Day 16 - Friday 10 April
We arrived at the airport in Rome late Friday morning. From there, we took the metro and a bus to get to our hotel, which turned out to be way outside the main area of Rome. Although it took awhile to get there, it was fairly easy to follow the directions there. By the time we actually left the airport, figured out the transportation to our hotel, and got there, it was mid-afternoon. We checked into our hotel, which was really nice, as it should have been because it was way out of our price range. Hannah and Laura decided right away to drop off their bags and then hit Rome; Jess and I were hesitant about doing this and decided against going. We were tired, crabby, and hungry, so we chose to walk to a grocery store, get some food, and relax in our hotel room. We ended up getting some fancy ice cream, chocolate, and drinks. When we got back to our hotel room, we enjoyed some of the ice cream and chocolate while watching… Bring It On. Seriously. That’s what we did, or at least, attempted to do before we fell asleep only some twenty minutes into the movie. We were awoken by the sound of knocking on our door – Hannah and Laura were back, and it was almost midnight, even though they were supposed to come back at 9! Jess and I couldn’t believe we feel asleep and for that long, but we obviously needed the rest. I was sad, though, that I missed out on what Laura and Hannah experienced – seeing the Pope at the Coliseum! We didn’t think Hannah and Laura would do anything remotely that fun… from then on out, I was determined to see the Pope at some point while in Rome.
Day 17 - Saturday 11 April
We woke up early to go the Vatican museum because we hear the line to get in was crazy ridiculous. So we got there relatively early, waited in a relatively short line, and were in the Vatican museum within a relatively short amount of time. First thing we did once we were in and purchased our tickets was go straight for the Sistine Chapel to see it as empty as possible. It was a good thing we did that first, too, because by the time we left the Chapel, it was crammed full! The Sistine Chapel was amazingly beautiful – I can’t imagine all the hard work and detail put into all the paintings that cover every surface of the chapel! With the chapel visit over, we wandered around the rest of the museum for the morning before heading outside to St. Peter’s Basilica, which is the main cathedral attached to the Vatican. This is where the Pope can be seen on his balcony.
In the afternoon, we decided to go to the Coliseum. On the way to the Metro that would take us there, we ran into some other students from Eau Claire who are also studying at Winch! Crazy! When we got to the Coliseum, we found a tour group that would provide an English tour of not just the Coliseum, but also Palatino Hill and the Roman Forum. At first we were a little nervous about paying the extra money to do it, but once somebody explained to us how the tour worked and that the tour guides were official guides, we decided to do it. Without the tour, the ticket price to get into the Coliseum is 12 euro, but there’s no information on the history of it and the importance of it was. For eight euro more, we could have an official tour guide of not only the Coliseum, but of Palatino Hill and the Roman Forum. It turned out to be an incredible tour and one of the best decisions we made on the trip – we would not have appreciated what we saw if we had not known the history and significance behind it.
The Coliseum – It was interesting to be in a building that has been there for 2000 years – hard to wrap a mind around that when my own country is not even 300 years old. The tour guide told us stories about what took place there, the games between gladiators and wild animals. The arena floor was covered with sand to cover up blood, so whenever the floor became too soaked, more sand was added to the floor. Underneath the floor of the arena were tons of little rooms that were used to hold the animals and gladiators waiting to fight.
Palatino Hill – the hill that Rome was founded on. Story: Romus and Remus, princes abandoned at birth, were found and nursed by a she-wolf before being founded and raised by shepherds and farmers. When they were older and discovered their natural birth rights, they took over the area. We toured the ruins of the large home that became a place on the top of Palatino Hill. The guide for this part of tour was very knowledgeable and told so many different interesting facts and stories, such as how all the different kings added on to the palace and how the palace was completely covered in marble. The marble was later taken from the palace to be used in other important buildings at the end of the monarchy in Rome. Some of the marble flooring is still there, though, and visible. The white marble is native to Rome, but the colored marble comes from all different areas that the Romans conquered. By looking at the different colors, one can tell which lands Rome conquered. After walking through the ruins, we went to the edge of the hill and had a spectacular view of the Roman Forum.
The Roman Forum – the original city area or downtown of Rome.
After our tour, we met up with Jess’ flat mate from Malta, Valeria. Valeria is from Rome, and was actually in Rome for a few days for Easter, so she agreed to show us around that evening. We met up with her and her friend Julia at a metro station near her house. We went back to her home and enjoyed some snacks and wine. It was so good to be able to go into someone’s home and to witness a normal neighborhood, not just the touristy areas, of a city. She then took us out for pizza at this Italian pizza place. Once they were done with their pizza, we all crammed into Valeria’s itsy bitsy car. She drove us to this area that overlooked Rome in a much less touristy area, so it was much less crowded. From there, we saw Rome all lit up – it was spectacular! We got to see the whole city of Rome sparkle at night – so beautiful. Then we took the metro and bus back to our hotel. It was a long, but thrilling, day!
Day 18 - Sunday 12 April – EASTER!
