Well...it has been a long time since we updated this so settle in for a recap of the last 20 days!
So Rome was...well, Rome in all its scaffolded, spray painted glory, we left Rome and headed to Sorrento after deciding that we needed a break and a slower pace after the craziness that is Rome so we skipped Naples and headed for the Amalfi coast straight away. Very beautiful, very small towns, we found a restaurant with very cheap but very good food and spent the day on rented beach chairs on what were suppose to be on a beach but was actually on a cement pier but it was perfect none the less. We went to Pompeii and while it was fascinating that such a large, developed city (including brothels, with picture menus) existed over 2000 years ago it was very big and tiring, after walking around Pompeii for four hours we were exhausted and headed back for relaxing beach time. After the most expensive train ride, even though we have a rail pass we had to pay for a reservation fee, was over an hour late we took a taxi that most contestants on the Amazing Race would be glad to have but we were a bit scared by, to the ferry just in time to catch the overnight ferry to Greece. We landed in Igoumensita and after forgetting or never realising that there is a time change between Italy and Greece missed our bus that we waited for three hours for and had to wait another three hours for, changed buses and then finally got to Kalambaka, found a funny old man to let us a room (Totty) and settled in for a couple of days to explore the monasteries in the skies. Meteora is beautiful, we took the bus up in the morning to the largest monastery and luckily they had skirts and pants on loan for the foreigners who didn't know the no shorts and only skirts for girls rules. There are six monasteries we went too, although only the first provided the necessary clothing we were missing so we just gazed at them from afar which is fine as they are very beautiful from farther away and a lot less stairs to climb this way. Had lunch after a hike on one of the rocks that touch the sky - the rocks are so cool, you are driving through the Greece country side thinking there is no way that this is the place from the photos and then you turn the corner and see these large rocks jutting up from the earth just like God put them there, which is why they think they are so special, although the technical reason is that the area used to be a river basin and eventually drained and left these rocks there. A monk came here to escape some persecution and out of devotion, or more likely, boredom hauled rocks up onto the rocks and built a monastery, the others followed.
After Meteora we had a travel day literally - we spent the WHOLE day on the train trying to get to Monemvasia but finally got off in Olympia after we realized the ridiculous way that the people at the train station had sent us and at the pace of Greek trains we never would have made it to Monemvasia that day. Olympia was nice, found a really cheap and very uncomfortable hostel, it rained the next day when we went to see the Museum and Ancient Olympia where the first Olympics were held. But it was International Museum day so we got in free! And managed to see everything before the rain really started to come down. Then we caught another bus and continued our quest to find Monemvasia. We finally arrived there after three bus changes and in the rain at 10pm, but luck was with us and as per Denis's de ja vue we found a nice place without getting wet right next to where the bus dropped us! The next day the rain finally stopped and the little town of Monemvasia is amazingly beautiful and has a charming old feeling. You have to walk through a little tunnel to get in, no cars, no scooters, no buses, just tourists and souvenir shops but the ruins were spectacular and the view was even better. After storming the castle for a few hours we ate a well over priced lunch and headed off for Nafplio. Unfortunately the Greece bus system does not plan farther ahead than one stop so we got from Monemvasia to Tripolia thinking that there would be a connecting bus to Nafplio but there wasn't so we found another bus station and went to Athens, reluctantly deciding to skip Nafplio.
We arrived in Athens and again it was raining, we found the subway and sought out the hotels in the LP, as we had not known we were coming we hadn't made any reservation, and as every hotel we went to explained to us the Champions soccer final was in Athens in a couple of days and the city was filled with Brits and Italians who came to see the soccer game...asa result all the hotels were full too, after two hours we had a bit of luck and stole someones room and at an outrageous price had a well deserved rest. The next day we had to find a new hotel, and went to see the Acropolis and all associated sites, Roman Forum, Ancient Agora (very cool, and very old, looked very authentic), and walked and walked and walked. The next day was MY BIRTHDAY (yes almost all of you missed it!) and Denis took me for a shopping day and we bought a new bathing suit for me, a sarong for the beach and a new pair of sunglasses for the pair Denis had left on some Greek public transportation, and again we were off on the overnight ferry to the island of Santorini.
Santorini was nice, but after sleeping in a chair on the ferry and missing the only bus to the city and sleeping a little more in the departures lounge before finally breaking down and taking a taxi to the town so we could take the bus to our hostel. We found a very cheap hostel that a guy Denis bunked with in the dorm in Olympia told us about, Youth Hostel Anna, 6 euros for a dorm bed or 8 for a bed in a smaller room away from the action of the partiers...still very cheap by European standards. We rented a quad and cruised around the island stopping at all the beaches and stopping to watch the sunset with a bottle of wine! We also took a tour which took us to the volcano, apparently Santorini is the rim of a large underwater volcano which had erupted three times and created an island in the middle which we hiked to the top of for good views, we then stopped at a bay where there are suppose to be hot springs in the ocean, I suppose as a result of the volcano, but as we jumped off the boat and swam to the hot spring it never got hot, barely warm, like a bunch of people all peed in the water cause they were all freezing in water they expected to be "quite shockingly hot" as our guide explained it would be. THEN we rode DONKEYS up a hill...highlight of the trip to a sleepy little town before going to Oia to watch the sunset that never actualized behind a veil of clouds. After a 22 hour ferry ride we arrived in Rhodes which is breath taking on arrival, very medieval, as the old town starts right from the port and you walk off the boat into a walled castle. We stayed at a hotel with a swimming pool, but spent all the time at the beach. Rented a car and went to see the castle in Rhodes town and all the other castles around the island and then went back to the beach and we got eaten by mosquitoes. We have arrived in Symi for two nights and after our first successful hotel bargaining found a hotel and boat taxied to the beach for a whole day in a little bay. Tomorrow we are off to Kos to catch the ferry to Turkey!
