On the water

We cruised around all day today, beginning in the pretty little cove that we slept in. We woke up there and went for a morning swim, then had breakfast and set out for some Greek islands. We passed right between two islands through a narrow waterway and flew the Greek flag (so that the Greek coast guard or whoever wouldn't hassle us, according to captain Mehmed). A dolphin played with our boat while we were cruising, passing from side to side of the bow! It was awesome! I am only getting slightly sea sick, and jumping in the water whenever we stop is definitely helping! we went for another swim and had lunch at another gorgeous cove surrounded by islands. It's a hot spot for cruise ships apparently because little ice cream boats and souvenir boats kept coming up trying to sell us things. There are two little kayaks on the ship that we took over to one of the islands and walked around some more old ruins.. Now we are at a busier port for the night so that we can watch the Portugal vs. Spain soccer match. the captain was excited that Will and Evan and Tom are soccer fans because he too didn't want to miss the big euro cup final games out at sea haha I think the bar were watching the game at will have wifi so I will post this from there. Now im on land again and i have sea legs! It feels like a slow motion earthquake. I'm having a blast but I miss you all!

... Having some trouble getting the game to show, there are five old guys speaking different languages trying to get the projector to work...Now after some tinkering they have the screen up and working, see picture haha

Criusin'

The sailboat, "the salamander" is
Such an amazing ship! It is much larger than I expected, complete with 6 bedrooms each with their own little shower/bathroom, not even including the crew area. The deck is totally luxurious with cushions everywhere and the chef is AMAZING! I can already tell im going to gain about 10 pounds just this week. Last night we set sail at 6pm and had a delicious meal of sea bass, all kinds of Turkish dips/sauces, great bread, great veggies, and Turkish tea and baklava
For dessert. I ate way too much because it was so delicious. Today we set out from the little cove we are anchored in at 6am (I was still attempting to sleep At that point but it is so hot in my cabin that I think I will sleep on deck tonight). at 9am we arrived at knidos where we wandered some ancient ruins, then went for swim in the cristal clear blue water, and now we are anchored in a spectacular cove where we swam, ate another excessively large and delicious meal, and now I am bedding down in the deck cushions under the stars! I miss you all and can't wait to show you pictures (my phone is dead now so they will have to come later though) xoxoxo

Geneva with Alexandra

I'm on a boat! (well almost...)

Tonight I get on the sailboat and begin the week long sea adventure leg of my journey. I hope I don't get too sea sick!! It has been HOT and humid here in Bodrum, so it will be nice to be out on the water where I can jump in whenever I get too hot. I wont get wifi on the boat so I won't be able to write for a while but don't worry!

Bodrum!

Made it to Bodrum and it's quite a party here. Just got back to the hotel from watching the soccer game and strolling along the waterfront, which was still packed with people at 1:30in the morning and the shops are all still open so I replenished my sunscreen supply (it was really expensive in Istanbul but slightly better here). Off to sleep now, here are some more pictures from Istanbul. I can't wait toget on the boat on Monday!

Parma and Modena

Went to see where they make parmaseano reggiano cheese today! It was so cool! We watches them making it by hand and the whole process start to finish in a warehouse Like raiders of the lost ark With rows and rows of awarehouse floor to ceiling with cheese! See pic

Then to the prosciutto place, and had delicious lunch.

Next we went to Modena to taste the 12 and 25 year old balsamics mmmm

Tomorrow I'm off to Geneva on the train!

Off to Bodrum

I'm checking out of the hotel now and leaving for the coastal party town of Bodrum! I'll try to write something more exciting tonight when I get there if I have wireless. Yesterday we saw the hagia Sophia, which was gigantic and old and glorious, im not sure how else to describe it (pictures to follow). We also saw a little church turned mosque now museum with some of the most well preserved mosaics ever. After it was converted into a mosque when mehmed the conquered took Constantinople, they plastered over the beautiful mosaics, which were only rediscovered more recently (not sure when...) gotta run I'll write more later. I'm loving the food pictures McCall!

More food photos!