Our final stop was on the Greek Island of Corfu. It is northwest of mainland Greece and is the greenest of all the Greek Islands. We visited a couple different locations on the island including Paleokastritsa Bay Beach, Bella Vista in the town of Lakones and finally Corfu town. The island was very lush and covered with olive trees, but there wasn’t quite as much to see here in comparison to our previous stops. There were beautiful beaches, shopping and many luxury hotels – but not much else. The island would be an ideal destination if you wanted to simply lie on a white beach and look out on the aqua Ionian Sea.

Click on the photo above to see the final album from our trip. In this album, in addition to the Corfu shots I have included a few pictures of the ship and the photos I took when we sailed back into Venice at sunrise on our final day of the trip.

We approached the Greek island of Santorini slowly, which I imagine was in part due to the many small islands and reefs in the area, but also the sinking of the cruise ship off the coast of the island just weeks before could not have been too far from the crew’s minds. Needless to say, we made it through unscathed. Presently, Santorini consists of three main islands, but previously it was one large, circular-shaped, volcanic island. A major volcanic eruption and subsequent earthquakes caused the crater in the middle of the island to collapse inward and broke the outer ring of the island into several smaller islands, allowing water to fill in the sunken crater, creating the caldera. We spent our time in Santorini in the northern coastal town of Oia and in the island’s capital, Fira. Being in Santorini was like stepping into a postcard – white washed buildings, blue domed churches, tiny cobblestone alleys and many steps – it was beautiful. The towns are perched high above the water and the homes are literally built into the cliff sides. We walked all around in Oia, and then visited a local winery – I made friends by giving away my free samples of the local wines :). Later in the day we headed into Fira to do some shopping, where I picked up some really delicious olive oil, and then we hopped into the town’s cable car to ascend back down to the Fira Skala (port) where we took a tender back to our ship. In retrospect, Becki and I agree that Santorini was our favorite stop.

Click on the picture above to see the album of photos from Santorini.

Our next port was Kusadasi, Turkey. This city is quite touristy with many shops and restaurants and it’s of course, full of tourists. We didn’t spend much time in Kusadasi itself (well, ok a little shopping on the way back to the boat – looking for Turkish Delights for Aaron), instead we spent our day in Turkey exploring the ruins of Ephesus. It is believed that settlers originally established Ephesus around 3000 B.C. Much later, Alexander the Great took over the city, then in 133 B.C. it came under Roman rule. The excavation of Ephesus, which began in the mid 1800s, has been extensive and is anticipated to go on for at least another 100 years. The ruins are impressive and remarkably well preserved. The Library of Celsus, pictured above, was beautiful and the details of the facade were unbelievable. Becki and I walked down the Arcadian Way, the street that runs from the Great Theater to the old Harbor, on the same stones that Marc Antony and Cleopatra once stepped on. It was truly as close to stepping back in time as I have ever felt.

Click on the photo above to see the album of pictures from Turkey.