Mediterranean Memory

Barcelona, Spain

Florence, Italy

Rome, Italy

Naples, Italy

Messina, Italy

Navplion, Greece

Katakolon, Greece

Kerkira, Greece

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Venice, Italy

Kotor, Montenegro

Athens, Greece

Istanbul, Turkey

Mykonos, Greece

Kusadasi, Turkey

Santorini, Greece

Split, Croatia

Finally my photos from the 24-day cruise I went on! The idea of figuring out a good way to categorize them and write about each city separately was just as overwhelming as it was when we got lost in Istanbul. I came to the conclusion that the best way to deal with my stockpile of photos is to simply put them in the slightly random order they uploaded on my computer. Always works. There is no way I could have seen all these places in a few weeks if I wasn't on a cruise. I stayed in Barcelona for 3 days before hopping onto the ship. Every day overcrowding seemed to be more normal and the weather leveled off at the perfect amount of suffocating summer heat until temperatures less than 100 degrees fahrenheit felt justified. Unfortunately my standard body temperature went on with this and adapted a little too happily so I've been freezing ever since I landed in LA. Rome happens to be my favorite city in Italy. I visited St. Peter's Basilica and Colosseum which were both so massive and breathtaking. Walking down Via Condotti resulted in some shopping at Celine followed by arbitrarily reenacting a scene from Roman Holiday, which I have watched over a hundred times by now, by carrying flowers and gelato while sitting on the Spanish Steps. The entire setting of the city with its romantic architecture, lively streets, and the idyllic beauty it encompasses is undeniably enthralling. Those who have not been to Venice imagine adobe-colored buildings floating on water alongside ubiquitous canals gently carrying gondolas and gondoliers that hit there heads against bridges they forget to dodge. Well that is exactly what Venice is. Athens was all about the Acropolis, the Parthenon, and all those temples from ancient greece or who knows when. As for Santorini, I decided not to ride a donkey up all the steps there for the sake of opposing anything that suggests animal cruelty, I guess. Poor donkeys. Turkey was one of the more culturally interesting countries as it was the most overwhelming shopping-wise. In Istanbul, I stopped by the Blue Mosque and of course the Grand Baazar, where you can practically find anything you want amidst the endless lines of shops. Kusadasi was probably the most fun for shopping; shop owners would start conversations with you, almost always by first asking where you are from and then taking it from there to drag you into their shop. It works. Anyway, I should stop trying to make the quantity of pictures I took be proportional to how much I write and stop somewhere here. 24 days was not enough. I don't know how many consecutive days I would want to travel by ship before I'm sick of it but I think I definitely can do with another 24 days. There is no way I can write enough to adequately portray the perfection of this cruise and how surreal seeing all these diverse cities one after another can be. I feel like I have a new perspective on life and have more options for shaping my lifestyle in the near future. I will cherish this trip in memory for as long as I live.