Sunday, April 26, 2015

The Dawn of the Dinosaurs: Day 93-95

Maybe not quite that old, but a few thousand years feels ancient enough to me. 

Athens, Greece. I heard from everyone that has ever been to Greece that it is an incredibly dirty city – well, none of them were wrong. It’s so disappointing to think about how this ancient place has suffered through so much economic turmoil in recent history, but it is still such a fascinating place!

An actual pile of trash right by our hostel

Once we had landed, we took the metro about 45 minutes into Athens, but on the fault of my own, we got off one stop too early. With the aid of a McDonald’s wifi, we found our way to our hostel by foot, and were able to check in around 10 AM.

We got gyros for lunch, which are a famous meal in Greece that consists of pita bread, shaved pork or chicken, and other toppings kind of like an Americanized Mexican taco. It cost one euro and 50 cents at a place called Joy’s.




Following some relatively inaccurate directions given to us by the receptionist at our hostel, we asked around and were able to find the inter-city bus we were looking for to go to Sounion and see the Temple of Poseidon. We had a whole hour to kill before the bus departed, so we decided to drag our tired selves through a park nearby that turned out to be full of really shady looking people and possibly a dead dog. So obviously we left and just waited at the bus stop.


The incredibly creepy park
After a nap and nearly a two hour bus ride, we made it to the incredible Temple of Poseidon. Otherwise known as the Sanctuary of Poseidon, the temple rests on the southern most point of Attica and was built in 444 BC. It was first referenced to in the Odyssey, and it lies about 500 meters away from the Sanctuary of Athena. 


View from the Temple of Poseidon


The Temple of Poseidon




There were so many beautiful flowers there! Which also mean a lot of bees..


Sounion apparently has one of the top 10 best sunsets in the world, but unfortunately it was cloudy and we could only watch it from the bus.

It was still incredible and way better than these pictures can depict. 
We devoted our second and last day in Athens to the Acropolis, which was a lot bigger than we expected. It was absolutely jaw dropping to be surrounded by such immensely ancient structures. We spent our entire morning  exploring the ruins, including the infamous Parthenon, until I ripped my leggings and had to go find some replacement pants. Luckily, there were a lot of shops nearby and I found some loose black cotton pants at this store that I can only describe as “hipster”.


The teatro still had seats in it!

A renovated teatro that still hosts events




The Parthenon


The Parthenon again

And again. 

Amazing view of Athens

The Temple of Erechthieon




The museum where I ripped my leggings...

The Temple of Hephaestos



We all had soulvaki for lunch and then proceeded with our exploration, ending in the massive Acropolis Museum. We were all completely exhausted from very little sleep and various sicknesses, so the rest of our late afternoon and evening was spent sitting in a café, the National Park, walking around the Acropolis, and eating a meat platter for dinner at a restaurant with a phenomenal view of the top of the Acropolis lit up for the night.

The Temple of Zeus (I think)


The Temple of Olympian Zeus

The National Park Entrance





The Athens security at the Airport was very interesting, and although it seemed inefficient at times, we got through it really quickly and had a smooth flight home.

Observation of the Day: It sucks to be sick anywhere, it just sucks a little less in Greece. I had a pretty bad cold the week before, and it only got worse over the weekend in Athens, but I still had a great time. My ears are already sensitive, but when I’m sick and a plane is descending, the last twenty minutes of the flight feels like sharp knives in my ears. To add to my struggles, they got plugged up and took the rest of the day to clear up, while my eyes were leaking some goopy junk and making my contacts so blurry I could see worse with them than without them. I’m sure you’re thanking me for this image right now, so you’re welcome. But the real reason I’m describing this is to say that there are times in your life when you can’t slow down for anything because you might miss out on a once in a life time experience. The next time I get sick though, let me tell you, I will be lying in bed watching Netflix all day. All day.  (For those of you who watch New Girl, just picture Schmidt saying that last line).


Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Happy Birthday Rome: Day 90

Happy 2,762nd Birthday Rome!!! It's an incredible feeling to be somewhere with such a long and rich history!

The city does reenactments the weekend closest to its Birthday, but since I wasn't in Rome over the weekend, I only was able to go out and celebrate on Tuesday, April 21st. Usually there are fireworks at night, but due to budget cuts, there was really only an orchestra (which was amazing) and special lights in the forum, which I'm sorry Rome, but were kind of lame.

I went out with some friends and took some awesome pictures of the Colosseum in the setting sun, checked out the Orchestra, got some gelato (obviously), and went through the Capitoline Museum for a significantly reduced price! The museum was HUGE and had a lot of sculptures, but it was designed by Michelangelo and occupies part of where the Temple of Jupiter used to stand in full.


