Italia After All, Part Four: Capri

Well folks, we have made it to the fourth and final part of ADD's Italian Adventure: Italia After All! Today, we will hop on the ferry (not the one we planned on taking here, the one after, but it's all good) and take a short trip to the breath-taking Italian island of Capri! (Remember, it's said "Kah-Pree".)

We started the adventure off a little uncomfortably, after having decided to embrace the breeze and the view and sit on the top level of the ferry. Which, under normal summer or spring conditions would have certainly been great, but considering the hour and the time of year, we ended up huddled together, coats up to our ears, trying to stay enthralled by the view and moment for the full forty minutes, as to not be overcome by thoughts of how cold we were. I'm laughing as I write this, picturing us, the typical tourists, thinking, "Yeah! We're going to an island and it's the beginning of March! (More so from him, considering it's quite cold and rainy in The Netherlands.) Let's sit outside and take it all in -- it'll be great!" (You'll be glad to know we did not make the same decision the following night when we took the one hour ferry from Capri back to Napoli.) But in spite of our chilly beginning, the time we spent in Capri was absolutely amazing.

The island isn't too small for an island, and packed full of different things to do and see. Since we arrived in the evening, we decided to do our usual: walk to the hotel, check in, laze-around a little, then get ready, and go to dinner! However, Capri was destined to be different, and it all started when we arrived to our hotel. Now, we'd stayed in really amazing places before Capri, but while the bed in Sorrento was best, what we arrived to on this island takes the cake! May I present to you, the Hotel Excelsior Parco Capri...

{{ The perfect representation of how we felt when we walked in the door, and what we commenced doing after they'd closed the door. }}

I'd made the reservations via booking.com, and a couple days before we were meant to arrive they'd notified me that there was an upgrade available for only 8€. It said that the room we currently had reserved didn't have a view, but the upgrade would give us a garden view. Ok, we like views, I'd rather see a garden than nothing at all, book it! Well, what I didn't know, is that their definition of a garden is their amazing outside terrace area, and that, based on the almost-on-the-coast location of the hotel, a garden view also means a sea view, a cliff view, and a Southern-tip-of-Italy view. We lost our minds. Blessings were raining down on us harder than we could handle...almost.

{{ Their 'moderate' garden, and a not-so-moderate mansion. }}

So after dancing around the room like the crazy-fest-faces that we are, leaping onto the bed like they show people do in movies (you know that way, when someone who's been in a desperate, down-and-out situation enters a palatial place, sees the gorgeous, glorious bed they're going to sleep in, and as soon as the person who escorted them to the room leaves, they run and fly onto it, turning over on their back, looking up, and having that giant, "OMG this is amazing" face?), and striding out onto our balcony to assume the role of the queen I must have somehow landed, because, this is too nice to be my life, we decided to take the left-overs from our Neapolitan picnic and the bottle of limoncello we got somewhere up to the massive rooftop terrace, and enjoy ourselves a bit before we got ready for dinner.

Now, just like I made a note about the financial aspect of the trip, I'd like to make one about the alcohol consumption aspect of it, too...

I don't really like alcohol. I spent the greater part of the last 12-13 years being a party girl, and almost all of my time in college getting wasted on the weekends, and the occasional/frequent weekday. And after so many years of doing the same thing, and then realizing it was always the same thing, I stopped being The Party Girl. I had my spiritual awakening in 2011, and then it stopped even more. It was such a drastic change from the person I'd been before, that once, in my last semester of college when I was out with some friends, a girlfriend of mine told me, "I miss the old Fedor. You used to be so much more fun!" What she meant, without meaning to, was that the sober me wasn't as, how do I say this, as inhibition-less as the hammered me (?), and she missed me just being crazy and not giving a f---. That comment took some time to get over, and definitely didn't make it any easier for me to continue on my path of self-improvement. But I did.

After I became a conscious Being, I realized that alcohol actually, kinda, really, totally, sucks. I don't like being drunk, because then the world around me is fuzzy, and I love the world so much, I want to see it and feel it as clearly as I possibly can. So it's incredibly rare that I get drunk these days, and before this night in Capri, I hadn't been sufficiently intoxicated for probably nine months. At least. But we were on holiday, on an island, on a rooftop terrace, with an orgasmic spread of olives, soft cheese, artichoke hearts, salami and bread laid out before us, with a bottle of limoncello, and nothing to do but enjoy ourselves. So I embraced everything!

