Prague

Prague- November 26-28th, 2011

Prague was amazing. If any city can get you in the Christmas spirit, it is Prague. The night we arrived, we realized how beautiful Prague was, even at night- everything was lit up, and the streets were lined with gas lamps. We got there late that night, so we got some dinner and headed to bed. I have to say, the currency exchange here was odd at first! They do not use Euros, they use Czech Crowns. Basically the exchange rate was about 25 crowns = 1 euro. Taking 3500 crowns out for the weekend sounded odd, but it was really only 130 euros! I quickly became accustomed to the exchange rate, and I actually liked their currency.

Although it was very cold that Saturday, we ventured out for the entire day. Our first stop was the Christmas festival in the main square (this was the first day of the festival). Everything was covered in decorations and lights, and a giant tree sat in the middle of the square. When we first entered the square, I saw the biggest dog I have ever seen in my life. It was like a small horse or a wolf, but it wasn’t… at least I don’t think it was. We saw four more of these strange dogs this weekend so we decided they are native to the area. We shopped at the vendors and listened to the Christmas music for a while before heading up to a monastery up on a hill overlooking the city for lunch. Apparently the monastery is a well-known brewery in the area so for lunch we all grabbed a beer and some goulash at the monastery’s restaurant- it was good! Later that day, we walked around the Prague Castle and adjoining church, and then we headed back down the hill where we went to the main square again to see it at night, and then to dinner. Being in Prague is like being in a fairytale- everything seems like it is straight out of a movie.

The next day we decided to sleep in a little. Once we woke up, we headed to the Prague tower, and went to the top to see the main square from above. Prague was even more beautiful from that view than it is on the ground… which is saying a lot. One thing I noticed about Prague was how clean it was. Every building looked freshly painted and the streets were clean- however maybe I feel this way coming from Italy, which is not clean. After we climbed the tower, we grabbed some sausages and my first Trdelnik of the weekend. Best served warm, Trdelnik is sweet dough covered in honey, wrapped around a metal bar, and slowly spun over a flame until crisp and golden. The little dessert cylinders were roasting on every corner. The outside is coated in sugar and almond pieces- It was finger-licking, mouth-watering goodness. The perfect treat on a cold day. I proceeded to eat three more of these this weekend. We started calling them turtlenecks because we didn’t know how to pronounce them- they are kind of a turtleneck shape too! After lunch, we headed to the Dancing Houses by Frank Gehry. These were a little less impressive than I imagined them to be, however after being in a historic city, seeing a very modern building was a little shocking. I like seeing pictures of this building away from this site, however being situated on a busy intersection takes away the interest of the site. We walked back into town along the river (hopefully burning some of the calories from the two Trdelnik’s I consumed earlier) and stopped in a few shops along the way. Later that day we stopped by the Alphonse Mucha museum’s gift shop. We didn’t want to pay the 200 crowns to get in to see an artist we didn’t really know much about, so we decided we could see some of his art from the posters in the gift shop. I actually like his work, very Art Nouveau. To finish our day, we continued to shop around some of the vendors and we grabbed dinner from a vendor at the Christmas festival. We didn’t have a ton of crowns left, so we had to be wise with what we spent our money on for dinner, but we succeeded in spending all of our crowns down to the penny.

The next morning I was sad to leave such a beautiful place. It was a really nice trip—my last trip of the semester :(- but it was a good one. I have one more week of hard work in studio before heading home on the 11th!

Thanksgiving!

November 24, 2011

We had the largest Thanksgiving meal I have ever had/probably will ever have in my entire life. Everyone was in charge of making one dish, so we all gave our ingredients to Sylvia (Villa coordinator) and she ordered them all to the villa. It was funny because they do not have the same type of ingredients/food in Italy that we have in the states. Marshmellows are not like marshmellows we have.. they were special marshmellows in fruit shapes. Sweet potatoes are not orange... they are white, so our sweet potato caserole was white potatoes with pink and greek and blue marshmellows on top.. it looked a little odd, but it sure did taste good! They dont have graham crackers to make cheesecake crusts, so I used coookies. The peanut butter comes in a tiny jar, so when they only had one jar at one store, they had to go to another store to find more. Cream of mushroom soup is a rarity, so we were a little short in that department for the greenbean caserole. Our turkeys were the size of a small elephant.. we had two. For the rest of our menu, we had stuffing(oh they dont have stuffing here, so we cut up all the ingredients ourselves), twice baked poatatoes(but they dont have baking potatoes, or cheddar cheese), brocolli, asparagus, sweet bread, corn pudding(corn does not come in cans either), chicken wings and soup, cranberry sauce, sangria, wine, cheesecake, pumpkin pie(they could only find two cans, so they suggested we cut up our own pumpkin to make this), apple pie, buckeyes, chocolate/coconut pie.. and that is all I can remember. Basically, everyone made one of their favorite dishes, and the entire thing was very impressive, amazing really, given our cooking circumstances.. and the oven that has no temperature settings. It was fun to share our Thanksgiving with the Italians who work at the villa and their families!

