Ever since we left Santorini and got back to our usual schedule of cities and sightseeing, it seems like weve come back from vaction, even though were on vacation. Our next stop was Athens where we were able to see all the sights of the Acropolis, which was really cool to see. Unfortunately, outside of this area Athens cant quite compare to all the other beautiful cities weve seen so far. Dirty, noisy, smelly, no one speaks English, and lots and lots of strange people with lots and lots of hair. The hostel we stayed in had bars of soap that were wrapped in paper saying "Welcome to Hellas (Greece in Greek)" but we started to take it a little more literally after Ryan was woken up in the middle of the night to cockroaches crawling all over him and werent able to walk a block without smelling urine. All in all though we were glad we got to make a stop in Greece and ready to head out when the time came. From Athens we made a day stop over in a coastal town called Patras and explored a medieval castle after hours and got to see a beautiful Greek Orthodox Cathedral, none of us are quite sure what the religion is all about but we think they know how to do churches pretty well. Our last stop in Greece was an island in the Ionian Sea called Corfu. Compared to the much drier islands of the Cyclades (picture the photos in the middle of the bible but with blue and white houses and beaches), Corfu was like a jungle. We rented a car for the day and explored the islands windy, mountainous roads and stopped at some beautiful beaches before having our last gyro and getting on a ferry to Venice. The ferry was 15 hours long and there was no where to sleep since we had gotten the cheapest tickets possible and we were amazed to realize how good of sleepers we had become when we woke up the next morning on the floor of the ships casino which had been fully lit and functional the whole night.
Our next stop was Venice, and from the second we stepped out of the train station and saw the city and the canals we were mesmerized. The citys winding streets and narrow waterways were so fun to explore and get lost in and we even managed to bargain our way into a cheap gondola ride. Our gondaleer was impressed by Ryans ability to get 3 women into a boat with him and even made a comparison to Casanova as he drove us by the legendary playboys own house. When people said Venice was sinking we didnt think they meant literally. Imagine our suprise when we got to St Marks Square and realized the only way was through the practically knee deep water. We had fun splashing around and causing a commotion for all the rest of the tourits. On Sunday we got to attend the Venice Ward and made friends with a single member of the bishopric who took us to a delicious lunch spot, drove us back into Venice, and showed us around his favorite area of Venice, the old Jewish ghetto.
After Italy was finally behind us we took a train through the beautiful Northern Italian country, past the Dolomites and Lake Como and got into Interlocken, Switzerland. We stayed at Europes oldest hostel and had fun getting to know tons of other backpackers and enjoying the beautiful surroundings. We spent our day there doing something called "canyoning" a combination of cliff diving, repelling, and natural slides... look it up, it was amazing, terrifying, and such an adrenaline rush. We also squeezed in a hike up Harder Klum for a beautiful view of the whole valley and explored the delicious chocolate shops in the town. Switzerland is picture perfect with little towns set on beautiful lakes in the mountains, never before had a place exceeded our expectations like this.
From Switzerland we took another train to Munich and spent our first day touring the city on bike, visiting the famous Glockenspiel, numerous churches, English Gardens, and historical sites many assosciated with the citys Nazi related history. We all decided of all the European cities Munich would definitelz be one we could see ourselves living in with the lifestyle and greenery and cool architecture, it was a great introduction to Germany. The next day was spent at the Dachau Concentration Camp right outside Munich, it was interesting and also very sad to walk around the old barracks, prison, and crematorium and actually see the reality of such a horrible thing. We left very sad but also determined, like the monument at the sight read to make sure that "Never Again" would something like this happen. We rounded off our trip to Munich at the cities most famous beer hall where we ordered bratwurst, apple strudel, and giant mugs of apple juice. Tomorrow we are off to Vienna and then Budapest (slight alteration) Auviewtyew!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Island Hopping
This blog post is coming to you from the beautiful island of Santorini in Greece. We've been here for almost two days now and have one left before heading to Athens. Since the last update we have been all over the place.
