We’ve already shared the news with lots of family and friends. Here are the most common questions we’ve gotten, along with their answers.

Why are we moving home?

Our time abroad was never intended to be permanent. We always knew we wanted to move back to Cincinnati. Our families live in Cincinnati. We are very close to both of our families and have a strong community of friends. It means a lot to be near to them. The two things that bring me the most joy in my life are my family and being abroad. Sadly, it is impossible for me to have both (a fact that brings me much distress)! There is a lot that excites us about going back to Cincinnati, even though we aren’t quite ready to move back. Now is the time though.

If you aren’t quite ready, why are you moving home now?

Jay’s work. Jay has been working at Sanger & Eby since 2002. When we decided we were going to move abroad, they decided to let Jay work remotely. They were a huge factor in making our time abroad go smoothly. Sanger & Eby decided though that it was difficult for Jay to be a part of its growth if he was abroad. They want him in Cincinnati to fully contribute to the team.

After careful consideration, we decided it would be foolish for Jay to give up a job he is really passionate about when we planned to eventually move back to Cincinnati anyways. Many people at Sanger & Eby have become like second family to him. His boss, Mike, and the owners, Donna and Lisa, have helped him develop from a shy intern into a leader in the company. We are both eager to see where Sanger & Eby’s potential leads.

Why aren’t you moving home when Jay does?

It was a difficult decision, but I know I will get a lot out of two more months here. It will give me an opportunity to really immerse myself in the language, especially since I will be living with one of my Spanish colleagues. It will also allow me to finish up a fun large project I have been laboring on at work. It will be much more satisfactory to see it through.

Isn’t it weird to want to be away from your husband? Won’t you miss him?

No, I don’t find it weird. Yes, I will miss him terribly. We are perfectly happy and comfortable with our relationship. We believe our support of each others individual pursuits in life makes our relationship stronger. I am confident I will benefit a lot from my two months here. I’m sure it will fly by and we will together before we know it.

Where are you going to work when you move home?

I don’t know. Work here has discussed with me continuing on as a freelancer. That is the plan right now, but nothing has been formalized. Being abroad and experiencing new working opportunities has definitely cemented for me that I love being a designer. I enjoy solving problems with smart multi-disciplinary teams. I am a very curious person, which is probably the biggest reason I have a passion for traveling, and also one of the main reasons that I love the field of design.

Cincinnati isn’t San Francisco or New York, but there are plenty of opportunities for designers in Cincinnati. It is time for me to learn more about all of the options out there, decide more precisely what I want and to go for it. I’m definitely up for suggestions and advice. I’ll probably be hitting up many of you up individually in the next few months for precisely that.

Where are you going to live when you move home?

We will be joining the ranks of the boomerang generation and invading my parents’ empty nest. Living with my parents for a few months will make the move back to Cincinnati easier and give us an opportunity to save more money for a down payment on a house. Jay and I are lucky to have families who are both more than happy to have us around. Jay will be living with his parents until I get home.

When you do buy a house, in which neighborhood will it be?

No idea. There is so much to consider:

• We don’t want to be too far from our families. (My family lives north of the city in West Chester and Jay’s family is 45 minutes away from them, west of the city in Delhi.)
• We want to be near a major highway and not too far from downtown (definitely inside the I-275 loop highway).
• We’d like to be in a good school district. (We aren’t having kids soon. I don’t know when we will, but when we do we want them to go to a good school, and preferably not a private one because we both had very positive public school experiences.)
• I’d also like to be able to walk to places, but I’m not sure how realistic this is.

The good school district makes the biggest challenge. We’ve started perusing online ads in areas like Wyoming, Sycamore, Indian Hills and Madeira just for the fun of it, but houses in those neighborhoods are nearly 50% more than houses in other neighborhoods such as Colerain. We know we can always move again before our non-existent kids go to school, but we feel like housing prices are low now, so we’d be missing a good opportunity if we didn’t buy in a good school district. Of course, we have no idea what the future holds, so we feel silly thinking about all of this now, but buying a house is a huge investment, so here we are, thinking about all of this silly stuff. Once again, I am definitely open to suggestions and advice.

Are you going to stop blogging?

I don’t think so. Even though this blog started out as simply a way to share our adventures abroad with family and friends, its grown for me in meaning and in audience. I’ve always enjoyed writing and keeping a blog has been a new outlet for creativity. The blog will, of course, change. I’m just not sure how it will transform yet.

If you could do it all over again, would you still decide to live abroad?

100% definitely! It may be the best decision we’ve ever made.

We were able to share many of our favorite places in Madrid with Mom and Dad and to discover new favorite places. We packed a lot into three days; we checked out the Temple of Debod, Campo del Moro Park, a city guided walking tour, Plaza de Mayor, Puerta del Sol and the yummy bakery, a walk along Paseo del Prado, Plaza de Cibeles and the old post office, the Caixa Forum Museum, the turtles at Atocha Train Station, the Costume Museum, San Francisco El Grande Basilica, the Royal Palace, the Cathedral of Almudena, Retiro Park, and a day trip to Toledo. We had perfect sunny weather everyday (Historically, Madrid has more sunny days than any other European capital – in a close running with Athens.) and my favorite part of their visit was probably simply walking all around the city spotting random beautiful buildings.

Here were a few of our other new favorites:

San Francisco El Grande Basilica
The San Francisco El Grande Basilica rises above La Latina neighborhood in the older part of Madrid not far from the Royal Palace. It has a commanding exterior presence, but the interior is where it really shines. We entered through one of the seven massive carved walnut doors.

There visiting hours are quite limited (11:00-12:30 and 4:00-6:30) and we arrived just in time to join a tour that was included in the small entrance fee. The tour was in Spanish and luckily the guide acknowledged non-native tourists in the group and he spoke very slowly and clearly. I enjoyed the listening comprehension practice and being able to periodically translate a few sentences for Mom and Dad.

The basilica has a round floor plan and our guide led us around the outer edge along the adjoining chapels. One by one he turned on the lights in each chapel while explaining its highlights and he would turn off the lights before heading to the next one. Each was elaborately decorated and once contained the basilica’s most famous painting by Goya. The center of the basilica boasts the largest dome in Spain, at 108 feet in diameter. Every surface was covered in decoration with minute attention to detail, gorgeous stained-glass windows, elegant frescoes and barrel vaulted ceilings.

The Costume Museum (Museo del Traje)
Mom and I have always been fascinated with costumes and period clothing, so when I found out Madrid had a Costume Museum, I saved a visit to share with her. I didn’t have high expectations because most museums and exhibits I have seen in other cities have been small and homogeneous; always the same with mannequins lined shoulder to shoulder displaying the costumes. Madrid’s Costume Museum quickly blew away my expectations with its size, voluminous collection, and very well-designed displays.