{{ The rooftop view during the day }}

I'd just finished pouring us a bit more limoncello, when P started talking about our plan for the night. He said, "We'll have half the bottle tonight, have half for tomorrow night, then when we're finished, go to the room, get ready, and go to dinner." I started laughing immediately, and held up the bottle, which was less than half full, adding a little, "Half the bottle tonight and half for tomorrow night? There's not even half a bottle left!" Sayonara, sanity!

Surprisingly, after finishing the bottle we were still in great condition, and returned to the room effortlessly and got ready. I even put on eye make-up! I mean, I mustn't have been drunk, because I pulled off some awesome cat-eyes! You cannot do that if you're drunk, have you seen Jenna Marbles' drunk makeup tutorial?? And after we were finished, we phoned the front desk to tell them we'd like to take the shuttle (car service they provide from 9-9) into the center for dinner.

Capri is divided into two, the Capri side, and the Anacapri side, and we decided to take our favorite advice, where to eat well, and go to one of the recommended restaurants in the Capri center. Which is so small I feel funny even calling it a town center, but it is, and it's beautiful and cute as can be.

We ate at a really nice restaurant called Michel'angelo, and were pretty happy to see there was already a bottle of wine on the table when we got there. (The recommended bottle that was on each table...they didn't read our minds before we'd arrived.) I took the waiter's recommendation for fish, prepared how he suggested, and P had some oysters and something. Now is when things started to fuzz together a little bit, and I do distinctly remember having a moment with the wine, probably sometime during my second glass, that I decided I should not, and could not, drink anymore. But, we finished the bottle anyways. The food was delicious, the setting divine, and it was yet another incredible eating experience in Italy. (Thank you, Italy, for treating my stomach oh-so right!) Then, we walked around a little bit, and found our way to the bus stop in time to catch the last one of the night.

I'm not sure what the bus hours are during high season, but we were told the last one ran at midnight. Also, we were able to tell the driver which hotel we were staying in, and he stopped right outside the property. We were really fortunate, actually, to be there in the off-season, because I'm not sure you have that much flexibility when the island is crawling and crowded with people. Just some of the perks to going somewhere when it's not the busiest time of the year. (Somethings to consider if you're planning a trip.)

The next morning I woke up feeling like one of the adorable little island buses had run me over as I slept (I think the bottle of champagne that we took from the minifridge when we got back to the room did NOT help), and was shocked to learn I'd only been asleep for a few hours, and it wad barely 7am! But waking up to the amazing view helped, and within moments, I was jumping around the room, dancing, and feeling right as rain (thank You, God, for not allowing that hangover to linger too long!!!!), and we decided to take the hotel up on their offer of bringing breakfast to the room for no extra charge. (I HIGHLY suggest staying in places where breakfast is included. It's so convenient, and does help the budget a bit!) So after some writing, which I surprisingly hadn't done at all the whole time, and freshening up (whilst remaining in the bathroom and house slippers they provided with the room), our beautiful breakfast spread came through the door, and onto the table outside!

{{ Princess-ing out, 100% }}

We feasted, did some reading and writing, got ready, then went downstairs to check out and figure out how to rent a scooter for the day!

Through the research I did before going, I heard that the best way to get around the island is on a scooter, and after having rented a quad to smash around Santorini the year before, I was all in for this motor-ing around experience! And so grateful to learn that P has a scooter license, because even though I had my friend give me a little lesson in his city before I caught my flight, I was far from confident enough to navigate us around the curves this island was sure to behold. Also, again, so grateful that it wasn't high season, because the roads were nearly empty, which gave us a lot of room to get comfortable on the bike and take wider turns.

The hotel called the company, I believe it's called CapriLand, and it cost 55€ to rent the scooter for the whole day. We didn't need to worry about returning it with a full tank of gas, and the guy was soo casual when running through the logistics of it with us, I would have been surprised if he'd notice us taking it away on the ferry that night. They even tell you where the first limoncello factory is, and give you a coupon to go have a free sample. I love Italy.