After leaving Cinque Terre we took a train to Florence and spent two days exploring the city. When got off the train with our backpacks and hiked over to our hostel, passing the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, and a number of other cool sites on our way. We were able to visit the Uffizi Gallery and the Academy which house a number of famous Italian paintings and sculptures, it was especially cool to get to see the 17 foot tall statue of the David, all made out of one piece of marble. We also visited the palace the Medici family used to live in across the bridge and hiked up Piazza Michaelangelo, a hill that overlooks all of Florence and ate dinner up there watching the sun set over the city. Florence was a beautiful but very expensive and touristy city and our budgets were happy to move on although we were sad to leave such a cool place.
From Florence our next stop was Rome. Immediately after getting off our train and putting our bags at our hostel we went to the Vatican. We were nervous after having been told by about every friend, guidebook, and fellow backpacker that the lines at the Vatican were terrible and that unless we got there at 6 am we may not have a chance of getting in, or at least faced endless lines. We got in line at 10 am. 5 minutes later we were in St. Peters Basilica marvelling at the beautiful ceilings, mosaics across all the walls, and of course, Michaelangelo's Pieta. It was cool to get to see the Swiss Guards and all the other security guards as we walked around and couldn't help but be reminded of Angels and Demons, has anyone seen the movie yet? How was it? After exploring St. Peter's we realized the real challenge would most likely ben in getting into the Vatican Galleries, once again... no line! We were able to see Raphael's School of Athens, the Lycoon Group Sculptures, and of course the Sistine Chapel and spent a long time resting and looking at the overwhelming number of figures and scenes on the ceiling and enjoying taking a rest from the heat and all the walking. Pam reinforced her reputation as the group member most likely to fall asleep, but actually taking a nap in the Sistine Chapel. After the Vatican we enjoyed exploring Rome, with its winding streets, tons of monuments/churches/ruins, and loved visiting the Trevi Fountain and Spanish steps. We discovered our favorite gelato place which gave you double the amount other places were for about half the price and made a stop in the World's Nicest McDonald's (Amanda has become obsessed with a tasty creation called the McNifica). We were all amazed at how beautiful and cool a city Rome was, none of us had expected to love it quite so much. The next day we visited the Colluseum, Forum, Palatine Hill and checked out a few more sights before leaving on a late night ferry to Athens.
The ferry lasted 18 hours and we were in the cheap seats, meaning we slept on the floor of the ship while the lights around us were still on full blast and the tv blared all night. Luckily, we've become pretty good at sleeping in weird places and were able to get enough sleep to sustain us. Once we got to Greece we stopped in for our first Gyro (delicious, cheap, what more could you ask for?) before getting on another ferry to Santorini. We got into the port at midnight and were met by our hotel manager who drove us up the winding, steep slopes to the island's capital to our hotel. We were all so excited to be there it would've been hard to sleep if we hadn't been so tired. The next day we woke up to the blaring sun and loved looking out over our balcony at the blue and white buildings and the sparkling Aegean Sea. We rented scooters to get around the island (don't worry mom and dad, me and Amanda opted for the safer option of 4-wheelers) and set off exploring. We layed out on some black sand beaches, cliff jumped, explored a few towns, by accidentally stumbled upon a nude beach (not to be repeated), and then got cleaned up and drove to the northern coast to a town called Oia to watch the sunset and get dinner. Everyone needs to start saving and planning a time to get here. This place is perfect. We've been on a strict diet of Baklava and Gyros since we've been here and don't think we'll be able to get enough by the time we leave. We've got another night here and plan on repeating the same thing we did last night. Today we're exploring the island's volcano, the red sand beaches, and the capital of Fira and tomorrow afternoon we'll be heading back to Athens for a day or two to check out the Parthenon and National Archeological Museum. I am still on the lookout for gladiator shoes and some good mousaka (Greek food). Baklava and Gyros have been our diet since we've been here and could
After leaving Cinque Terre we took a train to Florence and spent two days exploring the city. When got off the train with our backpacks and hiked over to our hostel, passing the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, and a number of other cool sites on our way. We were able to visit the Uffizi Gallery and the Academy which house a number of famous Italian paintings and sculptures, it was especially cool to get to see the 17 foot tall statue of the David, all made out of one piece of marble. We also visited the palace the Medici family used to live in across the bridge and hiked up Piazza Michaelangelo, a hill that overlooks all of Florence and ate dinner up there watching the sun set over the city. Florence was a beautiful but very expensive and touristy city and our budgets were happy to move on although we were sad to leave such a cool place.