The permanent collection takes you on a walk through fashion history from 16th century tunics and doublets to contemporary runway designs. I loved seeing the cocktail dresses from the 1950s; there were so many that I wished I owned today. There was also a temporary exhibition displaying the costumes from a current Spanish movie set in the 17th century called Lope. Mom and I spent a couple hours strolling through all of the displays. I was impressed with the detail and ingenuity in each of them. I know Jay and Dad were thankful they didn’t have to go to this museum, but I know they would have enjoyed it more than they think. Mom and I could’ve spent all day there, but more of Madrid was calling.

The city of Toledo and its cathedral
We spent the last day of my parents trip visiting the medieval town of Toledo (Toledo, Spain (pronounced toe-LAY-doe), not Toledo, Ohio (toe-LEE-doe). It is a formal capital of the Spanish Empire and actually has a much longer history than Madrid. Long ago Christians, Jews and Muslims coexisted here, and the city boasts ancient sights representing the different cultures.

Toledo is just a half hour speedy train ride from Madrid’s main Atocha station, so it was an easy day trip, but there were so many places of interest that one day didn’t give us nearly enough time to see everything. It was the last chapter on a long trip and we were a bit worn out so we took our time, taking in what we did see a bit slower than normal. We walked around town enjoying all of the historic buildings. We visited inside the Alcazar fortress and the Army museum, the Synagogue of El Transito, and my favorite of the day, Toledo’s cathedral.

Toledo’s 15th century cathedral has a dominating gothic exterior, but it was almost hard to get a good view of it because it is nestled so closely between other historic buildings. The interior felt like a maze of treasures to me. There were so many side chapels, a sacristy, a treasury, and more and more rooms leading to other rooms whose names I quickly forgot.

My favorite part was the Transparente, an ornate Baroque altarpiece in the ambulatory behind the high altar. Its name refers to the unique illumination coming in from the skylight in the vault above it and the numerous stained glass windows. (The cathedral has over 750 stained glass windows.) The transparente is decorated with with fantastic figures in stucco and bronze, paintings, and many colors of marble.

Hanging from the transparente (and several other places in the cathedral) was a lone red hat. It belonged to a cardinal who was buried in a tomb directly beneath me. Toledo’s cardinals have the opportunity to choose anywhere in the cathedral to be buried, and their hats are hung above their tombs until they rot away (which obviously takes a long time). I had read about these before visiting the cathedral, so I had my eye out for them, but they were quite hard to spot at first. They somehow blended into the fabric of the decoration in the cathedral. I felt like I was playing a game of Where’s Waldo? So many cathedrals run together in my memory, but the transparente and the cardinals’ red hats made Toledo’s unique.

The last thing we did before heading back on the train to Madrid we was introduced Mom and Dad to churros, often referred to as Spanish donuts. They are fried rings of dough sprinkled in sugar or dipped in chocolate that taste similar to a funnel cake. They are my favorite Spanish treat — delicious!

The next morning we took Mom and Dad to the airport. We were so glad they had gotten to visit us in Madrid to share in a city we love. It may have been snug in the apartment, but I had gotten used to them being around. I surely wasn’t ready for them to leave.

Click here to view more photos from Mom and Dad Klocke’s visit with us in Madrid and Toledo.

Our day in Sinop was another low-key day, but it was one of the most enjoyable to me. The weather was absolutely perfect and sunny. We walked all around town and along their long sea front. It offered pretty views of our cruise ship, which was docked alone and dominated the town’s small port. We also saw a sailing class for kids with lots of miniature sailboats; it reminded us of Croatia since we had often watched these classes from the balcony of our first apartment.

The most fascinating part of Sinop’s sea was the abundance of jelly fish. They were absolutely everywhere. I had never seen so many. They were beautiful and their semi translucent bodies floated tranquilly like they were little angels in the sea.

We visited Sinop’s citadel, an ancient sea-side prison that was decommissioned in the 1970s. There wasn’t a lot of explanations for the sights except for a few signs with pitifully translated English, which were always a treat to read; for example, we were warned to “slip carefully” and the next day in Ukraine we read about a “batman bringing water during a battle (in the 1800s)”. The prison had a few interesting cells, offices, a gutted old bus, and a work-out yard where Jay was very amused showing off his pull-ups and weightlifting “skills.”

Sinop sits on a peninsula, and from the prison, we walked to the other side of the peninsula to view the sea. It had a much more picturesque landscape than the port side: a mixture of sandy beaches and rocky cliffs and a view of a town a short way off in the distance. We stopped for awhile taking in the view and basking in the sun.

We spent a short time shopping at a craft center and a clothing store, spent more time watching the jelly fish, and returned to the ship for a late lunch and relaxing afternoon. My dinner that night was my favorite of the trip: parmesan crusted turkey and creamy pasta, and, of course, lots of desserts (and the boys continued their steak-eating trend).

Monday, October 11 – Sevastopol, Ukraine

We had been looking forward to this port in Ukraine since we booked the cruise because our friends, Jon and Elena, (who we met in Croatia) are now living in Ukraine, just two hours from Sevastopol. They were kind enough to come visit with us and show us around. We had big plans to rent a car and see the countryside, a beautiful church, and some submarines, but sadly they were rained out. Sevastopol was our one day of really cruddy weather on the cruise. There was an almost constant light rain with dark clouds and very cool air.

We didn’t let the weather completely ruin our day though. We visited an impressive 360 degree panorama and 3D model of the 1855 Battle of Sevastopol during the Crimean War. It was normally closed on Mondays, but opened just for the official cruise sponsored tours. Luckily Jon and Elena speak Russian (Elena is Russian) and they were able to talk our way in too. We had a tour guide explaining the exhibit in Russian and Jon did a wonderful job of translating. The painting of scenes from the battle were so detailed and the most impressive part was how the 3D model in the foreground seamlessly connected with the painting, so much so that it was visually difficult to tell where the painting ended and the 3D model began.

In the 20th century Sevastopol was the home port of the Soviet Navy’s Black Sea Fleet, and the city retains a significant Russian naval presence. It was one of the most secret towns of the USSR due to its military status. It was closed not only to foreigners, but also to all Ukrainians until 1997. While eating breakfast in the morning on the ship, we saw a submarine leaving the bay with two heavily armed navy ships as escorts. It was the first time I’d seen a submarine on the move and the dark rainy weather gave the scene a curious ominous feel.

After the visit to the panorama, we went on a harbor tour to see the Russian fleet up close. Once again Jon did a great job of translating the Russian explanations. He had his work cut out for him because the guide spoke a million miles a minute non-stop the entire time; I’m sure Jon didn’t know his day was going to be such hard work. We saw all sort of ships from medical ships to spy ships to cable laying ships.

