Greek Islands

Mykonos. A great first island.  The town was a blast to get lost in.  The streets were designed to confuse raiding pirates, and we can attest that they did a pretty good job.

Gorgeous bright flowers in the whitewashed town.

This is Paros, our second island.  It was a very laid back place without too many crowds and very nice beaches.

Paros also had a wonderful port and marina.

And Paros gave us the most colorful sunset of our trip.

Santorini, created by a volcano, is spectacular with its whitewashed towns on cliff tops high above the sea.

But the crowds here smelled a bit different than crowds in other places...

A typical, picturesque home in Fira, the main town of Santorini.  Almost all the buildings are white with blue trim/doors.

Santorini used to be a big round island, but it exploded.  Now it's a crescent moon shape with the center of the volcano on a separate island in the center.

The town of Oia (ee-ah) is known for its gorgeous sunset views.

There were several different explosions of the Santorini volcano, and each one created different colored layers of rock.  Here are white, red and black layers at Red Beach (yeah, pretty creative name).

The wonderful clouds at our final night on the islands wanted to bid us a fond farewell.  It was a wonderful, relaxing week.

Mainland Greece

Entering the Acropolis in Athens.  The crowds were kind of overwhelming, but it was amazing to see these ancient temples.

Inside the Acropolis. The crowds dispersed some once we passed through the gate and we were able to more fully enjoy the beautiful temples.

It's amazing how much detail has been preserved for well over 2000 years.

This is at Ancient Agora.  We both were very impressed with this less-famous little brother to the Acropolis.  It was nice to stroll a bit more peacefully among Greek ruins.

Meteora.  This site is just full of huge pinnacles of rock.  Several of them have monasteries still functioning.  The first monks (or monkeys really) had to climb up these sheer cliffs with no tools.  And they carried supplies to build huge buildings!  Later they made a system of nets and rope ladders, but now they have much more sophisticated pulleys (okay, and stairs).

There are 26 pinnacles in the area.  At one point every single one of them had a monastery full of monks (or monkeys) who had.clambered up to the top and decided it would be a good idea to live up there.  This area really was incredible. 

Montenegro, A night with the Monks (short for Monkeys)

Kotor bay. Here we hiked up 1,358 stairs to get to the top of a fortress in ruins. It was Dane's haven as he was allowed to clamber and climb almost everywhere.

In a valley behind/below the fortress we found a ruined village. The only thing still intact, sort of, was this old church. The serene surroundings and landscape were fantastic and it is a new 'favorite spot' for both of us.

The view of Kotor Bay at night. The lights on the side of the mountain mark the trail to the fortress that we hiked to.

Ostrog Monastery, built into the face of a cliff.

The Monastery has survived an earthquake, fire (two times), cliff parts falling and, well, tourists. We were able to stay the night for free on the grounds. It was a very unique experience.

Mostar, Bosnia & Hercegovina

Unfortunately, we didn't have a whole lot of time in this country.  Ask us about it if you want a rather amusingly tragic story.  This is the view from their old bridge.

They just finished reconstructing the bridge in 2004.  It had been destroyed in the civil war that broke apart communist Yugoslavia.

It was amazing to see such modern buildings that had been destroyed by bombs within our own lifetime.  This one had a sign outside that said "Danger, live mines."

Blown up buildings right next to modern homes were all over.  It was certainly an interesting experience and it gave us really mixed feelings.

Croatia

Dubrovnik, we stayed here for four days and did little day trips to islands and such.  It was absolutely wonderful.

It was a sea of red roofs overlooking the sea of crystal blue Mediterranean water.

They also had pirates there.  They made pretty good tour guides and served freshly caught fish. 

Plitvice Lakes was incredible!  The sheer number of waterfalls was astounding.

Seriously, around every tree there would be another group of seven or eight of them.  Absolutely amazing!

Unfortunately, there was no swimming allowed because there are weird microorganisms that live in the water that human grease would kill.  It's these little bugs that give the water its crazy blue color.

Plitvice is a series of dozens of lakes that are all connected by falls.  There were literally cascades under the pathways almost all the time.

Apparently slugs feast on the little microbes, because they were HUGE here.

Zadar had an architect that designed both this reflection plate and an organ that is played by the movement of the water pushing air through pipes.  We agreed that this was the most magical spot of our trip so far.  It tingled all the senses.

We were welcomed into Zagreb by seductive sheep.  I'm not sure which of these two is hairier.  Or more enticing...

Bled, Slovenia

Bled Castle.  Pretty great location, but I would hate to be on the construction team.

They just give away alcohol all over the place.  Renee got a little too much...

Bled is famous for rowing competitions, ridiculously green mountains, a gorgeous emerald green lake and this little island with a church on it.

Another view from a small peak.  The snails and slugs on the trail were ENORMOUS!

The water was sooo clear.  You could see forever down into it.  This one is from a rowboat we went out on.

Inside the church on the island there is a rope you can pull to ring the "lucky bell." 

Scrumptious Slovenian pastries. 

Vintgar Gorge.  This little wooden bridge crosses the river half a dozen times and clings to cliffs throughout the gorge.  It was wonderful.

Waterfall at the end of Vintgar Gorge

Venice (aka: the menu)

Our first meal in Venice was pizza.  This place was amazing, and we were the last ones they let in before they closed.  When we tried to come back the next day and the day after that, it was all closed down.

Did we mention that the pizza was absolutely spectacular?

Gondolas are very pretty to look at.

Pasta the next night was Dane's dream: a good carbonara. 

buffalo and blue cheese ravioli

Best frickin lasagna I've ever had.  In case you didn't notice, the food was definitely a major focal point in Italy.

The Venetian masks are so creatively done and each one unique.  Except for the ones that say "made in china" on the back.

The evening before our night train departure.  Venice wanted to say goodbye the right way.