Milan.... again

Milan Day Trip: November, 22, 2011

On our last day trip we went to Milan again. While we went to see older architecture in the first trip, this trip was solely new, contemporary architecture. We went to two different fair grounds in Milan, both of which have modern structures, and we went to two very cool museums. One was a design museum in the Palazzo del'Arte, and it was a design museum full of different kinds of chairs. There was so many different chair designs, and the fun part was that you could test most of them out. They had a bunch of other furniture, light fixtures, and ceramic desings around the gallery as well. One of the "chairs" looked like a bunch of green foam sticks sticking up from the ground in a big room that had windows opening up to the sky. We finally figured out that it was supposed to be like giant grass, and you could lay on them. It was supposed to mimic laying in the grass and looking at the clouds. I felt like an ant in the giant grass! The other museum was the Novecento museum which was located right next to the duomo. This was full of famous art my nineteenth century artists... another cool museum to see. I am sad that day trips are over! I really enjoyed traveling to all of the small/large towns around Genoa... a very neat part of this program!

Como

Como Day Trip: November 15,2011

Our day trip last week was to Como, Italy. Most people know this town for its beautiful lake sandwiched between Italy and the Swiss Alps. Architects(mainly those in Italy) know this town for its rationalist architecture(basically fascist architecture). We did a roundabout tour of the architecture in this town mainly all created by Guissepe Terragni. Personally, I was more impressed by the lake more than anything, and this cool tree we found in the middle of a main square- the rationalist/fascist architecture does not really hold my attention very long. I would like to come back here someday to enjoy the lake more(preferably in the summertime... it was very cold!) Only one more day trip left!

Caserta

Caserta, November 13th, 2011

Our final day was a half day visit to Caserta, which the best way to describe this is the Versailles of Italy. Apparently they used this castle to film Star Wars: Phantom Menace- however this didn’t really mean anything to me. The gardens of Caserta were huge, but not as huge and magnificent as those at Versailles. On the flip side, I was more impressed with the interior of Caserta than I was of Versailles. Maybe this was because it was more clear what rooms served what purpose. It might also have been because we had a guide, and it was not nearly as crowded as Versailles was. After taking a tour of the castle, of which we maybe saw one eighth of, we went into the gardens for a few hours. One part of the gardens that I was extremely impressed with was what they call the “English garden”. This garden was less uniform and had a more romantic feel. It was full of exotic plants and ponds, and everything grew naturally, it was not as pristine as the main part of the garden. At three, we finally left for our seven hour journey home. Even though the beds at the hotel the night before were heavenly, I was glad to get back to the villa and settle in once again.

Pompei

Pompei, November 12th, 2011

With two days left in our final week long trip, we went further south to visit Pompei. Once again, Pompei was something I had studied throughout school, so I was excited to see it in person. Pompei was a city that was destroyed by the volcano Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD and was preserved by the volcanic rock throughout the centuries. Pompei was different than other ruins I have seen because it is more intact and you can really see how these people lived in their everyday lives. It was a lot easier to imagine people living in this place than it was in Rome and in Athens when visiting those ruins. There were many homes preserved, full of mosaics and frescos on the walls which would not have been preserved without the volcanic rocks. It was really neat to see a clear network of streets in this city with functional buildings surrounding them, such as thermal baths, homes, markets, churches, kitchens, bathrooms etc. I have to say, although these ruins do not have as much meaning and significance as those in Rome and Greece, they were the most interesting to me just for the fact that you can see functional spaces of a city existing so long ago. That night we stayed in Naples, which I have to say, I wouldn’t want to explore much other than my hotel room. Driving through the city, it just seemed extremely dirty with trash flying everywhere and stores closed. Our hotel room was amazing though- the best hotel room of any I stayed in throughout Europe.

