Santorini....

I was really excited for the Santorini day, because I was the one who researched it for the family. (We all were assigned an island that we had responsibility for researching and planning activities there). We had to "tender in" from the cruise ship, because the ship could not get close enough to dock. So we all got on these little ships and made our way to shore. The boys were very excited to be on a real pirate ship!

After arriving at the shore, we rode a big cable car up to the town of Fira, which is at the top of the zig zag path.

The view from the top of the city was incredible! Santorini used to be a round island. A volcano went off 3600 years ago and basically blew a chunk of the island away. It also buried an entire city under volcanic ash. Many people believe this is the lost city of Atlantis.

I loved all of the white washed buildings - some with blue or yellow roofs. This is the town that you always see in advertisements for Greece. I loved being photographer here!!

I was particularly interested in this little place down an alley. I wish we had time to see the silence competition!

We had Nate with us for the day. What a great sport he was, helping Andrew with piggy back rides along the hike!

When we walked past this restaurant, with octopus tentacles hanging outside, we knew that is where Jon would want to eat.

It was a great meal with a great view!

The line for the cable car was way too long to wait for the ride down. So, we decided to walk. It was a long walk down winding, zigzag stairs. You actually walk side by side with the donkeys. With a little bit of careful walking, to avoid the donkey remains, we made it. Halfway through, a donkey came right up to my neck and bit me. I think he just bit my hair, as all I felt was wetness on my neck. It really was rather gross, and I kept looking behind me the rest of the way down!

We ended the day with a movie night in our room. We were glad to be able to hook our ipod up to the tv, as there were no English movies or shows to watch!

Olympia...

We were excited to go to Olympia - the beginnings of the Olympic games, and an important place of many of the mythical gods. The Olympic games began as a way for the various city-states of Greece to compete and to honor the Gods. It began in 776 BC and was held every 4 years until around 400 AD when they were abolished.

This was the temple of Zeus, where a huge gold and ivory statue of Zeus watched over and protected the games. The statue (which is no longer there) was called one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world.

This was the Philippeion, which was dedicated to the family of Philip II of Macedonia. His son was Alexander the Great.

Yes, we had to have a race on the original olympic stadium. It actually became a pretty good race as everyone gave it their best in 100 degree weather!

Well, almost everyone....

These guys certainly did. We all raced for the water fountain afterwards!

One site I wish I had a picture of was the Temple of Hera. This is where the olympic torch is let, by focusing the rays of the sun to burn the fire.

Our taxi driver told us the best place to eat lunch on our way back from Olympia -so we went! It was very good. As we told the waitress (the daughter of the owner/cook) that we were a little late to get back on the ship and we needed to get the rest of our food to go, she said that her dad could just give us a ride back. He hung up his little apron and we jumped in his car and made our deadline. I loved that service!

When we got back on the ship, the girls all decided they wanted to go to the formal night in the dining room (something the boys did not). So they got dressed up and even got their pictures taken with the cruise photographer.

Bari...

We landed in Bari around noon. We walked off the boat, not knowing exactly what we were going to do during our time here. We ended up joining a little tram tour of Bari. It was fun. Bari is an old industrial town.

The big cathedral is the Cathedral of St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas was from Turkey and after a conflict, some sailors from Bari who were Christians stole St. Nicholas’s bones from Turkey and brought them to Bari. I don’t get the whole steal-someone’s-bones-and-build-a-church-around-it-thing. St. Mark’s bones were stolen and brought to Venice also. It just doesn’t seem like something worth stealing. Anyway, this St. Nicholas was THE St. Nicholas as in St. Nick, also known as Santa Claus. We all became a little more interested when we heard that connection.

Our tour led us through some of the city streets...

and to an old castle. The kids liked seeing the old moat surrounding the castle.

We even watched some local women make orecchiette (little ear) pasta. They were so fast!

We ended with some great gelato on our way back to the cruise ship!

all aboard!!

We enjoyed our one night in our hotel in Venice. It is not far from the center of town and we could walk everywhere. There is something charming about walking over a canal into the hotel!

This is an example of a mask store in Venice. They are all over. The masks are very ornate and beautiful. Most stores have a sign in the window that says "no photo." They are very protective of their creative ideas for masks. This store happened to not have that sign...so I took a photo!

We were excited to board the cruise ship and see the rest of our family. It is amazing to me how big cruise ships are. It was especially fun to hear Andrew's comments as he saw and boarded the ship. He was amazed that we sleep, eat, swim and play on a ship!

The kids were so excited to see their cousins! They got right to business playing and exploring the ship together.

We were excited for this part of our adventure!

Venice part 2...

We loved spending time in St. Mark's square. This is the clock tower. It is cool how it has 24 number markers, just like Europeans use for their time system today.

The cathedral was being cleaned, so it wasn't quite as majestic looking as usual. It is such an interesting blend of design. We didn't get a chance to go inside, but enjoyed looking at the exterior!

This is the oldest cafe in Italy (built in 1720), located right in St. Mark's square. It is very beautiful, and very expensive.

This is the Doge's Palace. (The palace of the King). We were able to walk through it. The king would live here...in fact he could not leave here. They were worried about his safety, so they brought people to him for meetings and would not allow him to leave.

In the palace was a big, beautiful courtyard.

You can see St. Mark's cathedral in the background of the courtyard.

I love the tops of the domes of the cathedral. They are somewhat fanciful in their style -they remind me of a Willy Wonka movie.

I thought this was a great idea... at the palace there was this "tattle tale box". You could rat out your neighbor for breaking a law. You just write on the paper their crime and anonymously place it in the mouth of the plaque. The authorities would then review the crime and enforce the punishment - painless! I'm thinking of putting one of these in my home.

Matthew loved the weapons room. They have all sorts of armor, weapons, and shields. Next to the weapons room were the court rooms. People would have their trial and then be led a little further to the prison. I could imagine how dark and cold those prison cells would have been.

On their way to prison, the accused would walk on a bridge with windows looking out onto Venice. This became called the "bridge of sighs" because people would sigh at the city they would probably never see again.