From Florence our next stop was Rome. Immediately after getting off our train and putting our bags at our hostel we went to the Vatican. We were nervous after having been told by about every friend, guidebook, and fellow backpacker that the lines at the Vatican were terrible and that unless we got there at 6 am we may not have a chance of getting in, or at least faced endless lines. We got in line at 10 am. 5 minutes later we were in St. Peters Basilica marvelling at the beautiful ceilings, mosaics across all the walls, and of course, Michaelangelo's Pieta. It was cool to get to see the Swiss Guards and all the other security guards as we walked around and couldn't help but be reminded of Angels and Demons, has anyone seen the movie yet? How was it? After exploring St. Peter's we realized the real challenge would most likely ben in getting into the Vatican Galleries, once again... no line! We were able to see Raphael's School of Athens, the Lycoon Group Sculptures, and of course the Sistine Chapel and spent a long time resting and looking at the overwhelming number of figures and scenes on the ceiling and enjoying taking a rest from the heat and all the walking. Pam reinforced her reputation as the group member most likely to fall asleep, but actually taking a nap in the Sistine Chapel. After the Vatican we enjoyed exploring Rome, with its winding streets, tons of monuments/churches/ruins, and loved visiting the Trevi Fountain and Spanish steps. We discovered our favorite gelato place which gave you double the amount other places were for about half the price and made a stop in the World's Nicest McDonald's (Amanda has become obsessed with a tasty creation called the McNifica). We were all amazed at how beautiful and cool a city Rome was, none of us had expected to love it quite so much. The next day we visited the Colluseum, Forum, Palatine Hill and checked out a few more sights before leaving on a late night ferry to Athens.
The ferry lasted 18 hours and we were in the cheap seats, meaning we slept on the floor of the ship while the lights around us were still on full blast and the tv blared all night. Luckily, we've become pretty good at sleeping in weird places and were able to get enough sleep to sustain us. Once we got to Greece we stopped in for our first Gyro (delicious, cheap, what more could you ask for?) before getting on another ferry to Santorini. We got into the port at midnight and were met by our hotel manager who drove us up the winding, steep slopes to the island's capital to our hotel. We were all so excited to be there it would've been hard to sleep if we hadn't been so tired. The next day we woke up to the blaring sun and loved looking out over our balcony at the blue and white buildings and the sparkling Aegean Sea. We rented scooters to get around the island (don't worry mom and dad, me and Amanda opted for the safer option of 4-wheelers) and set off exploring. We layed out on some black sand beaches, cliff jumped, explored a few towns, by accidentally stumbled upon a nude beach (not to be repeated), and then got cleaned up and drove to the northern coast to a town called Oia to watch the sunset and get dinner. Everyone needs to start saving and planning a time to get here. This place is perfect. We've been on a strict diet of Baklava and Gyros since we've been here and don't think we'll be able to get enough by the time we leave. We've got another night here and plan on repeating the same thing we did last night. Today we're exploring the island's volcano, the red sand beaches, and the capital of Fira and tomorrow afternoon we'll be heading back to Athens for a day or two to check out the Parthenon and National Archeological Museum. I am still on the lookout for gladiator shoes and some good mousaka (Greek food). Baklava and Gyros have been our diet since we've been here and could
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Coming to You from Cinque Terre
We have had a lot of adventures since leaving Madrid! After taking an overnight train to Lisbon (sleeping on the floor and waking up to the conductor kicking me and telling me to get up) we arrived in Portugal. The language was a little tougher to understand than Spanish was and but the city was beautiful and had lots of good food! It is set on a number of hills and has really pretty buildings with narrow allyways and pretty fountains and plazas which we loved. We visited a monastery from the 1500s which holds Vasco de Gamas Tomb and a old Visigoth castle. Probably our favorite part of the day was when Pam slipped and fell intot the river that runs through the city! After laughing a little, we started getting worried the current was carrying her away, but she got her footing and climbed back up amidst a crowd of people gawking and us making sure to get the whole thing on camera. She was soaked and her camera was broken but it was pretty funny.