When in Rome...

Trip Three: Rome November 8th-11th, 2011

After a morning of train rides, we finally arrived in Rome around lunchtime. After arriving in our hotel (on the same block as the Pantheon), we had to grab a quick lunch in order to make it to the Coliseum and the Roman Forum before they closed their doors at 3:30. On our walk to the Coliseum, it started raining a little, but not too hard. I was thinking I should buy an umbrella from one of the street vendors, but I thought for sure that it would stop raining if I bought one. Once it started raining little harder, I quickly bargained for an umbrella, and it ended up being the best three euros I have spent in a long time. Right after we entered the Coliseum, it started down pouring and it didn’t stop until six that night. The Coliseum was pretty much how I expected to be- big and impressive. It was really cool to see but it was a bit hard for me to imagine what it was like in its hay day. We walked around the Coliseum for a while before heading out to visit the Roman Forum… once again in the rain. The Roman Forum is something you should visit when it is nice outside. I was too busy watching where I was stepping to really take in the sites as well as I should. Once again, I had a hard time visualizing how the site would be fully constructed, as most of the ruins are very eroded, but it was really cool to think that the ancient Romans walked in the same spot surrounded by the same buildings that I was walking in at the time. After visiting these two sites, we walked back to the hotel to get dry clothes on and to rest for a little before dinner.

infront of the forum

Our second day in Rome started with the Pantheon quickly followed by the Piazza Navona. The Pantheon was really neat to see after studying it in many classes, and I though the inside of the Pantheon was beautiful- it amazing they could build something like this so long ago. After the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona, we went to roughly ten churches around the city designed mainly by Borromini and Bernini, some of which included the Chiesa di Sant’Andrea Del Quirinale, the Chiesa di San Carolino Alle Quattro Fontane, and the Chiesa di Sant Maria della Vittoria. I couldn’t tell you which one was which, as they all had similar characteristics, but each one was beautiful! We also passed by the Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps which were less impressive then I thought they would be, and swarming with tourists. After a day of walking ALL over the city, I was glad to be back at the hotel and able to kick off my shoes!

sketching at the Parthenon

the group on the Spanish Steps

Our third of four days in Rome started out bright and early with the Vatican museum. I was eager to see this museum after hearing so much about it and studying it throughout school. My favorite parts of the museum were seeing Raphael’s work, and of course the Sistine Chapel. I have to say, they were nothing as I imagined them to be. While I did enjoy them, for some reason I imagined Raphael’s works, such as The School of Athens, to be in a much bigger room than it was in, along with his other works. I also imagined them to be a lot bigger, even though they were pretty big. The Sistine chapel was also really neat to see, however I thought it would too be a lot bigger than it was. I thought the room itself would be double the length and width and the ceiling would be a little higher. Although the size of the room was a little disappointing, the Michelangelo’s paintings did not disappoint me. They were as grandiose and magnificent as I was told they would be, and the amount of paintings covering the walls and ceilings of this chapel, along with the rest of the Vatican museum, was amazing. I have never seen such a ornamented place, ever. After the Vatican museum, we headed to St. Peters Basilica which I honestly did not know a whole lot about. I remember studying it in my art history classes, but it kind of blended with some of the other buildings I had studied. Once we arrived, I immediately remembered the square in front of the basilica (with all of the pillars), but I still did not remember the building itself. Upon entering however, I was blown away. Maybe I was so blown away because I didn’t really know what to expect, but I have to say, this is definitely tied for first (with the Sagrada Familia) as one of my favorite churches. I don’t think you can explain this place to anyone; they really have to see it in person to understand the enormity and opulence of it. The size, ornamentation, paintings, sculptures… everything… was over the top and amazing. After the basilica, we got lunch and made our way to the EUR which is home to many of the Fascist architecture buildings we studied in our Italian Rationalism class. These buildings were the opposite of what we had seen earlier this day. While they were interesting to see, they did not blow me away like St. Peter’s. The coolest Rationalist building we saw was probably the Palazzo della Civilta Italiana which is the building I picked for a paper and project for this class. So while we were visiting it, I was able to take many pictures of the now vacant building (but I could not go inside).

