Meeting Athena

It turns out that the 1st of May is a national holiday in Greece. Also on this day all of the ferries were going on strike. I found out later that there were riots in Athens that day as well. It wasn't a particularly settled day in Greece. The first of May was also the day that we had chosen to leave the island of Corfu to go back to the Greek mainland. The first obvious problem here was the lack of ferry. We had been warned that this was going to happen, so the night before our driver had taken the bus and our bags back over on the last ferry. Enter our knight in a white boat. George was on hand to take us over.

So began probably the most unusual trip on George's boat by a Contiki group. The rain was back, so we had the group huddled together trying to keep warm in the small cabin and under a sail cloth on deck as we powered over to the closest point on the mainland. This was a massive change from the party atmosphere of the day before. However we made it safe, with the crew doing their best to keep moral up.

Onto the bus, we headed through a small town that Contiki trips have been stopping in for years. With the way the Greek economy is there are alot of people who are struggling, so Contiki likes to support the people they have been with for ages. We stopped for lunch and everyone went to the same little shop. In there they have a wall of Contiki business cards that every trip that has been through has left.  It is a large wall.

Finally we were getting close to Athens. It was also getting late. We had a night in Athens, an early start the next morning and quite a few of us not happy about how little time we had to explore a city that has its roots in one of the oldest civilisations on the planet. We got to Athens about an hour before sunset, met our guide and went up a hill so that we had a view of the Acropolis. We got there to have the last light of day on the hill. Sunset thankfully, caused the light to be from the best direction for photos. Unfortunately the guide was slow, easily distracted and liked to talk. He told us not to take photos and to listen to him only. I am very happy that I ignored him. I listened to what he said while taking photos. By the time he had finished talking and would let people take photos, half the Acropolis hill was in shadow and just the Parthenon at the top was still in weak light. That was the last time I got to see it in daylight. I wish that we had more time and could have gone up to see it closely. The guide then took us past the stadium built for the first modern Olympics, the pillars that remain from the temple of Zeus and a couple of parliament buildings.

Dinner was a walk about dinner and I was in search of moussaka. Apparently it was delicious, it was. We found a little restaurant that did very good moussaka. The downside was that it took quite a while to arrive. Therefore I didn't have much time to explore the Plaka region of Athens in the dark. Most of the group went via a pharmacy and back to the bus. I figured I had enough time to explore a bit and walked in the opposite direction. In this way I managed to see some more ruins of the old city, lit up at night. There was a cool view up the side of the Acropolis with ruins lighting the way. After finding a waffle in a market for dessert, I was running late for the bus to the hotel and had to run to get there.

With the ferry to the Greek islands so early in the morning, we only had a couple of hours in Athens. I wish that we had the time to explore it properly...

Corinth canal

Bird cage covering the sun

Acropolis hill

Parthenon

Sunset over Athens

A taste of Island life

Leaving Rome felt like I was leaving too early. There is so much there that I think even if I had been there a week I would still have the same feeling. However Corfu beckoned and with Pompeii as a temptation, it was time to go.

As has become the habit, the coach ride started and sleep snuck up on all of us. I have seen some great scenery on this trip, but have probably missed alot too. No matter how alert I am when I board the bus, after half an hour I am dozing. Once in Pompeii most people were doing the optional extra of a guided tour around the ruins. I thought that I knew enough of the history that I wouldn't gain much from the guide. So I bought an entry only ticket and explored. The ruins are alot of fun, but the hour I had to explore was certainly nowhere near enough. I managed to almost run through maybe ¾ of the place. But didn't get to fully experience it. On the brightside it seems like I got to see more than the guided trip.

Late afternoon brought us to the coast and our ferry to Greece. We had an overnight ferry and were expecting comfy seats that we could sleep in on the way. Instead we got upgraded to cabins with beds. From memory this is the first time I have spent the night at sea. So I was going to enjoy it. We bought a bottle of whiskey from duty free and sat up playing cards until about 2am. As we were disembarking at 6am, I don't think that this might have been the best idea. But oh well, too late.

We changed ferries and caught our boat to Corfu, arriving late morning to rain and a nap. Midday we took a shuttle into Corfu township and I had my first gyros. It is basically a kebab with chips in it. Delicious and cheap. If in Greece I recommend going to Mic Macs (a fast food chain) and getting one. While eating the downpour continued. This excluded a visit to the fortresses after lunch. Instead we explored the narrow alleys that resemble southeast Asia. In the process we started to bear more and more resemblance to drowned rats. In that state we found a Fish Spa. And so began half an hour of torture. Basically you sit with your feet in water and fish nibble the dead skin etc off your feet. As someone with very ticklish feet, it was hard to withstand. Afterwards my feet felt good but it took alot of willpower to get there. While we were there the rain stopped, so we got more gyros and headed back for a toga party. The highlight of the party was going swimming in a toga in a thunderstorm. Unfortunately I was physically prevented from entering the water. It would have been fun.

