How lucky are we.
More than two years ago, it was time to dream up a place for our next mother/daughter/granddaughter adventure and Nana decided to take this show on the water. So we polled friends and family and landed on Viking as our best option for a fuss-free, just-show-up-with-a-suitcase kind of trip, picking their Empires of the Mediterranean itinerary.
Someone pointed out later that most of the stops aren’t actually on the Mediterranean but we were willing to overlook it. The Adriatic, Ionian and Aegean Seas sounded pretty rad, too.
So on July 10, our group of six waved goodbye to our husbands and dads at the airport, then went with crossed fingers to the luggage counter to see if our bags would pass under the weight limit. Only my own got flagged. Absolutely not a surprise but with room to spare in my carry on, it all worked out.
Truthfully, there was a mix of emotions that day at the airport ranging from giddy to nervous to melancholy. We were missing Molly terribly but resolved to enjoy the heck out of this trip in her honor. She wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
We planned to arrive a couple of days early in Venice. One, so we could be sure no travel delays kept us from catching our ship, and two, so we could have a full day to explore the city. With comfy clothes on and big plans to sleep all night before waking up in London for our short layover, we were ready to go.
Happily, our plane, train, and shuttle connections were smooth and all of our luggage arrived as planned.
We checked into the JW Marriott on a small island, Isola della Rosa, a short vaporetto ride from Venice. The hotel was once a convent as well as a hospital, but has since been beautifully renovated and the grounds include some very pretty gardens.
It was at this point on our trip we remembered how the European standard of air conditioning isn’t exactly the same as the American standard and we started mentally preparing for what the forecast had in store for the next 10 days. Nothing we couldn’t handle.
For our one full day in Venice, we headed first to the furthest point we picked to explore, then spent the day meandering our way toward St. Mark's Square where we would catch a late afternoon ride back to Isola della Rosa.
It's hard to sit down and relax when there's so much to see along the way.
First stop: Basilica S. Maria dei Frari.
The original three-nave church was started on this site in 1250. It's home to some incredible pieces of art, including the Assumption of the Virgin by Titian and sculpture work by Donatello. I drooled a little.
After visiting the basilica and making our first of many, many stops for bottled water to replenish everything we were sweating away, we climbed into two gondolas for a bucket-list ride around the Rialto market area. Our only regret is that we didn't choose a longer ride; it was really peaceful on the water and a relaxing way to take in everything around us.
The Rialto Bridge is the oldest of those spanning the Grand Canal, built partially with stone from an ancient Roman theater.
After a wonderful lunch where we were suckered into ordering twice as much food as we could eat (but man it was yummy), we found the Lella Bella yarn shop for Nana, stopped at the Piazza Contarini del Bovolo to see it's grand spiral staircase, and eventually made our way to St. Mark's Square.
The inside of St. Mark's Basilica is covered in gold-ground mosaics that are truly breathtaking. Or maybe we felt breathless because it was at least 90 degrees inside.
No, it was definitely the beauty of the basilica. Could have been the steep climb up to the terrace level, though. Nope. Sticking with the gorgeous interior as my answer.
The Doge's Palace, adjacent to St. Mark's Basilica, was built in 1340 and has been a museum for the last 100 years. We admired it from the outside as we made our way to where we'd catch our ride back across the lagoon to cool off, rest up and dig into a pizza dinner back at the hotel.
After dinner, we took a few photos out in the gardens then fell into bed.
As the city of Venice is putting protections in place to reduce tourist overload, they have also limited how close ships can get to the city-island. So on the morning of our first cruise day, we took a ferry to Chioggia where the Viking Sea was docked. With a little spare time to spend, we wandered around the town then returned to our cabins to nest.
Settled in, we were thrilled to find the ship would be a nicely air conditioned respite from all of the record temps we’d be facing. Phew. Thank you, Viking, for that and for the delicious gelato we had with every meal. So. Much. Gelato.
That evening, the anchor was raised and we headed to our first destination: Koper, Slovenia.
Home to the one and only Luka Dončić, Henry was pretty jealous so I made sure to pick out his souvenier from this stop.
In every city, we took an excursion organized by Viking but operated by local tour companies. For Slovenia, Ella and I chose to visit Predjama Castle and Postojna Cave while the rest of the gang, who weren't as excited about caves, chose to visit Lake Bled and Bled Castle.
The Medieval Predjama Castle was first built in 1570, set inside a natural cave, and added on to over the centuries. It was famously home to Erazem Lueger, a 15th century robber-baron who was a Robin Hood-like character of his time. The castle has holes in the entrance tower for pouring boiling oil on intruders (yikes), an appropriately dingy dungeon (double yikes), a secret passageway, and in 1991, a 16th century chest full of treasure was discovered in the cellar. Neat-o.
After wandering through this room, I heard Gaston from Beauty and the Beast singing "I use antlers in all of my decorating" in my head for the rest of the day.
A few miles from the castle, we ventured down into the Postojna Cave which was a de-light-ful and steady 50 degrees. This visit included a ride on a mini-train and it's where we learned all about the mini-dragons which are subterranean animals that look like axolotls. Their super-powers include being able to go a decade without food and living to 100 years old, and they have really cute ear-like things that remind me of adorable sea anemones. So much to love.
