How I Spent My Summer Vacation
Steve and I spent the past 2 weeks on a dream vacation: Venice, Cruise in Greece & Turkey and a few days in Athens. With proper planning, wonderful guides and accommodations, and a great cruiseline, we had a wonderful adventure.
We started our trip in Venice, spending 3 days touring. We worked with one of our tour partners, who planned everything from the transfers to and from the airport, local tour guides and a beautiful hotel on the water. Venice is a unique city, as everything revolves around the Grand Canal. There are no cars and in order to go anywhere, you either walk or take a water taxi or water bus.
When we arrived in Venice, we had someone meet us at baggage claim and a driver who took us to our private water taxi. They got us directly to the front of our hotel. They were thrilled that we each had a small suitcase and backpace, as this was very easy to maneuver on the boat. Once we got settled at the hotel, we had a private tour guide meet us and take us on a city walking tour. I always suggest to my clients to have something planned for your first day, that will be outside, so you can adjust to the time change. While we were tired, this tour kept us awake and stopped us from napping (which everyone wants to do). After the tour and dinner, we were able to stay up until 11:00pm and had the best night sleep ever!
The next morning we had another private tour to Murano, the island where they make Murano glass, and Burano, the island where they make lace. I was very excited for Murano, as I love the glass. We toured a factory and were able to make some special purchases. And on Burano, we watched a woman handmake lace, which is a dying art. Later that afternoon, we took a gondola ride on the Grand Canal. While we did this last year at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, I have to admit the one in Venice was much better! And of course, we ate lots of pasta, pizza & gelato.
The next day, we spent the day wandering around the city alone. I tell my clients that it is always fun to “get lost in a city” and we were lucky to have the time to do that in Venice. We crossed the Rialto Bridge and ate lunch on the other side of the canal. And we did a bit of shopping in the local shops. Our evening flight took us from Venice to Athens to get ready to board our ship.
When we were thinking of going to Greece, we actually planned to do a land only tour. But once we researched Virgin Voyages, we decide that their brand new ship, the Resilient Lady, had an itinerary that would work for us. One of the nice things about a cruise, is you unpack once and are able to see the hightlights of an area. This allows you to decide if you want to return to that place and spend more time there.
While I have taken over 30 cruises, both ocean and river, Virgin is like no other cruise line out there. They are completely laid back with no formal nights, no announcements from the captain or crew, no photographers, no destination discussions and no set dining room. There are a variety of themed restaurants to choose from and the entertainment is unique and fun. They have a show called Persephone, which is an acrobatic, song and dance show, that uses the entire theater as its stage. Other entertainment includes a mind mangler, Diva Bingo, Scarlet Night (where the entire ship turns red), and classics like trivia and karaoke.
When choosing a cabin, we decide to get a Brilliant Suite, which had a king-sized bed, large bathroom with a glass shower, sitting area and beautiful balcony with the signature red hammock, that Virgin is known for. Being in a suite also allowed us access to Richard’s Rooftop, an exclusive deck to lounge and enjoy a pre-dinner cocktail hour with other suite guests.
And the destinations were perfect. We spent our anniversary at Santorini and Fira, viewing the blue domed churches of Oia. We visited a potter in Rhodes and made our own pottery, that is being fired, painted and shipped to us. We went to a winery in Bodrum, Turkey where we had a tasting and snacks. And we spent a wonderful day in Mykonos, seeing the windmills and watching the iconic sunset from the rooftop of a restaurant.
The last 3 days of our vacation was spent in Athens. We used another of our trusted partners for transfers, private tours and accommodations.
We took a walking tour to the Acropolis, learning all about the history of the Parthenenon and the contest between Athena and Poseidon, leading to the city being named after the goddess of wisdom and courage. We also toured the Acropolis Museum, an archeological museum housing the artifacts from the archaeological site of the Acropolis.
We also spent some time on our own, seeing the Changing of the Guard at the Presidential Palace, walking through the National Gardens and shopping in Plaka.
But my favorite part of our visit to Athens, was the private food tour we took. Our guide asked us exactly what we wanted to taste and he made all of my Greek dreams come true. We ate both savory and sweet items, including moussaka, stuffed peppers, baklava, galaktoboureko (a custard pie), loukoumades (fried honey donuts), fresh greek salad, olives and a charcuterie platter filled with Greek meats and cheeses. To say we were full was an understatement. And he took us to the markets to see where Athenians can get their fresh fruits, vegetables, fish and meats.
This was definitely a trip of a lifetime. We are now starting to think of what we want to do for our 40th Anniversary in 5 years.
Contact me to begin planning your next celebration vacation.