Trip of a lifetime!

Ok, So I know I am a little behind... like 2 months to be exact, but I am FINALLY going to blog about my amazing trip to the Mediterranean Countries. There is SO much to say about our trip! I'll try my best to explain some of it in writing... It was by far the most incredible adventure I've ever done. I already want to go back to Europe. I LOVED it there. I may just run away to Italy for like a year...

ROME
Our first stop? Rome!!! I can't even describe how amazing it was. The whole experience was unbelievable. Our port was in a city called Civitavecchia. It was beautiful there. It was covered in these green farms and olive tree fields, and had a gorgeous beach! There was also the ancient fort of Miguel Angelo there. It was about an hour drive from there to Rome. We found out that there are over 3 million people that live in Rome. Which, equals ridiculous traffic! The people there drive CRAZY! There are basically no rules other than DON'T DIE. haha. We drove through the city and there were ancient ruins, churches and excavations everywhere! I about went crazy trying to take pictures of everything on the bus. I hated that we just cruised by everything.

FORT OF MIGUEL ANGELO

One of the coolest things we passed was the Circus Maximus, which was basically a giant ruin of a arena, where they used to hold the big Roman circus. WAY COOL.

Circus Maximus

Then our first stop was, dun dun da da! THE COLOSSEUM!!!! I can't even put into words how amazing it was. We got out, and walked under the Arch of Constantine, where the winners of the gladiator events walked under, and then we were right on front of the Colosseum. It was giant! We got to walk around for a minute, and snap some pictures, and then went inside. Which, was a billion times cooler than the outside! We got to see where the underground cages for the wild animals were, and all the old stadium seats and steps were. It was crazy.

ARCH OF CONSTANTINE AND COLOSSEUM

INSIDE THE COLOSSEUM

OUTSIDE THE COLOSSEUM

ARCH OF CONSTANTINE

Afterwards we got to walk through the city on our way to the Trevie Fountain. The old shops and restaurants were in these tiny, old streets and the whole place smelled sooooo good! We got to to the Trevie Fountain, and it was beautiful! There's a huge, ornate statue of Poseidon in the middle with all these dolphins and mermaids... all made of white marble. We got to throw one coin into the fountain, which means we will return to Rome in the future. (two coins means you'll get married, and three means you'll get a divorce.) Right across the street from the fountain is the Pantheon. It's the most well preserved, ancient building in Rome. It was a temple dedicated to ALL the gods, (which is super abnormal, normally a temple is dedicated to one.) The outside was covered in these huge columns, and the inside was.... WOW. In the middle is a giant dome, covered in carvings. In the middle of the dome, is a circle opening so you can see the sky. But, it had rained that day, so the floor was soaking wet. Inside is the tomb of the painter Rafael, and tons of beautiful statues and art.

TREVIE FOUNTAIN

TREVIE FOUNTAIN

PANTHEON

GIANT DOME INSIDE PANTHEON

RAPHAEL'S TOMB

After that, we had some free time to grab some lunch. It was the best part of the day!!! We walked back into a little side street to this pizza parlor (Rome is famous for it's pizza) and we had the best food I've had in my whole life. We had this sausage pizza, and mushroom rigatoni. It was to die for!! And to top it all off, we had Gelato for dessert!! It was fantastic.

TEAGUE EATING YUMMY ROMAN PIZZA

ME EATING THE BEST ITALIAN PASTA EVER!

Then we headed back to the bus, and it took us too the Vatican. There is a huge, stone wall surrounding the Vatican. It looks pretty intimidating from the outside.... but once your inside.... WOW! Everything was gorgeous! We started in the Vatican museum, and quickly got to walk through the marble, tapestry and geography exhibits. You would have died! It was amazing. Then we got to walk through the Sistine Chapel. I honestly don't even know how to describe it. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. The entire chapel was COVERED in religious art, that told the story of the creation of the earth, the life of Moses, and the life of Christ. It was unbelievably gorgeous. They didn't allow ANY pictures, at all inside the chapel. But..... don't worry I snuck a shot. :) It's not very good, but at least you can have a taste of what the inside was like!

