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Mediterranean Adventure
  • Empty Nest Will Travel
  • Empty Nest Will Travel

Mediterranean Adventure

To celebrate Dawn's half century we enjoyed a week in the Mediterrean with some Italian adventures on either side of it. Read more
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  • Trip start
    May 27, 2022
    Empty Nest Will TravelMediterranean AdventureTraveler
    stumbled on a random pirate convention!

    Venice

    May 28, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F

    Arrived in Venice and got to our adventures using GPSMyCity app to guide us to all the highlights. You can see Venice on tv and in movies a million times, but walking the streets, crossing the many bridges, looking at these ancient buildings hovering over the water... it's magical.

    It was rather cold and windy and we actually got caught in a downpour at dinner but it was still stunning.    Read more

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    Trieste

    May 29, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

    Headed to Trieste to board our ship. The weather was COLD and we were wondering if we were going to have to purchase sweatshirts! Definitely not what we had planned!

  • Empty Nest Will TravelMediterranean AdventureTraveler

    Kotor

    May 30, 2022 in Montenegro ⋅ ⛅ 75 °F

    Montenegro! What a beautiful arrival. We loved watching the tv in our room to see how we approached through all these inlets. We were mesmerized on the deck for the whole arrival watching little villages, churches, racing cars, along the waters edge.
    Kotor is stunning! Built right up to the mountain, with wall leading up to the look out high above the city (we wimped out on the 1300 steps to get up there!). It's a beautiful, medieval, walled city, alive with commerce and great food.
    We went on a food and history tour and our guide was amazing. He is born and raised in Kotor and explained the whole history of Yugoslavia to us in a better way than ever heard before, we talked about the tradition of Slavs and the food history that connects us all. He was so proud of his home and so gracious in sharing it. It was fun walking through the city and people calling out to him and vice versa.
    The departure and watching the sunset from the deck was equally beautiful!    Read more

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    The eye is everywhere. Supposed to protect you from evil.Our breakfast on the ship before disembarking. Loved eating along the deck each morning!Just another stunning street to explore!

    Corfu, Greece

    May 31, 2022 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    Corfu! The first of our Greek Isles.
    We chose to do a hop on hop off so we could get around to see a little more of the island than just the port.
    We got to this area with a really long, low bridge over the water I would have loved to have walked but we didn't have a ton of time.
    In town, we browsed and wandered and walked a lot just to take in the stunning views.
    The water was so clear and there were so many boats.
    Bill bought Dawn a beautiful silver bracelet and earrings to remember the island.    Read more

  • Empty Nest Will TravelMediterranean AdventureTraveler
    That zig-zag trail used to be how you got up to town! On donkeys!Dawn is a sucker for a photo of a narrow passage or arch!We all wondered who the rich person arriving via helicopter was!Traditional dancing during our lunch.Oh yes! Plates will be broken!Opa!A beer to relax and watch the sunset.Funicular back to the ship. Beats taking a donkey!Our departing view of the island.

    Santorini

    June 1, 2022 in Greece ⋅ 🌬 77 °F

    Santorini!
    There is a reason this is the iconic Greek Island - it is stunning! It's rich and stark and captivating. Everywhere you look is something else beautiful.
    We decided on a tour that would get us each end of the long island and give us a little more perspective. Plus, it included an awesome plate-breaking lunch, so how could that be wrong?
    The island was crowded, not just with our ship, but others and I think we would love to come back and spend more time really exploring. This was a great scratch the surface trip!    Read more

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    We had lunch here and the vines made Dawn sooo happy!All the yummy Greek dips.We believe this is the owner. He just seemed like a character!

    Mykonos

    June 2, 2022 in Greece ⋅ 🌬 72 °F

    Mykonos is apparently the party island and back in the day was a gay hang out. Now it is pretty much all touristy, but the tiny, cobble, winding roads were so charming and the water is absolutely stunning.Read more

  • Empty Nest Will TravelMediterranean AdventureTraveler
    Our Polish bus driver was hilarious! And drove that bus like a boss!Swimming off the pier!This ancient church is hidden right in/behind a busy restaurant.Moat and entry. And that Venetian Lion of MarkLooking down into the older parts of city from street level.

