Our cruise was an amazing experience. In fact, it was so incredible that we've needed a few days to digest it all before blogging again. We were on Star Clipper, which is a tall sailing ship, with a maximum of 170 passengers. We got really lucky, and only around 80 passengers were on our cruise. So it never felt crowded. Two of our good friends, Rob and Courtney, met us in Athens and joined us on the cruise, which made it really fun. The cruise itself was very relaxing and enjoyable. There were opportunities to help raise sails (hard work on a ship this size!), help with sailing maneuvers (tacking and jibing), climb the rigging, and lay out and enjoy the sun. The food was delicious, and they fed us all the time! If it wasn't a meal time, there was always some snack available. One of our dining highlights was tasting the sorbet every night and comparing it to the others we had on the cruise. I think watermelon was the overall winner. Our cabin was a lot roomier than we anticipated so that was really nice. But the best part of all was our German cruise director, Peter, who had the greatest accent and driest sense of humor. He would refer to things as "girlie" or repeat the phrase "Why you laughing?" while giving a scary look. One day, he forced me to coil ropes because I said we weren't girlie and we could work just as hard as the guys. Stupid me. I have never learned to keep my mouth shut. He didn't appreciate my attitude, so he made me work just as hard as the guys, but then he took me to the captain, and asked to let me steer the ship. That was cool. But after that, I avoided the deck anytime they were hoisting sails! We would both highly recommend a Star Clippers cruise (they go all over the world) and hope to go again some day.
As for the excursions, it's a toss up as to which port was the best. I loved Dalyan, Turkey because it was unlike anything I have ever experienced. We took a flat boat from our ship past a beautiful beach, and up a delta to a river that was surrounded by tall reeds. The boat took us to some ruins, which we wandered through for about an hour. Then we got back in the boat and headed up the river past some interesting tombs carved into the cliffs. At the city of Dalyan, we were taken to see Turkish carpets being hand woven. They were gorgeous! Eric kept saying that he wanted to buy one and I just laughed because I knew he had no idea how much they cost. After watching the weaving demonstration, we were taken into a showroom, and it was like being in an infomercial. There was no pressure to buy anything, but it was so funny to listen to the sales pitch. Afterward, we had quite an adventure getting back to the ship, as the wind had picked up and created some sizeable swells. The highlight (other than making it back onto the ship in one piece) was seeing a loggerhead turtle swimming right next to us.
Santorini was also incredible. I don't think anything compares to the natural or architectural beauty of this place. Words cannot describe it.
We explored some interesting rock formations on Milos and we enjoyed our day on Hydra; snorkeling and exiting the little town. Bodrum, Turkey was the only stop that we weren't enthralled with. We had fun snorkeling in the afternoon. Wandering through the market in the morning wasn't quite what we expected, but it was still an interesting experience.
