July 1 - 31, 2010
Such a nice sunny day today :) And I'm glad too, because it's Canada Day which means lots of people will be out, and there should be a lot to do! After breakfast, we walked to the falls; I have countless photos now of the American Falls, and the Horseshoe Falls. Way too many...
Walked up the touristy little area of Clifton Hill, so much going on there. Museums of all sorts, fast food restaurants, souvenir stores, and just fun stuff for kids...though I think I would enjoy them too :) It was kind of like a Las Vegas-type area for kids.
We went back to the hostel for lunch & some rest, before returning to the falls for the light show, & fireworks. It was pretty cool, & we had a really great spot :) The place was packed! It was difficult to get out of the crowd at the end of the show, but we managed to weave ourselves out :)
The following morning, we went the other direction, where I thought the waters would be calmer. It wasn't, instead it was rapids and "whirlpools" as they would call it. Nothing much to see down that end, except for a big souvenir store, and of course Chocolate World. So back up to the falls, to a park and just people-watched for a while.
Overnight bus to Philadelphia, and it was late to leave. It was a good thing, that we had a long lay over in Buffalo before the next bus arrives. Got to the US border, and again another group of pain-in-the-ass-people asking the MOST STUPID questions. I swear, they should just be my friend on Facebook so they know what my plans are, and what I'm doing. Is it really that hard to believe to be taking a year off to travel? What century are these people living in anyway? And is it difficult to give a slight smile rather than look like you have a stick up your ass??? Though smiling for them might make them look constipated...so never mind!
Yeay New York! But not for long, we had to change buses here for Philadelphia. When we finally arrived, it was a long walk in the heat, and it didn't matter that it was still early in the morning. This next hostel - HI-Philadelphia-Apple Hostel, is located in a small alley, one of the oldest in the area. I also stayed here last time, though now owned by a different company and looks brand-spanking-new! Loved the bright colours, the cleanliness, the staff, hostel events, free cereal :) and the massive kitchen! We went to Penn's Landing in the evening to watch the fireworks. You know, I don't think I want to see another fireworks display for awhile...
Independence Day...so it was fitting that our first stop was the Independence Hall, the Great Essentials exhibit (which had the ink stand that supposedly "witnessed" the signing of the declaration), toured the Congress Hall, and finally the Liberty Bell. Then sat by the curb on Market St, under a tiny shade waiting for the parade to start. *YAWN* It was long and nothing great, and the sun moved so fast that we were under the sun for most of the parade. The only good thing that came out of this was the free cake at the Visitor Center ;)
We saw Benjamin Franklin's grave at the Christ Church Burial Ground, then went to the United States Mint. Back to the hostel in time for the free BBQ, mmm chicken hot dog :) Later when it was a lot cooler, we walked to Elfreth's Alley (it's the oldest, continuously inhabited street in the US), Betty Ross' House (she sewed the first flag), the Arch St Friends Meeting House, Christ Church, and the First Bank of the United States.
Went to see the "LOVE" sculpture at JFK Plaza, then to Reading Terminal Market. I guess it's best to go there on weekends, the only thing that was open was the cafes, and diners. Walked to Benjamin Franklins Court, and the underground museum. Looked at the exhibit in the Second Bank of the United States. And for lunch had the Philly Cheesesteak from Steaks on South (SOS)...I was surprised I liked it :) Also checked out the City Hall before calling it a day.
Caught the bus to Washington DC just after lunch. It took longer to get there than usual, since it was so traffic. Then took the metro to Courtyard Marriott in Vienna to meet with Tata (my uncle) who I haven't seen since 2004! I also met his partner tita Marisa, and her daughters Bea, and Isa :) We went out to dinner at the "best" (according to Tata) Italian Restaurant ever. Well I just agreed, I'm pretty sure I've had better :P
Woohoo! There's a gym, and we used it first thing in the morning for about half an hour. Took the metro to Washington DC (about 30 minutes) arriving at Smithsonian. Went to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. It was the most graphic presentation I've ever seen about that subject; so much video recordings and pictures. We were there for a long time, but we didn't even get to read all the inscriptions. So this is a must when we come back to in the future.
The sun was pretty hot when we came out that we didn't get a chance to walk to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. Instead we saw the Washington Memorial, World War II Memorial, the Reflecting Pool which eventually brought us to the Lincoln Memorial. Saw the White House, before catching the metro back to the hotel. Swimming then dinner tonight was of course, at the "best" Mexican Restaurant ever - Chipotle. Alright, this place was good, and cheap :)
Metro back to the city and visited the National Museum of American History. We were there until about 1pm. Got to see Dorothy's red shoes from the movie The Wizard of Oz, Kermit the Frog, lots of costumes, machines, and tons of other stuff. Then next door to the National Museum of Natural History. I think this is better than the last :) We were here till passed 5pm, there were so many interesting animals on display...of course they were either stuffed, or just skeletons left :)
Oh, I couldn't and wouldn't want to do any more museums for a very very looooong time! So the next day, tita Marissa brought us to Tyson's Corner Center. It was nice to just be in the mall for a change :) And in the afternoon we met up with Tata for dinner at Custom Burger, and you know we wouldn't be eating there unless it was the "best" hehehe But it was pretty cool, you got to choose what kind of burger patty you want, the bun type, and toppings. A bit pricey though.
It's so nice to finally just sleep through to 9am :) I like it! We said our goodbyes to tita Marisa and the girls today since they had to go back to South Dakota, a 6 hour drive away. Nice relaxing day today, we did...nothing :)
It was our turn to leave today, caught the Greyhound bus back to New York. It was great to see Talib and Mara (who ran the hostel) again, and even more exciting since the smoothie/juice bar has now opened. Cheap yum yum fruit smoothies!
Finally...I can say I've been up to the Observation Deck of the Empire State Building :) Quite a view, though I wish it wasn't so cloudy. Brought Joel to Grand Central Station, where a lot of films have been filmed, the Rockefeller Plaza to browse around the Lego store, and Nintendo World. And also got Joel to try the hot dog from the street vendors for lunch today. Delicious! Got to Times Square and realised that tonight would be the only night we'll get to watch the Broadway show - Avenue Q. So we snapped up tickets right away (promo price YES!), and just hanged around until it was time to go.
Avenue Q is being shown at the New World Stages. Sooo funny, I LOVED it! Even Joel was laughing and enjoying it :) They actually toured in Australia a while ago now, but didn't get a chance to see it. So if ever it comes to your city, I highly recommend for you guys to see it ;)
Laundry in the morning, then subway all the way to the tip of Manhatten. Then...it rained :( We were stuck waiting undercover at the station for a good 30 minutes hoping it would stop. It didn't...so we took the subway back up to Grand Central and looked around for New York-style pizzas. Found one on Lexington Ave, close to the station called. We bought an 18" pizza. HUGE! I could really only eat 3 slices. The guy's eyes almost popped out when I ordered it hehehe.
We ate it as we walked back down towards Battery Park. Ducking undercover when ever it started to drizzle hard, and having a slice of pizza. Went to the 9/11 Memorial Site Preview, Wall St, then finally a view of the Statue of Liberty from the park. Enough walking for the day, we took the subway back.
Early pick-up for La Guardia airport this morning. Our flight to Chicago was at 9:55am with American Airlines 319. The queue was so long, glad we got here early. The security check was a bit over the top, within 5 minutes we were asked to show our tickets and passports. This was like entering the line, then at the end of the line. As if I can change my identity there!
Took the metro to the hostel - Chicago Getaway Hostel. Quite a big building, looked really nice too. Then we got to the room which was stuffy, and the kitchen was incomplete even if it was a decent size. But free breakfast! It was even close to the beach, mmmhhhmmm the beach! North Ave Beach, it's actually Lake Michigan but there's sand and the water was refreshing, the wind warm :)
It takes 45 minutes to walk to downtown. Overcast today...but it was nice to walk not under the sun. Most of the day was spent walking along Michigan Ave, also known as the Magnificent Mile. Took pictures of some famous buildings - John Hancock Center, Wrigley Building, & Tribune Tower. Did a bit of shopping :) Then went to Millennium Park, before queueing in a line with everyone else for popcorn at Garrett's Popcorn. Crazy I think, it's just popcorn with flavouring, hardly anything healthy yet these people were buying it by the gallon! A lady even spent over $200...talk about over EXAGGERATION! We were there because we had a free coupon hehehe It was like any other popcorn I've ever had, except messier to eat...so it was very silly for a lady to walk out saying "that was so worth it!". I wonder why there's so many obese people here?
Joel wanted to see Wrigley Park (home to the Chicago Cubs) before we left. And afterwards we took the metro to the Greyhound where we caught the bus to South Bend, Indiana. There we met with tita Gaye, one of my mum's close friends in college. I hadn't seen her since 1993 when we moved to Australia!
It was so great for her to invite to stay for the weekend, it was so relaxing. We got to meet her husband tito Florin, & their friends from Chicago. The food, mostly sausages, cheese, bread, & salad, was such a nice change from our usual rice or pasta dishes :) We had BBQs, & swam in the warm warm WARM pool! It was also a good change of pace for us from always being out and about, to just relaxing with food, great people, & the pool.
Joel & I went with tito Florin to the Freshfood Market, before we went to Shipshewana - an Amish Community. It was hard not to stare, the way they dressed, it was like walking into a movie set! Though it was a bit disappointing to see some were using cell phones, & even a whole family arriving in a van. Though, we passed a lot of horse-drawn buggies. And can I just say, they have the BEST ice cream! Hands down the BEST! THE BEST!
Before returning to Chicago, tita Gaye brought us to Notre Dame University. It's a pretty old institution, we got to see the Main Building, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart (quite impressive for a school!), & the massive football field home of "The Fighting Irish". Tita Gaye says that South Bend's population grows whenever there is a game on.
We quickly ate lunch, then left for the bus. This time we will only be in Chicago overnight. The first thing we did after checking-in was to go & see Willis (formerly Sears) Tower, then to the Chicago Union Station, & tried the famous Chicago deep pan pizza. Except ours wasn't really even deep pan, it was just thick crust...cheats! Then to Buckingham Fountain, walked across BP Bridge into the gardens & back to the hostel.
Checked out early in the morning & rode the train to the airport. Our flight to San Francisco - American Airlines AA451 - was delayed. We probably sat in the plane for another hour while they fixed the weather monitor on the plane. Slightly bumpy ride, we were going over storms. We sat next to a nice elderly lady named Margaret. She was crocheting during the whole flight, & at the end gave us the pot holder that she made. Said it was our first wedding present. Flight attendant Tom was also great, he'd come & visit to make sure Margaret was doing OK. He was a very funny guy, made our trip enjoyable.
On arrival to San Francisco, we took the shuttle to our hostel - HI - San Francisco-Fisherman's Wharf. It's located on Fort Mason, & has great views of both the Golden Gate Bridge & Alcatraz. Not to mention close to the attractions by the wharf. One thing I wasn't prepared for though, was the overcast, cold, windy weather! Supposedly unique to Bay area...well really, I couldn't care for it :( It was awful, back to jeans & jacket... Though it made exploring the city a lot easier.
It was still very foggy the following morning, we couldn't see the top of the bridge. Went to Ghirardelli Square, surprised the chocolate store was open! We got free samples, which is really the only reason why we went in ;) Good memories here from the first time I came to the US with my family in 2000. Most were because of my grandma hehehe
Looked around the small "museum" along Hyde Street Pier. Where they displayed Petaluma's Sternwheel, & the San Francisco Bay "Ark". Then to the famous, smelly, noisy Pier 39 where a community of Sea Lions made their home. Showing off, posing for photographs :) Around this time though, there aren't as much of them lazing around. Walked to Coit Tower to get a better view of the city, then made our way to get a close up shot of the Transamerica Pyramid. Quite a strange structure. Doesn't look very pretty either.