    Zadar, Croatia

    June 4, 2022 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F

    Zadar, Croatia. We were originally supposed to go to Drubrovnik but I am so glad we got shifted. Zadar was beautiful. Charming streets, beautiful views, friendly people. Cherries are a thing and our guide bought a bag and fed us throughout the walk.
    The sea organ is amazing.. we could have just sat there enjoying the view and listening to the organ for hours.    Read more

  • Empty Nest Will TravelMediterranean AdventureTraveler
    He felt like he was going really fast!Convenience store laughs!Soooo many tunnels between Bologna and Firenze!

    Trieste

    June 5, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    Rude ending to our cruise. Rather than docking in town, the ship docked at this industrial yard and we had to get bussed back to the heart of town. It felt like "well, we got all we could out of you - now off with you!"

    We finally got a taxi to get us to the airport where we were picking up our rental car. However, the rental place wasn't open yet and it wasn't really clear if it was actually GOING to open. Eventually it did and Bill dusted off his manual driving skills and tackled approximately 14000 traffic circles over the next many days.

    While waiting for the taxi there were all these lamborghinis that we were hoping we got to drive!    Read more

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    Florence

    June 5, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 90 °F

    We did Florence like a boss! Dawn had found a parking garage near St. Mark's, navigated us there and then over the next 4 - 5 hours, we did as much of Florence as you possibly could in such a short timeframe!
    It was sooo hot that day, but we powered through and saw so many amazing places, and also sat with a beer in awe of St. Mark's. Definitely need to go back!    Read more

  • Empty Nest Will TravelMediterranean AdventureTraveler
    The view of San Gimignano from the patio.Our cheese and olive oil tasting.Man has SKILLS! I would drop all of those!Cooking class!This is the view out the door as we cooked!So simple but so tasty!Enjoying the fruits of our labor!Damn - we made that!

    San Gimignano Part 2 - Cooking Class

    June 6, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 84 °F

    We had signed up for wine, olive oil and cheese tasting... as well as a cooking class. And figured out they were both at the same place - Podere la Marronaia. It is a small family-run farm making biodynamic wine and olive oil and showcasing local cooking.
    We did our olive oil, wine and cheese tasting first which was lovely. Our hostess was dating the son of the owner and the two of them flirting as they worked was so cute.
    After we went upstairs to make some different types of bruschetti and then simple sauce and ricotta gnocchi. The ingredients were so simple and fresh and flavorful. After it was all made, we came back down for some more wine and to enjoy our meal with the stunning view of San Gimignano in front of us. It was a perfect day!    Read more

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    San Gimignano - Part 1

    June 6, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 84 °F

    We headed out for the adventure of driving on windy, hilly, narrow roads... with Italians on the road. They are crazy!
    We stopped at a first spot on our way for a lovely wine tasting. We were the only ones there and the team were so lovely.
    Then we got to San Gimignano! This is NOT a typical medieval town - its stunning. We wandered and browsed before and after our cooking class. Such a charming place.    Read more

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    Pisa

    June 7, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    We hadn't really made plans for our last full day in Italy, so we headed to Pisa without a good plan like we had for Florence.

    It was a bit of a cluster and chaotic, Dawn wanted to see the tower since she hadn’t been there before .

    We next went on a wild goose chase in Livorno which led to a ton of city walking in the heat and the tiled boardwalk turned out to not be that exciting. lol

    It's about time to head home!    Read more

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    Venice

    June 8, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F

    Another small adventure back to Venice for our flight home.
    We kept seeing these Autogrill's along the road, and finally caught a picture of the genius cross-road version.

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    Borgo alle vigne

    June 5, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F

    After our speed tour of Florence, we headed to our home for the next few days - Borgo alle Vigne. A small town in Tuscany. We got settled in, found some dinner and crashed. Hard to believe we woke up on a ship in Trieste that morning and now were all the way across in Tuscany!

    When we were checking in to the hotel (Hilton Grande Vacations), we asked the woman about the village on the hill across from our hotel. "Oh - just a typical medieval town. There are a lot." lol

    We later learned how right she was and that that particular town wasn't very exciting!

    We also began to learn that unlike in Spain where you can order the house wine and it is amazing, in Tuscany it is not necessarily true! The table wine and dinner was so so.    Read more

    Trip end
    June 8, 2022
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