Well that's everything in a nutshell, hope you are all doing well, send us a note to tell us whats new with you! Can't wait to hear from you!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
ITALY
Okay! Italy has been very busy, we have done A LOT of walking and have had a great time. We are in Rome now but I will recap the last 9, 10, 11, or twelve days...
we arrived in Italy and couch surfed with Matteo in La Spezia for two nights, we had a great bed in a beautiful old apartment in the center of La Spezia and after relaxing for a week in Monaco we decided to just relax for the day in La Spezia before heading off to Cinque Terra...but Italy closes on Sundays, so we walked around looking for something to do and then resigned to eating gelato on a park bench and soaking up the sun until we met Matteo and the other couch surfers at Matteo's for dinner which he cooked for us and was AMAZING! We had pasta with ricotta cheese and his home-made pesto and olive oil (it was the best thing I've eaten in Italy so far) and curry chicken with beans and home made ice cream...we got to meet one of Matteo's friends and he was very funny and very friendly. The next day we headed to Riomaggiore to start our exploration of Cinque Terra which was beautiful, we stayed in this hostel which had one double bed that we snagged, and five bunks all in one room although there was one less bed than people booked for the room and there was some confusion in the middle of the night! The hike through the five villages was awesome, the weather was great for most of it before we got to the fourth village and it started to rain, so we took the train to the last village and sat on the beach until it really started to rain and we took the train back to Riomaggiore. We took some great pictures but all the pictures are going to have to wait until we get home...after we left Cinque Terra we went to Pisa for a couple of hours and saw everything that leans, Pisa is more than just a tower apparently they let some guy build a three buildings that all lean! I guess architecture was not really what he should have been doing. We headed to Bologna after being stuck in Florence trying to get a train on the night of a long weekend and finally met up with Emily who hosted us on her couch and took us to a great little bar for beers and even scored some free beers, she was full of info about the town and took us around the next day, showing us all the secrets like the sculptor who wanted to put a larger penis on the statue but the Catholics wouldn't let him so when you look at the statue from a certain angle his hand is positioned so that he has a large erection! And the dome where you can whisper in one corner and another person can hear you PERFECTLY in another! We had great panini and gelato for lunch and went to a market and bought some fruit and headed off to Venice. Just our luck the city on water was under water with terrible rain all day when we arrived. when the rain finally broke we went on boat rides and saw the sights. The highlight was going to the OPERA! we saw a comedy about love in this little museum with gorgeous paintings and tons of history! The next day with clear skies we got to see the St. Marks's basilica and a lot of pigeons! We took the elevator to the top of the bell tower and saw Venice from the sky - an great view, even the pigeons looked good from there. We went to Murano, the glass island where all of Venice's glass makers were moved to avoid the fires that frequently happened. Sarah stopped in every shop and finally bought a pair of earrings. The last day it rained again and we left the floating city the way we came in...soaking wet. Heading to Florence, we hadn't booked a hotel and weren't sure how long we would stay but we got a great deal on a hotel from a guy who came up to us in the train station and decided to stay two nights...Florence is beautiful. The train station not so much but the area around the old bridge, the only one not blown up in WWII, is so amazing! We were super lucky and went to see the David sculpture expecting a huge line and only waited for 15 minutes with no reservation! It was pretty good, maybe the best piece of art we've seen so far. We went for lunch at this crazy little restaurant called Marios and it was really good, just a bunch of tables where everyone sits next to each other and the food comes out really fast but it is all cooked slow-food style and its only open for lunch so there are big lines but totally worth it! And the wine was only 3 euros for 1/2 litre! Then we cruised to Sienna for a night and Sienna is magical, it really feels and looks like you stepped back through time. We were even lucky enough to see the parade of all the town's people marching, drumming, waiving flags and singing the town song for the beginning of Palio where they race horses through the streets of the city at the beginning of June and in September. We went to the famous basilica in Sienna and went up the tower and into the crypt and the baptistery before leaving for San Gimignano in the heart of Tuscany. It was a beautiful little town with 13 of 72 medieval towers still standing. We rented a SCOOTER and went touring the hillsides for wineries. We found many but stopped at three, tasted some excellent wine and picked up a few bottles for our cellar back home, and soaked every minute out of the most beautiful area I've ever seen. And NOW we are in Rome, where we have walked and walked and walked in search of things that would take our breath away but EVERYTHING is covered in scaffolding for cleaning or repairs or perhaps just to piss off all the tourists who came here to see all the stuff Rome is know for only to find a large picture of it wrapped around the scaffolding. But Trevi fountain was sans scaffolding and very beautiful, number 1 fountain so far!
