It's All Greek To Me!

Athens Day 1

After spending the night in the Rome Airport, we headed to Athens, Greece bright and early.

Greece from the plane

We caught a bus and then a tram to get to the location of the hostel. Turns out our hostel was in the perfect location. The Acropolis and downtown were right around the corner. Since we got in so early, we couldn’t check into our hostel right away so we just left our bags there and started exploring the city. We stopped at our first Greek restaurant for some lunch. Electra ordered a gyro and I ordered a kabab. Pretty much everything comes with fries in Greece. I also ordered a frappe! A frappe is a cold coffee drink make from Nescafe, sweetened condensed milk, and either milk or water. They are delicious!

Steph drinking a frappe

Lamb kabab

We spent the afternoon exploring and getting lost and then doing some laundry. The hostel had a laundry mat nearby and it was attached to a bar! So we drank some Greek beer (Mythos) while we did a load of laundry. We made friends with a girl from Turkey, Merve, who shared our hostel room with us. She joined us for dinner and showed us a really cool spot to eat. The view of the Acropolis was amazing in the nighttime. Electra and I both ordered traditional Greek dishes and we even tried Ouzo! Ouzo is a Greek liquor that tastes a lot like black licorice. It’s a clear liquid and you drink it with ice. When you add the ice and stir it a little, the liquid turns white. It’s a pretty strong flavor so we added a little water as well. We both loved it!

Acropolis view from the place we ate dinner

Ouzo!

We haven’t had any trouble with the language so far. All of the signs are also in English and pretty much everyone speaks English as well. We had trouble when we first got here cuz we kept speaking the few Italian words we know. Eventually we memorized “thank you” which is efharisto.

Athens Day 2

Today we took a walking tour through the hostel. It was about 3.5 hrs and walked all around the city and major sites. Our guide, Michael, was from Canada and he was very informative. We really enjoyed the tour. Below are pics with captions describing the sites we saw.

Stray dogs everywhere! It all started when some stray dogs saved one of the first doctors in Athens, ever since the people take care of them

Hadrian's Arch

Temple of Zeus

Stadium built for the first modern Olympics

Zappio, built for the first modern Olympics when they tried to have agricultural competitions as well

Crazy Turkish guards dressed from the time when the Turks ruled Athens. Their skirts have 400 pleats!

Parliament building

Syntagma Square

Downtown Athens

Roman Marketplace where the first working clock in the western world was created

Democracy was created here!

After the walking tour we bought tickets to go inside the Acropolis. Our old student IDs came in handy once again and we got half price tickets! The Acropolis was HUGE and it was so cool to actually walk around the ancient architecture.

View of Acropolis

Parthenon

Then we hiked up a mountain right next to the Acropolis to see the view. This is also the spot where Democracy was first used.

We were pretty exhausted by the time we were finished with all the site seeing. So, we headed back to the hostel to eat some leftovers and figure out a ride to the airport. There was a transportation strike, so buses, taxis, and the tram weren’t running. You have to pay a lot of money to have a bus, taxi or tram license and anyone can buy them from someone else when they are done using it. So, many Grecians use this as a retirement. When they want to retire they sell their license to someone else. The Grecian government is trying to change the way this works so that the licenses will not be worth as much. Thus the angry transportation drivers. This worried us a lot because we had to get to the airport for a super early flight to Santorini the next day. Luckily the hostel was on top of it. Some of the people who worked at the hostel ran a shuttle to and from the airport all day and night. We had to catch an early ride though. Even though our flight wasn’t til 5:30am the next day, we had to get to leave for the airport at 12:30am. So, we had to sleep in the airport once again. At least the Athens airport is a lot nicer and clearer than the Rome airport.

Side note: Sorry it took us so long to post an update about Greece. Internet wasn't too reliable and we were too busy adventuring! Electra will post about our time in Santorini tomorrow!

Venice!

Our first of two days in Venice began mid morning when we arrived by train from Rome! We had to wake up pretty early to catch our train, which was a 4-hour ride. Despite the very loud and obnoxious school children on the train, we were able to sleep most of the trip so that we could begin exploring Venice as soon as we arrived. We left our luggage at the hotel and began wondering right away. There are pastry shops everywhere so we stopped at one for breakfast. This place is so amazing and picturesque. Every corner you turn you want to take a picture because it is so beautiful. We are constantly walking on bridges over canals or through tiny streets (that obviously don’t have cars on them). The town is like a maze because many of the streets are quite short and sometimes lead to a dead end or water. We haven’t paid too much attention to our map, we just wander and turn on whatever street looks like it might lead somewhere promising. The guide book we have says that getting lost in Venice is a must, and we haven’t had trouble taking this on so far! After a few hours we headed back to the hotel to check in and clean up. Our room is on the second floor (which is actually the third floor) and our has an amazing balcony. We’ve been seeing balconies similar to this and always noticed how beautiful they are with lots of plants and flowers. We weren’t expecting to be able to actually step out on one!

The balcony of our room

One of many canal pictures

Bare side street

Venice!