Another fun fact, there are more than 10,000 registered caves in Slovenia. Who knew?
That evening, we left Slovenia for Croatia, waking up to coast into our docking in Zadar at 8 a.m.
For this day, and the rest of the days, all six of us stuck together for our excursions.
Krka National Park covers almost 27,000 acres and is known for it's many waterfalls. To get around, there are miles of wooden plank walkways with very few handrails which make it a little hard to take in the sights and walk without tripping at the same time. But good news, when you're looking down you won't miss all of the curious schools of fish.
The main attraction, the Skradinski Buk waterfalls, was a wonderful pay-off for the three-mile hike and hundreds of stone steps.
From here, we ate lunch in a nearby small town, Skradin, and then went to see (hear?) the Sea Organ which was luckily right next to where our ship was docked in the port. It's a set of organ pipes built into a group of steps right on the water, where the ebb and flow of the sea make a constant melody.
And we were off again, this time making our smallest hop to another town in Croatia: Dubrovnik. This stop would eventually be declared the place we'd all most like to return to and spend more time.
Is there any seaside city with cuter boats than Dubrovnik?
Our morning began with a beautiful coastline drive to what the guidebook described a "Renaissance village," where we stepped inside a small church and then saw the Rector's Palace in Slano.
The palace was reconstructed in 2017, having burned in 1991 during the Serbian invasion of Croatia. Before that, this 14th century site was wrecked by the terrible earthquake of 1667 that leveled much of the region and, after that, another reconstruction was destroyed by the Montenegrins in 1806.
Driving back toward the port, we stopped for this jaw-dropping view, then went on to the Trsteno Arboretum. Fans of Game of Thrones (and we had two of them with us!) would immediately recognize it's famous pavilion (below, left). After beginning the walk down from the road and realizing how steep the climb would be to return, I chose to sit it out in a pretty little park. My back was not cooperating and I wanted to save whatever it had left in the tank for visiting the Dubrovnik's old town in the afternoon. Nana also retreated to sit with me but the rest of the ladies thoroughly enjoyed the arboretum for us.
Funny enough, as I caught up on the latest season of Vikings Valhalla on the flight home, I recognized the same pavilion was also one of their key shooting locations.
After a quick cool-off on the ship to grab lunch, we headed back out for an afternoon walking tour, starting at the Pile Gate.
And wow. The hour and a half we had to explore this part of Dubrovnik was too little by at least two days. The heat was really getting to Ella, and then to Nana, so we took breaks, ducked into some shops, and—of course—got some gelato to help cool down (as if we needed that excuse). I feel like there are about a hundred things I'd like to see more of in and around this city and hope to return one day.
Time to set sail and say goodbye to Croatia.
Waking up in Kotor, Montenegro, we were surrounded by the striking Dinarc Alps.
A view from our drive out to the Luštica Peninsula to visit a sixth generation family-owned olive farm.
Arriving at the Moric Olive Farm, we were greeted by these two little cuties.
It was interesting to learn all about how good olive oil is made and sample some of the local food at the farm before we headed back to town.
At this point in the trip, it was also very interesting to compare all of the different versions of the Yugoslavian war that each guide would tell on our bus rides. One thing was clear, every local we encountered was very proud of their country, welcoming to all of us, and open to sharing their personal stories which made for colorful, sometimes sobering, context to the sights and experiences we encountered.
The fortress walls that surround Kotor's old town.
Avoiding a major traffic jam meant a detour with many switchbacks which made some of our group feel less than amazing. Coupled with yet another absolutely scorching day—the air temp was 106 degrees in Kotor—I ended up being the only man standing to finish the walking tour into the old town.
St. Tryphon's Cathedral, originally built in 1166, is an impressive Romanesque church. Like most buildings of the area, the cathedral was impacted by the earthquake of 1667 and went through several transformations over many centuries. Our tour was short as the ship would be pulling up anchor in the mid-afternoon, otherwise, I would have like to explore inside.
Another fun fact, Montenegro is well-known for its cats. They are considered symbols of good luck and protection from evil spirits, and based on what I saw, they are comfortably smug in the knowledge of their special status around town.
Slowly navigating the winding channels away from Kotor gave us time to appreciate the coastline.
Next up: Greece! The first of four Greek cities on our itineray, we started in Corfu. For anyone following along on the map at the top, we were now in the Ionian Sea.
This day's excursion took us to Paleokastritsa, a seaside town known for it's sandy beach (clearly nothing secret about this gem) and a number of interesting nearby sites reachable by boat. One of those is apparently the Kolovri Rock, which legend says is Odysseus' boat turned to stone by Poseidon. If our captain pointed it out in his heavy accent and limited English, we all missed it, but he was quite possibly our favorite part of the day so we're not mad about it.
The coastline was dreamy, just like the guidebooks say.
There are six grottos, or caves, all of which are accessible by boat. This one was called The Blue Eye and appeared in the James Bond movie, For Your Eyes Only.
Another was called the Nausica grotto, named after the daughter of the King of the Phaeacians. According to Homer, she found Odysseus and nursed him back to health.