In the evening, tita Lisa (my dad's cousin) came around to pick us up, along with my cousins Alex, & Danielle, for dinner at an Italian restaurant. At first we could barely hear each other, the group on the next table were super loud! It was a relief when they left, we could eat peacefully :) We drove up the Twin Peaks, the BEST view of the city...except it was super THICK fog! Though I'm sure when it clears up, it would be nice to go up again and see the whole Bay area :)
On our last "full" day in San Francisco, we set out on our EPIC walk. According to Joel's pedometer, we had 42,554 steps! Started at 8:30am and didn't get back until 6:30pm. All that and we only saw 6 attractions, they were all so far apart. The first was walking up & down the hills to see the "Painted Ladies", famous Victorian houses painted in pastel colours. These were shown in the opening credits of the show "Full House". Ok, well it was nothing great... The furthest we walked was to Mission Dolores, founded in 1776. It's both the oldest original intact Mission in California, & the oldest building in San Francisco!
We needed a drink, & faithful McDonald's just happened to be on the way :) HEHEHE Tried their mocha frappe, not bad ;) Close-by is the Golden Gate Park, where we passed the DeYoung Museum, walked around Stow Lake, saw a few bisons in there enclosure (they didn't look to exciting), and the last before exciting the park was the Dutch Windmill. Across the road is Ocean Beach, too cold to even think about going to the beach, even for a picnic.
The trek to the Golden Gate Bridge was a bit of a challenge, kind of...trying to find the right street to get up close to it when you are in the middle of all these Victorian houses, all in their different shades of colours. But when we finally got to the bridge, the fog had disappeared from the tops, and it became blue skies :) Perfect, Joel was really hoping it would be like this :) By the time we arrived back at the hostel, it got foggy again and the wind started to pick up once more.
Caught the trolley to get us to the Greyhound Bus Terminal. It got so packed once we went through Chinatown (no surprise there), that I wanted to get off the next stop & just walk the rest of the way. Not ideal to be catching these sorts of public transportation when you got luggage with you... Drama...arrived at the terminal only to find out that our tickets to Sacramento are in fact for the next day yet! Thankfully I keep receipts, & records to show that I purchased a bunch of tickets at the same time. With the amounts of tickets I had, it was possible that the teller made a mistake, I should have checked it earlier. Good thing I'm also persistent, we were waived the $15 surcharge per ticket to get new ones for today :) It also helped the lady at the desk was understanding :) :) :)
HI - Sacramento, the next hostel we were booked at is in an 1885 Victorian mansion, which has been moved from it's original location 3 times! The latest was in the 90's where it was even turned 180˚, so the front of the house now faces the north. Time to catch up with family again :) We took the train to Folsom where we met up with my cousin Kimi :) We went for a bike ride along America River, & you can really feel the heat here! We ended up at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery, Joel was very happy :) Back the other way to Folsom Lake. The hill, the heat, was such a killer! So not fit for this ride hehehe but Kimi was right, once we get to the lake, it would be all worth it :) The water was perfect, cold, but after that hill & the sweat, I needed it :)
Went to lunch with tita Mimi, & Kimi at a Tapas restaurant. Then went window shopping at Arden Fair. Can I just say that the Sunday we spent in Sacramento was the most boring day ever! Everything was closed, the shops, the cafes, and most of all, no McDonalds close-by for my mocha frappe :(
Went out with Kimi for in the morning before we left, walked around the Old Sacramento then checked out of the hostel. The bus was full, & traffic bad on the freeway to Reno. They were doing roadworks, & therefore only had one lane open in the direction we were headed. We were so tired when we arrived...
Staying at tita Christine, & tito Sam's house during our stay in Reno. Anyone who has ever come & visited here knows that the house is never quiet ;) There's always so much food & laughter, stories, & more food :) It's so nice to just be sitting around doing nothing for a change, once in a while we would go out to the shops for grocery. And if we were lucky there's a Ross or Marshalls nearby & do some extra shopping ;)
Finally able to buy new joggers, & active wear, we started jogging every morning at 6am. It's so hard to get up, quite cold in the mornings, but at the end it always feels good to start the day like this :)
Friday, July 16, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Copenhagen - Berlin - Donastia - Bilbo - Madrid - New York - Montreal - Ottawa - Toronto - Niagara Falls
June 1 - 30, 2010
It was sunny when we left for the train station in the morning. Catching the X2000 train to Copenhagen at 10:25am. Only a 5 hour train ride...ONLY. It was on time, & it was probably one of the nicest trains we've ridden. The seats even reclined better than the planes! I felt a little light headed though, so majority of the time I was trying to sleep. Except for when it was time to gorge on the bag of strawberries & cream lollies we bought :)
As we got closer to Denmark, the weather became horrible. It was gloomy, dark, & raining. Though luckily not as bad as what we've experienced recently in Krakow. By the time we found the right bus stop, our bus was already rolling away. Though we didn't have to wait long since the next one came up shortly. Staying away from the city this time, Hostel Belægningen is about 10km out. I think it's a nice change though, we're surrounded by greenery & not traffic & buildings.
We thought that the next few days will also be rain & just bad weather all together, but I was so excited to see the sun brightly shining that I woke Joel up just to let him know hehehe. Well, if we had known about this we wouldn't have bought the 10-way transport pass, & instead hired the bikes at the hostel.
Out by 8:30am, took bus #1A in front of Avedore Skole to København H (Central Station). Took around 30 minutes, & perfect timing since most places were just starting to open for the day. We checked of course the souvenir stores along Strøget (pedestrian, cafe's/bars/restaurants, shopping street) before arriving at Rundetårn (The Round Tower). It was completed in 1642, & is the oldest functioning observatory in Europe.
They say there's about 13,000 plant species in the Botanisk Have (Botanic Gardens)...I think they're right. We walked through the tropical & subtropical plants in the iron & glass Palmehuset (Palm House). Across the road was another nice garden to walk around - Kongens Have (King's Gardens). This is also where you can visit Rosenborg Slot (Rosenborg Castle), built by King Christian IV as a summer residence. There was even a swan HISSING (yes it was hissing!) at me while I tried to get it's picture with the castle!
I knew that the sculpture of Edvard Eriksen's, Lille Havfrue (Little Mermaid) was not going to be there. But as we got nearer to the spot, (where instead they put a TV screen with live footage of the sculpture from the Shanghai World Expo), the more I thought about how stupid it was to send the real thing. Instead they kept it's replica here, but not for people to view for FREE...it was put at Tivoli (a 19th century amusement park) where people now have to PAY the entrance fee just to see it! Can't stand stupid stunts like this...
Across the moat instead to reach Kastellet, an enclosed 17th century fortress, now a park. So many people jogging here, making me wish I was one of them :( Another moat to cross, then short walk to Marmorkirken (The Marble Church). It has Europe's 3rd largest dome, & unfortunately closed until later in the afternoon. Not far from it was Amalienborg Palace where we were able to catch the changing of the guards. There's four huge mansions around the square where the queen & royal family reside during the winter months. Another place we visited was Christiansborg Slot, home of Folketing (Parliament), & the royal reception rooms.
The next day, we decided to hire bikes. Great exercise & a goof way to get to know the streets around Copenhagen. Not sure how long it took us to get into the city, but it was a nice & easy ride :)
We first visited the small town of Christiania, surrounded by a graffiti-covered wall...it´s were the hippies, & wanna-be hippies hang out. Lots of drunks, & illegal drugs being sold on street stalls. No pictures allowed in the town, which is such a shame because it was as if we were walking into a the back lot of Universal Studios. So different from the world outside hehehe Got to visit inside the Marmorkirken, & passed through another park called Ørsteds Parken.
On arrival back to the hostel, I found a note on our door to call Marietta. The number was for Denmark & I didn´t know anyone here so I brought it back to reception. We ended up trying the number anyway, & glad we did :) It turned out to be tia Marietta, my grandpa´s cousin! Long story on how she found me in Copenhagen, but her husband tio Andy & herself picked us up & brought us to Tivoli!
We found Lille Havfrue & of course got pictures with her :) Then to dinner, & was surprised that even at 11Ñ30pm on a school night there were still kids out on rides having a great time! Not only that, it looked like it was only getting to dusk!!!
Super early breakfast, walk to the bus stop to get to the central train station. Our train to Berlin, Germany departed at 7:45am. We got talking to another Danish passenger, around our age. And we were astonished when he told us that the WHOLE train gets on a FERRY to get to Germany!!! When it got on the Scandlines, we all had to get out of the train & sit on the decks for the 45 minute ride. Pretty cool! They had duty free stores on board which is pretty much where everyone was :)
We stayed at BackpackerBerlin, about 45 minutes walk into the city. So yes, you can imagine the exercise we got during our stay ;) Along Karl-Marx-Allee, you´ll see the boulevard lined with buildings designed from the Soviet Union days. Pretty much everywhere in Berlin, including close to our hostel, you will see Fernsehturm (the TV tower). So it was not hard to find our way into the city.
All you have to do is walk along Karl-Liebkrecht-Straße which turns into Unter den Linden. So along the way we took pictures of Berliner Dom, Beblplatz (where around 20,000 books where burned by Nazi students), and finally the Brandonburger Tor. On the other side, you see bricks laid out on the road to mark where the Berlin Wall used to stand.
Another stretch of road, Straße des 17 Juni leads you to Siegessäule, but unfortunately, it was covered with scaffolding so we walked into Tiergarten instead. We actually for to see some animals from the zoo through the fence on our way to Kaiser Wilhelm Church. And WOW, can I just say how surprised I am so see so many Dunkin' Donut stores there are here? It rivals that of the Philippines!
We walked along the East Side Gallery on our way to the sights the next day. There´s some really great artwork there, and I think it gets changed regularly because I didn´t see some of the ones I liked from my 2007 trip. After we checked out Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, & the Galerie Topographie des Terrors.
The Sony Centre was cool, if only the shops were open (Sunday, most are shut except for those tourist sites), then got lost (not really) walking through the Holocaust Memorial. The weather has been so perfect during our stay, & it looks like a lot of festivals are coming up that Joel & myself didn´t want to leave yet! Oh well, another place to add to the list of places to return :)
I´m used to waking up early, so 3am is nothing. Not sure if Joel enjoys this though hehehe We got to Berlin Tegel Airport & waited for our Air Berlin flight AB8792 to Barcelona, Spain. We sat in the plane for about an hour before take-off, not sure why but I fell asleep and didn´t mind.
Took the Aerobus to Plaza Catalunya and walked along Las Ramblas to get to our hostel - Downtown Paraiso Hostel. Walked around the area for a bit including La Boqueria (markets), but didn´t want to go sightseeing just yet :)
The bed was so comfortable, the room was pitch black that I didn't want to get up yet, though somehow my body got going anyway. Good thing too, since it was nice & sunny outside :) Ready to go out, we walked across Plaça de Catalunya & up Passeig de Grácia. A small area along this street is known as la manzana de la discórida (block of discord). Because of the architectural styles of three buildings - Casa Amatller by Puig i Cadafalch; Casa Batlló by Antoni Gaudí; Casa Milá (La Pedrera) another by Gaudí.
Casa Amatller has a facade that is of Moorish influence, while Casa Batlló has balconies that ripple like water with purple-blue tiles. On the corner of Passeig de Grácia & Carrer de Provençal sits Casa Milá, said to be Gaudí's most refined work. Quite strange to look at, so out of place hehehe. Another Gaudí creation we saw was La Sagrada Familia, unfinished & some say it will never be. We didn't go to Park Güell this time, didn´t want to walk too far knowing that most needed to be seen today before the rain starts. A bit further on is a building that you'll be able to see from the Park, and that's the Agbar Tower. It's noticeable because it looks like a bullet.
Got to the Arc de Triomf, walked through it and then got to Parc de La Ciutadella. I didn't realise that there was a massive fountain feature there - Cascada. I only saw the buildings on the other side of the park. In the afternoon walked to Mirador de Colom, and the port area. One of the best places to walk around and get lost in is the alleys in Barri Gòtic (the Gothic Area).
Even though it was raining the next day, we went out ot join a free walking tour around Barri Gòtic. Waste of time really, the guy talked fast and wasn´t clear at all. I think he was trying to joke around but no-one got it... So by the time we finished checking out Església Catedral de La Santa Creu, Joel & I bailed out. Walked slowly behind the group and walked through the maze of alleys. Such a shame since I really wanted to know more about the history of the area.
