Saturday 22/5 was Mykonos and Delos. Firstly we were ferried out to the island of Delos. Here are the most extensive and unrestored ruins in the whole of Europe. It rained while on the island and because they are preserving everything as it was found we were tramping around on the dirt and grass in the wet. But it was still amazing to see these ruins, particularly the Lions Terrace. From their we went back to the ship, got changed, had lunch and caught the shuttle bus into Mykonos. What a great little town...we got lost in the tiny streets and alleys, but remembered the motto..If you get lost, just head downhill" as downhill leads to the harbour. It brought an water colour of some buildings right on the water and during our explorations we even found the buildings and got a photo as well. We all loved Mykonos and would go back there again.
Sunday as Athens day. Pam was not well so Kev, Shayne and I headed out. Firstly we travelled and hour out of the city to see the Temple of Posieden perched way out atop a huge cliff...pretty awesome. Then into the city for a city tour of the main sights and finally to the Acropolis and Parthenon. What can I say...the Parthenon is awesomely beautiful. Shopping in the Plaka district and then home.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Greece here we come
Thursday 20/5 was Santorini day...what can I say but WOW!! We were bused up the cliff face and then out to the little town of Oia...it is picture postcard perfect (will post some pics soon). All the white washed houses, narrow streets etc..its everything you believe it to be. We then went to the other end of the island, to a black stone beach and dipped our toes in the Aegean Sea. Lunch was a greek buffet..delicious and then on to Fira...again another beautiful postcard perfect town. Here we shopped and caught the Furnicular (cable car) down to the bottom. Next day was Kusadasi in Turkey and our visit to the ruins at Ephesus. Now we thought that Pompeii was amazing but Ephesus is even better. The ruins are much more complete and it is a much smaller city so everything was closer and easier to see. It was amazing. We then headed back and had lunch in a 5 star restaurant...delicious Turkish meal and some Turkish dancers performed a traditional Turkish dance..which was fabulous. Back in Kusadasi we bartered our little heads off with the local traders and scored some great bargains!!! It was fun
Latest from Europe
Okay so after Lucca we docked in Naples and the tour we did was a hike to the top of Mt Vesuvuis and tour of Pompeii. The road up the side of the mountain is a very narrow road the switches back and forth all the way up and the bus takes up the whole road around the corners...very hairy...we almost took out a BMW on one corner. Eventually we reached the tiny car park and then had to hike up to the summit where another guide was waiting for us. And hike it was...just a volcanic gravel path almost straight up the side of the mountain for about a kilometre !!! Phew. But it was so worth it the view was awesome ! We then went to Pompeii. The souvenir shops and touters are something to see to believe. Pompeii was amazing. We spent only 2 hours there and saw on a small portion. We saw the Bakery complete with wood fire oven, the bar, the brothel with 5 stone beds...ouch !! We saw the plaster casts of 2 people who died and the pained expressions on their faces is something we won't forget.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Bonjorno from Italy
Hi All. Well after a nightmareish 15 hour flight to Dubai (no leg room at all, a 3.5 hour stopover in Dubai (Terminal 3 is amazing- gold stores, Duty Free, Brand name stores, huge fountain, mammoth elevators!!) and then a 6 hour flight we finally landed in Rome at 1.30pm Thursday Rome time. What can I say about Rome.....it is absolutely fantastic!! 2 days are just not enough...we only just scratched the surface...Trevi Fountain (about 500 metres down the road from out Hotel), Piazza Venieza, Colosseum, Platine Hill, the Roman Forum....amazing. We dropped out bags off at the hotel (which is decorated with antiques and fabric covered walls & doors)and headed out to the Trevi Fountain which is much bigger than we thought it would be although the actual square where it is located is tiny and there were 100's of people there. We threw our coins in the fountain and had our first authentic Italian pizza at a tiny shop just off the square...delicious!! Much different to what we call pizza in Aus. Then we wandered around and found ruins, monuments and ended up at Piazza Venezia with its ruins 20 ft below ground level and the most beautiful building that house the military (according to our transfer driver). Sunday we had our tour of the Vatican in the morning. Of course when we got there the ticketing machines were not working and our guide (who is an archeologist at the vatican and only does 2 tours a weeks)was most upset as she had a special pass to get us in quickly (due to who she is) and she couldn't use it and we had to line up with the hundreds of other tour groups...the line went for 500 metres and it kept getting longer as more and more groups arrived. There was another line on the other side for people who hadn't pre purchased tickets and it was even longer !!
