Just Cruisin' (A Flashback)

Written on May 4, 2013

Tonight I am writing from the comfort of our wonderfully large white king-sized bed in our sizable ocean view cabin on-board Holland America’s Eurodam. We've been aboard since Monday, today is Saturday, and so we’re about halfway through our 11-night Mediterranean Cruise.

We departed from Rome, where we met my parents just two days before. They flew in on Friday and we flew in from Prague on Saturday, meeting them for the afternoon and evening, and spending all day Sunday dragging them around to show them as much of the city as we could, after exploring the Pantheon and the Coliseum. Whew! Early Monday afternoon we all boarded the ship (after a quick mishap involving a van and Drew’s iphone…funny story) and began to settle in.

The four of us before our first formal night

It’s been quite a change for Drew and I from the way we’ve been traveling since February 2^nd, let me tell you! 

• First of all, we are staying in the same room for eleven nights. Eleven nights! That hasn’t happened since we left home! It’s been really nice to unpack and live out of closets and drawers rather than organizational Ziplocs, stuffsacks, and backpacks! 
• Secondly, we’re with my parents! We’ve made many friends during our travels and even stayed with new and old friends along the way, but to actually be exploring new places and spending time with my parents is really awesome. 
• Thirdly, our “world” is much more confined causing us to slow down a bit. We tend to travel at a pace that not too many people could probably keep up with, walking an average of probably eight hours a day. It’s a bit of an adjustment to slow down due to processes, procedures and lines that are just part of cruise line traveling. Plus, when we’re on-board the ship there are only so many things to see and do. We’re almost forced to just relax and take it all in because there’s only so much we can do in the time allotted at each port and on the ship.  
• Fourthly, we’re eating (at least) three meals a day and the food is amazing! It’s still a bit of a challenge with my having to eat gluten free because I always have to ask and don't have quite the selection as everyone else, but overall the cruise line is doing a good job catering to me and giving me what I want. And Drew is enjoying eating whatever he wants whenever he wants. He’s gotten two appetizers or two desserts or even two dinners – just because they all sound delicious and – he can!
• Lastly, the crew aboard our ship is amazing and they treat us well. Our room is cleaned  twice a day, the sheets are turned down nightly with a chocolate left on our bed, fresh fruit is left in our room each day, and we have all the comforts of home (yes, even a washcloth!!)

It’s going to be a bit of an adjustment when we get off – but I am just happy we have a few more weeks of our adventure left. I’d definitely be pleased to have even more, but I suppose this journey has to come to an end at some point.

In case you’re curious for more details of our cruise,there’s a quick rundown of our itinerary below. I hope to write posts and share pictures from each port soon.

Monday – board

Tuesday – at sea

Wednesday – Kerkira, Greece (Corfu)

Thursday – Katakolon, Greece (visited ancient Olympia)

Friday – Santorini, Greece (amazing place!!)

Saturday (today) – Kusadasi, Turkey (visited the ancient city of Ephesus)

Sunday and Monday – Piraeus, Greece (Athens)

Tuesday – at sea

Wednesday – Messina, Italy (Sicily)

Thursday – Naples, Italy (tour to Pompei)

Friday – disembark in Rome, we’ll spend the day in the city until our flight to Bucharest, Romania

Drew's first cruise! He has no idea what he's in for...

The food! Oh, the food!

One of the two pools - this one had a retractable roof that blocked the wind

Another shot of our boat - docked in Katakolon, Greece

One of the nightly towel animals that awaited us. We loved these!

The super creative towel animal we made for our room steward, Wibi :)

When in Rome...

Ah, Roma!

Us overlooking the river

Like many Americans, I've always wanted to see Rome. I’d heard and read stories from many people who just rave about the city. One thing I read before we came was something to the effect of the “grittiness” of Rome, but even with that grittiness you can’t help but fall in love. This didn't sound so great to me and so I tried to forget that I read it because I just didn't understand how I could love something described as dirty and gritty and crowded.