After purchasing a few small souvenirs, we decided to head back to the cruise ship because it began raining even harder. We gave Jon and Elena small gifts we had brought: wine and Alpen, Jon’s favorite cereal that he couldn’t get it in Ukraine. It might have been the best part of the day. We loved seeing how excited Jon was over a box of cereal and how much Elena laughed. It was a good end to a nice day. Hopefully we will get to return the favor to Jon and Elena some day in the future.

Back on our ship, we enjoyed a late lunch and afternoon of ping pong, playing cards, and happy hour drinks. That evening was our last formal night and it included an after dinner chocolate dessert night. There were more decadent chocolate desserts than I could’ve imagined; alas I was too full from dinner to eat much of any of them. Either way, they were pretty to look at.

Tuesday, October 12 – Day at Sea

Our last day on the cruise was spent at sea. Once again we were up just in time to get waffles (just writing this is giving me a craving for them) — delicious! We had no agenda for the day and it was welcomed for relaxing and packing.

There was one last self-indulgent dinner with a little too much wine and reminiscing about how quickly the cruise had passed. We couldn’t believe that in the morning we’d be off on our ways back to Spain and Ohio.

Click here to view more photos from our Black Sea Cruise to Greece, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine.

We spent the day in the 2014 Winter Olympics city – Sochi, Russia. Usually tourists need visas to visit Russia, but on a one-day cruise stop, you just need to be part of a Russian-authorized tour group. The cruise companies like to scare people and tell them they can’t get off unless they are part of the cruise-sponsored tour, but luckily we knew this wasn’t true. In Sochi, we actually could have gotten off without any type of paperwork if we had the courage to act like we belonged and knew what we were doing. We had a private tour booked and met our guide, Yaroslav, when we exited the tender boat.

We took a short city tour and walked along the seafront. Yaroslav was full of stories of Russian corruption and the need for reform. The seafront was lined with expensive apartments illegally built on property that used to be green parks. Money can buy just about anything in Russia, and the judges drive some of the nicest cars in town.

All day we got so lucky and arrived between the big tour groups missing the crowds at all of the sights. We got a beautiful view of the city, the mountains, and the sea from an observation tower atop Akhun Mount. We had the whole tower to ourselves.

Next we spent some time at a national park and hiked to Agura waterfall for a picnic lunch. The waterfall wasn’t anything spectacular, but it was a nice spot for a picnic and the easy hike was enjoyable. I liked climbing over the rocks by the waterfall to get a closer look.

I was most amused by the old man at the park entrance collecting an admittance fee. We saw Yaroslav argue with him, grunt in exasperation, hand him a little money, and move on. Yaroslav told us that the Russian government deemed the park admittance free, but the old man said the locals didn’t agree with it, so they were collecting money anyways.

As we left the park, we stopped by a natural hot sulphur spring. The sulphur springs have made Sochi a famous health spa resort town in Russia. The sulphur is used to treat respiratory and cardiac problems. We were told it is quite potent and should only be used under instruction of a doctor. People have died of asphyxia from going deep into caves where the sulphur runs. The odor it produced was unpleasant, but the river of cloudy white water was fascinating.

From there we visited Stalin’s dacha, his favorite summer home where he spent a lot of time with his family and with other Russian diplomats from 1937 until his death in 1952. Most of the furnishing and decor were original including his desk and pool table. We were entertained by stories of Stalin’s madness. He led a bizarre life. His colleagues hated visiting him there because it was never a short visit; he forced them to sit through repeated movies and long drunken dinners, and even to dance with one another while he watched.

As we left the dacha and headed back to the ship, Yaroslav found Dad a Mountain Dew at a newsstand (Russia was the only country we visited during the trip that sold Dad’s favorite soda), and Mom, Kyleen and I admired the wedding photo sessions taking place in the park near the harbor. I appreciated how stereotypically Russian the scene felt to me with so many ladies with long bleach blond hair, short skirts, high heels, and dark heavy eye make-up and the beautiful bride smoking a cigarette.

Saturday, October 9 – Trabzon, Turkey

Today we met up with Sertac from Couch Surfing (Couch Surfing is a website kind of like Facebook intended to help people out with a place to stay and getting to a know a city while traveling). He was a perfect host for our day in Trabzon.

Sertac helped us rent a dolmus (taxi van) to go to Sumela Monastery in the mountains of Altındere National Park. The monastery was founded in 386 AD, and during its long history it has fallen into ruins and been restored several times. As we drove through the woods and up through the mountains the scenery was beautiful. The monastery is located on a picturesque steep cliff. The weather was cloudy and foggy, but luckily no rain. The thick fog made the beautiful view we had seen in photos impossible to see, but at the same time added to the mysterious enchantment of the monastery as we approached it up a long and narrow stairway.

We walked around the monastery, took lots of photos, and tried to avoid the crowds before heading back to our dolmus. The 40-minute ride to and from the monastery went quickly as we swapped stories with Sertac. He was a great story teller and his English was superb from the couple years he had spent in the United States. He had been an intern at a park in Pennsylvania and camp counselor in the bible belt in Texas; he said they were worlds apart. He seemed to have had girlfriends from all over the world. He was currently seeing someone from Poland and in the past had dated girls from Croatia and even Columbus, Ohio. I couldn’t stop laughing when he threw his arms in the air and broke out the “OH-IO!” I wish I had taken photos.

We had the dolmus drop us off atop Boztepe Hill for a view over the city and then walked down to the coast. Our walk down the hill took us through winding streets and neighborhoods. We walked by a soccer game being played in front of a mosque. We ate a fresh fig off of a tree. We watched kids playing in the small streets. They all stared at us curiously. Two small boys leaned out their window and waved hello. As we waved back they proceeded to make farting noises and giggled uncontrollably as their mother ran over to scold them.

We stopped for some delicious baked bread still hot and fresh from the oven that reminded Jay and I of being in Croatia. We sat at a small cafe on the coast and enjoyed a picnic lunch and some local beverages (the local beer, Efes, and tea). Sertac seemed particularly pleased with the chocolate chip cookies we had brought from the ship; no one quite does chocolate chip cookies like Americans. The sun was even nice enough to shine through breaks in the clouds.

After a stroll through the local bazaar and a stop at an internet cafe, we said goodbye to our new friend, Sertac, and headed back to the ship.

Click here to view more photos from our Black Sea Cruise to Greece, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine.

Istanbul became my favorite port before we even docked. We didn’t dock until noon so it gave us plenty of time to sleep in and watch us sail through Bosphorus, the Istanbul Strait that connects the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean Sea with the Black Sea. It is the world’s narrowest strait used for international navigation. Its shores are densely populated on both sides with the city of Istanbul. It was fabulous seeing all of the mosques rise majestically from the compact clutter of buildings.

