Friday, June 15, 2007

Tardy Updates

Considering the quantity of things that have occurred since my last post, a brief summary should now ensue. . .

I survived my solo trip before Marshall arrived in Spain on May 31, and had some good times meeting people and petting horses in southern Spain (along with some not so hot lonely times). After a night bus to Madrid I finally made it to the airport where I met Marshall and we flew back to Oviedo for super quick packing. Though everything was really stressful (and both of us were really tired), we made it -- without forgetting anything major -- to Santander and caught our flight to Rome the next day.

According to my travel guides, I should have expected unpleasantness in Rome. But by this point in our trip both of us can truly say it was our absolutely least favorite city. Getting from the airport to our hostel wasn't too rough; however, my first experience in the metro a tobacco stand owner tried to rip me off one euro while buying a ticket. My aggravation with the city was also assisted by the mix up at the hostel, a confusing and assuredly unpleasant situation that caused us a lot of frustration and in the end a good deal of extra money. Outside of that problem, Rome was just too touristy. I didn't feel any hint of real Italy in Rome and really looked forward to the day we left it.

Fortunately, one of our favorite sites so far we found in Rome: Raphael's School of Athens fresco in the Vatican City Museum. And of course the Sistine Chapel was amazing, though packed and tightly disciplined (no sitting, no photos, no talking). We used Marshall's little binoculars to get better views of the immense amount of frescoed walls and ceiling. St. Peter's Basilica was quite intimidating as well, but my dislike of the Barocco style overwhelmed any enjoyment from it. After a quick snack break we got out of the touristy area as quick as possible and looked for the path through a park, which turned out to have great views of all of Rome. For the rest of the day, which was beautiful and sunny (and swelteringly hot as we stood in line for the Vatican Museum for over an hour and a half), we just walked around the tourist sites of Rome, and enjoyed a delicious chocolate and honey gelato before heading back to the hostel.

The second day in Rome was rainy and not one of our favorites, even though it was our only chance to see the Colosseum and Palantine Hill. After being soaked all day, we had some good pasta before heading to the airport for our flight to Greece.

Greece was definitely less stressful, and our multiple night stays really helped our sleep levels and gave us a chance to relax. Athens was first, where we had little troubles and even found out there was a national environmental holiday and all tourist sites were free! So we went to the practically empty Acropolis twice and visited the huge National Archelogical Museum as well, along with trying out hand washing clothes in the sink for the first time (but certainly not the last).

Then on to the islands. Our 5am start time to get to the ferry for Santorini was rather stressful since we were both extremely tired and got lost on our way to the metro to get to the port. At least we made it with plenty of time to spare, and another 9 hours on the actual ride, which wasn't so pleasant because of our deck seats. On our return trip we found out we could have sat in the nicer (and air-conditioned!!) inner seats, and had a much more enjoyable return trip watching movies and playing Nintendo games on the laptop.

The rest of Greece must wait!

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