Captain Stavros was a hoot, chain-smoking his hand-rolled cigarettes and doing his best to get a 10 a.m. dance party started on his boat.
Corfu's esplanade is one of Europe's largest public squares.
Our tour guide gave us an abbreviated talk along the Liston Promenade which I ducked out of, sneaking over to see this building, the Palace of St. Michael and St. George, also known as the Royal Palace. With the official tour over, our guide left us to seek lunch in the shade and then we wandered around town, hitting several of the shops. Eventually, we escaped back to the ship for cold showers and a little rest before dinner.
Another evening cruise, this time with a sailboat to race.
Olympia. With the 2024 Summer Olympics just days away, it was especially timely to visit these landmarks and learn all about how the ancient games (776 B.C. to A.D. 393) worked, eventually giving birth into our modern games (1896 to today) so many centuries later.
This column is a reconstruction showing the size and shape of those that once made up the Temple of Zeus, which can be seen in ruins all around. The entire site is believed to have been decimated by major earthquakes in A.D. 522 and 551, then eventually covered by mudslides from flooding of the Kladeous River or possibly even a tsunami.
The ancient site was rediscovered in 1766 and this temple was excavated in 1829. Inside, the Statue of Zeus was housed—a 41-foot giant seated figure which is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Here, Lavada is standing at the site where the Olympic flame is lit, months ahead of the games every four years—well, wait, now it's every two years—before it goes on its international relay trip. Just behind her is the Temple of Hera, the oldest temple at Olympia which is dedicated to the queen of the Greek gods.
In the center photo, Ella is standing on the starting block inside the original stadium. The word stadium comes from the only competition that was held here at first, a foot race over 190 meters known as the stadion. There were no stands; up to 45,000 spectators would sit on the banked sides surrounding the hard-packed clay racing ground.
After leaving the ancient site, we visited another olive farm. This one, the Magna Grecia Farm, was a much more commercial operation with entertainment and one olive tree believed to be more than a 1,000 years old (below) and still bearing fruit.
The following morning we sailed to Santorini where our ship was one of eight (!) anchoring there for the day. We stopped offshore and took large tender boats to the island for our excursion.
We learned that the entire island, or set of islands, are the top portions of a massive volcano that erupted about 3,600 years ago leaving a caldera in the center. The landscapes are rocky and windy and there is very little vegetation or rainfall here. The gorgeous white-washed towns exist in several clusters and are unfortunately completely inundated with tourists during the busy season. Our guide mentioned that the new government will be limiting cruise ships to no more than two a day starting next year.
Looking out across this view, I made a mental note we should visit again—but maybe in April or October next time.
The nonstop flow of thousands of tourists from the bus yard to and from the picturesque town of Oia was really something.
Lunch was at a restaurant in Pyrgos called Taste & Feelings where we threw plates for the Greek dancers and tourists to stomp on. Opa! Then we headed to the Santos Winery for a self-guided tasting.
Just before boarding our bus to head back to the tender boat, I noticed these purple thistles. Molly was saying "hello."
Not for the first time, I regretted only having a short lens with me on the trip when I saw this moonrise over the water.
Athens was our fourth stop in Greece and our final stop of the cruise. While the city itself was like any other big, busy metropolis, we were really looking forward to exploring the Acropolis.
Acropolis comes from the Greek words meaning "highest point" and "city." It was hard for me to wrap my head around the fact there has been one civilization or another occupying this hilltop for over 5,000 years. The first fortification wall dates to the 13th century B.C. but the majority of buildings seen there today were started in the 5th century B.C. by Pericles.
This view from the Acropolis looks over Athens and across to the Philopappos Monument on Muses Hill, a mausoleum and monument built for the prince of the same name who died in A.D. 116. That's, like, 1,900 years ago. [insert mind blown emoji here]
Walking through the Propylaea, or gate, to the Acropolis, makes a girl feel small. The structures were incredibly impressive as we climbed higher and higher to the top of the hill with them looming over us.
The building I enjoyed seeing the most was this one, the Erechtheion, or the Temple of Athena.
The most famous building of the Acropolis, the Parthenon, was also dedicated to the goddess Athena and built in thanks for the Hellenic victory over the Persian empire. Def 10/10.
Passing back through the gate to make our climb down, we were rewarded with this view of the Temple of Athena Nike, built in 425 B.C.
And that was a wrap! For the first and final nights of our cruise, we enjoyed dinner at The Chef's Table and both times it was absolutely delicious. Made it even harder to go back to our rooms and pack up our things to make the long trip home the next day.
But of course there's no place like home, and we were very ready to hug our people and pet our furbabies and, oh my gosh, wash all of that incredibly stinky laundry we were toting back home with us.
We'll look back on these memories, tell these stories and never stop feeling grateful for all of the experiences we had on this trip. I can't imagine a cruise line doing a better job with every aspect of our experience, from the ship itself to the warm and helpful staff, the dining, the excursions and everything in between. Twenty-four hours a day, the whole operation ran smoothly and allowed us to relax and truly enjoy ourselves. Something tells me this won't be our last Viking adventure.