Rhodes, Greece

Our next stop was Rhodes, Greece. This was by far, one of our 

favorite ports. It is such a historical town and 

so rich in culture. 

It is here that the famous Colossus of Rhodes once stood;

One of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

It was built in 304 B.C. and was toppled a mere 

56 years later by an earthquake.

Help was offered from Egypt to rebuild, but

after consulting with an oracle, the 

offer to rebuild was declined. 

This is what it was imagined to look like.

Does it remind you of another very famous statue?

One in the United States perhaps?

It should. 

The French sculptor who's masterpiece was the 

Statue of Liberty was inspired by the Colossus. 

I think they resemble each other somewhat.

(Image from www.rhodesguide.com)

This was our view from the ship.

It was so majestic and medieval looking, like a castle 

surrounded by walls. 

We bought a guide book and began to walk around the city. 

It isnt a large city, so it was quite easy to navigate.

This was the port in which we had the longest time (8 hrs.), 

so we took our time exploring.

Knight's Street

I loved the roads! 

The ruins of Aphrodite's Temple

Our favorite stop of the day was The Palace of the Grand Masters. 

It is the largest building in the city and was badly damaged by 

an explosion in 1856. It was originally built in the fourteenth

century. They are currently working to restore it by to it's original glory.

It was filled with artifacts and antiques from B.C. times all

the way up to WWII.

The Palace of the Grand Masters

The inner courtyard

The Mosaic tiles were brought in from the island of Cos 

and date back to the sixth & second centuries B.C. They were all so gorgeous 

and intricate and they all told a story. 

Medusa, from the 2nd century B.C. 

This was actually made for the Italian king in anticipation of
winning WWII. He was going to take over the palace if they won.
Luckily, they didnt win and the Greek people maintained
control of Rhodes. 

The Nine Muses

From the Palace, we walked to the clock tower. It has the best views
of the city and is the tallest building in the city.
With a ticket, you also received a free drink.
We didnt have to be talked into it. =)

Clock tower 

More ruins, view from clocktower

I loved the little alleyways!
They were very authentically European,
at least what I would picture in my mind.

Rhodes was the first port of call that had decent shopping,

something other than the typical "touristy" stuff.

They are well know for their linens and products made from olive oil.

We bought a little of both! 

After a late lunch we decided to wander out to the lookout point. 

We both love the ocean so seeing the harbor was a must.

There were boats anchored in the harbor selling seashells. 

My love helping me climb the rocks.
Such a sweet gentleman!

Rhodes was a huge hit with us and we'd love to venture out of the main city
and visit Lindos one day.
The problem with cruises is that you never have enough time
in each port.
But it's a great way to see places that you might
not otherwise get to see.

Next up,
our other favorite & the last stop:
Croatia!

Santorini, Greece

The next stop on our Mediterranean cruise was 

Santorini.

This was definitely one of our favorite stops,

though it took awhile to find the beauty.

We didnt do our research like we should have for this one,

and just assumed that as soon as we stepped off the boat, 

beauty would surround us.

It did, sort-of.

We had to take a tender boat to the shore from the cruise ship.

The area where we docked was breathtakingly beautiful.

But it's at the bottom of the cliff and the city is at the top.

There are only three ways to get to the top:

Walk the 600+ stairs, 

ride a temperamental donkey, 

or

a 1.5 minute cable car ride.

Santorini sits on top of the cliffs. See the windy trail that leads to the top?

Can you guess which one we chose? 

The cable cars of course! 

It was the quickest option and we had a 

limited amount of time in port.

I'm terrified of heights and small, enclosed spaces, 

but it was actually kind of nice. 

Our mistake was taking a left off the cable cars instead of a right.

To the left was the center of the capital city, Fira. 

To the right was a trail that lead to the bluffs overlooking the ocean

and all the beauty.

We of course chose wrong and went left first.

We wondered around for a bit in the city until an older

Greek gentleman stopped us and asked us if we needed any help.

We told him that we were looking for the turquoise blue

topped buildings, the ones you see on all of the postcards.

He told us to wait one minute and went into his shop.

When he came back out he gave us a map of the island

and on the cover was THE turquoise topped building, the scene 

from all of the postcards and paintings. 

He told us to go up the hill and take a left

and just keep walking, we would 

eventually find it. 

So off we went up the hill, around to the left, 

up another hill and 1000 or so stairs (if felt like that many at least!)

until we reached the edge of the bluffs.

It was BEAUTIFUL! 

The pictures simply can't do it justice. 

Santorini is a gorgeous island with 

gorgeous views. 

We walked along the bluffs for awhile, 

searching for the building on the cover of the map.

And then we found it. 

It was more gorgeous than what Id though it would be.

We stayed up there and took tons of photos 

and just enjoyed the view. 

J holding the map. He was standing in
the same spot at the picture on the cover!

That is our cruise ship in the background!

The island on the left is volcanic!

Afterwards we went shopping along the bluffs, 

stopped for drinks at one restaurant, 

and lunch at another,

before we had to head back to the ship. 

REAL Greek Hummus! It was delicious!

 Our next stop was Mykonos, Greece. We stopped there at night so we didnt really get any good pictures. It was a cute port town and we'd like to go back again in the daytime.

The next port of call was Rhodes, Greece. It was a wonderful historic city where one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World supposedly was located! More on that next time!

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! ........