Originally, we had all decided we wanted to go to Vatican for Easter, but after Laura and Hannah experienced firsthand the craziness of the crowds over Easter at events featuring the Pope, they were unsure they wanted to go. So I spent the entire weekend pleading my case to them; I was, after all, very determined to see the Pope at some point. I went to Rome with the expectation of seeing him, and I did not want to be let down after there were other things I really wanted to do that I couldn’t in Spain and Greece. After were found more information on how the Sunday mass and blessing worked, we compromised on leaving early Sunday morning to get there for the blessing; that’s all I wanted was to see the Pope and be blessed by him on Easter… I did not need to sit through two hours of service in a different language. So we got to Vatican at about 11 am, and it was crowded! The service was still going on, which we could see some of it from the large screens. We waited in the “Catholic mosh pit” – a term coined by Hannah – for the service to end and for the Pope to go out on his little balcony and give the blessing in different languages. Right before the Pope came out, the police took away some of the gates that were keeping people from getting closer to the building during the service. This enabled us to move up right before the blessing and to get a better view of the balcony and the Pope. The Pope gave his blessing “May the peace of Christ be with you all.” That was it, short, sweet, to the point. Then we hung out in St. Pete’s Basilica, sitting on the ground eating carrots, while we waited for the crowds around us to clear out. Then we did our own “walking tour” of Rome, which consisted of a bunch of places Valeria told us to go see. We saved the walking tour for Sunday because all the places on the list did not require being open, paying money, or waiting in lines to see it. The places were different piazzas (basically common squares with statues), the Trevi fountain which was extremely busy, the Spanish Steps, and some other buildings. At the Trevi fountain, we threw in our coins to ensure that we would be back to Rome before finding a gelato place. We had absolutely scrumptious gelato (four different scopes each, but they were small) then found a place to sit for awhile, where we were amused by the “grass police” who yelled at anyone who sat on the grass! After a nice sit, we went to the Pantheon, which was cool to see because it’s always mentioned in history books, but it was not really that exciting. There we had another crazy run in, this time with three American girls Jess is studying with in Malta! We chatted with them for a little while, then headed back to our hotel to get a real night’s sleep before heading out to our next holiday spot…
Friday, April 24, 2009
Mainland Greece - Athens and Thessaloniki...
Day 11 – Sunday 5 April
We arrived in Athens at roughly 1:00 am, got our bags, and found a nice, cozy spot in the airport. Laura was able to get the most sleep out of all of us – she came equipped with a blanket, eye coverer, and ear plugs with her. I was able to get several hours of sleep off and on, but I spent a majority of my time reading Memoirs of a Geisha. Hannah and Jess didn’t get hardly any sleep. We weren’t the only ones in the airport using the seating area as a makeshift, free hotel, so it was not too awkward, but we still receive our fair share of odd looks. This is not a surprise, since there we were, four young women lying on the floor of an airport surrounded by four very large back packs, plus computer cases and bags of groceries. Though it was not the most comfortable place to stay, it does make for a good story, especially with the “how you doing” story…
Eventually we all woke up, brushed our teeth and attempted to make ourselves look presentable before heading out to find our way in Athens. We bought train tickets into Athens, but were immediately confused as to how to get there, because we spoke no Greek and could not figure out the train stops and transfers that would get us to Larissa station, which is where we needed to get. Tired, grumpy, cold, and hungry, we eventually gave up on figuring out the train system, bought some bus tickets, and took a bus into Athens. Once in Athens, we went to find the train station that we were going to leave that night from to go to Thessaloniki. Train station found, we tried finding the hostel that was going to store our stuff for us for the day, but once again got lost on the way because we did not understand any of the signs in Greek and no one spoke English to help give us directions. We made a rush decision to just find a hotel to stay at because we didn’t want to have to walk all the way to the hostel and we didn’t want to have to spend the night at the sketchy train station. A few blocks from the station we came across Hotel Nana, and on a whim, decided to check price and availability. There was accommodation available for four that was within our price range, so we took it. We ate lunch there before heading off to the Acropolis. There we saw all the old Greek stuff that is pictured in history books and seen in films… it took us only a few hours. It rained, but it didn’t ruin our fun; we were kind of goofy after lack of proper sleep and travel frustrations, so we took silly pictures instead of paying much mind to the history of Athens. Then we went back to Hotel Nana to eat dinner, relax, and have some nutella while watching 4 hours of Malcolm in the Middle with Greek subtitles. By this point we were extremely exhausted and very slap happy – which ended with Hannah falling off her bed.
Day 12 - Monday 6 April
We woke up early to walk with all our luggage through pouring rain to the train station, where we bought our tickets and caught the morning train to Thessaloniki. The train was crowded, and so we had to separate to find seats. We soon discovered that apparently seats are assigned; we concluded that we were not given seats because we purchased our tickets so last minute. Since o one around us spoke English to explain to us what was going on and how the train system worked, we decided to just hunker down in seats until we got kicked out. Hannah and I were lucky enough to pick seats that were never reserved, so we never got kicked out. Jess and Laura each had to move at least five times to stand or switch to different seats as people got on and off the train. Despite the frustrations with the train system, the six-hour train ride was beautiful, going through mountains and along the coast. When we arrived in Thessaloniki, we were greeted by Megan, Hannah’s friend and roommate from Eau Claire.
We started our time out in Thess by first dropping Hannah and Laura’s stuff off at Megan’s apartment and then by finding mine and Jess’ hotel. Transportation went much smoother now that we had Megan with us, and we easily found our hotel, checked in, and dropped our bags off. In the lobby, we met some guy, Pete, from England who was travelling by himself, so Megan invited him to come along with us for crepes and a walk along the water, where we watched the sunset. After that, we went back to Megan’s apartment and ate dinner, Pete included. Then Megan, Hannah, and Laura escorted me, Jess, and Pete back to the hotel. We said goodbye to Pete, who actually lives very close to Winch, so we might meet up with him sometime in May when we are all back from our travels. Jess and I spent the rest of the night just talking and hanging out in our room before going to bed.
Day 13 - Tuesday 7 April
Jess and I met up with Laura and Hannah at Starbucks to fuel ourselves for the day. We spent the day exploring Thessaloniki. First, we walked up this giant hill that had a beautiful view of the whole city and the Aegean Sea. Tired from the hike up the hill in the heat, we spent quite some time just sitting on a bench, admiring the city view and talking, before exploring the rest of the top of the hill. Then we went through the process of finding a taxi to take us to Megan’s school – it took forever to find a taxi that was willing to take four people all the way there. Finally a nice taxi driver took pity on us and agreed to take us wherever we needed to go, but because he couldn’t understand English very well, he had to call his daughter. His daughter then talked to Hannah to find out where we wanted to go and relayed the information back to her father. That done, he took us to A.C.T. (Megan’s school) Hannah, Jess, and Laura played volleyball with Megan and the school team while I, the unathletic one, watched and cleaned out my rather large purse, a task that had been looming in front of me for some time. After volley ball practice was over, Jess and I headed back to our hotel. Back at our hotel, we got ready to go out to a Taverna for Megan’s birthday celebration dinner. Tavernas are basically a Greek version of a pub; you can sit outside, surrounded by tons of lights and other tavernas and people, and order lots of different food that can be served family style. The atmosphere around tavernas is very festive; there are twinkle lights all over, live music, laughter, and employees from all the different tavernas come out and try to convince you to eat at their tavernas. It is quite amusing! Tavernas definitely made the Greece experience better, and it was great to meet some of Megan’s school mates and hear their travel stories and experiences!
