Mediterranean Cruise 2010!

*Thank you for all of the sweet responses to my last post.

*As for the Christmas cards, I chose the 2nd one since

that's the one our photos would fit in.

I cant wait to get them in!

*Uncork & Unwined will soon have a completely new look!!!

I am beyond excited about this remodel.

I've been working with a fabulous designer

and Ill provide you with all of the details once it's

installed. *SO excited!*

Sooo, I'm sure you've all been breathlessly awaiting to hear about

the exotic locale of our latest trip, right? ;)

Well, the wait is over if you read the title.

We went on an Eastern Mediterranean Cruise!

We left out of Venice/Treviso, Italy and went to:

Bari, Italy;

Katakolon/Olympia, Greece;

Santorini, Greece;

Mykonos, Greece;

Rhodes, Greece;

&

Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Since I have a thousand photos, Ill break it down into ports, so it's not so overwhelming.

We didnt see much of Treviso or Venice before we left because it was raining. And flooding.

Same goes for Bari. We got off the ship for about two hours in Bari. By the time we got back on,

we were completely, soaking wet from head to toe. I wish I would have taken photos of our clothes. J was wringing the water from his socks! Needless to say, I didnt get very many photos from that day. The ones that I did aren't very good. When the streets began to flood, we caught the bus back to the ship.

Our next stop was Katakolon/Olympia, Greece. The weather was gorgeous & warm. This was my first time in Greece and it certainly wasnt a disappointment. It was beautiful! I had done some research before leaving and found a winery only 5 minutes from the port, so that's where we headed first. It was gorgeous, interesting, diverse & at only 5 euro per person, very inexpensive. We took an hour long tour that ended with 4 tastings. Surprisingly enough, our guide was a Scottish guy, so we had no trouble at all understanding!

It was a very antique/vintage winery which I LOVED!

There were dogs, cats & peacocks running around the whole place!

Inside the winery was modern, but filled with antiques.

The wines were good and we bought one bottle.

My favorite was actually the sweet red dessert wine,

which I do not usually like, but this was

really good! It was also really expensive,

so we settled for just a taste. =)

This is a pepper tree. Who knew?

It was gorgeous and when you rubbed the leaves,

it smelled exactly like black pepper!

One of the old buildings on the property

from the 1800s.

As we were walking through I saw this piece and

*GASPED!*

I have this very shadow box!

The exact same one!

So cool that Im halfway around the world and see

the same wall hanging that I have stored in

Arkansas.

Antiques from the early 1800s.

Since it was the end of the tourist season, the cab drivers were very flexible and easy to bargain with. Ours waited for us while we were at the winery for an hour and then drove us the 40 minutes to get to Ancient Olympia and back for a very reasonable price.

Ancient Olympia is where the very first Olympics were held in 776 B.C. The ruins are just amazing. I couldnt believe what had survived for over 2000 years. Most of the main structures were destroyed by earthquakes over the years. Even so, there were still buildings, temples and columns standing. It was pretty amazing to be standing in the same spot where real gladiators trained and competed. The actual stadium is nothing more than a large, cleared, dirt field. There is an area to the side made of stone where the judges supposedly sat.

The "Stadium"

This column was rebuilt for the 2004 Olympic games in Athens.

When we got back in to port, we enjoyed some local specialties:

A block of Feta cheese with locally grown olive oil, bread,

taziki sauce & Mythos, Greek beer.

Yum!



From here we left for Santorini, Greece, which was one of our favorite ports! ........