HONEYMOON - CRUISE THROUGH THE GREEK ISLANDS

I'm back to share the second part of our honeymoon - our cruise through the Greek Islands. If you missed the first honeymoon post, Venice & Rome, Italy, then you can click here to read all about it. 

If you're sick of looking at pictures of me and Todd by now, you may just want to skip over these next few posts because it's only going to get worse. But, if looking at beautiful scenery is your thing, well then you're in for another treat.

I mentioned in the last post that planning a cruise right in the middle of our three week honeymoon was probably the best decision we made. The cruise helped us feel more settled in one place, especially since for the other two weeks we had to do a little bit of city and hotel hopping. Overall, it just really broke up this type of trip, and we were so excited to tackle Italy once again after our cruise was over.

Honeymoon Itinerary: 

Venice (flew into) - 2 nights

Rome - 4 nights

Cruise (Greece) - 7 nights

Positano - 4 nights

Capri - 2 nights
Naples (flew out of) -1 night

Cruise Itinerary:
Day 1 - Departure - Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy
Day 2 - Cruising
Day 3 - Santorini, Greece
Day 4 - Mykonos, Greece
Day 5 - Athens (Piraeus), Greece
Day 6 - Katakolon, Greece**
Day 7 - Cruising
Day 8 - Arrival - Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy
** We made the decision to not get off the ship on day 6 and have another cruising day instead.

--> We sailed on Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas for a seven night cruise through the Greek Islands. From Rome, we had to get a bus and train from our hotel to the cruise port in Civitavecchia. 

--> Up until this point, this was our second cruise we had ever done (the first was with Princess Cruise). The boat was beautiful, the food was great, but what we loved more about this cruise (besides where we were going!!) was the night life. Especially since it was just Todd and I, we loved that there was always lots of great entertainment to look forward to each night. 

--> I'll never forget the look on Todd's face when we stepped on the boat for the first time. Excitement was an understatement!! I think where we had done a cruise before and loved it so much, somehow it made this one even more exciting because we knew just how much fun the next week was going to be. 

--> When booking the cruise, we added in the notes section that we were going to be on our honeymoon and, let me tell you, the Royal Caribbean did not let us down. We arrived to chocolate covered strawberries and two bottles of champagne in our room, plus a gift card to a spa service of our choice (we took advantage of the couples massage!). Towards the end of the cruise, they invited all honeymooners to a little party where they had music, food, dancing, prizes and a cake for us. It felt pretty, pretty special, and we still remember that night to this day.

-->  We didn't book any excursions with the cruise (or outside of the cruise), but opted to figure everything out ourselves. By doing a little research beforehand, it worked out perfectly - we were able to save some money and we got to spend the entire port days completely on our own time.

--> We got so lucky and had ahhhmazing weather - not a drop of rain in site the entire week.

SANTORINI, GREECE

--> Santorini was the first stop on our cruise, and I can still remember coming into shore that morning and seeing the volcano with all white buildings across the top - the view was quite spectacular! 

--> We had to get a tender to shore as cruise ships do not dock at Santorini. There were three options to get to the nearest village of Thira (Fira): walking for about 45 minutes, getting a cable car or riding a donkey. We opted for the cable car!

--> As I mentioned, we didn't book an excursion with the cruise (or outside the cruise), but we did some researching beforehand though and read that it was fairly simple to get to the village of Oia. You know those beautiful blue domed churches you picture when you think of the island of Santorini? This is actually in the village of Oia in Santorini. And this is where we wanted to spend our time that day!

--> Once we arrived in Fira we tracked down a taxi and got a ride to Oia. It took about fourty-five minutes that day with traffic.

--> We loved Oia - the buildings, scenery and views are even more beautiful than those amazing photos you see! In fact, the views were jaw-dropping! But what you don't see are the crowds. I guess all of the cruise ships were in at the same time, because holy crowds! I would have loved to spend a night or two in Oia to really get a feel for the village without all of the crowds from the cruise ships.

--> We only had a few hours here to explore the area, but that gave us enough time to walk through the entire village. We spent the day exploring, taking pictures, and eating lots of Gryos.

MYKONOS, GREECE

--> Mykonos, The Island of the Winds, was the second stop on our cruise. This island is so beautiful and charming. It's filled with white buildings, wind mills, and an enchanting maze of narrow lanes and alleyways that's so fun to explore. Plus, it has beautiful golden sand beaches and turquoise waters.

--> We arrived early in the morning and left late in the day so we had plenty of time to explore the island.  Again, we didn't book an excursion with the cruise (or outside the cruise), but opted to figure it ourselves.

--> This island was even easier to navigate. Although we had to get another tender to shore, this time we arrived right in Mykonos' main town, Chora.

--> The day started by exploring the main town, Chora. From there we decided to rent a four-wheeler for the day, which I'd highly recommend. We were able to see so much of the island in a short amount of time and, an added bonus, it was quite the fun!

--> While the rental itself was quick and easy, the four-wheeler they gave us was severely undersized in power for the two of us. In fact, there were a couple of times that Todd had to actually get off and push the bike because we couldn't make it up any hills! Needless to say, we did lots of laughing throughout the day!

--> The rest of the day was spent relaxing at the most beautiful beach, Platis Gialos beach. Another highly recommended place! I would have loved to spend a night or two in a hotel right on this very beach. 

--> While Santorini was the most picturesque out of all of the places we saw on our cruise, Mykonos was our favourite.

ATHENS, GREECE

--> Athens was the third stop on our cruise, and we docked at the Piraeus port where there were multiple terminals. From there, we took a bus through the city of Athens that brought us directly to the Acropolis.

--> When we arrived at our destination, we quickly realized that all of the workers at this historical site were on strike that morning (we were then told this was a common occurrence).

--> We ended up standing in a lineup that day for hours and hours waiting for it to reopen. I can still remember this part so clearly as it felt like the hottest day of the year during our wait. I kept running under trees to get shade while Todd stood in the lineup with his book bag completely over his head.

--> Luckily within a few hours things were back open and we got to visit the Acropolis!!! We would have been so disappointed if we didn't get to see the one thing we had been planning to do for months.

Well, that's it for the second part. Stay tuned for the next, and last, part - Positano, Capri and Naples.

And as usual, it's been so hard to look back and recap our honeymoon. Take me bacccccckk!

Until next time.