Day 14 - Wednesday 8 April
We went to a Halkidiki beach called Pefkohori with Megan and some other girls from her school. The bus ride there cost 10 euro each way and took about two hours one way because the beach is located in one of the northern fingers of Greece, but it was worth it! It was the perfect day for the beach – sunny with clear blue skies and just a slight breeze. Supposedly it is one of the most beautiful beaches in all of Greece, including the islands. Although it was not as beautiful as it will be in the summer, it was awesome to laze around there for about six hours before we had to catch the bus back to Thessaloniki. When we got back to Megan’s, we made dinner, which Megan accidently dropped on the floor when checking to see if it was cooked through; not the slightest phased, everyone else said to just put the food back in the pan and to finish baking it. They ate it; I didn’t… but only because I couldn’t eat it because it had gluten in it. I did try a small taste, and it was still scrumptious despite falling on the floor!
Day 15 - Thursday 9 April
We all decided it would be good to have a morning where we could sleep in and take care of some things, so Jess and I did not meet Hannah and Laura until noon. Once we all met up, we toured the White Tower, which apparently is the main landmark in Thessaloniki. The museum in the tower was somewhat interesting, and allowed us to go to the top of the tower. We liked this, since we like our city views J The hours after that were used to provide us with some shopping time in Aristotle’s Square, which is the bustling center of Thessaloniki lined with tons of shops. I started feeling sick, so I then went back to the hotel that evening while Hannah, Laura, and Jess went to play volleyball again at Megan’s school and then get gyros. I took the solo time to pack, get some things done online that needed to be done, and to call my dad. The phone call turned into a 3 hour conversation, which was good because we got to talk through a lot of different things. Jess, Hannah, and Laura got back to the hotel late that night. Jess and I finished packing while Hannah and Laura hung out in the lobby waiting for us. Jess also ended up booking another hotel in Rome because she felt guilty about sneaking four people into a 2 person hotel room, which is understandable. We were all a little frustrated, because it ended up costing us a lot more because we had to pay for two rooms instead of one, but at least we could have guilt-free consciences. Once we got all our luggage together, hotel plans straightened out, and other last minute details taken care of, we took at taxi to the airport. We slept for a little while in the airport, then got on our 6:30 am flight to Athens. In the Athens airport we slept some more before getting on our flight to Rome. Guess what we did on that flight… yup, we slept. All this little naps amounted to approximately four hours of sleep; that would have to sustain us for the day… because there would be no time for sleeping at the next stop on this crazy adventure for us… ROMA!!!
We arrived in Athens at roughly 1:00 am, got our bags, and found a nice, cozy spot in the airport. Laura was able to get the most sleep out of all of us – she came equipped with a blanket, eye coverer, and ear plugs with her. I was able to get several hours of sleep off and on, but I spent a majority of my time reading Memoirs of a Geisha. Hannah and Jess didn’t get hardly any sleep. We weren’t the only ones in the airport using the seating area as a makeshift, free hotel, so it was not too awkward, but we still receive our fair share of odd looks. This is not a surprise, since there we were, four young women lying on the floor of an airport surrounded by four very large back packs, plus computer cases and bags of groceries. Though it was not the most comfortable place to stay, it does make for a good story, especially with the “how you doing” story…
Eventually we all woke up, brushed our teeth and attempted to make ourselves look presentable before heading out to find our way in Athens. We bought train tickets into Athens, but were immediately confused as to how to get there, because we spoke no Greek and could not figure out the train stops and transfers that would get us to Larissa station, which is where we needed to get. Tired, grumpy, cold, and hungry, we eventually gave up on figuring out the train system, bought some bus tickets, and took a bus into Athens. Once in Athens, we went to find the train station that we were going to leave that night from to go to Thessaloniki. Train station found, we tried finding the hostel that was going to store our stuff for us for the day, but once again got lost on the way because we did not understand any of the signs in Greek and no one spoke English to help give us directions. We made a rush decision to just find a hotel to stay at because we didn’t want to have to walk all the way to the hostel and we didn’t want to have to spend the night at the sketchy train station. A few blocks from the station we came across Hotel Nana, and on a whim, decided to check price and availability. There was accommodation available for four that was within our price range, so we took it. We ate lunch there before heading off to the Acropolis. There we saw all the old Greek stuff that is pictured in history books and seen in films… it took us only a few hours. It rained, but it didn’t ruin our fun; we were kind of goofy after lack of proper sleep and travel frustrations, so we took silly pictures instead of paying much mind to the history of Athens. Then we went back to Hotel Nana to eat dinner, relax, and have some nutella while watching 4 hours of Malcolm in the Middle with Greek subtitles. By this point we were extremely exhausted and very slap happy – which ended with Hannah falling off her bed.
Day 12 - Monday 6 April
We woke up early to walk with all our luggage through pouring rain to the train station, where we bought our tickets and caught the morning train to Thessaloniki. The train was crowded, and so we had to separate to find seats. We soon discovered that apparently seats are assigned; we concluded that we were not given seats because we purchased our tickets so last minute. Since o one around us spoke English to explain to us what was going on and how the train system worked, we decided to just hunker down in seats until we got kicked out. Hannah and I were lucky enough to pick seats that were never reserved, so we never got kicked out. Jess and Laura each had to move at least five times to stand or switch to different seats as people got on and off the train. Despite the frustrations with the train system, the six-hour train ride was beautiful, going through mountains and along the coast. When we arrived in Thessaloniki, we were greeted by Megan, Hannah’s friend and roommate from Eau Claire.