Our family’s first stop in Istanbul was Mom’s pick: the Suleymaniye Hamam, a beautiful Turkish bath built in 1557. We found our way there winding through the maze of streets in Spice Market using Kyleen’s GPS, a birthday gift from her parents which she loaded with Turkey maps including outstanding walking directions (and public transportation directions — it had lots of fun features). Once at the hamam we changed into our swimsuits, hamam-provided towels, and silly uncomfortable clogs. We were directed into the main haman room where we were tortured and pampered for the next hour and a half.

The first step was detox: we sat and layed on a hot marble stone slab under an impressive dome sweating all of our insides away. The heat was generated by logs of wood burnt in the furnace, and not electricity. It was 140°F and I had never felt anything like it in my life. Sweat continuously streamed from my pores and the dome seemed to sway a bit as I tried to decide if I might pass out. I didn’t. I wondered if people ever did and thought how people die in this kind of heat.

Jay convinced me to lie down and relax. For a few seconds it felt like the skin on my back was going to sizzle, but I grew accustomed to it. I relaxed a bit as I stared at rays of light from the small holes in the ceiling of the dome.

No one can ever convince my Dad to relax, so it was a lost cause in the heat of the hamam. There were several small galleries off the main dome used for the massages. Most were empty, so Dad paced back and fourth walking wherever he could. He had the men’s changing room key around his wrist and we could hear his anxious jingle wherever he walked.

After what seemed like hours, and was actually a very long 40 minutes, it was our turn for the massage. There were four masseuses and six of us. Mom and I took one for the team and stayed in the heat 20 minutes longer and watched as the others got doused in water, covered in soap suds, and rubbed into a relaxed stupor. I prayed that the water was cold and a thumbs up from Jay indicated it was.

It was finally our turn. Mom and I were led to the same room and directed to sit on the floor next to our massage table and a faucet continually pouring water into a basin that the masseuses used during the massage. As the masseuses left to direct the rest of the family to a changing area, I quickly plunged my arms into the nice cool water and threw as much as I could onto my body as it overflowed the basin. Mom laughed at me and waited patiently.

When my masseuse returned he used a bowl to poor the water all over me. It felt glorious. He used a bristled mitt to scrub and scour my body of all its dead skin. Then he poured more cool water. He directed me to the marble massage table and used soap suds and strong hands for a wonderful muscle relaxing massage. I felt unhinged from my head to my toes. My skin was so soft and smooth. I would say it was the best massage I’ve ever had, but I don’t know if that is fair to say since I was tortured with heat first. It was definitely the most memorable spa experience I’ve had.

Afterwards we were wrapped tightly in towels and joined the rest of the family in a room for water and relaxing. There was one other couple there and we talked about their travels with them. It really is a small world; the guy was from Wapakoneta, Ohio. I wanted to ask him if he knew Kent from So You Think You Can Dance, but it seemed unlikely since he hadn’t lived there in years. We did confirm that he knew of Kent on the show, at least. The couple was traveling with Disney on Ice; I also wanted to ask them which characters they played. My excitement from the So You Think You Can Dance reference and Disney on Ice was making me feel like a real nerd, so I mostly kept to myself enjoying my relaxed stupor.

We eventually plied ourselves from the cushions, changed, and headed out into the chaos of Istanbul. We visited Galeta Tower for the best view of Istanbul. It was crowded, but we made it to the top at the perfect time to see the city and the sun setting.

Wednesday, October 6 – Istanbul, Turkey

Today was a sightseeing-packed adventure. Everywhere was crowded, but it never felt like the Disneyland disarray of Athens or Rome. We started at Topkapi Palace and on Kevin’s instructions headed straight to the Imperial Harem to beat the crowds. It was a good idea because we had many of the rooms to ourselves to enjoy the magnificent opulence and intricate tile work. The harem was home to all women who lived and worked in the Palace and they usually numbered over 1000. The Sultan’s mother was the queen bee here and often reigned mercilessly. It was amazingly decorated, but came with a twisted ugly history of concubines, slaves, stranglings, drownings, and more. Few girls who entered the harem ever left again.

The rest of the buildings on the palace grounds followed a similar style to the harem with magnificent tiles and amazing domes. The Imperial Treasury stood out with its vast collection of artworks and ridiculously large jewels belonging to the Ottoman dynasty. The most valuable was an 86-carat pear shaped diamond.

After a picnic lunch in the park-like setting at the entrance, we made our way to Hagia Sophia, a towering mosque-like structure. It was inaugurated in 360 AD and served as the cathedral of for over 1000 years. Later, it was converted into a mosque for about 500 years and most recently opened as a museum in 1935. It is famous in particular for its massive dome (182 feet tall) and is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture. It was the largest cathedral in the world for its first 1000 years until the completion of the the cathedral in Seville, Spain in 1520.

On the walls we saw a mix of different mosaics from various centuries. The most memorable decorations were gigantic circular-framed disks hung on the columns in the mid-1800s with Arabic inscriptions on them. These made the Hagia Sophia very identifiable when it appeared momentarily in an awesome movie we recently watched called The Fall (click here for the trailer).

Next was The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, better known as the Blue Mosque for the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior. The Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia aren’t far apart and there was a small pretty park in the middle that offered a beautiful views of both. Built in the 1600s, the Blue Mosque is still a practicing mosque, but is now also a popular tourist attraction. I couldn’t imagine trying to pray there with all of the tourist commotion. The interior was beautifully decorated, but it lacked the tranquility of less visited mosques like we visited in Sarajevo.

We made a quick visit to Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar. It was much cleaner and more organized than I expected, but not so clean that we weren’t ripped off by a dirty vendor. Jay and Dad both wanted a t-shirt and needed a size L. We only saw an L and an XL of the style we liked, so we asked the vendor if he had another size L. He asked us to wait and he returned with another size L folded and sealed in it “original” clear plastic wrapping. We bought both and moved on, only to realize once we were back on the ship that he had taken us for fools and succeeded. He had simply opened the bag, colored in the white X on the black tag with permanent marker, carefully repackaged the shirt and sold us an XL as a L. It would’ve been nearly impossible to distinguish it in the the dimness of the bazaar without opening the package and the vendor clearly knew this. We were angry for a second, but couldn’t do much more than laugh at the discovery. Luckily we were able to shrink it in the dryer and it fits just fine.

The day out ended with a boat ride on the Bosphorus giving us a closer look of the mosques and elegant homes that lined the banks of the strait. The regality and conspicuous display of wealth in the homes along the banks took me for surprise in Istanbul. Many were swanky and beautiful. We watched them go by from the roof of the boat, but eventually watched from the windows downstairs as the air grew colder and the wind stronger. It started to rain just as we left the boat and it was the perfect time to head back to our ship.

Thursday, October 7 – Day at Sea

We were ready for a relaxing day at sea after our long day of sightseeing in Istanbul. We slept in just late enough to get our favorite breakfast waffles; the ship had amazing waffles that we ate every morning — addicting! I spent most of the day reading, working on a blog entry, and playing ping pong. My friends from my old job at Landor would be proud of my improved ping pong skills. In the afternoon we played trivia and got last place, which we attributed to the abundance of “old people” questions catering to the majority population on the cruise.

