April 25 - Italy and a taste of Greece

Having a hard time finding time to post since we've been enjoying ourselves so much, but now is the time. We are staying in a hotel with a computer and free internet. Let's start at the beginning... Venice Venice was a gorgeous, magical city. I loved it. I loved all the tall, close packed, slightly crooked buildings with window shutters, laundry, flags, plants, and other items hanging off the sides; the narrow alley ways that would always lead to somewhere new and exciting (or into a canal); and of course the narrow canals. It was a sight I had never seen before - a city built on water. The whole time I imagined James Bond and sung the theme song in my head. One evening there was even a live band playing the theme song in Piazza San Marco! The place was full of old buildings and beautiful Italian basilicas, all with a single tall, crooked bell tower that looked about the same, which made us think we kept circling back to the same building. We visited Piazza San Marco with the beautiful Basilica of San Marco and toured Doge's palace and prisons attached by the Bridge of Sighs. Then we walked along the waterfront, stopping at lots of little stands to look at the very cool carnival masquerade masks (to Mike's chagrin) and paintings. It was a beautiful day so we ate some pizza and wine at an outdoor restaurant facing the water. Italian pizza is very simple and fresh, with thinner crust than your average North American pizza...quite tasty. We also had some gelato, which to my disappointment was even more expensive than gelato in Vancouver!! In my opinion it was about the same quality as well (very delicious), but I was surprised to find out that the lemon (or limone) gelato was the next best thing to all the chocolate/hazel nut-y flavours. Of course we had to look into a ride through the canals in a gondola, because how could you go to Venice and NOT do that, and were VERY disappointed to discover how EXPENSIVE it was!!! 80 EUR for 30 min, 100 EUR for 40!!!! Shocked and appalled. I didn't want to give up so easily though, so we strategically sat by one of the gondolier stands until we found two tourists with a baby to split the ride with. We gave them the luxury/romantic chairs that faced forward while we sat on these tiny little uncomfortable side facing seats, but it was worth it. Seeing Venice from the canal point of view was very cool. There were also lots of very long speed boats (like James Bond boat chase) that navigated the canals superbly. I couldn't believe how the gondolas and speed boats avoided each other and never hit any walls in these very narrow canals. You must need a very special drivers license to drive these boats. Thank god they don't rent them out to tourists. In the end we only paid 40 EUR for 40 min...which I think was worth it. How often do you get an experience like that?? Our gondolier even sung for a bit - haha. The other thing we tried to do in Venice was get lost. We tried SO hard, but we always ended up back at the piazza or the waterfront. Eventually we stopped trying and attempted to make our way back to our hotel...and that's when we got lost. We ended up in some "campo" where a lot of locals hung out, and stood staring at a map for long enough that a very nice old Italian man came and pointed us in the right direction. Turns out we still barely left our little touristy region. They really set that place up to trap tourists... One thing we were surprised about was that the place was packed with little canal-side restaurants and tourists during the day, but at night the place was nearly vacant! I tried to find a bunch of restaurants I had seen earlier, but all were closed up! That's when we realized what a day-tripper destination Venice was. We ended up spending 2 nights and one day there, and took a water bus (instead of a regular bus - no vehicles on Venice streets - painfully slow though) to the train station early on the last morning to catch a train to Florence. Florence At first, after magical and very unique Venice, I was a little disappointed by Florence. It was another fairly big city, with the same kind of tall buildings and narrow cobble stone streets, but this time there were cars on the streets and very narrow sidewalks, and SO many tourists. You were always dodging tourists on the sidewalks. Florence did grow on me though. We went to the Accademia Gallery and saw the statue of David by Michelangelo (huge!), as well as many other Renaissance statues and paintings. I was very (pleasantly) surprised by how much Mike enjoyed the galleries and cultural aspects such as cathedrals! He spent more time than I would have! We also saw the two fake Davids - one in the Piazza della Signoria, where we also saw a statue of Neptune with weird little creatures all around him...a LOT of naked male body parts... and a second up at the top of a lookout point. We also saw some gorgeous, huge cathedrals such as the Basilica Di Santa Maria Del Fiore Florence, whose dome is visible above most other buildings in Florence. I really started to enjoy Florence more when we crossed the beautiful river (on a bridge that buildings and stores on it!) and saw some of the quieter, less touristy and urban streets. The other side of the river was more hilly, and we walked up a giant hill to get to a lookout point, where we could see some of the Tuscan countryside, and the old wall that surrounds the city. It was stunning. I realized that the best Italian experience for me was not within the urban areas at museums, but out in the gorgeous countryside, so the next day we went on a bike tour through Tuscany. It was one of my favourite things. We were given really high quality hybrid road bikes, thankfully, because Tuscany is VERY hilly! There were a lot of uphills on the way there, but we had a very good, strong group so it went really well. It absolutely poured rain on us for about 15 minutes and completely soaked us, but otherwise the weather was quite nice. We road past