We started our time out in Thess by first dropping Hannah and Laura’s stuff off at Megan’s apartment and then by finding mine and Jess’ hotel. Transportation went much smoother now that we had Megan with us, and we easily found our hotel, checked in, and dropped our bags off. In the lobby, we met some guy, Pete, from England who was travelling by himself, so Megan invited him to come along with us for crepes and a walk along the water, where we watched the sunset. After that, we went back to Megan’s apartment and ate dinner, Pete included. Then Megan, Hannah, and Laura escorted me, Jess, and Pete back to the hotel. We said goodbye to Pete, who actually lives very close to Winch, so we might meet up with him sometime in May when we are all back from our travels. Jess and I spent the rest of the night just talking and hanging out in our room before going to bed.
Day 13 - Tuesday 7 April
Jess and I met up with Laura and Hannah at Starbucks to fuel ourselves for the day. We spent the day exploring Thessaloniki. First, we walked up this giant hill that had a beautiful view of the whole city and the Aegean Sea. Tired from the hike up the hill in the heat, we spent quite some time just sitting on a bench, admiring the city view and talking, before exploring the rest of the top of the hill. Then we went through the process of finding a taxi to take us to Megan’s school – it took forever to find a taxi that was willing to take four people all the way there. Finally a nice taxi driver took pity on us and agreed to take us wherever we needed to go, but because he couldn’t understand English very well, he had to call his daughter. His daughter then talked to Hannah to find out where we wanted to go and relayed the information back to her father. That done, he took us to A.C.T. (Megan’s school) Hannah, Jess, and Laura played volleyball with Megan and the school team while I, the unathletic one, watched and cleaned out my rather large purse, a task that had been looming in front of me for some time. After volley ball practice was over, Jess and I headed back to our hotel. Back at our hotel, we got ready to go out to a Taverna for Megan’s birthday celebration dinner. Tavernas are basically a Greek version of a pub; you can sit outside, surrounded by tons of lights and other tavernas and people, and order lots of different food that can be served family style. The atmosphere around tavernas is very festive; there are twinkle lights all over, live music, laughter, and employees from all the different tavernas come out and try to convince you to eat at their tavernas. It is quite amusing! Tavernas definitely made the Greece experience better, and it was great to meet some of Megan’s school mates and hear their travel stories and experiences!
Day 14 - Wednesday 8 April
We went to a Halkidiki beach called Pefkohori with Megan and some other girls from her school. The bus ride there cost 10 euro each way and took about two hours one way because the beach is located in one of the northern fingers of Greece, but it was worth it! It was the perfect day for the beach – sunny with clear blue skies and just a slight breeze. Supposedly it is one of the most beautiful beaches in all of Greece, including the islands. Although it was not as beautiful as it will be in the summer, it was awesome to laze around there for about six hours before we had to catch the bus back to Thessaloniki. When we got back to Megan’s, we made dinner, which Megan accidently dropped on the floor when checking to see if it was cooked through; not the slightest phased, everyone else said to just put the food back in the pan and to finish baking it. They ate it; I didn’t… but only because I couldn’t eat it because it had gluten in it. I did try a small taste, and it was still scrumptious despite falling on the floor!
Day 15 - Thursday 9 April
We all decided it would be good to have a morning where we could sleep in and take care of some things, so Jess and I did not meet Hannah and Laura until noon. Once we all met up, we toured the White Tower, which apparently is the main landmark in Thessaloniki. The museum in the tower was somewhat interesting, and allowed us to go to the top of the tower. We liked this, since we like our city views J The hours after that were used to provide us with some shopping time in Aristotle’s Square, which is the bustling center of Thessaloniki lined with tons of shops. I started feeling sick, so I then went back to the hotel that evening while Hannah, Laura, and Jess went to play volleyball again at Megan’s school and then get gyros. I took the solo time to pack, get some things done online that needed to be done, and to call my dad. The phone call turned into a 3 hour conversation, which was good because we got to talk through a lot of different things. Jess, Hannah, and Laura got back to the hotel late that night. Jess and I finished packing while Hannah and Laura hung out in the lobby waiting for us. Jess also ended up booking another hotel in Rome because she felt guilty about sneaking four people into a 2 person hotel room, which is understandable. We were all a little frustrated, because it ended up costing us a lot more because we had to pay for two rooms instead of one, but at least we could have guilt-free consciences. Once we got all our luggage together, hotel plans straightened out, and other last minute details taken care of, we took at taxi to the airport. We slept for a little while in the airport, then got on our 6:30 am flight to Athens. In the Athens airport we slept some more before getting on our flight to Rome. Guess what we did on that flight… yup, we slept. All this little naps amounted to approximately four hours of sleep; that would have to sustain us for the day… because there would be no time for sleeping at the next stop on this crazy adventure for us… ROMA!!!
A strange island called Malta...
Malta is this little island located in the Mediterranean off of Sicily. A contradiction of itself, Malta is very behind the times but not. I’m not even sure words can even describe it; it’s a place that one needs to see for oneself, which can be done in just a few short days! My friend Jessica is studying there for the semester, which is what brought me there in the first place. But I’m glad I was able to experience it firsthand, and these are some of the experiences I had…
Day 6 Continued – Tuesday 31 March
After landing in Malta and collecting our bags, we met Jess at the gate. From there, we rushed to make the last bus that would take us to the residency, where we would be spending the next few days. The buses are crazily retro – they were brought to Malta some time ago from England, and the Maltese are very proud of them, which is why the buses are pictured on post cards and key chains and any other souvenir item… Anyway, the bus ride was a bumpy one (which Hannah likes to say would have been more complete had there been cages of chickens on the bus), but one which allowed us to view over 1/3 of the country in just 45 minutes – that is how small Malta is! Once we reached the residency, we checked into our room, which turned out to be a little suite complete with a living room, kitchenette, bedroom, and bathroom. It overlooked the courtyard and pool; that, combined with the colors of the buildings, gave the whole place that amazing island feel! After we settled into our little suite, Jess cooked for us and fed us dinner while we planned the next day’s adventures, then we went to bed.