The next day dawned bright and clear. We were to spend the day floating on a boat around the island. Enter the infamous George's boat. It is a small boat with a bar and a very funny and inappropriate Greek man. A day spent floating around swimming, eating and drinking was gratefully enjoyed. A few too many drinks for some people and too much sun for most of us. This was probably the best most chilled out day with everyone on the trip.

We followed up George and his boat with a Greek dinner and dancing. The highlight of this for me was the roasted lamb. The dancing was interesting to watch but would have been better if they hadn't kept interrupting our dinner to take part in the dances. Some people didn't get a chance to finish their food.

Corfu was ok, not my favourite part of the trip. Relaxed and with sun though was what some people had been looking for and George's boat was really good. Worth the visit, but not likely to return again.

Intricate decoration uncovered at Pompeii

Pompeii city walls

Ferry to Corfu

The islands of Greece approach

Corfu's old fortress

New and old fortresses

Apologies

I am sorry everyone.  I am alive and in England now, not stranded in Rome like this blog would have you believing.  I miss judged how much free time I would have to write.  I had planned to write on the coach as we traveled between places.  However, it turns out that alot of that time is taken up with the very real need to get some sleep on the trip.  45 days of no sleep is just a bit too much.  The rest of the free time is taken up with all of the distractions that you get on a bus of 30 odd people, especially when some of them are bored.

Hopefully now I will have some more spare time and my laptop, so will be able to get up to date soon.

As far as photos go, I will get onto them.  I took over 1000 photos, so will take a bit of time to sort and upload.  I will let you know when they go up.

Sorry again, I hope to do better in the future.

Roaming around in Roma - Contiki days 14 to 15

We were fortunate that Florence to Rome is such a short distance. We got to have a bit of a sleep in and a comparatively late start. The trip was reasonably straight forward, only a little bit more traffic that would hint at the chaos that we would find in Rome.

We got to Rome in the early afternon and went straight to Vatican City. There were people everywhere and alot of groups in national dress or waving national flags. The reason for the chaos being more than the traditional level was that the following day was one of the biggest days for the Vatican for several hundred years. In simple terms it was to be the canonisation of former pope John Paul the second. Anyway, we went through the Vatican City. We got to see through the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and even St Peters Basilica. Some of the stuff they have in there, apart from being very old, is spectacular in its design and execution. I was slightly disappointed with the standard of some of the painting in the Sistine chapel. Rather than being disappointed due to the quality I think it was because of how much I had it built up in my mind and expected it to be another level above anything I had seen before. Countering this, we got to enter the basilica the day before the canonisation and could visit the resting place of a man who the following day would become a saint. It was sort of mind blowing to think about. Walking out into St Peters square there were people camped out to make sure that they had a place in the square for the ceremony.

The next day was a Sunday and we faced it with a mixture of excitement, frustration and nervousness. Today was the day that two former popes were being canonised. One of these popes was one of the quickest to be canonised in history. To top it all off it was the first time in 600 years that Mass was being led by two popes. All of this combined to mean that there were an extra couple of million people in Rome. With only a day to see everything and massive crowds, we had to carefully plan our day. We started at the Vatican at 10am to see if we could get close enough to see the Pope. The closest we could get before the crowds were more tightly packed than a music concert, was two blocks from St Peters square. We couldn't physically get any closer. We got to see some of the ceremony on a distant screen. After fighting our way clear of the crushing crowd, we passed by St Angelo's castle (hideout of the Illuminati in Angels and Demons) and over the Tiber river on our way to the Spanish Steps. While a large staircase, they weren't overly impressive. After climbing them we followed the road down to the Church of the Capuchin Monks. We did the tour through to see the bone crypts they have. A few hundred years ago someone arranged the bones of over 3000 monks into an artistic display. It was really spectacular, while also being a bit spooky and eerie. For something a bit lighter we headed to the Trevi fountain and along with a crowd of other people donated to receive a wish. It also turns out that in close proximity to the fountain is a place that sells both pizza by the slice and probably the best gelati that I tried in Italy.

