Australia

Today, I'm working on a trip to one of my favorite countries, Australia!  I thought I'd also go ahead and blog about it since it was on my mind!

Sydney - we had a lot of fun here!  There is so much to see and do, we didn't have time to do it all. 

The Blue Mountain 4x4 tour was amazing.  We spent the day on this small tour with 2 other people and our driver, who grew up camping in this area.  We started with a stop at an area where the kangaroos gather.  It was really crazy how close we could get to these wild animals.  We then went to a little town and stopped at this famous huge candy store (yummy!) as well as a hotel that was built in the late 1800's.  We were then off to see the "3 sisters" rock formation as well as going to some beautiful areas that most tourists don't get to see.  We got some amazing photos here!

On the way back to our hotel, we went to a little zoo - the Zoo's here are so great - you can actually get in the enclosure with the 'roo's, wallaby's and many of the other animals.  You don't see that in the States very often!

A quick summary of the other things we did in Sydney - the Sydney Aquarium was really awesome!  We spent quite a while there looking at HUGE crabs, rays, sharks, and other exotic fish.  There was the Taronga Zoo, a short ferry ride from where we stayed, and of course we had to see the Opera House!  We did a private tour, dinner, and the show, "Carmen".  This was on Valentines Day, so it was quite romantic!  We had a Sydney Pass which has a hop on/hop off tour of the city, and that really helped us get to know our way around!

After Sydney, we went to Cairns (pronounced  like Cans).  I think this was our favorite place.  Kind of a small town, but big (like Norman!).  The town had lots of shops and restaurants that we could walk to and this is where you would be able to hit the Great Barrier Reef!  We spent a day on our tour to go snorkeling, and it was so awesome!

We also did a train/sky rail tour to Kuranda and the Aboriginal Cultural center.  This was REALLY fun - we took the train up in the morning to the village of Kuranda.  We got to see the country side and met some nice English women (who were not enjoying the 80 degree weather like we were!).  Once we got to the town, we had some lunch and walked around.  They have a butterfly sanctuary, a zoo, Koala gardens, and more.  Then we took the SkyRail town with stops in the rain forest.  The Aboriginal Cultural center is at the bottom and you can spend as much time there as you want.

Our last stop was in Brisbane.  This is one of the only places you can cuddle a Koala, so we had to stop here!  The town reminds me a bit of Denver - they have the "Queen Street Mall", which would be similar to the 16th St mall.  It was a fun town to walk around in. 
We didn't realize it, but this is where the Australia Zoo is located (run by Steve Irwin when we was alive).  We only had 1 tour booked for Brisbane when we arrive, which was a city tour and the Koala cuddle, so we were able to take a day to go to the Australia Zoo.  It really was an amazing Zoo, although Steve was in the states, so we didn't get to see him (he was still alive when we went).  After all the Zoo's we had already been to, you would think we would have been tired of them, but they are all so neat!

We had a good time in Brisbane, but it's probably our least favorite of all the stops.

When we go again, we for sure want to do Cairns again, that was our favorite!

Greece and Turkey - better late than never!

In July of 2006, my husband and I along with my Mom and her husband and friends Pat and Karen went to Greece and Turkey.  It was amazing!  Here's a little trip summary!

We started out in Athens for 3 nights. We got into Athens late that 1st day after traveling for about 36 hours, so we were ready for bed!

The next morning, we got up and did a 1/2 day tour around Athens.

We ended the tour at the Acropolis after seeing temple of the Olympian Zeus, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and the Pan Athenaeum stadium.

They were doing construction/restoration at the Acropolis, so it was a little disappointing to see all of that stuff in front of what we wanted to see.

It was really interesting to see these ruins and to think about the people that were there so long ago.

That night we walked around and went to a great place to eat in a little area way up a hill off of this big shopping plaza. The food there was all really good. There are a bunch of roof top restaurants, and the next night we ate at one of those, with a great sunset and view of the Acropolis.

Something we noticed about the Greeks we met are they are a very passionate and trusting people. As we walked around and saw little news stands (selling drinks, snacks, magazines, ect) I noticed that the person is inside the little building and you could totally walk off with out paying! One time we had to make sure he saw all of the stuff we had because he wasn't looking all that hard. It was really interesting to see. Here in the US we'd never see that!

On Friday we were shuttled to our cruise ship, the MS Perla. This is a VERY small ship. My husband and I had paid extra to get a suite, and after seeing my Mom's cabin, we were glad! They are very small rooms! Overall, the staff was really great and tried hard. The food wasn't that great, so we ate off the ship when in port several times. Here is a little bit about the ports we stopped at.


Istanbul- What a GREAT city. Surprisingly secular, they are very friendly and there was SO much to see here. My husband and I were actually thanked by the local people we spoke to for coming. They all took US Dollars as well. Because of a delay in leaving Athens, we didn't as much time here as we would have liked, but we did get to do a private tour for the 6 of us, and our guide was great.

Our guide took us to the famous Grand Bazaar and we got a few things there. It was funny because they want to dicker with you and we set a price in US dollars, but didn't have enough in US, so we gave him Euros and told him to just keep it. The owner of the store started just handing us things to make up for the difference!!

