Category: Destinations

Take a Trip to See the Charming Seaside Town of Cefalu, Sicily

After we left the French Riviera, our cruise ship sailed down to Tunisia in Africa. Due to high winds, the captain felt it unsafe to dock in the bay, therefore, we had to skip Tunisia, which was disappointing. But, we set sail for our next destination Palermo, Sicily. There we toured the seaside village of ...

See Why the Country of Monaco & the French Riviera Is the Land of Luxury

Our next stop was to the 2nd smallest country in the world, Monaco (size of central park in NYC -- The Vatican City being the smallest country). Four things come to mind when I think of Monaco and the French Riviera: James Bond, Monte Carlo Grand Prix, Princess Grace, and Luxury. The French Riviera has ...

Cinque Terre, Italy – is there not a more beautiful place?

After sailing through the Greek Islands, we took the next portion of the cruise along the Italian coast and French Riviera. Our first stop was the city of Livorno, Italy. From here, we could take excursions either into Florence or Pisa, but since we plan to be back in a year to see those, we ...

Take a Trip to Gytheio, Greece – the seaport for Sparta

During our cruise in April, we spent our Easter Sunday in our next port of call on the cruise in the seaside town of Gytheio, Greece, which was the port fort Greek city-state of Sparta. We did not plan any excursions here, as Amanda stayed on the ship for a spa day. I, however, wanted ...

The Perfect Way to Spend the Day Touring Athens, Greece to See the Acropolis & Parthenon and Even Travel to Cape Sounion

As a someone who loves history, a visit to the Acropolis of Athens has been on my bucket list! The Summer Olympics were in Athens in 2004, but other than a new tram line, there is not much to the city of Athens itself, as it and most of Greece has seen terrible unemployment recently. ...

Our Expectations of the Greek Island of Rhodes Were Exceeded

Another port of call during our April cruise on Holland America was to the Greek Island of Rhodes just south of Turkey.  Rhodes is an amazing area of sights and history in a land conquered by Romans, Ottomans, Carthaginians, & then finally Greeks. Instead of taking any formal excursions from the cruise ship, we explored ...

See the Perfect Postcard View from the Beautiful Greek Island of Santorini

After we had made our way from Olympia, our next destination on our cruise was to the beautiful Greek Island of Santorini.  Last Fall, we had visited Mykonos, so we knew the beauty to expect, but Santorini exceeded all our expecations... We arrived to the island just before sunrise....and you can just make out the ...

How Many Can Say They Have Been to the Site of the Original Olympics in the Ancient City of Olympia, Greece

During April 2014, we took a cruise of the Greek Islands & the Italian and French Riviera.  After a day at sea, our first port of call was to Olympia, where we took an excursion to see the birthplace of the Olympic Games. Traveling from Rome to Italy, we passed through the Straight of Messina.  ...

I Have Learned Why in America that Sometimes It Is Necessary to Press #2 for Spanish

This is a follow-up post to my earlier one regarding the challenges of learning German.  I wanted to have a separate post that related to that topic, as this topic warrants its own preaching moment from my soap box....so, here it goes.... There is a famous quote by Mark Twain that goes like this: “Travel ...

Do You Know What the Longest German Word Is? Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz — Yes, German Is Easy!

YES!!!  This is an actual, real German word!!!  So, you can imagine where the topic of this post is going to go -- LOL!! BLOG POST PREFACE:  While I complain here about how hard it is to learn the German language, I can understand how hard it is to learn English also.  I mean you ...