Europe Travel Diary – Part IX – Wrap up
Previously: Part VIII – Pompeii
We disembarked our cruise on Friday September 15, the day after Pompeii, and flew from Rome to Toronto. I stayed in Toronto for the weekend to visit Matt and flew back to Seattle on the Monday. I was away from Seattle for almost four whole weeks!
I had a wonderful time on this vacation. Mom did a great job of making all the arrangements in Italy and we all really appreciated that. I had fun on the cruise although I’m not sure I’d jump aboard another one any time soon. The food was great though and it was nice to wake up in a new city each morning without having to unpack! By far the best part of the trip was getting to spend so much time with my mother, sister, aunt and uncle. No one could asked for better travelling companions!
The full set of all of my Europe photos are here and a smaller best of set is here
Finally, here are links to all the entries in my 2006 Europe Travel Diary:
Europe Travel Diary – Part VIII – Pompeii
Previously: Part VII – Dubrovnik
After we left Dubrovnik we had a day at sea following by a day in port in Messina. We took a bus trip up to Mount Etna, walked around for 45 minutes and then took the bus back down to the ship. The most exciting part of our day in Messina was watching the pilots who navigated us through the Strait of Messina jump from the moving cruise ship onto a smaller speed boat driving beside us!
I’d been looking forward to our next stop, Pompeii, all trip. Before going through the gates Mom bought a book like we had in Rome with pictures of current Pompeii and acetate overlays showing how it would have looked before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. This was great to have as we walked through the ruins. I was amazed by Pompeii and all the work that has gone into exavation and preservation. It’s a glimpse into Roman Life almost 2000 years ago. The picture below shows Mount Vesuvius in the background. If you connect the two slopes you can see how tall it was before the eruption.
The rest of my Pompeii pictures are here
Next: Part IX – Wrap up
Europe Travel Diary – Part VII – Dubrovnik
Previously: Part VI – Athens
After a day at sea we arrived in Dubrovnik, Croatia, The Pearl of the Adriatic. This stop was not on our original itinerary but had been substituted after our stops in Turkey were cancelled. Mom had already been to Croatia (although not to Dubrovnik) but it was a new country for me. We had signed up for a city sightseeing tour and took a tender into town first thing in the morning. After walking through the Old City we boarded a bus for a quick trip up to a viewpoint. Dubrovnik is a stunning city. The Old City was badly damaged during war in the early 90’s and although much has been rebuilt there is still visible evidence of the shell damage. Our tour took us to the Dominican monastery and the Rector’s Palace. After the tour Mom and I walked along the walls that surround the Old City. The walls were about 2km long and reach a maximum height of 25 meters. The views were stunning and despite the heat walking the walls was a highlight of our trip.
Next: Part VIII – Pompeii
Europe Travel Diary – Part VI – Athens
Previously: Part V – Greek Islands
In Athens we did our first tour organized through the cruise. After docking in Piraeus we took a bus into the city of Athens passing many venues from the 2004 Olympic games. The first stop on our tour was the original Olympic stadium from 1896. I don’t believe that this was included in the tour itinerary and I was way more excited than anyone else on the bus to be visiting the stadium. During the 2004 Olympics the marathon ended at this stadium and the archery competitions were held here. There was actually someone running stairs in the stadium and I was totally jealous. I settled for a picture of me in front of the Olympic rings.
Next we went to the Acropolis. The only bad thing I have to say about the Acropolis was that it was insanely busy. There were a tonne of cruise tours (from our ship and many others) and our guide had a hard time keeping the group together. Most of the time we wouldn’t even hear what he was saying. Still we got to see the Parthenon and that’s what it was all about. I also quite liked the Caryatids. We visited the little museum that’s up near the Parthenon and marvelled at the artefacts. Having now seen the Parthenon (OK, technically I saw it as a child but I got more out of it this time around) I’d really like to go to the British Museum in London to see the Elgin marbles. It goes on the life to do list.
Mom and I were pretty wiped out from being out in the sun all morning and chose to go back to the boat for the afternoon instead of staying to shop in downtown Athens. After four days straight in ports it was actually sort of nice to know that the next day would be a sea.
The rest of my Athens pictures are here
Next: Part VII – Dubrovnik
Europe Travel Diary – Part V – Greek Islands
Previously: Part IV – Rome and Citavecchia
Our first full day aboard the cruise was a day at sea. Mom and I had a light breakfast (it was heaven: yogurt with berries and granola!) and then did a yoga class. Let me tell you, yoga is much more difficult to do when you’re on a moving sea vessel. It’s much harder to balance in a position when your ground isn’t steady! After yoga I did about 20 min on a treadmill. I hadn’t run, or done any real exercise (other than walking a lot!) since leaving Seattle so it was great to really move again. In the afternoon we went to a talk on Greece by the guest lecturer Francine Segan. Then we had afternoon tea. I swear, you could spend every minute of your time on a cruise eating!