We took another night train out of Lisbon and once again slept on the floor (in case you couldnt tell, were missing out on a little bit of sleep) and got to Barcelona around noon. We strolled along Las Ramblas and checked out the beach right in the heart of the city as well as the towns gothic Cathedral, Sagrada Familia, the Picasso Museum, other Gaudi architecture, and of course a chocolate museum (the ticket was a bar of chocolate!). We tried out paella, gazpacho, brochette, and a bunch of other yummy foods and had fun getting lost in the Gothic section of town which was like a mini Renaissance festival. We ended our stay in Barcelona by going out dancing our last night which was fun to hear all the way outdated music they played, practice our salsa, and stay up wayyy too late before we got on an early train the next morning.
Saturday we arrived in the South of France and wandered around Cannes which was perfect timing as it was the last day of the film festival. It was a little harder to spot celebrities there than in Sundance but it was fun to check out all the different things they had set up and explore the town. All the hostels here were pretty expensiev (like 100 per person) but we found a little hotel in San Raphael for 70 a night and stayed there. The town was great because it was a right on the beach and a little off the rest of the tourists radar and our hotel owner made us breakfast on the porch overlooking the ocean. We spent the next day getting some sun on the beaches in Nice, apparently everyone forgot to tell us that none of the beaches there actually have sand jsut big rocks! Nice was great though and we had a fun time wandering around and even got to watch the Grand Prix which was going on that same weekend, great luck!
The next morning we got on a train (that line is starting to sound repetitive) and took it to the Northern Coast of Italy, called Cinque Terre. Its a series of 5 towns all set into the coast that you can hike between (about 5 hours) and the towns are all really quaint and full of exactly what kind of people I had hoped the Italians would be. Weve spent our time snorkeling hiking wandering around the town, eating dinner in a vineyard overlooking the ocean, and eating lots of gelato! The hostel we had booked ended up having some issues so the people upgraded us to an apartment with tons of space and a full kitchen right on the harbor, not to mention a real shower which was great. We like it so much here weve decided to stay a second day which we hadnt planned on. We spent some time here on the beach too and managed to find somewhat sandier places than in France. Sorry about the no pictures, none of these places have very high tech computers! Love you all! Email me!
PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!
We took another night train out of Lisbon and once again slept on the floor (in case you couldnt tell, were missing out on a little bit of sleep) and got to Barcelona around noon. We strolled along Las Ramblas and checked out the beach right in the heart of the city as well as the towns gothic Cathedral, Sagrada Familia, the Picasso Museum, other Gaudi architecture, and of course a chocolate museum (the ticket was a bar of chocolate!). We tried out paella, gazpacho, brochette, and a bunch of other yummy foods and had fun getting lost in the Gothic section of town which was like a mini Renaissance festival. We ended our stay in Barcelona by going out dancing our last night which was fun to hear all the way outdated music they played, practice our salsa, and stay up wayyy too late before we got on an early train the next morning.
Saturday we arrived in the South of France and wandered around Cannes which was perfect timing as it was the last day of the film festival. It was a little harder to spot celebrities there than in Sundance but it was fun to check out all the different things they had set up and explore the town. All the hostels here were pretty expensiev (like 100 per person) but we found a little hotel in San Raphael for 70 a night and stayed there. The town was great because it was a right on the beach and a little off the rest of the tourists radar and our hotel owner made us breakfast on the porch overlooking the ocean. We spent the next day getting some sun on the beaches in Nice, apparently everyone forgot to tell us that none of the beaches there actually have sand jsut big rocks! Nice was great though and we had a fun time wandering around and even got to watch the Grand Prix which was going on that same weekend, great luck!