He mapped out a full route for us, telling us where to go, what to see, where to park, if parking was free, how much this cost, how much that cost, and where to go for lunch to have some great pizza. The day was already going great, and we'd only just begun! We took off, and made our way to his first suggestion: the lighthouse beach, which he described as, "Very beach." And although there wasn't a grain of sand in sight, the more we explored, the more we came to understand what "very beach" meant.

{{ Seriously, brilliant }}

We basked a bit in the sun, got totally soaked by a MASSIVE wave that came up to remind us who's boss (bow down to the sea, she will thrash thee), and then decided to continue on our tour to the next spots. Of course, by this time we were hungry, so we decided to go out of the suggested order, and go straight to lunch, which we enjoyed with a sea view at Ristorante Onda D'Oro in Marina Piccola (small port).

There were so many things calling our names on the menu, and we had decided to share a caprese salad, pizza, and something else, when the waiter came over with a baking sheet full of pasta, and said that today they had fresh, handmade pasta available, filled with pumpkin, proscuitto and cheese.

{{ Dang setting on my camera got switched, so you can't really see the fresh pasta on the sheet, but it's there, it's fresh, it's beautiful, and it's bomb.com }}

Ok, I guess we can reconsider.

So we ordered the caprese salad, and I asked if it would be possible for them to add proscuitto to it, to which he replied, "Here, we can make for you whatever you like." Great news, really, wonderful (!), and then embraced his idea of us both getting the fresh pasta, but them making it two different ways, so we could try different things. Perfetto!

I have loved few things as much as I loved that buffalo mozzarella. My eyes were rolling around in my head so much, just trying to make sense of how good it was. When it came time to take the last bite, I was so sad, so I spoke to it, and then welcomed it into my digestive system with joy. Then, it was fresh, homemade pasta time!

{{ This photo does it no justice }}

And for dessert, something they made that day, like gelato, but with what I perceived to be a lot of rum, and what we both perceived to be as a nut we can't eat (we both have certain allergies, nuts being a main concern), and ended up having little pseudo-allergic reactions right then and there. Had to happen at least once, I guess! I found the dessert to be too sweet, and waay tooooo alcoholic-tasting, but I can see how many people would enjoy it.

Overall, amazing meal, again! Thank you, Onda D'Oro for pleasing our palettes! After saying good-bye, taking a couple scenic photos, and looking at the map, we decided to hit the next stops on the list, but when we got to the Blue Grotto, one of the most famous tourist attractions on the island, the water was too choppy, so they weren't taking people to see it, since it's in a cave. And then, each thing we tried to do after was also closed, because it was past four o'clock and low season (things to consider!). So we didn't get to ride the chair lift that gives you an amazing view, or go into San Augustin's gardens, but we wandered around, hit the limoncello factory, had our sample, and enjoyed the peaceful feeling of the place.

By this time, our time in Capri, and in Italy, was coming to a close. It was really hard to accept that the trip only had one night left in it, which we spent back in Napoli because our flights were in the morning, but we felt completely satisfied and blessed to have been able to experience any of it at all. We terminated our time in Capri by strolling around the town center, then trying to go back to Onda D'Oro to get a pizza to go (sadly, they were closed), and finally enjoyed one last deli section raid on the rooftop, before heading to the port to depart for the mainland.

The entire trip was comprised of living in the now, being grateful, and being blown-away by the Italian's sense of service and refinement. It was a never-ending series of beautiful experiences, good service, incredible food, wonderful views, and happiness. I will forever return to Italy, and, as a silly online quiz recently told me that Italian is my true nationality, I wouldn't be surprised if I end up living there for some months in my life. (Let's be real, I know I'm going to. Italy for three months is already on My Life List, and when I consider the way I'm still in Spain after over two years, well, nothing would surprise me about spending a year or two in Italy either!)