GIANT STONE WALL OUTSIDE VATICAN CITY

RESURRECTION TAPESTRY

RIDICULOUSLY GORGEOUS MUSEUM CEILINGS

MY SNEAK SHOT OF THE SISTINE CHAPEL CEILING (I RISKED GETTING MY CAMERA CONFISCATED FOR THIS SHOT, TAKEN FROM INSIDE MY COAT.)

Finally, we got to go outside and see St. Peters square where all the statues of the Saints are. It was really cool. We got to see where the smoke comes out when they choose the new Pope, and walk through these giant column walkways. The last thing we got to see was St. Peters cathedral. It was HUGE! Way bigger then even the SLC Temple. The inside was ridiculous, it was covered in carvings, statues, mosaics and art. And right in the middle was the giant, bronze arch of the Pope. It was all pretty overwhelming. And we were so rushed through everything, I don't think I really go to appreciate, or soak in everything I was seeing. But I'm SOOOOO beyond glad that we got to see it all.

INSIDE ST. PETER'S BASILICA

ARCH OF THE POPE

ST. PETER'S SQUARE



CRETE

Then we went to Crete and Izmir! We went to Crete, INSTEAD of Athens. Ugh. It was very, very disappointing. I was really looking forward to Athens. But, the island of Crete was very pretty. We started off going to the temple of Knossos. It is the temple of King Minos, and is where the myth of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth were based off of. The ruins stretched over 5 acres of land. We got to walk and climb all over the ruins. They were really neat! We saw the queens quarters, and where the throne room and court used to be. It was definitely the highlight of Crete.

TEMPLE OF KNOSSOS

TEMPLE RUINS

BEAUTIFUL CRETE

Then from there, we headed to a little Greek village. The town is built on these hilly mountains, and the little houses where all these crazy bright colors! They winded all the way up the mountain tucked in these little crevasses. It about killed us climbing all the way up to the top! But the little town was seriously gorgeous. When we got to the top there was a little local restaurant. It was olive picking season, so we got to try all the fresh olives. And apparently goats are a big deal there, so we got to try all these different types of goat cheese. It was really yummy! Then we headed back to the boat and ate at Temponyaki. It's exactly the same as the one in Utah. It's the best food we've had on the boat this far.

AT THE TOP OF THE VILLAGE MOUNTAIN

THE WINDY STREETS OF THE MOUNTAIN VILLAGE

GORGEOUS, BRIGHT GREEK HOMES

ALL THE BUILDINGS WERE PAINTED THESE BEAUTIFUL, VIBRANT COLORS!

TURKEY

Then, we went to Izmir, and Ephesus Turkey! I was seriously impressed. I wasn't sure what to expect from Turkey. I didn't really know much about it, but it was such a fun excursion. Our guide was really funny, and knew a lot more about the history of the places we went too then our previous guides at other ports had. We started out driving up these gorgeous cliffs to the House of Virgin Mary. Supposedly, Jesus had asked St. Peter to take care of his mother, Mary after he left. St. Peter came to Ephesus and they think, that Mary must have been with him. The house he lived in was kind of a hide-away in the mountains. And that is where the people believe Mary died. So we got to the house, and got to tour the grounds and inside. The inside is basically a huge shrine of Mary, and is still an active Catholic church. Once you get outside, they give you a candle to light and say a prayer. We lit our candles and prayed that we would have better food on the boat. I guess Mary wasn't listening..... Anyway, at the base of the little house, there is a big wall that has water running from these natural springs. The springs were supposed to be blessed by St. Peter, so it was "Holy Water." We were given little clay containers, and we got to take some holy water. Teague got thirsty on the bus and really wanted to drink it. But don't worry, I saved it. So if any of our houses get possessed by the devil, I got the Holy water covered. :)

HOUSE OF VIRGIN MARY

GETTING WATER FROM THE HOLY SPRING

STATUE OF VIRGIN MARY

LIGHTING A PRAYER CANDLE

After seeing Mary's house, we headed to the ancient ruins of Ephesus. THEY. WERE. AWESOME! They almost made up for not seeing the Greek ruins. ALMOST. There were temples, and arenas and palaces... It was insane! Just miles of this whole city that had been uncovered. Don't worry, we took lots of pictures. We've seen lots of ruins on our little adventure, and next to the Colosseum, these were the most impressive by far. After we got to explore the ruins, we got to go shopping! There was a little market down the road, and they had a little festival going on with jugglers and flame eaters. Way cool!

