Excellent Vacation Ideas: Europe

Showing posts with label Europe. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Back from our Romantic and Relaxing Trip to Europe

Wow. I didn't know it was possible, but Warren and I managed to have a relaxing vacation in Europe. We visited Amsterdam, Netherlands, Nice France and Paris France.

In my younger days (fine I am only 40 but still) I always felt like I had to spend every waking moment experiencing the places I was visiting. I wanted to pack in as much as I could.

This trip however we didn't do that. We actually took it easy and really experienced these cities. Instead of waking up early, rushing from tourist attraction to tourist attraction, we changed it up. (It helped that we had been to Amsterdam and Nice before and I had been to Paris as a teenager).

Amsterdam, Relax or Not...

Amsterdam is the first stop on our upcoming romantic vacation to Europe. Warren and I visited this awesome city back in 2004 on a whim. He came home one day in June with a map and said that he wanted to go to Amsterdam for our July long weekend.

This wasn't like him back then, so what was I to say but OK!!! Lets see what we can do.

First the airfare, we found a cheap last minute charter flight with perfect times to maximize our trip there, then a hotel right in Dam Square. The famous, NG Krasnapolsky Hotel Amsterdam and when we got there got upgraded to a room with an awesome view of Dam Square.

So 2 weeks after Warren came home with a guide book and the map, we were off on an adventure.

European Holiday Cruise to Remember.

We recently returned from a fantastic trip over Christmas and New Years on the NCL Jade out of Barcelona. It really was one of our favorite trips and it reignited my passion for cruising and I fell in love with Europe again.

As it was winter the weather was cooler. We booked this trip 11 months in advance. This is unheard of for us, but we knew that we wanted to do this itinerary in the cooler months (seeing the pyramids in 120 F doesn't appeal to us) and we wanted to make sure we were in a suite at a minimum. This is why we booked so early.

We loved Greece, even though we didn't think we would. We had some hiccups in Egypt, but it all worked out.

We flew to Barcelona a couple of days early to recover from Jet lag and then set sail on Sunday Dec 20.

Our Ports of Call:

Rome, Italy - rained the whole day but was still romantic - we went back to our favorite spots from our Honeymoon - lunch on the Piazza Navona
Naples, Italy - Climbed Mount Vesuvius in a cloud and then visited Pompeii - it was incredible!

Alexandria, Egypt - did a 2 day tour to Cairo to see the Great Pyramids - Absolutely magical!

Rhodes - missed port due to weather - but that was OK, because after 2 days in Egypt we needed a sea day.
Izmir, Turkey - Wandered around the Bazaar

Athens, Greece - Loved this port more than we thought we would - visited Acropolis and had lunch in the Plaka historic district

Heraklion, Crete, Greece - New Year's Eve, spent the morning with some new friends in a cafe in the town square, then wandered around the shops - weather was the best here so we went back to the ship and baked out on the Courtyard Sun Deck