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| Honeymoon |
Here are some quick thoughts on our trip:
Italy
Venice – What a gorgeous city. Everyone says it’s so beautiful and interesting and they’re right. We didn’t have much time there, pretty much an evening and a morning but we made the most of it. The highlight was waking up and walking around the city as the sunrise was peaking over the Adriatic Sea. So beautiful. The sidewalks were empty and the shops were all just opening as the Venetians were headed to work or school. We enjoyed some cappuccino and watched the city wake up.
Egypt
Cairo – The pyramids are amazing. Truly a wonder of the world. It’s very surprising how close they are to Giza and Cairo. All the pictures of the pyramids seem to show them out in the middle of nowhere but that’s not the case at all. And they are so huge.
Alexandria – Interesting city. It and Cairo are very similar to what I remember about India. Very densely populated with a big divide between the rich and poor. The traffic is crazy! Our taxi driver got into the mother of all traffic jams. We had people from off the street trying to direct the cars out of the jam. Everyone was yelling in Arabic. It was awesome! We also got to hear the late afternoon call to prayer for the Muslims that rang through the streets (coming from the mosque nearby). It was really cool.
Israel
Jerusalem – The country of Israel is beautiful. They have mountains, coast line, and fields. Jerusalem is a very busy city with a ton of tourists, especially within the old city walls. Also, the building materials all seemed to be white. Within the city limits are peaks and valleys (Mt. Olive) which I didn’t expect for some reason. We spent a day there but it felt too short. The Western Wall or Wailing Wall was very emotional for us…the connection to the past. Actually, Sara got a great picture of me praying at the Wall although I wasn't aware of it (men and women pray at the wall in separate locations).
Haifa – The San Francisco of the Middle East. A gorgeous, hilly town on the coast. On this day we also got to visit Nazareth, the Jordan river, and the Sea of Galilee (we were following the life of Jesus). We didn’t realize how beautiful Israel is…just blown away. We were also able to spend some time in Haifa enjoying some of the local flavor, wine, and taking some night-time pictures. This was probably our favorite day of the trip.
Greece
Athens – A very congested city. Since it’s caught between mountains and the sea it can get really hot and the smog is trapped, but it also makes it very picturesque. The Acropolis is of course really amazing. Due to some riots the days before we arrived it was closed the morning we arrived but ended up opening later…this meant that the crowds were thinned out considerably. Sweet!
Croatia
Split – Another amazing and surprising city. It is very quaint and easily walkable with an interesting past. Again we were able to get into town very early and watch the city wake up. This time it was raining as we walked around providing beautiful rainbows. We enjoyed some coffee at a local cafe and had a great time exploring the city…very romantic.
The days at sea cruising from port to port were great too. Relaxing by the pool, reading (I made it through three books and Sara made it through two), napping, and eating. Now that is a vacation! We also made some friends that we shared dinner with almost every evening - Liz and Ben are newlyweds from York, England, and Awie and Lynette are from South Africa. We had a lot of fun getting to know them and planning our next trips to see each other.
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