outside St. Peters

inside St. Peters

EUR building

Our last day in Rome (11-11-11… yes I made a wish at 11:11am) was dedicated to contemporary buildings. We started by seeing the Palazzetto dello sport, which was an Olympic stadium used in Rome’s 1960 something Olympics. While the building itself was not that impressive, I was impressed that it was built so long ago, and the design is still contemporary and interesting. After that, we headed to the Maxxi museum, which was designed by Zaha Hadid. This museum housed art all from the 21st century, so some of the art was really odd, and made me wonder why it was art. While the art was not too impressive to me, I thought the design of the building was interesting and it was fun to be in that interesting of a space. I need to take a look at Zaha Hadid’s contemporary art museum in Cincinnati now and compare them. After the Maxxi, we went to the Auditorium Parco della musica by Renzo Piano. This is a complex of three auditoriums housed in individual blobs (the best description I can think of). Although I call it a blob, they were beautiful blobs, especially the interior of them, and more specifically the largest auditorium. They were all engineered to have the best acoustics possible for the space, therefore it was amazing that such an interesting space could be made to have such good acoustics! Towards the end of the day, we visited the Ara Pacis museum by Richard Meier, and then we headed to see the Campidoglio by Michelangelo.

inside the Maxxi museum

inside concert hall

Siena

Trip 3: Siena November 7th,2011

Upon arrival in Siena, we quickly dropped our bag at the hotel, which was a little more medieval than our previous hotel, and headed to the Piazza del Campo to grab a quick lunch. The Piazza del Campo is famous for its horse races which are held twice a year on July 2nd and August 16th, and it also houses the Palazzo Comunale which has the largest tower in the city. Of course, we climbed the tower- our second big trek upward of the day (after the Duomo that morning). The view from the top was amazing! You could see the extents of the small winding city with the hills and olive groves in the background. Now I know why people think Tuscany is so beautiful! After climbing the tower we headed to the Piazza del Duomo to see the Santa Caterina Cathedral and its Baptistery. Once again, this huge church was very similar to many other churches we have seen, however I have to say for some reason it sticks out to me. It must be the layers of different color marble inside (similar to Genovese style of architecture) with the dome which appeared lopsided when you looked up (maybe it was?). Anyway, it was impressive like the rest of them. After visiting the church, we headed back to the Palazzo Comunale to sketch. Before we sketched, two of my classmates, Greg and Josh, were challenged to a race around the Piazza there to imitate the horse races they have twice a year. I have to say this was hilarious. Everyone in the Piazza stopped to watch these two sprint around the roughly quarter mile long piazza. Some American ladies watching said it was the most entertainment they have had all day and they gave Greg (who won) two euros as a reward. After the race, we sketched for a few minutes before we became too cold so we decided to get hot chocolate. Later that night, we strolled through the city to see what it had to offer. We went to bed early that night in order to wake up early to head to Rome!

Back to Florence!

Trip 3: Florence

Our trip got to a slow start. Due to the terrible floods in Genoa, our train was cancelled, so we had to call a bus company to come pick our group up to go to Florence. So after trekking down to the train station, we headed back up the mountain to the villa to wait for the bus. We ended up arriving in Florence a little later than we were supposed to but it did not affect our plans. Florence was just the same as I remembered it being from three months ago with one exception… everyone was wearing coats and carrying umbrellas. Our first day in Florence, we visited the Uffizzi and L’Accademia museums- which house The Birth of Venus and David (respectively). I had already been to the Uffizi, but I did not go to see David the first time. It was cool to see, but there was not a whole lot else to see in the museum. After these two museums, we grabbed dinner and walked around a little. The next day, we visited more churches than I have even been to in one day. Some of the names I remember were the Chiesa di Santo Spirito, the Chiesa di San Lorenzo, and the Santa Croce. As cool as each of these churches are, they are all starting to blend together! We also trekked up to the top of this hill which gave us a great view of the city- something we didn’t do the first time in Florence, and saw many different Palazzos of different families.

On the way back to one square, somehow everyone got split up, so me and Carrie decided to go to dinner ourselves and we got a sketch in that night. The next morning, we woke up early to go to the Duomo in Florence. We didn’t really see the inside much, but we climbed to the top of the Duomo (all 463 steps) to get a good aerial perspective of the city. It was even more beautiful from up there! After climbing back down, we headed to the Laurentian Library, where Lucca (one our professors) gave us a quick talk and tour of the place. As impressive of a space as this was, it once again is starting to blend in with everything else I have seen. Around 11:30, we headed back to the hotel to grab our bags and went to the train station to catch our ride to Siena.