The evening was another formal night and more delicious food. After dinner we went to the ship’s theater for a Broadway-themed show and I was unexpectedly impressed with the singers. They sang a few of my favorite Broadway numbers, including “Seasons of Love” from Rent. It always leaves me with a smile.

Click here to view more photos from our Black Sea Cruise to Greece, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine.

Our first port off the Holland America Westerdam was Kusadasi, Turkey. We headed to Ephesus, the best-preserved ancient classical city in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was founded in the 10th century B.C. and during Roman times was the second largest Roman city, ranking just behind Rome. There were beautiful ruins of the old library, the theater, and terrace houses that displayed intricate and well-preserved mosaics.

Cenon, our Turkish tour guide from Meander Travel, shared with us the history of Ephesus and many fun stories. He did a good job of not boring us with too many details (we often have short attention spans). I always wonder how true the stories are, but we’ll never know the difference. For example, the library had an underground tunnel leading to the whore house across the street, making the library one of the most popular places in town.

From Ephesus, we headed to Sirince, a pretty little hilltop town known for its wine. The town has preserved its old traditional Turkish feel giving it its charm and tourist appeal. The streets were lined with small wine and souvenir shops. Several offered beautiful views across the hillsides. Most wine shops offered free tastings, which we took advantage of, and bought a bottle as a gift for our friends Elena and Jon who we’d meet up with later in Ukraine.

After lunch outside a silk rug shop, we headed inside for a demonstration and short sales pitch. I had asked when booking the tour not to be taken to a rug shop, but figured we would be anyways. It is common practice in Turkey (and many other countries); even the official cruise tours make the stop. I was happy at least that the demonstration was short and interesting and the sales pitch was very tame compared to most countries.

After browsing through the bazaar, we headed back to the ship to enjoy a mountain of cheese, crackers, and fruit as we debarked. We relaxed for a couple hours and enjoyed another scrumptious dinner. Jay had two filet mignons. I clearly don’t cook him enough beef; he had beef every night of the cruise, and probably about 8 filet mignons. I think Dad and Kevin might have matched his count too.

Sunday, October 3 – Volos, Greece

Today was Jay’s favorite port stop (and my second favorite). From Volos, we headed an hour and a half inland to Meteora, home of six monasteries in a breathtaking setting on tall, natural sandstone rock pillars. We went with a group from Cruise Critic, a website we use to do cruise research before we travel. It facilitated us meeting up with other cruisers on our trip to organize an inexpensive private tour with TheTaxi.GR

Before we left, we watched the old James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only because we knew part of it took place here. It was the perfect setting for a dramatic action adventure and we surely weren’t disappointed seeing it in person. It’s hard to imagine the construction of the monasteries over 500 years ago on the cliff sides. The buildings look like a continuance upward of the natural rocks.

We visited the inside of two of the monasteries. Until the 1920s, the only way to access the monasteries was through a trepidacious series of ladders and baskets. Now there are a series of paths and steps. We climbed 315 steps to the Great Meteoron Monastery and visited Agios Stefanos, the only convent in Meteora. They each had beautiful churches and offered magnificent views around the area.

We had lunch in the town below the monasteries, Kalambaka, where we had some of the best chocolate cake and baklava, and headed back to the cruise ship. While unpacking our bookbag, we realized we accidentally left Jay’s iPod on the bus.

Monday, October 4 – Thessaloniki, Greece

By some small miracle, we got Jay’s iPod back today. Through help from Linda, who organized the Meteora tour, and the concierges for suite guests, Jay was able to contact the TheTaxi.GR tour company. Thessaloniki isn’t too far from Volos and luckily someone from the company was coming here today. The driver found Jay’s iPod on the bus and someone was waiting for us in Thessaloniki when we got off the ship to return it to us – what kind service!

Overall, today was an enjoyable low-key day. We walked around Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city. The weather was kind of crummy; luckily no rain, but it was cool and damp. We took the Hop On Hop Off bus that the city runs for just 3€. It was a nice way to get around the city. We were joined by a rambunctious school field trip of loud teenagers who wanted to know if we liked their country. We hopped off at the top of the city at Trigonion Tower over looking the city and stopped by a few pretty churches before heading back to the ship.

This was the cruise’s first formal night, where most guests look their best for dinner and evening activities. I love getting all dressed up and I rarely have an occasion for a long fancy dress, so formal nights are one of my favorite things on a cruise. Plus, the people-watching is at its best these nights. Luckily Mom and I are the same size, so I got to share her formal dresses.

Our dinner also took a dramatic upswing tonight because we sat at a new table (where we remained for the rest of the dinners during the cruise). Our first few nights’ service was slow and a bit erratic so we decided to try a new table with new servers. We couldn’t have been happier. Our new server, Didit, was fun and super attentive. We always had everything we needed and more. He didn’t hover, but he seemed to catch our every move. If we made a funny face at a dish, he was suddenly there asking us if we wanted to try something new. I had to check my people-watching because he would always think I was looking for him and needing something. Him and his assistant, Athea, and Lovely, our bar server and wine connoisseur, helped make our cruise dinners memorable and helped us pack on a few extra pounds with all of the yummy food and extra desserts!

After dinner we played cards, Rummy 500. Dad was never a huge fan of playing cards – he didn’t have the patience for it – but I think we may have converted him because he kicked our butts several times during the cruise.

Click here to view more photos from our Black Sea Cruise to Greece, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine.

For Jay and I, the vacation started a day earlier than expected because we were scheduled to fly out the same day as Spain’s labor unions scheduled a general labor strike to protest labor law changes. Most airport employees, including baggage handlers and air traffic controllers took part (in addition to subway and train employees). The union leaders agreed to run 20% of international flights, and we decided not to spend our day at the airport taking our chances, so we moved our flight up a day.

It worked out for the best because we were able to be in Athens the morning my parents arrived and help them sort out their early morning tribulations…

Wednesday, September 29 – Athens, Greece

We were about to head downstairs to eat breakfast when we got a call; Mom and Dad arrived earlier than expected, but they weren’t in a good mood. They took the metro from the airport during rush hour and in the chaos of a packed subway car, dad got pick-pocketed. His wallet was stolen out of a buttoned pocket on hi cargo pants! Cash, credit cards, and driver’s license were all gone in a matter of seconds. The only saving grace was that dad had most of his money tucked safely away in the bottom of his shoe! We called the credit card companies via Skype and got everything sorted out. It was upsetting and inconvenient, but not tragic.

