Trip Art

I hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving.

Mine was good...food, family, relaxing, online shopping...

A great weekend!

I realized over the weekend I never shared with you 

the art we bought on our trip.

We bough two small pastels.

One in Dubrovnik and one in Venice.

Here's the one from Dubronik.

We bought it without the frame and mat,

and Jason found a frame store going out of business and go it matted and framed for a really great deal.

I like what he picked out.

We have it in the downstairs bath and it really looks good with the shower curtain we already had in there.

I apologize for the poor pictures...there's hardly any natural light to be had - its so gray outside!

And the energy efficient light bulbs we have aren't exactly in place for the beautiful glow they cast.

And here's the Venice piece.

The artist also built and gold leafed the frame.

I'm don't really like the gold frame on the builder beige walls in the powder room,

but the wall color will change down the road.

With the right color, it will really pop.

Here's a close up.

Its of St Mark's Square, which was around the corner from our hotel.

*Sigh* I already want to go back.

Unfortunately, I'm headed off to work this afternoon and not Venice.

I'm pretty nervous because I'm giving a presentation I've never done before tonight.

Wish me luck!

xoxo- Bethany

 

 

Our Mediterranean Souvenir

So, as promised yesterday, here is our souvenir we bought ourselves on the trip.

A Turkish carpet!

Here is, in the foyer...

My front door is to the right in this picture, 

so you see it as soon as you walk into the house.

I really like how the navy in the rug picks up the navy walls from the dining room.

It's wool on cotton, 100% handmade, with natural dyes.

I really love it, and I think it adds a lot to our foyer.

I hope y'all are enjoying a cool autumn weekend!

xoxo- Bethany

Turkey

Turkey might have been my favorite country we visited.

It's beautiful, rich in culture and history, 

and the people were so welcoming and friendly.

We first stopped in Kusadasi.

Kusadasi is a small resort town on the Aegean Coast
that is only a 20 minute drive to Ephesus.

Ephesus was amazing.

 

Its crazy to think these streets are 2000 years old.
Ephesus was one of the biggest cities in the Mediterranean in the 1st century BC with over 250,000 inhabitants.

 Today there are probably 250,000 cats.
They were everywhere.

This is the agora, or marketplace, where Paul preached for 2 years.
Its also thought that the gospel of John was written in Ephesus.

This is the Library of Celsus.
It once housed 12,000 scrolls.
Celcus was a Roman Senator,
 who paid for construction with his own personal wealth.

My favorite part of Ephesus, was getting to tour the "terrace houses",
where the wealthy Romans lived.

Just look at those fresco's and mosaic floors.
The pictures don't do it justice.
It was amazing.
They had indoor plumbing, and even heating,
where they had hot water running underneath the floors and behind the walls.
These houses were 4000 square feet each with 3 floors.

This is the theater...believed to be the largest in the ancient world with a seating capacity of 24,000.

The escavations are believed to be only 15% complete
because its so expensive and the Turkish government doesn't have the money to fully fund it.
No telling what's lying underneath.

Next stop, was Bodrum.
Bodrum is a beautiful fishing village on the Aegean coast.

If you look closely, you can see the Castle of St. Peter, built by the Crusaders in the 15th Century.

We took a wonderful excursion on a Gulet, a traditional Turkish wooden boat,
where we cruised some of the many coves along the coast line.
They made several stops for us to jump off and swim in the sea.
They also had a top deck with nice sunbeds for sunbathing.
It was so relaxing!

One stop we made, was at Camel Beach and I got to actually ride a camel!
I couldn't believe it! Camels are my favorite animal!

I'm wearing my swimsuit and coverup...not exactly camel riding gear,
but I had no idea when I got dressed that morning this opportunity would present itself.

I thought it would be kinda like riding a horse, but it wasn't at all.
Camels are a lot  taller than horses,
and he had to lay down for me to get on and off.
It was fun and I would totally do it again.
Although, my camel was really stinky and needed a bath.

Notice his muzzle so he won't spit or bite.
It was an experience.

After the gulet cruise we walked around Bodrum...here's another boat shot for the boys.
Turkey is definitely somewhere I'd like to go back to someday.

So that's the end of our trip!
I hope you've enjoyed the recap.
The whole trip was pretty surreal and we had so much fun.

I hope everyone comes back tomorrow to see our big souvenir we bought for the house!

xoxo - Bethany

 PS- Thank you, Jason, for being my patient, constant companion on our trip
even when I was difficult and tired. I love you.

Greece

Over the course of the trip, we made 3 stops in Greece:

Athens, Mykonos, and Santorini.

All three were rich in culture and history;

although, there was a heavy feeling compared to some of the other places we visited.

No doubt attributed to their current economic uncertainity.

It was like everyone was just kinda sitting around waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I didn't see any protests or demonstrations,

and never felt unsafe. 

It was just a feeling,  a collective consciousness.

Anyway, regardless of the economic situation, there is some fascinating history there.

In Athens, we went to The New Acropolis Museum and 

The Acropolis. The museum was amazing.

 It had some very cool artifacts from the Acropolis,

 everything from childrens toys, to combs, to wedding presents; 

not to mention the original Greek sculptures and facades.

