The first country I wanted to see beyond Turkey was Italy. I dreamed about going there and tried to convince my world-traveler grandmother to take me on one of her trips. When I was getting ready to graduate from middle school, she suggested we visit Italy together but take a bus tour so we can see as many sites as possible. It really was the perfect way to see my number one destination.

Many years later, several work trips took me further west on that coast, from Monaco in Cote d'Azur to Barcelona and Marbella.  I was impressed but not as much as what I had seen in Italy.  

I had no idea what I was missing until this year when Daniel and I decided to visit the western section of the Meditteranean Sea all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.