Cruise: Last Sea Day & Split, Croatia

For our last sea day, we did a lot of the same things we did the first sea day.  We hung out in the spa, laid out (got lots of sun!),  read a LOT, did my own BodyPump class with Ken & Lisa, played Yahtzee (yes, I won :) & Heads Up!, ate at one of the specialty restaurants (the Asian one...and despite what I thought, the restaurant was really good), saw a show, and tried out the chocolate buffet (nothing great).  

 Giving foot massages 

banana pancakes with ice cream for dessert!

 Acting out for Heads Up!

Our last stop for the cruise was Split, Croatia.  We didn't have anything planned for the day, so we walked around, checked out the smallest cathedral in the Christian world, got lunch, and stopped at a beach for a little bit (we got the whole "European experience" at the beach ;).  

We hiked to the top of this bell tower

The view from up top

The cathedral

 Down in the crypts

The town

Some of the delicious chocolate

Lunch!

The Adriatic Sea: quite a bit different than what our beaches

Walking back from the beach

 Getting back on the boat

This lady was in charge of sanitizing everybody's hands for every single meal, and every time  you passed her, she sung, "Happy happy, washy washy!" Had to get a picture with her on the last day.

In the spa, watching the boat back out of the harbor...I spent a lot of time reading here!

And, that's a wrap for the cruise!  The only thing left is our day in Venice (right after the cruise).  

Cruise: Kusadasi, Turkey

The next stop on our cruise was Kusadasi, Turkey.  Turkey was a really beautiful place, and we saw so much while we were there.  Like in Athens, we hired a tour guide beforehand, and we started seeing the sites as early as they'd let us off the boat.  We started off by going to Mary's house (or, what they believed to be Mary's house), which was up in the mountains and in a very quiet, serene place.  You can walk around, see the grounds, and go through the house (now a worship area).  After the house, there's a fountain that's supposed to grant fertility (so of course, everybody made us drink from it...), and then a wall where you can put wishes. 

on our drive

the entrance

coming out of the back of the house

drinking from the fountain of fertility

I'll let you know what I wished for, once it comes true ;)

this bug was HUGE...literally the size of one of my hands 

At Ephasus (this stuff is thousands of years old!)

These were their toilets (and, they even had entertainers near the toilets!).

This was their library.

The amphitheater 

coming out of underneath the amphitheater 

Not sure what this was, but I thought it looked like a graveyard (it wasn't though).

After visiting Ehpasus, we went over to St. John's Basilica.  The roof wasn't on the basilica anymore (because of how old it is), but there were still several cool things to see, including a baptistry (where they fully immersed people who were baptized).  

 This was the front of the basilica 

Our tour guide for the day

One of the baptistries

All the ladies (including our tour guide)

Different parts of the church

The baptistry (North, East, South, West)

The views were beautiful!

Last stop before getting back to the ship: a rug-making factory

Our tour guide took us to get an authentic Turkish lunch, and afterwards took us a rug-making factory.  We were able to see how they make rugs, and I was even able to do one of the steps (with assistance :).  Watching them make the rugs really gives you a whole new appreciation for rugs.  Some of the rugs, they told us, take a year and a half to make.  It's absolutely incredible.  

Lunch (and, I really liked it!)

 The whole process of getting the thread

 Me, getting some practice with rug-making

 The women's working stations

The guys rolling out the rugs

The men trying to make a sale 

a silk rug (these take WAY longer than the normal ones & they're much more expensive)