Cruise to Greece, Croatia, Turkey & Italy

I must begin this post with a birthday shout out to my amazing son Zachary!  Zachary turned 9 on Sunday!  We had a small birthday celebration for him here in the hotel with his "real" birthday trip to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg,VA coming up soon! Without further ado my Cowboy...

Happy Birthday Cowboy! 

We love you SON!!

Now on to our latest news...

We are headed back to the USofA in 6 days! I truly cannot believe the time has come.  We have loved our time traveling and seeing/living in Europe but we are VERY ready to return to the best country in the world! I will post more on that this week but first, the cruise!

For our Spring Break we decided to knock out a few of our last places, so we took a cruise to Italy, Greece, Croatia and Turkey!  I want to say again that if you ever want to really get in a lot of places in Europe in a short time you cannot beat a cruise! 

Our cruise started in one of our favorite spots Venice, Italy!  There is something so unique and truly lovely about Venice! We had just a couple days there before the cruise started and enjoyed a slower pace this time around since we had visited last year.

Our cruise left Venice and headed to Bari, Italy! It is a small city on the Italian coast but what a little gem.  We were there on Palm Sunday and were able to see a Palm Sunday celebration service.

Bari was a true Italian town to me. Not so many tourist and you really were able to get a feel for the italian culture!  As we walked along the harbor you would see all the men from 10-90 years of age hanging out together enjoying the day, haggling over fish prices at the market, or playing chess.  It was such a neat feeling.  The town has an "old" portion and there the houses are close together with narrow winding streets and clothes hung on the lines between buildings.  You can hear the mothers yelling at the children in the alleys from up in their apartments and it was just a lovely day being out of the "tourist" areas!

Our next stop on our cruise was Olympia, Greece.  Actually Katakalon was the port and we took a taxi to Olympia.  Olympia was the site of the original Olympic Games so of course in true "Sawyer" spirit we took part in our own!

Headed in to Olympia

The entrance to the "field"

The Sawyer's lining up for the race!

THE WINNER!!!!

Every now and then I get in a photo!  Amongst the Olympic Ruins!

We returned back to the port and just enjoyed the little village!

Mark and of course...a Pelican!

Our Ship in Greece

Brooklyn beautiful as always in her new Grecian Dress!  

Back on board and relaxing after a nice swim! I know they live a really rough life!

Ready for Dinner!

Our next port of call was Izmir,Turkey.  Now Turkey was one of the places we didn't even have in our sites as a place to visit before moving to Sweden.  However, after talking to so many people that said it was a must we just had to get it in!  I am so glad we did.  What an amazing and vibrant culture!  Here are a few of our Izmir pictures!

View of Izmir 

My Men in Izmir

Roughing it on the Ship after a long day in Izmir!

After Izmir our next port of call was Istanbul...WOW what a huge city! It is the largest city in Turkey with roughly 13.4 million people!  To put that into perspective the entire country of Sweden has only 9 million! So obviously we had a lot to see.  It really was beneficial that Mark had just been there on  a business trip for a week so he knew exactly how and where to go!

Our first stop was the Blue Mosque or more properly "Sultan Ahmed Mosque"

Mark & the kids inside the "Blue Mosque"

Next was the Hagia Sophia Museum

Now this picture of the inside has a funny story! If you know me rather well you know that I wear glasses "some of the time"! Well I really cannot read things far away very well and when we walked up  to this stairwell it had a sign that read "mimbar".  This is like a pulpit from which the leader of prayers delivers the khutbah "sermon".    I turned to Mark, and not even realizing what I had said, I was describing the "Mini-bar" and what purpose it serves in the Mosque! LOL  TOO FUNNY! 

My men showing off their "manly" skills!

Next we decided to hit up the Topkapi Palace!  This was the primary residence of the Ottaman Sultans for about 400 years.  It now contains major historical relics of the Muslim world.  Here are the kids with their Turkish guard!

I forgot to mention that they claim to have Moses' staff here at the palace...well we saw it and I'm a bit skeptical!  Not that it didn't look like it could have been on old stick from then but how do they actually prove that?!?!?

Now seriously on to the important things....THE GRAND BAZAAR!!! It has 61 covered streets and over 3000 shops!  Oh yes!

Oh my how I need my female family and friends on this day! Mark was good but just didn't get it!

Turkish lamp shop where I bought a lamp!  I love these and would have loved a chandelier from them...but we were a bit limited on space! HEEHEE  

Istanbul waterfront!

From the boat as we left!

Our final port of call was in Dubrovnik, Croatia!  I have to admit this was by far my favorite!  Croatia is stunningly beautiful and the people were lovely.  I would love to visit again someday!

Mark at the Old town gates

The old town is all built within this huge wall.  You can walk the top of wall around the city and the views are stunning!  Dubrovnik is known as the "Pearl of the Adriatic" and we now know why!

Mark & the kids enjoying their Croatian ice cream!

Here are some views from the wall!

So...did you know that Croatia is the Home of the Cravat?  WE ll they claim that ties originated in Croatia.  Here is Mark outside "the" tie shop!  He did buy one!

The view of Croatia as we departed!

We had an unbelievable time!  It was a bitter sweet end to our European post here in Sweden as it was our final trip here in Europe!  Looking back I cannot believe all we have seen and experienced! Since our US departure the children have now been to 25countries! What an amazing childhood experience.  As adults Mark & I are still in awe at all we have seen and the sweet memories we have made! 

I have returned from my "house hunting" trip to the US and have found a lovely home for us outside of Savannah, GA!  We are anxiously awaiting our departure home on Wednesday!  The hardest part about living here is being away from family and friends! WE have created some amazing friendships here and I will treasure the time we have had here with them.  However, the Sawyer's are ready to be on American soil once again!  I will never take for granted how wonderful our country is!  We are far from perfect but I can assure you it is where WE belong! There is something about being an American that is so precious and I see it more having lived abroad! So to all my friends in Malmo...we will see you again and thank you for making my time here so precious.  To those who have already left Malmo, Claire...I'm almost there!  And to all of loved ones back home in the USA... WE ARE COMING HOME!