RUINS OF EPHESUS

LIBRARY OF CELSUS

TEMPLE OF DEMETER

TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS

US IN FRONT OF AN ANCIENT AMPHITHEATRE

FLAME EATER GYPSY

Finally, after the ruins, we headed to a handy craft center. We got to see how the famous Turkish rugs were made. They showed us everything! From seeing how the silk worms produce the silk, refining the raw silk fibers on a spindle, dying and drying the silk threads, and then finally watched these ladies on these huge looms making the rugs. It was really cool to watch the whole process. The guy told us that it takes the girls about 2-6 months to finish just one rug! The rugs were incredibly beautiful. I found one I fell in love with, but after hearing it was $5000, I lost my husband. So..... no rug. But we got to walk through all the store rooms and see thousands of these gorgeous rugs. I thought it was really cool. And they have these men showing off all the rugs, and they throw them in the air! The magic, flying, Turkish carpets they called them. It was so fun to watch!

SILK WORMS

COLLECTING SILK FIBERS

SPINNING THE SILK FIBERS INTO THREAD

WOMAN WEAVING A TURKISH RUG

CARPET SHOW!

THE GORGEOUS CARPET I WANTED :(

EGYPT

Now for, the Egypt adventure!!! This excursion was by far the highlight of the entire cruise. Egypt was unbelievable. We docked at the Alexandria port early morning and found our bus. They took us on a bus tour of Alexandria, which is HUGE!! It was pretty dirty, and super crowded. And I thought the drivers in Rome were bad.... they were NOTHING compared to the terrifying Egyptian drivers. I was seriously scared for my life anytime we drove anywhere. It seemed like there were absolutely no traffic rules at all! No police, nothing. And there were TONS of people on the road at once. Ugh, super scary. And lots of the people drive in these little cars called Tuk-tuks. They are kind of a mix between a mini bus and a motorcycle. I thought they were awesome! And they just zoomed in between all the crazy traffic all over Egypt. Apparently the weekend we were there was the weekend before their election for prime minister, so there were flags and banners hanging everywhere. It made the city look really colorful and cool. We drove for about two hours to Cairo. Once we got there, we checked into our hotel. Don't even worry, it was a freakin Four Seasons hotel! It was seriously the most gorgeous hotel I've ever been inside. And, it was right on the banks of the Nile! The bathroom was ridiculous! It was bigger than the upstairs floor of my house! Complete with a rainfall shower. AWESOME!

TUK-TUKS!

ELECTION BANNERS IN ALEXANDRIA

RIDICULOUS BATHROOM IN OUR HOTEL

HOTEL ROOM

After we checked into the hotel, we headed to the Egyptian Museum. It was amazing, we got to see all of King Tut's royal treasures he was buried with. Including his solid gold sarcophagus, and golden mask. It was a bit ridiculous how much gold was all over EVERYTHING in his tomb. They also had old statues, hieroglyphs, REAL mummies... it was really cool.

After the museum we headed to the Pyramid Sound and Light show. When you first pull up, it's so dark that you can't even see the pyramids at all. Then you sit down in the audience, and all of a sudden.... BAM! The biggest pyramid lights up with this explosion of colors and music. I honestly gasped. There isn't a picture in the world that could do the pyramids justice. They are just huge, and beautiful and magnificent! The show proceeds to light up all the pyramids and the Sphinx with lights and lasers and awesome music. Then it tells a story of how the pyramids were built, and they make it sound like the Sphinx itself is talking to you. It was amazing. I was just in shock, I couldn't believe I was actually there sitting in front of the pyramids!

