Our Trip to the Mediterranean!

Our trip was amazing. I have included a bunch of the photos, and a little description of what we did each day. This is a long post, hope you enjoy it!

Day one: The flight, it was long but we were excited to be on our way! Unfortunately we were delayed in SLC for over an hour. We barely made our connection flight in Chicago. The gate was already closed, but fortunately they let us on the plane. The bad news was that Brett's luggage did not make the connection. So, when we got to Italy we had to file for lost luggage. Luckily he had two days worth of stuff in my bag and our toiletries were in my bag too.

 

Day Two: Savona Italy and Monaco

We all met up the next morning in one of the rooms on the ship to get with our tour group and go to Monte Carlo. The day before we had signed up for what bus we would ride. I got put in charge of checking in the red bus. I loved it because it meant I got to learn everyone's names, and they all got to know me too. It made the trip a lot more fun.

 We had a great guide and she told us all about Savona, and the local culture. Then, we got to Monaco, the richest country in the world. We watched the changing of the guard, saw the cathedral where Grace Kelly was married. We ate a delicious lunch. We shopped. We went to the botanical gardens. Great first day, we went to Italy, France, and Monaco that day.

 The changing of the guards.

 The castle.

 The botanical gardens.

 The mayor  or governor's house.

Day Three: Ship day.

Day Four: Olympia, Greece
This was our favorite day. We went to the museum and ruins in Olympia. We got to see the first stadium, the place where the torch is lit each Olympics, the various statues and monuments. We learned that there were only 16 cheaters in the 1200 years of the Olympics, and they put statues of them by the arch to go into the stadium.

 These are the ruins of the original training area for the Olympic games.

 Brett and I running the length of the first Olympic stadium. There were two finish lines, one for women and one for men.

 This is in front of the broken columns of Zeus's temple.

 These were our lovely travel companions, Mavis, Marilyn, and Suzanne. This is Zeus's temple, or what is left of it.

 The statue of Nike in the museum.

 We thought this was funny, it made us think of the cell phone commercial, "Can you hear me now?"

 This is the arch to get into the stadium.

 

This is in front of the colums of Hera's temple.

Luckily Brett's luggage was delivered to our ship that day! yay he gets clothes!

Day Five: Sea Day

Day Six: Haifa, Isreal

We had an amazing day. We went to the mount of beattitudes where the sermon on the mount was given. We had a lovely view of the sea of Galilee. We then visited Capernaum and saw the house of Peter, the White synagogue, and some of the places Jesus walked. We then had lunch at a lovely little place, where we ate Peterfish, the fish in the sea of Galilee. Then we went to the Sea and took a boat ride, where we got to meditate, remember the miracles of walking on the water, hear some lovely music and see the areas surrounding where Jesus taught.

 Yummy pitas at lunch.

 In the gardens on the Mount of Beatitudes.

 The White Synagogue where Jesus taught.

 We got our fish for lunch, head and tail on! Yum. It tasted like Tilapia.

 They gave us hats for the day because it was so sunny. Here we are on the sea of Galilee.

 This was the boat we road on.

 

Here we are standing on the bow of the ship, looking out at the Sea of Galilee and the surrounding towns.

Day Six: Jerusalem

On this day we went to Jerusalem. It was crazy busy, crowded, and dirty. However, it was amazing to go and see the all of these extremely religious sites. We started at the Mount of Olives, where we looked out at the city. We then walked down the hill toward the Garden of Gethsemane. There are 12 remaining olive trees that predate Christ. Next to it is the Church of all Nations. Then we took the bus up to the city, and went to the wailing wall or Western Wall. We had about 20 minutes there before we left to go up to Temple Mount. The line was long, but then we went to Temple Mount to see the Dome of the Rock building, which houses the rock where Abraham went to sacrifice his son, it is owned by the Muslims. Our guide talked about the area at the time of Christ, and showed us the places.  We then walked through the old city, it was crazy, small little alleys, dirty city, trash everywhere. We walked down the Via Delrosa, and then got lunch and went to an olive shop to get nativities, etc. From there we went to the site of Golgotha and the Garden Tomb. It was the prettiest part of the city as it is owned by Christians (the British) and it is clean and peaceful. We saw the place Christ was crucified, and the tomb that it is believed he was housed in before he rose from the dead. What an awesome day!

 Mount of Olives. you can see the Dome of the Rock behind, as well as a cemetery, and other big parts of the city.

 This is in the Garden of Gethsemane.

