The Southernmost Point In The Continental United States

I was in Florida a couple of months ago, and now that I posted everything I could about my Europe vacation, I can start sharing some things that I did while in the Sunshine State. Before you ask, no I did not encounter Florida Man while I was down there though I did notice some weird things going on because it is Florida.

Florence Part 2: The Duomo And The Sculpture Of David

Part 1 of my Florence escapades is here.

After a fun-filled night walking around the streets of Florence, I was ready to do the same thing, but in the daytime. The main places I went to on my second day in Florence was the Duomo (Florence Cathedral) and Accademia Gallery, which displays Michelangelo's sculpture David. 

Florence Part 1: The Tuscan City At Night

The last stop on my Italy vacation was spending a couple of nights in Florence, which is the capital of Italy’s Tuscany region. I knew about Tuscany because of its wine production, so I was hoping to get the chance to sample some Tuscan red wine. Upon entering the city by train and checking into our hotel, I felt safer than walking around in Rome, which was something I could not really explain. We got into Florence in the afternoon, so after doing laundry at the local laundromat, we spent the evening walking around the city. Here is my experience:

Vatican City Photo Gallery

The second attraction I went to in Rome was not exactly an attraction, but rather its own country inside of the city. I visited the country of Vatican City, ruled by The Holy See, and the central seat of The Catholic Church. I am not a religious man, and frankly I thought I would spontaneously combust upon entering such a holy place, but at least I got to check out some of the historical paintings and sculptures while walking through these halls. Just like my blog post of the Colosseum, this will be more of a collection of photos rather than me giving my thoughts about Vatican City, though I do have a few things I will talk about while you scroll down and check out my pictures.

Colosseum and Roman Forum Photo Gallery

I was in Rome for a few days, and my one full day in the city had me check out two of the major attractions in the city. The first attraction was visiting the Colosseum. The Colosseum was an amphitheatre built back in the days of the Roman Empire and hosted events such as gladiatorial contests, animal hunts, and executions. The Colosseum is one of the chosen seven wonders of the modern world, and I was happy to see the structure in person (with a tour guide, of course).

Limoncello Hunting In Sorrento

I stayed for a few nights in the town of Sorrento, which is south of the City of Naples and sitting on the Gulf of Naples. The thing that impressed me the most about Sorrento (and places in Europe in general) is how everything feels so walkable. It is obvious that there is more of an emphasis on pedestrians rather than vehicles. The closest cities I can compare to this where I stayed a few nights are Ottawa and Montreal, but even those cities are still too vehicle-centric compared to Europe. In evenings in Sorrento, the streets in the town center close, and so the pedestrians fill the streets walking around.

Capri Part 2: Monte Solaro And The Wealthy Side Of The Island

If you want to read about part one of my day on the island of Capri, please click here.

I last left off perusing the sandals and perfume shops in the walkable alleys of Anacapri, but now it is time to make my way up to the highest point of the island of Capri on Monte Solaro. 

Capri Part 1: Boat Rides in Bad Weather

I still had a full schedule of things to do while in Italy. The day after the trip through the Amalfi Coast, I had a day trip to go to the island of Capri. Capri is a resort island that is popular with tourists and day-trippers. The island is busiest in the summer months, while it is not very busy in the winter months. There are also many products named after the island as well, such as the Capri pants, the Capri-Sun juice pouches, and the Caprese salad. I felt like I did almost everything there is to do while at the island, except for the most well-known attraction on the island.

Amalfi Coast Part 2: Exploring Amalfi and Ravello

This is the second part of my day trip through the Amalfi Coast. Part 1 is here.

Our next stop was the town of Amalfi, which shares the namesake with the coast that we happen to be on. While Positano had this quirky, bougie vibe to the town, Amalfi felt like a more bustling tourist town that was full of life.

Amalfi Coast Part 1: The Picturesque Positano

The next day after we flew into Italy and checked into our hotel in Sorrento, we began our day tour exploring the Amalfi Coast. Right off the bat, I want to say how truly lucky I was to get to go to a place that many people around the world consider to be a bucket-list destination, including myself. The Amalfi Coast is an area that, prior to the tour, I have only read about and explored in Google Maps. I am so happy that I get to share my experience with you, and if you have the means to do so, you should absolutely spend some time on the Amalfi Coast. We went to the towns of Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello. This post will focus on our time in Positano.