Had to get to Barcelona Sants Estació early in the morning for our 7:35am train to Donastia in País Vasco. Fell asleep for the most part of the ride, snacked on our 600g container of sour lollies, and while Joel was asleep I watched a movie in Spanish. When we got to Donastia, I realised that there was no print out of the hostel because I made that booking during our trip already. Managed to get to the tourist office, and get a map with the address. Right in the centre of the city - Hospodaje Donastia@B&B. Nice quiet hostel with only 4 rooms and all are private. Luz and Amalia, were so so so friendly and very informative :)
Breakfast was not until 9am, so it was nice to just be lazy in bed for a change. The weather was a bit so-so but at least it didn't rain. Both beaches that we passed, Kontxako hondartza, & Ondarretaki hondartza, has the nicest, cleanest, widest sands I've ever seen. Seems they clean & comb it every morning. It was quite a surprise that even in this sort of weather, people (mostly the elderly) were out swimming!
Climbed up Monte Igueldo which is always a must when coming here. The views are spectacular right at the top. But we, being budget concious (too much sometimes I think) only climbed as far as we could without having to pay. I don't remember there being a charge last time I came, only if you took the funicular up. But oh well, we got good shots along the zig-zagged road. At the base of this hill, are sculptures called Haizearen Orrazia (The Wind Comb). There was a description there, but I still don't understand it's purpose hehehe Another of these sculptures, but erected recently, is Eraikuntza Hutsa (Empty Construction). This one is at the base of Monte Urgull.
We visited Église Santa Maria in the Old Town, & directly across in the Centre of town (even if it was several streets away) you can see Cathédrale Buen Pastor, where we visited next. Unfortunately it was closed, don't know because they too were having a siesta since it was that time of the day :)
So what else do you do in Donastia? Or in any Euskadi city? You go out for pintxos of course! We had a list of recommendations from Luz, so we tried the first on the list - La Cuchara de San Telmo. I must say when I asked for their best sellers I didn't expect for the guy at the bar to say beef cheeks or fish "chins". Well ummm ok, we ordered those to share & you know what...they weren't so bad! Quite delicious actually :) Then to Ganbara where they are known for their tarts stuffed with onions, carrots, & txangurro (spider crab) Mmm...mmm...mmm! We also tried two other pintxos here, but have no idea what they were. All were good though :)
Enough of that...dessert time!!! And what else could be better than churros con chocolate?!? We found them at Santa Lucia & quite cheap for th amount of churros we got, & the thickness of the chocolate. I'm sooo craving for another right now :(
Too bad we only stayed a couple of days here. Next was to hop on the bus to Bilbo, only over an hour away. First though we climbed up another little hill - Monte Urgull. Shortly after we were on our way...
Caught the Euskotren (tram) to get to our hostel - Hostal Gurea. In the middle of Casco Viejo (Old Town), it couldn't be in a more perfect place. Wish I could say the same about the weather though. It's as if the weather or time stood still since I left it...gloomy, raining, & cold :( Bilbo is officially the most miserable-gloomy-weather-city in the whole Europe, if not the world :(
Even though the weather hadn't changed the next day, we were able to walk around with our umbrellas packed away...though ready for the threatening dark clouds. Because it was Sunday, about 98% of the stores are either closed or won't open until around 3pm. I know for a fact my mum can never live here because of that, though I think my dad will love it hehehe ;)
The furthest we got was Parque de Donña Casilda Iturizar, walked through it then Joel went to admire the architecture of Museo Guggenheim Bilbao. Passed Iglesi de San Nicolás, Iglesia de los Santos Juanes, & Catedral de Santiago. Didn't bother trying to go in, since Sundays they will surely be closed for mass.
If you are in Bilbo around Sundays, then you should check-out Plaza Nueva. It was absolutely buzzing with people! Adults & children alike were gathered in small groups with their checklist of trading cards. I've never seen anything like it! A lot were also huddled around vendors with old coins & banknotes. The bars, the cafes, around the plaza were also overflowing with loud Basques enjoying their Sunday :) Even Joel commented that the people around here are noisy...nahhh they just know how to enjoy life ;)
Day after was even worse :( Didn't get to go to Ibarranguelu, but instead finally found Restorante Zuluaga. Met head chef & owner Alberto Zuluaga. He couldn't speak English, & my Spanish is only enough to get directions & other travel things...not research questions. It was quite funny though because one of the ladies there was giggling at us, we were pretty much hand signaling at each other hehehe
Last train trip in Europe, to Madrid in the morning. It was so nice to just look out the window even if it was dark skies, the green hills, the fog, so so pretty! We got to a train station in the middle of no where...but we were there for AGES waiting for a delayed train to arrive and attach itself to the end of ours. I guess Joel was still sleepy or something; instead of putting his earpiece for his MP3 back into his ear, he put a sour gummy lolly! LOL it was the funniest thing and we were in tears for awhile :D
Anyway, finally got to Madrid Charmartin, took the Metro to get to our hostel which was just south of Puerta del Sol. La Posada de Huertas, the first hostel were we had to be put in separate rooms (single sex rooms only). Joel complained about the stinkiness in the room, while I enjoyed just sharing a small 5 bed room with just one other person :)
Afraid that it would rain during our outing, we brought the umbrellas with us just in case. Luckily we didn't have to use them once :) Walked through Plaza Mayor, which was still very quiet early in the morning, with the shops only starting to open. Looked inside our LAST cathedral - Catederal de La Almudena before a quick peek at Palacio Real.
Walked to a park that had a "donated" Egyptian temple, Templo de Debod. I never believe these so-called "donated" gifts to other countries. So back into the centre of the city through Plaza España, and along Gran Via. I wanted to show Joel the Placio de Comunicaciones, but, like 98% of buildings in Europe at the moment, is covered with scaffolding :(
We were planning to go to Toledo for a day trip, but decided to leave it for another time :) Instead we spent our last full day in Madrid at Parque del Buen Retiro, just sitting by the water and watching the place fill with people. It was also such a nice sunny day, a good change AND good way to end our Europe trip :)
To get to the airport we had to take the train from Atocha to Nuevo Ministerios, & then changed to the metro line. Got to Barajas Airport with more than enough time to spare. The airport was a bit chaotic, apparently you can check your bag in up to 24 hours before your flight. So all desks were open for what ever flight you are taking, just make sure it's the right airline and the lines were pretty long. I thought it was such a mess, but I guess they had it all under control hehehe
To get to New York, we flew with Iberia Airlines IB6251. It was an 8 hour flight, but by the time we get there it would be already 9pm in Spain, yet 4pm in New York! Good flight though, food was yum, & we got to watch a couple of movies - Leap Year, & Extraordinary Measures.
Even though our departure was an hour delayed, we arrived at JFK Airport 30mins earlier than expected. I got through fine at customs & immigration, the guys new how to joke around. Joel wasn't so lucky hehehe but he made it anyway, maybe he looks a bit suspicious :P
So we got the Airtrain to Jamaica Station, then changed to the "E" train for 53rd Street on Lexington Ave, THEN the subway up to 110th St, AND finally we were there...almost. We had to walk about 3 blocks to get to the hostel - The Riviera New York. Now some people would be shocked when I mention that we were staying in East Harlem, but I stayed here last time & I really loved it! And this time was no different, we liked are very homey-filling hostel :) The area we were at is more commonly known as "Spanish Harlem" or "El Barrio".
To get to the city, we have to walk through Central Park, which is great. It's larger than the Monaco, & it doesn't feel like you are in a big busy city! I had to of course stop to check-out FAO Schwartz, Barnes & Nobles, & Build-A-Bear before we got to Times Square. I love Toys R' Us! Across the street to M&M's World, then the Hershey Store...mmmm so delicious!
No signs of jet lag what so ever, we were out early in the morning! Hit Central Park for a stroll taking pictures of squirrels, cascades, & a Father's Day Fun Run. So many people participating.
While Joel went to watch a baseball game at the Yankee Stadium, I got to spend the time "shopping". Actually the only thing I ended up buying was a trolley for my luggage which now runs on its rims :( Then I went back to Central Park to sit in the shade and people watch. There was also a live band playing so I got to listen to some of that before heading back to the hostel.
When we checked-out, we had to take the subway to 51st St, then changed to the "E" train to get to Port Authority on 42nd Ave. This is the main bus stop, & where we will be departing with Greyhound bus for an overnight ride to Montreal, Canada. Got to the station & left our bags at the luggage storeroom.
In the heat, we walked all the was down to the "alphabet" streets to have lunch at The Peanut Butter Shop. Slightly disappointed that nothing we ordered had peanut butter though :(
There were lots of people sitting around Washington Square Park, & we joined the people at Madison Square Park siting down in the shade to cool off. It's funny to watch people around here. Some workers seem to just walk around doing laps of the park, a couple of the ladies I saw were even wearing heels! HOW?!? Then there's the homeless guy on the other bench who seemed to be "cleaning" himself with a brush, I guess some things you just don't need to see...
Back at the Port Authority at night to wait for the bus' departure...no delays here! We left at exactly 12:01am! Sleep (if any) was interrupted at around 2:30am for a scheduled servicing/cleaning of the bus at Albany & we all had to get out. It took about 30 minutes then we were back on board. The next interruption was at the border where we had to take all our belongings off the bus & go through the Canadian customs/immigration. Easy. The bus was checked over & we were able to board the bus.
Finally at Montreal by 8am, & walked to Le Jazz St. Denis. We didn't do much that day, we ate, watched the soccer, walked a little, ate, & bed...
We did more sightseeing the following day when we had more energy :) Got to see Basilique Notre Dame de Montreal, then to the little museum at Banque de Montreal. The small museum had early Canadian currencies, books, & "machines" they used in the bank at the time. Down to Quais du Vieux Port & along Promenade des Quais. Looked around the garden at the house of the first governor, which is called Place de la Douversiere.
The next day looked like it was going to be gloomy. Yet we decided to still go up Parc du Mont Royal. Lots of people jogging up or biking here. After seeing the view, we walked down the other side & went to the port. Climbed up Tour de l'Horloge, & got a good shot of the Biosphere, Musee de l'Environnement across the river. We got to board the ship Europa & look around. It was an old merchant ship from Holland, almost 100 years old! *SIGH* Shops were closed & we were stuck in the city while it rained hard :(
Glad to be leaving Montreal, it was nice but kind of boring. Next was Ottawa, the capital city. Took Greyhound Canada, only a couple of hours away. When we arrived we took the local bus to Rideau Centre, & walked through Marche By to get to the hostel - Ottawa Backpackers Inn.
Looked like another gloomy day, but we couldn't afford to stay in since we were only here for a couple of days. We decided to follow the walking route on the map, also suggested by the girl at reception. It even brought us back to Quebec! The walk took us to Parliament Hill, the Supreme Court of Canada, across Pont du Portage Bridge, Pont Alexandra Bridge to get back to Ontario. In the afternoon when the skies cleared, we did the walk again backwards.
I enjoyed Ottawa, but today we were leaving for Toronto. Again on Greyhound Canada. When we arrived the city was almost like a ghost town, no cars around but a lot of protesters on their bikes, lots of police out...all because of the G20 Summit. We had no trouble walking to our hostel though - HI-Toronto.
Today was a lot more normal, with people going back to work, the city was busier & the fences were being slowly brought down. Across from the hostel was our first stop - St. James Cathedral. We were following the Discovery Walk from a map. Passed St. Lawrence Market which was closed today, then to Union Station. Got pictures of the CN Tower, Campbell House, Osgoode Hall, City Hall, & the Old City Hall. In the afternoon we decided to go up to the CN Tower, thinking since today was nice & sunny it might be the only chance we'll get to do it.
After our visit, it became dark & started to rain heavy...for like 10 seconds then stopped. So we went to Toronto Eaton Centre (mall). It's funny how Joel gets so excited about seeing the mall, he says we have to spend a whole day there. He won't be saying that when I drag him to Westfield in Australia hehehe
The next morning we were lazy and didn't get up till passed 8am...I know most are you are saying that's not late :P But we were able to see St. Lawrence Market...nothing great. EXCEPT for this one stall that had soooooooo many different kinds of cooking gadgets!!! I want I want!!!! We spent forever & a day at the book store. Got to also walk through Chinatown.
