After a quick sight-see around Rome, Celeste travels 30 out of 48 hours to the Greek capital.
I am in Greece!!!!!
The train ride to Rome was really nice because you can see the coast line for some parts which was really pretty. On my first night in Rome I just found a place to stay, had an ice cream bar, and went to bed. The next day I did go to the Colosseum which is an amazing building. Rome was really interesting in that there are ancient Roman ruins poking out at odd places next to commercial buildings.
I hung out there for a while (about 3 hrs) and tried to find that Walks of Rome Tour company but I couldn’t find them so I went to another company close to where I was staying. I did the Vatican Tour and the Night Tour. I was supposed to do the night tour on that day but I got to the meeting point too late (why? got lost! of course). I then just went back to the hostel and went out to dinner with some girls from the east coast. Then we went to a pub, had some beer, and told “men are scum” stories. One girl had some of the best (one of which included twins).
I did do the Vatican tour which was really good and I learned a lot. Went to a “well known” Gelataria (ice cream shop) however, the ice cream was not quite as good as the one I had in Pisa. Italians love ice cream. Then I did the Night Tour which was also very good.
By the way, I had lost my camera in Florence so while I was there I bought another one (oh well, I don’t think about it). While at the Colosseum the other day I also lost my watch down a hole. That makes me very sad as it was a good watch. I tried to get my watch back but to no avail.
The next day I tried to find the catacombs but I couldn’t find the bus stop for the bus to take me there. I then tried to find the Keyhole in which when you look through you get this really awesome view of St. Peter’s Church. I went back to the Enjoy Rome tour place where I’d signed up for the bike tour but no one else signed up besides me. I got my refund, got better directions to the Keyhole, and went out on my merry way.
I did find the Keyhole which is close to a street called Circus Maximus. This is actually an old arena in which chariot races were held. The Keyhole is close to a garden running along side the Circus Maximus on the opposite side of some ancient Roman Ruins. The Keyhole is in these two great dark green doors. As you look through you are looking down an archway of green bushes and right in the middle is the St Peter’s Church dome. That was really cool.
Did you know that most of the buildings in Rome have foundations that were ancient Roman foundations? That is why the city is currently laid out as it is. Some foundations are along stadium seats foundations.
I then had to go really bad and ended up paying 12,000 lira to get into the museum. The museum was on Capitoline Hill and hosts the large statue of Emperor Constantine. The Museum was actually pretty cool. There are two buildings and after you go through one you go down this ancient passage way which I believe is an ancient piazza to enter the other building.
I went back to the hotel where with my new roommates we did the Walks of Rome Pub Crawl. For 25,000 lira you got free beer, free shots at five different pubs, a free t-shirt, and a lot of partying.
The next morning I again barely made it to my train to get to Brindisi which unfortunately had to be the most miserable part of my trip. When I got to Brindisi I went to the first place that accepted Eurail which I later found out that was not what I should have done. I didn’t get ripped off but I certainly had a miserable boat. For 45,000 lira I left Brindisi at 8pm and arrived in Patras the next day at sometime after 2pm. I should have just gone to an actual HML ferry line office and I would have had a better ride.
To make matters worse I had no Greek money. But the next day on my way to Patras I was informed that there was a change bureau on the boat in which I used my US$20 to get about 7,300 drachma. That saved my life because I had enough money to get a decent lunch. By that time my last decent meal was actually about two days prior.
I ended up travelling with a guy who is originally from Japan but studied in Los Angeles for about 5-6 yrs. We get on a train to Athens which took over 5� hours. So between leaving Rome early Saturday morning I arrived in Athens at 9pm Sunday. In two days I have travelled 30 hours. Next time I am flying.
Now I am in Athens, where Kioshi and I ate dinner the first night, and went to bed. That was last night (unbelievable). Today we spent half the day figuring out our plans. I was originally going to Corfu, but that was quashed. From Corfu I was going to go to Santorini, that has also been quashed. Kioshi and I tried to see if I can go to Santorini by air or ferry and neither were going to work because a) ferry takes too long and b) the flight is too expensive.
He and I are actually sharing a room at a hostel in which the name escapes me at the moment. We did have a great Greek Lunch where I had Moussaka and Baklava. It was wonderful. However, that is my last real big meal, because on my first day I had spent quite a bit of drachmas on little stuff like postcards, phone card, entrance to the Acropolis (the only sightseeing thing we did), and a day cruise to some islands which was 17,000 dr (it’s not that bad, you stop at a couple of islands and includes a lunch).
We did go to the Acropolis and hung out there for a couple of hours. I was in awe of the remains that were there. They have been there for over 2000 years and it was really cool.
Kioshi and I are not sure what we are going to do next. We are probably going to take a bus to Delphi to see the oracle. The bus ticket is 3,000 dr and it will take 3� hrs to get there but it makes for a nice day trip.
The next day we are going to do the day cruise and I think by this Thursday (May 25) we are going to just chill. We have to get up about 4:30am to catch a bus to the airport where I am going home (hurrah) and he is continuing his two month tour in Italy.
This will be one of my last logs but I am very thankful for the awesome month of holiday. I saw some fantastic sights, met a lot of really nice people, and most importantly (we’ll see when I actually get back) I have survived!!!
For any and all readers, thank you for taking the time to read my logs. I know some of you may be annoyed with my spelling and grammar errors but if you haven’t figured it out by now I am writing these as I go along. I have to pay for the time!!! In fact I am using a place called Mocafe in Athens to write this log, cost 500 dr/20 min.
I’ll probably give my final log when I actually get home (and oh my God) this weekend! Weird!
Happy Travels!