Touching Down On Italy (And Europe) For The First Time

Hello again! Now that I have written all my posts about my cruise vacation visiting Croatia, Turkey, and Greece, it is time for me to talk about the week before the cruise trip, with my time in Italy. I have had great difficulty on how I will be structuring these Italy blog posts. I will have dedicated posts on certain places (such as the Amalfi Coast, Capri, etc.) as well as certain attractions (such as the Colosseum, Vatican City, etc.). The problem I am having is how I want to talk about my general thoughts about the country. Should I have a dedicated post just for this? Should I sprinkle these thoughts within all the other Italy posts? There is no true answer for me.

Around Athens In Three Hours

My voyage on-board the Celebrity Infinity came to an end, docking at the port of Piraeus, just southwest of the city of Athens. I have talked about the Celebrity Infinity in two previous blog posts but for this post, I am going to talk about our brief tour of Athens before we had to go to the airport to catch our flight. While on our city tour in Rhodes, our taxi driver connected us to a tour company in Athens who was able to show us around the city for a few hours before taking us to the airport (for a reasonable rate).

 

A Beach Day in Nafplio, Greece

Our last port that the Celebrity Infinity stopped at (before the end of our voyage) was the Greek city of Nafplio. We needed a day to just relax at the beach, and Nafplio did not look like there was much going on in terms of interesting things to see, so this was our designated beach day. This was another of those stops where we had to take a tender boat to get to the actual port of Nafplio, and the views from the ship and the tender boat were impressive. There was hilly terrain with the occasional fortified structure.

The Rug Salesmen of Türkiye (Türkiye Part 2)

This is the second part of my day in Türkiye. The first Türkiye blog post is here. By this point, we have explored the ruins of Ephesus, but we still have another whole half of a day to spend in this country. There will be more exploring of ruins and religious sites, but there was a surprise waiting for us after we finished eating lunch.

Exploring The Ruins of Ephesus (Türkiye Part 1)

Let us talk about a different country for a change. This mega-trip of Southeastern Europe also included my first time visiting Türkiye (formerly known as Turkey). I have always wanted to visit Türkiye, mainly the Istanbul area, but I was perfectly okay with visiting any part of the country. The Celebrity Infinity docked in the port town of Kuşadasi. It was a beautiful, quiet morning as the cruise ship pulled into the dock. The town itself looked like a picture from a postcard, with the sunrise looking over the buildings on the hills.

The Colossus In Rhodes

The next port of call for the voyage onboard the Celebrity Infinity was in the city of Rhodes, which was in the island of Rhodes. The island of Rhodes is just southwest of Turkey, but the island is a part of Greece. The only time I have ever heard of Rhodes was the Colossus of Rhodes, which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Unfortunately, the wonder does not exist anymore, but I get to go to its former site.

A Chaotic Evening in Santorini - Part 2

This is the second part of my day in Santorini. If you have not read part 1 yet, here is the link. In this post, I talk about walking through the quaint Greek village of Megalochori, exploring the village of Oia (which is the main tourist town of Santorini), and describe the chaos of trying to get back to our cruise ship before it leaves us.

Exploring Santorini, Greece - Part 1

The next stop on the Celebrity Infinity voyage was the island of Santorini in Greece. I know Santorini is generally one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe with its blue and white buildings, but now I get the chance to go to the island myself and see if this place is worth the hype. Little did I know that Santorini would be one of the most chaotic days of my vacation, especially towards the end of the day.

There are many things to show from this day, so I will split this day into two blog posts. This post is part one of my day in Santorini.

Dubrovnik, Croatia (How I Fell In Love With My Croatian Tour Guide)

The first stop on my Celebrity Infinity cruise was the city of Dubrovnik in Croatia. Dubrovnik is probably best known nowadays as being the setting of “King’s Landing” in the HBO show Game of Thrones, but this is a city steeped in history, like most cities in Europe. I will say right now that despite the amount of walking that I did, Dubrovnik was probably the best day trip I had during my cruise.

Celebrity Infinity Highlights

This will be a companion post to my recent cruise ship review on the Celebrity Infinity, for which I was a guest for the ship's voyage around the Adriatic Sea and the Greek Islands. This post will be less formal in nature, and I want to share some experiences I had aboard the ship that I could not fit in my previous post. There were a number of things happening on the ship, and I tried to experience as much as I can. So without further ado, here were my highlights onboard the Celebrity Infinity.