This next bus trip was with Coach Canada, going to Niagara Falls. I love it when the hostel is close enough to the bus/train station that we don't have to catch public transport to get there :) So this time we were staying at Backpacker's International Hostel & Inn. We walked to the falls in the afternoon when it was starting to get cooler. It's not as big as what I thought it would be, but still it was impressive :)
It was sunny when we left for the train station in the morning. Catching the X2000 train to Copenhagen at 10:25am. Only a 5 hour train ride...ONLY. It was on time, & it was probably one of the nicest trains we've ridden. The seats even reclined better than the planes! I felt a little light headed though, so majority of the time I was trying to sleep. Except for when it was time to gorge on the bag of strawberries & cream lollies we bought :)
As we got closer to Denmark, the weather became horrible. It was gloomy, dark, & raining. Though luckily not as bad as what we've experienced recently in Krakow. By the time we found the right bus stop, our bus was already rolling away. Though we didn't have to wait long since the next one came up shortly. Staying away from the city this time, Hostel Belægningen is about 10km out. I think it's a nice change though, we're surrounded by greenery & not traffic & buildings.
We thought that the next few days will also be rain & just bad weather all together, but I was so excited to see the sun brightly shining that I woke Joel up just to let him know hehehe. Well, if we had known about this we wouldn't have bought the 10-way transport pass, & instead hired the bikes at the hostel.
Out by 8:30am, took bus #1A in front of Avedore Skole to København H (Central Station). Took around 30 minutes, & perfect timing since most places were just starting to open for the day. We checked of course the souvenir stores along Strøget (pedestrian, cafe's/bars/restaurants, shopping street) before arriving at Rundetårn (The Round Tower). It was completed in 1642, & is the oldest functioning observatory in Europe.
They say there's about 13,000 plant species in the Botanisk Have (Botanic Gardens)...I think they're right. We walked through the tropical & subtropical plants in the iron & glass Palmehuset (Palm House). Across the road was another nice garden to walk around - Kongens Have (King's Gardens). This is also where you can visit Rosenborg Slot (Rosenborg Castle), built by King Christian IV as a summer residence. There was even a swan HISSING (yes it was hissing!) at me while I tried to get it's picture with the castle!
I knew that the sculpture of Edvard Eriksen's, Lille Havfrue (Little Mermaid) was not going to be there. But as we got nearer to the spot, (where instead they put a TV screen with live footage of the sculpture from the Shanghai World Expo), the more I thought about how stupid it was to send the real thing. Instead they kept it's replica here, but not for people to view for FREE...it was put at Tivoli (a 19th century amusement park) where people now have to PAY the entrance fee just to see it! Can't stand stupid stunts like this...
Across the moat instead to reach Kastellet, an enclosed 17th century fortress, now a park. So many people jogging here, making me wish I was one of them :( Another moat to cross, then short walk to Marmorkirken (The Marble Church). It has Europe's 3rd largest dome, & unfortunately closed until later in the afternoon. Not far from it was Amalienborg Palace where we were able to catch the changing of the guards. There's four huge mansions around the square where the queen & royal family reside during the winter months. Another place we visited was Christiansborg Slot, home of Folketing (Parliament), & the royal reception rooms.
The next day, we decided to hire bikes. Great exercise & a goof way to get to know the streets around Copenhagen. Not sure how long it took us to get into the city, but it was a nice & easy ride :)
We first visited the small town of Christiania, surrounded by a graffiti-covered wall...it´s were the hippies, & wanna-be hippies hang out. Lots of drunks, & illegal drugs being sold on street stalls. No pictures allowed in the town, which is such a shame because it was as if we were walking into a the back lot of Universal Studios. So different from the world outside hehehe Got to visit inside the Marmorkirken, & passed through another park called Ørsteds Parken.
On arrival back to the hostel, I found a note on our door to call Marietta. The number was for Denmark & I didn´t know anyone here so I brought it back to reception. We ended up trying the number anyway, & glad we did :) It turned out to be tia Marietta, my grandpa´s cousin! Long story on how she found me in Copenhagen, but her husband tio Andy & herself picked us up & brought us to Tivoli!
We found Lille Havfrue & of course got pictures with her :) Then to dinner, & was surprised that even at 11Ñ30pm on a school night there were still kids out on rides having a great time! Not only that, it looked like it was only getting to dusk!!!
Super early breakfast, walk to the bus stop to get to the central train station. Our train to Berlin, Germany departed at 7:45am. We got talking to another Danish passenger, around our age. And we were astonished when he told us that the WHOLE train gets on a FERRY to get to Germany!!! When it got on the Scandlines, we all had to get out of the train & sit on the decks for the 45 minute ride. Pretty cool! They had duty free stores on board which is pretty much where everyone was :)
We stayed at BackpackerBerlin, about 45 minutes walk into the city. So yes, you can imagine the exercise we got during our stay ;) Along Karl-Marx-Allee, you´ll see the boulevard lined with buildings designed from the Soviet Union days. Pretty much everywhere in Berlin, including close to our hostel, you will see Fernsehturm (the TV tower). So it was not hard to find our way into the city.
All you have to do is walk along Karl-Liebkrecht-Straße which turns into Unter den Linden. So along the way we took pictures of Berliner Dom, Beblplatz (where around 20,000 books where burned by Nazi students), and finally the Brandonburger Tor. On the other side, you see bricks laid out on the road to mark where the Berlin Wall used to stand.
Another stretch of road, Straße des 17 Juni leads you to Siegessäule, but unfortunately, it was covered with scaffolding so we walked into Tiergarten instead. We actually for to see some animals from the zoo through the fence on our way to Kaiser Wilhelm Church. And WOW, can I just say how surprised I am so see so many Dunkin' Donut stores there are here? It rivals that of the Philippines!
We walked along the East Side Gallery on our way to the sights the next day. There´s some really great artwork there, and I think it gets changed regularly because I didn´t see some of the ones I liked from my 2007 trip. After we checked out Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, & the Galerie Topographie des Terrors.
The Sony Centre was cool, if only the shops were open (Sunday, most are shut except for those tourist sites), then got lost (not really) walking through the Holocaust Memorial. The weather has been so perfect during our stay, & it looks like a lot of festivals are coming up that Joel & myself didn´t want to leave yet! Oh well, another place to add to the list of places to return :)
I´m used to waking up early, so 3am is nothing. Not sure if Joel enjoys this though hehehe We got to Berlin Tegel Airport & waited for our Air Berlin flight AB8792 to Barcelona, Spain. We sat in the plane for about an hour before take-off, not sure why but I fell asleep and didn´t mind.
Took the Aerobus to Plaza Catalunya and walked along Las Ramblas to get to our hostel - Downtown Paraiso Hostel. Walked around the area for a bit including La Boqueria (markets), but didn´t want to go sightseeing just yet :)
The bed was so comfortable, the room was pitch black that I didn't want to get up yet, though somehow my body got going anyway. Good thing too, since it was nice & sunny outside :) Ready to go out, we walked across Plaça de Catalunya & up Passeig de Grácia. A small area along this street is known as la manzana de la discórida (block of discord). Because of the architectural styles of three buildings - Casa Amatller by Puig i Cadafalch; Casa Batlló by Antoni Gaudí; Casa Milá (La Pedrera) another by Gaudí.
Casa Amatller has a facade that is of Moorish influence, while Casa Batlló has balconies that ripple like water with purple-blue tiles. On the corner of Passeig de Grácia & Carrer de Provençal sits Casa Milá, said to be Gaudí's most refined work. Quite strange to look at, so out of place hehehe. Another Gaudí creation we saw was La Sagrada Familia, unfinished & some say it will never be. We didn't go to Park Güell this time, didn´t want to walk too far knowing that most needed to be seen today before the rain starts. A bit further on is a building that you'll be able to see from the Park, and that's the Agbar Tower. It's noticeable because it looks like a bullet.
Got to the Arc de Triomf, walked through it and then got to Parc de La Ciutadella. I didn't realise that there was a massive fountain feature there - Cascada. I only saw the buildings on the other side of the park. In the afternoon walked to Mirador de Colom, and the port area. One of the best places to walk around and get lost in is the alleys in Barri Gòtic (the Gothic Area).
Even though it was raining the next day, we went out ot join a free walking tour around Barri Gòtic. Waste of time really, the guy talked fast and wasn´t clear at all. I think he was trying to joke around but no-one got it... So by the time we finished checking out Església Catedral de La Santa Creu, Joel & I bailed out. Walked slowly behind the group and walked through the maze of alleys. Such a shame since I really wanted to know more about the history of the area.
Had to get to Barcelona Sants Estació early in the morning for our 7:35am train to Donastia in País Vasco. Fell asleep for the most part of the ride, snacked on our 600g container of sour lollies, and while Joel was asleep I watched a movie in Spanish. When we got to Donastia, I realised that there was no print out of the hostel because I made that booking during our trip already. Managed to get to the tourist office, and get a map with the address. Right in the centre of the city - Hospodaje Donastia@B&B. Nice quiet hostel with only 4 rooms and all are private. Luz and Amalia, were so so so friendly and very informative :)
Breakfast was not until 9am, so it was nice to just be lazy in bed for a change. The weather was a bit so-so but at least it didn't rain. Both beaches that we passed, Kontxako hondartza, & Ondarretaki hondartza, has the nicest, cleanest, widest sands I've ever seen. Seems they clean & comb it every morning. It was quite a surprise that even in this sort of weather, people (mostly the elderly) were out swimming!
Climbed up Monte Igueldo which is always a must when coming here. The views are spectacular right at the top. But we, being budget concious (too much sometimes I think) only climbed as far as we could without having to pay. I don't remember there being a charge last time I came, only if you took the funicular up. But oh well, we got good shots along the zig-zagged road. At the base of this hill, are sculptures called Haizearen Orrazia (The Wind Comb). There was a description there, but I still don't understand it's purpose hehehe Another of these sculptures, but erected recently, is Eraikuntza Hutsa (Empty Construction). This one is at the base of Monte Urgull.
We visited Église Santa Maria in the Old Town, & directly across in the Centre of town (even if it was several streets away) you can see Cathédrale Buen Pastor, where we visited next. Unfortunately it was closed, don't know because they too were having a siesta since it was that time of the day :)
So what else do you do in Donastia? Or in any Euskadi city? You go out for pintxos of course! We had a list of recommendations from Luz, so we tried the first on the list - La Cuchara de San Telmo. I must say when I asked for their best sellers I didn't expect for the guy at the bar to say beef cheeks or fish "chins". Well ummm ok, we ordered those to share & you know what...they weren't so bad! Quite delicious actually :) Then to Ganbara where they are known for their tarts stuffed with onions, carrots, & txangurro (spider crab) Mmm...mmm...mmm! We also tried two other pintxos here, but have no idea what they were. All were good though :)
Enough of that...dessert time!!! And what else could be better than churros con chocolate?!? We found them at Santa Lucia & quite cheap for th amount of churros we got, & the thickness of the chocolate. I'm sooo craving for another right now :(
Too bad we only stayed a couple of days here. Next was to hop on the bus to Bilbo, only over an hour away. First though we climbed up another little hill - Monte Urgull. Shortly after we were on our way...
Caught the Euskotren (tram) to get to our hostel - Hostal Gurea. In the middle of Casco Viejo (Old Town), it couldn't be in a more perfect place. Wish I could say the same about the weather though. It's as if the weather or time stood still since I left it...gloomy, raining, & cold :( Bilbo is officially the most miserable-gloomy-weather-city in the whole Europe, if not the world :(
Even though the weather hadn't changed the next day, we were able to walk around with our umbrellas packed away...though ready for the threatening dark clouds. Because it was Sunday, about 98% of the stores are either closed or won't open until around 3pm. I know for a fact my mum can never live here because of that, though I think my dad will love it hehehe ;)
The furthest we got was Parque de Donña Casilda Iturizar, walked through it then Joel went to admire the architecture of Museo Guggenheim Bilbao. Passed Iglesi de San Nicolás, Iglesia de los Santos Juanes, & Catedral de Santiago. Didn't bother trying to go in, since Sundays they will surely be closed for mass.
