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2026 Mediterranean Trip

Updated Sat 2026-05-09 | 1906 words

NOTE: Sun 2026-07-26: I've let this blog sit for long enought that I'm just going to post it even though it's in a very incomplete state.

We (me, Jenny, JJ, her parents) just returned from a Mediterranean trip, starting in Barcelona where we stayed a few days, then a cruise that spent a day at sea, and a day each in Malta, Corfu Greece, Kortor Montenegro, Dubrovnik Croatia, and Split Croatia before finally docking at Ravenna Italy. We spent a day there, then took the train to Rome where we also spent a few days. They made a trip doc here (it's not publicly accessible though)

I actually spent very little time planning or scheduling this trip so I'm especially grateful to Jenny and her parents for doing this.

Now that I'm back and can't sleep due to jet lag, it's the perfect time to write about it!

Overall

Overall, I felt a lot more comfortable on this trip than the 2024 cruise (though I enjoyed that too). I think there are two major contributors to this.

The first is that JJ is older (almost 4 now) and a bit more self-sufficient and reasonable- he goes to bed at normal times, is pretty chill most of the time and eats a little better than he used to. Last trip I felt like I couldn't enjoy myself because I was constantly looking after him. We DID tried to take him to the onboard daycare a few times but he rebelled and they (reasonably) refuse to take unwilling children (we should have attended the initial open playtime to get him used to the idea)...

The second was that I really made an effort to eat reasonably (lower carbs, lots of veggies, reasonable portion sizes) and exercise, even if this meant I was doing my own thing while the family did something else. I forwent the elevator and took the stairs unless I was carrying something. I went to a few morning workout classes onboard. I jogged once on the top deck jogging track. I took long walks around the ship and at port. Jenny and I went to the gym and had fun together with the TRX bands and showing each other Pilates moves. Sometimes I felt (and still feel) selfish for taking this time (usually alone) and leaving Jenny to watch JJ or the family to do one thing while I did another. Overall though I think it made me a much better travel companion (I get cranky when I don't move enough) and Jenny encouraged me to take my exercise time, so I'm grateful for that. I also didn't really gain weight on the cruise and my blood sugar didn't get worse!

So those were the two biggies. I might also have felt more confortable are that the Norweigan Pearl is essentially a clone of the Norweigan Jade (the cruise ship we took last time) so I remembered where most things were.

We also had JJ in underwear for MOST of the daytime during this trip (diapers at night). He got a lot better over the trip at telling us when he needed to pee (basically perfect at this), though for some reason he had issues telling us when he needed to poo. He started pulling up his underwear and pants by himself now too!

One thing that is MUCH harder on the cruise is laundry - manually cleaning poopy underwear and your child is disgusting. Usually I ended up extracting the underwear from JJ and washing him and Jenny cleaned it. They did offer us a free bag of laundry in the middle of the cruise. Otherwise laundry is extortionately expensive and we avoided it. This stopped me from using the pool / hot tub since I didn't want to deal with cleaning the clothes afterwards.

It's a "me" thing but I'm also more comfortable with self-service than being served. They offered a lot of service (room cleaning, waiting, etc.) and I always felt weird asking for things. The restaurants also add 20% gratuity for meals automatically but ALSO offer the spot for an additional tip on the receipt. A few times I left additional tips but I felt weird if I did and awkward if I didn't (the service was always excellent).

TODO: try jpegoptim --max=90 --strip-all *.jpg

Travel
Malta
- not super impressed
greece
- running up the fort feeling
kotor
- hike
- cheese plate
Rome
- loved walking
- Cathedrals
- Vatican tour sucked

Barcelona

This is the old quarter in Barcelona. Lovely narrow streets for walking and large squares

01-barcelone-gothic-quarter.MP

02-barcelona-honey-dripper

I really wish I had taken a group photo of La Sagrada Familia and also a video of the different stain glass windows depicting the four seasions. Our guide told us the pillars are designed to make you feel like you're under trees.

03-barcelona-la-sagrada-familia

St. Pau is an old hospital that they're restoring due to its beautiful architecture. 04-barcelona-sant-pau-jenny-and-me

05-barcelona-sant-pau-model

06-barcelona-sant-pau-ceiling-tile

Park Guell was designed as a neighborhood bu Gaudi (hope I'm spelling his name right, I'm on an airplane). It's got these lovely fantastical pillars and some beautiful houses. I had a lot of fun walking around.

07-park-guell-arches

08-park-guell-beneath-balcony

08-park-guell-family-in-front-of-houses

We were especially impressed by this crazy candle in a Barcelona restaurant. Who knows how long its been burning and dripping wax?

09-restaurant-with-candle

10-knight-lady-graffiti

Malta

Overall, I wasn't super impressed with Malta. It's a desert island to me, despite its fascinating history and blend of cultures. It did have this nice church that I liked a lot.

11-mosta-panorama

12-mosta-dome

13-mosta-outside

Jenny and I playing in the ship gym!

14-gym-with-jenny

Korfu Greece

This boat ride in the Aegean to see caves and a glimpse of the monastery on a cliff was great. I want to rent a boat in Santa Cruz or somewhere on the coast to recreate the experience.

15-agean-boat

I also really enjoyed the downtown. The main street was originally built by the French, and they have an Asian Art Museum due to a previous governor's donation of his personal collection. I tried a Baklava here and it was good, but I've had comparable elsewhere.

16-korfu-st

This fort was a real joy! First off, its large and its been through many regimes expanding it since ancient times. The stones are slick and I shudder when I imagine being ordered to run to the top cannons in a night rainstorm. It has a small museum containing some Byzantine mosaics as well! Jenny watched JJ so I could run away and explore this place.

I'm not sure what this pattern means but I thought it was beautiful.

17-fort-rock-carving

18-fort-from-the-ground

This is the view from the top. It stand guard over the whole city.

19-fort-from-the-top

Kotor Montenegro

Kotor is this city on a small flat area between the Adriatic and large mountains (the Balkans I think). It's a cool medieval Venetian city where every building is basically a church, restaurant, or souvenir store. Pretty but the REAL jewel I came across is a trail up the mountains that ends at this fort (see second picture). There's actually two trails up to the fort - one you pay for with access to get into the fort, and the free one that ends at the walls. I took the free one and was stunned and delighted to see RUINS at the top outside the fort. In contrast to the rest of this trip, where buildings are restored, filled with other tourists, and ready to take your money, these are just stone walls: silent, caving in, surrounded by spring grass and wildflowers, and still beautiful. And of course the hike up makes you appreciate it even more.

20-kotor-path-up

21-kotor-ruins-panorama

22-kotor-inside-church

Dubrovnik Croatia

I'm a quarter Croatian, so I LOVED seeing the country where one set of great-grandparents came from. Dubrovnik was also the most impressive medieval city I saw and I had a lot of fun walking around it. It's got extremely high walls, sometimes coming straight up from the cliffs, and (for a fee) you can circumnavigate the city to appreciate its beauty from above. This was beautiful and kind of unnerving at times (though I supppose the walls have lasted this long, so they probably won't fall down anytime soon).

23-dubrovnik-cable-car