The Greek Isles

For as long as I can remember, Greece has been on my bucket list.  There are so many movies that take place on the beautiful islands of Greece, depicting the picturesque white-washed buildings with the blue rooftops, alongside the sparkling Aegean Sea.  It has such romance associated with it.  And I'll be honest, I had kind of been "saving" Greece for my husband.  Even before I met Shane, I was hesitant to travel there as a single girl.  I had this dream of going there with my husband - because of how romantic it's supposed to be.  I wanted it to be a new experience for both of us.

Well technically it wasn't Shane's first time in Greece.  He drove through there last summer while on a road trip with a friend of ours.  But he only went through Athens; not Santorini or the other beautiful islands.  So that doesn't really count.

Anyway, we had an opportunity to go on a Greek cruise.  It was a short cruise; only 4 days and 3 nights.  I would've liked to go on a longer trip, but due to manning issues at work I'm not able to take much leave.  I was just thankful to get my leave approved at all.  Our trip started in Kusadasi, Turkey - located in western Turkey near Izmir and Ephesus (which we visited last fall).  From there we had several port stops: Patmos, Santorini, Athens, and Mykonos.  It was a very fast-paced trip, but relaxing at the same time since it was an all-inclusive trip that was completely planned out for us (no worrying about putting together an itinerary - which is what I like about cruises).

Here are pictures from our trip:

In front of our boat, the Louis Cristal

The Cave of the Apocalypse at Patmos

Patmos, Greece

On the tiny boat to Santorini!

I rode a donkey to the top of the island - it was fun!

Santorini, Greece

Gorgeous place - I want to go back!

The Acropolis in Athens, Greece

My reading material on the cruise  ;)

Our last stop - Mykonos, Greece

Chicken gyro platter - yummy!

It was a great trip, although a little too short.  And unfortunately health was not on our sides.  Shane had a terrible cough the whole time that kept him up every night, and I developed a stomach bug the night before we left.  It got a little better while we were on the trip, but then the motion sickness would kick in and make me sick again.  So with the short duration of the trip and our poor health to contend with, it wasn't EXACTLY how I had always imagined my perfect trip to Greece.  But we plan to return to Santorini sometime while we're living in Europe.  I'm so glad we have 3 more years to travel and sightsee.  There is so much of the world I want to see, I think I could travel the rest of my life and never get tired of it.

And just in case you were wondering: Greece is even MORE beautiful in real life than it is in the movies.  ;)