If you are in Bilbo around Sundays, then you should check-out Plaza Nueva. It was absolutely buzzing with people! Adults & children alike were gathered in small groups with their checklist of trading cards. I've never seen anything like it! A lot were also huddled around vendors with old coins & banknotes. The bars, the cafes, around the plaza were also overflowing with loud Basques enjoying their Sunday :) Even Joel commented that the people around here are noisy...nahhh they just know how to enjoy life ;)
Day after was even worse :( Didn't get to go to Ibarranguelu, but instead finally found Restorante Zuluaga. Met head chef & owner Alberto Zuluaga. He couldn't speak English, & my Spanish is only enough to get directions & other travel things...not research questions. It was quite funny though because one of the ladies there was giggling at us, we were pretty much hand signaling at each other hehehe
Last train trip in Europe, to Madrid in the morning. It was so nice to just look out the window even if it was dark skies, the green hills, the fog, so so pretty! We got to a train station in the middle of no where...but we were there for AGES waiting for a delayed train to arrive and attach itself to the end of ours. I guess Joel was still sleepy or something; instead of putting his earpiece for his MP3 back into his ear, he put a sour gummy lolly! LOL it was the funniest thing and we were in tears for awhile :D
Anyway, finally got to Madrid Charmartin, took the Metro to get to our hostel which was just south of Puerta del Sol. La Posada de Huertas, the first hostel were we had to be put in separate rooms (single sex rooms only). Joel complained about the stinkiness in the room, while I enjoyed just sharing a small 5 bed room with just one other person :)
Afraid that it would rain during our outing, we brought the umbrellas with us just in case. Luckily we didn't have to use them once :) Walked through Plaza Mayor, which was still very quiet early in the morning, with the shops only starting to open. Looked inside our LAST cathedral - Catederal de La Almudena before a quick peek at Palacio Real.
Walked to a park that had a "donated" Egyptian temple, Templo de Debod. I never believe these so-called "donated" gifts to other countries. So back into the centre of the city through Plaza España, and along Gran Via. I wanted to show Joel the Placio de Comunicaciones, but, like 98% of buildings in Europe at the moment, is covered with scaffolding :(
We were planning to go to Toledo for a day trip, but decided to leave it for another time :) Instead we spent our last full day in Madrid at Parque del Buen Retiro, just sitting by the water and watching the place fill with people. It was also such a nice sunny day, a good change AND good way to end our Europe trip :)
To get to the airport we had to take the train from Atocha to Nuevo Ministerios, & then changed to the metro line. Got to Barajas Airport with more than enough time to spare. The airport was a bit chaotic, apparently you can check your bag in up to 24 hours before your flight. So all desks were open for what ever flight you are taking, just make sure it's the right airline and the lines were pretty long. I thought it was such a mess, but I guess they had it all under control hehehe
To get to New York, we flew with Iberia Airlines IB6251. It was an 8 hour flight, but by the time we get there it would be already 9pm in Spain, yet 4pm in New York! Good flight though, food was yum, & we got to watch a couple of movies - Leap Year, & Extraordinary Measures.
Even though our departure was an hour delayed, we arrived at JFK Airport 30mins earlier than expected. I got through fine at customs & immigration, the guys new how to joke around. Joel wasn't so lucky hehehe but he made it anyway, maybe he looks a bit suspicious :P
So we got the Airtrain to Jamaica Station, then changed to the "E" train for 53rd Street on Lexington Ave, THEN the subway up to 110th St, AND finally we were there...almost. We had to walk about 3 blocks to get to the hostel - The Riviera New York. Now some people would be shocked when I mention that we were staying in East Harlem, but I stayed here last time & I really loved it! And this time was no different, we liked are very homey-filling hostel :) The area we were at is more commonly known as "Spanish Harlem" or "El Barrio".
To get to the city, we have to walk through Central Park, which is great. It's larger than the Monaco, & it doesn't feel like you are in a big busy city! I had to of course stop to check-out FAO Schwartz, Barnes & Nobles, & Build-A-Bear before we got to Times Square. I love Toys R' Us! Across the street to M&M's World, then the Hershey Store...mmmm so delicious!
No signs of jet lag what so ever, we were out early in the morning! Hit Central Park for a stroll taking pictures of squirrels, cascades, & a Father's Day Fun Run. So many people participating.
While Joel went to watch a baseball game at the Yankee Stadium, I got to spend the time "shopping". Actually the only thing I ended up buying was a trolley for my luggage which now runs on its rims :( Then I went back to Central Park to sit in the shade and people watch. There was also a live band playing so I got to listen to some of that before heading back to the hostel.
When we checked-out, we had to take the subway to 51st St, then changed to the "E" train to get to Port Authority on 42nd Ave. This is the main bus stop, & where we will be departing with Greyhound bus for an overnight ride to Montreal, Canada. Got to the station & left our bags at the luggage storeroom.
In the heat, we walked all the was down to the "alphabet" streets to have lunch at The Peanut Butter Shop. Slightly disappointed that nothing we ordered had peanut butter though :(
There were lots of people sitting around Washington Square Park, & we joined the people at Madison Square Park siting down in the shade to cool off. It's funny to watch people around here. Some workers seem to just walk around doing laps of the park, a couple of the ladies I saw were even wearing heels! HOW?!? Then there's the homeless guy on the other bench who seemed to be "cleaning" himself with a brush, I guess some things you just don't need to see...
Back at the Port Authority at night to wait for the bus' departure...no delays here! We left at exactly 12:01am! Sleep (if any) was interrupted at around 2:30am for a scheduled servicing/cleaning of the bus at Albany & we all had to get out. It took about 30 minutes then we were back on board. The next interruption was at the border where we had to take all our belongings off the bus & go through the Canadian customs/immigration. Easy. The bus was checked over & we were able to board the bus.
Finally at Montreal by 8am, & walked to Le Jazz St. Denis. We didn't do much that day, we ate, watched the soccer, walked a little, ate, & bed...
We did more sightseeing the following day when we had more energy :) Got to see Basilique Notre Dame de Montreal, then to the little museum at Banque de Montreal. The small museum had early Canadian currencies, books, & "machines" they used in the bank at the time. Down to Quais du Vieux Port & along Promenade des Quais. Looked around the garden at the house of the first governor, which is called Place de la Douversiere.
The next day looked like it was going to be gloomy. Yet we decided to still go up Parc du Mont Royal. Lots of people jogging up or biking here. After seeing the view, we walked down the other side & went to the port. Climbed up Tour de l'Horloge, & got a good shot of the Biosphere, Musee de l'Environnement across the river. We got to board the ship Europa & look around. It was an old merchant ship from Holland, almost 100 years old! *SIGH* Shops were closed & we were stuck in the city while it rained hard :(
Glad to be leaving Montreal, it was nice but kind of boring. Next was Ottawa, the capital city. Took Greyhound Canada, only a couple of hours away. When we arrived we took the local bus to Rideau Centre, & walked through Marche By to get to the hostel - Ottawa Backpackers Inn.
Looked like another gloomy day, but we couldn't afford to stay in since we were only here for a couple of days. We decided to follow the walking route on the map, also suggested by the girl at reception. It even brought us back to Quebec! The walk took us to Parliament Hill, the Supreme Court of Canada, across Pont du Portage Bridge, Pont Alexandra Bridge to get back to Ontario. In the afternoon when the skies cleared, we did the walk again backwards.
I enjoyed Ottawa, but today we were leaving for Toronto. Again on Greyhound Canada. When we arrived the city was almost like a ghost town, no cars around but a lot of protesters on their bikes, lots of police out...all because of the G20 Summit. We had no trouble walking to our hostel though - HI-Toronto.
Today was a lot more normal, with people going back to work, the city was busier & the fences were being slowly brought down. Across from the hostel was our first stop - St. James Cathedral. We were following the Discovery Walk from a map. Passed St. Lawrence Market which was closed today, then to Union Station. Got pictures of the CN Tower, Campbell House, Osgoode Hall, City Hall, & the Old City Hall. In the afternoon we decided to go up to the CN Tower, thinking since today was nice & sunny it might be the only chance we'll get to do it.
After our visit, it became dark & started to rain heavy...for like 10 seconds then stopped. So we went to Toronto Eaton Centre (mall). It's funny how Joel gets so excited about seeing the mall, he says we have to spend a whole day there. He won't be saying that when I drag him to Westfield in Australia hehehe
The next morning we were lazy and didn't get up till passed 8am...I know most are you are saying that's not late :P But we were able to see St. Lawrence Market...nothing great. EXCEPT for this one stall that had soooooooo many different kinds of cooking gadgets!!! I want I want!!!! We spent forever & a day at the book store. Got to also walk through Chinatown.
This next bus trip was with Coach Canada, going to Niagara Falls. I love it when the hostel is close enough to the bus/train station that we don't have to catch public transport to get there :) So this time we were staying at Backpacker's International Hostel & Inn. We walked to the falls in the afternoon when it was starting to get cooler. It's not as big as what I thought it would be, but still it was impressive :)
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Split - Ljubljana - Budapest - Bratislava - Vienna - Prague - Krakow - Warsaw - Vilnius - Riga - Stockholm
01 - 31 May, 2010
We got up incredibly early (2am) to catch the earliest bus to the airport for our flight. Had to walk to Syntagma Square, & a couple of the restaurants were still open! We were able to get the earlier X95 bus which was great because the line at the check-in desk was ridiculously long! So the first leg of the trip was to fly with Lufthansa LH3393 to Munich, & then the second was a connecting flight to Split. Going to Split it was with Croatia Airlines OU4439 in a propeller plane :)
On arrival to Split, we took the shuttle bus into town which took around 30 minutes, & from there it was a short walk to Hostel Antonio. A lot of the shops were closed already because it was a public holiday. The hostel owner did suggest a place to eat just a few minutes away. Joel & I did takeaway from there & it was the best gnocchi we have EVER tasted! I wasn't into the meat too much, but at least it was soft, & the sauce was OK. The restaurant is called - Buffet "Fife", also very cheap & the serving big!
Slept in a little this morning, but as soon as we were ready we got up to go to the Green Market to buy breakfast. Found a bakery that sold Štap Čocolada - a chocolate filled pastry & still nice & warm! Sooo good, & accompanied it with chocolate milk! Went to the Katedrala or Rimski Mauzolej (The Cathedral or Roman Mausoleum), now according to the guide book it's supposedly the oldest catholic cathedral in the world?!? Afterward, we managed to get a self-walking tour map around the palace. So off we went!
First was a walk through the markets set up in the Basement Halls of Diocletian's Palace. Next was along the Riva & then around Voćni trg & Trg braće Radić to check out the Citadel (Castle). Passed Hramovi (Temples), but none were open so we just kept going. Then to Pjaca (the public square) at Narodni trg. Went out to Vrata od Pisture ("Pistura" Gate) at Poljana Grgura Ninskogi (I didn't see a gate by the way), then close-by was Razvitak Grada - Mletački bedemy (the Development of town - Venetian Bulwarks). Much of this was still intact.
There was a huge statue of I guess Diocletian, but there was no plaques around...he did however had a very shiny big toe. Not sure what sort of luck it brought, but everyone was rubbing it. I for one didn't want to touch it hehehe. Back inside the palace walls, we saw Zlatna vrata (Golden Gate), & Srebrna vrata (Silver Gate)...neither were those colours...I should stop taking things to literally huh?
We rested back at the hostel for awhile before taking a walk along the coast. Took pictures at Sv. Stipan (Sustipan) where so many sail boats were out. Got to U. Ježinac where a group of crazy people decided to go for a swim in the freezing waters!
Another early start (3:30am) to catch the shuttle back to the airport for Zagreb. A shuttle leaves 90 minutes before each Croatian Airlines flight, but they didn't tell anyone that they had changed the schedules, so everyone sat on the bus for about 40 minutes before we left. Luckily everyone was on the same flight, & the check-in counters were fairly quiet. Our flight OU651, was delayed due to fog at Zagreb airport. We finally took off about an hour later, but when we landed it was still do foggy, that you can't even see the other end of the runway.
The airports in Greece, & in Croatia have been the fastest we've gone through. Not sure how thorough in checking passports & documents, because we haven't filled out any sort of Arrival cards since Egypt. Passports are stamped though, so I guess that's good enough for them.
We took another shuttle bus to the main bus station in the city, then walked to Zagreb Željerzničići Kolodvor, which is the main train station. Put our luggage into the lockers before heading out to explore the city. And what a pretty city it is! We only had a handful of hours here so we didn't waste time.