Torino

Day Trip: Torino November 3rd, 2011

Although it was a rainy, gross, and cold day, Torino was a really nice city. When we got off the train, it instantly felt like we had left Italy and gone to France. The style of architecture in Torino is heavily influenced by French architecture, reminding me a lot of Nice. Normally, you would be able to see the mountains and surrounding hills of the city, but it was so foggy and gray out you could barely see a mile away. We did our general tour of the city, visiting churches and palaces and ending with the Fiat (car) factory building.

Lucca

Day Trip: Lucca October 25th, 2011

This was the first day trip we took in which it was rainy and gloomy. We began our trip at this old villa, Villa Reale de Marlia... but it wasn’t the villa we were looking at this time... it was the gardens around the villa which are some of the most famous in Italy. The gardens were full of secret passageways and long, impressive corridors of trees. More impressive than anything though was how beautiful it was. It wasn’t grand, but had a more romantic feel. Unfortunately it was raining, so it was not as enjoyable as it could have been, but it was beautiful none the less. After visiting the garden, we went into Lucca for lunch where I once again got some delicious Italian(or maybe European? Not sure which) hot chocolate! After lunch we visited the two main churches in the town, took a look at some of their more prominent piazzas, and we climbed one tower of many to get an aerial view of the town and the surrounding mountains. At the top of the tower, I caught myself taking this view for granted. I am getting used to visiting these small towns on our day trips and they begin to blend together, however each one has its own unique charm. On the way home (we were 2 hours south of Genoa), we ran into a bit of rain, but that was the least of our problems. Apparently it had been pouring in the La Spezia region (about an hour south of Genoa), and the road we needed to take had flooded. We stopped to find an alternate route back to the villa which ended up taking us 4 extra hours. We got back to the villa at 11pm that night instead of 7pm when we were supposed to arrive! The next day we saw news articles of the storm and it was worse than we realized. The little Cinque Terre towns were terribly flooded in the storm and the detour we took to get home closed 20 minutes after we took it due to more flooding. Good thing we went when we did otherwise we would have had to go to Florence.

villa from the garden

the town of Lucca from a tower

Barcelona!

Barcelona: October 21st-24th, 2011

Barcelona was as great as I expected it to be. When we got to the city (around 4pm), we took the subway from the airport straight to the Clemson dorms we would be staying in (since the other Clemson program is in Barcelona). I was lucky to be traveling with three other people who were friends with some of the Clemson students in that program, so we got a free place to stay for three nights. After we settled in, we went to the Boqueria, which is a big market selling many different goods- a lot of fish (some of it alive still), cheeses, drinks, candy, etc. This market was full of character and very crowded, making it a fun atmosphere. Afterwards, we went towards the beach, which was very pretty (if only it was warmer out), and we saw some more modern buildings. To finish our quick tour of Barcelona that night we went to a late dinner in one of the many piazzas in the city.