The next morning we got on a train (that line is starting to sound repetitive) and took it to the Northern Coast of Italy, called Cinque Terre. Its a series of 5 towns all set into the coast that you can hike between (about 5 hours) and the towns are all really quaint and full of exactly what kind of people I had hoped the Italians would be. Weve spent our time snorkeling hiking wandering around the town, eating dinner in a vineyard overlooking the ocean, and eating lots of gelato! The hostel we had booked ended up having some issues so the people upgraded us to an apartment with tons of space and a full kitchen right on the harbor, not to mention a real shower which was great. We like it so much here weve decided to stay a second day which we hadnt planned on. We spent some time here on the beach too and managed to find somewhat sandier places than in France. Sorry about the no pictures, none of these places have very high tech computers! Love you all! Email me!
PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Whirlwind Week
Our travel to London was long but we had fun and tried to get as much sleep as possible. We arrived in London around 10 at night and got to do some sight seeing at some pretty late hours when not many other tourists were there. Around 2 am we headed to the London Luton airport and slept on the ground for a bit and talked to some other backpackers before catching our 5 am flight to London. We spent 3 days in Paris which was great! We saw a bunch of sights and logged a ton of miles walking. Stayed in hostels and slept on floors but had great views of the Louvre one night and Notre Dame the next. Although we are trying to keep on a pretty tight budget its been hard to avoid trying most of the different foods and desserts here, which we justify b/c weve hit the jackpot, all the museums in Paris and Madrid have been mysteriously free only on the days we´ve gone! Looks like were meant to be here. We managed to find the ward in Paris and even got invited over to a member family´s house for dinner (= free food yay!) before heading on a night train to Madrid. We slept in bunk beds on the train and woke up as we were crossing over the border from France to Spain and had a great view of the Pyranees and got to make quick stops in Irun and San Sebastian before heading on. We spent the day in Madrid enjoying the sunshine and the sights, especially compared to the rain and cold that was Paris in May. Tomorrow we will be lucky to catch one of the only non weekend bullfights in Madrid before heading out Lisbon. We are having lots of fun and loving it here. We ate a dinner of a number of different tapas at around 10 and then went for churros and chocolate around 12 and were amazed to find how many stay out until 1 or 2 just walking/eating on a Monday night, I think I could get used to this lifestyle! Let me know what´s going on with all of you! <3 jess
Monday, May 11, 2009
Keep in Touch!
We will be leaving for London via JFK on May 14 at 8:00 am and will arrive in London at 8:00 pm. After spending the night in London we will fly to Paris to begin the first leg of our journey!
Places we will be visiting (if we can squeeze it all in)
- London, England
- Paris, France
- Madrid, Spain
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Barcelona, Spain
- French Riviera, France
- Amalfi Coast, Italy
- Florence, Italy
- Rome, Italy
- Athens, Greece
- Santorini, Greece
- Venice, Italy
- Vienna, Austria
- Salzburg, Austria
- Munich, Germany
- Berlin, Germany
- Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Dublin, Ireland
- Belfast, Northern Ireland
- Edinburough, Scotland
Check back in from time to time to hear about any fun adventures, crazy mishaps, or cool places we'll be visiting! My bags are packed, I'm ready to go... Wednesday can't come soon enough!
Places we will be visiting (if we can squeeze it all in)
- London, England
- Paris, France
- Madrid, Spain
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Barcelona, Spain
- French Riviera, France
- Amalfi Coast, Italy
- Florence, Italy
- Rome, Italy
- Athens, Greece
- Santorini, Greece
- Venice, Italy
- Vienna, Austria
- Salzburg, Austria
- Munich, Germany
- Berlin, Germany
- Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Dublin, Ireland
- Belfast, Northern Ireland
- Edinburough, Scotland
Check back in from time to time to hear about any fun adventures, crazy mishaps, or cool places we'll be visiting! My bags are packed, I'm ready to go... Wednesday can't come soon enough!
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