I'd like to thank God for blessing me so richly and deeply, for allowing me this existence, and providing me the strength to pursue my dreams, in turn causing me to end up in situations like these. And P for spending such special time with me, and sharing such an amazing trip, full of celebration, love, and presence. I'd like to thank all the hotel and B&B staff members that helped us and made us feel like everything was taken care of -- Ana and Mario, the ladies at the Excelsior Vittoria, everyone at Excelsior Parco, and Federica from B&B Casa Tonia, where we stayed on our last night -- you all were so wonderful and added so much to the trip. To everyone who cooked, cleaned, or played any part in our eating experiences whilst there, and to the people on the streets who offered up directions and friendly conversation/curiosities everywhere we went. And finally, to the grand country of Italy itself, simply for existing, and existing in such a way to suggest that we all relax a bit, but remain stylish, while enjoying amazing food, and the art of being alive.

That's all for now of the adventures in other countries, but stick around, because in two weeks, I'm off to Bratislava, Slovakia, Vienna, Austria, and Budapest, Hungary! Travel on my loves, fly freely!

Blessings, Love, Light & Wonder to all you special being out there

I adore you, I love you, and I'm happy to exist with you

Love always,

Allison :)

Italia After All, Part Three: Pompeii

Ok, so I know that in the last post my final remark led you all to believe that this one would be about Capri (said, "Kah-Pree"), which might be why you clicked over, because island, but it would be going out of sequence to jump to Capri, amazing as it might be, and skip over something probably equally as amazing: the ruins of Pompeii.

First, I've gotta warn you, I'm about to throw down a little history lesson/blend it into this one, so buckle up, and we'll get through it quickly -- promise!

So terribly, destructively awesome

Wikipedia refers to the 79AD eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in Southern Italy as, "one of the most catastrophic and infamous eruptions in European history." So fellow Americans, take note. Because I'm pretty sure we never learned about it, as most of our history is focused on our own young country. During the eruption, Vesuvius was tossing up 1.5 tons of its scorching-hot cookies per second, which consisted in molten rock and annihilated pumice, and its deadly could of ash, gas, smoke and stones rose 33km (21mi) high. Talk about big! They say that the amount of thermal energy it released was 100,000 times more than the A-bomb that was so kindly dropped on Hiroshima during the Second World War.

Within range of Mt. Vesuvius' eruption-destruction were two towns; Pompeii and Herculaneum; which were buried beneath the mass amounts of Vesuvius' messy stuff. (Language and grammar adaptation contributed by yours truly. After all, I am an English teacher.;) It's still not known how many people actually died in the aftermath of the eruption, but they've found over a thousand bodies.

Both places are now tourist sites, and draw in major amounts of people each year, who come to see the layout of the former Roman town, which can still be understood, and some art, columns, brothels, and structural skeletons that remain. Needless to say, going to Pompeii was bound to be a highlight for me, and was definitely one of the things I most looked forward to on the trip!

I was so intrigued to see this former buzzing, populated place, and try to get a feel for what ancient Roman life was like. Being a total culture junkie, I get a great high going when I'm learning about other ways of life, and it's even better if I can observe it in some way. And, in one of the classes at the high school, we talked about volcanic eruptions, including that of Mt. Vesuvius, and the photos of the perfectly petrified bodies got my whiskers wiggling and ears perked up plenty. Don't be freaked out, I'm not like some death addict or anything, I'm not actually great with death by any means, but it was sure to be fascinating to see little Roman people that had been scorched doing whatever it was they were doing, therefore perfectly maintaining their form. So on Monday, we took the 20-30 minute train ride from Sorrento to Pompeii (it runs about every half-hour, and leaves you right in front of the archaeological/ruin site), to meet the dead, and see some wicked ruins!

There are a variety of companies that offer guided tours, and we had originally been looking at some that left from Napoli, took you to the ruins, gave you a 2-4 hour guided tour, and etc (the options are endless and easy to find online), but they were quite costly, and in the end, we didn't want to be locked into any sort of time frame that we didn't decide upon ourselves. I also read online that you can get a guide when you get there, some people tend to hang out by the gates, but I think this only applies to high season, and from what I read, it was 100€ for a four hour tour (said to be worth it). We opted for the guided tour that you can get for I believe 12€. The kind that you punch in the number of the thing you're at, put it to your ear, and listen to what they say. This was a perfectly adequate way to learn, and I recommend going this route (more money for pizza, holla!).

As I mentioned here, we had planned our entire day around making a certain ferry to Capri, so we didn't have much time in Pompeii, which was a bit of a shame. It's not such a big place, but it was big enough that having at least two or three full hours would have been good. Especially at the slow, snail-ish, absorb-it-all/gawk-a-lot rate I like to wander around a place, I could have easily spent five hours there. But we had nearly two hours, and I was able to get a pretty good sense of it, and see some super cool stuff.