Mom hadn’t slept at all on their overnight flight. After a late breakfast, she took a nap while Jay, Dad and I walked to Lykavittos Hill and then climbed to the top. It was 85°F, the hottest day of the trip, and it felt like it. The climb was worth the effort because the top offered a fantastic view over Athens, the Acropolis, and the Aegean Sea in the distance. The hill is visible from much of the city and we frequently admired our accomplishment over the next couple days.

We stopped back at the hotel to get Mom and then walked through the National Gardens, another beautiful city park. I liked the soaring palm trees and Jay found turtles to watch.

We then walked to Panathinaiko stadium. The stadium was the site of the 1896 Olympics, but its history is much longer going back to classical times BC when the stadium had wooden seating. Now it boasts being the only major stadium in the world built entirely of white marble.

We arrived back to the hotel in time for Kevin and Kyleen’s arrival. They have been dating for over a year, but it was the first time Jay and I got to meet Kyleen. For her it was baptism by fire: two weeks in a cruise ship cabin with us. She fit right in. Besides the sinus cold we jokingly blame her for giving all of us later in the trip, we couldn’t have asked for it to go more smoothly. Hopefully she agrees.

Thursday, September 30 – Athens, Greece

We spent the morning at Athens’ famed Acropolis. I hadn’t realized it was so much more than just the Parthenon; there are several temples and theaters. The Parthenon was impressive, but it was sooo crowded. I couldn’t have counted the number of tour groups if I had wanted to. I felt like I was back in Rome, the other city full of tourists moving in packs like they are on a pilgrimage.

Next we headed to the Acropolis Museum, which surpassed my expectations. It is a beautiful museum that just opened about a year ago and houses around 4,000 artifacts found at the Acropolis. It was built over an archaeological site where excavations continue and can be viewed by visitors through many sections of the floor that are transparent glass. It was fascinating to see archaeologists at work below.

The top floor of the museum sits slightly askew to the rest of the building and is set up as the same orientation as the Parthenon. It displays the marble friezes just like they once occupied the Parthenon. Most of the panels on display are plaster casts obtained from the British Museum in the 19th century. The original marble friezes were taken from Athens to Britain by Lord Elgin during his time as ambassador to the Ottoman court of the Sultan in Istanbul in the early 1800s. There is a debate whether this offered protection or was just greed (most likely both). Athens wants them returned, but The British Museum continues to resist. One reason the New Acropolis Museum was created was to increase worldwide pressure for their return.

We visited more ruins, Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus, and headed to Filopappos Hill near the Acropolis. On the way we spotted Hajduk graffiti (Split, Croatia’s local soccer team)! There was a large sticker plastered over a green stop light. There are Hajduk fans everywhere.

I actually enjoyed Filopappos Hill more than the Acropolis. It offered the best views of the Parthenon (the ones you see in all of the books and postcards) and it was peaceful and solitary. We walked all around the hill taking in the views and relaxing in the sunshine.

After a short visit to the annex of the Benaki Museum for an architecture exhibit we took a looong walk back to our hotel. The monotony of the walk was broken up by the sight of a guy shooting heroin into his arm at a bus stop. I had never seen needle drug use before, but I saw it three times during my short time in Athens, in different parts of the city and always in broad daylight. The first time was on the front steps of an apartment building just half a block from our hotel. Plus, we saw several prostitutes. I know every big city has drugs and prostitutes, but I didn’t expect so much from Athens. I guess other cities just hide it better.

Friday, October 1 – Athens, Greece

On Friday morning we were itching to get on the cruise ship to see what everything was like, but first we headed to the National History Museum. It was full of cool old costumes, fancy guns, mastheads of old boats, and an awesome portrait of an ancient Greek hero that looks like one of Will Ferrell’s ancestors. We also visited the Syntagma Square Subway Station which houses remains of ancient aqueducts, graves, and cisterns that were uncovered during the construction of the station. Across the street we watched the Changing of the Guard. I liked the little pom-poms on the guards’ shoes and their silly march that required them to kick their legs high. They were all more flexible than I’ll ever be.

We took the subway to the port. It was supposed to be a direct route, but construction forced us to switch lines twice. As we left the subway station we could see our ship, but its distance was deceptive because it was much further away than it appeared. We dragged our heavy luggage over cobblestones and bumps and around light posts and parked cars for 30 minutes until finally arriving at the ship. We were ready for cruise ship pampering and we sure got it. When we arrived to our cabin, us kids realized just how spoiled we were.

Dad and Mom upgraded our room to a fancy suite so we we would have plenty of room. There was a king bed and a large pull-out sofa, a 32” flat screen tv, bathrobes, a changing room, a double vanity in the bathroom, a shower and a shower tub, plenty of closet space, and a balcony with room for six people. It made the entire cruise so nice. There was plenty of space for us to get ready; we didn’t have four people fighting over one tiny bathroom for showering, changing, makeup, hair, and more. Laundry and pressing service was even included. My clothes were more wrinkle free than they’d been since I lived at home two years ago with Mom. And when Jay woke up the next morning I was so far away from him in the big bed that he said he wasn’t even sure I was there.

After oohing and ahhing and thanking Mom and Dad (I remember the oohing and ahhing and sure hope we did the thanking), we enjoyed our first giant meal of the cruise. Cruises are known for enticing people to eat too much and we fell right in line.

Click here to view more photos from our trip to Athens, Greece.

Aunt Christina and Jean were here for just three days (following a pilgrimage in Italy), but every day they were here we got to see or do something new.

Touring the Substructure of the Diocletian Palace.

Aunt Christina and Jean did not get to enjoy our typical beautiful Mediterranean weather. It was rainy and/or cloudy every day. The first day was the worst, so my friend, Paula, organized an indoor activity for us and a few other friends: a tour of the Diocletian Palace’s basement. This is something that almost every tour group does in Split, yet Jay, Paula and I hadn’t done it after being here for over a year.

Our tour guide shared the history of Split and the Palace as he showed us through the maze of rooms in the basement. There were lovely vaulted ceilings and incredibly thick walls. Excavations of the substructure began in the 19th century, but were mostly competed in the 1950s. The excavations taught archaeologists a lot about what life was like 1700 years ago in the Palace.

My favorite part was a room with a statue of Diocletian. If you stood exactly in the middle of the room and said, “hello,” (or anything else) there was a strong echo and vibration that only you could hear. Supposedly this was Diocletian replying back to you.

Climbing the Bell Tower of St. Duje’s Cathedral

Jay and I love climbing to the top of the cathedral in any town we visit to see great panoramic views of the surrounding area, so why we hadn’t done this in Split yet was beyond our understanding. We did it with Aunt Christina though. We climbed 200 steps to the top.

The steps seemed a bit unsafe; at large openings in the tower walls there were just two thin railings keeping us from tumbling to our deaths. We understood why there were signs posted at the bottom warning us to climb at our own risk. I guess they just don’t make attractions idiot proof here like they do in the United States. It was nice not to have mesh safety fencing obscuring my photos.