 This is the Wailing Wall where the Jews pray for a temple to be built on the Mount.

 Up on Temple Mount with the Dome of the Rock behind us.

 The streets in the old city, super narrow, crowded, and full of shop keepers.

 Golgotha, the area that looks like a skull, where Christ was crucified.

 This is us entering the tomb.

 The all too appropriate sign on the door of the tomb.

 

The empty tomb. 

Day Seven: Day at sea.

Day Eight: Izmir, Turkey

This day was one of the most surprising and best days we had. We went to Ephesus, where Paul served his mission, and saw the ruins of that huge, modern city. The city had running water, advertising (pictured below), a public latrine area, a huge library with a double wall system to keep the scrolls from being ruined by humidity, the largest amphitheater in the ancient world, and so much more. It was incredible. After visiting Ephesus we went to the Temple of St. John, and saw where he was baptised, his tomb, a castle, and more. Then we had lunch in this beautiful location, followed by a tour of how they make Turkish rugs and tapestries starting with the silk worms, and then all the way to the weaving.

 This was an advertisement etched into the ground, pointing men toward the brothel.

 Sitting in the huge amphitheater.

 We had a beautiful lunch in Turkey, very yummy!

 Here we are sitting on the public latrines. There was running water below them, but it was very public, no stalls.

 This is in an alcove at the Celcus library in Ephesus

 This is us in front of the temple ruins.

 

This is the supposed sight of the tomb of the apostle John.

 We had lots of time here and saw everything quickly so we had fun taking silly pictures.

Day Nine: Athens
We took a bus tour of the city, then visited Mars Hill, where Paul taught the people of the unknown God, then to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon, then to the Acropolis museum which houses much of what they found on the site, and then we had time to shop, dine, etc. It was freezing cold that day, but the sights were amazing, huge, and a little surreal.

 This is at the Olymic stadium, all made of marble!

 This is on the top of Mars Hill.

 One of the more famous ruins on the Acropolis.

 The Parthenon.

 

Me freezing my butt off.

Day ten: Sea Day

Day Eleven: Off the Boat, we got to Rome. 

This was so amazing. We got back to the port at Civitavecchia, and then hopped on a bus to Rome. We were dropped off in downtown at the Piazza Navona, and met up with my great friend from high school, and her husband Ashly and Mark Olsen. We spent two days in Rome, it was so fun to have Ashley and Mark there. I will describe the days with the pictures. I could seriously do a whole post just on Rome, well each day, but I am trying to keep it short and to the point.

 So we met up in the Piazza Navona, but it was a blind meet up, I called and left them a message, and we had all kinds of miscommunication because of the plan changing too often. However, we made it work, and we all met up and it was so exciting to see them. We kept laughing at the craziness of meeting in Rome. Who would have thought. We then did a walking tour that day before heading back to the hotel. We went to the Panteon, Trevi Fountains, Spanish Steps, and the Piazza Poppolo.

 

This is a view of the amazing dome at the Pantheon.

 Here are Ashley and Mark outside the Pantheon.

 A cool statue thing in the fountain outside the Pantheon.

 In front of Bernini's fountain in Navona.

 In the Piazza Poppolo.

 All of us in front of a huge olbilesque.

That night we got food at a grocery store and had a picnic in the hotel lobby, talked, reminisced, and had soooo much fun just hanging out! We made all kinds of plans to travel together in the future, which I am sure we will.

Day Two of Rome was the last day of our trip. We met up early in the morning and headed to the Vatican. We went to the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel,  St. Peter's Basillica, then St. Peter's Square. We had a break for lunch, then went to the Colosseum, and Roman Forum. We then headed back to the hotel, hung out for a little bit then hopped the metro to go back down town. We went back to the Trevi Fountain and threw in our coins to wish ourselves back to Rome, then had some yummy dinner, and enjoyed downtown. Then we parted ways at the Metro, they went one way to catch their flight, and we went the other to get back to our hotel. We left our chocolate in their backpack. Haha.

 In the Basillica of St. Peter.

 Having lunch in St. Peter's Square.

 At the Colosseum.

 Awe, what a cute couple!

 So fun to meet friends in Rome.

 Hadrian's arch, and the Colosseum.

 All four of us in the Roman Forum.

 Leaving the Forum.

 Some of the other great friends from our tour group! We played cards on ship days.

 The four of us enjoying the history of Rome.

We had such an awesome trip. It was full of ruins, and history, art, fun, and friends. We missed our kids, and were so excited to see them when we got home. Now back to real life.