Sunday, April 19, 2015

Blue Skies and Blue Waters: Day 85-87

At the beginning of the semester I had signed up to go on two trips offered through AUR Student Life; the day trip to Assisi I have already blogged about, and a weekend trip to the Amalfi Coast. In January, it seemed like I had so much time before I went on the tip… and now I can’t believe I’ve already done it!

Our first stop: Mt. Vesuvius! After a relatively early morning and a three-hour bus ride from Rome, we drove up the winding roads of the volcano, and finally hiked our way up a gravel path to the top. Let me tell you, it was no small task… but the view of Naples Bay is incredible from the top!





We had lunch, got some pictures, and slid our way back down, which was almost equally as difficult as going up, believe it or not.

Second stop: Sorrento. I actually really loved this city and wish I could have stayed there longer! There was a small strip of sand along the shore – the first time I have seen an actual beach since I’ve been here – so we just shopped around and enjoyed the beautiful weather along the shore of the beautifully clear water the entire afternoon and evening. We slept and ate in a nice hotel in Sorrento the whole weekend, although the food was not as appealing as the rooms were.



Sorrento is known for its use of lemons, especially for Limoncello. So of course I had to try some lemon gelato (the white) and mango and orange (the yellow).

The small beach in Sorrento



Third stop: Capri. This a beautiful island that is known for its grottos – particularly the Blue Grotto or Grotta Azzura – and not for its beaches. After a short ferry ride to the island, we shopped around the harbor until it was time to get on a boat to travel around the island. This was well worth the money spent and even the extra money spent on the small row boat that took us into the Blue Grotto. Even looking back at these pictures myself, the blue of the water just looks unreal! Afterwards, we got lunch, hung out at the one beach with a little bit of sand on the island – at which I obtained a pocketful of beautiful sea glass – and sweated a lot for the second day in a row when we hiked up to the city center of the island.











The clouds resting on the rocks


This water is just unreal

The tiny boat going into the Blue Grotto!

Absolutely unreal. The reason the water is so blue in these grottos is because of the reflection of the sunlight. 


#nofilter

My beach full of sea-glass


View from the city center

Paradise?



Fourth stop: Pompeii. I have heard mixed reviews about visiting Pompeii, but I have always been really interested in volcanoes and in the specific case of Pompeii (although the recent movie on this historical event was terrible, I do not advise watching it ever), so I really enjoyed our tour of the city! I learned some new things about how the city functioned, such as the directions of the streets, the types of homes and correlations to social class, it was built over a city that was 200 years older than it, and how some shops and saunas worked during the time. And of course I relearned some things I already knew about the city, such as it’s about five miles, or eight kilometers, away from Mt. Vesuvius, and the people of Pompeii died from the ash that buried them during the eruption in 79 AD. They didn’t understand at the time what the earthquake was a warning of prior to the eruption, and they also didn’t understand that after the eruption the ash would come and bury their city. Another interesting thing I learned was that while standing in the Roman Forum (it was Roman because Pompeii hadn’t resisted their taking over of power to save lives and money), which is where you get the best view of the volcano, the mountain they saw before 79 AD is what we see today if we make a triangle with our hands using the edges of the mountain as an outline. The thing was huge. It kind of works with the pictures too, so give it a shot!


If you stood in one spot in the center of the "stage" you could hear yourself perfectly. The acoustics in the ancient theaters were amazing!


Shared staircase by two families leading up to their bedrooms. They had to walk outside their lower room to get to it.

The summer garden of a wealthy families house. 

What was once a house 200 years before this one was destroyed. 

Those stones in the middle of the street were used to walk across so people didn't have to step in the waste they discarded into the streets. 

An old shop!


Most well preserved mosaic in Pompeii

The Roman Forum, with a view of Mt. Vesuvius in the background.


Third stop: Naples. For our last few hours of the trip, we stopped for lunch in the city of Naples so everyone can say they have tried real Neapolitan pizza and espresso, for those that like espresso. We walked down some side streets of Naples for a while trying to find a genuine pizzeria, and finally found one that met all of our expectations! The pizza was spectacular, and I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture! We explored a small area of Naples with our remaining time before departure, and I have to say, this was the first place in Europe that I wasn’t too fond of. It’s unfortunate, because Naples used to be such a great city, and since the unification of Italy as a country in 1860, the economy and city itself has slowly declined into what it is stereotyped to be today.

A delicious lemon and strawberry slush




Amazing view of Mt. Vesuvius!

To end on a positive note, I really enjoyed the whole weekend and my only regret was not buying the amazing red leather purse I found in Sorrento!


Observation of the Day: Natural beauty is the best kind of beauty. Cities can be very beautiful, but the natural wonders of the world are the most breath-taking sites to see. Growing up with two parents who are very passionate about conserving nature has given me more of an appreciation than I was aware of, even though I still want to live in a city.