Epic vacation to Rome and cruise around the Mediterranean.

[Cincinnatus]

Rome is exceptionally walkable.

If you do get footsore, you can get the Metro Express (?) which allows tourists to get a Metro pass for a week for pretty cheap. Fair warning - there are Gypsy bands that will try to pickpocket you.

My wife & I did Rome & an MSC Aegean tour in 2011, had a pure blast. Good Friday in Rome & Easter Sunday in Venice, Santorini, Olympus, Athens, etc. Four days in Rome, train trip to Bari, cruise ship for seven days, back in Rome for three days, sayonara.

 

[Mr Pepsi]

Fair warning - there are Gypsy bands that will try to pickpocket you.

We lucked out and had no issues with pickpockets. I had a dummy wallet in my back pocket the entire trip and never lost it. I had my real wallet in my money belt. No fun.

My wife & I did Rome & an MSC Aegean tour in 2011, had a pure blast. Good Friday in Rome & Easter Sunday in Venice, Santorini, Olympus, Athens, etc. Four days in Rome, train trip to Bari, cruise ship for seven days, back in Rome for three days, sayonara.

Wow, that sounds amazing!

 

[Mr Pepsi]

And so we are off, on our 12 day cruise. First stop, Messina Italy.

 

[Mr Pepsi]

Then on to Valleta, Malta

 

[Mr Pepsi]

 

[Mr Pepsi]

Then on to Rhodes (pronounced Roe-Dose) Where we visited Lindos.

I had to wear a cover to enter a church. Mrs. Pepsi thought it was cute.

Then we visited one the last pottery families in Rhodes

 

[Cincinnatus]

Nice!!!

 

[Mr Pepsi]

Next stop was Ephesus, Turkey.
There we saw some amazing ruins.

There were plenty of stray dogs here and 20-30 stray cats.
They cats would follow the tourist groups, jumping on the ruins and meowing.

Turns out the kitties have learned the tour guides all carry water
and they will poor water in little pockets in the ruins for the kitties to drink

This theater is still used today.
He even rattled off some pretty big names who performed there just last year.

 

[Mr Pepsi]

This is AJ, yes we had to pay to take a picture with him.

Next was a visit to a museum with some pretty cool artifacts

Sarcophagus, sadly no bodies

Time for a beer and Chips to end the day

 

[Mr Pepsi]

Now on to our second favorite port of the cruise, Mykonos, Greece

What a gorgeous city.

Lots more kitties.

 

[Mr Pepsi]

And now on to Athens, Greece, our least favorite port.
The entire city was so run down, buildings falling everywhere.
More graphiti that I have ever seen.
But the Acropolis was pretty impressive.

We took a guided tour here and we couldn't understand her accent.
We ended up just walking around on our own.

One stop on our tour was the Parliment building where they did the
changing of the guards.

 

[Mr Pepsi]

Now we take our tour to Santorini, Greece and start in Oia (Ee-ah)
When you recall pictures of blue water, and white washed buildings, this is the place.
We start by taking a tender of the ship, then we had a ride a cable car up to the top.
Then we immediately hiked over to the bus which took us to Oia.

Not that it matters, but if you look in the center of this picture,
just to the right there is a boat leaving a wake in the water.
Just above that, right at the point where the water meets the land is our ship.
Its about the same lenght as the the length of the wake from the boat.

THis place was incredible. I will definitely be taking a vacation there.

It truly takes your breath away.

 

[Mr Pepsi]

A little shopping

Some Baklava with a Latte

More kitties

And now we took the bus back to Fira (Feera with a rolled R)

Did some more shopping and stopped for lunch, what a view.

More next week, with just one more stop.

 

[Agent Orange]

You see any of the migrants there?

 

[Mr Pepsi]

Probably, but no idea.

 

[Mr Pepsi]

Next stop was the Solerno, where we took a bus up to Pompeii
In 78 AD Mt Vesuvius errupted and covered the entire town of Pompeii in ash,
Killing pretty much everyone.

The ash buried the town disintegrating their bodies.
When the town was excavated, they found voids.
They filled the voids with plaster and found shapes of bodies.

 

[Mr Pepsi]

Thanks to everyone for checking our trip out.
It is easily the best vacation I've ever been on not involving a motorcycle.
If I were to recommend anything it would be two weeks in Rome with train rides to other cities,
or two weeks in Santorini, Greece.

 

[Johndicezx9]

Awesome pics of an awesome trip!

(Well worth the wait the raccoon battle caused!)

 

[Mr Pepsi]

Awesome pics of an awesome trip!

(Well worth the wait the raccoon battle caused!)

It was truly an amazing, once in a lifetime trip.
I highly recommend everyone who has never been to Rome, to take a trip there. You really will be blown away.