Day 1, June 2nd:
Today is the beginning of our adventure: unfortunately, it's just a long day of traveling. JFK-Frankfurt; Frankfurt-Rome.
Day 2, June 3rd:
We arrive in Rome in the morning and take a bus to our hotel by the Termini in Rome. After moving in, we make a visit to the Pantheon; the Pantheon is honestly not so much to see from the outside, but upon walking in, you can't help but be impressed. It opens up to about 6 times as big as you thought it was with an enormous dome overhead and a skylight at the top. You almost forget to walk around and see the sculptures around the room.
Next we take a walk over to the Trevi Fountain where, apparently, you can determine your future with the toss of a coin: 1 means you'll come back, 2 means you'll fall in love in Rome, and 3 means you'll be married in Rome. The fountain is really a great site; the skill involved is admirable and despite the epic imagery and all the people crowded around, it's sort of peaceful (probably due to it's fountain-like characteristics).
We finish the long, long day off with a nice pasta dinner.
Day 3, June 4th:
Today I turn 20, and this is probably by most well-spent birthday yet. We have breakfast at the hotel and then go wait in line at the Vatican City. Outside, all we can see is the huge wall surrounding the Vatican. Once inside, we are free to roam around the museum at our own pace. There is quite a large amount of art in the Vatican and it is slightly overwhelming, but I take it one room at a time and slowly make my way towards the Sistine Chapel. I loved seeing all the paintings on the walls of the rooms... the frescoes; the statues and sculptures are great, but I really enjoy a good painting. It was cool to see pieces that I remember seeing in history classes... like the 'School of Athens.' Frescoes are particularly interesting to me, because it just seems so hard... you've got to respect how much time and thought went into this art. The Sistine Chapel - of course - was amazing. The only thing i don't like about pieces like that is that it's almost too much; every inch of wall and ceiling is covered in paint and it's all so colorful and the images just blend into each other. When I focus in on one section at a time, it is easier to appreciate it and to enjoy it aesthetically. The Last Judgement and the Creation stories were awesome and I'm glad i got to see them in person.
Next we went to the Colosseum where we learned about the history of the structure and had some good photo opportunities. Trying to see everything and being so excited, it was easy to forget to listen to our tour guide, but I learned a few things about the Colosseum regardless: It was used as a place for "games;" they had prisoners fight to the death as the community watched... it was sort of a form of execution; the shape of the building and its seating emphasizes the sense of community; they had animals fight as well, but the idea of human vs. animal was made up... probably by hollywood; the animals were kept underground; the holes in a lot of the columns were taken by barbarians who needed to metals inside the columns to make weapons for war. The colosseum was awesome... as expected.
After this, our tour guide takes us down the the ruins of the Roman Forum where people met and hung out and bathed and basked in their Roman-ness. The ruins are a lot lower in ground level compared to the city... it's interesting to see the impact of time... how even the ground level can change immensely.
After we all walk to dinner, we get taxis to St. Peters Cathedral where we have time to walk around inside. It was a good time to go because it wasn't crowded. The best part was Michelangelo's "Pieta." This is one of my favorite pieces of art and i could not wait to see it; and it didn't disappoint. The Pieta is just as beautiful in person as it is in any picture... the image is so powerful and you can feel the emotions... and aside from that, the technical skill is incredible! The drapery is flawless - you almost forget you're looking at stone. Once we're done at St. Peters, we go back to the hotel for the night.
Day 4, June 5th:
Today is the optional excursion to Florence. I didn't sign up, so me and 7 others have a free day. We decide to spend the day at the beach, so we take the metro to Ostia and find a beach called Stella Polare. We spend the day enjoying the sand, sun, and water... it was pretty crowded, but still nice. We got some gelato in town before taking the metro back into Rome. It was a fun experience because we were kind of on our own and had to figure things out... good thing we had Mike.
Day 5, June 6th:
We wake up this morning and pack up to leave Rome. We take a bus to Napoli (Naples) where we ascend Mt. Vesuvius! We take the bus halfway up and have lunch at a restaurant right on the mountain. Then we get to walk the rest of the way up to the peak of the volcano and take lots of pictures along the way. At the top we meet our tour guide Raphael who leads us around the peak to the other side and tells us about the volcano. The volcano is amazing and so is the view.
After our descent, we take the bus down the coast to Sorrento. Sorrento is absolutely beautiful. I think we are all taken aback a little by the coastline and the hillsides covered in forest, olive trees, houses and hotels. We move into Hotel Rivage and have dinner there followed by free time to walk around the town.
Day 6, June 7th:
We have breakfast and pack up this morning and then we start the day off with a tour of Pompeii. Pompeii is a city at the base of Mount Vesuvius that was buried in ash when the volcano erupted in 79 CE. We were able to walk the ancient streets and go into what used to be houses, stables, bakeries, etc. It is hard to imagine it the way it was 2,000 years ago and even harder to imagine being there when the volcano erupted. There were bodies (in plaster of course) that were preserved when covered in the volcanic ash and they are still in the same position they were when they died... there is even a dog. One thing that stood out as the tour went on: ancient people were really, really smart! I mean the structures themselves are impressive, sure, but the thought that went into these designs is astounding. They had stones in the streets to walk across when they were flooded, they had ovens and these complex grain-grinders in what is assumed to be some sort of bakery, they had working water fountains, they even had pipes in the ground! Pompeii definitely gave me a new perspective on history.
When the tour is done, we ride the bus to Brindisi where we board the Ionian Queen - our overnight ferry to Greece. Tonight we say goodbye to Italy.