I really loved listening to the information on the Guided Tour Telephone (GTT), and just imagining what the place would have been like, full of short, Roman people. (I say short, because people were smaller back then. I'm not making insulting remarks, just using appropriate adjectives.) And if you've been paying much attention, you might have done a little, "Wait, what?" at the sight of the word "brothel." Yes, my friends, you read that right, twice now. Brothels.

A little more research (thank you again, Wikipedia) allows me to tell you right here and right now, that there were 35 brothels in Pompeii when it was still a town; information which was given to me from my GTT, but I subsequently forgot, because I was blown away by everything that was flowing into my ears. Which means, when you break down the population of roughly 10,000 people, there was a brothel for every 286 people. That's not that many people per brothel, really. Now, I make a big point of this, because, as P pointed out, it's quite ironic that a place that was so full of brothels, would come to cease existence due to none other than a massive eruption. Haha. I can't contain myself.

I'll give it a minute to sink in, if it hasn't already.

And can I just point out, God seriously has the greatest sense of humor? I mean, come on, I'm not trying to be insensitive or anything [but it was over 2,000 years ago], but to destroy a place that is full of sexual sin with a giant explosion? It doesn't get any more perfect than that! But anyways, before I start offending too many people...

The brothels are just one part of Pompeii, and what struck me as the most fascinating about it all, is that you can still see the paintings that they'd put above the rooms/beds or in the brothels, of different sex positions, so the client would only have to point, and not bother with any sort of language barrier that might have existed. (P said that there's even one of a woman having sex with a goat, which I unfortunately did not see.) And according to the GTT I had, the life of these prostitutes was absolutely terrible. Which you could probably figure out anyways, but just hearing about their situations filled me with remorse. I mean, just look at the beds they had to work on!

The fact they put some sort of straw mattress on top of that massive, concrete slab doesn't make me feel like they were any less uncomfortable. (And were they really that tiny!?!)

And here, you can see an example of the illustrations that were painted around to ease the communication aspect of the interaction. 

Overall, it was a really great part of the trip, and I highly suggest popping by Pompeii if you're in that area. It'll be a nice way to get a little history and culture mixed in to the never-ending slew of gelato stops, coffees, and restaurants you're likely to indulge in whilst in Italy. 

Oh, and here's some pictures of petrified people...and a dog, sorry if it makes you cringe and/or cry. (You didn't really think I'd finish this one off without including these, did you? It was the whole reason I went!)

What a way to go, eh? I guess I've gotta say, at least it's pretty epic. And hey, in a way, they're living on -- they're on display for thousands of tourists to see each year! (Again, sorry if I'm being insensitive.)

And now that you've all dealt with my information delivery till now, I will gift you with some extra goodness in the next episode: Part Four, Capri!!!!! Island Adventures in Italy, ohhh yeahhh! :)

Blessings, Love, Light & Wonder to you all!

Travel far, love hard, live well, smile as much as possible, and hey,

It's life, don't take it so seriously, b/c in the end, you could end up like these guys!

<3

-Allison :)

ADD Adventures to: {{ SANTORINI, Greece }}

Before I came to Greece, I did try a little to get some input as to where I should go during my trip. I posted on Facebook asking for tips, reached out to locals on the Couchsurfing website, asked my Greek friend, and asked a couple other Greeks I met in the months leading up to the trip. Of the advice that I was given, there were two recurring things:

1. Don't spend too long in Athens. It's full of history, but other than that, it's not really a place to pass too much time.
2. Go to Santorini and Mykonos.

I had it in my mind that I'd be spending my week island hopping, sleeping in the sand, and exploring Greek gastronomy. I knew I'd visit Athens for a couple days, and wanted to try and hit one or two islands during the week. So when everyone, including locals, kept telling me that Santorini was their favourite, I decided to stop playing hardball, and just accept that the best-known island was also, apparently, the best. So I decided to go to Santorini.

