Greece: So Magical that "Thank You" sounds like "A Fairy's Toe"

I learned that "a fairy's toe" trick from a Canadian on the first day- since everyone in the tourist industry in Greece speaks English, they were so impressed when I said "A fairy's toe" at the end!

Greece = A good reminder that I don't speak Greek.

But I've never been to Greece before, and it was the best week ever- I LOVE Greece. The people, the weather (at least in late May/early June), the food, the prices... and Greece, since it's a little dangerous with the strikes/ riots and what not, has been suffering without a ton of tourists coming through.

And I went with one of my besties from Gonzaga (traveling with a friend always makes the trip so much fun!) Here was our itinerary, essentially stolen from a friend who went to Greece last summer:

Athens (1 night)

Hostels are great ways to meet people; we went adventuring with a Brit, a Wisconsin, a Syrian, and a French woman to different historical sights. For students (thank god!) most of the sites are completely free. We visited the Temple of Zeus (awesome), the Pantheon (AMAZING) and the Archaelogical museum. Also took an extremely dorky "Greek gods" picture in front of the Pantheon.

We took a 9 hr ferry that left at midnight to get to santorini- Naomi is a deep sleeper (lucky girl) but I, unfortunately, am not, so the trip was a little rough for me ;)

Our home for the night...

Then we went ISLAND HOPPING. (ps i love island hopping)

Santorini (2 nights- the famous island)

Two words: Villa Manos. The hostel was 25 euros a night for a suite with a kitchen with a beautiful pool outside and the nicest hostel keepers ever.

Santorini is gorgeous, with traditional Greek houses and lots of great restaurants. And Naomi and I took a one-day trip which included a drive to the top of the island, a boat ride in an old fashioned boat to the volcano and to some AMAZING hot springs (they were warm, yellow and smelled like sulfur), then a trip to see the sunset from the typical town (super overcrowded) of Oia. To get to Oia we needed to do a donkey ride. And donkey rides are surprisingly scary!!!

Amazing hot springs. Just a jump off the side of our pirate boat!

Ios (2 nights- the party island)

As an extremely drunk Aussie explained it to us, Ios is "30% Brit, 70% Canadian and 20% American". But there are a TON of Aussies on the island looking for work in the summer. Francesco's, the hostel we stayed at, has the reputation for the party hostel, and with reason. It was crazy.

Also we took a 3 hour trip off the main beach which involved kayaking, cliff jumping and snorkeling. Cliff jumping was so much fun! I have a small fear of heights so of course that means I am trying to jump from taller and taller cliffs, and this one was about 45 ft ;)

Our drunken Aussie wiseman ;)

Naxos (1 night- the quiet, boardwalk island)

We spent our last night island hopping on an island that I would very much describe as "family friendly". And Naomi and I decided to go all out for our last meal... which involved Greek salad, calamari (with eyeballs; yes, they were visible), red mackarel, mini ice cream and white wine... a LOT of wine. And the sunset seen from our table over the water was amazing...

Athens (1 night)

Returned there since we were both flying out of Athens International. Also witnessed firsthand a couple of problems Greece is experiencing, mainly the "lots of illegalness" part, as well as the "strike-so-bad-that-all-public-transportation-is-shut-down" part.

Moral of the story: Greece is my favorite place ever. Well, the Greek Islands, anyway. And such a fun adventure to have with a close friend !

Italia: Apparently I love Italian food.

Just not American Italian food. I've downloaded recipes to try cooking this summer but pumpkin gnocchi, tiramisu and fresh ITALIAN pizza are amazing (American pizza is good too, but man, gotta love the Italian crust...)

I went backpacking through some Italian cities with another student in my Madrid program, and really liked Italy. It doesn't hurt that knowing Spanish makes understanding Italian a litttttttle easier. BUT here's the places I went:

Milan: Why? It was the cheapest flight (50 euros for two people, one-way). Plus free room (travel buddy had a cousin). There's not a lot in Milan, though, except that the second night we were there was the eve of the Inter-Milan v. Bayern championship game and man, Italians love their soccer. I watched it from the Piaza di Duomo big screens and all I can say is THANK GOD Milano won, it would've been drunkenly scary to witness a loss. Lots of noise, fireworks, screaming and drunken football chants.

Lago di Como: Gorgeous day trip, there are such amazing houses around Lake Como. For example: for those of you who have seen the 007 Casino Royal, the house where Bond gets Mr. White in the end? That house? Yeah that's on the lake. Took a little cruise on it which was great, esp. with such nice weather.

Florence: Got to visit some friends in Gonzaga-in-Florence, which was great. Was only there one day, which is actually enough time when you move as fast as I do (slash don't really stop moving at all). My favorite place was the Piaza di Michelangelo, which has a gorgeous panoramic view of the city, as well as the Ufizzi museum (though you have to wait over an hour to get in!) Also if you need a hostel: Plus Florence has a good location, but it offers too many extras (plus more expensive- 3euros for a towel? Really!?) that are completely useless if you are not taking a real vaca there, like a pool (gross looking) and a "work-out center" (two treadmills).

Assisi: My favorite Italian town I saw. Most people are there to see the Cathedral of St Francis, and I was no exception (despite not really being religious, I do connect with a lot of the St Francis stuff, plus I had a class on him last semester so I knew a LOT about the paintings, monuments, history of the cathedral). Even if you are not interested in St Francis, it's a gorgeous town (dare I say quaint?) which feels more authentic than any of the other places I visited.

On the downside it's really far out of the way- a high speed train Florence > Rome is like an hour (?) but it's a 2.5 hr train Florence> Assisi then another 3 hrs to Rome. But what can I say, they never said a pilgrimage was easy.

In front of the Basilica of St Francis

Rome: The big one. I got to see an old friend which was great, plus he showed me a lot of cool stuff and taught me some Italian.

Saw the:

-Coliseum. Lots of tourists but there's a reason. It's awesome. Plus it's amazing to think about the history of the place. Though I've never seen the movie "Gladiator" (I know, I know, it's bad; I'll watch it soon!!!) you can imagine the epicness of everything going down in the arena.

-Palatine Hill/Roman forum. I liked this place better than the coliseum (it's right next to it, too) since it is a nice walk and even has the "Romulean huts", where Romulus and Remus were apparently raised. Pretty cool if you ask me.

-Vatican. I saw the pope. No biggie. But actually didn't enter; I remember from when my fam and I went how crowded the piaza was and honestly, I liked John Paul WAY better than I like Benedict. So there was little appeal to spend tons of time there (plus I didnt go inside).

-Sistine Chapel. Gorgeous building/paintings but expensive (8euros for a student! Double that for non-students) And you have to walk FOREVER to get to a crowded room where you see the actual chapel done by Michelangelo. I snuck a pick of the Adam/God painting, tho ;)

Coliseum!!!

Overall Italy rocks. And like I said... FOOD is AMAZING. People, for the most part, are nice, esp. if you put forth an effort (I always started off with "Parla inglese?" because I hate it when people just barge in with English, assuming everyone speaks it). Lots and lots of tourists, from every part of the world. And why not? Italy is a culture hotspot, an amusement park of history, and has some of the best food in the world!!!