Four Stars

Rhodes is a mere 11 miles from the western side of Turkey but still is part of Greece. Rhodes, the old city, is a World Heritage Site for its' MASSIVE fortified city. The Knights of St. Johns made there way to Rhodes during the 1300's to the 1500's in part because of strategic position for trade routes, but also to protect Christians from Muslim traders. The result is the construction of a gorgeous fairy tale city, larger the fortified city we saw in Malta, and is amazingly well-preserved, yet still buzzing with locals and tourists.



One of the first signs we saw read, "Voted Top Destination In Europe, 5th in World." At first, I was skeptical and was not sure how this island would unveil itself. The day began with a walking tour of the fortified city. The sidewalks on the streets have detail that goes down to the pebbles laid on the ground in the form of decorate designs. The labyrinth of walls seemed endless and just kept going and going from tourist hot spots to spots to locals hanging their laundry from the windows. How neat to have a home imbedded in such a treasure. I felt like I was on the game board as a piece in the game of chess! Check out the picture when I about to take rook ;)



The old fortified city was easily one of the most spectacular sights I have seen on this trip and would recommend this destination to ANYONE. All ages/interests keep easily have a beautiful vacation and explore this island.



Four Stars **** Loved Rhodes!!!

Rhodes

If there is a destination that I would recommend from the cruise, Rhodes would be it! Rhodes is a larger island in Mediterrenean belonging to Greece. As soon as we stepped foot off the boat, the spectactular turquoise water was at our feet. This was the first time a swim in the ocean seemed possible! The day ended with a bit of suprise so I may start there and work backwards to the beginning.

Rhodes is home to the one of the Ancient Wonders of The World (as was Cyrpus, but the spot was too far in Cyprus to get to). Anyways, Rhodes built a spectaular statue called, Colossus of Rhodes, to commerate an Ancient Greece naval vicotry in 280 BC. The statue of a Greek God stood over 100 foot tall and straddled a harbor entrance where the battle was won. Historians are unsure how the statue was destroyed (possibly an earthquake), but they do know where it stood.

Kacy and took off to find the entrance to the harbor and take a picture. After the photo and finding the spot, we rounded the corner and saw a diving board in the middle of the ocean! Two men were swimming out there and jumped off and swam back. Now, this diving board seemed like it was 5 stories, Ron that was you ;). Kacy and I decided to make the swim and headed out for the diving board. There was no turning back, we climbed the ladder (One story, Ron!) and made the jump into the water. What a rush, this was must do and so glad the plunge was made!

The pictures show the diving board, an entrance to the castle (which I will talk about in the next blog entry), Kacy at the site of where Colossus of Rhodes was (how funny is the guy in the background!), and some love to home. I miss you Mom and Ron :)

Cyprus

Cyprus was cut short by three hours because there was some additional traffic and convoys going through Suez Canal. It was a public holiday in Cyprus and felt like it when we arrived off the boat. Cyprus had the most disappointing ports of all the stops because it was very isolated from any sort of place (via beach, town, mountain, etc). We decided to make the most of the day and opted to find a beach! Cyprus is known for their alternative water sports such as wind surfing and kite surfing. There was a light breeze as we started the hike for the beach and certainly could see why the sports were so popular :)

The small bit we hiked, which turned out to be near 8 miles total, was beautiful. Cyprus seems like a place where you could easily spend a week. Mountains are visible while looking for sea shells on the beach front and it has a lot of natural geography that looks like could easily be explored!

The hike ended at a restaurant along the water with some white wine, which Cyprus is known for, and tzatziki. Tzitki is a yogurt based spread flavored with garlic and cucumbers flavored with mint and this was the fuel needed to reenergize for the walk home in the heat!

Port Said, Egypt

After our very long tour going through Cairo, we decided to explore Port Said independently. Port Said is a coastal city that is near the Suez Canal. As we left the boat we were bombarded by Egyptian peddlers selling their knick-knacks. Egypt has a reputation for the sellers being quite aggressive, but we were lucky not to really experience that the day before in the Greater Cairo area. We were definitely NOT spared the first 10 minutes leaving the ship. Apparently, "No" can have different meanings.