Day 7, June 8th:
We wake up at a port in Patras and get on a new bus. We take the bus along the coast and stop at the restaurant seemingly in the middle of nowhere (which was perfect). We had a view of the sea and after lunch we got to go out back to the beach, which we had all to ourselves. There was no sand but it was still great. The water was so blue and there were sea urchins and we just relaxed and swam all afternoon.
In the evening we took the bus a little further into Delphi where we have dinner with a beautiful view and free time for the night. Delphi is like a Greek version of a small town. It's this tiny little town on the hillside with nothing but mountains, water, and olive trees in sight. There are only two main streets in Delphi... this is exactly the kind of place i was excited to see. Aside from the touristy shops, it is more like life for the locals i would imagine.
Day 8, June 9th:
We start off at the Archaeological Museum at Delphi where we can see all the ancient artifacts including tools, sculptures, texts, etc. We then go out to the site and listen to a talk about ancient Delphi. The speaker talks a lot about the philosophical and spiritual aspects of life in Delphi. They saw Delphi as the center of everything - the "naval of the world" - and they had a symbol for it that appears a number of times... it is a sort of triangular shaped sculpture. She spoke about Apollo, one of their most important gods; he was around for 9 months of the year and then would be gone for 3... which leads to one of her main points: "nothing in excess." This was a tradition and was inscribed outside important buildings. The people needed a balance of party and business, of seriousness and celebration. They were all about spirituality, but not the worship of any specific god. Life was all about logic, though we could never attain the same logic as the gods... the gods gave us two things: thoughts and feelings. It was up to us to use these tools figure out how to use them in the right way... which leads to her 2nd main point which is also found in many inscriptions: "know thyself."
After the talk, we were able to walk around the archaeological site... we saw a theater and a stadium and lots of other interesting things. I really enjoyed Delphi... the town and the ruins; and although I didn't fully understand the ancient ideas, I really admired them. We got back on the bus and had lunch at another "middle-of-nowhere" restaurant. We drove into Athens and traffic kept us from our museum visit. Our hotel location was a little sketchy, but no big deal. We took the metro to a better part of the city and found a place for dinner and walked around the flea market and shops.
Day 9, June 10th:
We start the day with a short bus tour of Athens on our way to the Acropolis. We stop to take pictures at the 1896 Olympic Stadium. We make our way up the hill to the Acropolis as our tour guide tells us a little about the history of the Parthenon and Athens. In ancient times, Athena and Poseidon were competing to rule over what is now called Athens... They have a contest and Athena plants an olive tree and wins... hence the name "Athens." However, what really happened is there were more women in the community than men and so all the women voted for Athena and she won. This would explain why women have not been able to vote throughout much of history. The Parthenon was built in honor of Athena and it represents purity.
The Acropolis is an astounding place. I have seen pictures in class, but it's nothing like standing in front of the Parthenon. The ancient Greeks were brilliant architects; our tour guide explained some of the architecture to us; the floor has a slight curve, the outer columns are a little bigger, and they all lean in a little... all of which make the structure look bigger and stronger.
The we went to the Acropolis Museum. We got to see a lot of the detailed structures of the Parthenon. There were magnificent segments and reconstructions of the reliefs and the East and West Pediments, all of which tell a story. As if the building itself wasn't enough... the amount of smaller-scale work that went into the Acropolis is amazing.
After that museum, we went to the National Archaeological Museum where we see a lot of art and artifacts from all different periods in Greek history. It was really interesting to see such a developed understanding of life in terms of survival, religion, social-life, etc through all of these recovered artifacts. There were medical tools, jewelry, vases, weapons, clay figurines, and of course... lots of art. There were even paintings!
Day 10, June 11th:
Today we depart from Athens and board the cruise ship: the Aquamarine. Our first stop that night is in Mykanos. Here we have a few hours to walk around town and take pictures. We walk over to the windmills and get some beautiful shots of them and the water... the sun was setting while we were there so the pictures were great... and the buildings were all beautiful as well. I learned here and on the other islands that it's kind of hard to not take good pictures at these places. We get gyros in Mykanos and then go back to the port and get back on the ship where everyone is on the pool deck or in the pub ready for the World Cup games to begin.
Day 11, June 12th:
When we wake up, we are in Turkey. We don't have too much time there so we just got off and did a little shopping. The afternoon is spent enjoying the ship and the open water and the sun. Late afternoon, we arrive in Patmos. I loved Patmos; it was great for pictures, we swam in the beautiful water, and we walked through the more residential part of town which was really nice, and then we got more gyros! Back on board we have dinner as a group and watch more Football at night.
Day 12, June 13th:
Today is our last full day. Our first stop is Crete, where we go to the Archaeological Museum together. Here we see more art than jewelry or tools and such. The frescos are particularly interesting. Most of them have been reconstructed, but they seem pretty accurate... and I recognized them from class... like the one with the bull. When we are all done browsing around the museum, we go back to the ship; our next, and last island is Santorini.
Santorini is gorgeous. It is different from the other islands because the town is on the top of the cliff rather than down by the water. We all get to ride donkeys all the way up to the top which is so much fun. At the top we have a breath-taking view and yet another beautiful town and a great photo-taking opportunity. We have a few hours to walk around town and take pictures and get more gyros. We walk back down to the port and go back to the ship. Like I said before... how could you not take good pictures here...
Day 13, June 14th:
Today we go back to Athens to catch our plane home. :(
The trip was amazing... we're all sad to leave this beautiful place and all the wonderful friends we made... but it will be nice to return home and slow down a bit.
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