Hiking to the Hermitage of Blaca on the island of Brac

On the island of Brac at the head of a valley in the middle of nowhere there is the Hermitage of Blaca. The hermitage was founded in 1588 by monks fleeing from the Turks. The simple buildings of the hermitage hug the side of a ravine with a beautiful view out to sea.

When we got to the hermitage the inside was closed for renovation, but getting there was the experience. We followed a sign off the main road onto a rocky gravel path, which we drove along for about a half hour winding around hills, through the woods, and past a lot of sheep. It was an obstacle course of large bumps and large potholes filled with water. And we were never sure quite how deep they were.

We eventually made it to the beginning of our hike. There were two signs right next to each other; one said it was 2 kilometers to the hermitage and the other said it was 2.5 kilometers to the hermitage. We don’t know which was correct, but its irrelevant because either way, it wasn’t the easy hike we hoped for. The hike was rocky and uneven all the way there. And it was downhill, which meant it was uphill the entire way back. Jean was a trooper, but I think she might have been not so happy with us afterwards for the exhaustion we caused. At least the views were great and hopefully she was proud of herself for the effort. Aunt Christina is like my Dad, a little energizer bunny, so I think she could have done the hike twice.

Krka National Park, again

It was the second time I visited Krka National Park in just two weeks (this time with Aunt Christina and Paula), but it was a completely new experience. The park had gotten an unusual massive amount of rain in the last week, so the falls were completely gushing.

I had never seen anything like it. I hadn’t even seen photos of the waterfall looking so powerful. The waterfalls I had swam in last year looked like they would surely kill me if I tried again then. It was interesting to compare photos of this visit to prior visits.

From Krka, we headed to the airport. Aunt Christina’s visit flew by quickly. We were so happy she got to see some of the places we love, even if it was without the sunshine.

Click here to view more of our photos from Aunt Christina’s visit.

Here is a diary from their time here in Split with us:

Tuesday, May 4

Our arrival in Split from Berlin was uneventful until we left the airport to find that for some unexplainable reason the trusty airline bus was not running into town. The bus was there and a driver was there, but he was just telling people the next bus wouldn’t leave for three hours! Luckily we knew that one of Split’s local buses passed in front of the airport and would only cost $18 for the five of us, so we avoided the $60 cab ride. We arrived at the stop at the same time as the bus, and we didn’t have to wait at all.

As we walked from the bus terminal to our apartment, I think my dad tried to stop at every bakery we passed (and there seems to be one every 100 yards in Split). He loves his bakery goods and Split is the perfect town for that. My family sure fattened me up while they were here; Dad bought bakery goods every morning, Mom brought from home tons of delicious homemade cookies, and we ate out for dinner every night.

After showing off our apartment and eating our staple lunch of ham and salami sandwiches on fresh bread (plus lots of cookies), we headed off for a hike in Marjan Park. We got to show off our favorite panoramic view of Split. And we hiked through the woods to Bene Beach, the beach on the furthest edge of Split’s peninsula. I only got us lost in the woods once, but we quickly found our way again.

Tuesday’s dinner was at Konoba Marjan, our favorite local mom and pop restaurant. It has a dull atmosphere, but also the best food in town. The wife cooks and the husband serves. They don’t speak any English, but luckily we’ve been there enough with Croatian speakers that he understands me when I trip over my words trying to tell him something I want that isn’t on the menu – like yummy mashed potatoes.

Wednesday, May 5

The weather didn’t cooperate with us today. It rained on and off as we drove south along Croatia’s coastal highway to Makarska and Biokovo National Park. These places were both new to me and I wished Jay was with us, but he was back at home working. Hopefully we will get to see them again sometime when the weather is better.

Regardless of the weather, the drive was still beautiful and luckily the rain stopped long enough for us to enjoy the little old coastal town of Makarska. We walked along its waterfront promenade and through a seaside park adjacent to town before heading to the botanical garden of Biokovo National Park.

The botanical garden was located high in the hills above Makarska and the drive there was full of crazy hairpin turns on a single lane road on the side of a cliff. It was scary. Dad’s driving was excellent, but Mom and I still closed our eyes and held our breath many times as we neared the edge of the cliff.

As we hiked through the botanical garden with our picnic lunch in tow the rain began to fall heavily. We found shelter in the ruined walls of a 17th century castle and enjoyed our lunch there. The rain was relentless so we gave up on our hike, ran back to the car through the rain and headed back north towards Split.

We made a small detour to drive through the town of Omiš and along the Cetina River. Next we decided to head to Klis Fortress, which is in Mosor Mountains overlooking Split. This began our second harrowing driving experience of the day. The GPS was set to avoid highways so that we would stay on the coastal road, but this was disastrous while trying to find Klis. We drove on narrow streets through neighborhoods on the hillsides and up and down steep hills. There were so many little streets, and the GPS kept saying things like, “Turn left, then sharp left and left.” It sent us into multiple driveways and dead end gravel pits. We were just happy we made it out of the maze and eventually to Klis. By the time we made it there, the fort was closed, but the beautiful view and suddenly sunny weather made it worth the effort.

We capped off the evening watching Jay and Kevin play soccer with Jay’s group of international guys. Kevin even scored his team’s first and last (the game winner) goals.

Thursday, May 6

The sun shined on Split and made for a beautiful view as we left on the two-hour ferry ride for the island of Hvar. I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed the 20-minute bus ride from the ferry into Hvar town, as it gave us a good look at more of the island. (It was my first time on the bus — last year Jay and I took the summer catamaran ferry directly to Hvar town.)

Once we arrived in Hvar town (and went to a bakery with delicious cherry danishes first), we climbed up to the 16th century Venetian fortress. I’m sure the fortress has all sorts of great history, but I was just interested in the hike and the views over the town of Hvar and the Pakleni Islands.

In the afternoon we walked around town and took a long walk along the coast to the pretty little coved beach that Jay and I had enjoyed last summer.

We arrived back in Split to savor a traditional Croatian Peka dinner with our friend, Paula. A Peka is a meat (veal and chicken) and potatoes dish baked in an iron pot under coals in a fireplace for a couple hours. In many houses here in Dalmatia, especially on the country side, you have a special place in the barn or at the ground floor of the house for preparing the Peka. The slow cooking makes the meat and potatoes so soft and delicious.

Friday, May 7

May 7, Sveti Duje Day, celebrates the patron saint of Split. Last year I really enjoyed this holiday, so I was very happy my family would get to experience it this year. It was a fun atmosphere with what seemed like everyone in Split out on the Riva together.

In the morning we watched the religious procession and the beginning of the large Mass held on the Riva. The religious procession was like a Catholic parade showcasing bishops and priests, children dressed in traditional Dalmatian dress, and men in traditional military garb.