It was a formal night on the cruise (as opposed to casual or informal) and I was very curious to see how people would dress. I had backed light (one 40L backpack and my MEC purse) so I’d only brought one dress, the swoosh dress, with me. My dress shoes were black Old Navy flip-flops. Can you tell I just wasn’t quite buying into the whole cruise experience? Many of the gentlemen, including my uncle wore tuxes and generally everyone looked quite nice.
The next day we arrived in Mykonos, Greece our first port of call. Mom and Murray had arranged to go scuba diving in Mykonos so Dorothy and I explored on our own. Mykonos was beautiful and everything you’d expect a Greek Island to be: bright white buildings with colourful roofs under a gorgeous blue cloudless sky. After we felt like we’d wandered around for long enough Dorothy and I went to a local restaurant for a snack. We had a local Greek beer and slice of baklava. Delicious! I am all about the baklava. Dinner back on the boat was a Greek buffet on the pool deck. They had all my favourite Greek treats: spanakopita, moussaka and more baklava.
The next morning we arrived in Rhodes. We walked right off the ship into the old town and did some wandering around. Rhodes is of course famous for having had the Colossus of Rhodes one of the Seven Wonders of the World. We visited the museum at the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes and the Street of Knights. It was an incredibly hot day and after a lunch of chicken gyros we were ready to head back to the ship for an easy afternoon and evening.
The next day we visited Santorini. This spot was another highlight of the trip for me. The town of Oia is literally built on the top of a cliff overlooking the sea. We took a cable car up to the town although walking up the donkey path was another option. In town, we visited two archaeological museums each with a collection of amazing artefacts. We then walked up to the convention centre to get a good view of the town and had lunch in a restaurant overlooking the sea. Santorini was really beautiful and none of the pictures we took seem to do it justice. That night we set sail for Athens.
The rest of my Mykonos pictures are here and Santorini here.
Next: Part VI – Athens
Europe Travel Diary – Part IV – Rome and Citavecchia
Previously: Part III – Florence and San Marino
We returned to Rome from Florence on September 2 for two more nights and one more day of sightseeing. The next morning we set out on our own little tour of “Ancient Rome.” The first stop was the Colosseum. I’d walked down to the Colosseum on my first night in Rome but this morning we actually went inside. The Colosseum is, well, colossus. Mom had bought a very cool book with pictures of current Roman ruins and acetate overlay pages showing how they would have look in ancient times. This gave great perspective to what we were seeing and really enhanced our day.
After the Colosseum we walked through the Roman Forum. Today was one of the hottest days we’d experienced on our trip thus far so we didn’t spend too much time exploring. After lunch we visited the Pantheon. We had our afternoon gelato sitting outside the Pantheon and then took the bus back to the air-conditioned comfort of our hotel.
On both nights in Rome we ate at the restaurant we’d discovered on our last time through. I don’t recall the name of the restaurant but I know that we liked it so much that Mom and Dorothy wrote a review and sent it in to Rick Steves so maybe it will be next year’s guidebook. I had the pesto pasta and it was delicious!
The next morning Allison left us and flew back to Vancouver. We dropped her off at the airport and then Mom, Murray, Dorothy and I continued on to Citavecchia to start our Mediterranean cruise. Sadly when we were checking in for the cruise we were informed that we would not be going to Turkey. Apparently there had been some bombings in Turkey and the cruise line decided to cancel our stops there. This was very disappointing since seeing Istanbul was one of the main reasons we’d selected this particular itinerary. Stops in Dubrovnik, Croatia and Messina, Italy had been added instead.
Our staterooms weren’t ready when we boarded our ship (The Galaxy) so we headed up to lunch. Lunch was a bit of a thrill because it was a buffet and there were so many choices! We’d been eating at a la carte restaurants constantly and even though the majority of our meals were quite good I hadn’t been eating as much vegetables as I normally would and I’d really been missing them! I had an entire plate of roasted vegetables for lunch!