the beach in Barcelona

The next day we woke up and one of the girls made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast. This was a real treat… You don’t realize how much you like peanut butter until you don’t have it for months. For some reason they don’t sell it in Italy! The first thing we visited was the Hospital de Sant Pau which is a famous hospital complex done by architect Lluis Domenech I Montane. Most of the complex was under construction and renovation, so it was kind of hard to see the whole structure together, but it was very impressive none the less. The church in the complex was especially impressive (for a hospital church that is). The inside was full of blue tile and windows so it seemed to glow blue! Next item on our list- the Sagrada Familia! After grabbing a quick lunch at a nearby café, we walked down the street (maybe five blocks) to the Sagrada Familia(by Gaudi). Upon approaching it, I was amazed at how massive it is. A lot of buildings you study, you imagine to be huge and when you visit them they let you down, so I went into this thinking that people had hyped it up to be something grander than it was, but it ended up being pretty amazing. The whole building is based off of shapes from nature, so all of the columns and window openings and every other detail (there were quite a few) are derived from something in nature. The inside of the church is designed to be like a forest, with the many structural columns acting as tree trunks and the ceiling being the canopy of trees. Once I knew this fact, the building really made a lot more sense to me. I have to say, this is probably the most impressive building I have seen… ever...and it is not even close to being completed! It is hard to fathom what it will be like when it is complete, which I doubt I will be alive to see the day. After the Sagrada Familia, we went to see some more of Gaudi’s works, the Casa Batillo and the Casa Mila. We decided not to go into both buildings because they were a little pricy, so we split up, three people went into the Casa Batillo, and three went to the Casa Mila. The Casa Batillo is smaller but more detailed inside, and the Casa Mila is famous for its roof. I decided to go into the Casa Mila. We bargained our way down to a student price even though we don’t have the international student cards, and made our way up in the apartment complex. The roof of this building was really cool. It was like giant waves with stairs going up and down the waves, along with huge circular holes that serve as courtyards for the building. After exploring the roof, we went through the attic (which was a really neat, and large area) and went down to visit one of the floors of the building. When we got back to the entrance, I realized that we had barely touched a lot of the building so I asked one of the workers if people still live in those apartments and to my surprise they do! I thought aloud that it must be really expensive to live in Gaudi building, and the lady said actually it was quite cheap for them now a days, since they had been living in the building since it was built. Apparently, no one would be able to buy their apartment if they sold it. After seeing all these Gaudi buildings, we walked back to the dorm area and went a local bar to watch the Clemson Football game which they always play for the Clemson students! Afterwards we grabbed a quick bite to eat and went back to the dorm to rest. Later that night, and I mean much much later (1:30am) we went to a discothèque (which apparently you have to do when you are in Barcelona) and we ended up staying there until about 5:30am. It was quite a late night, but it was fun!

the hospital

inside Sagrada Familia

on top of Gaudi's Casa Mila

Casa Mila from the outside

The next morning, we woke up around 10(not a lot of sleep this night) in order to get a few more sights in. A few of us went to a local church which was built more than 1000 years ago. It had a different feel than most churches I have seen. It was less ornate, but grand just the same. For lunch, we were craving Mexican food, so everyone went to a Mexican restaurant! It is amazing how much you miss variety in your food choices when you are stuck in one country. Barcelona is quite a large city, so it was nice to have this variety of food! After lunch, we strolled around the streets and La Rambla (which is a busy shopping street in Barcelona full of vendors and street performers) before making our way to Montjuic. Montjuic is where the Olympic complex was back for the 1992 Olympics. We also saw the Barcelona Pavilion by Mies Van der Rohe (a famous architect). I had never heard of this building (or studied it) so I had no Idea what I was going to see. It’s funny though, because two days after we got back from Barcelona, the building was brought up in one of the history classes I am taking in Genoa! Now I know! For dinner that night, we got Vietnamese food (once again mixing it up)!
The next morning, we woke up bright and early to catch our plane back to Genoa. I have to say, overall Barcelona is probably my favorite city I have visited thus far!

Barceona Pavilion

sunset on Montjuic

Pavia and Vigevano

Pavia and Vigevan: October 18th, 2011

Our day trip last week was to Pavia and Vigevano, two small towns south of Milan. We visited a really neat monastery in Pavia where we were given a tour by a monk. We saw the church there along with the little apartments the monks used to live in. We then went into the little town of Pavia which was really quaint town. I am really starting to like the charm of the smaller towns in Italy that we visit. We toured the town and stopped for lunch here. I packed a lunch, but I decided to get some hot chocolate because it was cold out that day. This was my first experience having hot chocolate in Europe and I loved it. The hot chocolate here is like drinking pudding. It reminds me of the consistency of pudding when you are cooking it on a stove before it hardens. It was delicious! After lunch, we visited a medieval castle in the area before going to Vigevano to visit another castle. Our stop in Vigevano was short, and we were back to the villa by 7:30 that night!

