Greek Cruise

One year ago, here's what we were doing...

Bon Voyage! 

Disembarking from Venice

 

Jessi & BABY Chloé

 

People wonder how we travel with kids. Here's a prime example of how. 

A lot S-L-O-W-E-R! 

After the party, it's time for a nap (with a book of course)

She woke up just in time to say good-bye to Venice

She LOVED playing in this window and would jump from the window to the bed

Bye Venice!

This was such an amazing port to leave from. We had such a cool bird's eye view of Venice. 

The kids had a primo spot too. 

Look at all the boats!

Views of Venice from our ship

BARI, ITALY

Our first stop was in Southern Italy

Be warned - don't drive your car into the water! 

The streets of Bari

Snuggling with her blankie

I love hanging out with dad!

The Adriatic Sea behind us

First formal night dinner on the cruise

RHODES, GREECE

Doesn't she make a great statue?

I was surprised by how many Greek Americans lived here

Gotta love the crocs!


YUMMY Greek Food
Authentic Gyros!!

Greek Gelato

 

Greek to me!

 

What a beautiful view!

 

ATHENS, GREECE

We hired a taxi driver to take us around the city. Here's a view of the Peace and Friendship stadium.

Bergs and Prices

Excited to see Athens

Such an old city! 

The Acropolis is the hill behind us - can you see the Parthenon?

The top left picture shows the ancient ground level. I didn't realize cities had these until I traveled Europe. Did you know cities literally get built up over time because of all the dirt and what not? Verona, Italy is another place I noticed this. You can't tell in the picture but it's a LONG ways down.
I also thought it was funny that on the market streets there were chairs lined up in the middle of the road for the shop owners to sit outside.

Temple of Zeus

Streets of Athens

That weird graffiti face was also graffitied on signs in my hometown. What is it!?

 

Taking a rest...in front of a cool door of course ;)


The Olympic Stadium in Athens

Changing of the Guards

We got to the palace just in time to see the changing of the guards

I loved the skirts and the pom-poms on the shoes!

And do you know any other guys that can lift their leg that high?

The Acropolis

There are SO many ancient ruins, they are just piled on top of each other.
It's also quite a hike up so it has great views of Athens.

This used to be some kind of theatre.

Random cool columns

So amazing to think people could have made and built these so long ago
Some were so offset they looked like they could tumble

THE PANTHEON

Prices and Bergs in front of the Parthenon at last!

It was a bit surreal to see the Pantheon in person. It's something I'd always wanted to see, but never thought I would. I had to pinch myself.

Here comes trouble...

Kelsey and Abram kept picking up the gravel and putting it on this bench. We were so enthralled with seeing the Parthenon we didn't pay too much attention. Well it wasn't long until we were scolded for it. For some weird reason they don't want their millions of visitors moving the dirt around these historically significant buildings.

Only minutes after being scolded, Kelsey ran under the barrier. Have you ever tried to coax a 1 1/2 year old out of ancient ruins? I finally had to go in there and get here. I was glad not to get scolded again. ;)

Hmm...what can I do to get in the most amount of trouble in the least amount of time?

The Erechtheum
I remember studying this in my high school and college textbooks. The Porch of the Caryatids (ladies behind us holding up the roof) is very memorable. Those are actually replicas! The Greek broke part of the roof while trying to restore them (and all the pollution in Athens was ruining them) so they took the real ones to a museum and put up these replicas.

One thing that opened my eyes being here was how much the rest of the world STOLE from Greece! One of the reasons a lot of it looks so ruined is because of centuries of wars, looting, etc. It's amazing to me that we saw some of the original art from Athens in Rome and France.

After a relatively hot day in Athens (I can't imagine going in the SUMMER!?), we headed back to the boat. The kids actually did a good job hanging in there for us, though the riding in the backpack seemed to be the coveted ride. Luckily, our taxi driver picked us up before we got to the bottom so we didn't have to walk as long! It was a great hike up, obviously worth it. Oh, and did I mention it was FREE to go up? It only is on rare occasions and I guess we got lucky.





ARGOSTOLI, CEFELONIA, GREECE
Despite my sour attitude about NOT going to an island with white buildings/blue roofs, we had some fun. I felt like it was a wasted stop b/c the beaches were on the other side of the island, an expensive taxi ride leaving not enough time on the beach. I guess that's what you get with an Italian cruise line ;0. The natives seemed equally unhappy that we were there. We walked around the town, looked at all the shops, tried to find a rental car shop - didn't find one until we were already heading back to the boat, ate baklava and other tasty treats, and and that was about it. We tried to find Gyros for lunch but weirdly enough NO RESTAURANTS SOLD THEM. They must not be from this region or something.

Drive up gas station, shopping streets, cool boat, COOP in Greece?, Farmer's Market, beautiful landscapes, the Park?, cute kids shops, local florist

Is that a blue roof I see?, baklava, more cute kids shoes!

Our ship

We were dressed for some beach tim

Kelsey got so much attention walking through the streets in her little Mexican dress

We had to tender out to the island in these boats

A "tender" kiss
Instead of laying out on the beach we laid out on the ship! The kids loved playing in the pools and we loved laying out. Tal took Kels for awhile while I read a book about Florence.

Formal night

Our friends, Jessi & Jacob. Eating with kids and having 5 courses was a bit challenging but I think we managed great! I can't imagine if we'd already had Aiden...
Our waiter, Franklin
Every night they would bring the kids a scoop of ice cream for dessert. The first pic is when she saw the waiter bringing it out and the second is her anxiously awaiting. It looks like she's saying, PLEASE!?

DUBROVNIK, CROATIA

I love this picture

Isn't Abram such a handsome boy!

Kelsey's Croatian Flute

Not a bad view of Dubrovnik & the Adriatic

Bus ride back to the boat

Bye bye Dubrovnik! Hugs to Chloé 


Pulling back into Venice

It was cool to see Venice without all the people! From afar...


We had an amazing time and only wish we could go back this year ;). Thanks for inviting us Bergs, we cherish this trip and are so glad we did it together. When's the next one!?


Memorable things from the trip:
-Jessi taught me how to knit
-we took turns watching each others' kids so we could enjoy a night out
-Jessi and I going to a cooking class on the ship - ha!
-saving high chairs
-Italian pizza


I know there is so much more - Jessi, Jacob, Tally PLEASE email me with more!! I'm going to bed.