Afterwards Dad, Kevin and I went for a run in my favorite park along the sea, and then the family had Cevapcicis for lunch (everyone except me). Cevapcici is a mildly spicy sausage sandwich and the most popular Croatian fast food.

We spent the afternoon walking around Split and checking out the market and all of the shopping stalls that lined the Riva for the festival. We watched the kids running around with their balloons and pushing wooden ducks with clapping wings. Kevin bought his girlfriend, Kyleen, earrings and a cool chunky wooden bracelet. There was so much fun jewelry I would’ve loved to buy, but living in Croatia has successfully curtailed my consumerism knowing that I’ll have to ship home everything one day.

After watching the start of Tombula, the Croatian version of Bingo, we had dinner at Jugo, which is a restaurant at the ACI Marina overlooking Split. The good food and great view made it my parents’ favorite restaurant during their visit last year. Mother’s Day and Kevin’s birthday is Sunday (when they will be traveling) so we deemed it their celebration night.

Saturday, May 8

We had big plans for the day, but woke up at 7:00 am to torrential thunderstorms, so we postponed our departure until 10:00 am. We rented a car to drive north along the coast to visit Krka National Park and the coastal town of Primošten. At 10:00am the rain was still down pouring, but we headed off anyways. We decided to take the fast highway to Krka and hope for better weather for the coastal drive in the afternoon.

Heavy rain fell the entire way to Krka and we worried our day would be ruined, but as we arrived at the park the rain slowed. Within half an hour the clouds broke up, the sun was shining, and you never would’ve know we had such horrible weather.

Krka National Park has beautiful powerful waterfalls. The waterfalls are formed as the Krka river fights its way through a long gorge and plunges over numerous steep drops. We came here last year during my parents’ visit and it is one of my favorite places I’ve been to in Croatia, so it was great to share it with Kevin. And we were lucky enough to have the park almost to ourselves since the morning rain kept many visitors away.

We drove back along the coast and stopped in Primošten, an ancient little town that was once located on a small islet but was connected to the mainland during the 16th century. There is a picturesque little church and cemetery overlooking the sea at the town’s highest point. I’m always fascinated that the cemeteries in Croatia have the most prime real estate.

We returned to Split just in time to make it to a Hajduk soccer game. Earlier in the week they had won a big tournament, the Croatian Cup, so even though they were playing a horrible team, the fans were out to show their appreciation. Torcida, the group of true die-hard fans, sang and chanted the entire game. I think the fans put on a more interesting show than the team (I know that is such a girl thing to say).

Sunday, May 9

Mom, Dad, and Kevin left early this morning on their flight to Stuttgart, Germany. They were lucky to make it out of Split because Iceland’s volcano was once again wreaking havoc on European travel. Both Split’s and Stuttgart’s airport closed in the afternoon. They are scheduled to leave Stuttgart in the morning.

Monday, May 10

Luckily Stuttgart’s airport opened back up again. Their intended 15-hour trip turned into 24 hours with delays and missed connections. It wasn’t a pleasant trip home, but it could have been a lot worse. I’m glad they made it home safely.

I miss them already.

Click here to view more of our photos from this week’s excursions.

Christmas Day weather was beautiful and 65°F, so I went for a run and spent the day making “just chicken” chicken pot pie from scratch and listening to Christmas music. I missed having the Pillsbury ready-made dough. Jay helped though by cubing all of the vegetable shortening and grating the margarine and washing off the wine bottle after we used it to roll out the dough. The wine bottle surprisingly made an excellent rolling pin. The just chicken pot pie cooked to perfection and it was so big that it lasted us for three meals. In the evening we watched more movies and Skyped with my family. They gathered all of their presents from under the tree and opened them in front of the computer. And later we Skyped with my Dad’s side of the family. It was great getting to see so much of our family; we just wish we could’ve seen them in person.

People celebrating Christmas in Croatia follow many of the same traditions we did at home, such as family gathering, Christmas trees, lights, and presents. We’ve found a few interesting differences though:

• Christmas festivities seem to start later here than in the United States, though that is probably because it starts earlier every year back home in Cincinnati. Store displays, decorations, trees, and lights all slowly roll out throughout December. One of the first Christmas lights we saw displayed was Homer Simpson alone on the side of an apartment building. It remained one of Jay’s favorites through the month. Many families don’t even set up their trees until Christmas Eve. And Maja told me that they never water their trees. The trees here always make me chuckle a bit because they remind me of Charlie Brown Christmas trees. The climate here isn’t ideal for growing tall, full, fat Christmas trees like we’re used to back at home.

• Saint Nicholas (Sveti Nicola) is more celebrated than Santa Claus. I didn’t see a guy dressed up in a Santa suit once. Saint Nicholas brings treats to kids who leave out their shoes on December 6. Our friends, Cindy and Joel, have a son, Ethan, in kindergarden who was very excited about Saint Nicholas this year after learning about him in school. He decided he wanted a Playstation from Saint Nicholas instead of candy like all the other kids would get. Cindy told him that she couldn’t do anything about it and he would have to take that up with Saint Nicholas. Ethan didn’t know what to do since Saint Nicholas would only come if he was asleep, so he decided candy would have to do. He was very concerned that he might not get anything at all because Cindy didn’t clean his shoes spotless and his teacher had told him that was important. Cindy assured him they were clean enough. He was very excited when he woke up to find that Saint Nicholas had left him treats and a letter wishing him Merry Christmas in his school notebook.
• Boxing Day on December 26 and the Epiphany on January 6 are also celebrated as national holidays. The Epiphany commemorates the wise men bringing gifts to Jesus and the twelve days of Christmas. It always felt like nothing gets done at work in the United States between Christmas and New Years, but here it is even better. Nothing gets done between Christmas and the Epiphany. Europeans are great at stretching out their holidays.
• Most Croatians don’t eat meat on Fridays during Advent or on Christmas Eve. About 90% of Croatians are Roman Catholic, so I wasn’t surprised that they don’t eat meat on Fridays during Lent because that is a common practice by Catholics in the United States. Not eating meat during Advent or on Christmas Eve was new to me. I always picture Christmas Eve with a big juicy ham (even though I’d prefer pizza). On Christmas Eve, families here share the traditional meal of Bakala, a mixture of cod, mashed potatoes, garlic and olive oil. The restaurants also serve this traditional meal. Paula ordered it and let us have a sample. Jay and I both tried it but weren’t big fans. We ordered meat lasagna. The waiter raised his eyebrows and said he would have to ask the kitchen if this was possible. Luckily it was because it was delicious.
• Fritule and mulled wine are two popular Croatian Christmas treats enjoyed all of December. Fritule are like fried donut holes dusted with powdered sugar, so clearly they are wonderful (though not wonderful for our waistline). These were sold at some of the little Christmas shops that popped up along the Riva selling gifts, treats, and decorations. It is probably for the best that they are already packed up.

Click here to view more of our Croatian Christmas photos.