August, 2018 - Passports Overloaded

Limassol, Cyprus

July 18, 2018

Today we took a taxi to the Kolossi Castle and then visited the Timios Stavros Monastery in Omodos Village and then went back to the ship to have lunch.

Image result for Monastery in Omodos Village — Timios Stavros Monastery in Omodos Village – Photo Credit: Pinterest

Timios Stavros Monastery in Omodos Village

We woke up early to go to Masada and afterward we visited the Dead Sea Spa and went into the water which was incredible. We had lunch at the spa. After lunch, we drove to the top of a mountain to take a beautiful picture of the city and went to the ship.

July 17, 2018

Today we went to the Lebanon border and took a picture by the fence and spoke to a nice soldier. It turns out that he was half Lebanese and half Irish. At the Lebanese border is the Rosh HaNikra Grottos after the Grotto we then went to Acre (Akko) and walked through the souq and had a nice fish lunch at Abu Christo. After lunch, we went to this little town where we walked around a bit. Unforutanlety, I don’t remember the name of the town.

If you would like to see what we ate while in Israel.

Jerusalem, Israel

July 15, 2018

This is a side note about our Tour Guide Zvika he was one of the best guides we ever had. He showed us all the best Israel had to offer. His business card is the first picture below. Tell him you want The John & Maria from NY Experience. I guarantee you will have a great time!

Today we were redirected to Haifa because the Palestinians were throwing missiles into Israel at the Gaza Strip. Our tour guide Zvika Livneh picked us up from Haifa and took us to see Caesarea. After dinner, Zvika took us for a walk around Jerusalem at nighttime. I recommend doing that if you get the chance.

If you would like to see what we ate while in Israel.

Our hotel lobby at the Waldorf Astoria in Jerusalem

The King David Hotel where famous people have their signatures in the floor of the lobby.

Heraklion, Crete – Greece

July 13, 2018

Today we visited the Palace of Knossos, and then we went to the Monastery of Kera, and then we had coffee at Hersonissos afterward we went to the ship had lunch and decided to take an afternoon was to the Koules Fortress with our friend Samantha.

Athens, Greece 2018

July 12, 2018

The first thing John and I always do while in Athens is walk through Plaka. We always stay at Hotel Grand Bretagne which is in the heart of the city. After grabbing a bite to eat we decided to burn off what we ate and walked to the old Panathenaic Olympic stadium and we also visited the Temple of Hephaestus, Stoa of Attalos, Zappeion and lastly the Temple of Olympian Zeus. The next day we woke up and got a transfer to the port to board the ship.

July 22, 2018 – Second time visiting Athens

Today we took a taxi to Syntagma Square with our friend Samantha and saw the official changing of the guards with the band after that we walked to Plaka which is my favorite place to visit while in Athens. We decided to have lunch and then took a taxi back to the ship.

If you would like to see the food we ate while we were in Athens click this link.