Embracing my Licorice Obsession in Greece and Turkey

We had five more days aboard our cruise, two at sea and three at port in Izmir, Santorini, and Mykonos. Both on and off the ship I was able to taste some delicious licorice, or anise, flavored liquors, both individually and as part of delicious cocktails. After we disembarked our cruise, we spent a few days in Athens before we moved onto our next adventure.

Life Aboard the Ascent

After leaving Naples we had two days at sea, the first one had us go through the strait next to Sicily before crossing the Ionian sea towards Greece.

Mr. Wander and I took advantage of the few days off from being a tour guide and took a few naps. I did a little bit of training for the bike by utilizing the gym and another swim with my mom. I joined my parents a few times throughout the cruise to play cribbage in one of our favorite bars that had a great ambiance.

We got to see one of the best shows that week that was full of cirque du soleil style acrobatics and I was SO impressed by how much they could do on a stage on a cruise ship! There were parts of the stage that descended below for new props or performers, some came down from the ceiling on rings or silks, and some of the giant screen behind moved to create ledges and doorways. They had a great mix of excellent singers and amazing moves by the performers and dancers. Sometimes they would come out through the audience. My favorite was the couple holding one another over their head on handstands and even with some flips, so impressive!

I was pleasantly surprised by the food aboard. Not only did they have a new theme for every lunch and dinner, but they always had options for tacos, sandwiches, customized pasta, carvery, salad bar, vegetarian/vegan, gluten free, and at least one dish served fresh right out of a parmesean cheese wheel.

They also had four restaurants you could reserve for dinner that were complementary, but it felt like you were at a fancy themed restaurant. One of them were open for breakfast and lunch as well if you didn’t want to be with the rest of the masses in the buffet. They were Cyprus, Cosmopolitan, Tuscany, and Neapolitan, and they each had some dishes that you could only get at that restaurant, but the rest of the menu was the same across the four yet changed each night. We ended up eating at all four restaurants, although in the Cosmopolitan we only went to breakfast twice for a more relaxing experience since we weren’t a fan of their special menu for dinner. We had plenty of tasty desserts, some french onion soup, Mr. Wander tried beef carpaccio, and I found some cannolis that were better than those in Venice.

There was one other spot where you could get food for free which was a simple burger and hot dog stand that was near the pool, so we had to partake one day.

Our second sea day we had signed up for an onboard mixology class, which was really fun. The bartender was entertaining and he taught me so much about some of the tricks for making cocktails. We even were able to get a little spray of oil from an orange peel on the top of our drink, it was so cool that it actually works! He talked about the difference between shaken and stirred cocktails (and how James Bond does it wrong) and even gave us a basic idea on how to make lemon infused tequila and orange bitters. Angostura has about 200 flavors so it’s probably easier to just buy your own. I also think I don’t put enough bitters in when I make a Manhattan as he was explaining the difference in the bottles he used verses those you purchase.

I really appreciated that the recipes we made were only available on this mixology class so it was fun making things that were totally different. The last was my favorite since it included Ouzu, a licorice or anise flavored liquor from Greece. There’s a similar one from Turkey we also had called Raki, one of the nights in the restaurant they had an old fashioned made with this and it was hands down one of my favorite cocktails ever.

We had one last fancy drink on board, there was a craft bar where they had a “build your own old fashioned” option. You pick the bourbon, the syrup and bitters flavors, and the garnish. Mr. Wander chose cherry and vanilla flavors where I doubled down on chocolate.

One thing that was happening while we were aboard was the first week of the Olympics, and they had a few spots on the ship, plus our TVs in the room that are setup for any special sporting events. We watched a few times and it was nice to not be limited to US programming of just the same 3-4 sports. We got to see some archery, skeet and air rifle shooting, handball, judo, and a few types of fencing. One of the nights we watched gymnastics at the outdoor screen on some nice couches and enjoyed another sunset.

The cruise had several events planned each night, several musicians, comedians, and even some themed nights in a club. We walked passed one of the nights where they had a silent disco. This is where you have your own headphones and you can actually change channels to listen to different music. I really love this idea, maybe it’s my age showing but I always feel they just play music too loud and I have sensitive ears at times. This way, not only can you change the music, but you can also change the volume to be individual. However, with the songs they were playing, it didn’t seem super silent as several groups sang along, different songs would dominate as they would hit the courses. Check out the video below. It was very entertaining to witness.