We ate a late lunch at a café right next to one of the many canals. We chose it because it was away from all the traffic. We decided to order proscuitto with melon because it has sounded amazing and we haven’t ordered it so far on our trip. We also shared a carbonara dish. Both were delicious.

El at lunch with the beautiful view behind her

We left the café and hoped to run into one of the busy streets with lots of shops. However we somehow ended up at the northern most edge of the island. Hello ocean! The view was incredible. From here we could see the Dolomites mountain range. By this time it started raining so even though we weren’t done exploring at the moment we decided to head back to the hotel to change into more appropriate shoes.

The ocean and mountain view

On the walk back we briefly escaped the rain and ordered a cappuccino and shared some sort of meringue pastry.

Sweet looking pastry

After changing we headed back out for a very late dinner (Italians eat dinner between 8-10pm, we’ve been eating between 9-11pm) and luckily the rain had stopped. The main streets were filled with the late night crowd but the side streets (which we tried to take most of the day) were bare, so we stuck with the crowd since it was dark and nighttime. Many of the restaurants were closed since it was later but we found a nice little café. We ordered a seafood pizza, something we haven’t tried yet. It was delicious! As per usual, we also ordered some house red wine. That stuff is like kool-aid here! This time at the restaurant we noticed the wine came from a tap! So cool!

Seafood pizza!

Day two in Venice started out with breakfast at the hotel. Italians apparently don’t know how to do breakfast because in both Rome and Venice the breakfast offered by the hostels/hotels consisted of stale (on purpose) bread, sugary cereal and sugary juice. Needless to say we required a croissant almost every morning besides the free breakfast that was offered. We wanted to take the public transportation motorboat down the Grand Canal to St. Mark’s Piazza. Gondola rides or water taxies are another option for traveling down the canals but they are ridiculously expensive. First we found an Italian market, which was very exciting but also quite intimidating. Everyone is shouting in Italian their orders and we seemed to be the only ones out of place. We did manage to purchase some bread, cheese, and meat to take along for lunch since the cafes are expensive in the piazza. The ticket buying for the motorboat was very confusing and it looked like only the locals knew how it worked. We tried watching some other tourist try to purchase tickets but they didn’t’ have any luck either. We eventually gave up and decided to just hop on and see what happened. Since it’s public transportation the motorboat was very crowded with both locals and tourists. We managed to make our way to the back of the boat and found two seats outside. The view was absolutely breathtaking. After making our way to the end of the Grand Canal where St. Mark’s Piazza is located, we got off the boat without having to pay!

One of the motorboats

Us on the boat

The view is amazing!

One of the gondolas

After we got off the motorboat we wandered into the piazza. St. Mark’s Basilica is very impressive. There is gold everywhere. We escaped the crowd for a sec and found a little park and ate our take out lunch we bought earlier. Pigeons tried to attack us. They are everywhere and quite tame and fat because so many people feed them. If you stand with food in your hand they will surround you and even perch on you. This is something both of us opted not to do for obvious reasons. After lunch we walked around and saw the Bridge of Sighs. This is a bridge where they used to take prisoners right before they were about to be sentenced.

St. Mark's Piazza

The basilica up close

Then we walked around inside the basilica, which is also extravagant and all the dome ceilings are covered in mosaics and more gold. The crowd was so crazy that we decided to leave the square and wander the nearby neighborhood. Really the only way to escape the crowds is to take tiny side streets, which even then sometimes you run into crowds. We had to catch our train back in the afternoon so we eventually wandered our way back to the train station, while stopping at the many shops. Their specialty is glass. The pieces are very unique and beautiful, though you do find the occasional knockoff. There were a few shops where you could see the pieces actually being made right then and there. Those were the most beautiful but also the most expensive.

So many people!

Our train ride back was quite peaceful and we just took the time to rest. When we got back to Rome, it was around dinnertime and we managed to find a nice little restaurant that was the cheapest place to eat we’ve found so far. We had to run to catch the last train to the airport where we spent the night. This is not uncommon, there were several other travelers doing the same. It was hard, however, to stay warm and comfortable while trying to keep our luggage close and secure. Needless to say, we only got a few hours of sleep before catching our plane to Athens, Greece.

Awkward sleeping in the Rome airport

Next stop: GREECE!

Last Day in Roma

Since today was Sunday many of the shops and restaurants were closed. We decided to test our luck and try getting back on the tour bus, which we had an expired receipt for. It worked! No one even flinched when we got on the bus. Since it was Sunday, the bus took a different route so we got to see the east part of Rome, which we hadn’t planned on seeing. We got off the bus near the Jewish Ghetto. The plan for the day was to just wonder around and look at all the cool sites. First we stopped at the Piazza Campo de’ Fiori. There were produce and souvenir booths in the center of the piazza. We spent some time looking at all the cool glass jewelry and even bought some souvenirs and gifts. Then we walked to the Piazza Navona. This piazza was very crowded and the cafes in the area were quite expensive. We hoped to sit down for another cheap glass of wine, however cheap was impossible to find. The center of the piazza was filled with artists and art vendors. There were a few fountains and a lovely church. This is a piazza where popes used to flood to mock naval encounters. Also, chariot races were once held here.