We spent the afternoon exploring the ship. Our rooms were on the 5th floor and the buffet restaurant was on the 11th floor. Mom and I resolved never to take the elevator while on board. We had the early seating for dinner. This suited us quite well and had been assigned a table for 4 so we wouldn’t have to make awkward conversation with strangers for the next 11 nights! Dinner each night was a five-course affair (appetizer, salad, soup, main, dessert). I was still craving vegetables to I asked for a vegetarian menu and had spinach and mushroom cakes with risotto and red beans. I was in food heaven. Really, the food on the cruise was quite good.
We set sail bound for Mykonos, Greece in the early evening.
Next: Part V – Greek Islands
Europe Travel Diary – Part III – Florence and San Marino
Previously: Part II – Venice
We arrived in Florence from Venice on Wednesday August 30 and spent the afternoon at the Museum of the History of Science. This is by far, one of the coolest museums I’ve ever been to. They had an amazing collection of scientific and mathematical instruments, globes and maps of the world. They also had Galileo’s right middle finger. There’s something you don’t see everyday!
After the museum we wandered through an open air market, ate our daily gelatto and went back to the hotel for a siesta. We then went to a lovely local restaurant for dinner. The food in Florence was excellent. I’m not sure if this is because by now we’d learnt to avoid anything called a tourist menu or because we were in Tuscany and I believe the Tuscans know how to eat. My favourite was the Ribollita which is a vegetable and bread soup.
The next day Mom, Allison and I embarked on a day of gluttonous country counting. As you probably know my family likes to keep track of the number of countries we’ve visited and we aim to keep that number above our age. On this trip I’d already picked up Italy and the Vatican City. Like the Vatican City, Italy has another enclave: the Most Serene Republic of San Marino. It’s a tiny country (61km^2) but a country it is and therefore we had to visit. From Florence we took a train to Bologna, then switched to a train to Rimini and then took a bus to San Marino. Once in San Marino we wandered around the old city, found the tourist office and paid 2.5 euros to have them stamp our passports. Technically we did not sleep in San Marino which is typically a requirement of country counting be we decided unanimously to waive that requirement in this particular case.
The trip back to Florence was a bit of an adventure. First our bus back to Rimini was about 10 minutes late which meant we were going to have a tight connection to catch our train. As it turned out our train from Rimini to Bologna was also running late which was good because it meant we hadn’t missed it but bad because it was going to get to Bologna too late for us to make our next connection. So we got switched onto another train going to Bologna but we didn’t have seats and the train was already sold out so we had to stand in the snack car! We thought we’d only have 6 minutes to switch trains in Bologna but thankfully the train to Florence was running 5 minutes late so we made it back!
The next day we had reservations to visit the Academia first thing in the morning. We got there plenty early and while we waited Mom and I went to a little café and had the most amazing cappicunio ever. It was everything I dreamed an Italian cappicunio should be! The highlight of the Academia was (obviously) Michelangelo’s David but The Prisoners/Captives were also very impressive. We then visited the cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore also known as the Duomo. We all visited the inside of the Duomo and then I decided to climb the steps to the top to see the view. It was only about 460 steps but they were narrow and dark so it was a bit of an adventure.
On our last morning in Florence we visited the Uffizi Gallery. By this point we’d seen a lot of paintings entitled “Madonna with child” and I was growing tired but at the Uffizi I got to see one of my all time favourite works of art: “The Birth of Venus.” We also had excellent cappuccinos at the Uffizi (see below – doesn’t that look amazing). Later that afternoon we took the train back to Rome …
Europe Travel Diary – Part II – Venice
Previously: Part I – Rome and the Vatican City
We left Rome bound for Venice on the morning of Sunday August 27. Mom had bought first class rail passes so the trip to Venice was very comfortable. Once we arrived in Venice we set our minds to finding our hotel. First we took a Vaporetto (water bus) and then searched the small streets and alleys. I took us 1.5 hours to get to the hotel but we made it. At one point we actually had to walk through the lobby of another hotel to get to the street we wanted to be on. After checking in we had a quick pizza lunch and walked over to Piazza San Marco to check things out. We did some window shopping and admired all the glass jewelry, Venetian masks, silk ties and other goods.
The next day we took a free taxi ride over to Murano to see a glass blowing factory. The free ride was the factory’s way to get customers out to their store and once we felt reasonably confident it wasn’t a total scam (ie we knew how to get back and weren’t obligated to buy anything) we were happy to take the trip. It was great to get out on the water. The pieces they had at the store were beautiful. It was like going to a glass museum. We decided not to stay and visit more of Murano and took a vaporetto back to San Marco and switched to another vaporetto to cruise down the Grand Canal. At this point we were pretty good at understanding which vaporetto to get to go where but it was always a little hit and miss if we were waiting in the right line to catch one going in the right direction. We had lunch near the Rialto bridge and then walked back to visit the Basilica. Dinner was take-out pizza which we ate in the square in front of our hotel. In the evening we went to an opera performance. It wasn’t actually opera season so the performance was a collection of famous arias.
