Sailing The Seven Seas: Regular Blogging On Hold For a Few Days

Good Morning Everybody,

After leaving Rome and boarding the fantastically beautiful Celebrity Equinox cruise ship about a week ago, I can’t believe how hard it is to find time to post the blog these last several days.  Yep, that’s right.  In the middle of our European travels, I surprised LaDawn with a Mediterranean cruise which takes us from Rome to Greece, onto to Turkey, back to Greece, then Naples, and finally back to Rome on Friday.  What an itinerary!!!

This is our first cruise and I really didn’t know what to expect.  But, after being on this ship for 7 days, I have to say, it’s about the best time we’ve had in our lives.  From the planned ship activities and shows, exciting shore excursions, wonderful food (I had to open up the belt a notch), to just relaxing in the middle of the ocean is one unbelievable and over the top experience.

Let me take a few minutes and share an image or two with you from our first few days at sea.  Here we go…

The first day of our cruise was spent at sea on this beautiful cruise ship.  All the amenities are first class and  I could get used to being waited on day and night real quick and in a big way ;~)  After a few days at sea time does seem to stand still even for me, a guy whose life goes at about a million miles an hour.  Shortly within our cruising we began to ask each other what day of the week it was.  Keeping track of the days is becoming more difficult as our fabulous cruise continues. 

After our first day at sea we arrived in Santorini, Greece.  Ever see those advertisements for Greek travel – the whitewashed building with the domes on many of them?  That’s where we were on our first stop.  It was an amazing sight!

We rode the donkeys to the top of the mountain and then spent a little time doing all things touristy. The we set off on our adventure to Oia, about 8 miles away across the mountain ridges.

It was an unimaginable trip over and through the small and sometimes treacherous footpath but we were rewarded with some of the most amazing views we’ve seen in our travels. Simply stunning!!!

A quick stop at one of the local cafes for a glass of Greek wine, a little coffee, and a taste of the most amazing baklava in the world prepared by our very gracious host Stella and her husband who own the the small boutique restaurant.  It was a quick taxi ride back to the ship and we were on our way again.

The next day was spent at sea – heading towards Istanbul, Turkey, one of the most exotic locations on earth – we could hardly wait. The ship is about to dock again and we’re getting ready for another shore excursion to Ephesus, Turkey – you know, where the Ephesians live – a land of antiquity, history, and beauty. And, for all new testament scholars out there – think St. Paul and a letter or two he wrote to these folks many years ago.  Today we once again walk in the footsteps of history.

See ya’ soon,  David