Mediterranean Madness

Keeping a blog during the summer is hard, in that, I'd much rather spend my free time away from a computer. But I do miss blogging because it's a fun way for me to track the months and events that have inspired me enough to write. I have a few things floating around in my head that I'd eventually like to write down on this blog, but I'd first like to start easy with a little recap about the trip we just got back from. :)

LOVE him.

Jared and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary with a Mediterranean Cruise around Greece and to Turkey. It was so amazingly beautiful and a great way for us to reunite after months of crazy schedules and our fair share of marital ups and downs. It was a great reminder of how grateful and relieved that he's the one I get to share the joys and disappointments of life with. He is certainly the best teammate I've ever had.

We flew into Venice, Italy boarded the ship and passed out. We even slept through the emergency drill. Oops.  The next day we arrived in Bari, Italy; it's a small town in southern Italy. We explored the town and got settled into traveling mode.

New Friends!

At dinner we made friends with a couple who are from the states but are living in Italy right now serving in the US Airforce. We decided to travel together, which made picture opportunities so much easier (as if you couldn't tell by the obnoxious amounts of photos of Jared and I from this trip on facebook). They were such great company and wanted to do the same adventurous activities that we wanted to. We also made friends with a couple from Canada who were celebrating their honeymoon! It was fun to hang out with new people and explore together. It worked out great!

Corfu, Greece

Athens (Parthenon), Greece

The next day we went to Corfu, Greece. We took a taxi to Paleokastrita and spent the day enjoying the beautiful beach cove and the surrounding caves! 

The next few days we spent in Athens and Santorini, Greece. In Athens, we saw the Acropolis and the site of the first Modern Olympics. In Santorini we hiked a volcano, soaked in the natural hot springs, hiked with donkeys (only partially on purpose), and explored the beautiful island. We loved it there!

Ephesus, Turkey

Marble Starting Blocks.
Olympia, Greece

We wrapped up our trip with the ancient city of Ephesus in Turkey and a day in Olympia, Greece. Ephesus was SO hot, but it was really interesting learning about the history of the city. Olympia was great because we spent half of our day exploring the sacred site of the ancient Olympics. It was fascinating learning about the athletic events and seeing where these athletes trained and competed. I LOVE that stuff! We spent the last half of our day at the beach, soaking up the sun and playing in the water.

Katakolon, Greece

Our nights were filled with lots of food (umm...like 4 desserts a night for me alone) and entertainment. I kinda remembered what it was like to have a social life! It was fantastic!

We had an amazing trip and it was a fun way for Jared and I to reconnect and do something we both love so much. He's a great travel buddy and we're so blessed to have been able to have this experience.

Coming back home totally sucked; our plane landed and when we turned on our phone we had a text from our friend who was house/dog-sitting saying that our puppy, Colt, was in the ER. Long story short, he ate underwear. Yes, I officially have 2 underwear eating dogs. And he ended up having intestinal surgery. FML. Welcome home.

So that's our trip very briefly summarized. I know I said this when I blogged about our trip to Australia, but I can't convey how important and life-changing traveling is. I know it's expensive and there are many other priorities in life, but I highly recommend making travel one of your priorities; even if it's a short, simple trip. It has changed our life and our goal is to try and leave the country at least once a year, at least while we can. After all, this is the youngest and most "irresponsible" we'll ever get to be. :)