Five on Friday: Our Cruise on the Mediterranean (caution lots of photos ahead!)

Hello and happy Friday to you Friends!

I'm finally working on this trip post. I want to share it with you so you can see the beauty of these countries too. But also, as an extra memory log of this epic journey we took as a family. I'm sharing a LOT of the pics we took (Matt & myself)...so you've been warned. Lol I thought I'd share pics of each country and brief recap of what we did or saw there. But first I thought I'd share about the ship too.

 Ship life:

We sailed on the Royal Caribbean ship - The Oasis of the Seas. It used to be the biggest ship you could sail, but it's now about the 4th or 5th largest. It had 16 decks! Matt & I and the kids had rooms that were adjoining rooms that both had decks we could sit out on. They removed part of the partition outside too, so our decks adjoined too which was nice. We had a queen bed, a little couch and coffee table, a desk area with a little fridge and a tv and a small bathroom. All we needed for a home away from home. It was nice on the really hot days to come back to our little home base and take a shower and have good air conditioning or go out on the deck for fresh air if we were cruising. All of the outlets were normal for our appliances too. Kind of like a bit of home after being out all day in a foreign country. I think this especially helped the kiddos enjoy the trip better. We would go out on an excursion and explore a new city each day, and then come back in the evenings and eat dinner in one of the restaurants on the ship and do something fun. We mini golfed, did an escape room, Matt & Annie went on the slides, shot pool, played trivia in the pub, strolled through central park (yes they had central park in the middle of the ship!), played in the arcade, gambled in the casino, watched shows in the theaters, lay out in the sun or just played cards together in our room. We enjoyed it all! 

2. Barcelona, Spain

We landed in Barcelona first and stayed the night in a lovely hotel there. And then got on the ship the next evening. We enjoyed what we got to see of Barcelona and enjoyed some shopping, strolling, and yummy restaurants there. Our cruise's first port was Palma de Majorca, Spain too....but we were so jet lagged we didn't do an excursion that day. So Barcelona was our main Spain time. We loved all the beautiful architecture everywhere. Our hotel room had a balcony that looked out on the city. 

2. Aix en Provence, France

The ships 2nd port was Provence or you could do Marseilles, France. I had booked us a food tour in Aix en Provence - a quaint town with open markets, lovely old buildings and history and amazing food! We strolled through the streets with our sweet guide (Camilles pronounced Cami) and she shared amazing history with us. Some of the buildings were from the 15th century!  She then took us to an amazing Boulangerie where they brought out trays of warm fresh baked chocolate croissants (pain au chocolat) - Soooooo goooood!! We went through the open markets and looked at all the fun displays and the amazing fresh fruits and veggies. We couldn't bring any back on the ship so Camilles bought several fresh fruits for us to try and I think they were the best strawberries, peaches, and cherries I had ever had! We went to a restaurant and they had local wine, a local liquor that anise flavored, sodas, water, and a charcuterie of their local meats, cheeses, nuts, breads, condiments - all so amazing.  We met lots of other friendly folks and had a fun afternoon visiting. The final stop was for fresh macarons - we got to pick any flavor. And they didn't just have icing in the middle they had fresh fruit. They were incredible! Then we got time on our own in the town to explore more, shop, and just people watch. Annie was our guide a lot because she had so many years of French in school and had been to Paris and a few other cities through school just this past January. It was nice because it got pretty hot out and she knew the local "marts" there where we could walk around in a/c and get cold drinks and hang out a bit. Matt & I loved walking through their grocerie aisles (especially the freezer sections that day) and see their kinds of groceries vs ours. ;) 