Wheeefff...so thats it for now we are in Rome for another couple days and then off to Naples and the Amalfi coast and then off to GREECE! Hope everyone is doing well, send us an email we'd love to know whats happening in your lives.
we arrived in Italy and couch surfed with Matteo in La Spezia for two nights, we had a great bed in a beautiful old apartment in the center of La Spezia and after relaxing for a week in Monaco we decided to just relax for the day in La Spezia before heading off to Cinque Terra...but Italy closes on Sundays, so we walked around looking for something to do and then resigned to eating gelato on a park bench and soaking up the sun until we met Matteo and the other couch surfers at Matteo's for dinner which he cooked for us and was AMAZING! We had pasta with ricotta cheese and his home-made pesto and olive oil (it was the best thing I've eaten in Italy so far) and curry chicken with beans and home made ice cream...we got to meet one of Matteo's friends and he was very funny and very friendly. The next day we headed to Riomaggiore to start our exploration of Cinque Terra which was beautiful, we stayed in this hostel which had one double bed that we snagged, and five bunks all in one room although there was one less bed than people booked for the room and there was some confusion in the middle of the night! The hike through the five villages was awesome, the weather was great for most of it before we got to the fourth village and it started to rain, so we took the train to the last village and sat on the beach until it really started to rain and we took the train back to Riomaggiore. We took some great pictures but all the pictures are going to have to wait until we get home...after we left Cinque Terra we went to Pisa for a couple of hours and saw everything that leans, Pisa is more than just a tower apparently they let some guy build a three buildings that all lean! I guess architecture was not really what he should have been doing. We headed to Bologna after being stuck in Florence trying to get a train on the night of a long weekend and finally met up with Emily who hosted us on her couch and took us to a great little bar for beers and even scored some free beers, she was full of info about the town and took us around the next day, showing us all the secrets like the sculptor who wanted to put a larger penis on the statue but the Catholics wouldn't let him so when you look at the statue from a certain angle his hand is positioned so that he has a large erection! And the dome where you can whisper in one corner and another person can hear you PERFECTLY in another! We had great panini and gelato for lunch and went to a market and bought some fruit and headed off to Venice. Just our luck the city on water was under water with terrible rain all day when we arrived. when the rain finally broke we went on boat rides and saw the sights. The highlight was going to the OPERA! we saw a comedy about love in this little museum with gorgeous paintings and tons of history! The next day with clear skies we got to see the St. Marks's basilica and a lot of pigeons! We took the elevator to the top of the bell tower and saw Venice from the sky - an great view, even the pigeons looked good from there. We went to Murano, the glass island where all of Venice's glass makers were moved to avoid the fires that frequently happened. Sarah stopped in every shop and finally bought a pair of earrings. The last day it rained again and we left the floating city the way we came in...soaking wet. Heading to Florence, we hadn't booked a hotel and weren't sure how long we would stay but we got a great deal on a hotel from a guy who came up to us in the train station and decided to stay two nights...Florence is beautiful. The train station not so much but the area around the old bridge, the only one not blown up in WWII, is so amazing! We were super lucky and went to see the David sculpture expecting a huge line and only waited for 15 minutes with no reservation! It was pretty good, maybe the best piece of art we've seen so far. We went for lunch at this crazy little restaurant called Marios and it was really good, just a bunch of tables where everyone sits next to each other and the food comes out really fast but it is all cooked slow-food style and its only open for lunch so there are big lines but totally worth it! And the wine was only 3 euros for 1/2 litre! Then we cruised to Sienna for a night and Sienna is magical, it really feels and looks like you stepped back through time. We were even lucky enough to see the parade of all the town's people marching, drumming, waiving flags and singing the town song for the beginning of Palio where they race horses through the streets of the city at the beginning of June and in September. We went to the famous basilica in Sienna and went up the tower and into the crypt and the baptistery before leaving for San Gimignano in the heart of Tuscany. It was a beautiful little town with 13 of 72 medieval towers still standing. We rented a SCOOTER and went touring the hillsides for wineries. We found many but stopped at three, tasted some excellent wine and picked up a few bottles for our cellar back home, and soaked every minute out of the most beautiful area I've ever seen. And NOW we are in Rome, where we have walked and walked and walked in search of things that would take our breath away but EVERYTHING is covered in scaffolding for cleaning or repairs or perhaps just to piss off all the tourists who came here to see all the stuff Rome is know for only to find a large picture of it wrapped around the scaffolding. But Trevi fountain was sans scaffolding and very beautiful, number 1 fountain so far!
Wheeefff...so thats it for now we are in Rome for another couple days and then off to Naples and the Amalfi coast and then off to GREECE! Hope everyone is doing well, send us an email we'd love to know whats happening in your lives.
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