Saw the Gothic designed Sv. Marko (St. Mark's Church). It had colourful roof tiles that depicted the coats of arms of Croatia, Dalmatia, & Slavonia on the left side, while the one for Zagreb was on the right. Walked through Kamenita vrata (Stone Gate) - and yes this one was true to it's name, it was stone - where a lot of women were praying. Through Katedrala marijina Uznesenja (Cathedral of the Assumption), which is actually quite pretty inside. And for the first time I saw somebody actually playing the organ!
Done for the day, we decided to head back to the train station & wait for our train to Ljubljana. It was IC219 & arrived on time. The next stop was Dobova, less then 15 minutes away but already in Slovenia! So the train was here for awhile, since officers were checking passports.
Arrived in Ljubljana in the afternoon, overcast & looks like it had been raining. Walked to Hostel Villa Veselova lovated in an area with embassies & huge old houses. A nice quiet place :)
Breakfast included...YES!!! We absolutely stuffed ourselves silly hehehe Well actually just enough to last us until the afternoon :) Once we got to the pedestrian areas of the old city, it all became so picturesque. Like a town in a story book rather than a capital city. At Prešernov trg, the pink 17th century Frančiškanska cerkev (Franciscan Church) is probably the first thing you'll notice unless you were blind. We went inside for awhile, but couldn't really walk around because there was a mass on. So instead we walked along Zmajski Most (Dragon Bridge) which stretched across Ljubljanica.
Had a browse at the markets in Vodnikov trg, & Pegačarjev trg before seeing Stolnica Sv. Nikolaia (St Nicholas's Cathedral). This one we couldn't go in because it was closed. So we walked uphill to Ljubljanski Grad (Ljubljana Castle). It was so green, the greenest of greens I have ever seen! And so thick too! There actually wasn't much to see at the castle, it seems they were doing a lot of work & most of the places of interest were closed. We saw a canon though...that was probably the most exciting thing there, even the case mates wasn't a WOW factor. Maybe this is the downside of coming in the shoulder season :(
Booo another early start to the day, we're off to Budapest, Hungary now. We took the MV247 train at 6:50am & didn't arrive until 4:15pm. They were doing track work & we even had to transfer to a bus for half an hour, which took us to the next station. At least we had the cabin space to ourselves, not too many people were on the train. The scenery all throughout Slovenia was beautiful, once you got to Hungary though...
There was so much logging going on, & the greenery wasn't as lush.
From the train station, we hopped onto the metro for a short ride to our hostel - Astoria City Hostel. We got upgraded once again to the apartments :) Great location, right smack bang in the centre of everything.
The next day started off fine, we even felt really hot & bothered climbing up Gellert-hegy. But first we visited Zsinagoga (Great Synagogue), which is in fact the largest in Europe & the second in the World! At the back garden is the metal Tree of Life, a Holocaust memorial which sits on a mass grave for the thousands of Jews killed near the end of the war. And each leaf bears the name of a family that perished.
Checked out Nagyvasarcsarnok (Great Market Hall), built in 1897 & has 2 1/2 acres of stalls! Then crossed a green-painted bridge called Szabadsag hid, meaning Freedom Bridge. Treked up Gellert-hegy (Gellert Hill) & had an amazing panorama view of the city. And overlooking this city is Szabadsag Szobor (Liberation Monument). The Citadel is up here too, but we didn't go inside since it was just another museum.
Back down & across to the Castle District, passed Var (Buda Castle)...another museum. And just reached Matyas templom (Matthias Church) just before it started to pour! Thunder & lightning...even if we had our umbrellas we were getting wet. It got pretty strong at one stage that water was just getting into our shoes. Then came hail, though not for long & also just pea-size ones!
Next morning couldn't be any more different. Blue sky & the sun shining :) Just what I like to see! So we didn't waste time, in case the weather decided to change it's mind, we walked fast & straight to Sz. Istvan Bazilika (St. Stephen's Basilica). It was damaged during World War II, & is the city's largest church.
Along the Duna (Danube) to get to Parlament or Parliament. And a nice stroll along Andrassy ut to get to Hosok tere (Heroes' Square). Saw Vajdahunyad vara (another castle) which is now also a museum. This is probably the greenest place I've seen in Hungary, so it was a good change :)
Got up at 4am to pack, have breakfast, shower, & check-out of the hostel...then be on our way to Nepliget where the main bus station is. We rode our first Eurolines bus for the trip, & in about 4 hours we arrived in Bratislava, Slovakia. Got on the trolley bus to get to our hostel - Hostel Vegas which is located in the Old Town.
We finished all the sights in Bratislava even before lunch time. The first thing we saw was Novy Most (New Bridge) which was built by the Communists during the 70s. Then it was a short walk up the hill to Bratislavsky hrad (Bratislava Castle). Again it was closed, but you could walk around the not so groomed gardens.
Down the hill, & across the road was Dom sv. Martina (St. Martin's Cathedral), one of the national historic monuments. At Primacialny palac (Primatial's Palace), we only got to see the courtyard with Fontana sv. Juraja krasli (St. George's Fountain) where he is depicted as a night slaying a 3 headed dragon. Following that, it was a quick trip to Slovenske narodne divadlo (Slovak National Theatre), and then to Modry kostolik (Kostol sv. Alzbety) or the Blue Church (St. Elizabeth's Church). Finished the day at the city's only remaining medieval gateway Michalska brana (St. Michael's Gate). We've been lucky with the weather here, since it's been forecast to rain :)
I don't know what it is, but the night before we have an early morning travel, we just can't get a proper night's sleep. Though it might just be the fact I'm paranoid about missing the alarm ring, sleep through it & will be late or totally miss out transportation. As if I would though, the phone is right on my ear, I'm practically sleeping on it!
*SIGH* Got on the tram to the main bus station & waited for the bus to Vienna. It was such a quick ride! Within 20 minutes we were already in Austria but Slovakia still on the other side of the Danube. The bus was packed, & most got off at an Austrian airport. Another tram, & a good 15 minutes walk, we arrived at Wombat's City Hostel - The Base.
No schnitzel today, instead we went in search of those sausage stands. Got a hot dog mit kasekrainer from Wurstel Express. What it is, is simply a sausage with cheese inside, then put into a hot dog bun with your regular mustard & tomato sauce. Mmmm oh so good! But I'm sure that it is bad bad BAD for the arteries. By the time we got back to the hostel, it started to pour for a good 30 minutes or so. I haven't seen that much rain in awhile...
One of the guys in our room was from Romania, couldn't really speak English well so most of our conversations included waving our arms around wildly trying to understand each other. He was successful in letting us know that it was his birthday too. The other guys were from Serbia, & Russia, but we didn't see them much.
Glad to walk out with the sun shining through those clouds :) It makes the sights much more picture worthy. It probably takes us about 30 minutes to walk into town from our hostel. A quick stroll through the well-trimmed gardens of Maria-Theresien-Platz to start off, then to check out the Hofburg Palace. Full of museums, & a library...so obviously we stayed clear from it! When you walk through one of the arches of the palace, you get to Michaelerplatz. They have a section in the middle of the square that is protecting an archaeological site. Part of it is from the foundations of the palace, another I think was a theatre, & the others that you could clearly make out was rented houses.
Stephansdom is quite a site, even if there was scaffolding covering the front facade, & one of the towers on the right. Inside was just as pretty, at least there was no work going on in there. Mozart lived at a house in an alley just behind the cathedral, & of course, is now also a museum.
Hoher Markt doesn't have much to show except for the 1914 Jugendstil Ankeruhr (clock), & a few minutes away Stadttempel. It's the only synogogue in Vienna to escape Kristaunacht. Across town to Karlskirche, were we sat around the pond & soaked in the sun...and watched the people eat their schnitzel burgers, even our eyes were drooling! Another place that made us hungry was walking the whole length of Naschmarkt, with it's fresh food stalls, & little cafes.
Overcast :( We brought our umbrellas just in case. This time the 30 minutes walk was the other direction to Schloss Shunbrunn. Even though we didn't enter the palace, we got to stroll around the gardens. Probably still the best gardens I've ever seen. Everything is so well kept! Lots of monuments, ponds, fountains, trees, green green grass, & weird but cool looking ducks...oh and SQUIRREL!!!
Walked all the way into town to look for that column/monument commemorating the end of the plague. I couldn't find it last time, & we couldn't find this time. There's no plaque, but I did take a picture of one that was close enough, & the only one I see near Petersplatz, so hopefully that was it...And last but not least was Am Hof, where it was once used for jousting...today it's a square mostly used as a car park. On our way back, my legs felt like they were going to fall off...
Another tram to get us to Wien Meidling to catch the train to Prague. So many people were there, mostly university students, already drinking the morning away in preparation of some big festival somewhere. Glad they weren't in our train, otherwise we'll all be sitting on each others lap. We were in Prague by about 2:30pm, & walked to Hostel Elf. He couldn't find my booking...because some ass forgot to put it in, but it was showing in their Hostelbookers.com account. Well it was was awhile until we got to check in, because I wouldn't budge in getting another type of room or changing rooms every night, nor could he be bothered to find me another hostel with the same price & close to the train station. He finally gave in & couldn't care less that he was getting flustered, wasn't my fault they're so stupid. But somehow, he was able to find us 2 beds in the dorm I want for all 3 nights, EVEN if he says they were fully booked.
The people who were in our room made up for it though, 4 from USA, & a Brazilian girl. We were up till almost 2am just talking & laughing. All had such a good sleep...even I didn't wake-up until 8am. Yes to some of you that may sound ridiculously early anyway, but my body clock usually gets wakes me at 5:30am. And today, it was drizzling :(
Still had to get out anyway...what if the next day was worse? It was cold cold cold :( So we did brief visits to the sights, enough to just say this is this, take a picture, & move on to the next. In this short trip we saw the Powder Gate (which cars drive through), Panna Marie pred Tynem (Tyn Church), the Astronomical Clock, Karlov Most (Charles Bridge), walked along the river Vltava up to Tanc ici dum (Dancing House)...then back to the hostel. That whole time we were out, it didn't stop raining :(
We had a glimpse of sunlight the next morning, but it soon hid behind the dark grey clouds again. But at least we didn't need to use our umbrella. Crossed the Karluv most & up the hill to Prazsky hrad (Prague Castle). Didn't do much, just walked through the grounds. The lines were just too long to enter anything, even if the apartments were free we weren't in the mood to wait.
Joined a free walking tour on the last day. Our guide was Justin, quite a know-it-all & hyper active guy...that or he just wanted to keep warm. But he took us around for about 3 & half hours. Justin was able to summarize all of Czech Republic's history in roughly 10 minutes, quite impressive for a country that has gone through so much! It was a good tour, & I would recommend anyone to go along if ever in Prague. At least now we got to hear the stories behind each of the sights we saw during our walks the passed few days, & even places that aren't in guide books.
It was a long wait that night, since we had an overnight train to Krakow, Poland. Glad it wasn't raining when we had to walk back to the train station. We stood eyes glued to the departure board with all the other passengers waiting for a platform to come up for our train. When I purchased the ticket, I was hoping I made it clear enough that we wanted a 2-bed cabin...I guess next time I should learn how to say it in Czech. Though it didn't turn out as bad as I thought...who needs proper sleep anyway right? No, we had a little compartment, smaller than the ones in China, & it had 6 beds, 3 on each side. And I just had to be the one right on the top, right? I couldn't sit down, because my head was hitting the roof, & I couldn't stretch out because the luggage were at my feet (there was no room anywhere else). It did turn out to be like a miniature hostel dorm though, shared with another young couple from Krakow, & a Norwegian girl, so it was ok :)
Arrived early morning in Krakow, with the rain pouring down to greet us. We tried using garbage bags which I took from the hostel in Budapest to cover our luggage...it was too small, so used in for the backpacks instead. Fifteen minutes walking, trying to balance a map, directions, umbrella in one hand, pulling the luggage on the other, & watching out for crazy drivers who like to drive right by the kurb & splash dirty water all over the next unattentive pedestrian. Arrived at Orange Hostel, left our luggage in the storeroom went walking back in the rain to the mall.