After the light show, we headed back in town for our dinner cruise. ON THE NILE! We got in these boats that were supposed to be exact replicas of Cleopatra's royal ship. It was covered in gold hieroglyphs and best of all, full of food. We ate while this live Arab band played, and a belly dancer put on a show. All the while, you could look out the window and see the Nile river all lit up at night. Magical! After the night cruise, we crashed out the hotel. (I made sure to use the crazy shower!)

NILE IN THE DAYTIME (VIEW FROM OUR HOTEL BALCONY)

NILE AT NIGHT! ON THE NILE DINNER CRUISE

BELLY DANCER ON THE DINNER CRUISE

The next morning, we headed to the Temple of Mohamed Ali. It's an Islam temple, and they made us take off our shoes to go inside. But the inside... holy cow! Beeeeee-autiful! The ceiling was covered in these domes, covered in painted mosaics. The entire place was lit by candle chandeliers, and there was a guy singing this gorgeous song in Arabic. The outside of the temple is a courtyard with a giant clock tower, and a big stone dome where people were praying. Really, REALLY cool!

MOHAMMAD ALI CITADEL

HOLY DOME OF THE ROCK, AND CLOCK TOWER

INSIDE THE TEMPLE

ME AND DOWNTOWN CAIRO

CITY OF CAIRO

US OUTSIDE THE TEMPLE

After the temple we drove forever to the 6 step pyramid. It's the oldest pyramid on earth. It looks similar to the great pyramids in Giza, but instead of smooth sides, there are steps. We also got to go through the tomb of Unas Ankh who was the grandson of the king who built the pyramid. The inside was covered in hieroglyphs! They decorate the tomb with paintings of dancers, and slaves bringing TONS of different food and boats, ect. They are supposed to come to life when the spirit reunites with the pharaohs body, and then the pharaoh has everything he'll need for eternity painted for him. It's crazy because the paintings are in great shape so we could see all the food and animals and everything like they were painted last week. And outside the tombs, were the camels! Lots and lots of smelly camels. The tour guide warned us not to take rides from the vendors with the camels though, because apparently they tell you it's like ten bucks for a ride, then they ride you out miles away, and then ask for like $300 to get back. Nasty! So we didn't get to ride them, but I took lots of pictures.

HIEROGLYPHS

CAMEL!

SIX STEP PYRAMID

After that, it was back on the bus and we went to the city of Memphis. We went to the Memphis Museum, and saw a giant statue of Ramses, and the Alabaster Sphinx. (nothing in comparison to THE Sphinx, but still pretty cool.) I tried to brave the Egyptian public bathrooms at the museum and literally almost died. There was a lady in front of the door that you had to give a quarter, and she gave you like 4 squares of toilet paper. The bathroom was DISGUSTING. And, there was no handle to flush the toilet, so you had to pull the lever inside the tank to flush! Then, you guessed it.... no soap. I ran back to the bus and drenched my arms and hands in hand sanitizer. YUCK!!

ALABASTER SPHINX

STATUE OF PHARAOH RAMSES

Finally, for our grand finale, we went to the Giza plateau and got to see the Pyramids in their full glory in the daylight. They are even more incredible during the day! We got to walk all around the two largest pyramids for about an hour. Fighting off the ruthless vendors the entire time. Then we drove to the view point and got some great pictures of all three large pyramids, and all their little queens pyramids surrounding them. I got some great pictures. Then we drove down to the last trail that lead to the Sphinx. You can't get super close to it, but it was still really cool. He's actually smiling! He almost seems alive. I loved it. After our amazing day at the pyramids we packed up the bus, and went back to the ship. It was definitely my favorite part of our whole trip. You HAVE to go someday.

THE GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZA

US IN FRONT OF THE GIZA PLATAEA

ON THE STONES OF THE GREAT PYRAMID

THE SPHINX!

