Athens and Venice

In trying to decide where we'd travel to for a few days during our ongoing Semesterpause, (aka 9 weeks with absolutely nothing to do but read, cook, explore, breathe, relax, etc.) some friends and I decided that we had 2 desires: to see really old stuff, and to be near water.

Really old stuff. 

Water.

Greece in general has been a place that I've wanted to visit for a long time now. I remember in my Southern Miss scholarship interview, one of the interviewers asked me if I could travel anywhere, where would it be, and Greece was my immediate answer. I don't know why, other than the sheer beauty and history of the place. I have no personal connections, that I know of, but I just wanted to go there. Birthplace of modern civilization, nbd. 

So we traveled to Athens. Transit was surprisingly easy, and our hostel was basically just at the foot of Acropolis Hill at Μοναστηράκι  (or for those of us who don't Greek, Monastiraki) square, right next to Hadrian's Library (AD 132). The first night, I tried spinach pie for the first time, and oh my goodness, it is definitely a new favorite of mine as far as Greek food goes. The next day, we took a walking tour of the city, saw the Athens 'changing of the guard' ceremony in front of the Parliament building... it was very small compared to that of Buckingham palace in London, no band, not so many soldiers, but a very neat part of Greek culture indeed. 

We walked through the National Gardens, saw the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian's arch, then hiked up Acropolis Hill, up to the Temple of Athena. Again, I'll say how much I like the 'view from the top'... Although I was a nervous wreck during the hike up the slippery rocks and stairs, there was nothing like the feeling of being literally on the top of the world. 

You can see the half-exhilarated, half-panicked look in my eyes.

The next day, we visited the Acropolis Museum, which was a bit small, but very nice. Definitely worthwhile, if only from the things I learned about the building of the Acropolis and such. We also had gelato and played around at the Temple of Zeus a bit... I tried to take a jumping photo, but I am not so good at it.

I look like someone just said "Stick 'em up!"

Bad cheerleader pose.

Where did my other leg go?

The next day, we visited the Ancient Agora of Athens, including the very impressive Temple of Hephaestus (again, a place that I braved my fear and climbed up slippery steps to see. I think it was definitely to our advantage that we visited Athens during off-season. At many of the places we visited, there were very few (if any) other people there, which gave us the freedom to walk without running into someone and take very very cool pictures.

After visiting the Agora, we took a train and bus to Patra/Patras, Greece, a port city where we would board the ferry (yes, ferry) that would take us to Venice. Our bus dropped us off at what was apparently the Old Port, while the New Port was "2 or 3 kilometers away". Two or three kilometers? That should only be about a 10-20 minute walk, even with us walking slowly carrying luggage. An hour and a half later, we arrived at the New Port, checked in, bought Oreos and milk from the duty free shop, and boarded the ferry. 

We stopped to take sunset pics on our "2-3 km" walk.

We were on the ferry for 34 hours. I don't even want to talk about it.

We arrived in Venice at about 9 a.m. and decided to try to find our hostel (which actually was a guesthouse) before we did anything else. I had directions pulled up on my phone, and as we were nearing the location, a man hangs his body out the 2nd story window of a building and says 'Hello'. My friends and I say hello, but return to looking at our map. The man then says, basically, "You are Danielle. Welcome!" This man was Franco, the man who owns the guest house we stayed in. He was basically all Italian stereotypes come to life. We stayed in a lovely guesthouse; from the front door, you could even see the Grand Canal. 

We spent the first day in Venice mostly exploring. On day two, we took a vaporetto (water bus) out to the islands Murano and Burano. Murano is famous for its stunning glass work. I bought myself a small gift there that I'll unwrap when I get back to America. Burano is famous for its intricate lace work, but also for the very colorful houses that line the canals. 

It's like Crayola threw up over there.

On day three, we visited an amazing Salvador Dali museum hidden away next to St. Mark's Square. (I feel like museums are an acquired taste--even as a senior in high school, I could barely stomach them, but now, lots of times, they're some of the most invigorating parts of my visits to cities. Adulthood?) St. Mark's itself was amazing, but smaller than I expected, I think. Nearby, we saw the Bridge of Sighs, and I was once again reminded that I'm terrified of pigeons.

Venice was extremely cold, and it even snowed while we were there. I was expecting 55-60 degree weather, but not the freezing temperatures that actually happened, so I was a little unprepared. Despite the cold, (and thanks to my wonderful travel companions who put up with me) I was able to hunt down some Nutella gelato, one of my favorite things in the whole world. 

Such a wonderful trip.