Yes you heard that right, the mall - Galeria Krakowska. Didn't want to do any sightseeing in the rain today, so we walked around all 3 floors, reptile exhibitions, & other stores worth checking out. But spent most of the time back at the hostel staying dry :)
Even if the weather wasn't going to cooperate the next day, we decided to go to Kopalnia Soli Wieliczka (Wieliczka Salt Mine). This wasn't our first choice, but the sights at Auschwitz-Birkenau were closed until further noticed due to flood warnings. It took awhile to find the stupid bus because the lady at reception pointed us out to the wrong stop. So finally found the right stop & waited waited for #304. Arrived the salt mine & again...waited waited for an hour for the English tour to begin. It was a tour that lasted about 3 hours or so. And by the way, I wasn't going to pay for another ticket just to take pictures...are you kidding me?!? I still took anyway, just stayed behind the group.
Ok long boring story cut short...don't go to the salt mines. Not worth the money or effort to get out there. Not much to see really...yes there were a FEW cool sculptures, but all you need to see is one & you've seen them all. The tour guide was too quiet & quite frankly boring as a door knob. Then in the rain, we....waited...at the bus stop forever (no exageration there) for the bus back. All I can say is it's a good thing we didn't pay for it (I mean of course there's payment, but the bus driver never asks).
Next day was slightly better, we headed out early when it was not drizzling too hard. We were able to walk for 10 minutes without the umbrella, quite impressive huh? Walked up to Zamek Wawelski (Wawel Castle), I'm sure it ha great views when the weather isn't shit. And you know what, we WAITED 20 minutes to get into Katedra Wawlska (Wawel Cathedral), and would you believe our luck that mass will be on until 12noon & no visitors allowed? It seems that all we have been doing in Poland is wait, nothing has come out of these. Because all I think so far is...booooring...
After our descend from the castle hill, we proceeded towards the main square where there were markets. Ok maybe on weekends only? Because there was such a poor amount opened. And of course one of the sights to see - Sukiennice (Cloth Hall) - is covered in scaffolding! It's the place that is supposed to house all those hawkers with souvenirs & galleries of Polish art.
On one corner of the square is Kosciol Mariacki (St. Mary's Church). Every hour on the hour, there's a trumpet call that cuts off abruptly to recall the near-destruction of Krakow in 1241. This was when the Tatars were invading, they shot down the trumpeter with an arrow as he attempted to warn the city.
A short stroll down one of the little streets brings you to the 3rd oldest university in Europe - Uniwersytet Jagiellonski. At it's Collegium Maius is where astronomer Mikolaj Kopernik, better known as Copernicus once studied. At another street off the square you get to a gate called Brama Florianska, & beyond that, Barbakan. It was the most importantelement in the system of defense walls around the city. At the height of its importance, it was surrounded by a 6m deep & sometimes 26m wide moat!
Now, all along I thought the bagel was just another American thing, until one of the guys in the hostel in Prague told us it was actually a Jewish thing. Come to Krakow, & according to legend a Jewish baker in Vienna concocted the first bagel in 1683 as a gift to a Polish king Jan Sobieski to thank him for routing the Turkish invaders. And according to historical records, the bagel first appears in Krakow in 1610! SOOO of course I just had to have a bagel :)
Glad it wasn't raining when we walked back to the train station to catch our train to Warsaw. It was the EC3510, departing at 10:15am, but was actually a tad late in leaving. Got to the countryside of Poland which we had not seen yet, but I was really falling asleep. Saw rain, dark clouds, & finally, some sunlight...all the way to Warsaw. So hot on arrival that I had to take of my jacket :) The hostel was a 15 minute walk, named Nathan's Villa Hostel Warsaw, & thank goodness we were able to check in straight away.
Didn't get much time to look at the sights, since it was already late in the afternoon. We just beelined for the supermarket & stocked up for lunch/dinner. It was hard to get to sleep since everytime you make the slightest movement, the bed creaks & probably wake everyone up. But it was worse in the morning when a guy left early & dropped his keys twice on the wooden floor, & kept coming in & out of the room...*SIGH* the perks of staying at a hostel dorm room :) HE - HE - HE
It was nice to see that the sun was out in full force. We walked our legs right off! The furthest they took us was at Umschlagplatz, a monument marking the spot where around 300,000 Jews were loaded on cattle wagons bound for Treblinka. Along the same road, but on the opposite side of the intersection is another monument to remember the victims of Soviet aggression & all those deported to the wastes of Siberia. And just passed the Sad Najwyzszy (Supreme Court) is yet another monument - Pomnik Powstania Warszawskiego (Monument to the Warsaw Uprising). It depicts a group of insurgents in battle, & another faction retreating into the sewers.
Leading to the Barbakan, is a little street called ul.Freta, & in house number 16 is where Nobel prize winning physicist & chemist Maria Sklodowska was born (better known as Marie Curie). Much of Stare Miasto was destroyed during the war, so what you see today is just the reconstruction. Only the use of paintings & drawings were used as the blueprints to rebuild this town.
In the middle of Rynek Starego Miasta (Old Town Square) is one of 3 Warszawa Syrenka (Warsaw Mermaid) you will find in the city. According to legend, a greedy merchant kidnapped the mermaid from Wisla River, but local fishermen came to her rescue. In return, she swore to defend the city, & is depicted as holding a shield & a raised sword.
Another gorgeous day in Warsaw :) Walked down to Lazienki Park. There's a long lake, several palaces, a fake ruin of an amphitheatre, greenhouses, & a flock of peacocks strolling around. The only palace we visited was Palac na Wodzie (Palace on Water). Sat on one of the benches for a quick rest & to enjoy the heat.
I wanted to see Synagoga Nozykow (Nozyk Synogogue), but it proved hard to find! Or at least both different maps I had marked it wrong! Instead we went to see 2 parts of the Jewish Ghetto walls that were left standing. One was in the courtyard of ul. Zlota 62, & another at ul. Sienna 55. Three bricks from the first one have been taken out to display at museums in Melbourne (Australia in case any of you were wondering), another in Houston (USA), & the other to Jerusalem (Israel). On the other wall, one was taken out for a museum in Washington DC (USA). We also walked through ul. Prozna which is the only street of the Jewish neighbourhood that survived. You can even see the bullet marks, & there are large photographs of Jewish people from the windows.
It was a bit of a nightmare the next morning, when we got up at 2:15am to get ready for our bus to Vilnius, Lithuania. We walked about 20 minutes to Warszawa Centralna (the main train staion), waited for the night bus to take us to Warszawa Zachodnia, about 30 minutes away. When we arrived, we had another 30 minutes or so to spare. It was good timing when we got to the stand there because it started to rain...cold...windy... Come 4am our bus hadn't arrived...4:30...nothing.
Finally at 5am the station opened it's doors, but nodbody at the counters until 5:30am. The lady wasn't helpful...not even to the Polish lady who eventually helped out. It was already 6am & we know for sure that the bus will not be arriving. Because everyone she had asked had no idea about it, mostly because it's not the same bus company as the one based at the station. There wasn't even a Eurolines stand in there. To make things worse, the reservations number on our ticket was closed on Sundays :( Luckily however, this amazing lady drove us back to the train station where we ended up purchasing a ticket for the train instead. Already wasted 4 hours of our morning, we were finally able to board the D10011 bound for Vilnius (even though it was going to be another 10 hours till we got there).
Around 12:30pm, we arrived at a station called Sowalki, where the train carriages were split & the last 3 continued on the journey. Now we would not have known to go to the back carriages if the ticket officer didn't inform us a couple of hours ahead. Then at 2:50pm, we arrived at what I'm assuming is the border between Poland & Lithuania - Sestokai. Here, we had to change trains, luckily it was just on the opposite side of the platform. And in a few hours time we arrived tired, lethargic, & bothered in Vilnius.
Luckily there was no more need for any more form of transportation to get to our hostel - Old Town Hostel. Only 300m to walk & we could finally just relax :)
Pretty much saw everything in one day. Just down the road is the 16th century Ausros Vartai (Gates of Dawn) which we walked through & got to the Senamiestis (Old Town). Close by is Sv. Dvasios baznycia (Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit) which is the seat of Lithuania's Russian Orthodox Bishop. East Europe's oldest university is also within the Senamiestis, but unfortunately we couldn't enter the courtyard since classes were on. Founded in 1579, & called Vilniaus Universitetas. I find it funny that everywhere, no matter where you are in the world, the word for university is similar :)
We got to Arkikatedros aikste (Cathedral Square), where you wouldn't believe it, the Arkikatedra bazilica (The Cathedral) is situated ;) Who would have guest right??? But it looked more like their version of the White House than a cathedral. But it's huge inside, & there's also the ornate Sv. Kazimiero koplycia (Chapel of St. Casimir) tucked away in the corner.
We didn't go to see the Choraline synagoga (The Choral Synagogue) until the next day. Also tried going to the Museum of Genocide Victims, which unfortunately was closed :( How unlucky that it was closed both days that we could roam around the city. Even MORE unlucky when it started to rain & we had to walk back to the hostel through it :( In the afternoon though, we managed to make it up to Aukstutine (Gedimino) pilis (The Upper Castle).
Joel's birthday :) Walked so fast to the bus station because the grey clouds were threatening to drop buckets any minute. Quickly went to the supermarket to spend the rest of our Lithuanian loose change, the closest I could get to a cake/cupcake was a poppyseed scroll that was iced with chocolate. Each piece was big & tasted quite good ;)
Luckily the bus arrived on time & we were allowed on board. The other Australian couple from Tasmania though weren't so lucky :( They had booked their tickets online about 6 months ahead & weren't contacted when the timetable changed. Their tickets showed 9:30am, but we were scheduled to depart at 10am. Because of this, the driver would not let them on. They went instead to the Eurolines office with the driver, but even when we finally drove off, they weren't on board.
It was a good day to travel because it wasn't all sunshine outside, it was gloomy & wet. Though that wasn't the story when we finally arrived in Riga, Latvia around 3pm :) Our hostel was a short distance away from the bus station so we had no problems finding it - Riga Hostel.
Since it was so sunny outside, & there was no clouds in sight, I wanted to go out & take pictures in case the next day was going to be raining. On the map, it looked as though Riga was big, but we found out soon after starting our walk that everything was just a few steps away ;) So in that afternoon, we checked out the Latviesu Strlnieku Laukums (Latvian Riflemen Monument) which is one of only a few Soviet monuments not torn down. The monument honors Lenin's bodyguards. Just beyond that is the recently rebuilt Melngalvju (House of the Blackheads), named so because during the 17th century the Blackheads' union became the only inhabitants of the building. Sv. Petera baznica (St. Peter's Church) was first built in the 13th century. However the tower was not built until the 17th century. It's tower has a viewing platform which can be reached by an elevator! Doma laukums (Dome Square) is quite big, it got it's name from the Doma baznica (Cathedral Church of Riga). Inside (which we missed out on) is a gigantic church organ with 6,767 pipes, the 4th largest organ in the world! I would have wanted to see that, but you would have to buy tickets to watch an orchestra play at night in one of their concerts...can't be bothered.
Found a book at the hostel's common room that had a walking tour you could follow, & it had the background of the attractions you pass. So I took it around with us as we explored more of Riga :) To start off, we went to Livu laukums (Livu Square) which is surrounded by cafes/restaurants/bars & is quite a popular meeting place among the locals. Across the road & over the bridge is "Milda" the nickname for Brivibas piemineklis (Freedom Monument), flanked by two guards at it's base. If you retrace your steps back a few metres & take a right, you arrive at a small park with the Bastejalns (Bastion Hill) which is where you find the remaining defense structure of Old Riga. Around the park, there are memorial stones where five people were killed by the Soviets during the 1991 communist suppression.
Got to Rigas pils (Riga Castle) close to the Daugava river. It was nothing exciting, it's the president's official office & is also home to three museums. It did have a couple of guards marching back & forth at the front... Tris brali (The Three Brothers) are the oldest stone residential buildings in the city, over 500 years old! Jakaba katedrale (Saint Jacob's Church) is Old Riga's Catholic cathedral from the 13th century, & the Saeima (Parliament) across the street was nothing great.