Well, let me tell you, that description actually makes a lot of sense and I truly did fall in love with the city despite of and because of its grit! I don’t know how to explain it, but it just gets to you. For me, it was a combination of two things that really put me over the edge: the beautiful ancient architecture around every corner and the food.

Ruins near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Everywhere you turn in Rome is another historically significant and beautiful structure. From the Coliseum, to the Trevi Fountain, to the Pantheon, to St. Peter’s Basilica to the random church on the corner; the beauty is overwhelming. There are fountains and plazas and huge Roman columns, you think you've gotten a handle on the city and seen so much and you turn the corner to find another grand and stunning building/fountain/sculpture/obelisk that you haven’t seen before!

The Colosseum

The beautiful Trevi Fountain

The Pantheon at Night

View from the Pantheon doors

And then there’s the food!!! With my diagnosis of Celiac disease just a few months ago, I was kind of dreading our time in Italy when it came to the eating part. I love Italian food, but since my diagnosis it’s been hard to find a gluten free pizza, bread or pasta that is actually more than just a way to satisfy my craving. I've yet to find any that’s really good. And then I came to Rome. Rome knows how to do gluten free and they do it amazingly well. Drew and I had many meals and often shared two entirely gluten free dishes so that we each could try more things. And all of it was delicious! He didn't feel like he was being cheated and I felt normal again! I found restaurants that had entire menus that were 100% gluten free (Mama! Eat), and many other places could make at least a few types of gluten free pasta or pizza as well. I was in heaven and for those three days we both ate extremely well and filled ourselves with lots of pizza, pasta and wine, and several cappuccinos and even gelato.

My first meal in Rome: Gluten Free deliciousness at Mama! Eat

Gluten Free Nutella Pizza for Dessert at Mama! Eat

If you’re a Celiac, you MUST go to Rome. You have to go out to eat in a place where it’s not a big deal and people just nod and hand you their gluten free menu. You have to taste the best gluten free pizza and pasta in the world. You just have to. It’ll be worth it.

And if you’re not a Celiac, you’re still going to love Rome. It’s beautiful, romantic, and full of amazing food in addition to all the legendary sites!

Gluten Free French Fry Pizza at Voglia di Pizza! Yum!

One of our many Coffees in Italy

I was very sad to leave Rome…luckily we will be back for two days in just a couple weeks, as that is where our cruise departs from. Super happy about that!

Inside Vatican City

Vatican City

Bernini's Four Rivers Fountain at Piazza Navona

For more pictures of beautiful Roma, click here.

What We've Been Up To

It’s been a little while since I’ve written as we’ve been very busy hopping from place to place, so I want to catch you up on where exactly we've been and where we are going. I plan to write more detailed posts about the specific places soon, but for now here’s an overview. 

Barcelona

We arrived in Barcelona on Tuesday night, after a six hour or so train ride from Sevilla. Our friend, John, who we met on our diving boat in the Galapagos invited us to stay with him at his flat in the Barceloneta area, which is right near the beach. We stayed until Monday morning when we left for San Sebastian, a town up on the northern coast which was recommended to us by one of our AirBnB.com hosts in Toledo. (I wrote this quick post about Barcelona while we were there, and this one after which has a little more detail about why I love the city.)

San Sebastian and Hendaye (France!)

We took a bus from Barcelona to San Sebastian on Tuesday morning, and arrived in the early afternoon. We took another bus from the city to our accommodation for two nights – another AirBnB.com stay. Our host, Elvira, was wonderful and her place was extremely clean, homey and welcoming. The only downside was her apartment is about a 50 minute walk into the city. You can catch a bus easy or a train after a 10 minute walk, but we tend to like to walk, so we made the trek a couple times. While in San Sebastian we took a day trip up to France because why not and Drew really was hoping to get to France so this gave him a small taste! (I have a full post on our time in the city and our excursion to Hendaye, France coming soon).

