- Hello from Greece and Turkey. (gentle upbeat music) This week, I'm cruising
from Greece to Turkey. Thanks to Seabourn, who's hosting me. I first sailed with Seabourn
a few years ago in Alaska, which was one of the best travel
experiences I've ever had. If you haven't seen that video, I will link it down below. This cruise starts in
Athens and ends in Istanbul and it's my first time in Greece. I've always wanted to come here. I arrived in Athens a little early, so I could do some exploring. And it's a really cool city. You can see the Acropolis up on the hill, from pretty much everywhere. And I did the hike up
there and saw the Parthenon and it was spectacular, definitely worth a visit
if you come to Athens. This cruise is going to be hopping around some Greek islands. There are a few stops in Turkey as well and it's going to be beautiful beaches and cute little port towns and some really cool ancient
historical sites as well. (gentle music) Our first stop was the
Greek island of Patmos. I've always heard that the smaller, lesser known Greek islands
have a lot of the charm, but a fraction of the crowds
that the popular islands do. And I found this to be true of Patmos. There's little restaurants and alleyways and scooters, you can rent. It's really cute. And if you go definitely
head up to the windmills at the top of the island
to get the best views. (gentle music) It's another perfect day in Greece. Today, we are at the island of Crete, which is the largest Greek island. We're at the port of Agios Nikolaos, which has this really cute
little lake in the town center and some really pristine
beaches along the coastline. So, today is gonna be a beach day. On the island, I caught a
taxi out to Voulisma Beach, which was about a 15 minute drive and there you can rent a
lounge chair and umbrella and the water is so clear and warm and there's even a little
cove along the coastline you can swim to. (gentle upbeat music) Our next stop was Kusadasi Turkey and this was an exciting stop, because it's where you can visit the ancient port city of Ephesus. I knew nothing about
Ephesus prior to this trip, so, I booked a Seabourn shore excursion for a guided tour while Ephesus
is now in modern day Turkey, it was originally part of Greece and was once considered the
most important Greek city and trading center in the Mediterranean and was later controlled
by the Roman empire. There is so much history here, but I'm just going to share the fun things that stood out to me. For starters, this is where Cleopatra and Mark Anthony came on their honeymoon. They walked these streets as newly weds. You'll also see a stone
carving here of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, who is what the famous
brand is named after. And a familiar looking
swoosh in her sculpture, is supposedly where the
brand logo comes from. We also got to see the Roman toilets. Back in the day the toilets
were a social activity and they were co-ed, so it was a thing to hang
out in the toilets together which is a nightmare. Also in Ephesus, you'll see the Library of Celsus, which is so beautiful and was the third largest
library in the Roman world. (gentle upbeat music) I'm back on the ship after
Ephesus, which was incredible and I've taken a shower,
gotten dressed up a little bit, because I'm about to go back to Ephesus. The coolest thing is happening tonight. After the site closes to the public, Seabourn has planned a private event for the guests of this ship, to spend an evening at
Ephesus under the stars, among ancient ruins while a
chamber orchestra plays for us. (gentle orchestral music) (gentle upbeat music) Our next stop was Mykonos, which is one of the more
popular Greek islands and all I really knew of
Mykonos before coming here, is that it's popular for
nightlife and celebrity spotting, but I didn't anticipate
how beautiful it would be. There's a section of the
town called Little Venice and it's full of the most
picturesque pathways, you can imagine. Little restaurants,
shops, flowers and vines. It was the perfect place
for a stroll and an nap. (gentle upbeat music) This morning, we've made
it to Skiathos, Greece which might be the prettiest
place we've stopped so far, in my opinion. This is one of the islands
Mama Mia was filmed on, which is super fun. So, this morning I'm
heading onto the island and I'm determined to get
a boat to take me out, to one of the beautiful
beaches around here, but I haven't booked anything. So, I'm just winging it. (gentle upbeat music) I have gotten so lucky. I got on a boat tour that is going to be going around to all
these little beaches and islands all day. And actually the tour was full, but I was looking at the
boat and it was enormous and there was tons of open seating on it. So, I just hung around until
everyone else had boarded and then I was like, "I'm a solo traveler. "It's just me. "Is there room to squeeze one more on?" And they were like, "Yeah,
I think we can do that "if it's just you". Which is another perk of