The Vatican is unbelieveable !! The Statues, tapestries, frescos etc are something to behold. The Sistine Chapel was very beautiful (our guide Rosa was taught by the Monsignor who renovated the Sistine..there is one square of black in the top right hand corner that shows you what the frescos looked like before they were restored). Apparently the Monsignors whole hand was as big as half of one eye on the face of Jesus Christ..thats how big the actual paintings are. They took Michaelangelo 4 years to paint and Pope Julius 11 did not ever pay him for his time or the materials ! St Pauls is huge and very very beautiful too.
We then caught the double decker bus and did the tourist loop and hopped off at the Colesseum. We paid E20 each to go on a guided tour which included Platine Hill and the Roman Forum. The Colessum is huge. You can almost smell the gladiators and the slaves and the privileged Romans ! Plantine Hill is where the Emperors and the very very rich built there palaces. It is very beautiful and looks of a lot of Rome. The whole of the ruins of the Roman Forum are laid our below Platine Hill. It was after 6pm by the time we had finished there and we caught the Red bus back through peak hour Roman traffic which has to be seen to be believed ! It is organised chaos ! There are 10 million (no exaggeration) scooters & vespers and they zoom in and out of the traffic, up on the side walks anywhere they want. Cars double park anywhere, they park on corners, and the Smart cars park sideways !!
Saturday we went out the Civitevecchia to the cruise ship. Its huge, much bigger than our ship in Alaska. Yesterday we went to Canne on the French Riviera. The Canne Movie festival was on and there were paparattzi everywhere. We didnt get to see anyone famous....but there were plenty of beautiful people...or they thought they were anyway...lol. In the afternoon we had a tour along the Cote d zure all the way out to San Raphael. The coastline is beautiful, although Aus still has the best beaches in the world !!
Today we are in Livorne Italy and went for a tour to Lucca a medieval town just out of Florence. We passed Pisa and saw the Leaning Tower. Lucca is a walled town, one of the only original walled cities left. It was very vey old and the buildings were amazing. Tomorrow we will be in Naples and going to Pompeii and for a hike on Mt Vesuvius...should be interesting...so long as it doesnt erupt while we are on it !! lol. Will post some photos later. Ciao
The Vatican is unbelieveable !! The Statues, tapestries, frescos etc are something to behold. The Sistine Chapel was very beautiful (our guide Rosa was taught by the Monsignor who renovated the Sistine..there is one square of black in the top right hand corner that shows you what the frescos looked like before they were restored). Apparently the Monsignors whole hand was as big as half of one eye on the face of Jesus Christ..thats how big the actual paintings are. They took Michaelangelo 4 years to paint and Pope Julius 11 did not ever pay him for his time or the materials ! St Pauls is huge and very very beautiful too.
We then caught the double decker bus and did the tourist loop and hopped off at the Colesseum. We paid E20 each to go on a guided tour which included Platine Hill and the Roman Forum. The Colessum is huge. You can almost smell the gladiators and the slaves and the privileged Romans ! Plantine Hill is where the Emperors and the very very rich built there palaces. It is very beautiful and looks of a lot of Rome. The whole of the ruins of the Roman Forum are laid our below Platine Hill. It was after 6pm by the time we had finished there and we caught the Red bus back through peak hour Roman traffic which has to be seen to be believed ! It is organised chaos ! There are 10 million (no exaggeration) scooters & vespers and they zoom in and out of the traffic, up on the side walks anywhere they want. Cars double park anywhere, they park on corners, and the Smart cars park sideways !!
Saturday we went out the Civitevecchia to the cruise ship. Its huge, much bigger than our ship in Alaska. Yesterday we went to Canne on the French Riviera. The Canne Movie festival was on and there were paparattzi everywhere. We didnt get to see anyone famous....but there were plenty of beautiful people...or they thought they were anyway...lol. In the afternoon we had a tour along the Cote d zure all the way out to San Raphael. The coastline is beautiful, although Aus still has the best beaches in the world !!
Today we are in Livorne Italy and went for a tour to Lucca a medieval town just out of Florence. We passed Pisa and saw the Leaning Tower. Lucca is a walled town, one of the only original walled cities left. It was very vey old and the buildings were amazing. Tomorrow we will be in Naples and going to Pompeii and for a hike on Mt Vesuvius...should be interesting...so long as it doesnt erupt while we are on it !! lol. Will post some photos later. Ciao
Sunday, May 9, 2010
3 Days to go!!!
Only 3 days to go. I am half packed and Shayne hasn't even started. Lorrie and Trevor are already in Athens...they say there is no sign of any of the unrest that has been reported in the press. Have brought a couple of presents for Sharni to ease the goodbyes at the airport, but I suspect it will be her parents Pam and Kevin who will need plenty of consoling !!!
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