Sicily, Vulcano, Brindisi, and Greece
So we made it to Sicily, craziest thing ever though. Took a train from Naples, straight to Messina on the Island of Sicily, yes an Island, separated by miles of sea from mainland Italy. How, you ask? Well, obviously, it makes sense to take a train full of people onto a huge ferry and cart them to the island, only to have the train get off the ferry and continue going on the island. Right? What a crazy experience. When the train is in the ferry, you can get out, walk to the deck, buy goodies at the coffee bar, just remember to get back on the train before the boat docks. So we finally made it to Sicily, by train, on a boat.
There were no ferries from Messina to the Aeolian Islands, so we got a hotel that night, and woke up butt early in the morning to ride a bus to Milazzo, that had a few ferries to the islands. Unfortunately, the one to Stomboli, was not running due to bad weather. We instead took one to Vulcano. Still a beautiful island!! It was strange getting off the ferry, to an island that looked like it had maybe 50 people on it. As we walked it though, it was much bigger than we thought. We could immediately smell the sulfur from the sulfur pits and mud bath. We found a little house that had 'apartment' written on it with an old man gardening in the front yard. With few words and guestures, we were able to determine that he might have a place for us to stay. We took it, put our packs down, and headed toward the volcano. It was really, really steep going up, but such gorgeous views. We got the crater area and saw smoke just streaming from the top, moving with the wind. On closer inspection, we could see all the yellow and red and black and white and all the different colors that the rocks changed from minerals and sulfur just constantly passing over them. It was really quite mesemerizing to see so much smoke just coming right out of the ground. Unfortunately, the fumes are toxic, so we headed up the other side of the crater, to the uppermost point. There we could really see the island, and it was quite large, you could also see all the other islands. We could tell we were on the best one.... :)
We had a wonderful lunch of cheese and bread at the top (in one of the less windy areas), headed down to town, and took a siesta, as everyone else was doing the same. We even passed a restaurant, and as we were looking at the prices, the owner came out and told us in broken english, that if we wanted something, he would make it, but otherwise, he was going home to nap.
The next day we took a ferry back to Milazzo, took a train to Paulo, transferred to a train to Consenga, then transferred to Sibari, then to Tarranto, then to Brindisi. Took the whole day. We stayed a night in Brindisi, or Brindizzle as JJ likes to call it, and I took some photos, as my family was stationed there and one time and my sister was born there. It was a cute town. But a short stay. We caught a ferry the next mornging to Greece.
The ferry itself was awesome, beautiful cruise ship style, cafe, lounge, dining room and cabins. No $$ for a cabin though, so we just stayed on the deck. 7 hours on ferry kind of gets to you though. We were running out of things to do, so we were very thankful when we made it to Igoumenitsi. Unfortunately, it was too late at night to catch a bus to Athens, so we had to get another hotel for the night. The hotel was great though, a very friendly greek family running it, bathroom in the room, actual heat in the room, a tv, all luxuries that become commonplace in America....
That night, we got to experience our first real greek gyro. Though, the gyro is not quite like what I thought it was. Gryos is a way of cooking the meat. I tried to get just a pita with cheese and veggies and tzatziki, but with the language barrier and all the guesturing, she ended giving me a pita with pork gyros. I couldn't just throw away meat, that's somewhat against the philosophy I've been living, so I ate it. And it was delicious!! And so cheap, only 1.50 euros for it. The next couple of days, I figured out how to get those without meat. I had a very, very, very good one with a ton of feta that was the best. And they always put fries inside them too. So strange, but oh so good!!
Then we had to get up early to grab a bus to Athens. Almost missed it though, because of the time change. (Forgot to reset my alarm clock, whoops! Btw, thanks Cecelia and Thor for that - it's helped tremendously!)