lots of olive trees and wineries, grassy and tree covered hills, and learned about how they make wine and olive oil in Tuscany. We learned that the Chianti wine is made according to very strict regulations, one of which is that farmers aren't allowed to irrigate their crops! The wineries have to wait up to a few months to get each batch of wine approved by the Chianti wine commission. We saw lots of beautiful villas, some of which certain important government figures (even Galileo) were placed under house arrest in (I would love that!!). We got to stop for lunch at a villa owned by a real prince (unfortunately I can't remember the name...), where they made wine and olive oil, and meals all from fresh ingredients grown on their property. We had a delicious fennel and fetta appetizer, followed by a vegetable soup, and completed with a tomato-based pasta (with some kind of Italian bacon), and got to taste lots of red wines that even Mike and I liked. Our favourite was the Super Tuscan, a wine made in Tuscany with imported French grapes and traditions, but one of the chiantis we liked as well. The olive oil was delicious and we were told to drizzle it over all of our courses, and we ended up buying some to take home. Let's hope we can get it through customs! We took a tour of their wine and olive oil making facilities as well and were taught about the process in which they are made. On the return ride we stopped for gelato, and it was more the price range I was expecting - around 1 EUR - and DELCIOUS. Apparently it was made fresh every day and the extras thrown out each night. I thought I should hunt that place down at night and offer to take those... I really would have liked to spend more time in the Tuscan countryside, but that will have to be saved for another trip. We had to press on to Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre A few friends told us about this place. It consists of 5 little ocean-side towns along the Northwest coast of Italy, in a very mountainous region. All are connected by hiking trails, as well as a road and train. Unfortunately the ease of travel with train meant that there were a LOT of tourists again, but it was still beautiful and totally worth it. We stored our big bags in La Spezia and then took a very quick train to the first tiny town. The towns were all situated on steep mountain sides and consisted of a small jumble of colourful buildings - very photogenic. A flood/landslide in November (or Oct?) had damaged some of the towns and the seaside path that connected them, so we had to take the more difficult higher hiking trail. I enjoyed it, because the paved, flat sea wall type thing had WAY too many tourists, and a lot of them old. The hiking trail was something else. What would have been a half hour walk was a 2.5 hour hike up tiny little stairways, ledges and pathways that climbed and circled the steep mountains that fell off into the ocean. It took Mike and I at least a half hour of wandering on random, unmarked paths until we finally found the main trail. At one point we even ended up walking in a farmer's terraces of grape vines by mistake. The hike was very steep and tiring (thank god we left our big bags behind), but really amazing and picturesque. We ended up staying in the central town, Corneglia, in a very cool room with a second floor with a balcony, where we had Cinque Terre wine and played cards that night. We tried gnocchi with the famous Cinque Terre pesto for dinner - very delcious. Corneglia was a very cute little town, with a little jumble of buildings perched on a small mountain by the sea and surrounded by lemon trees. I really liked it. The next bit of seaside path was also destroyed, which would have meant a 4.5 hour hike over the steep mountains ot the 4th town, followed by another 2.5 hours to the last town. Mike did NOT want to do the 4.5 hours, and I admit that my legs were also very tired from all the steep stairs the day before (and the bike ride before that!) so we skipped the hike and trained to the 4th town (which was sadly very demolished and being repaired), and then hiked to the last town. The last town was a lot bigger and more touristy, but very beautiful again. We were going to spend the night there, but were warned about a day and a half long train strike, so we had to press on to Rome that day. Rome Since we weren't able to find internet access in Cinque Terre, all we had to decide on a hostel in Rome was a brief 15 min of internet in La Spezia while waiting for our train. All the hostels were super expensive, so we decided to just show up at one of the cheaper ones we could find (20 EUR/night each :S) and hope they had room. We had to walk through an alley to get to the hostel, and when we were buzzed in we were faced with a dingy reception area, with a crowd of Indian guys surrounding the guy at the desk, with loud Indian music playing. We were already a bit skeptical (he tried to charge us 25 EUR instead of 20 for the room, but we called his bluff and threatened to leave) but then we saw the rooms - white walls covered in dirt and hand prints...something out of some insane asylum horror movie. We did a few checks for bed bugs that night for sure. However, we discovered that the hostel did have some nice aspects...such as feather comforters, personal lockers, and a kitchen to make our own breakfast, and that coupled with the fact that Mike's back was hurting a lot and the other hostels were at least 8 EUR more expensive led us to stay there for the next 2 nights. Mike and I are quite tolerant of poor accommodation...especially if it's cheap! The location was also quite convenient, near a metro station. Our first day in Rome started out a bit stressful, with no guide book or advice, but merely a blown up map with no scale to find our way. We went to the horse racing tracks by the Colosseum and wandered for at least 30 minutes before we could find the entrance to the adjacent ruins. That's when we realized that Rome was maybe a bit too