3. Florence, Italy

One of my favorite memories was the early morning of our Florence excursion. Florence is more inland so we pulled into port in La Spezia, Italy. Matt & I had coffee out on our deck and watched this gorgeous port come into view and then pull into it. Seagulls calling out and hearing the waves against the ship and the gorgeous sight of the first several pics below. We got delivery service to our rooms every early AM excursion for us and the kids and ordered hot coffee, juices, cereal, yogurt, bagel - basically whatever everyone wanted to check off the night before. It was complimentary with our cruise package and was SO helpful to get us going in the morning.  I had been to Europe 25 years ago with my Aunt and we had gone to Florence and Rome (among other cities and countries). And back then there was no Euro dollar, no cell phones - it was a very different deal. And I think taking away some of the intimidation has made these tourist areas so much busier than they once were. When we went there were so fewer fellow tourists. So I felt bad my crew didn't get to experience the calmer, kind of prettier experience I had. But they were still blown away by the history, the amazing buildings in Florence, the Duomo and the Baptistery building. The Duomo is so large and has all different colored marble. We grabbed a sandwich from a sandwich shop and it was unbelieveable! It was mortadella meat (had pistachios in it) with cheese and truffle cream between giant pieces of foccia bread. We had a funny story there as we were sitting in the street waiting for our food (the shops and restaurants can be so small) and Annie was attacked by a pigeon - twice! Lol It was funny and not terrifying - hysterical really. You can see her side eye the pigeon below. We went along the Arno river I remembered from all the years ago - all the pretty bridges that traverse it. And the biggest bridge, the Ponte Vecchio, had lots of neat shops and artists. We also grabbed amazing gelato twice that day! Lol We also visited the main square (Piazza della Signoria) where the Uffizi gallery and the David are. I took a pic of Discopolis there you can see below. Matt had a scholarship for track, discus and hammer throw in college and has a tattoo of Discopolis (god of discus) on his back from those young days. We affectionately refer to it as the "naked bowler" 😁

4. Rome, Italy

Our Rome excursion was our biggest of the trip. It was a 10&1/2 hour excursion and we walked many miles that day - some of it in 102* heat and humidity! We were warned they won't let you in the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica without pants, long skirts etc. Well, some folks had longer shorts on they did let in - so I felt bad for Matt & Aaron wearing pants that day. Sigh But it is an incredible city with some of the most amazing things I think you can see in this world. Again, so many people though (they said 30,000 people visit the Vatican a day). Geesh. We visited the Colosseum and loved the amazing history the guide shared. I think Aaron was especially fascinated by it all and gobbled up the gladiator stories. We also saw St. Peter in Chains Cathedral and the chains that held him until his persecution by emporer Nero. We did a/c coach buses back and forth to ship and had nice a/c lunch in restaurant with our guide and group - so that helped with the hot day too. We drank lots of water constantly. The have fresh fountains all over too and the guide showed us how you put your thumb along it and it becomes a drinking fountain, but we could fill our water bottles there too. The nice thing about excursions are that your group gets right in because the visit is booked. I felt badly for visitors that had to stand in line in the hot sun for hours! The Vatican museum and St. Peter's Basilica are beyond description - I'll let the pics speak for themselves. The Sistine Chapel doesn't allow pics but it is an absolute masterpiece I highly recommend seeing. The only bummers from my visit 25 years ago that the crew didn't get to experience is the amazing altar canopy in the basicila was covered for repair. As well as the moving sculpture of the Pieta by Michealangelo that was also under repair. It was a long hot day but I think the sights we saw were among the most amazing the whole trip. 

5. Amalfi Coast, Italy (town of Sorrento & Amalfi)

I think the Amalfi coast was all of our favorite excursion. It wasn't quite as hot that day. We visited Sorrento and then took a boat ride (on the Mediterranean by the Amalfi coast!) to the town of Amalfi. Sorrento was a winding drive up the cliffs (terrifying but incredible views!) And then we walked around the most charming streets, shopped in the cutest shops, ate amazing lemon sorbet in their giant lemons (they have many lemon orchards and are known for them and they are so much better than ours here!), had lunch in a quaint a/c restaurant with an accordion player serenading us and just absolutely loved Sorrento! We would go back just to do Amalfi coast more. The boat ride was one of the coolest things I've ever done. Absolutely stunning views and ways to see Amalfi. And then the charm of the town of Amalfi (there is also Naples, Capri - a total of 13 towns along the coast). We absolutely loved our Amalfi coast day! 

Final thoughts & observations:

I think a cruise is an amazing way to cover a lot of territory without the hassle of having to move all your belongings to each new country etc. So I would definitely recommend one for that reason. We ate so much incredible food but all the walking (& sweating) showed I lost weight on my scale when we got home. You definitely need your comfiest sneaker shoes for the excursions! There were less romantic parts of the trip too - the hot weather, lots of people, sewer systems not as good as here so unpleasant whiffs now and then, hardly any public restrooms, crabby moments by each of us in turn Lol, canceled flight on way home, and jet lag is a thing!! But the bonding time as a new family, incredible sights, fun moments, loving moments, beautiful views from excursions and the ship outweighed any of the negatives. It was truly a trip of a lifetime and I'm grateful for every second of it. And I love my sweet little family so much! 🙏🏻💗

❤️❤️❤️