My Solo Trip to Greece and Turkey ¦ Cruising from Athens to Istanbul

Hello from Greece and Turkey. 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. 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 top of the island to get the best views. 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 going to be a beach day. On the island, I caught a taxi out to 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. 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 seaborne 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 Antony came on their honeymoon. They walked these streets as newlyweds. 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. 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, seaborne 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. 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 a nap. 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 Mamma 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. 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. Today we've arrived in Bozgata, Turkey, which is our last stop before we get to Istanbul tomorrow, where we 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 was saying that if somebody said it to 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. I'm walking around Boscata. I got a little distracted for a minute. Oh my gosh. 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. 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. 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 sightsee with for the day. First, we went to the Spice Bazaar, 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. 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. At sunset, we went to Sultan Ahmet 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've 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. 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 top-notch. 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. 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.