We had a tour of the Coliseum planned so walked from the fountain via the National monument and Emmanuel building to the coliseum. This bit of walk was more what I had expected of Rome. There were old ruins and statues, links back to ancient Rome. Since we arrived early for the tour, I sat on some grass in front of the Coliseum and Roman Forum and took the time just to soak in where we were and let the awe of what had happened there just wash over me. It was a surreal feeling. The tour through the Colosseum and Forum was good. No matter what I had heard previously, it had not managed to limit how it felt to be there and the majesty of it all. The only criticism I had wasn't really valid. When the Christian church took over Rome most temples etc were converted to churchs. This to me made them seem less special, but on the flip side, this has caused them to be preserved so that they still exist for me to visit. At the end of the tour the rain started. It was the first time it had rained on the tour when we were out and about. I decided to head up Capitoline hill to the ruins of the temple of Jupiter before going to the Pantheon. Again an impressive building, made more interesting by the rain coming in through the circular opening in the roof. We had a meeting time at the train station to get back to our campsite, so we headed to the Metro station in the pouring rain. After running into a crowd waving to the Spanish ambassador we made it to find the station closed due to the massive crowd of people trying to use it. Three of us made it into the line when the station reopened before they cut the rest of the group off. We stood in an unmoving line for about half an hour before thinking that gelati was a better idea. It turns out that viagra gelati has no flavour, but bacoa chocolate is delicious. Eventually we gave up waiting and took a taxi to the train station arriving 5min before the last train. The others it appeared had found another way and were already there. With all of the excitment of the day, I skipped the party that night had tried to have a relatively early night.

Rome was busy, hectic, full of people, history and sights to see. I saw what I had decided was my bare minimum, so will have to return to see the rest. Being there at a time when history was being made was special. I remember when John Paul the second was Pope, so to be there when he became a saint was unreal. Thank you Italy, now for Greece.

Vatican City entrance

The recently made Saint John Paul the Second's tomb

Ceiling of St Peter's basilica

Trevi fountain

Inside the Colosseum

The Colosseum in cross-section

Looking up at Palatine Hill

Firenze - Contiki days 12 to 13

After getting covered in itchy bites it was time to leave Venice. A short trip over to Florence. Since that would not take too long, the trip went via Pisa. The entry to Pisa that we had was a bit surreal. Since Paris we had gotten used to seeing gypsy hawkers trying to sell anything and we had been warned that Pisa had quite a few. However as we drove into the mostly empty bus park it felt like something out of a zombie movie. Gypsies seeing new tourists arrive, shuffled in from all directions. Fortunately if you ignored them and kept walking they left you alone and focused on easier targets. Our tour manager had instigated a photo competition while we were at Pisa. She had a prize for the most outside the square photo, having seen so many copies of the same thing she wanted variation. I took her at her word and took a photo from outside the square looking through an archway at the tower. My joke photo ended up winning the competition and I got a toy Pinocchio. Apart from the tower, there wasn't much to see in Pisa.

Onward to Florence. We arrived unpacked, had dinner then went to a karaoke bar for the night. It was a good night and several songs were sung. With cocktails coming in two litre jugs, some people may have drunk too much.

Our day out in Florence started with a trip to a leather goods manufacturer. They still use the same traditional techniques that they have for centuries. However the people showing us around, although they knew about what they were doing there, they knew nothing about the leather. So needless to say, they couldn't answer my questions. The stuff they made was pretty cool, but nothing I wanted or was willing to buy. After the leather demonstration we joined a free walking tour of Florence. The guide was amazing. She also helped explain why all these italians seemed to be celebrating ANZAC day with us (another street parade and abundance of flags). Apparently the 25th of April is celebrated as Liberation day in Italy. The tour covered the fake David, the outside of the Uffizi gallery, Ponte Vecchio, a famous square and the Duomo. After the tour we went in search of unofficially the best pizza in Italy and failed to find it.

Even though we had done the walking tour, we did our own one after lunch, going back to visit the same places and visiting others. We also saw the Pitti Palace and then got lost trying to find a way over a back wall into the gardens.

Dinner that night was at a restaurant in town. We were served a massive amount of pasta (pesto on spirals, tomato spaghetti and ravioli) followed by meatballs with mashed potato and chicken in mushroom sauce, all finished by an ice creamy cake. Needless to say, I ate way too much and enjoyed every moment of it. There was a moment of excitement when one of the girls got taken to hospital as she hadn't realised that there was nuts in the first course. Our after dinner entertainment was filled by a visit to the Space disco. Although it was a cool venue and we had fun, most people had a reasonably quiet night after the level reached at karaoke the night before.

Florence was cool. Having always liked the fleur de lis, it was fun seeing it everywhere. It was the symbol of the Medici family that used to basically run Florence. Also I really like the Italian name of Firenze. If I was to live in Italy then I could live in or near to Florence.

Leaning tower

Award winning photo

Statue of David

Ponte Vecchio

Looming Duomo

Something to do with the twilight movies

Florence