Day 7 – Wednesday 1 April
After getting ready Wednesday morning, we walked to a local fresh fruit and veggie stand, where we bought our apples for the day. Then we went to Smart, the local big grocery store, for the rest of our food for the day; once our goal of purchasing something of sustenance was reached, Jess headed off to class and Hannah, Laura, and I headed off to a beach, Golden Bay, via the orange and yellow retro Maltese buses. The bus ride itself was a long one, but we enjoyed the scenic route to the bay. Golden Bay itself is gorgeous, but the weather was not too cooperative with our plans; it was windy and cool the entire time. We relaxed on the beach for awhile – reading, eating, and sleeping – until we were too cold to enjoy it. That is what we got for expecting warmer weather on an island in the Mediterranean, and thus not dressing appropriately for cool weather…
After we got back from the beach, we all spent time napping, checking e-mail, or in my case, reading. Once Jess got back from class, we went over to her flat, we did the three M’s: Made Mexican food (tacos, which I hadn’t had since being abroad!), munched, and met some of her flat mates. Her flat mates were wonderfully interesting and fun people from so many different places, such as the U.K., Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, and U.S. It was a very entertaining, homey evening spent in a small kitchen with good food and good company!
Day 8 – Thursday 2 April
We started out our day per what has become our routine; woke up, got ready, and went in search of food. We headed right for the fruit and veggie stand for apples, then went to Smart, where we purchased our routine, cheap foods. With our bags loaded with foods and our wallets only somewhat lighter, we headed to Valetta, the capital, with Jess. While there, we wandered around and saw some great views of the country. We spent some time in a garden and then walked up and down some of the streets. There were churches and shrines and statues of biblical figures everywhere – I suppose that’s what happens when over 95 percent of the population is Catholic! Jess had to leave for class then, so Hannah, Laura and I wandered down by the water. On our way to the water, two guys who were giving horse-drawn carriage rides called out to us saying, “Hey pretty ladies, you want a carriage ride?” We chose to nod our heads no and keep walking, paying no attention to them. Hannah was holding her loaf of bread in one hand and her apple in the other, so the guys then called out to us “apple and bread!!!” and laughed. That quickly became our new favorite slogan for our typical daily food allotments – “apple and bread!” or in my case “rice cake and break!” Once we reached the water, we spent a good chunk of time there, eating, taking in the views, and taking more band pictures. It was a wonderful day, sunny and warm, to just relax and meander around a random city. As the day got sunnier and warmed, we decided to go the Mellieha Bay for another go at some beach time. We spent a few hours there, doing the typical beach activities of lounging, talking, napping, reading, and wading. That evening we hopped a bus back to Valetta and then Mdina to meet Jess. Mdina is this old, secluded, walled in city with only about 400 (wealthy) residents, two convents, and a monastery. That is the entire city. It took us only about 30 minutes to walk the entire city, including stopping to enjoy the view of the country and take pictures.
From Mdina, we went back to Jess’ flat, where there was a flat mate dinner happening. The flat mate dinner was so awesome to experience, with fifteen ladies from all over the globe crammed into one very compact kitchen, all cooking and talking and laughing. That environment always makes for a good time…
Day 9 – Friday 3 April
Need I even say we started our day off by going to the fruit stand and Smart? Hannah, Laura, and I went to Marsaxlokk (pronounced Marsh-sla-shlock), which is the fishing village. We spent the morning wandering around there, enjoying the large bay filled with colorful fishing boats and the market along the bay. We then attempted to walk to another bay that was nearby that were supposed to have beaches after asking a local in Marsaxlokk for directions. We were told to just follow the bay for 30, 35 minutes. So we walked along the coast for awhile, following random trails through hills and cliffs. We went slowly, finding random places to take random pictures. As the day progressed, it grew hotter and hotter and we grew more tired and sun burnt, and by the time we arrived to what we think was “Pretty Bay” – which really was not all that pretty- we were ready to head back to Valetta. We got on the first bus we found that would take us to Valetta, collapsed in the seats, and did not move the entire bus ride. When we reached Valetta, we wandered through the streets with only one mission : to find a place that served gelato. We easily found some, indulged ourselves in the scrumptiousness of it, and then went back to the residence. Hannah napped while Laura, Jess, and I made chicken melts. When Hannah woke up, we all sat in Jess’ kitchen eating. Afterwards, we attempted to figure out the game plan for the next day, which would be a travel day. Once the disarray of random bus schedules and travel schedules were sensibly arranged, we tried Malta’s soda, Kinnie, which was plain old nasty… and that is how we spent our last night in Malta.
Day 10 – Saturday 4 April
We went to Smart, loaded up on groceries to last us the next two days, and then headed to the airport on a Maltese bus. A bus that was only supposed to hold 40 people sitting and up to 12 people standing was holding over 60 people, tons of luggage, and a baby buggy. People were all up against each other, and poor Laura who is over 6’3” had people practically sitting on her lap since her legs were in the aisle because they didn’t fit in the seats. To add to the memorable experience, the bus driver was an insane older man who had some anger at other drivers, so there was a lot of honking and Maltese swearing happening during the bus trip. There were also a few times the bus almost got stuck turning a corner on the narrow roads. A bus trip that was only supposed to take 30 minutes turned into a bus trip that took over an hour. Still, we made it to the airport just in time, caught our flight to Rome, and settled in for a six hour layover in Rome on our way to Athens.
