40th Anniversary Cruise Part I

At the top of our bucket list was a trip to Greece and a Mediterranean cruise, so 

for our 40th Wedding Anniversary we planned an epic trip.

Here we go, travel days are so much fun!

 We arrived at the Rome airport, checked out our rental car and drove  

(with little to no sleep)

4 1/2 hours south to Sorrento Italy.

We got checked into our hotel and took a little nap, then began exploring.

Sorrento is right on the Mediterranean sea and it is picturesque.

 Weary travelers

 This is the view from our hotel

 We ate dinner at the top of a hill overlooking Sorrento.

My fresh fish was so delicious.

 We wandered around the streets and shops

 

 Sorrento at night

 

 The next day, we hopped in our rental car and took our lives in our hands

as Tom drove us along the Amalfi coast.

Wow what a beautiful place, but what a crazy narrow road we drove on

with huge busses, mopeds and scooters everywhere.

First stop Positano.  We finally found a place to park and

walked around, stopping for a pina colada on the beach.

 Did I mention that it was HOT and muggy?

 The postage stamp size public beach

 Lemons, lemons, everywhere!

 We continued our drive and headed for Amalfi.

Tom saw this cute couple taking their life in their hands and snapped a picture.

 So many picturesque stops for a selfie

 We stopped in Amalfi and walked on the beach and tried some delicious

Italian pizza.

There weren't as many tourists the further from Positano you got.

 Back to Sorrento for dinner and more lemons

 

 

 Dinner with fresh seafood pasta and Tom got Weinerschnitzel

 

Our cute little rental car,with our hotel in the background.

 The next day we headed down to the wharf where we got on the ferry to the Isle of Capri.

 Another gorgeous place.

First stop after a crazy bus ride, was Ana Capri

 We took a ski lift to the very top of the island

 Vesuvius off in the background

We went from Anacapri to Capri

 The sculpture was made of bike chains

 Tom found us a boat tour so we took a tour of the island

 So many cool grotto's and coves

We got back to Sorrento just as the sun was setting

 Yum, greek salad, bruschetta, and pizza

 The next day we drove to Pompeii.

Wow, we had no idea how immense Pompeii is/was.

 We spent half the day wandering around and exploring

The remains of someone

 We could not believe how well preserved things are.

Ruts in the cobblestone from the chariots

 a well for water

the  coliseum

 Paintings on the walls

 a little self serve cafe, where the food was placed in these bowls

 Mt. Vesuvius (Tom took this amazing pic)

 The modern city of Pompeii surrounds the old city

 The drive from Sorrento to Pompeii and Naples

 The patron saint of our parking lot

 We returned to our hotel so Tom could take a swim

 These signs are obituaries posted on the outskirts of town

 My friend Karen Bybee, from the BYU Alumni board just happened to be in Sorrento

at the same time as us, so we met up for dinner.

It was so fun seeing friends and Karen served her mission in Italy so speaks Italian which is helpful

when ordering. It was so fun being with her and Jeff.

We reluctantly left  Sorrento on Thursday

 but stopped in town first for a little shopping

 On our way back to Rome we stopped in a little hill city off the freeway

for a picnic and a driving break

 What a glorious view

 We drove to the Rome Temple and made it into the 4:30 session.

What a special experience to go to the temple in Rome, Italy!!

 I love how the sun was shining right on the temple doors.

 The Visitor's Center is amazing with this Christus statue and statues of all the original 12 apostles.

 This stained glass depicts all of Christ's miracles.

 They have teaching rooms that look just like a village in Italy.

 

 We spent the night in Rome and the next morning drove to Civitavecchia to board our cruise ship.

Wahoo! Cruising in the Mediterannean

 Looking back towards the city and the two ferries in port.

 Exploring the ship we found an unfinished jigsaw puzzle.

Whitney, where are you?

 We spent the first day at sea and passed the volcano Stromboli

 We went through the Messina straight between the toe of the Italy boot and Sicily.
It was fascinating watching that big ship navigate through that small passage.

Each morning we'd get up and walk around the deck

What a view going through the straight.

Formal dinner night

Our first stop was Dubrovnik, Croatia

What a beautiful place.

We took the bus to the old city and walked along the city walls

This is a beach that is famous in "Game of Thrones"
King's Landing I think they called it

It was a beautiful, HOT day!

The water fountain in the city center

After we walked around the entire city, we did some shopping.

This jelly candy was beautifully displayed

We bought a Croatian pastry which was interesting

We walked to the fort across the way

 

and Tom really wanted to swim in the Mediterranean sea

so we found a beach

and he had a wonderful time swimming while

I sat in the shade in a little cafe and had a Coca Light

The entrance to the old city

We took a bus back to the ship but found out we took the wrong bus so we had

to hike quite a ways to get back to the ship.

It was an exhausting day!

 Dinner that night

 

 

 

 and the sail away!

 

 

 

 

 That night the cruise ship hosted Croatian dancers and musicians

 

 

Stop 2 - Kotor, Montenegro

We got off the ship bright and early and wandered around Kotor.

What a beautiful old walled city

 

Kotor is famous for it's cats.

Tom hooked us up on a boat ride so we went out to this little island

and explored this little town and bought a gelato

I took the boat back to the cruise ship but Tom wasn't done exploring

He hiked up the mountain to the fort that sits high above Kotor

Up, Up, Up

He made it!

What a gorgeous place!

Here we are for the sailaway

The little island we visited

Goodbye Montenegro

Next stop Greece~