Europe - Passports Overloaded

Venice, Italy 2011

February 3rd – 5th, 2011

Today we have to travel once again from Paris to Venice, Italy. I have to say flying from France to Italy was, of course, annoying because I pack like I’m never coming home and the extra weight is expensive, but it is what it is. We finally arrive in Venice, and this lovely wooden boat picked us up and took us to our beautiful hotel Luna Baglioni. This hotel was fantastic it’s very European. The room was decorated so beautifully, and the key had a tassel attached to it that you hand to the front desk coming in and out of the hotel it was something really cool which I had never experienced before.

To this day the shower in that hotel has been the best John, and I have ever experienced. It was unbelievable it was like a monsoon rain shower, and we both loved it.

That night and the next day we just spent a lot of time walking around and shopping, and we went to St. Mark’s square and walked through Saint Mark’s Basilica. Beautiful inside and out and the original Horses of Saint Mark were inside. There is one thing we learned, and that is that the best thing to do is get lost in Venice. We took a very entertaining gondola ride.

One day we took a boat ride to the Murano hand-blown glass factory and purchased a gorgeous chandelier.

All good things must come to an end after being in Venice for two days we took our water taxi back to the had to the train station to get to Florence which I heard is also amazing.

Luna Baglioni hotel key on a tassel keychain

Staircase inside of Saint Mark’s Basilica

Hand made mask we purchased held by the man who makes them

Paris, France 2011

January 30th – February 1st, 2011

Today we arrived in Paris from an unbelievable trip to Cairo, Egypt. Click on the link to read the crazy trip. I was so happy to be in Paris for two reasons, the first being safety from the craziness that we were involved in the past 72 hours and the second reason is….I’m in Paris!!!!!! Need I say more. I love Paris I’ve always wanted to visit. It’s the city of love, and I fell in love the second my feet touched down.

Paris is something else the architecture, the food, the language it’s unique and special. We didn’t pack for a grand European vacation, but I will make do with what I have.

Today we decided to walk around and take in all the beautiful buildings and visit a few museums. There is no way you can ever say you’re bored while in Paris.

Tonight we had tickets to Moulin Rouge that included dinner, unfortunately, John and I both got deathly ill from either at lunch or the dinner at the show but either way, it wasn’t the way we wanted to spend two days, sick in bed!

Our next stop is Venice, Italy. I’ve heard a lot about Venice both good and bad, so I don’t know what to expect.

Athens, Greece (2011)

November 3, 2011

Excitement is traveling to the Motherland!

Flying to Greece to visit my godmother, Roula, and godbrother, Basili. It is exciting; I haven’t seen them since September 2000 I was looking forward to a great reunion.

Maria – with My God Brother Vasili & My God Mother Roula

John has heard so many stories about them but has never met them. Unfortunately, my lovely Godfather Evangelos passed away a few years ago he was an unbelievable person. He was Greek but was born in Egypt, and he spoke nine different languages. He had so many great stories enough to last a lifetime.

We flew into Athens two days before we were supposed to board the cruise ship for our 18-day voyage. Our itinerary was from Athens, Greece to Dubai, UAE. This was the first time I was going to be on a cruise which made me nervous and excited. I wasn’t sure how I would do with the rocking of the boat at night so wish me luck. The next day we had a private tour of the city. I had seen all the monuments already, but I thought it would have been a good idea to hire a guide to explain things better especially dates and facts.

The first place we visited was the Acropolis sitting high above the city. You can’t miss this archeological site. It is truly spectacular to see it in person. I just can’t imagine how difficult it must have been to erect these structures. We primarily spent most of the time at the Acropolis and at the museum there is so much to see. I have posted some pictures of the main monuments that we saw at the Acropolis such as The Parthenon, Temple of Hephaestus, the Erechtheion, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus & the Theatre of Dionysus.

When I was younger, you were able to walk up to the Parthenon and touch it, but over the years people were destroying the structures with graffiti, so they have all of the monuments roped off.

We also had a chance to visit Syntagma Square it was right by our hotel when we first arrived in Athens it was at night, so John didn’t get a chance to see the soldiers guarding the building, so we made sure he saw that. After the tour, we decided to meet my godmother and godbrother for dinner at one of the local restaurants that Roula loved.

The one disappointing thing was that we were staying at Hotel Bretagne and that is right next to the Parliament building, and at night there was a lot of protesting going on. The people were breaking off marble from the surrounding buildings and throwing them at the presidents home.

We board our ship in the morning and cruising the mediterranean sea to our first port which in Cyprus. Follow us on our journey next stop is Limassol, Cyprus.

Limassol, Cyprus

November 06, 2011

On our tour I think I was the only person who was Greek, so I was able to communicate with the tour guide in Greek which was pretty cool.

Our first stop was at Kourion where we had a chance to see the Greco-Roman theater formerly used to host gladiator tournaments and the House of Eustolios, with well-preserved mosaics and baths.

Our next stop on tour was the rock which is the birthplace of Aphrodite, goddess of beauty and love, in Petra Tou Romiou and hear of ancient Greek legends. There is a picture of it below.

Next stop on the tour we visited the small harbor town of Pafos (Paphos) which is part of UNESCO. While in Pafos we visited the House of Dionysos which was from the 3rd century AD which is famous for the unique mosaic floors that look pristine. I found to be the most impressive stop throughout the entire day. The mosaics are considered to be the finest in all the Mediterranean.

Birthplace of Aphrodite – Goddess of Beauty & Love

Alphabetic Links of Where We’ve Been