The six-hour-layover in Rome was spent wandering the airport, playing around on computers without internet connection, and playing cards. The time passed both quickly and slowly. We then got on our flight to Athens…
Day 6 Continued – Tuesday 31 March
After landing in Malta and collecting our bags, we met Jess at the gate. From there, we rushed to make the last bus that would take us to the residency, where we would be spending the next few days. The buses are crazily retro – they were brought to Malta some time ago from England, and the Maltese are very proud of them, which is why the buses are pictured on post cards and key chains and any other souvenir item… Anyway, the bus ride was a bumpy one (which Hannah likes to say would have been more complete had there been cages of chickens on the bus), but one which allowed us to view over 1/3 of the country in just 45 minutes – that is how small Malta is! Once we reached the residency, we checked into our room, which turned out to be a little suite complete with a living room, kitchenette, bedroom, and bathroom. It overlooked the courtyard and pool; that, combined with the colors of the buildings, gave the whole place that amazing island feel! After we settled into our little suite, Jess cooked for us and fed us dinner while we planned the next day’s adventures, then we went to bed.
Day 7 – Wednesday 1 April
After getting ready Wednesday morning, we walked to a local fresh fruit and veggie stand, where we bought our apples for the day. Then we went to Smart, the local big grocery store, for the rest of our food for the day; once our goal of purchasing something of sustenance was reached, Jess headed off to class and Hannah, Laura, and I headed off to a beach, Golden Bay, via the orange and yellow retro Maltese buses. The bus ride itself was a long one, but we enjoyed the scenic route to the bay. Golden Bay itself is gorgeous, but the weather was not too cooperative with our plans; it was windy and cool the entire time. We relaxed on the beach for awhile – reading, eating, and sleeping – until we were too cold to enjoy it. That is what we got for expecting warmer weather on an island in the Mediterranean, and thus not dressing appropriately for cool weather…
After we got back from the beach, we all spent time napping, checking e-mail, or in my case, reading. Once Jess got back from class, we went over to her flat, we did the three M’s: Made Mexican food (tacos, which I hadn’t had since being abroad!), munched, and met some of her flat mates. Her flat mates were wonderfully interesting and fun people from so many different places, such as the U.K., Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, and U.S. It was a very entertaining, homey evening spent in a small kitchen with good food and good company!
Day 8 – Thursday 2 April
We started out our day per what has become our routine; woke up, got ready, and went in search of food. We headed right for the fruit and veggie stand for apples, then went to Smart, where we purchased our routine, cheap foods. With our bags loaded with foods and our wallets only somewhat lighter, we headed to Valetta, the capital, with Jess. While there, we wandered around and saw some great views of the country. We spent some time in a garden and then walked up and down some of the streets. There were churches and shrines and statues of biblical figures everywhere – I suppose that’s what happens when over 95 percent of the population is Catholic! Jess had to leave for class then, so Hannah, Laura and I wandered down by the water. On our way to the water, two guys who were giving horse-drawn carriage rides called out to us saying, “Hey pretty ladies, you want a carriage ride?” We chose to nod our heads no and keep walking, paying no attention to them. Hannah was holding her loaf of bread in one hand and her apple in the other, so the guys then called out to us “apple and bread!!!” and laughed. That quickly became our new favorite slogan for our typical daily food allotments – “apple and bread!” or in my case “rice cake and break!” Once we reached the water, we spent a good chunk of time there, eating, taking in the views, and taking more band pictures. It was a wonderful day, sunny and warm, to just relax and meander around a random city. As the day got sunnier and warmed, we decided to go the Mellieha Bay for another go at some beach time. We spent a few hours there, doing the typical beach activities of lounging, talking, napping, reading, and wading. That evening we hopped a bus back to Valetta and then Mdina to meet Jess. Mdina is this old, secluded, walled in city with only about 400 (wealthy) residents, two convents, and a monastery. That is the entire city. It took us only about 30 minutes to walk the entire city, including stopping to enjoy the view of the country and take pictures.
From Mdina, we went back to Jess’ flat, where there was a flat mate dinner happening. The flat mate dinner was so awesome to experience, with fifteen ladies from all over the globe crammed into one very compact kitchen, all cooking and talking and laughing. That environment always makes for a good time…
Day 9 – Friday 3 April
Need I even say we started our day off by going to the fruit stand and Smart? Hannah, Laura, and I went to Marsaxlokk (pronounced Marsh-sla-shlock), which is the fishing village. We spent the morning wandering around there, enjoying the large bay filled with colorful fishing boats and the market along the bay. We then attempted to walk to another bay that was nearby that were supposed to have beaches after asking a local in Marsaxlokk for directions. We were told to just follow the bay for 30, 35 minutes. So we walked along the coast for awhile, following random trails through hills and cliffs. We went slowly, finding random places to take random pictures. As the day progressed, it grew hotter and hotter and we grew more tired and sun burnt, and by the time we arrived to what we think was “Pretty Bay” – which really was not all that pretty- we were ready to head back to Valetta. We got on the first bus we found that would take us to Valetta, collapsed in the seats, and did not move the entire bus ride. When we reached Valetta, we wandered through the streets with only one mission : to find a place that served gelato. We easily found some, indulged ourselves in the scrumptiousness of it, and then went back to the residence. Hannah napped while Laura, Jess, and I made chicken melts. When Hannah woke up, we all sat in Jess’ kitchen eating. Afterwards, we attempted to figure out the game plan for the next day, which would be a travel day. Once the disarray of random bus schedules and travel schedules were sensibly arranged, we tried Malta’s soda, Kinnie, which was plain old nasty… and that is how we spent our last night in Malta.
Day 10 – Saturday 4 April
We went to Smart, loaded up on groceries to last us the next two days, and then headed to the airport on a Maltese bus. A bus that was only supposed to hold 40 people sitting and up to 12 people standing was holding over 60 people, tons of luggage, and a baby buggy. People were all up against each other, and poor Laura who is over 6’3” had people practically sitting on her lap since her legs were in the aisle because they didn’t fit in the seats. To add to the memorable experience, the bus driver was an insane older man who had some anger at other drivers, so there was a lot of honking and Maltese swearing happening during the bus trip. There were also a few times the bus almost got stuck turning a corner on the narrow roads. A bus trip that was only supposed to take 30 minutes turned into a bus trip that took over an hour. Still, we made it to the airport just in time, caught our flight to Rome, and settled in for a six hour layover in Rome on our way to Athens.
