Cadiz, Spain

This was our final destination on our Mediterranean cruise. We really enjoyed this small town in Spain, again like most of the places we visited the architecture was beautiful, I never particularly cared much for the details in buildings before we visited some of these places but there is so much to appreciate and see in this world. I adored the green brick building in the photo below, would have loved to know who lived behind those doors but that may have been a little bit stalker-ish!

We had a walk around the city and stopped off at this quirky cafe called 'top coffee shop' which was recommended on trip advisor. It was around the corner from the main square in a small hidden away street so it felt nice to be tucked away from the crowd, sit on a patchwork sofa and relax a little. It was the first time I tried bubble tea. I had a milk based jasmine tea with mango flavoured pearls. Out of this world delicious! I need to find somewhere local that does bubble tea. I highly recommend trying it even if it does look totally weird. It's pudding in a cup!

After of course a local draught beer we headed back to the ship for the great British sail away party. Each time we left a port they would throw a sail away party but this was the big one because it was the last one. We were all given British flags to wave, pimms to drink, good songs to sing-a-long too and as the ship moved we all belted out 'land of hope & glory'. TOTALLY cheesy right!? But good fun all in all.

For the last few days of our cruise we were joined by stars from 'Strictly Come Dancing' including judge Craig Revel-Horwood. I would have been more excited if I watched the show but it was good fun later on in the cruise when they recreated the show in the theatre with some of the dancers. Anyway, here are the last few photos:

We really loved this time away, it just confirmed to us how much we love travelling and how much more of the world we want to see. We'll never stop seeing more of the world, even when our family grows. It's too much on our hearts to let anything stop us. I can't wait to see where our next adventure will take us!

Korcula, Croatia

Hi friends,

Don't worry! I'm nearly done with the holiday posts! We just took so many pictures each place had to have it's own space on here.

This wonderful Croatian city was just as beautiful as Dubrovnik. We had a lot of fun walking up a street full of cafes stopping off for a cold local draught beer and catching up with family from home. 

The locals are some of the friendliest people and are so willing to be helpful and accommodating. We would definitely come back here to try some local food and explore this small town more. We didn't spend any money on food while we were out in all these cities because all the food on the ship was included & they filled us up plenty! 

I found some steps that went down into the water & couldn't help but go for a paddle! The water here was crystal clear - I've never seen water like it before so I was so excited. I was wearing my swimming gear underneath my clothes but we had such a short amount of time here that I would not have had time to swim properly, dry off & get dressed in time! That's the only thing about taking a cruise, you have to keep an eye on the time. The paddle was sufficient enough to cool off and feel satisfied you'd stepped into Croatian waters!

We finished our trip around this lovely town with 1 euro ice creams! 1 euro!! and they were BIG! I had Ferrero Rocher flavour - absolutely to die for! I didn't even take a picture because I consumed it too quickly. 

We would both come back to Croatia without a doubt, it was a stunning country.

Venice, Italy

Venice was very much an anticlimax I'm sorry to say. Everyone on the cruise told us to get up super early to watch us sail into the city because it's such a sight to behold...but we got up and didn't really understand what we were supposed to be looking at.

Once we actually got off the ship and took a vaporetto (a water taxi but much much cheaper!) into the city we saw a little more of what everyone raved about. The architecture was pretty sweet to look at and we got some great pictures with all the different colours. The highlight for me was the narrow streets & little bridges everywhere crossing into various streets for more to explore. 

The gondola rides were ridiculously overpriced but you could easily follow the routes by walking along the canals but we went at a time when it was just full of tourists so we could hardly move, especially as the streets were so narrow. Aside from all that it was pretty exciting to be in Venice, a city that is so talked about all over the world.  

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Croatia was one of those places I always wanted to go but never thought I'd go there but by golly I am sure glad it was on our cruise itinerary! It is one of the most beautiful places I've seen. The water everywhere was crystal clear! 

Dubrovnik was unlike any place I've ever been too. The main city is completely walled off so it feels like a secret little place you've discovered and found all these people inside. The city is one of the cleanest I've seen & the people are so friendly & welcoming. 

What was extra exciting is that Dubrovnik is the city currently being used to represent King's Landing in the television series of Game of Thrones. We were not walking around pretending to be characters from the books and we were certainly not searching for dragons. 

The old town had the most beautiful architecture, there was so much detail to capture and so many little alleyways and narrow streets to walk up with stairs that went high up over the city so you could see more of the town. The biggest feature of Dubrovnik was the wall that runs all around the city. Lots of tourists go up and get some spectacular views across the city and the ocean. It was originally built to have guards watch out & protect the city. You can certainly see why it was chosen as a filming location for Game of Thrones. We would have loved to do it but this holiday was on a shoestring so unfortunately we couldn't. I don't doubt that we will visit Dubrovnik again though so it can be on our 'things to do next time' list.
Instead we sat by the harbour & had pistachio ice cream while watching crabs climb over the rocks!

Dubrovnik, until next time!

Cephalonia, Greece

Cephalonia (sometimes spelt Kefalonia) was one of our favourite destinations we visited! It was such a peaceful, clean & lovely place to walk around. We were here for our second wedding anniversary so it was extra special! It's one of the Greek Islands and we would definitely love to come back here one day. 

We found a street of shops behind some buildings that had lots of souvenirs & local produce to explore as well as cute bars & cafes to sit in. There was a small bakery with HUGE buns & pastries to choose from. We got a sweet bun to share & sat on the side of the street before heading off to find a local draught beer! That was heavenly in the hot sun!

It felt like such a romantic place and not just because 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' was filmed here but the scenery was to die for! We found this little place (in photo below) to stop and stare out into the water for a while. It was just beautiful and so lovely to share such a moment together on our anniversary. I'm so glad we happened to land on this island in time to celebrate our love!

We heard there were giant sea turtles swimming about by the boats so we headed to the harbour to go out spotting. On the way to the boats I spotted one swimming right next to where we were walking & it followed us all the way back bobbing up & down greeting us occasionally. I think he thought we had food! Once we got to the boat there were LOTS of them swimming about trying to feast on the fish bait the fishermen were tossing into the water. It was the biggest highlight of the day seeing those turtles! So special!

Even though it was the 'casual' night for dinner that evening we dressed up anyway since it was a special occasion. The people we shared a table with blessed us so much that night. We had balloons on the table, they bought us drinks & when all the waiters surrounded us to sing "congratulations" to us they presented us with a cake to celebrate which our new friends had secretly arranged! The funniest thing was at the end the waiters started chanting "kiss! kiss! kiss! kiss!". Definitely an anniversary to remember forever!