Payettes do holidays abroad!

Happy New Year!

With the family overlooking Rhodes

Well the holidays were nothing short of an adventure this year for the Payette family! On Dec 20^th we boarded the MSC Magnifica for our 8 day cruise of the Mediterranean. I’ll give a brief overview of what we did here, and I’ll post all the pics to fb. We boarded in Bari, Italy a town that we didn’t see much of, just the ghetto parts on the drive from the airport to the port. The rest of the day and the entire next day were spent at sea, which was kind of boring, but we did get to dress up for a formal dinner. The day at sea was rough for me because I get motion sick, but I found one way to get rid of motion sickness is to drink through it! So getting up the next day for our visit to Rhodes, Greece was a bit of a struggle! Rhodes is a very cool place. We just toured around the “old town” which was inside a 3 km wall. Brett and I definitely decided that we want to return to Greece at some point when it’s warmer.  

The next day we got to Egypt bright and early. We had booked an excursion that would take us from the port in Alexandria to Cairo, Saqqura and Memphis. Before we could even leave the port the police have to make sure that the highway to Cairo is clear because attacking tourists is something that Islamic extremists apparently like to do. So I was a bit freaked out at that, and by a bit I mean was nearly ready to get back on the boat without seeing any of Egypt because we were delayed for over an hour. But we finally got a move on and wow, Egypt was not what I was expecting. The city of Alexandria was so sketchy. We’ve all seen movies about the Middle East, that’s exactly what it’s like. But eventually we made it to the pyramids and all was well. We also got to see the Sphinx, and even went inside a little pyramid. It was a looongggg day and we were very relieved to get back to the boat, alive.

The night after Egypt Brett finally got the guts to talk to this ginger from the boat that she thought was hot. I estimated his age to be 17… Luckily I was wrong and he was in fact 18. He turned out to be a very interesting character, but his 16 year old brother was a sweet heart!  They were actually British and we ended up hanging out with them a bit more during the rest of the trip. Sounds funny, but other than the staff they were the closest people to our age. And there was a definite language barrier with the staff even though they spoke like 8 languages. Christmas Eve was spent at sea and it was a party. Unfortunately Drew wasn’t feeling well but Brett and I got our drink on.   

Our next stop was on Christmas day which was in Katakalon, Greece. Unfortunately the site Olympia was closed since it was Christmas at all, but we got to see it from a distance. Olympia was the site where the ancient Athenian Olympic Games were held. Brett and I bought some hilarious coffee mugs there because her housemates have a tradition of buying silly mugs when they travel.

Coming into the port in Dubrovnik

Boxing Day was spent in Dubrovnik, Croatia which was surprisingly awesome. Like Rhodes they have an “old town” that is inside a 2km wall. Nearly the entire city was destroyed in 1991 when they were attacked by the Serbs. Not sure why they were attacked, could probably just google it, butttt alas I’m too lazy. The entire city has been rebuilt and restored in the last twenty years with the help of UNESCO as it’s a heritage site. Overlooking the city is Napoleon’s fort. It hasn’t been restored yet, and we saw some legit holes from tanks. Pretty crazy.

Our last stop on the trip was Venice. I’ve been to Venice before and was underwhelmed last time, but I’m not sure why. I loved it this time!! Such a cool place. We did some shopping and wandering and ate some good food.

So that was it for the cruise! I definitely won’t be going on another one of those, EVER. The motion sickness was just too much, but I had a great time off the damn boat. Although I did have a lot of fun listening to I’m on a Boat, while on a boat. We may have made our own video, but if we ever actually put it together I’ll be amazed.

In St. Peter's Square in Vatican City (teehee)

We got off the boat in Bari and took a train to Rome where we spent the next four nights. Rome is unreal. I am definitely going back there. First off, soooo much history; second, no open liquor laws! You can drink anywhere. Hahaha. We spent most of our time shopping, making it out to some designer outlets and cruising the awesome shops downtown. The only historical sites we took in were the Colosseum and a little bit of the Vatican. Both very, very cool.  We rang in the New Year outside the Colosseum, and it was craaaazzzyyy. In addition to there being no open liquor laws, they also let you set off your own fireworks. Couldn’t hear properly out of my right ear for awhile thanks to one type of firework that sounds like a bomb going off. Rome actually sounded like it was being attacked there were so many going off. I pity the city workers who have to clean up that mess. Fireworks and glass everywhere. Reminded me of Aberdeen on homecoming, but all over the city. After midnight we made it back to our apartment (found through the Bed and Breakfast association, and was saaweeeet) and Drew and I had a couple drinks and decided to hit a club. Not sure what it was called, but there was an unreal Italian band playing. Couldn’t understand a word they were saying, but the singer was amazing. He was a strange guy, but had an unreal voice.  Drew and I made our way back the apartment around 5am (according to Dad). Even though it was only the two of us, we had a blast (Brett wasn’t feeling up to it). Although I did want to kill him when he insisted on setting off loud ass fire crackers on our walk back. Boys will be boys.

New Year’s Day we flew back to England and it already feels like home. Finally getting to relax and do nothing (except write this, and put up pics)! Hope everyone at home is having a great time over the Holidays!!  Don’t make an overly ambitious New Year’s resolutions! xoxo

PS Just read an article about an attack in Alexandria on New Years at a Christian mass, yep, definitely not going back to Egypt.

 Quote of the Day: Does a lap child count as a carry on? Because if not, that's just not fair.