The six-hour-layover in Rome was spent wandering the airport, playing around on computers without internet connection, and playing cards. The time passed both quickly and slowly. We then got on our flight to Athens…
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
When it rains in Barcelona...
Barcelona, Barcelona, Barcelona
The time had finally come for spring break. Months of relentless dreaming of far away European travels were not in vain as I spent my first five days of break in Barcelona, Spain. The reason Hannah, Laura, and I went there of all places was because we were able to get cheap flights there, and from there, to Malta, our next destination. We really had no idea of what there was to do in Barcelona, but to quote an old popular show, the price was right! So, on Thursday afternoon, as soon as Hannah got out of class, we headed to the train station, went to Stanstead Airport, and were on a flight to Barcelona… and we weren’t disappointed. For despite the fact that we knew next to nothing about the city, we had a blast there, and here’s why…
Day One (Thursday)
We arrived at Girona airport at 8:30 pm. From there, we took an hour-long coach ride into Barcelona, found the metro, and attempted to find our hostel. We didn’t have to try very hard; we easily found the hostel, thanks to very detailed directions from the hostel website. Our hostel was really nice; the staff was extremely friendly, the kitchen was clean, the bathrooms were nothing to cringe at, and the rooms were small but tidy, with no butcher knives lying around. Plus, there was free Wi-Fi, which is always a plus, especially since all three of us decided to lug our laptops with us for our Easter Break Adventure… glad to know it wasn’t all for nothing. So, yeah, after a long day of travel, it was good to find a safe, comfortable place waiting for us. We were asleep in no time.
Day Two (Friday)
We slept in and then took our time getting ready for the day. After all, who wants a demanding time schedule when on vacation? We found a small supermarket, grabbed some random food to go, and then found a nice spot in a park to sit down and enjoy our meals. With gorgeous, warm weather and random food, our trip started out amazingly. When our bellies were full and happy, we wandered around to Espanya and to this huge museum on top of this hill – that we took outdoor escalators to get to! - which provided us with an spectacular view of the city! Views tend to make my heart sing, and this time was no different. From there, we meandered through some gardens, took some crazy awesome “band” pictures (a new obsession of ours in which we take timed pictures in ridiculously ace places that make us look like a band), and just enjoyed being there. The gardens brought us to a road that when crossed, lead to the place where Olympics ’92 were held. The place was enormous, almost empty, and completely futuristic looking! Several hours were spent there as we took for random pictures and walked around, in awe of being at the Olympics place. Once we novelty of being there began to remotely wear off, we headed off in a random direction in hopes of finding the beach. What we found was a sketchy part of the city that was off our map, so we took a bus back to the Espanya. By that time, it was getting to be early evening and we were getting tired, so we headed back to our hostel, stopping at the market on the way to buy some food for dinner. Once we were back at our hostel, we spent some time on the internet and eating, and concluded our evening by watching Across the Universe. I had never seen the movie before, and I loved it. So as we prepared for bed, we blasted the soundtrack and other Beatles music. It was fabulous… but probably not for our neighbors. Haha.
Day Three (Saturday)
It rained pretty much all day Saturday, which was a little bit of a bummer. Due to the bad weather, we had a slow start to the day. We went to the market again, where we discovered squizable nutella. We ate our breakfast in the same park as we had the day before, but that time it wasn’t quite the same. Dreary, drizzly weather does not make for epic breakfasts in the park. Once we were done eating, we went back to the hostel to put warmed clothes on, then wandered around Las Rambas, were we saw tons of random pet vendors, florists, and human statues on the street. Off of that street was this fresh market, with fruit, bread. We all bought some fresh fruit juice – I had kiwi, which was more delicious than I could have even imagined! – and fresh fruit. We then proceeded to go to McDonalds so that we could have a warm, dry place to enjoy our fruit loot from the market. We also bought French fries there, and ate them with our new best friend, the squizable nutella. French fries weren’t the only thing we ate with the nutella, either… we put it on our fruit and rice cakes and bread and cereal. We found such simple joy in just eating nutella on random foods in a random McDonalds in Spain, of all places. I’m pretty sure everyone there thought we were insane; Insane, but extremely happy. That evening, after more wandering around the city, we ate our dinner and watched What a Girl Wants. Only fitting since we ourselves had been to London recently. That evening we went out with some people from the hostel to The Black Cat, where we tried a Harry Potter shot. That is, they line the drinks on the counter, places lemons on top of all them, then light them on fire with this crazy display of some fire baton-looking thing. After that we went to an expensive, sparkly dance club that we were able to get into for free because we went with staff from our hostel. We also received free champagne, which I could not stand, so I dumped most of mine into Laura’s flute. We then salsa-d the night away.
Day Four (Sunday)
We slept in until noon, got ready, and had breakfast/lunch on the rooftop terrace of our hostel. By the time we left our hostel, it was 2 pm. We went to Park Gueill, which was insanely cool. We spent several hours there, then went to Barceloneta beach. We stayed there for several hours, walking along the shore and taking sunset pictures. Then we went back to our hostel, bought some chocolate and Sangria, and watched The Notebook (another first time movie for me)… it was an epic girls night.
Day Five (Monday)
We ate food, went to the beach, froze at the beach, went back to Las Rambas to admire the pet vendors again, and went to Starbucks to warm up. I had a caramel macchiato and a big slice of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. Then we went back to our hostel, ate, spent some time posting pictures online, skyped home, and took siestas. At 9, we went back to the big hill with the museum on top, admired the city view at night, and had a dance party in the rain. We also took more random band photos and music videos. It was the perfect ending to our stay in Barcelona.
Day Six (Tuesday)
We left for the coach that would take us to the airport at 10 am. We were on the coach at 11:30, and at the airport at 12:30. Our flight didn't leave until 5, so we spent 4.5 hours in the airport. Then we had a forty minute delay, after we had already borded the plane, due to rain (of course! although bad weather did make it easier to leave Barcelona) during which I fell asleep. At 7:40, we landed in Malta... where the weather was warm and the sky was blue.