We got to see the Blue Mosque that 1st night (we nicknamed it the "stinky foot mosque" because everyone has to take off their shoes and it smells like feet)

We also went to a carpet factory and got to see how they make the rugs and we did buy one... wish I'd had the $30,000 to get the big beautiful silk one, but we got a small one we can hang on the wall.

The next day we got to wander around the area where the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia are before they opened to the public.

I have a great respect for the Turks after seeing all they have done to restore Hagia Sofia, which started out as a Catholic Church, was then a Mosque (which means all the pictures of Christ, Virgin Mary, ect were painted over in white) They have managed to save so much of that Christian art, it's amazing how long it lasted, even after being painted over!

We then went to Topkapi Palace, home of the worlds 7th largest diamond.

It was a really fabulous palace, and I can't imagine getting to live like that! This Sultan was very rich, and it was interesting to see all those jewels!

I could talk more about it, but trust me, it was great!

Mykonos - We didn't do a tour here, we tendered in to port and just wondered around. It's a pretty town with some very picturesque spots and there are some neat old windmills close to the shore. There are LOTS of clubs here, it was a party island. We did some shopping and people watching and checked e-mail at an internet cafe. We ate in port and it was really good. I'm a very picky eater, and I still had lots to eat. They like to have yoghurt with honey for a dessert, and I can't stop eating it! :) Not the same as when we were there, but it's good!

Patmos - we were here pretty darn early in the morning at 7am. We decided to just wander around the town. This little dog decided to come with us, he was very cute, I wish I could have taken him home! We did a little shopping and sat at a cafe and my husband and my Mom's husband Mike decided to have real Greek coffee. I only wish I had a picture of Mike's face as he drank the "sludge" at the bottom of the cup! He's a brave man to try to eat that part of the coffee! We didn't stay here long as we were off to another port, this one in Turkey.

Kusadasi, Turkey - AWSOME! This was such a great port! We again had a private tour and our guide 1st took us to the House of the Virgin Mary. This is the place where many think she lived out her last days. It was very interesting to be there.

We then did what was a highlight of the trip - Ephesus. I actually had no idea what it was, only that anyone I told about going to Turkey, said "You HAVE to go to Ephesus!" When we 1st arrived there, I must admit, I was thinking "Not another ruin!" (they all start to look the same after a while)

BUT, I quickly changed my mind. This is a ruin where you can only see about 11% of what is there. Again, I have such a respect for the Turks as they are waiting for better preservation technology to reveal the rest.

What we could see was huge! You could actually walk on the streets they walked on and see where the carriages had made marks in the marble after many years of use. You could see a public toilet (the 1st pay toilet)- which was heated and had plumbing!

There were some cute Japanese guys who took a picture while sitting on the toilet.. so funny! :)

They had a underground tunnel from the Library to the Brothel, and you can still see the marks in the marble where there is a symbol telling men where to find the brothel! We could see where the shops were. It was just really amazing to be standing in this city that was so large thousands of years ago.

Rhodes - Rhodes was fun. We did a tour here where we walked around Rhodes, and then took a bus up to Lindos, where there are some more ruins, and you have to climb up like 300 steps! My Mom, our friend Karen, and I decided to stay at the bottom and do a little shopping while the husbands went up. It was really hot, but they managed it! After going back to Rhodes, we were hungry. My hubby, Karen and her husband Pat and myself decided to go eat in town. We were starving and wanted some good food while in port. We found a great little place to eat at. The waiter convinced us to get this big mixed platter of stuff that had a little of everything. My husband asked for a beer, and the waited asked what size. My husband didn't ask how big the sizes were, but asked for a large. When he brought the beer, it was like 2 liters in a big glass boot!! I think 3 or 4 people could have shared it! We were laughing so hard when we saw Marlon (my husband's) face! We didn't drink it all, but almost! Our food was great, and there was enough for my Mom and Mike to have eaten with us. We wished they had eaten with us when we got the bill- it was like 82 Euro (almost 100.00 us) for the food! So, we learned 2 lessons while in Rhodes, as how big the beer is and how much the food is!! It was still good, but would have been easier to split 3 ways instead of 2! :)

Crete - We decided to do a tour called a Taste of Crete. We went to a vineyard and tasted some wine and also got some olive oil. They make all kinds of stuff from olive oil- soap, lotion, and other similar stuff was all over in Greece. We then got to walk around the city and stopped at a museum. We then went to a restaurant and got to taste a little of everything Greek. It was really good and I had more yoghurt with honey!

Again, we didn't have much time in this port, but had a little time to wander around.

Santorini- this was such a beautiful city. We had to tender in and then took a VERY winding bus up to the top. Many years ago there was a big volcano that sunk much of the island. So, basically you are living on a cliff - think hills like San Francisco, but like x50! It was very nice there and we did a few stops on our bus tour. Our guide was making us a little crazy adding "a" at the end of every word, so we took off and wandered around on our own as soon as we could. We again ate at a little place there, and it was great. We got back to the ship just in time to take off.

We went back to Athens for a day before heading home. It was a really awesome trip!!