It was built on ruins of ancient houses, so it had glass floors to see the excavations below.

The Acropolis was very cool to see to in person.

The climb up the hill was a doozy, 

I can't imagine lugging marble and limestone slabs up there to build the Parthenon 2500 years ago...

Mykonos is a desert island, rocky, hardly any vegetation at all.

Even though, it has its place in Greek mythology, and people have been there for thousands of years,

there's not a whole lot there that I saw other than resorts, restaurants, and nightclubs.

Don't get me wrong, it's a cool place to go to vacation,

it's just kinda sleepy during the day. 

I hear its got quite a party scene at night.

We went to Super Paradise Beach, the best private beach on the island. 

Clothing optional; although, the beautiful people had their clothes intact.

It was just old people that were hanging out naked. At 1pm anyway.

I think Jason was a tad dissappointed.

Just kidding :)

Santorini was unlike anywhere else. 

Its an actice volcanic island, and the towns are at the top of the crater.

Getting up there is not an easy task.

You could walk, ride a donkey, or take a cable car. 

We chose cable car, 

although I might pick donkey if I had to do it over.

It was like the most rickety carnival ride you've ever been on, with no seat belts.

It dangled you over rocks and water hundreds of feet up in the air.

It freaked me out. So much so, I shed a couple tears on the way back down.

But I made it, in one piece.

But once you're up there, the view was totally worth it!

Overall, Greece was a wonderful, facinating place!

 Next up, Turkey!

xoxo - Bethany

Croatia

Croatia is a beautiful country.

Its coastline, the Dalmation coast, is the "new French Riveria", so I hear.

You know, whats even more amazing about Croatia?

Its cheap! 

So get over there before it is inducted into the EU when prices will easily double

 (these days, with the world economy, it may never happen, although I believe its slated for 2015).

First stop, Dubrovnik. 

Dubrovnik's "old town" is a walled medieval city. 

We "walked the walls" - literally there is a path about 2 km on top of the city's walls.

 

 Next stop, Split, another beautiful city on the Dalmation Coast, overlooking the Adriatic Sea.

Here we toured, Diocletian's palace, the world's most complete remaining Roman palace.

People actually still live and run businesses out of the palace.

It was built in the 4th century AD as Diocletian's retirement home, the Roman Emporer at the time.

Here is the wine cellar, used in the medieval times as a sewer and trash dump, and in the 1970s as a disco until UNESCO shut that down.

Pretty impressive for 1700 years old.

Here is what is looks like above ground, where people still work and live...

Its a mishmash of architecture from Roman to Medieval times...

the Sphinx and column in the above picture were ones Diocletian stole from Egypt

(he was a Narcissist, if you can't tell).

He was a major persecutor of the Christians, and after he died, 

they turned his mausoleum into a church and threw his body into the ocean.

Karma...it'll get you every time.

Anyway, its a fascinating place worth visiting.

We would like to go back to Croatia and do a whole week there, someday.

Next up, Greece!

xoxo- Bethany

 

Venice in Pictures

View from the hotel room

Gondolas parked on the lagoon

Jason scoffed when I predicted a rainbow during a downpour. Double rainbow shortly afterwards :)

View from our balcony on the ship as we left Venice.

 

View of the Rialto Bridge from our gondola.

This one's for the boys. 13 foot Boston Whaler (like Jason's boat).

One of the many beautiful cathedrals we saw.

Gondola ride.

Yes, I realize I said I would do one post per country we visited and Venice is not a country;

but it was the only city in Italy we visited on the trip. 

It was the most beautiful stop we made, so I was grateful for the full 3 days we had there. 

Amazing city. Unlike any other place I've ever been.

There's a very dreamy quality about it...

I wrote in my journal that I felt like I was on a movie set, like it wasn't real.

But it was. 

My favorite part was the gondola ride, I thought it might be kind of cheesy, but it wasn't at all.

It was very romantic and a different perspective of the city I really enjoyed. :)

Next up, Croatia.

xoxo, Bethany

Home

We made it back late Saturday night.

We laughed, explored, relaxed, and ate a lot.

We saw ruins that were 2000 years old, beautiful architecture, water, and landscape.

And I rode a camel.

We had a wonderful time.

We're both exhaulsted and heading back to work this morning,

so give me a minute, then I plan on doing a post on each country we visited.

xoxo- Bethany

 

I'm Leavin' on a Jet Plane...

We are so excited about our trip!

I can't believe it's finally here...we booked it a year ago, so it's been a long time coming.

VIA

Here's the details...

We will leave Nashville Saturday with a layover in Philly;

and arrive Venice Sunday morning.

We will have 11 nights on the ship.

2 days at sea.

We will be visiting Athens, Greece; Dubrovnik, Croatia; Bodrum,Turkey; Santorini, Greece;

Ephesus, Turkey; Mykonos, Greece; and Split, Croatia.

Then we'll come back to Venice and have another night there before headed back to the States.

VIA

It should be fun, if I don't pull a muscle from lugging around my luggage. :)

See you in two weeks.

xoxo- Bethany