European Vacation and What I Learned

I just returned from a 3 week vacation in Southern Europe.  I will report on that and post pictures later today (my body clock is rather mixed up and there are a lot of pictures to sort through).  I will probably make 7 or so separate posts, one for each country or port I visited: Greece, Montenegro, Croatia, Italy, Monaco, France, and Spain. Most of the visits were for only one day (except Athens and Barcelona) because two weeks of my vacation was on a cruise of Mediterranean ports of call.

This was my first visit to Europe (except for a honeymoon trip to Ireland in January, 2006) and I have a lot to say and show you, so stay tuned! The first post will start with Athens, Greece where my husband and I began our vacation after flying to Athens October 17th. We began a cruise on October 19th to Katakolon and Corfu, Greece, then to the Dalmatian Coast to see Kotor, Montenegro and Dubrovnik, Croatia. Then we went to Italy (Tunis in North Africa was cancelled and we were rerouted to Olbia, Sardinia, Italy), and the ports of Naples, Parma in Sicily, Civitavecchia (Rome), and Livorno (Florence).  We followed that with stops in Monte Carlo, Marseille (France) and finally  Barcelona, Spain where we spent 3 days. In three weeks, I learned a lot about Europe and about myself. This experience was life-changing.

Athens, a view from our hotel October 17, 2013

The Acropolis as viewed from our hotel October 17, 2013

Greek Guards at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Market at Corfu , Greece

Streets of Corfu

The fjord leading to Kotor, Montenegro

Our Lady of the Rocks Church in Perast, Montenegro

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Old Walled City of Dubrovnik

Naples, Italy

The Coliseum of Rome

A street in Naples

The National Opera House of Sicily

View of Sicily from Mount Pelligrino

Second-hand marketplace in Sicily

Gaudi-designed Casa Batllo in Barcelona

Ponte Vecchio over the Arno River in Florence, Italy

Waterfront at Barcelona, Spain

Porto Chervo beaches in Sardinia

Florence, Italy

Monte Carlo, Monaco

Ft. St. Jean and MuCem in Marseille, France 

La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain