Cruisin'

Spring break finally arrived last week.  Off we went on a cruise with the MSC Musica ship to the Greek Isles.  Now bear in mind this is a European cruise company....it will be nothing like cruisin' with Carnival cruises/similar companies.  Would I recommend this cruise line?  Probably not.  Customer service is horrible.  Not all employees were rude; sadly the managers and people working the information desks were!  Compensation for problems was just as terrible!  They wouldn't do anything to help you..."contact your booking agent" was a common phrase.  Kids club activities suck!  They are in a room with some board games.  Now I will say my daughter enjoyed the few times she went but that was few and far between.  Okay.... I'm not gonna keep bashing this trip just because the cruiseline was crap!

All in all our trip was not all bad.  This cruise line could definetly use some help...they offended all nationalites on this trip from what we could see and hear.  But the good did surely outweigh the bad!  We were on vacation for one!  We were heading to Greece for two!  We were guaranteed good family time for three! 

In Santorini we rode up the mountian on their steep cable car to the top where we walked around the town of Fira.  Had some mouthwaters Gyros.  Grabbed a few trinkets to take home.  Then had our calf muscles screaming at the bottom as we walked from the top all the way down...dodging donkeys and their poop piles.  I would love to return here one day and see more of the island since we didn't get a lot of time to see all of it.

Stopped in Mykonos close to dinner time!  Didn't want to waste a port so off we went with a few friends who were travelling with us.  We found a fabulous local restaurant where we feasted on meat platters, fish, pita bread, 2 plates of the best Tzatziki, 3 bottles of amazing local wine, and then finished off our night with a toast of Mastika (a gift from our waitress and restaurant manager).  This stuff was amazing!  We made sure to come home with a bottle.  We actually got looked at funny when we asked about buying it...I guess they thought as tourists we'd be more interested in Ouzo (which we never had the whole trip).  Apparently this yummo drink is well known with locals but not tourists...if in Greece you must try it!

On to Athens we went and took all morning to enjoy the sights of the Ancient ruins of the Parthenon and the Acropolis museum.  What amazing sights!  Athens itself was kinda "eh" for us...the old ruins and similar sights was the best part of that place for sure!

Spent a rainy few hours in Corfu the next day.  Had a local recommend a restaurant (The Sailing Club) which was through the old Venetian Citadel and down by the water.  Amazing food once again and with awesome prices!  I would love to go back here and explore more since our port time didn't allow much for sightseeing...but it was more than originally on our itinerary.

Our last stop yesterday was in Dubrovnik, Croatia!  What a great stop this was.  Again way more time was needed to explore this beautiful medival city!  We were once again rained on but in the end we got off the boat and had the best time!  This place is a MUST SEE!

And now we are home safely in Italia!  I am so excited to be sleeping in my warm bed tonight.  Tomorrow our normal routines begin once again with school, work, and daily this and thats!  From this point on our time living in Europe is down to a mere 8 weeks!  Things will be moving quickly for us now that we're down to scheduling days for our house to be packed and shipped, and all the other things that go with moving on.  But first I think I'll savor the rest of my day, curled up on the couch with my pooch (who I missed snuggling this last week) and munching on some Chinese take-out!  Ahh it's good to be home