The next day was what I referred to as Venice Museum day. We went up the Campanile and then visited the Doge’s Palace and the Academia. The Doge’s Palace was my favourite. It was a long day of walking but we were rewarded in the end when Mom’s suitcase finally arrived! She’d been without it since arriving in Rome and this mix up had ceased being funny several days ago.
I think all my travel companions would agree that Venice was one of the best stops of the trip. We were lucky because there were really no flooding or smell issues while we were there and the weather was lovely. The complete lack of motor vehicles was great and it was a beautiful city to explore. Perhaps the best work to describe Venice is unique.
We were up early on our last morning in Venice because we had to get back to the train station and we had no idea how long that would take. Luckily, we caught a vaporetto quite quickly and made it to the train station with lots of time to spare before our train to Florence …
Europe Travel Diary – Part I – Rome and the Vatican City
Way back in August I went to Europe with my mother, sister, aunt and uncle. I am only now getting around to typing up my travel diary. I’ll be posting it in pieces over the next little while. Today we have Part I.
I left Seattle early in the morning on Wednesday August 23. I knew that I had a 9 hour time change in front of me so I refused to let myself sleep on the flight to Toronto even though I’d woken up at 4:15am and was exhausted. The Starbucks latte helped in that effort. I was supposed to have a 4 hour (or so) layover in Toronto but in the end I was there for closer to 8 hours because my flight to Rome was delayed. The delay was actually great for me because by the time we left it was late enough in Seattle-time that I was able to get 5 hours of sleep on the flight. I landed at about 2pm local time. I was a little nervous arriving in Rome because I was on my own and had to make my way from the airport to downtown on the train and then find the hotel. I only made one wrong turn on the way to the hotel and arrived to check in at about 4pm. My aunt, uncle, mother and sister weren’t arriving until the next day so I had the evening to explore a bit of Rome on my own. After a very rejuvenating shower I headed out on the town. My first stop was dinner – I picked up a delicious slice of Roman pizza near the train station. I walked for several hours and saw the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. On my way back to the hotel I had my first Italian Gelato of the trip. There would be many more of those in the coming days! When I got back to the hotel I fell into bed and slept for almost 12 hours.
The next morning I had breakfast at the hotel and then went in search of a drug store. Somewhere between Seattle and Rome I’d developed a case of Athlete’s Foot. At the drug store I tried to explain what I needed. I don’t speak Italian and the pharmacist didn’t speak much English. I tired to explain that I needed spray for my foot. I was offered foot deodorant. Then I said I needed something medicated and the pharmacist asked if I had “mushroom on my foot.” Of course! Athlete’s foot is a fungus and and fungi are mushrooms so it all made sense! Success! I then went back to the hotel and checked out of my single room. I took another walk around the area near the hotel and returned a few hours later to see if the rest of my family had arrived yet. They hadn’t but my new 3-person room was ready so I moved in there. Pretty soon after my aunt and uncle arrived. I was a little surprised since my mom and sister were supposed to get in first. They checked into their room and then the three of us went out for lunch. Eventually my mother and sister arrived – without their luggage. They’d come in from Cyprus via Frankfurt but sadly their bags hadn’t made it. The five of us walked to the Trevi fountain (I even knew the way, since I’d been there the day before) and had dinner nearby. This was our first negative experience ordering off a “tourist menu.” The food was only so-so but it was great to all be together.
The next day we visited the Vatican City. Mom had arranged for us to have a private tour guide and this worked out quite well. We met our guide while we were in the massive line to enter the Vatican Museum. The Vatican Museum was wonderful but the real highlight for me was the Sistine Chapel. I was awed. We then walked over to St Peter’s square. St. Peter’s was even bigger than I’d imagined it would be. And there were Swiss Guards! Don’t ask my why but the Swiss Guards have always fascinated me. There are four rows of columns around the square (actually more of an oval) and if you stand in a specific point the columns line up and you can only see the front row. I thought that was neat. When we got back to the hotel after lunch Allison’s bag had arrived but Mom’s had not. After an easy afternoon we went out for dinner at a lovely restaurant north of the train station. We’d gone out in search of a different restaurant but it was closed so we stumbled upon a great little spot. We had our best meal in Italy so far (Allison referred to her dinner as “the best pasta of my life”). Then it was back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep because the next morning we were on our way to Venice …
Next: Part II – Venice