A sight, an adventure, and a newfound love

This past week I traveled to three new countries, and during that time I fell in love. During my week I went to Croatia, Turkey and Greece. Croatia brought beauty, Greece gave me excitement, and Turkey enchanted me.

For this week, I chose to travel by cruise ship. It made for a stress free week. It was rid of taxis, train tickets, hostels, and getting lost. It was simple and relaxing. I felt as if this was more of a vacation rather than the backpacking experience I had the last travel week in Spain, Ireland and Dublin.

Our cruise ship departed from the port in Venice. We boarded the ship early in the afternoon and began indulging the the endless amount of food provided. The best way to describe a cruise ship is a moving resort. A benefit of this resort: mini golf. As we sailed away from Venice, the sunset was falling behind the city as I was putting on the 9th green on the back of the ship.

When I awoke in the morning I found myself in Croatia.

On a side note, I also found myself with a plate of bacon and waffles. Italians don’t celebrate breakfast in the way that Americans do, so I treated myself.

In Croatia we hopped on a bus and headed to the Krka National Park. For years I have seen pictures of this park and I always dreamed of seeing it. Heading to the park, it was what I pictured in my head. We were driving through desert areas with little color, the exact opposite of the green waterfall paradise I spent so much time staring at. But then abruptly the scene changed. In a matter of second the desert disappeared and it became paradise. The park is covered with waterfalls, lakes and creeks. The water was bright green in some areas and clear blue in others. It made the perfect color to create an image of paradise. The most interesting part of the park was the trail. It was a wooden 6 foot boardwalk cut right through the middle, immersing the hiker right into the park. At one point the walkway was directly over a waterfall.

Overlook of the park

Waterfalls from the Emperor’s viewpoint

Waterfall National Park

Krka National Park

The next day we were off, our next stop being Turkey. I never thought I would travel to Turkey. I had no expectations of what it would be like or what to do. Within minutes of stepping off the ship, I was lured in. It was love at first sight. The town was passionate and beautiful.  The style and culture of Turkey is was intrigued me most. The colorful lamps, patterned clothing, gold jewelry gave an Arabian feel mixed in with modern aspects of Europe. Turkish flags hung from businesses and on street corners. The sense of pride in their culture and country was very strong. While resting from sightseeing I had a cup of Turkish coffee with a Lamb kebab. Although outside my comfort zone, I enjoyed the meal. After getting a small taste of the country I have decided my next international trip will be back to Turkey.

Historic Ephesus

Historic Ephesus

Turkish Flags

Overlook over Kusadasi, Turkey

Meeting new Turkish friends, he took us out for tea!

While it was tough saying goodbye to my newfound love, I was excited for the next two days that would be spent on the Greek Islands. The first stop was Mykonos. When we got Mykonos it was exactly what I pictured when I thought of Greece. The houses were white with blue shutters stacked on top of one another along the side of the hill. We decided the best way to see the island would be by renting quads for the day. As we walked around for the rental shop we found it to be difficult to navigate. It’s hard to know where to go when there is no street signs and every building is white with the same structure. Eventually we found our way and began our adventure. We rode around for hours feeling carefree. We had no set direction in where we were going. We truly embodied the statement “wherever the road takes us. ”The road ended up taking us to two separate beaches. The first one was a fair sized beach that was nestled into the hills. I decided I would jump right in to the clear water. Forgetting it was mid-November I quickly ran out with my body shivering. We didn’t stay long as we wanted to keep exploring.

A few hours later we found another beach. This beach was a more vivd sight. The water was light blue, but still bright. The mixture between clean white houses, and clear blue water made paradise a reality for me. The day faded away and the sun tucked itself into bed, and within hours we were in Argostoli, another Greek island. The day started out raining but we still set out to explore. The scene on this island was much different than the first. Rather than tiny white houses it was colorful buildings. Each building was cream, yellow, or orange. The view of this buildings from the cruise ship was beautiful, even with the damp weather. The town was also different from the first was the presence of modern cultures. There were bars, shopping, and stores, where in Mykonos everything was much more “ family-owned.” It was clear Argostoli was more like the culture we were accustomed to rather than the simple life of Mykonos. It was interesting so see the difference between the two islands.

Mykonos

Beach in Mykonos

Windmills in Mykonos

Quads in Mykonos

Pier in Argosotli

I enjoyed my first travel week which was done by backpacking, and I was also satisfied with the choice to travel by cruise ship. It made the week a very different experience. It was relaxing and brought comforts of home. I was in a king sized bed rather than a hostel, and ate steak every night for dinner rather than a sandwich. In the end I am content that I was able to have both types of traveling experiences during my time abroad.

.