A trip to Greece for Shawn and Mommy

I probably should have done this last week as soon as I got home, as I have probably forgotten funnies already!  So, Shawn and I had an amazing opportunity to go on a trip just the two of us with some of our friends.  We went with Kara, Jonathan, and Dylan Hileman, Liesl, Josh, and Isaac Christensen, and Molly, Ryan, Lily, and Anna Croft, on a whirlwind Greece trip.....GO GROUP B!!!  Where to start...Seville, we flew to Barcelona, then onto Athens.  We had a very tight connection and unfortunately the other ladies didn't get there checked luggage in Athens.  Shawn and I just had carry on bags, so we lucked out.  Our first night in Athens we had to have Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and were able to walk there from our hotel.  The hotel was nestled along the Acropolis and among very lovely walking streets with lots of restaurants and shops.  These are some of the views from our hotel and from the streets nearby!

Molly, Kara, Liesl, and myself at the airport ready to go!

View from our hotel room, Acropolis in the background.

The kids in the hotel lobby, the first night they had to ask us to keep them a little quieter!!  Loud Americans!

Cute walking streets near our hotel, Anna getting a ride from Miss Liesl!

Cute little art gallery with a beautiful staircase.

View of the Acropolis at night.

After a good nights sleep, our first stop....the Acropolis.  Shawn had a homesick moment as soon as we arrived at the Acropolis, major meltdown, screaming fit and wanting to go home.  He managed to get over it after what felt like forever and we were able to enjoy the rest of the day!  Words can not explain how magnificant it is...I tried really hard to explain to Shawn just how old the place was, I think he will remember forever!  It was built in around 490 BC.  After we visiting the Acropolis, we took the hop on hop off bus tour to get a better overview of the city.  I think it is safe to say we were all very happy with the area we stayed and once again ended the day walking around the streets near our hotel.

Shawn having his fit, what a great moment!



Could you imagine putting a puzzle like this together, we imagine this is how they put it all together.



Transportation, old and new!

Shawn and I on the hop on hop off bus!

Kara hopped off the bus to buy us all a snack, yummy chocolate filled pretzel type things!!

Temple to Zeus

Yummy greek food!

Cute little fruit stand near our hotel, so colorful!

So, the first night, Liesl bought a few pieces of baklava and we all tried a little bit.  The second night, all four ladies bought our own pieces and ate most of it!  The baklava we had here (shown above) was by far the best we had on the entire trip!  As we ate our dessert we also watched the movie My Life in Ruins.  Great movie to watch after our day in Athens....we then referred to ourselves as Group B!  We had many a laughs over this throughout our trip!

Next day we left on our cruise!  This is a first for both Shawn and I...so fun to get to share this with him!  That day we sailed to Mykonos and arrived just as the sun was setting.  Shawn and I enjoyed watching the ship pull into port.  We spent our evening walking through town, shopping and eating!  Found a crepe shop, and all ended up getting one!  It was a nice night, but I would love to return here and explore in the daytime!



Our cabin!



Our lifejacket drill just before we took off, Shawn was a little nervous!





Shawn as we were arriving into Mykonos.



Sunset in Mykonos!

Our happy place in Mykonos, the crepe shop!

Girls were all checking their ipods, as there was supposedly free wifi.





We took this picture for Uncle Bill, couldn't help but think of you!

We sailed all night and then arrived in Kusadasi,Turkey by morning.  Today we went on an excursion to Ephesus.  Ephesus is said to be an important center of early Christianity.  Mary lived here during her last years.  Paul was imprisoned near here for spreading the word of God.  Ephesus is ancient ruins that were built in the 11th century BC.  It was amazing to see the town, its hospital, town streets, library and outdoor market.  There is even an ampitheater that artists of our time have played in.  The kids enjoyed the tour guide, as he was also a teacher.  After our tour they took us to a rug shop and wow did we see some amazing rugs!  So tempting, but a little more than I had planned to spend this vacation...we all left empty handed!



Pipes that they assume were used for modern plumbing for the times.

 

The Christian symbol.



The hospital symbol.

 



View of hospital.

 

Our tour guide Zach, in front of rows of houses.

Mosaic tiles that were in front of the fancy shops in town.

The library.

The open market.

In the distance on the hill was a prison that Paul was kept in for 2 years.

The ampitheater.

Our cruise ship next to the Royal Caribbean!!

                                                 

The afternoon we sailed to Patmos, Greece.  Once again Shawn and I enjoyed the views as we sailed into port.  A beautiful little island famous for St. John's Monastery.  We once again enjoyed an excursion with a tour guide to take us on a scenic tour of the island!  We were able to walk around the town up near the monastery and it looked like we were walking through a snow fort!  We then were able to see the grotto or cave where St John wrote some of the bible!  It was amazing to picture him in this cave, where now a small church was built onto it, but then it was just a cave.  Shawn was interested to find out that the houses that are now painted white weren't always white, but kept the natural color to blend into the land, so the pirates
couldn't find them.

St. John's Monastery

Mosiacs above the entrance down towards the cave.

Back onto the ship and we sail to Crete.  Next morning, early, again...no excursion today.  But we decide we want to try and see the Knossos Palace.  We figure we can get a cab or take a bus, and it is free admissions on Sundays!!!  WOW...crazy taxi cab negotiations!!!  Those guys were all over us, and because we needed 3 cabs to take us all we were able to work a deal.  They drove us the Palace and then waited to take us back with a little tour of the city.  The kids seemed to enjoy being able to run around a little here amongst the ruins of the old Palace.  I think we adults were a little disappointed in Crete, but we also didn't get to see much.  We heard there are beautiful beaches!

We joked that this was our ship, this was alongside our ship at the port.



When we got back to the ship...to our surprise...a towel elephant, Shawn was very excited!  I hear this is a common art on cruise ships!  We then enjoyed another nice afternoon on the ship, and as we sailed away from Crete, we saw a sailing school alongside!  So cute!  Then Isaac, Shawn and Lily took a chilly dip in the ships pool!

Our last and I think all of our favorite place....SANTORINI!!!!!!  Amazing views on the way in, Santorini used to be one volcanic island, but after an eruption, it became 5 islands, Santorini being the largest of the 5.  We were supposed to take an excursion here to Oia, where all the famous blue topped homes on the cliffs are, however since the sun was setting soon after we arrived, the cruise directors advised against going since it would be dark.  So, we know there is so much more to see here, but we all really enjoyed what we did see!  We took tender boats from the cruise ship to port.  The water there was crystal clear, I think you could probably see 30 feet down, made you want to jump right in!  At the port, we had the choice to either ride the cable car up or take donkeys.  We took the cable car and that was kind of scary, very steep and fast!  We quickly found a little bar to enjoy a drink and the sunset!  Again, breathtakingly beautiful!  We girls decided to try the famous shot, I think it is called Uzo...interesting!  We walked and shoppedd and just enjoyed the town of Fira.  And I think we all would love to come back some day!





The views of Santorini were just unbelievable, we all could have stayed there forever.  I hope Brian and I get a chance to return someday!  We had dinner on the ship and called it a night!  Dylan, Kara's 4 year old, fell asleep 2 out of 3 nights at the dinner table on the ship.  Long days and late dinners, we were all tired!  On our return to Athens our transfer met up at the port...we had our own bus!!!  The driver drove us along the water to get to the airport and we saw lots of people swimming in the water, must have been quite chilly.  And after a long day in the airport, kids worked on homework and the crazy foreign kids pushing at McDonalds...we got on our flight and headed home!  Lots of great memories, laughs and amazing sights.   I am so thankful for this experience.  Another adventure!  No complaints from me!