Life is Better Cruisin' | Part 3: Santorini

Santorini may have conquered my heart before I even set eyes on it. I have been enamoured with Santorini for as long as I can remember. I would daydream about the traditional blue topped domes, and the stunning views of the village alongside the clear blue ocean. I made it my mission to visit Santorini ever since we started cruising, and when we finally decided we were going to Europe, the only port I had on my list was Santorini. Santorini is an island in the Aegean Sea, it is the result of a volcanic eruption. The island is too small for cruise ships to dock, so passengers arrive on the island by tender. Our ship docked by Santorini just after the sunrise. We had booked an excursion with Royal Caribbean for about $80 per person to see the island. We boarded our bus, and drove around the beautiful island. Our tour guide made a mistake, and thought we would be visiting the winery first (I know its 5 o'clock somewhere but really, at 7 AM?). It was closed, of course, so we had to circle back. It took us a little longer to get to our destination and we lost a little time in the process. Our starting point was the scenic village of Oia. We strolled through the town, exploring their shops and art. We stopped at an old medieval castle to take photos of the picturesque town, and to enjoy the breathtaking view.

Afterwards, we boarded our bus, and headed back to the winery for a brief tasting. Nothing too exciting there, but another break taking view of the ocean (top right). Then our bus dropped us off in Fira, where we parted ways with tour guide. Was it worth our $80? Not at all, but it would have been too difficult to do it any other way (renting a car seemed like too much work). We walked around Fira, and explored the shops and churches in the area. My boyfriend enjoyed a visit to a fish spa, where fish remove dead skin from your feet. He said the experience was pleasant, and ticklish, but his feet felt very smooth after the treatment. I, on the other hand, was too scared to try it out. We ate lunch at Zafora, a restaurant recommended by Royal Caribbean. I ordered a chicken souvlaki, and the boyfriend ordered a grilled octopus. Delicious!

Our view at lunch time were the three ships stopping in Santorini for the day. Gorgeous. Our crew told us there were three ways to get back to the bottom to reach the tender boats: (a) take the cable car, (b) get a ride from a donkey or (c) walk. As we ate our lunch, we watched the line for the cable car get longer and longer. We contemplated on walking but it seemed like a very tricky walk down. After grabbing a few more souvenirs, we eventually lined up for the cable car. The cable car at Santorini was not very high-tech. With three ships at the island, there were a lot of people waiting for it and the cable car could only transport 24 people down at a time. Each trip took exactly 6 minutes, and an extra few minutes to load and unload the passengers. We had been told it would be quite a wait but we thought the crew was just being cautious. Well, they were not kidding! We started lining up for the cable car at 3 PM, right under the hot Grecian sun.

We finally got on the cable car after a long, and hot wait. The short ride to the bottom was nothing special, but we saw this little guy at the bottom of the station. A real-life moustache cat! He was just the perfect model. We were sweaty and frustrated with the cable car, but all that went away when we saw him. We waited some more for the tender, and we eventually made it back onto the ship at 4:15 PM. Oh Santorini, I love you but you need to figure out how to manage a large crowd of tourists!

We had a brief, but amazing time in Santorini. The village of Oia is a dream. Being able to visit the island, and cross it off my bucket list was a dream come true. One day, we'll meet again.

Our cruise was now almost over. We had one more port before we return to Venice, and fly home to Vancouver. I'm sad that my review is ending soon, I've had such an awesome time reliving my memories. Up next is Katakolon, Greece.

Life is Better Cruisin' | Part 2: Kusadasi

I was beyond excited to go to our next port, Kusadasi, Turkey. We booked an excursion to tour the ruins of Ephesus, an ancient Greek city. Our $95 excursion also included lunch and a quick tour at the House of the Virgin Mary (and of course, the infamous carpet presentation). We started out early, but there were at least two other cruise ships at the port, so Ephesus was very crowded.  It was extremely hot that day, and since we were in such a dry area (at the ruins), the heat was rising even faster. Our tour guide was an older gentleman who moved quite fast for his age. We even lost him couple of times! He was very enthusiastic and he told us a lot about the history. Finally, after weaving through the crowds, we had the chance to see the Library of Celsus (on the bottom right), one of the best preserved sites of ancient Ephesus.

After the tour, we headed to the Cittantica Ephesus Theme Park for lunch. The food was amazing and the washrooms were pristine. Really, that is all I ask for in foreign countries. As I've said, we are high maintenance travellers! I have no idea if we were served traditional Turkish food, but it was by the far the best meal I've had on the cruise so far. We enjoyed a short dance by the performers before heading back to the port. We also sat through a carpet presentation as all cruisers must on their excursion. Thankfully, we did not feel pressured at all, and we all left after the presentation. Our tour guide was super easygoing and did not force us to stick around. However, the boyfriend's parents were not so lucky. After their presentation, they had to sit through a jewellery presentation as well. We shopped for some souvenirs (I had to get some turkish delight from Turkey!) and stopped by a grocery store on our way back to our ship. We love looking at all the different foods at a foreign grocery store. On our way out we saw a few crew members load up on some packaged raspberry tarts. When I say load up, I meant they each bought 6-8 packages. My boyfriend and I were convinced it had to be the best snack ever, so we bought some too. Lemme tell you, they were delicious! If anyone is going to Turkey, you gotta try it. It is that good.