Trains are nice because you can get up and walk, there's a bathroom, so much more leg room, but a bus for fricken 8 hours to Athens with an obnoxious guy who cares about no one but himself is just hell!! His phone was SO loud with the most annoying ring tone I have EVER heard!! And he would get a call 3 times an hour!! And when he answered it, he chose to cover up the mouth piece and hold it vertically to his neck so that he would have to shout for the other person on the phone to hear him. It was really quite great.... And every time I woke up to that stupid ring tone, I had such terrible thoughts about what I could do with him and his cell phone. Probably a sleepy stupor was making me a little more angry than I should have been....
But otherwise, the countryside was beautiful. So many hills and water everywhere. I really wish we could make it to more of Greece, but time just won't allow us. From what people say, it sounds like there are some very beautiful places we could travel.
We finally got into Athens, but the bus stop was way out in the 'burbs. We found our way into the intercity and found a hostel. It was a nice place, right next to the Acropolis, but we found cheaper accomodations for the next two nights.
The Acropolis was incredible. So much stuff still existing after 2500 years!! It's really just unbelievable. And we saw the oldest theater ever built. Could seat about 70,000 people. It's really quite insane. It's also amazing how similar the greek culture from 2000 years ago is so similar to ours. They have all the features we do, even similar judicial structure and government. Just being here and realizing all of this, is more than I can really take in. It's so strange....
Today, we went to Lycavittos Hill. A gorgeous place right in the middle of the city. A huge hill, completely wooded, just beautiful to walk up it. We also found a big outdoor food market. So much yummy food, I think J and I were going a little crazy buying everything we could. We got one kilo of clementines for only 0.50. And the oranges here are so good. We think it must be orange season, because they are everywhere!! And every time we get them, they are so good!!
Tonight, we finally found baklava! It was everything I had hoped it would be. When you bite into it, sugary juices just run from the pastry and fill your mouth. It really is something I can't quite describe, and I know I won't have that taste again in the states. I will just have to journal about it, then I can drool a little more when I read that entry in the future.
Tomorrow, we are getting a train to Patras, so that we can take a 21 hour ferry to Ancona, Italy. It kind of sucks, it's so long, but it's only 10 euros, so can't really pass it up. And again, no cabin, so we'll be sleeping on the deck. (Btw, deck doesn't mean outside on the actual deck, just in case you were wondering. There are couches and lounges inside that we'll be sleeping on...)
Well, I've been on this computer way too long. Gotta get moving, keep the blood flowing.
Hope everyone is doing well.
Talk to you again, in Italy (maybe).
Love
Ems
There were no ferries from Messina to the Aeolian Islands, so we got a hotel that night, and woke up butt early in the morning to ride a bus to Milazzo, that had a few ferries to the islands. Unfortunately, the one to Stomboli, was not running due to bad weather. We instead took one to Vulcano. Still a beautiful island!! It was strange getting off the ferry, to an island that looked like it had maybe 50 people on it. As we walked it though, it was much bigger than we thought. We could immediately smell the sulfur from the sulfur pits and mud bath. We found a little house that had 'apartment' written on it with an old man gardening in the front yard. With few words and guestures, we were able to determine that he might have a place for us to stay. We took it, put our packs down, and headed toward the volcano. It was really, really steep going up, but such gorgeous views. We got the crater area and saw smoke just streaming from the top, moving with the wind. On closer inspection, we could see all the yellow and red and black and white and all the different colors that the rocks changed from minerals and sulfur just constantly passing over them. It was really quite mesemerizing to see so much smoke just coming right out of the ground. Unfortunately, the fumes are toxic, so we headed up the other side of the crater, to the uppermost point. There we could really see the island, and it was quite large, you could also see all the other islands. We could tell we were on the best one.... :)
We had a wonderful lunch of cheese and bread at the top (in one of the less windy areas), headed down to town, and took a siesta, as everyone else was doing the same. We even passed a restaurant, and as we were looking at the prices, the owner came out and told us in broken english, that if we wanted something, he would make it, but otherwise, he was going home to nap.
The next day we took a ferry back to Milazzo, took a train to Paulo, transferred to a train to Consenga, then transferred to Sibari, then to Tarranto, then to Brindisi. Took the whole day. We stayed a night in Brindisi, or Brindizzle as JJ likes to call it, and I took some photos, as my family was stationed there and one time and my sister was born there. It was a cute town. But a short stay. We caught a ferry the next mornging to Greece.