My friend and I took the ferry at 7:30 from Piraeus (just 15 minutes from Athens by metro) on Monday morning, and after about 7.5 hours, we arrived in Santorini. The ferry stopped at Piros and Ios on the way, and was a very pleasant ride. We bought the cheap economy seats for 37.50, and got there early enough to get a small, round table, with four chairs. The way this works, is that it's like a cruise ship. Not quite so big, but still large enough to be in the same family. The top level has cabins (the most expensive "seats"), so you can actually have a room, bed, and etc. Then on the other levels there are first class airplane seats set up as though there is an incredibly long bus lining the side of the ferry. These are a bit more expensive, but give you a comfortable seat and plenty of space. Then there are the cheap seats, which leave you in the common areas of the ferry. The outside decks, the bar/restaurant tables and chairs, and the tables, benches, chairs, and areas that are in the halls and passageways. After the first stop in Piros, most of the people got off the ship, and a couple locals told us that we could switch to the A-seats (the first class airplane seats), and wouldn't be bothered by someone coming around to check tickets. So after spending the first few hours in makeshift beds, we were able to take some plush seats, and escape the noise of the common area. (There were A LOT of children and pets on the ferry).

After arriving in Thira (Santorini is actually composed of five islands, one of them being an active volcano), we were picked up at the port by a big van, and brought to the hotel/hostel where we have been staying. Here we met our host, checked in, and left our stuff. After a little down time, we decided to take a walk to the black beach that's just down the walkway from our hotel, and then spent some time walking around the neighborhood. We have been staying in Anny Studios in Perissa, and it has been a really great experience! You can read about Anny Studios and the Perissa area here!

On Tuesday, we decided to rent a quad and explore the island. This suggestion had been given to us by the people at Anny Studios, as well as by our friend in Piraeus. And when we were told it was only 15 euros for the whole day, we knew we'd do it. The people at Moto Mania came and picked us up from Anny's, and took us to the rental place. They have an endless assortment of scooters, bikes, and quads, and set us up on a new quad, with enough power for two people to make it up the mountains, for just 25 euros for the day! They were incredibly nice, and gave us loads of information about where we should go, and what we should do. So we set off on our big adventure!

We took the quad to the Red Beach. I'm not sure if it's because our feet were cold, but the little, rocky beach was incredibly painful to walk on. Be sure to have solid sandals if you go there, especially because it's a little hike down. Easy, but you don't just walk down a clear-cut path. Some minimal rock climbing is involved.

Then we went to the lighthouse. The lighthouse itself isn't that impressive, but the view from the edge of the island sure is. We spend a solid time climbing around, roaming, and enjoying the view.

After leaving the lighthouse, we decided to follow the roads, and make our way to Fira, one of the most visited parts of the island. It proved to be a really beautiful place, with more life than Perrissa Beach where we were staying, but was the typical: edge of an island that has been turned into a place for tourists. It was all restaurants, shops, hotels, more shops, more buying, more selling, consumerism at its finest. It's definitely a place to go when you're in Santorini (and I've heard there's still nightlife there during the off-season) to take a walk, look at the view, and enjoy some traditional tall, iced, Greek espresso! And to see the donkeys taking people up and down the thousand-or-so steps that lead down to the water's edge and port of Fira!

After getting our fill of Fira, we decided to hit the road again, and make our way to Oia to watch one of the most famous sunsets in all the world. And it did prove to be quite beautiful. Anytime you can watch the sun set into the sea, that's a good moment in life. Especially when it coincides with you bearing your soul to God and tell Him, "Ok, look, I'm desperate here. I really need to know where I'm going to go next year. What do I want to do? Where should I go?" Just to catch a random, out-of-nowhere whiff of something that reminds you of a place (Sevilla for me), leaving you with total peace, tranquility, acceptance, and an answer to your plea. (Sevilla!) We didn't see much of Fira, since we weren't up in the village where people usually watch the sunset, but looking up at it from below, it's a beautiful place.

