First European Cruise DOWN!

Well we've made it!! I am currently BACK in Barcelona after an amazing 12-night Mediterranean cruise. The Mediterranean is awesome. I really can't get over how amazing it is to be here. So far, Easter Mediterranean is my favorite - Greece and Turkey were perfect. But more on that later..

After leaving Barcelona exactly twelve days ago, we awoke the next morning in Villefranche, France - a small beach town on the coast of the French Riviera. The real draw here is to take the train to Nice, Monte Carlo, or Cannes. We opted to spend the day in the beautiful gorgeous town of Villefranche. First we headed straight to the beach. A beautiful rocky beach (no sand) with giant slabs of marble in the ocean from a wall that used to stand there. This beach was stunning!! Afterwards, we wandered around town. We found a cute little cafe on one of the windy streets with al fresco dining.. I had my first crepe!! It was so good.. and real french wine. yum!! We wandered around the shops and village some more before finding some friends from the ship at an English pub!! Here, we got a bit non-French. hahaa.. we grabbed a pint of beer and sat around the pool table. so fun. Then we headed back to the ship. Villefranche was beautiful, and I can't wait to explore the surrounding French Riviera.

The next day we arrived in Livorno, Italy. From here, passengers can easily travel to Florence or Pisa. We again decided to stay in Livorno. Here, however, there really wasn’t too much to do.. We walked around some shops (I got a pair of pants at European Zara - so much better than US Zara....), had my first Italian pizza for lunch, and some infamous Italian Gelato! Otherwise, the city was kind of a bust and not too pretty.. But it is just the docking port for other better cities. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to explore other places this cruise. That night we did our first show of the cruise: Liverpool Knights!! The show (all 60's British rock) was a HUGE hit here with the European audiences. They loved it. It's the best time I've had performing it yet.

Next up was Civitavecchia, Italy (the ship’s port for Rome). Here we had our crew boat drill in the morning followed by a couple meetings. Because of this, we really didn’t have much time to get off in port - and definitely not enough time to take the hour long train into Rome. So we just sat in an internet cafe for the day - nothing too eventful. No pictures to post.. ha!

When we left Civitavecchia, we headed to the island of Sicily (the big rock that the boot of Italy is kicking) - specifically the city of Messina. From here, there’s a lot of really cool things to do and see around the island. We, however, stayed in Messina. The city was mostly closed down for “siesta” when we were off, but we had a decent time nonetheless.. And I had a great Italian beer named "Messina". here I realized that for most of these ports we really need to take the time to explore away from the port.. The coolest part of Messina was actually the sail in to port! We went through the Strait of Messina - a very narrow channel between the mainland of Europe and Sicily. It was so cool to see both sides so perfectly clearly from the very tip of the ship. In the first picture here of the gold statue, we are in Messina on Sicily. In the distance is the mainland of Italy.. It was a gorgeous view of mountains everywhere you looked.

After a sea day (and a performance evening of Dance Around The World that went extremely well), we arrived in Mykonos, Greece on June 9th - my birthday!!!! Here, I had an AMAZING time - and such a great birthday. The entire village was GORGEOUS! I can’t really describe it. Even the pictures don’t do it justice.. We at ate waterside cafes and bars under flowered canopies on cushioned couches. It was beautiful. We saw the windmills, found an amazing restaurant for my birthday dinner that charged us half what the real bill should have been, drank Greek Ouzo (not good... but I had to try it), and shopped along the windy streets of the city. It was gorgeous, and I can’t wait to go back.

The next day was Kusadasi, Turkey. From here, guests typically travel into Ephesus where they still have some of the best preserved ruins ever. We, however, were kinda lame.. ha. We went to a water park in Kusadasi!!! And let me tell you - it was a blast. This place was no Six Flags White Water.. It was more like a botanical garden with water slides.. It was gorgeous - and our group had so much fun. I don’t really have too many pictures because I didn’t want to get my camera wet anywhere.. but here’s one of the slides and also the view from the mountain where the water park was located.

Our next port adventure was in Athens, Greece! Here we had so much fun as well.. When we got off we walked to the train station (a very long hot walk in the sun....) to get from Piraeus (our port) to Athens - the train was just 1 Euro each way and took about 15 minutes. Not too bad at all! Athens was a blast.. we conquered the Acropolis and had a great Greek lunch. There’s really not much to say aside from the pictures. It was so much fun. Just being surrounded by SO much history was really awesome. OH! I also ran into my old modern dance teacher from NYU!!! That was just INSANE!!! In the middle of Athens.. ran into my teacher from NYC with her husband.. This world is TOO crazy small.

We finished off our cruise with another sea day (we performed our final show Broadway to some very ecstatic audiences) on our way to Salerno - a popular destination to get to Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento, and/or Capri. I decided to take it easy this day though after several busy (and expensive) days in port. I just found a restaurant with free internet to upload pictures on facebook and catch up with friends and family via skype. The pasta was amazing, though! And the owner gave us free dessert. Yeehaw! ha. Afterwards, we had one more sea day (and a day off!) to get to Barcelona. I helped give the backstage tour and went to dinner in the Grand Restaurant - so good!!

Overall, the cruise was a TON of fun!! This coming cruise, the first half is the same, but then instead of going to Greece and Turkey we head up to Croatia and Venice! I can't wait. This cruise was a blast though due to all the familiar faces! This world is too small. In addition to running into Roxas in Athens, there were two families from my high school (Pace Academy) cruising, and one that I knew from NYU. Here's hoping the trend continues! Seeing a familiar face every now and then definitely helps feel connected to the real world.. I'm missing everyone a lot and can't wait for my family to come cruise in 12 days! The next time I'm in Barcelona, my family will be waiting for me. We're going to have so much fun!!

Thanks for reading, y'all!! My adventures have been a blast. Here's to another cruise down!