Land of Turkish Rugs

Our last three days aboard were port days. The next port town was Izmir, Turkey, and we opted to do a bus excursion to Ephesus. We chose one with less walking which was really nice to avoid some of the heat! We also got these small tablets that did give us some renditions of what the ruins might have looked like when it was first built.

It was a cool way to get more of a feel for a town since we did not walk through it. When Mr. Wander had visited on his last cruise they said they drop you at one end and you walk through and they pick you up at the other, but it was a longer walk and we didn’t want to push the parents too hard in this kind of heat.

We did do a few other stops, one at the statue of the Virgin Mary, and another at the Temple of Artemis. We found a few kitties there also. The tour ended as most do from cruise ships in Turkey, to a rug shop.

It is impressive the detail on some of the pieces, unfortunate everything that drew my eye was silk with small details and therefore in the $40,000 range. It helped telling them I have no house to put it in so I wouldn’t know what color or size to think about yet so they backed up knowing we were a lost cause. One of the cooler things though was watching someone actually adding the fibers to the rug, she worked so fast! We also got a demonstration of how they harvest the silk.

They had a variety of materials, and I guess you can get the small detailed looking one made out of bamboo that is a more reasonable price range, for small table runners or wall hanging sizes you stay under $1000. You could also get bigger ones out of cotton and maybe wool that would be more affordable but the fibers are so large it’s not great for the tiny details. The shop were great hosts though, and gave you tastes of Turkish wine, an apple cider type drink, and my favorite was the anise flavored Raki. I know for most people anise or licorice is a love or hate but if you are like me and love it, this is a must try! We got back on the boat in time for some lunch although my parents decided to stay on shore and get lunch there.

Islands of Greece

The next port was Santorini, Greece. The parents opted to take the cable car up but they had to wait in line awhile. Mr. Wander and I instead took the stairs and actually beat them by about 5-10 minutes. Near the top they had numbered the steps, at least as high as the donkeys go it was 550 steps, but there was a few more to get to where the cable car finishes. It wasn’t super pleasant at first because you do have to avoid donkeys and their presents as they bring people up the mountain but as we got higher the air was considerably fresher.

Once we were all up at the top we took a stop at a cafe for a cold beverage before walking around. We headed towards a church to get some pictures and I thought it was so interesting having these doors that look like they go to nothing, but they have stairs down to a cafe or restaurant on the next level down.

We stopped in a few shops until it was time to head back down. It was getting more clogged in the streets as there was another cruise ship there. Most of the parents took the cable car back down but Mr. Wander, his dad and I eventually made it down and took a tender back to our ship to cool off in some AC and get lunch.

The last stop before the end of the cruise was Mykonos. There was considerably less stairs here but we did have to take a bus after getting off the tender as we were anchored off the new port. Here we got to visit the beach right in town and get our feet wet in the sea.

Some of the group decided to walk to some windmills around town, including Mr. Wander. He got some great pictures off the main path and away from the other cruisers.

Mr. Wander’s mom and I stayed near the beach and people watched. There was this one older guy standing in a white speedo on the beach for maybe an hour or two, just watching people walk by as they are all coming from the cruise ships towards the main part of town. While we had our guesses I wasn’t completely sure what he was waiting for, but by the time we moved over to get a cool beverage and everyone else joined us for snacks, he had packed up and left.

Ruins of Athens

The cruise dropped us off in Athens at about 9am and we didn’t plan transportation this time, if I do it again with that many people I probably would. We had to try to get 2 taxis since there were no vans and with the traffic of all the other taxis coming in it took awhile. We used Freenow, which is like a European Uber, that worked much faster than waiting in the general Taxi line which was very long.

We were able to store our bags at the hotel, and since we were right next to the acropolis museum we decided to embrace the AC and learn a bit about the history. It was interesting learning about the experiments they were doing to figure out how the colors were painted and what made them last as long as they did. The top floor is really interesting because they turned it slightly to be parallel the Parthenon. Inside they had metal columns in the exact footprint of the ancient ruin, and they even setup the pieces they have found from the carving on the front in the way they were originally.