We ended up getting the quad back to Moto Mania just a couple minutes before the closed, and both agreed, it was one of the best things we could have done on the trip. Really, I can't recommend this more. It is such an easy way to fly around the island. You have access to everything, since it fits on all the roads, and it's easier to park a quad than a car in any of the busier areas. Plus, if you have to, or want to, do a little off-roading, you know you can. ;)

The next day, also as suggested, we did a little boat cruise/tour. We opted for the 17 euro, six-hour trip, and were taken from the Port of Fira to the volcanic island of Santorini. It's still active, and a guide takes you on a moderate-but-short (30-45 mins) hike to the different craters of the canoe, giving you information along the way. It was really remarkable to be standing on an active volcano, hiking it, and seeing the black volcanic rock all around, and smoke rising from a crate that lays 2000km below sea level! And even cooler when she told us that if we put our hand in one of the holes, we could feel the heat, and we did! Also, the views...wow, the views from that thing were incredible.

After the hike on the volcano, they take you to the hot springs, which you can see in the photo above. It's the slim spot of water, between where we're looking from in the photo, and the small island just next to it. Now, I'll be honest, they sold us an idea on this one. The hot springs will not be hot for another month or so, so when I was the first one to jump off the boat, into the sea, and swim the 30 meters to the hot springs, just to discover there was barely a temperature difference, I was like, "Ok, well. I definitely won't be needing the whole half hour you're giving us to swim here." And I couldn't find any of the healing mud to at least give myself a cleanse either, but I did see a couple girls digging some up and rubbing it on their arms. I can imagine that when it's a little later in the year, the experience would be divine. It was still an experience, but not the "first time swimming in a hot springs, let alone in Greece," experience I'd expected. But, oh well. ;)

The last real stop on the trip is to the other inhabited island of Santorini. There is one small village on it, and they told us it's what all of Santorini was like before tourism became a thing. You have to walk up over 300 steps to get to it, and she warned us beforehand that it would feel like 600, considering the slope. She didn't lie, but it was definitely worth it to catch a glimpse of a village with a vibe like that. We spent most of the stop eating an accidental lunch, but did make the climb just before we were expected back at the boat. (We'd brought food as to not spend money, but saw skewers, and thought to get one and a beer to have before the climb. It ended up being a full plate lunch. Delicious...like nearly everything else in Greece.)

 {{ our boat }}

 {{ my friend's octopus }}

{{ view from the way up }}

The final part of the trip was to loop us by Oia so people could get off, and we caught a beautiful glimpse of the village from the sea. It was emitted a special energy from afar, and I was sad we hadn't spend more time there. But so happy to be able to see and feel it :)

Other than being oober tourists and doing all the recommended things, we spent a lot of time eating and just relaxing. My friend and I discovered that we're eating soulmates, and therefore had no problem ordering enough food for a group of eight, just for the two of us. Really, the food in Greece is incredible. So much produce, and so much fish. And so many other delicious things. I'm so happy I didn't become a vegetarian, because missing out on eating lamb in Greece is not something that you'll ever find on my Life List. :-/

Santorini proved to be a really great place to go. I definitely think I went with this "it's going to be the best place ever" thinking, based on what others had told me, and it was really special, but we also wanted to party a bit, and that didn't happen. Which of course is fine, but would have also contributed to us getting a real Santorinian experience, and it a higher rating in my travel books. But if you go to Greece and are going to check out islands, I'd say Santorini is one to hit. It has a lot to offer, and it's a really beautiful place, with good food and good people. What else does a person need? Not much I say!

Thanks, Santorini, for welcoming us the way you did. Keeping us safe, and incorporating us into your terrain for a bit of time!

Blessings, Love & Light to all! :)

To read more about Greece in general, click here!
To read about Athens, click here!
To read about Piraeus, click here!

To read about ANNY Studios in Santorini, click here!

To read 6 Tips & Tricks for Travelling Greece, click here!

Cozumel & The Tulum Mayan Ruins

One of the stops on the cruise was at the island of Cozumel, Mexico. We had nine hours at this stop, and our whole group had booked an excursion to go see the Tulum Mayan Ruins, so our time in Cozumel itself was limited to transportation on and off the ship. I did snap a few pictures of the part of the island in which we were docked tough. 

A place that appears at just about every cruise stop you go to is Fat Tuesday. One of the things I love about the Caribbean and Mexico is the fact they live a very colorful life. Homes, bar stools, shops, and everything else you can image are all painted in beautiful, vibrant colors. It is very different from the palates you see in housing communities here in the States, in which the Homeowners Association tells you which colors you can use to paint your house. 

