Santorini, Mykonos, and Corfu

Santorini is my favorite Greek Isle thus far.  It is picture perfect and has lots of fun shopping.  We took a bus up the cliff (donkey is the other choice) and headed for the town of Oia.  There is the most amazing Greek Orthodox Church here.  So beautiful inside!  Walking around the streets of Oia was like being inside a postcard.  Breathtaking!

Santorini

Mykonos was not all I expected it to be.  We chose to walk around the town instead of heading to the party area.  It is pretty, but if I could only choose one place to visit in Greece, it would not be this island.  The windmills are pretty here and there are restaurants all along the water's edge.  Be careful walking though as you may get splashed!!

Mykonos

Corfu was lovely.  Very green.  We walked along the old city and got a "Frappe" which is the most amazing iced coffee I've ever had in my life!  We also hiked up the Old Fortress, a must do if you go.  The view from the top is amazing and you can even see Albania.


Corfu

Athens

Athens is not a city I would visit again, though having said that, I'm glad I had the opportunity to visit it once.  We went to The National Archaeological Museum.  WOW!  What a fantastic collection they have.  We of course went to see the Parthenon and the Acropolis.  Overall though, Athens felt like a normal, big, dirty city.  Great for the historic sites, but otherwise, I'd skip it.

Dubrovnik

Croatia has waters a color I've never seen before.  Dubrovnik is a super cool city.  We only had a day here and we chose to spend it walking along the city walls.  There's a lot of stepping up/down steps and we had to take a break as it was a lot on my knees.  But the views were spectacular.

Trieste and Ancona

As I am writing this post two years after I visited these places, my memory is a bit fuzzy.  We drove to Trieste, Italy.  A very cute little town on the water.  

Trieste, Italy                                                                                              

We boarded a cruise ship here and sailed to Ancona, Italy.  Ancona has one of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen.  All white marble atop a cliff with views down to the sea.  It was quite a hike up there, but worth it!

Ancona, Italy

Salzburg

Salzburg, the home of the Sound of Music and Mozart..such a lovely town.  It's great for walking around, but more than a weekend there and I wouldn't know what to do with myself.  It's lovely and the ride from Germany there is lovely too.  Driving through the Alps, you enter this sleepy little town with a river running through.  You can see Mozart's birth home and eat some yummy Austrian food.


I visited this city again three years later with my mom and step father.  We took the fanicula up to the Castle and did the tour.  We spent a day at the Salt mines outside of Salzburg.  Brian and I have done the mines in Krakow, and we both thought those ones were more beautiful.  However, we did learn more about salt mining in the Austrian tour as well as enjoying a slide ride twice in the mines.  We also took the ride to Eagle's Nest.  We had lunch right at the restaurant in the parking lot (where you catch the bus up the mountain) and had some delish goulash.