(courtesy of yours truly via Instagram)

It was here that we actually got our first shot of our boat, the Splendour of the Seas. Not the best shot, but here she is.

There were also stray cats all over Ephesus to my delight. Our tour guide told us the cats keep coming back because the tourists keep feeding them. They're smart! At last, we say goodbye to Turkey as we sailed into the sunset.

Have you been to Turkey? What was your experience like? Up next: Greece! Santorini is by far my favourite port and the island is just gorgeous. I have so many beautiful pictures to share. Stay tuned!

Life is Better Cruisin' | Part 1: Dubrovnik

We had booked the Splendour of the Seas about ten months in advance, which is last minute for us. Usually, we book our next cruise well over a year before the sailing date. We had booked back-to-back cruises one from Barcelona to Rome with inside cabins, but ultimately cancelled it because yours truly couldn't get the time off. We decided to go with Splendour's itinerary because the ports were much closer to the attractions. We knew if we booked the Western Italy and France cruise, we would be spending a lot of time commuting to and from the port, and really, we didn't want more of that. The Splendour had four ports of calls, Dubrovnik, Croatia; Kusadasi, Turkey; Santorini, Greece and Katakolon, Greece. In this post, I will share my embarkation experience and our short, but sweet visit in Dubrovnik.

Our hotel refused to call us a porter the morning we checked out, so the boyfriend and I walked over to the train station and grabbed a guy ourselves. It's a little difficult when you can't call a taxi and have them drive you to the port. We took the People Mover (also known as the skytrain in Vancouver) to the port, and stopped for one last cappuccino at the cruise terminal. Royal Caribbean was speedy and efficient. This is my second Royal Caribbean cruise and honestly, I cannot remember a quicker check-in (Carnival is a mess). In no time, we were on the boat. Now, I will be honest. We had known this was a smaller ship with less amenities but we couldn't help but feel little bit disappointed once we were on the ship. There was not enough to do. We were used to the nightly comedy shows and multiple showings of the musicals. Splendour didn't have shows we were interested in. On top of that, we had the late seating for dining so we were often too tired form our excursion to get ready for the early viewings of the shows.

What a gorgeous view of Venice! Our first day on the ship was pretty uneventful. Dinner was underwhelming as well. I'll fast forward to our first port of call, Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is totally do-able on your own. We took a cab to Old Town (€10) and walked around for hours - so much to see! We also survived without any Kunas. We made purchases in places that took Euros or credit card.

There are so many stray cats in Dubrovnik! I'm a crazy cat lady so I was thrilled! We met this gorgeous little guy in Old Town. It was sad to see because he was so skinny. The streets in Old Town are all cobblestone, which was a bit slippery if you didn't wear the right shoes. Thankfully, my flip-flops were just fine. Old Town is surrounded by stone walls, which were built as a defensive measure to protect its citizens. You can walk up to the top, but you cannot see over the walls unless you paid to do so at the entrance. It is quite a steep walk to the top, and definitely not for elderly people. We wanted to see what was up there, so we walked up... only to find more residences. Finally, we stopped to have lunch and dessert (seen below) before heading back to the ship. And might I mention that Dubrovnik has the most amazing ice cream! I can still taste the strawberry flavour.

A quick look at a few other photos... I love this first photo of my boyfriend walking to the town square alongside a dog. It was so sweet. We had no idea whose dog it was though, so he may be a stray! We also visited a few churches, photos were allowed as long as the flash was off. Finally, the last two photos are of the steep stairs we climbed, first the view going up (you can't even see the top of the stairs!), then going down.

Thanks for reading this entry! I hope you enjoyed my review of our first port. There will be four parts, one for each port. Stay tuned for Turkey!

I Just Came to Say Hello

Hello everyone! 

Happy New Year! How is 2015 treating you?!

I am finally back after a long break. I am sorry for going off the grid, and for saying that I was coming back but didn't. I am back now!

I believe I mentioned I decided to go back to school in October. I enrolled in Graphic Design. It is something I've always been interested in. In high school, I loved creating avatars and icons. I learned how to use Photoshop (actually, I used Jasc Paint Shop Pro) online through tutorials and but never received any formal training. I have been unhappy with my job for quite some time so I decided I should take the step to go back to school before I was too old! I am halfway through the program already. Needless to say, it is a lot of work and certainly requires 100% of my time.  

I'm very excited to showcase some of my work here! I would love to hear constructive criticism and feedback. Here is a project I did for one of my classes. Note: My images are from Pixabay. Images are free for commercial use, and no attribution is required. 

Thanks for reading. Please stick around, there's more to come!

Christmas Cookies!

My boyfriend's sister hosted a Christmas Baking Exchange this year. Although I was unable to attend, I did bake some cookies and my boyfriend's mom delivered them for me. My go-to are soft ginger molasses cookies, but since someone else had already chosen to bake them, I had choose something else. I decided to make white chocolate and cranberry cookies. They turned out to be quite nice, but it was a bit too sweet for my liking. I'll have to search for a different recipe next time!