GREECE...............

This was my Favorite Place.....Santorini, Greece.

We opted to adventure out on our own here, which worked out wonderfully. We were very relaxed and whether we were discovering an out of the way Souvenir Shop, the very hard to find Gas Station or a simple little beach...it was OUR discovery :))



See the famous curvy road up the mountain, you have 3 choices of getting to the top, Walking (slow), riding a donkey (slow and smelly), or a high tech Gondola (fast and scary). We chose the 21st century option!!!

This photo was taken from our Cruise Ship balcony, I am very happy to be here! I have always been taken with the beauty of this place and NOW I am here :))

We are in the Gondola looking down on the poor souls that took the donkeys up. Let me remind you that it is very hot again today and it is only around 10am......

The poor donkeys should at least be able to take the Gondola's 'down'.....just to save a little energy, jeez .

Now walking around the beautiful city we came across this Cafe that apparently has a pool !!! I guess for when those appetizers seem to take forever, why not just go for a dip!!!

Well what do you know!! I found Sunflowers in Greece!! So I had to have a picture of that. Randy and I had soooo much fun here taking pictures and are hoping that some of them will be our ART in our new house.

We stumbled across this abandoned boat and fought over the camera!!

Proof that Randy is indeed in Greece....and quite happy about it !!

The water was just gorgeous and clean and clear and felt sooooo good on this hot non breezy day.

I like pictures of feet in water, so here is randy and I.

I finally had found this type of dress that everyone was wearing. It is made of 3 large scarves sewn together! Do I look like a local now??? Ha

This photo was taken way up high on a roof top restaurant that we stopped in to cool off. The view was amazing....and we were closer to the Sun.....hahahahah.

Awww, the happy couple on a dream vacation !!!

I could not drink enough ice cold water... i had a small bucket of ice sitting in front of me and immensely enjoyed each and everyone of those precious little cubes.....whether in my class or down my shirt!!!!

Randy on the other hand enjoyed the local beer to stay cooled off and to put up with my belly-aching!!

Simply breathtaking views, huh?!!

Can you imagine waking up in the morning and walking out on your balcony......just to stare at the ocean and contemplate your day. It would be so awesome to buy a flat here and decorate it with all local items. I could do it......"It could happen" :))

You would just take a couple of stairs and 'bam' you are at a market and you chose some fresh fish for the day and a bottle of vino. Back to your happy abode. mmmmmmmnmmnnn

Oh here I am again in my fun dress posing for you again in GREECE !!

So Goodbye Santorini for now......we hope to see you again.

On to Turkey !!

On our excursion we visited two little villages.
The locals set up stands along side of walkways to sell their handmade wares. Mostly knitted and crochet items, lots of embroidered linens.

Now we come upon a local market that has everything!! This picture shows kitchen ware, toiletries and soaps.

Check out this guys array of fabric!!! I bought a pair of local made pants. They are made with lots of material in the legs and bottom area and are gathered at the waist with elastic. Made so you can squat in them and be very comfy!!

Oh my.... all the local grown grains and rice and spices....YUMMMM!

One of my favorite parts about Turkey is they only eat homegrown food and it is growing EVERYwhere!! Lemon trees were growing along alleyways and anyone could pick them. They were so beautiful and the size of our oranges!! so the picture below is a family at their stand for the day, we stopped and tasted their cucumbers, my my how fresh!

In this photo the elder women are sitting in the little bit of shade there was at their stand. Notice the scarves on their heads are crochet on the edges and some have beads, very feminine. You can sort of see how the pants wear here, that's what i bought!!!

We then were treated to a family owned outdoor cafe for lunch.

Here is my plate, everything is cooked in locally made Olive Oil. The upper right is seasoned rice rolled up in grape leaves, then of course local veggies; eggplant, squash and ripe tomatoes. Bread replacement is this very thin pan cooked on an open fire-rolled out flour and water batter. They cook two together with herbs in the middle. It is very crispy.

Then we stopped at a Rug Emporium!! We learned how they get the silk from the pods! awesome!! They dye the yarns with only natural vegetable dyes. Here sits a woman making a rug that will take months to finish. This was soooo fascinating, I could have spent the whole day there!!! :))

Then they whisked us down the hall and into one of the many rooms of unbelievable hand created rugs.

Yes, Turkey would be a wonderful place to come back and visit for longer period of time.

I'm on a Boat.....ok, itsa SHIP !

We boarded our ship and had such fun walking around checking out everything. My favorite was our Cabin, with our own balcony!!

After checking out the whole ship, we ''of course'' had to have some food!! In this picture, the entrance of the buffet, a beautiful display of fruit. Even the flowers are made of food!!

We are the leader of three ships leaving the dock, so this shows the followers, leaving Venice.

Our first stop was Dubrovnik, Croatia. Check out the steep steps!! These were little shops and cafes, even homes.

This is one of the beautiful views of the city from up high.

The water here is sooooo clear!! We wished we had opted for the snorkeling excursion. :(

I always have to take pictures looking up the trunk of a wonderful palm trees, they fascinate me!

We had to take a picture of our Croatian money = Kuna

Isn't it cool!

And this is where we spent most of our Kuna, a cute little outdoor restaurant. It was located down one of the tiny streets, they also had indoor seating but it wasn't air conditioned and there was a 'slight' breeze outside. Randy had delicious Sea Bass and I opted for Blackened Risotto (with bits of tender squid and colored with the squid ink!!)

VENICE

I've always dreamed of Venice, just the idea that the city is 'floating', pulls me in and Wow's me! Our weather was perfect. Hotel building used to be a Flour Mill back in the day. Our room was small, but had a view, the Breakfast Buffet was a dream!! And the coffee.... so robust, yum! After taking a breathtaking Gondola ride, we wondered around shops and markets drinking Bella, a Peach Sparkling Wine. During our outing, Mother Nature called and we had to pay $2 each to get into a WC (water closet)!!! The European toilet system is of course, different. There are 2 buttons to flush, small for #1 and bigger button for #2. You also have to close the lid because the force at which the limited water is flushed is massive. So needless to say I was always touching toilets over there......ummm, heebyjeebies!!!! So after paying such a fee for the Loo....one would expect it to be well kept......NOT a one, always stank and you would be lucky if you had both soap and towel or a clean floor. Not pleasant at allllll.
We stayed in Venice for 3 nights and got to enjoy the wonderful pool. Restaurant eating is very expensive here. Gas is over $7 a gallon. We had fun walking around and imagining how it would be to live here. I had my head aimed 'up' most of the time, enjoying what was on every ones balconies, dogs would stick their heads thru the slats barking at passersby, cats were everywhere, but never looked very well fed. Randy kept saying that we couldn't get lost....cause it was an Island!

VENICE

This is on our water taxi from Airport to Hotel.

This is on the top of our Hotel.....a swimming pool!!! What a view!

No matter the cost (@ $100) we had to ride a Gondola !!

Some of the amazing sites we saw while on the ride.

Moss growing on the old steps

This would be your garage!! Just boat on in and climb stairs to your home.

The streets are very skinny