Cruise Part I: Boarding in Venice and Kotor Bay in Montenegro

Well, I told you I made no promises about posting... We are now back from the cruise! It was really fun and we saw a lot; so much that I need to break this up into multiple posts. So here is the beginning part of our trip : )

Venice, Italy

We arrived at the ship early Saturday morning. After checking in our bags, we decided to head into the city and explore Venice before boarding. My uncle and I have both been to Venice before and loved it, but Aaron has never been.

We caught the river taxi because transportation is mainly by boat! Arriving in the heart of Venice, we strolled along the waterfront seeing Doge's Palace and the Bridge of Sighs. Then wandered through Piazza San Marco dodging the bold and crazy pigeons. Finally, hopping in a gondola because the best way to see the city is really from the water.

While a gondola is somewhat touristy, the experience is really about traveling through the small, winding canals, some crammed with tourists and others eerily peaceful. It's about stumbling on shop entrances that open up right to the water, seeing the colorful flowers cascading out of windows or thinking your headed into another small alley but then finding yourself in the Grand Canal. This is what makes Venice beautiful and unique, so I think a gondola ride is a must do!

Afterwards, we had Italian gelato and wandered through the small streets looking at the colorful Murano glass in shop windows. We made our way to the water taxi and back to port for boarding.

The Ship

Our ship was Splendour of the Seas, which has 11 decks and tons of amenities: an outdoor pool, an indoor pool, 18 hole mini putt-putt, rock climbing wall, 8 bars, jogging track, casino, theater, and 5 dining restaurants. It's really not possible to be bored onboard : )

There's always entertainment options which we loved: theater shows every night, trivia/games, competitions and karaoke. During the evenings onboard, we usually met for cocktails and then went to dinner. After dinner, we would go to the activities. We saw lots of the performances (aerial, dance, singing and a mime entertainer), played blackjack, sang karaoke, were runner ups for the newlywed game show, sang at a piano bar and were winners on the "Finish that Song Lyric" game show. We also had really nice staterooms with balconies and bought drink packages (definitely the way to go), so yes, we lived it up!


Kotor, Montenegro 

This was our first port of call, and while I never would've dreamt I would ever go to Montenegro, I'm really glad that we did. The city was beautiful and this was one of my favorite stops.

First off, I'll say Montenegro is a small country south of Croatia in between Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kotor is a small coastal city that is surrounded by walls built in the Venetian period.

We wandered around the small stone streets, walked the walls around the city and took in the beautiful views, then found a perfect restaurant with guitar music to enjoy an ice cold beer.

There is also a run-down, stone castle that overlooks the city- Castle of San Giovanni. After the beer, we left my Uncle to shop and Aaron and I decided to climb to the top. After 1,300 steps up that are uneven and hazardous, my legs were sore and we were covered in sweat (it was about 90 degrees). Any buzz from the beer went away very quickly! It is a hike to get to, but the view was well worth it. Our ship was in the bay and you could see the entire town below making it a beautiful picture spot... and then we had to hike back down the 1,300 steps : )

But we made it and were onto our next port... to be continued in another post!