Prelude to a Recount

I've officially been back from my Mediterranean sojourn for little over a week and already my tan is only an echo of its formal burnished glory.  The damp and chilly west coast autumn has truly restored me back to my whitewashed glory.  I expected this to happen, but I thought I would at least retain enough color to last me until November.  Sadly, though, what remains of my vacation cannot be found through increased melanin, but through memories and pictures.  And, lucky for you, dear readers, I have a bounty of both!

Over the next few days and weeks, I hope to recount and recall all 18 days of my vacation.  From the breathtaking ports of call to the return flight from hell, you'll read it all.  And I have plenty of pictures to supplement my stories....possibly too many pictures.  I'll do my best to adopt some level of editorial oversight, as I fully admit going a little overboard with the camera (this comes after about 12 identical pictures of the same architectural structure....)

This post is just an introduction, so I thought I'd recount the places we traveled to before coming home to BC.

1. Barcelona
2. Monte Carlo
3. Florence (and Pisa!)
4. Rome & The Vatican
5. Sorrento & Pompeii
6. Mykonos
7. Kusadasi
8. Istanbul
9. Athens
10. Venice

I do have to say that I'm glad we traveled (and returned) when we did.  Seeing the stories about violent protests and clashes all over Italy and Greece in response to the austerity measures makes me very thankful that we never encountered anything of that magnitude while we were abroad.  All of our tour guides made a point of sharing their perspectives of the debt crisis situation and it was interesting to hear their thoughts, but at the time of our visit, the societal attitude was more disgruntled than outright irate.

And I firmly believe in the power of protests, as long as they stay non-violent.  Once violence starts to erupt and endanger innocent bystanders, that's when fighting for the cause turns into plain old fighting and any good is eroded by pain, fear and anger.