Bilbao

Thursday afternoon we took another bus (about 1 hour 45 minutes) from San Sebastian to Bilbao. We both wanted to visit the famous Guggenheim, for different reasons. I took an architecture class my senior year at Canisius where I learned about the museum and architect and thought the building was amazing. (This class is actually what sparked my interest in Gaudi as well.) Drew, on the other hand, is a big James Bond fan, and apparently the Guggenheim Bilbao was featured in one of the movies. (More to come on this soon).

Madrid

Saturday morning we took another bus (just under five hours) back to Madrid. Before we left the states this winter we opened up a Marriott Rewards credit card which gives us no international fees and points towards nights at hotels and other perks. One such perk was a free night at a category four Marriott hotel. We had booked a night at the AC Marriott in Madrid (for free!) before we left and boy did it come at the right time! We’ve been staying at some decent places, some hostels and some people’s homes through AirBnB.com, but in Bilbao our accommodation was pretty terrible. The location was fine, but the apartment smelled like mildew and mold and was pretty much disgusting and we couldn’t wait to leave. On top of that, the weather the entire time we were in the city was the coldest we’ve experienced on the trip thus far, and rainy. Cold, cold rain. Oh, and hail. And we did see snowflakes. Yuck. So anyway, when we arrived in Madrid we were so excited for the fancy hotel room awaiting us! It was gorgeous: king bed, beautiful bathroom, washcloths (!) (read my post about One Month In: What it Feels Like to be a Backpacker if you don’t get my excitement about that one), a nice hair dryer, a bidet (lol), I could go on.

Anyway, we checked in and quickly made ourselves comfortable before heading into the city. There were a few things we knew we wanted to do (mostly for me and my gluten free food needs). We found a Pizza Jardin restaurant near our hotel and had a late lunch there. We ate at another location of this restaurant for dinner on our first days in the city because I had read about their gluten free pizza (yay!). So we had pizza and then headed to the wonderful Celicioso Bakery which is also completely gluten free. Drew stopped at a regular bakery for a treat for himself afterwards, and then we stopped at McDonald's because I had heard that all McDonald's in Spain have gluten free rolls. It’s true. I’m really not a big fast food person, ever, but I felt I had to get and try one of these rolls, so I got a plain hamburger to have for dinner later. (It was ok…a little hard. I guess if you really loved McDonald's in the first place you would probably be more excited than I was).

What’s Next

And now, I am writing from the airplane. We are on our way to Rome! Spain has been absolutely amazing; fun-filled, new sights and amazing places, beautiful architecture, good food including many gluten free options, moving around a lot. I've enjoyed every part of it, but I can’t help but be excited for all that’s ahead, beginning with Rome.

The details aren't set yet, but we’ll be in Rome, then Sacile to visit family of our friends, up to Venice and into and around a few places in Austria, making our way to Prague. From Prague we fly back to Rome where we have two days before we depart on our Mediterranean Cruise! Yes, that’s right. We booked an eleven night cruise which will take us from Rome to several Greek isles, Turkey, Sicily and Naples. We found a good deal online a few weeks ago and decided we wanted to do it!

After the cruise we will fly to Romania, where we will go to Transylvania and somehow make our way down to Istanbul before we fly to Dubai on May 27. We are two months in, halfway through our adventure, but we have so much ahead, lots to figure out, and heaps to look forward to. I’m afraid time is going to fly by because we will be so busy, but I’m excited to take it all in and experience all of the places we are going to go! Stay tuned for more…

Update (Monday, April 8)

We're currently in Rome and it's AMAZING! I am finding lots of awesome gluten free food (including pizza and pasta!) thanks to Trip Advisor and some other great websites. This is where technology really comes in handy! Lots to say about this wonderful place...hope to post blogs and pics soon. Here's a couple, just to hold you over!

Drew and I at the Colosseum

The Trevi Fountain at night

The Pantheon at night