The ferry itself was awesome, beautiful cruise ship style, cafe, lounge, dining room and cabins. No $$ for a cabin though, so we just stayed on the deck. 7 hours on ferry kind of gets to you though. We were running out of things to do, so we were very thankful when we made it to Igoumenitsi. Unfortunately, it was too late at night to catch a bus to Athens, so we had to get another hotel for the night. The hotel was great though, a very friendly greek family running it, bathroom in the room, actual heat in the room, a tv, all luxuries that become commonplace in America....
That night, we got to experience our first real greek gyro. Though, the gyro is not quite like what I thought it was. Gryos is a way of cooking the meat. I tried to get just a pita with cheese and veggies and tzatziki, but with the language barrier and all the guesturing, she ended giving me a pita with pork gyros. I couldn't just throw away meat, that's somewhat against the philosophy I've been living, so I ate it. And it was delicious!! And so cheap, only 1.50 euros for it. The next couple of days, I figured out how to get those without meat. I had a very, very, very good one with a ton of feta that was the best. And they always put fries inside them too. So strange, but oh so good!!
Then we had to get up early to grab a bus to Athens. Almost missed it though, because of the time change. (Forgot to reset my alarm clock, whoops! Btw, thanks Cecelia and Thor for that - it's helped tremendously!)
Trains are nice because you can get up and walk, there's a bathroom, so much more leg room, but a bus for fricken 8 hours to Athens with an obnoxious guy who cares about no one but himself is just hell!! His phone was SO loud with the most annoying ring tone I have EVER heard!! And he would get a call 3 times an hour!! And when he answered it, he chose to cover up the mouth piece and hold it vertically to his neck so that he would have to shout for the other person on the phone to hear him. It was really quite great.... And every time I woke up to that stupid ring tone, I had such terrible thoughts about what I could do with him and his cell phone. Probably a sleepy stupor was making me a little more angry than I should have been....
But otherwise, the countryside was beautiful. So many hills and water everywhere. I really wish we could make it to more of Greece, but time just won't allow us. From what people say, it sounds like there are some very beautiful places we could travel.
We finally got into Athens, but the bus stop was way out in the 'burbs. We found our way into the intercity and found a hostel. It was a nice place, right next to the Acropolis, but we found cheaper accomodations for the next two nights.
The Acropolis was incredible. So much stuff still existing after 2500 years!! It's really just unbelievable. And we saw the oldest theater ever built. Could seat about 70,000 people. It's really quite insane. It's also amazing how similar the greek culture from 2000 years ago is so similar to ours. They have all the features we do, even similar judicial structure and government. Just being here and realizing all of this, is more than I can really take in. It's so strange....
Today, we went to Lycavittos Hill. A gorgeous place right in the middle of the city. A huge hill, completely wooded, just beautiful to walk up it. We also found a big outdoor food market. So much yummy food, I think J and I were going a little crazy buying everything we could. We got one kilo of clementines for only 0.50. And the oranges here are so good. We think it must be orange season, because they are everywhere!! And every time we get them, they are so good!!
Tonight, we finally found baklava! It was everything I had hoped it would be. When you bite into it, sugary juices just run from the pastry and fill your mouth. It really is something I can't quite describe, and I know I won't have that taste again in the states. I will just have to journal about it, then I can drool a little more when I read that entry in the future.
Tomorrow, we are getting a train to Patras, so that we can take a 21 hour ferry to Ancona, Italy. It kind of sucks, it's so long, but it's only 10 euros, so can't really pass it up. And again, no cabin, so we'll be sleeping on the deck. (Btw, deck doesn't mean outside on the actual deck, just in case you were wondering. There are couches and lounges inside that we'll be sleeping on...)
Well, I've been on this computer way too long. Gotta get moving, keep the blood flowing.
Hope everyone is doing well.
Talk to you again, in Italy (maybe).
Love
Ems