Adriatic Sea

Ancona, Italy - under the moonlit sky - GORGEOUS!!!

A little morning fun, before getting off the ship

The Adriatic is beautiful from the top of Ancona

It was a long hike up, and a LONG way down!!!

Two exhausted (a little over dramatic) troopers :-)

Leading the way with the Map

A Beautiful City

If you ever wanted an extremely reasonably priced way to see several countries in Europe, an off season cruise is DEFINITELY the way to do it. We just got back from a week on an Adriatic Sea Cruise, taking off from Trieste, Italy, and stopping in Ancona, Italy, Dubrovnik and Split,Croatia, Corfu and Kaphalonia, Greece, and Kotor, Montenegro. Croatia and Montenegro were part of the former Yugoslavia, and have just (in recent years) opened their doors to tourists. Our favorite stop was Dubrovnik, Croatia (absolutely gorgeous!). It is crazy to think that in 1991 (the year I graduated from High School) this country was in the middle of a war. Montenegro was our second favorite, and is a hidden gem, tucked up in the fjords. It even had a "Great Wall" strikingly similar to that in China. The kids made several good friends on the ship  - truly an international group -  from England, Germany, France and Italy. It was such a gift to see my kids having so much fun. It was a little weird giving them a 12:30 am curfew (because this is what everyone else had). Bryan's parents joined us as well, and had a fun time. My only regret was not taking the 1/2 hour taxi ride to Bosnia (our friends on the ship did this, and said it was very interesting). Definitely a great week, and I will once again bore you with photos :-)  *The photos above were all taken in Ancona, Italy