungry and we leave out the doors we came in (with 2 guards with machine guns). They start to close the double set of doors on all the tourists, saying there’s been a suspicious package! Luke translates for me, bomb threat! EEK! We walk back into the courtyard area to figure out if there is another exit, we can’t find one, so we wait and watch the main doors again. It seems it’s safe to leave, so we head out in an attempt to find some food. After lunch we decide to head back to the hotel to rest, we start walking in the direction of our hotel or so we think. We walk for about an hour and then stumble upon another Best Western. We decide to go in and ask them for directions. Once inside we notice a bar, so we ask for directions, and then sit down and have a drink. Then we wonder back out in an attempt to find our hotel. We walk for another hour or so, ask a few more people, and FINALLY find our hotel. YAY! Day One….success.

Quick Update

Luke and I are gearing up for our big vacation. We leave this Friday (June 18th) and we can’t wait. So check back in to see photos and videos from our European adventures!!!