GIZA PLATEAU

TWO LARGEST PYRAMIDS

ONE OF MY FAVORITE SHOTS! CAMEL AND THE GREAT PYRAMID.

MALTA

Our next stop was Malta! We had our little excursion to the island country of Malta. It's kinda like Hawaii where there is a bunch of little islands that form a country. We were on the island of Valletta. That day was the first day we didn't have great weather, it was really foggy and drizzled most of the day. But still really warm, and it didn't pour so it wasn't too bad. We were so lucky to have such great weather at all our ports. The island is really interesting, it has these really steep cliffs that the city is literally carved out of. So there are all these windy roads that take you up the cliffs to these stone houses and buildings. The buildings are almost all carved out of limestone, so everything is this really pretty honey color. And then all the individual doors and shutters are painted these fun bright colors. It was really pretty!

THE ISLAND COUNTRY OF MALTA

I know you heard a little about the Templar Knights (from Da Vinci Code), and this little island was settled by the Knights! So the buildings have all these ornate carvings, and gorgeous Cathedrals and churches everywhere! She said there were 32 churches just on the island of Valletta alone. This was also the cleanest city I've ever seen! It was spotless, not a speck of garbage anywhere. And there were these bright pink and red flower vines that just climbed and covered everything. It was a really beautiful city. And the first stop that I really felt totally safe in. So our tour took us first to these two ancient temples. They were built in 3000 bc!!! Everything there was REALLY old. I couldn't believe how much history was on this tiny island i'd never heard of before.

GODDESS OF FERTILITLY STATUE (OR WHAT'S LEFT OF HER..)

HAL TARXIEN PREHISTORIC TEMPLES

US IN FRONT OF THE TEMPLE RUINS

Then we headed to one of the oldest found, human dwellings. They were in underground caves! So we got to hike down into these caves, and explore the inside of the mountain. It actually reminded me a lot of Mt. Timponogus. Not nearly that big though.... Then we went back up and went through the museum that held everything they had excavated from the caves. Everything from pottery, to skeletons of saber toothed tigers! It was really fun.

CAVE DWELLING

BEAUTIFUL STALAMITES

After that, we headed to this tiny fishing village. The harbor was FULL of these super bright colored fishing boats! It was one of the prettiest things we've seen. And these weren't modern fishing boats, they were tiny, little, wooden boats. Way cool. Then finally, we stopped at this glass blowing market. Malta is supposed to be famous for their blown glass. It was awesome to see them make the glass! We bought some really cool stuff from the market. Then, we finally headed back to the boat.

COLORFUL FISHING BOATS

FISHING VILLAGE

AWESOME RED PHONE BOOTH

MALTESE BLOWN GLASS FACTORY

GORGEOUS VALLETTA LANDSCAPE

CACTUS PEARS (THESE WERE GROWING EVERYWHERE!)

PARIS

 After our port in Barcelona, we hopped on a shuttle and headed for the airport. (That's all we saw of Barcelona was just the drive to and from the airport.) We flew to the city of love, Paris! Which happened to be in the middle of a giant blizzard!!!! We were SOOOOO freezing! We got there that evening, and checked into our hotel. It was a beautiful hotel right in the middle of the city. After we got checked in, we grabbed our map and headed for the subway. We took the subway to Musee de Louvre! The Louvre is huge. Miles, and miles long. They said it takes at least five weeks to walk through and see every exhibit. We came in from the underground entrance, and when we looked up in the lobby, we were looking up straight into the giant glass pyramid. It looked just like Da Vinci Code. haha! Really cool. We didn't have a whole lot of time, so we had planned ahead to see the Roman and Greek statues, Da Vinci exhibit, Egyptian artifacts, and the famous Winged Victory Statue. The museum is incredible. Everything from the parquet floors, to the exquisite ceilings take your breath away. We went to see Winged Victory first, she's beautiful. Even if she's headless. :)  Then we walked through the Da Vinci exhibit. We saw so many beautiful paintings including Madonna of the Rocks, the Last Judgement, and the finale, the gorgeous Mona Lisa. Then we headed to the Greek Statue section. There were hundreds of beautiful Greek Goddesses and Gods. I am kind of a nerd, and am obsessed with Greek mythology. So I was like a kid in a candy store. The best of course, was Venus de Milo, the gorgeous armless statue of Aphrodite. We had such an amazing time. We exited through he upper level, and came out right in front of the giant glass pyramid. It was dark, so it was all lit up and beautiful. Then we decided to walk downtown and find a fabulous French restaurant to eat at. It was freezing, but the city was all lit up, and we walked down the river so I didn't even care. It was the prettiest city I've ever seen. As we walked to find food, we stopped at the Arch de Triumph, it was covered in ornate carvings in bright white marble. Beautiful!