When it rains in Barcelona, it shines in Malta!
The time had finally come for spring break. Months of relentless dreaming of far away European travels were not in vain as I spent my first five days of break in Barcelona, Spain. The reason Hannah, Laura, and I went there of all places was because we were able to get cheap flights there, and from there, to Malta, our next destination. We really had no idea of what there was to do in Barcelona, but to quote an old popular show, the price was right! So, on Thursday afternoon, as soon as Hannah got out of class, we headed to the train station, went to Stanstead Airport, and were on a flight to Barcelona… and we weren’t disappointed. For despite the fact that we knew next to nothing about the city, we had a blast there, and here’s why…
Day One (Thursday)
We arrived at Girona airport at 8:30 pm. From there, we took an hour-long coach ride into Barcelona, found the metro, and attempted to find our hostel. We didn’t have to try very hard; we easily found the hostel, thanks to very detailed directions from the hostel website. Our hostel was really nice; the staff was extremely friendly, the kitchen was clean, the bathrooms were nothing to cringe at, and the rooms were small but tidy, with no butcher knives lying around. Plus, there was free Wi-Fi, which is always a plus, especially since all three of us decided to lug our laptops with us for our Easter Break Adventure… glad to know it wasn’t all for nothing. So, yeah, after a long day of travel, it was good to find a safe, comfortable place waiting for us. We were asleep in no time.
Day Two (Friday)
We slept in and then took our time getting ready for the day. After all, who wants a demanding time schedule when on vacation? We found a small supermarket, grabbed some random food to go, and then found a nice spot in a park to sit down and enjoy our meals. With gorgeous, warm weather and random food, our trip started out amazingly. When our bellies were full and happy, we wandered around to Espanya and to this huge museum on top of this hill – that we took outdoor escalators to get to! - which provided us with an spectacular view of the city! Views tend to make my heart sing, and this time was no different. From there, we meandered through some gardens, took some crazy awesome “band” pictures (a new obsession of ours in which we take timed pictures in ridiculously ace places that make us look like a band), and just enjoyed being there. The gardens brought us to a road that when crossed, lead to the place where Olympics ’92 were held. The place was enormous, almost empty, and completely futuristic looking! Several hours were spent there as we took for random pictures and walked around, in awe of being at the Olympics place. Once we novelty of being there began to remotely wear off, we headed off in a random direction in hopes of finding the beach. What we found was a sketchy part of the city that was off our map, so we took a bus back to the Espanya. By that time, it was getting to be early evening and we were getting tired, so we headed back to our hostel, stopping at the market on the way to buy some food for dinner. Once we were back at our hostel, we spent some time on the internet and eating, and concluded our evening by watching Across the Universe. I had never seen the movie before, and I loved it. So as we prepared for bed, we blasted the soundtrack and other Beatles music. It was fabulous… but probably not for our neighbors. Haha.
Day Three (Saturday)
It rained pretty much all day Saturday, which was a little bit of a bummer. Due to the bad weather, we had a slow start to the day. We went to the market again, where we discovered squizable nutella. We ate our breakfast in the same park as we had the day before, but that time it wasn’t quite the same. Dreary, drizzly weather does not make for epic breakfasts in the park. Once we were done eating, we went back to the hostel to put warmed clothes on, then wandered around Las Rambas, were we saw tons of random pet vendors, florists, and human statues on the street. Off of that street was this fresh market, with fruit, bread. We all bought some fresh fruit juice – I had kiwi, which was more delicious than I could have even imagined! – and fresh fruit. We then proceeded to go to McDonalds so that we could have a warm, dry place to enjoy our fruit loot from the market. We also bought French fries there, and ate them with our new best friend, the squizable nutella. French fries weren’t the only thing we ate with the nutella, either… we put it on our fruit and rice cakes and bread and cereal. We found such simple joy in just eating nutella on random foods in a random McDonalds in Spain, of all places. I’m pretty sure everyone there thought we were insane; Insane, but extremely happy. That evening, after more wandering around the city, we ate our dinner and watched What a Girl Wants. Only fitting since we ourselves had been to London recently. That evening we went out with some people from the hostel to The Black Cat, where we tried a Harry Potter shot. That is, they line the drinks on the counter, places lemons on top of all them, then light them on fire with this crazy display of some fire baton-looking thing. After that we went to an expensive, sparkly dance club that we were able to get into for free because we went with staff from our hostel. We also received free champagne, which I could not stand, so I dumped most of mine into Laura’s flute. We then salsa-d the night away.
Day Four (Sunday)
We slept in until noon, got ready, and had breakfast/lunch on the rooftop terrace of our hostel. By the time we left our hostel, it was 2 pm. We went to Park Gueill, which was insanely cool. We spent several hours there, then went to Barceloneta beach. We stayed there for several hours, walking along the shore and taking sunset pictures. Then we went back to our hostel, bought some chocolate and Sangria, and watched The Notebook (another first time movie for me)… it was an epic girls night.
Day Five (Monday)
We ate food, went to the beach, froze at the beach, went back to Las Rambas to admire the pet vendors again, and went to Starbucks to warm up. I had a caramel macchiato and a big slice of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. Then we went back to our hostel, ate, spent some time posting pictures online, skyped home, and took siestas. At 9, we went back to the big hill with the museum on top, admired the city view at night, and had a dance party in the rain. We also took more random band photos and music videos. It was the perfect ending to our stay in Barcelona.
Day Six (Tuesday)
We left for the coach that would take us to the airport at 10 am. We were on the coach at 11:30, and at the airport at 12:30. Our flight didn't leave until 5, so we spent 4.5 hours in the airport. Then we had a forty minute delay, after we had already borded the plane, due to rain (of course! although bad weather did make it easier to leave Barcelona) during which I fell asleep. At 7:40, we landed in Malta... where the weather was warm and the sky was blue.
When it rains in Barcelona, it shines in Malta!
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