 In order to get to the ruins, we had to take a 30 minute ferry ride to the mainland, and then a long bus ride. The photo above is of the dock we walked down to get into Cozumel, and onto the ferry.

My family and I are not fans of being "tourists." We enjoy seeings the main attractions, but we do not go to places so we can spend our time with other people speaking English and snapping pix. That's one of the problems with going on a cruise -- when you get off the ship at a stop, majority of the shops, restaurants, and other places to spend money are all owned by the cruise ships. They make a killing by owning the shops, and create an area that seems so full of life, that many don't even consider that they aren't getting an authentic experience. We refuse to spend all our time at a stop in the manufactured city, and often try to find a taxi driver to take us around wherever it is we are. In this case, we had booked the excursion to the ruins and the beach, so we had ourselves a touristy, but spectacular day.

 We got off the ferry in Playa del Carmen on the mainland, and went straight to the bus that would take us on our day of adventure. I have a heavy coconut obsession, and had to take some photos of da fresh cocos hanging. :)

 On our way to the ruins, we took a 30 minute stop at a gift shop. At first, I was a little annoyed that they pit-stopped us at such a tourist trap, but after just passing through the door, I realized how wonderful it really was. Everything I saw was artistic, detailed, well-made, and significant to the culture in some way. Obsidian, a precious stone that holds great importance to the Mayans, could be found everywhere. The shots above are of some of the items that caught my eye.

 The ruins were set in one of the most beautiful locations I've ever seen. The Mayans that decided to make camp there, were brilliant. It was absolutely amazing to stand there, knowing that a whole city once existed where we stood. The people of the Tulum Ruins were so blessed with the land they found. They farmed a lot, and enjoyed a community that was small. I just wish we'd been able to explore the insides of the buildings!

The final part of our excursion was a little trip to one of, if not the, most beautiful beaches I've ever seen in my entire life, El Paraiso. The sand was whiter than it appears in the photos, soft to the touch, and the water was so many shades of gorgeous. It may have been a great tourist spot, but my gosh, I could spend a week there, no problem! The beach is a private beach that is only open to guests of one of the hotels there, but because we were in an excursion group, we'd been granted permission to spend some time enjoying what it had to offer. 

In this area, they have worked incredibly hard to ensure that they preserve as much of the natural culture and lifestyle as they can. They do not allow hotels to have more than 15-20 rooms, and have not turned the beaches into horrifying sites of imported sand and shops as far as the eye can see. I have a great respect for how they have treated their land, and that they have not decided to take profits over proper cultural experiences. 

 The sand was so nice, that I took our moment there to really mesh with the earth, which turned into a sneak-attack photo moment for my sister. I highly suggest that you hug the earth and mesh with it as much as you can. I got the sand built in a way around me, that when I was hugging it, it felt as though it were hugging me back. Few things feel as good as showing her some respect, telling her thank you for letting us inhabit her, and letting her recharge you with her natural energy and power.

 Swings at a bar are never a bad thing.

 Now, you may think that this photo is really cute, exhibits love, and is a great candid, and you'd be right, but you'd also be missing information. This photo followed the sighting of a lifetime. 

I am a huge fan of watching people fall. Granted, I do get concerned when they hit their head or look like they've endured serious injury, but let's face it, watching people eat is is one of life's great pleasures. Here there were three females, probably around the age of 17, who decided to SPRINT from the sand into the water, and all but one had success. The other, she biffed HARD, face-to-sand, wet sand, and provided all who saw with a moment of pure laughter and "oh my gosh." The photo above captures my sister probably saying something about how awful the girl's fall was to my dad. 

And what sort of an end to a day's post would it be if I didn't conclude with a photo of the gorgeous sunset we saw over the ocean?

Overall, my experience was really great. Because we were on an excursion that had so many different components, we were kind of rushed all day, so I do feel like another trip to Tulum would be nice. I'd like to be able to really absorb the ruins and sit there and imagine what life was like when the Mayans were there. I am so glad to have been blessed with a chance to see some Mayan ruins, experience a beautiful beach, and learn some about the people and area. I'll have to return so I can really get a feel for Cozumel itself, but I am pleased with my experience and feel enhanced and wiser because of it.

Happy travels!