Mosaic – Scribbles and Snapshots

Pompeii and Pizza – Naples, Italy

September 14, 2025Posted in Europe 2025, Spain, Malta, Greece, Turkey, Italy CruiseTagged adventure, Celebrity Cruises, celebritycruises, cruise, Europe, italy, Mediterranean, Mediterranean Cruise, Mosaic, Pompeii, Roman Ruins, Romans, travel, travel blog, Walking TourLeave a comment

September 7, 2025

When most people think of Pompeii, they picture the ash-covered ruins frozen in time. But walking through the ancient streets, it feels less like a tragedy and more like stepping straight into a bustling Roman city. It was complete with bakeries, fast food joints, grand villas, and even mosaics that served as cheeky “welcome mats.” (We even saw one warning visitors to beware of dog because clearly some things never change.)

Pompeii’s fate was sealed in 79 AD when Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the city under 21 feet of ash and pumice. The eruption happened so quickly (and lasted for so long – over two days!) that thousands were trapped, their homes and daily lives preserved beneath the volcanic blanket. What’s remarkable is how advanced this city was for its time: courtyards decorated with colorful mosaics, plumbing systems, and even what we’d recognize today as fast food restaurants. It’s wild to think of ancient Romans ordering food much like we do now.

One of the most haunting things about Pompeii is the casts of the victims. Archaeologists discovered that the ash left behind hollow spaces where bodies once lay. By carefully filling those spaces with plaster, they were able to recreate the final moments of those who perished. We only saw three casts of the victims in the market square, but nearly 100 casts have been made over the years out of an estimated 1,300 victims. Seeing even a few was enough to bring the tragedy to life in a way that history books never could. (If you’re interested in reading more about how they make the casts you can read here).

One of the most well preserved buildings was a bathhouse – the roof was still well intact. It was incredible to see inside – shocking that this was over 2,000 years old!

Only two thirds of Pompeii have been excavated 44 hectares so far – 22 hectares – are still covered in debris from the eruption almost 2,000 years ago. Our tour guide said that they are on track to finish it in the next 100 years, she said she wasn’t joking! They can only do their digging during the winter months because of how many tourists visit the site during the summer months. In fact, she is an archeologist herself and is a tour guide during the summer months.

We only had a few hours to explore, but Pompeii has a way of making time stand still. It’s a city frozen in its final day. I know I’ll be thinking about it long after this trip and doing more research into the history.

We could have spent all day there and still not had enough time. Before we knew it we were on our way back to the bus.

The only original part is the white marble at the bottom – I guess Madonna had an event here last year!

Thankfully, we still had time in Naples before the ship left. Naples is the birth place of pizza, so of course we had to eat it there. We had heard that one restaurant was superior, so of course we hightailed it over there.

Naturally, we weren’t the only ones who had that idea. There was over an hour wait. So we started wandering around and finally settled on this other place who had a rather a very charismatic owner who got us seated right away. He was incredible. The food, drinks, and service were all amazing too.

The owner is the gentlemen in the window

We got to talking with a Norwegian couple next to us who were visiting Naples for a concert. It was a really fun conversation and just a nice change of pace and a good reminder why we love traveling so much. They were meeting up with a group of friends to celebrate a 50th birthday and asked us to help record a video to surprise him with, I’m sure we will be part of the blooper reel.

This was our last day on the ship, so once we got back on board we packed up our suitcases and got ready for an early morning.

Up Next:
-Travel day
-Florence
-Tuscany wine tasting

Turkey, that’s my second favorite kind of poultry!

September 5, 2025Posted in Europe 2025, Spain, Malta, Greece, Turkey, Italy CruiseTagged adventure, Celebrity Cruises, celebritycruises, cruise, Ephesus, Europe, Kusadasi, Mediterranean, Mosaic, Roman Ruins, Romans, travel, travel blog, turkey, wonders of the world, Zeus1 Comment

September 4, 2025

Our third stop was Kusadasi, Turkey, which was a new country for me – but a revisit for Andy (due to his time in the Air Force). We had booked the “Ancient Ephesus” tour with the cruise line, which would take us a little bit inland to the ancient city. It was an earlier wake up for us, but well worth it!

Strolling through Ephesus feels like walking straight into a history book, only way sunnier and with a lot more cats (and a few dogs!). Once a major city of the Roman Empire, it was famous for its great theater, shiny marble streets, and the incredible Library of Celsus. Back in its day, Ephesus was buzzing with trade, politics, and worship at the Temple of Artemis which is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

What makes Ephesus even more fascinating is its connection to the Bible. The apostle Paul spent years here, preaching and later writing the Letter to the Ephesians. It’s believed that the Virgin Mary lived out her final years nearby, cared for by the apostle John, who continued his ministry in this region. You can still visit Mary’s home, and the ruins of Temple of Artemis. Unfortunately our tour didn’t include these two as options, but if you are going – I’d recommend looking for these as add ons!