Piazza Navona with vendors selling you stuff everywhere

Huge church in the piazza

Beautiful!

The major attraction we wanted to visit today was the Pantheon. The Pantheon is the only ancient Roman building completely in tact. It is so huge and incredible. When you walk inside, you must be quite. The dome of the Pantheon is a perfect half sphere sitting on a cylinder. The architecture of the ancient building is very impressive given that it was built in 27 B.C.

Pantheon

Inside, it was HUGE!

After the Pantheon we found a place to grab a glass of wine a margherita pizza. We did some more souvenier and gift shopping then headed back to the hostel with heavy bags in hand.

Mmmm

When we got back to the hostel we shared two bottles of wine with some other travelers and two of them ended up joining us for dinner. So far, Electra and I haven’t had a single dinner with just us two, but we’re both totally ok with that! The dinner spot was once again recommended by the owner of the hostel. Tonight Electra ordered a pesto pasta dish and I ordered a prawn risotto. Deliciouso! I also tried Campari liquor for the first time. It was not too good and I probably will never order that again! From now on, I’m sticking to vino while in Italy.

Prawn risotto

Sucking the meat out of the prawn head, very interesting

Our new friends at dinner. We got a free bottle of champagne!

Italy Day 3 - A Walk in the Park

We decided to let ourselves sleep in just a bit this morning. We hoped to have time to stop by a patisserie (bakery) for breakfast but like always we were running a tad late. Our tour bus pass only lasted us til 11am today (however, they never checked our receipt so we might try hopping on again tomorrow). We took the bus to a spot near the Spanish Steps and walked through a crowded shopping district to get there. We did some souvenir shopping and got some breakfast before heading to the famous Spanish Steps. We ordered a croissant, sandwich, and two café freddos.

Breakfast

The steps were very crowded and drenched with sunshine. We managed to find a shaded area to take some pictures. There is a small little fountain at the bottom that we took some pictures at as well. The entire time there are vendors walking around trying to shove roses in your face only to try to charge you after you take them. We kept saying “no” to the vendors before some random lady gave us a bunch of roses for free. We didn’t want to walk around with the roses all day so we left them on the edge of the fountain before heading up the stairs towards Piazza del Popolo.

On the steps

The Spanish Steps

The fountain at the bottom of the Spanish Steps

The Piazza del Popolo is the least crowded area we’ve seen so far. It had a fountain in the middle with an Egyptian Obelisk in the center. We cooled off in the shade then walked back through the shopping center and found a place to buy a picnic lunch. Buying lunch was quite interesting and stressful because we don’t know the language very well. Somehow we figured out how to order some prosciutto, two kinds of cheese (we’re not exactly sure what we ordered), some bread, two pastries and a bottle of wine.

Piazza del Popolo

Again, from the other side

While walking around trying to find our lunch we found an amazing basilica with open doors. We decided to take a look inside and it was incredibly beautiful.

Inside the Basilica

The basilica was called Basilica dei Sanit Ambrogio e Carlo

It was a long walk uphill in the sun to get to our lunch destination, Villa Borghese, but totally worth the trek. When we arrived in the park we saw some kids swimming in a huge fountain. We were very relieved because we’ve wanted to cool off in the fountains we’ve seen so far but it seems a little taboo. We stuck our feet in the water and uncorked the wine. After sitting there for awhile some guards walked up across the fountain from us and started to tell people they couldn’t swim or wade in the water. Since we had the bottle of open wine we quickly walked into the shade away from the fountain and proceed to eat our picnic lunch. It was incredibly delicious! This was one main thing I wanted to do while here, pack a picnic lunch and drink a bottle of wine in the park. We spent the majority of our day in the park eating great food and drinking amazing wine. Then we went on a little adventure to try to find a restaurant that served a great Apperitivo (Happy Hour), suggested by our friend Tony who spent a semester abroad in Italy. Sadly we couldn’t find it. We eventually made our way back to the hostel for a siesta (something we’ve done every day since being here).

The fountain, about to put my feet in to cool off

Uncorking the delicious wine!

Picnic lunch

Outside the park

When we woke up from our siesta the girl who shares our room (we went to dinner with her last night) had just gotten back from her adventures for the day. She was quick to ask us what our plans were for dinner. So we uncorked another bottle of wine and finished it before heading out for dinner. The front desk guy at our hostel (Luca, we now know) suggested another amazing place to eat. Today we asked for a good place to order pasta. Our meal was complete with bruschetta, pasta (we all ordered something different, Electra ordered the tastiest dish, cannolini stuffed with meat) and wine. Our waiter was very entertaining and taught us more Italian words (although now I have forgotten them). We finished the meal with lemoncello and tiramisu. The lemoncello was suuuuper strong and it wasn’t my favorite.

The restaurant, Leoni d'Abruzzo

Yummy!

Lemoncello!

Not as good as I was hoping!

Tomorrow, our last day in Rome, we plan to go to the Pantheon. Also, today we would like to wish a very happy birthday to our dearest friend Minda! Happy 25th Minda! We love you!