big to do our usual walking tour of, so after that point we signed up for a hop on hop off bus. After waiting in a 1.5 hour line, we got to wander through the Palatino brick ruins of ancient Rome, and then saw the Colosseum. It was interesting to see all the maze-like passageways that existed under the stage. We then hopped on the bus, and got off to see other marvels such as the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain, a market at Campo di Fiore, etc. Our legs were absolutely dead by the end of the day. We also bought tickets for a cheap opera - La Traviata by Verdi, because if you see opera once in your life, it might as well be in Italy...and of course it lived up to the cheap price. We entered a room with fold out chairs and a tiny set, and joked about the "orchestra" that was hiding behind the little Asian foldy-wall things, not looking forward to the travesty that was awaiting us. We burst out laughing after we heard a piano (the "orchestra") playing from behind the foldy walls, and a few poorly acting singers came out and started singing, and an old man in the front row took a very loud flash photo. It was REALLY hard to stop laughing. But, in the end, the singers were quite talented, and the acting got better, and although we couldn't really understand the story line in Italian and the set wasn't exciting, the costumes were great and we ended up enjoying it (/Mike didn't think it was THAT bad). I was glad we went. The next day we waited in a 1.5-2 hour line to get into the Vatican museum, which mainly just had a bunch of old Renaissance paintings and long hallways. It was still interesting though. We also saw the Sistine Chapel, and I was super disappointed because I thought the ceiling that Michelangelo painted (and the famous scene with the dudes on the clouds) was in a big domed ceiling room...but instead it was a dark, stuffy, rectangular room. FULL of tourists. I didn't last there long. I was a bit restless, so took a nice long shopping break before going to Saint Peter's Basicila (unfortunately for Mike, but it had to be done once while I was in Italy - and I bought a LOT of clothes!). We waited in another long line to get into the basilica, but it was worth it. It was massive inside, with sculptures of popes and religious figures, domed ceilings with paintings, etc. By the end of the day, we had decided we were pretty much done with Rome, as interesting as it was, and were ready to catch our flight the next morning to Santorini, Greece. Santorini, Greece Well, I have found my heaven, or at least one version of it, and it is Greece. I had decided after 2 hours of being here that I LOVE this country. We landed on the small, crescent shaped island (which was once the edge of a volcano crater) and were picked up by our hotel from the airport. I found a GREAT deal for our accommodation. In fact, all accommodation here was SUPER CHEAP due to the economic crisis and low season I'm guessing. There were double room high end hostels with pools for 14 EUR each, but we decided to go for a higher end hotel with an amazing view and buffet breakfast for 5 EUR more each, and boy was it worth it!! Our white, stucco hotel clings to the side of a cliff which overlooks the water/inside of the crater and a wall of cliffs on the western edge of the island, and we were upgraded to a sea view room (due to the lack of people at the hotel). Our room has 3 floors, one with the bed, one with a living area and balcony that overlooks a STUNNING view, and one with the bathroom with a jacuzzi tub. WOW. There's a pool area with glass walls that overlooks the ocean, with lounge chairs and umbrellas, and a nice outdoor courtyard where breakfast is served every morning. It is AMAZING. We are living the life. Today we mostly relaxed/read/swam in the pool (it was around 25 degrees...we got a bit burnt), and also wandered into town. The people here are just amazing too. Super kind, generous, and laid back. The family that runs the hotel is really great and friendly. We also discovered a restaurant with just the cutest, nicest little man who runs it. He is hilarious. After we finished our delcious Greek beers, he said "I never liked that beer. (pause) Too small." and grinned a very big grin. He gave us some great recommendations for food (I tried mousaka for the first time and Mike chicken souvlaki, and we had an amazing appetizer with tomato, egg plant and peppers in a tomato sauce, with a spicy feta cheese dip on the side). The food was AMAZING, with so much flavour. Such a nice change from the very repetitive/plain Italian pizzas and pastas we had been eating for a week (wasn't in the end overly impressed by Italian pastas...they were too oily for my liking and not enough spices). We were back there again tonight, and I had genista (a roasted pepper and tomato stuffed with rice and ground meat), with tzatsiki....DELCIOUS. After every meal the guy gives us a free dessert (some kind of cold pastry with ground nuts) and a shot of...grappa? And Mike watches the first half of a champion league soccer game while I play with the cat and kitten that live in the restaurant. I think we will go there every night. We were planning on maybe island hopping once more to Naxos before heading back to Athens, but the amount of travel time between places has left us with little time to actually spend in each location (such as the 8+ hour ferry to Athens!) so we decided to stay on Santorini instead. The very nice owners let us add another night in our amazing sea view room for the same price. What we paid for 4 nights (under $200) was less than the room is normally supposed to cost for 1 night! There's also lots to see and do still, such as a hike along the cliff of the crater, kayaking, and motor bike around the island :). So...we love Greece. We are wondering why everyone we know hasn't been here already, because it is absolutely amazing. Why visit Europe and NOT see Greece? I am going to be this country's biggest advertiser from now on :).