It was eventually abandoned as the river silted up and malaria spread through the area, leaving the once-great city to crumble. Today, archaeologists are still uncovering its secrets. They think only about 10% of the site has been excavated so far, making it a bit like Turkey’s own version of Pompeii, with more treasures waiting to be revealed. It was recognized as a UNCESO World Heritage Site in 2015.

Now for the fun part! We had an early start – and glad that we did because each port has been HOT. It hasn’t mattered if we start at 8 or at 12pm, it’s hot. But we were hoping that it would be less busy if we went early.

We were dropped off at one end of the valley and started working our way downhill. This city was incredibly advanced: wide marble streets, aqueduct system with fresh water, and an advanced sewage system.

A few of the major stunners in the valley though are the theaters (one of them could hold over 25,000!) and the Celsus Library, which is one of the third largest library in the ancient world. (Not to be confused with the second or fourth largest).

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves – and let Andy take over. Because I think the captions might add more value at this point.

This is The Great Theater (almost 24k seating), they are restoring it for modern shows!

After we left Ephesus we went back into Kusadasi. Our tour brought us to a rug factory where they demonstrated how they gather silk from silk worms, and then they showed us how they make rugs. Of course, it’s a sales pitch. The couple next to us asked how much the smallest rug was – $1,300! Our guide had told us that we would get a group discount of 30%, so I tried to help them out and asked, “Is that with the 30%?” And the guy nodded, “Yes – that’s with the discount. Are you interested. Can I help you?!”

We said no and head downstairs to the other part of the store. Not that the rugs weren’t beautiful, just a bit out of our price range. I did buy some jewelry and a few other souvenirs at their shop.

We wandered around Kusadasi a bit more before returning to the cruise ship. It was a lovely town, it definitely had a resort feel. We were even surprised to see pine trees!

Up Next:
Santorini

Jordan – Day 2

March 15, 2024Posted in JordanTagged Amman, Castles, Jordan, Little Petra, Madaba, Maps, Mosaic, Petra2 Comments

Jet lag, strikes again. Although I was so tired from a long travel day, my body woke me up wide awake at 3:00 am. I wasn’t thrilled knowing that we had a long day ahead of us, but instead I was determined to lie awake thinking of all the things that could go wrong. Does Jordan get earthquakes? I forgot to check for bed bugs – did something just crawl across my leg?

Then I switched over to the more positive… What would be a good quote and/or song to accompany our celebration of completing all seven wonders of the world?

Once Andy woke up (he is blessed with being able to sleep anywhere, well) we started the morning off with breakfast at the hotel. We met up with the rest of the group and got on a coaster bus – we were slightly disappointed because there was a charter bus parked next to it. (More space in general – sometimes a bathroom to use, etc).

Our first stop was Mount Nebo. For those of you who have read the Bible, you might recognize this as the place that Moses was granted a view of the Promised Land. It’s a special place for Christians, because this is where Moses was laid to rest as well. We could see all the way to the West Bank, the Dead Sea, and Jericho (one of the oldest cities in the world).

Dead Sea, West Bank above, and Jericho on the right middle

There was also a church at this location that had some of the most beautiful mosaic floors and walls that I’ve seen before. You were meant to be silent while you were in it, and it truly was very peaceful. On the grounds there was an olive tree that was planted by Pope John Paul II in 2000.

From Mount Nebo we made our way to a mosaic manufacturing place – we were able to meet a co-op of artists that specialized in mosaic and pottery. It was pretty cool to see them in action. They also had a great partnership with DHL that allowed them to ship large pieces around the world.

After that we made our way to St. George’s Church where one of the oldest mosaic maps depicting Palestine was. It was smaller than we thought – and pretty damaged. But it was interesting to see it. It was made in the sixth century AD, and they made it based off of their mind/perceptions.

We also went to a castle that was built by the conquerors in 1115. It was pretty well maintained, and it was a fun stop.

From there, we went to Little Petra. This was supposed to happen a few days later, but our guide switched it up. It was good to see the smaller one before the big one.

The Nabatean people were advanced – having mastered engineering to move water and hold onto it in cisterns. There was even a fresco in a cave that you had to climb up to. Supposedly, it is one of the oldest frescos at roughly 2000 years old.

There’s supposed to be grapes and chubby little boys – I think I can see the vines?!

Because we switched up the itinerary and added Little Petra today, and not on day 3, we had to quickly check into our hotel and eat dinner before heading to Petra at night.

We didn’t realize it was technically a “show” – we thought it was just going to be open to the public and be candlelit. There were some typical Jordanian performers – playing a flute and the other played a one string instrument called a rababa. It was nice to hear music while taking in the Treasury. But I don’t think it’s my style of music.

We made our way out of Petra (which was really uneven and treacherous in the dark!) and back to the hotel. We had a pretty early morning the next day, but because I hadn’t slept much I was able to fall asleep pretty quickly. We were excited to see more of Petra the next day!

Hotel:

RN Hotel Petra

Up Next:

Petra