Much has been taken by other explorers, such as the torso of the Poseidon as it currently resides in the British Museum. The chest was found later and is in the museum, but they created a plaster cast of the torso in Britian to display the chest onto. It is interesting how many times we have heard that things have been removed but are now in the British museum, it happened often in Egypt, but it isn’t always the British museum either, plenty of museums around the world contain artifacts from other parts of the world.

It’s mixed feelings because seeing it, like when the Tutankhamen exhibit traveled around the world many years ago, it might encourage people to go visit Egypt and see where it all came from and other cool places. This is good for Egypt because their economy relies heavily on tourism. On the flip side, people may think “I’ve already seen that in Chicago so I don’t need to go to Egypt”, but it does help those unable to travel get to learn more about other cultures and histories which is a good thing. It’s definitely an interesting discussion.

Once we had explored every floor, taken a few selfies, and were tired of reading plaques, we stopped by a local restaurant just outside the museum for lunch. I had my first taste of Mousaka, which is eggplant and ground beef with a tasty sauce and I really loved it. I think just about everything I had for Greek food was delicious! It was finally time to get back to the hotel to check in and we all relaxed in the AC for awhile.

Meanwhile Mr. Wander walked around with this dad through some parks and churches, through old districts and saw the oldest house in Athens. That night we walked to another nearby restaurant and I think everyone really liked the food. This time I had to get a glass of Ouzo. The waiter called me brave but I really couldn’t get enough of the stuff.

After breakfast the following morning, my parents and I headed to the Hellenic Motor Museum. I didn’t know what to expect but my dad really likes cars so I figured he’d appreciate it. There was a local man that used to race himself but eventually chose another career and decided to collect cars instead. Once he got to about 25 he figured the collection was too many to just be private and decided to open the museum. It was located on the 3rd, 4th and 5th floors of the building, and you started on the 4th floor. The oldest car they started with just by the ticket entrance was the Flintstone’s car! They had one car you could get in and take a picture of, here are my parents acting all cute:

Then you walk through a replica of a mechanic shop full of old parts, tools, classic advertisements for car part brands and a few newer products my parents recognized. Then you saw several cars starting from the 1900s from a variety of European makers, and a few imports from the US. They had interesting plaques that not only told about that individual cars, but also how that model or that maker fit into history with the two world wars or how the company started. Some of the more notable ones was this giant car with chain drive in the back, it looked so heavy:

I thought these dickie seats (jump seats in the US) were really weird.

This one is so tiny! I saw several versions of this as we worked our way up into the 50s and 60s section.

This truck is also quite small, the tires wouldn’t look out of place on a golf cart.

There were several other interesting cars, especially a Lightning McQueen replica (from the Pixar movie Cars), and an interesting small red race car.

On the way out there was a spiral ramp you could walk back to the street with so many exhibits for different tires, going back in time to some very old wheels that may have been on chariots back in ancient times.

After returning to the hotel we all reunited and got some lunch at the downstairs restaurant with some burgers and then relaxed until it was time to head to the acropolis ruin itself. You have to buy a timed ticket to get in but we were on the less popular entrance so it was pretty easy to get in. They were limiting entrances between 12-5pm because of the heat issues so we got a ticket at 5pm.

We walked up the side of the ampitheater and it wasn’t too busy. We had many stairs until we met up with everyone coming from the main entrance. The last few stairs were a very slippery marble, but eventually we made it to the top and were rewarded with spectacular views in every direction. I think we might have been able to see the port where the cruise ship dropped us off, we could certainly see some large ships in the distance.

A bit of walking and many pictures later, we started to head back down. We wanted to walk the long way but that entrance was closed. According to Mr. Wander, when he was there last time he could walk through the Pantheon but this time it was full of cranes and scaffolding, as they appear to be trying to finish the ultimate jigsaw puzzle of recreating the structure from as much of the original stone as possible.

That night we went to an Italian restaurant which not everyone liked but I was happy to have a really good cannoli finally!

Next Time

While I was sad to say goodbye to Ouzo and Raki, I was ready for the next adventure. Until now, the six of us have been to places that at least one of us have visited prior, but our next stop was to a country that not even Mr. Wander had visited before, Croatia! We rented a slightly smaller-than-expected vehicle and had ourselves about a week road trip up the coast, venturing inland to visit a few waterfalls before saying farewell to my parents in the capital city of Zagreb. Antio and Hoşçakal!