MONA LISA

MODONNA OF THE ROCKS

LAST JUDGEMENT

VENUS DE MILO

ZUES

GOLD STATUE OF APOLO

WINGED TRIUMPH

OUTIDE THE LOUVE

GLASS PYRAMID

THE LOUVE

INVERTED GLASS PYRAMID

PARIS AT NIGHT

ARCH DE TRIUMPH

The next morning, we hopped back on the Subway and headed to the most impressive cathedral of our whole trip. Notre Dame. We saw a LOT of cathedrals, basilicas, temples, and churches on our trip. Notre Dame puts them all to shame. It is stunning! I love Gothic architecture, and this just blew my mind. It was COVERED in carvings of saints, angels, devils, and awesome gargoyles. The inside was insane. It had these endless arched ceilings, that made you feel three inches tall. And everywhere you looked there was the famous rose stained glass windows. Everything was lit with dim candle light, and around every corner was some beautiful statue or art piece. It was one of the highlights of the whole trip.

US AND NOTRE DAME

INSIDE NOTRE DAME

ROSE GLASS

NOTRE DAME FACADE

ALL DECKED OUT FOR CHRISTMAS!

GARGOYLES

SAINTS (HEADLESS ONE IS ST. JOHN)

After Notre Dame, now being masters of the Parisian subway system, we set our course to the Catacombs.  Parisians used to bury their dead on the holy grounds of their churches. But eventually, they became overcrowded. So, they excavated the remains of the ancient cemeteries and brought them down into the old underground mines. The mines sprawled for miles underneath the city, and after the black plague, the mines became completely full with the bodies of over 9 million Parisians. They are now open to the public, and we took a tour and walked through the tunnels with piles, and piles, and piles of bones on each side of us. It was very eerie, but very cool. It was hard to fathom just how many people were laid to rest forever in these tunnels. It was a shocking sight! To get in, and out of the catacombs, you had to go down this tight spiral staircase, with 93 steps! I was so exhausted and dizzy going up and down those stairs.

WELL

TUNNELS IN THE CATACOMBS (WE ARE BOTH DRENCHED!)

TUNNELS

SKULL

THE "WALLS" ARE ACTUALLY PILES OF SKELETONS!

BONES, BONES, AND MORE BONES. THEY WERE PILED AS TALL AS TEAGUE

SUPER EERIE!

I LOVED THESE CREEPY ROOMS

MORE SKELETONS AND SKULLS

After the catacombs, we got back onto the subway, and went to the most famous sight in Paris. The Eiffel Tower! By this point, we were completely soaked and freezing from walking all day in the blizzard. We came up from the subway, and right in front of us was the tower. It was a LOT bigger then I had imagined. We walked all around it, and took lots of pictures. My camera was so wet and cold, it froze up and my lens was fogged up and covered in water. It SUCKED! They weren't letting anybody up the tower because of the crazy weather, but it was still amazing to see from the ground up.

After our mini Paris getaway, it was finally time to say goodbye to Europe and head home. This was by far, the most amazing experience of my life. I can't begin to explain how grateful I am that I got to see all these spectacular sights! It's really changed my life, and how I view the world. And if I didn't have the travel bug before, I DEFINITELY have caught it now! I can't wait for another adventure....... Africa maybe? China? Who knows?