Minus the above experience the rest of our day rolled along quite smoothly. We began the day with a walk along the boardwalk and the beachfront. The beach was not a such where you would want to throw down a towel and lounge for hours. Large barges pass by as we were walking along and the beach itself has more of an industrial feel than a pedestrian feel. Nonetheless, it is still the ocean and the waves were crashing. We were courted by several younger Egyptian boys and girls who were so pleasant saying countless times, "Welcome to Egypt." We met some friends, Kiro and Hillay, who toured us around at the end of the day and showed us some of their favorite spots.

The experience was very eye-opening and I learned more about myself. The past two days in Egypt were some of my favorite of spots of the year.

Here is a picture of Kacy and the boys and just as I was getting off the boat. See the peddlers behind me getting ready to attack!

Minnie Mouse

Our day did not end at the Great Sphinx, we ventured back on the bus to meet up for the jeep and camel version portion of the tour followed by lunch.

Jeep Ride: We packed into a 4wheel drive jeep and went cruising throug the sand! I was one step away from requesting a helmet, it was a blast and a short 20 minutes and was plenty to get the heart beating fast. Here is a video of the jeep!.

Camel Ride: What a beautiful and docile animal... my camel's name was Minnie Mouse. I bonded quite early with her as the total ride was near 30 minutes that had some up and down terrain. We were slow going up the hills and picked up a head of steam coming down them ( very similar to my personal running style, work with gravity not against it ;). Kacy's camel took off and we never saw from them again! So much respect for this animal... I am excited to learn more about the species.

Power Of The Pyramids

Despite the array of arts and crafts choices (face painting can only go so far!!), many of us on board were quite eager to disembark at our first stop, Alexenderia, Egypt. Kacy and I had decided to book a tour to Cairo to see the Great Pyramids of Giza. It was a packed day and a 7.5 hour bus journey to go inland to Cairo, but it was SO WORTH IT.

First Stop: The Great Pyramids of Giza

(The only remaining wonder of the world left!) We were given time to take photographs near 2 of the 3 great pyramids. I wanted to show you the size of these massive boulders in relation to my height. The tallest of the pyramids is 140 meters high and the guide shared with us that over 2 million blocks make up the structure alone.

Our next stop took us to the Great Sphinx which is only a few minutes drive from the pyramids as you can see from the backdrop of the 2nd photograph. The Sphinx is combination of the mind of man and body of a lion which is the protector of the Pyramids. Historians are not totally sure what happened to the nose, but it is quite a wonder in itself...

To think about the planning, design, construction, and this amazing civilization that put this all together.... We have just begun teaching a Social Studies unit on Ancient Egypt and I am very much looking forward to presenting the material having endured the Power of the Pyramids!! Kacy and I could not resist... the shadow photo!!!

Costa Europa

Spring Break 2009 officially kicked off in Italy, but when we set sail from Savona, a new feeling of relaxation was in the air! The first two days on the itinerary were days at sea. The cruise did a good job of providing the entertainment; arts and crafts, tango lessons, flamenco shows, etc.. Mom, you would not be proud of my t-shirt painting in the first 1/2 hour and then it all went down hill from there! Ron, I am getting ready for my dance lessons in the first picture ;)

If anyone plans on cruising soon... my best piece of advice would be to know your own portion control!!! Food is so abundant; from the meals, tea times, pizza buffets, I think it may have been a blessing the food was quiet average or else I would have rolled off the ship.

The dinner table consisted of an ecclectic group, I must say! There were eight of us and we ended up befriending one another and it added to our whole experience. The video is of one of the finales at dinner.. what else can evoke dancing in the room like an Italian Theme! Do I get an E for effort with my napkin waving ;) Too funny... I think I need to practice up for the next one!

Spotorno-Noli

After the Cinque Terra, we made had to make our way to Savona, Italy. It was rumored that there was a very quaint town,Spotorno-Noli just west of Savona that would be a better way to spend the night rather than Savona. The advise was great and it could not have been more pleased with the recommendation.

Spotorno-Noli seemed to be a smaller Itlalian resort town with very few tourists. For 60 Euro, the room consisted of 4th floor view of the ocean, not bad for a last minute walk-in reservation! The day was spent just strolling through town and no day in Italy is complete without some sort of Pizza! The pizza was massive and did not disappoint. I will see if I have a picture of it!