Naples and Capri

Back to our trip, just two more ports....we had been having such wonderful weather that we were surprised when we woke up in Naples and it had been raining during the night. The clouds made a great back drop to this view from the port. But unfortunately the rain that poured down on us off and on throughout the day made it memorable for how wet we got and not for how beautiful it was!

As we walked through the port, we were immediately struck at the contrast between a modern European city and the medieval history seen in the castles.

I had to wonder what stories these old castle walls could tell! But we didn't have long to admire them because we had heard about it's beauty and so had booked a tour to the island of Capri on this day.

It really was incredibly breathtaking, especially along it's shoreline.

The island is known for it's production of the famous 'lemoncello' and lemon perfume, made from the lemons that we saw growing everywhere on the island.

The island was incredibly crowded, with tiny streets and hairpin curves on the roads. People drove either scooters or small cars and smart cars....this parking lot is very telling! We wondered how people ever got out?

It was a beautiful island, but our time was limited and the ship was waiting for us.....we had just one last night onboard.

Santorini - Where we left a bit of our hearts

We saw so much on this trip, including 6 Greek ports, but we both fell in love with Santorini. It was just so picturesque.

Of course the fact that we had another absolutely gorgeous day definitely helped too!

Since good friends were going to be there in July we paid extra special attention to the things we wanted to tell them about the Island.....just how beautiful everything was!

Beautiful buildings, hundreds of churches...........

turquoise waters.......

....houses built right into the volcanic rock ......

......this is what we will remember!

Flowers of the Mediterranean

As I have been going through all of our pictures of the cruise I invariably stop when I get to a flower shot and tell Dave that this is one of my favorite pictures. Because of that I decided to dedicate one blog post to my 'favorite flower pictures' of the trip.

 Right from the geraniums beside us when we ate our lunch on the first day in Venice.....

...to the incredible window boxes outside of homes and restaurants everywhere along the canals of Venice.

....to the bouganvalia in Corfu and throughout Greece for that matter.....

.......climbing, giving shade, adding color to white buildings......

....to the Yucca plants in bloom in Mykonos.....

.....beautiful plants growing wild in Ephesus....

....and sunflowers that made us think of an Alberta Farm girl who loves them...

......hibiscus were plentiful throughout the Greek Islands but I never tired of taking just one more picture of them....

....even the common Geranium wasn't so common in Santorini and they grew into tall flowers in some places...

.......so beautiful as you can see....

.......I just had to share them with you! Don't you agree?

Rhodes - A delightful surprise!

From Kusadasi we sailed to Rhodes, the most easterly island of the Aegean Sea. The most glorious episode in its history began in 1309 when the Knights of St John took control. The Knights were zealous about the rebuilding of Rhodes Town and the fortifications they built are still standing.

The Old Town is now a World Heritage Site and is surrounded by the Medieval walls.

This gate, the Marine Gate, with twin towers, is the main route into the Old Town from the Commercial harbour.

As we walked into Old Town it felt like we were being transported back in time. The city is built right into the old walls and everywhere you look there are reminders of bygone times.

We quickly found out that this was a great place to get some more of our shopping done....leather belts for the men in the family, jewelry, and some fun clothes for our grands.

Because of the history of the Knights, there were suits or armor everywhere! Lifesize and down....

Who knew there were so many different kinds?

I had a fascination with Clock Towers and took pictures of them in every port.

The Knights medieval citadel, dominated by the towers of the Palace of the Grand Masters, forms the centre of the Old Town.

The canons were a great place to sit down.

I had been looking forward to actually getting to a beach in Rhodes and being able to swim in the Sea. We hired  Costas, a Greek taxi driver who spoke excellent English to take us to a beach.

It was so fun to actually be at the beach(we rented an umbrella and lounge chair for Dave because it was really hot and the sand was 'burning'......). Dave documented the fact that I really did get in the water and swam...twice for about 40 minutes each time. I hated to have to get out.(that's me waving)

Costas promised to be back to pick us up in a couple of hours and even had ice cold bottles of water waiting for each of us in the taxi.

Too soon it was time to walk back to the ship.

As we sailed away we agreed that we would put Rhodes on the list of places we would like to come back to someday!

We had barely been able to start to see some of the sights of Old Town and this Island.

But we would remember the mystic of the Medieval citadel, the walls, the palace, the gates, even the moat around the town.