traveling by yourself, is it's so easy to get added on to things at the last minute. And it is so beautiful out here. The water is so blue and clear, and this is like the best day ever. (gentle upbeat music) (water splashing) Today, we've arrived in Bozcaada, Turkey which is our last stop before we get to Istanbul tomorrow, where we just disembark from the ship. I have something kind of
fun to share with you, that I learned a few days
ago from my guide at Ephesus. In Turkey and I believe in Greece as well, there's something called the
evil eye and it's a blue eye. You'll see it all over
souvenir shops, jewelry and the meaning of the evil eye is, that you can tell
somebody's true intentions from their eyes. And the example that the
guide gave us was really cute. She said, somebody could say to you "I really like your sunglasses" and they could say it different ways. They could say it like, "Oh, I
really like your sunglasses". Or they could say, "Oh, I
really like those sunglasses". Like I envy them. I want them. And she's saying that if
somebody said it to you that way, your friend would be like, we
need to get you an evil eye to ward off the bad energy. But the thing about the evil eye is, you can't buy it for yourself, because that would be selfish energy. And everyone would just
go out and buy themselves evil eye things all the time. So, it has to be gifted to you. So I guess it's common if
you've just bought a house, or you're planning a wedding,
or you're doing something else really big in life, that people will gift you evil eye things. So, at the end of the
tour, our guide went around and she gifted each of us,
a little evil eye charm and I have one with a fish on it. I might just pin this inside
of my camera backpack, to ward off evil energy of
like somebody stealing it, or something breaking. (gentle upbeat music) I'm walking around Bozcaada, I got a little distracted for a minute. Oh my gosh. Hi. I have to say, this is one
of the most photogenic places I've ever been in my life and it did not look
like that from the ship. The coastline looks very
barren from out on the water, but then you get here and every little corner you turn around, is so beautiful. I cannot believe I haven't
heard of this place before. (gentle upbeat music) For my final morning on the
ship, I got up before sunrise and went up to the observation deck. Istanbul is considered
to be one of the most, spectacular cities in the
world to sail in, or out of and this was one of the
highlights of my trip. (gentle music) Istanbul surprised me. I've always wanted to visit this city, but I never realized how
vibrant and bustling it is. And a few other people from
the ship were extending their time in Istanbul as well. So, I had some friends to
sight see with for the day. First we went to the spice
bazar, which was really cool and we weren't planning
on buying anything, but then this guy coaxed us into his shop with some tea samples and he was awesome. He insisted we sample everything
in the shop, tea, perfume. - You put only just one
piece of (indistinct) smell it now. - And it was all really good, so I ended up buying some things. Istanbul is the only city in the world that sits on two continents. One part is in Europe
and the other in Asia, and it's split by the Bosphorus Strait. So, we walked across
the bridge from Europe over to Asia to take some
photos along the water, then walked back to Europe
to find a spot for lunch. Istanbul sits on a bit of a hill and there are so many
rooftop establishments and we found the perfect spot
for some food and great views. (upbeat music) At sunset, we went to Sultanahmet park to see the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, which sit facing each
other across a square. The architecture of both
is incredibly beautiful and we ended up finding a rooftop restaurant for dinner, that had views of both of them for sunset. This is one of the best
restaurant views I've ever had. It's also probably the most birds, I have ever seen in my life. Like what is this? And I was so excited taking
pictures of the changing light, and the buildings illuminating, that I could hardly sit and eat. (gentle upbeat music) Well, this is the end of my trip. I had the best time. Thank you again to
Seabourn for hosting me. The Seabourn Encore is incredible. Just the food alone. There are so many dining options. You have the Thomas Keller Grill, which is some of the best food
you'll ever eat in your life. And they made a table-side
Caesar salad for me, that was amazing. There's also a sushi
restaurant that was so good. There's poolside dining. There's fine dining at the restaurant. There's a coffee bar and
snacks at Seabourn Square. There's even a cute little gelato cart. Also at the top of the ship, there's a space called The Retreat, where you can rent a private cabana, order food, drinks, relax. The entire experience is topnotch. The crew is so wonderful and the service is phenomenal and it's a much more
intimate cruising experience, because the ships are a lot smaller than your typical cruise
ships, which is really nice. And also smaller ships can
navigate through smaller places. So, you can go in little inlets. You can get up closer to things. Thanks for coming along
with me on this one. I hope you all are doing well and I will see you in the next one. Bye. (gentle upbeat music)