Greece, Athens and the Islands

Athens: October 11th, 2011
The flight from Istanbul to Athens was very nice and awful at the same time. It was nice in the sense that they treated us well and gave us a meal(which was completely unexpected), but I thought I was going to die when the plane landed. It was a very overcast and stormy day in Athens, and I am pretty sure our plane was not parallel to the runway when we landed. It then proceded to swerve down the runway. My first impression of Athens did not change throughout my stay... it was dark and dreary the whole time. When we got to the hotel, we asked the manager what time the Acropolis opened, and he told us the bad news..the Acropolis was closed due to a strike starting the next day. We were devastated, and went to bed very upset that night. When we woke up we were not really sure what we were going to do since we planned on going to the Acropolis all day. When we walked downstairs our hotel manager was so excited to tell us that the strike on the Acropolis started the following day and was still open. So we went to the Acropolis! It was a very cold day in Athens, but it was still really nice to see Acropolis and to check it off our list. Down the mountain you could hear protesters at the main square for about an hour. I still don't understand the purpose of their strike(s). While most of the city was uninviting, the area around the Acropolis and the other ruins was nice, so we mainly stuck around there. After seeing the Acropolis and the ancient Agora, we had lunch(and got free chocolate walnut cake-very good), and then we headed for the temple of Zeus. The ruins of this temple were very impressive, and you could see how big the temple would have been if it was all still standing and it was mammoth... much much larger than the Parthenon. The next morning, I was very glad to wake up early and get out of Athens... it was good to see, but I will be happy to never go there again.

view of islands from plane

at the Parthenon

Parthenon

at the temple of Zeus

Greek Islands

Mykonos: October 12-13th, 2011
Our hostel in Mykonos was great. They picked us up from the port and told us exactly how to get around the town. The hostel was a little further away from the town so we could not walk, however it was very nice and full of character. We mainly just walked around the town and explored(it was a maze through the little streets). The town was not very crowded as the tourist season is over, but there were still cruise ships coming in to town, and the town would fill up and empty with each cruise ship. Mykonos was very relaxing and low key, however I really like a place more when there are more sights to see and things to do.

windmills on Mykonos

Naxos: October 13th-14th, 2011

Naxos is the biggest of the islands but we mainly stayed in the main town. I wish we could have rented a car to explore the island because apparently it is huge, but we didn't have enough time to really plan on doing anything like that, so we just explored the town a little, and went to the beach(the weather we very nice, but the water was cold!)We watched the sunset at the temple of Demeter which is situated on a point on the island overlooking the water. That night for dinner we found a Mexican restaurant.. they don't have these in Italy and we were missing home so we decided that would be a good choice.. and it was. The next day we woke up and explored some more and did some sketches before heading back to the port. I liked Naxos, however it was really dead at this point. There were no cruise ships to fill the town, and the tourist season was mostly over, so it was not an extremely lively town. If I ever go back there, I will make sure to stay for at least two days to give myself time to explore the rest of the island. The ferries between the islands are very interesting.. they are like little hovercraft looking tings, and the seats are assigned inside like an airplane. These are the high speed ferries so you are not allowed on the outer deck, but they were still kind of fun to ride.

Naxos sunset

Santorini: October 14th-15th, 2011
Santorini was breathtaking. I wish I could have been there longer(we were only there a day). There is so much I wanted to do but couldn't due to a lack of time. Santorini is situated around a volcano, and that was one of many things I wanted to do. Once again, our hostel picked us up from the port. I have to say, I will never complain about a taxi drivers driving ever again. This man who picked us up was flying up the cliff and up a zig-zag road.. I am pretty sure he accelerated through the turns. Once we got to the hostel(thank goodness), we quickly put our stuff in our room so we could make it to see the sunset from the town of Oia which is famous for its views. We got on the bus and once again we were speeding around turns with a cliff and the ocean on one side. Once we got to Oia we sprinted to the end to see the sunset. We missed most of it but we were able to catch the last bit. We had dinner in Oia and explored the town there some more. If I had millions, I would have stayed in one of the cliffside hotels overlooking the ocean. The next day we headed to Kamari beach which is black lava rock beach. We didn't bring our suits but it was neat to walk on a black sand beach.. it was different than anything I had seen before. After the beach we had lunch in Fira(the main town and the town we stayed in) and looked around the town. Then we headed to the port for one last time for our ferry back to Athens. The island hopping tour was a quick one... looking back I wish I would have gone to just one island and done more, but it was good to get a taste of three different islands. Santorini was definately my favorite and I was sad to leave. We had a long ferry ride back to Athens(8 hours) which I was not really excited to see again. The next morning we left for the airport to head back to Genoa. I had a lot of fun on this trip, however I was ready to go back!

on the black beach in Santorini

Santorini on cliffside (taken from ferry)