Around the corner is Zviedru varti (The Swedish Gate), & a reconstruction of Vecpilsetas muris (The Old City Wall). The wall is supposedly the oldest remaining part of Old Riga's fortifications, but it didn't look old at all...Down the street is Pulvertornis (The Powder Tower), kinda cool because it has green vines growing on it's brick walls, & you can also see two cannonballs stuck from when the Russians were attacking the Swedes.
At the Tourist Information office, I found another map with walking tours. Mostly around Art Nouveau structures. Alberta Street, & Elizabetes Street has most of these buildings. The walk also brought us back through most of the places we saw yesterday, & it had extra information which the book didn't have.
Since we arrived in Riga, I have been cooking some meals I miss from home so I asked mum to send me a few of these recipes. Now, Joel & I are so full, & stuffed that I'm sure we won't starve in expensive countries that we are about to hit. I think we'll be able to stick to crackers & tuna for awhile hehehe.
It's nice when we you don't have to rush early in the morning to get to the airport :) After breakfast we were able to go to the shopping centre & exchange currencies, & anything left over is easily spent at the supermarket...lollies...3 bags of it! Joel & I spend wisely you see, we won't eat these all at once, no, instead it will be split up between the next plane & train travels ;) I mean, we'll TRY to make it last that long hehehe
Lidosta Riga International Airport is about 20-30 minutes away from the city & is quite small. Flew with AirBaltic B105, only 50 minutes (I bet a chunk of that is taxing on the runways) to get to Stockholm, Sweden. Really excited, because we've heard lots of good things about it, though we were warned about the prices. Which is why I decided not to go to Finland & Norway too, Sweden out of the 3 had the "cheapest" hostels. On arrival it was a 40 minutes bus ride to the central station, & then 10 minutes on the tunnelbana (subway) to our stop.
Now at Skanstulls Vandrarhem...thank goodness there's no stairs! Walking distance to cafes/bars/restaurants (we probably won't be able to afford the water there, let alone a side dish of fries), supermarket (our BESTFRIEND!), & the sights are a bit of a walk but a pleasant one :)
The next couple of days were beautiful! Sun was out, warm enough that I could be in shorts & spaghetti-strap shirts (I still brought my jacket along though, JUST INCASE)! Even if we wanted to go inside the museums, we had to hold back because it was expensive & exchanging money here meant having to give up a big chunk just for commissions :( I also wanted to hold off on pasta & rice for a bit...but they have FREE pasta & rice at the hostel, & you know you CAN'T go passed FREEBIES especially in an expensive city. So there, we were stuck with more pasta & more rice with just having to buy the sauce or flavours to add to the blandness of it all. Though really, we shouldn't complain, that's less spending for food!
Since we didn't go into any museums we just walked passed the places mentioned in the guide books, or maps. Stockholm, if you didn't know is partly made up of 14 islands. And one of these islands is Gamla Stan (Old Town). The street of Våsterlånggatan is the main thouroughfare for the tourists with souvenir stores, cafes lining both sides. Joel & I probably checked every single one of those souvenir stores looking for the cheapest postcards & patches...all were the same price...too much.
Luckily it doesn't cost anything to view buildings from the outside. And the first we saw was Kungliga Slottet (The Royal Palace). Not only is it the winter residence of the Swedish Royal family, but it also houses 4 museums within itäs walls. One of the little alleys we passed along the way was Mårten Trotzigs Gränd, I took a picture of it because it was so cute & narrow. I didn't realise that it's actually the narrowest street in the city only 90cm wide! Stortorget (Main Square) has been the meeting point since the Middle Ages. It's also the site of the Stockholm Bloodbath, where in November 1520, 80 noblemen & Stockholm citizens were beheaded.
Crossed Centralbron, one of the bridges to the city area & get a close up shot of Stadshuset (Town Hall). Completed in 1923 & it's Blue Hall is the venue for the annual Nobel Prize festivities. We also read that 8 million bricks were used for the building! There's a nice small garden at the back along the river Riddarfjärden where we sat on the steps with everyone to enjoy the sunshine :)
Another pedestrian/shopping street we found in the city was Drottninggaten, which also crossed over back to Gamla Stan. You can't miss Riksdagshuset (The Parliament Building) since you walk trough it's arches to get back to Kungliga Slottet. It's also worth checking out the inside of Storkykran (The Cathedral of Stockholm), one because it's FREE, & two because it is 700+ years old! There's a cool organ, & a sculpture of St George & the Dragon which was done by Bernt Notke in 1489.
If you want to spend the day just walking around, Djurgärden is the place to go. It used to be the royal hunting ground, a natural park right in the city. Only a few buildings & they say only around 800 people live here (still a lot though right?). Two of the museums we really wanted to go to were here - Vasamuseet, & Skansen. Why? Well, Vasamuseet because is has the 1628 warship "Vasa" on display. About 95% of it intact after renovation. It capsized on it's maiden voyage in the Stockholm harbour in 1628. Then Skansen - it's the world's first open-air museum. Opened in 1891 to show today's society how people onced lived. There are houses, farm buildings brought in from all over Sweden. There's also a bear pit, wolves, & farm animals.
So it looks like Sweden is on the "To come back" list. A list that will probably stay hidden in a box until we become millionaires...But for now, we're happy to sit back & let other people spend their money here :)
We got up incredibly early (2am) to catch the earliest bus to the airport for our flight. Had to walk to Syntagma Square, & a couple of the restaurants were still open! We were able to get the earlier X95 bus which was great because the line at the check-in desk was ridiculously long! So the first leg of the trip was to fly with Lufthansa LH3393 to Munich, & then the second was a connecting flight to Split. Going to Split it was with Croatia Airlines OU4439 in a propeller plane :)
On arrival to Split, we took the shuttle bus into town which took around 30 minutes, & from there it was a short walk to Hostel Antonio. A lot of the shops were closed already because it was a public holiday. The hostel owner did suggest a place to eat just a few minutes away. Joel & I did takeaway from there & it was the best gnocchi we have EVER tasted! I wasn't into the meat too much, but at least it was soft, & the sauce was OK. The restaurant is called - Buffet "Fife", also very cheap & the serving big!
Slept in a little this morning, but as soon as we were ready we got up to go to the Green Market to buy breakfast. Found a bakery that sold Štap Čocolada - a chocolate filled pastry & still nice & warm! Sooo good, & accompanied it with chocolate milk! Went to the Katedrala or Rimski Mauzolej (The Cathedral or Roman Mausoleum), now according to the guide book it's supposedly the oldest catholic cathedral in the world?!? Afterward, we managed to get a self-walking tour map around the palace. So off we went!
First was a walk through the markets set up in the Basement Halls of Diocletian's Palace. Next was along the Riva & then around Voćni trg & Trg braće Radić to check out the Citadel (Castle). Passed Hramovi (Temples), but none were open so we just kept going. Then to Pjaca (the public square) at Narodni trg. Went out to Vrata od Pisture ("Pistura" Gate) at Poljana Grgura Ninskogi (I didn't see a gate by the way), then close-by was Razvitak Grada - Mletački bedemy (the Development of town - Venetian Bulwarks). Much of this was still intact.
There was a huge statue of I guess Diocletian, but there was no plaques around...he did however had a very shiny big toe. Not sure what sort of luck it brought, but everyone was rubbing it. I for one didn't want to touch it hehehe. Back inside the palace walls, we saw Zlatna vrata (Golden Gate), & Srebrna vrata (Silver Gate)...neither were those colours...I should stop taking things to literally huh?
We rested back at the hostel for awhile before taking a walk along the coast. Took pictures at Sv. Stipan (Sustipan) where so many sail boats were out. Got to U. Ježinac where a group of crazy people decided to go for a swim in the freezing waters!
Another early start (3:30am) to catch the shuttle back to the airport for Zagreb. A shuttle leaves 90 minutes before each Croatian Airlines flight, but they didn't tell anyone that they had changed the schedules, so everyone sat on the bus for about 40 minutes before we left. Luckily everyone was on the same flight, & the check-in counters were fairly quiet. Our flight OU651, was delayed due to fog at Zagreb airport. We finally took off about an hour later, but when we landed it was still do foggy, that you can't even see the other end of the runway.
The airports in Greece, & in Croatia have been the fastest we've gone through. Not sure how thorough in checking passports & documents, because we haven't filled out any sort of Arrival cards since Egypt. Passports are stamped though, so I guess that's good enough for them.
We took another shuttle bus to the main bus station in the city, then walked to Zagreb Željerzničići Kolodvor, which is the main train station. Put our luggage into the lockers before heading out to explore the city. And what a pretty city it is! We only had a handful of hours here so we didn't waste time.
Saw the Gothic designed Sv. Marko (St. Mark's Church). It had colourful roof tiles that depicted the coats of arms of Croatia, Dalmatia, & Slavonia on the left side, while the one for Zagreb was on the right. Walked through Kamenita vrata (Stone Gate) - and yes this one was true to it's name, it was stone - where a lot of women were praying. Through Katedrala marijina Uznesenja (Cathedral of the Assumption), which is actually quite pretty inside. And for the first time I saw somebody actually playing the organ!
Done for the day, we decided to head back to the train station & wait for our train to Ljubljana. It was IC219 & arrived on time. The next stop was Dobova, less then 15 minutes away but already in Slovenia! So the train was here for awhile, since officers were checking passports.
Arrived in Ljubljana in the afternoon, overcast & looks like it had been raining. Walked to Hostel Villa Veselova lovated in an area with embassies & huge old houses. A nice quiet place :)
Breakfast included...YES!!! We absolutely stuffed ourselves silly hehehe Well actually just enough to last us until the afternoon :) Once we got to the pedestrian areas of the old city, it all became so picturesque. Like a town in a story book rather than a capital city. At Prešernov trg, the pink 17th century Frančiškanska cerkev (Franciscan Church) is probably the first thing you'll notice unless you were blind. We went inside for awhile, but couldn't really walk around because there was a mass on. So instead we walked along Zmajski Most (Dragon Bridge) which stretched across Ljubljanica.
Had a browse at the markets in Vodnikov trg, & Pegačarjev trg before seeing Stolnica Sv. Nikolaia (St Nicholas's Cathedral). This one we couldn't go in because it was closed. So we walked uphill to Ljubljanski Grad (Ljubljana Castle). It was so green, the greenest of greens I have ever seen! And so thick too! There actually wasn't much to see at the castle, it seems they were doing a lot of work & most of the places of interest were closed. We saw a canon though...that was probably the most exciting thing there, even the case mates wasn't a WOW factor. Maybe this is the downside of coming in the shoulder season :(
Booo another early start to the day, we're off to Budapest, Hungary now. We took the MV247 train at 6:50am & didn't arrive until 4:15pm. They were doing track work & we even had to transfer to a bus for half an hour, which took us to the next station. At least we had the cabin space to ourselves, not too many people were on the train. The scenery all throughout Slovenia was beautiful, once you got to Hungary though...
There was so much logging going on, & the greenery wasn't as lush.
From the train station, we hopped onto the metro for a short ride to our hostel - Astoria City Hostel. We got upgraded once again to the apartments :) Great location, right smack bang in the centre of everything.
The next day started off fine, we even felt really hot & bothered climbing up Gellert-hegy. But first we visited Zsinagoga (Great Synagogue), which is in fact the largest in Europe & the second in the World! At the back garden is the metal Tree of Life, a Holocaust memorial which sits on a mass grave for the thousands of Jews killed near the end of the war. And each leaf bears the name of a family that perished.
Checked out Nagyvasarcsarnok (Great Market Hall), built in 1897 & has 2 1/2 acres of stalls! Then crossed a green-painted bridge called Szabadsag hid, meaning Freedom Bridge. Treked up Gellert-hegy (Gellert Hill) & had an amazing panorama view of the city. And overlooking this city is Szabadsag Szobor (Liberation Monument). The Citadel is up here too, but we didn't go inside since it was just another museum.
Back down & across to the Castle District, passed Var (Buda Castle)...another museum. And just reached Matyas templom (Matthias Church) just before it started to pour! Thunder & lightning...even if we had our umbrellas we were getting wet. It got pretty strong at one stage that water was just getting into our shoes. Then came hail, though not for long & also just pea-size ones!
Next morning couldn't be any more different. Blue sky & the sun shining :) Just what I like to see! So we didn't waste time, in case the weather decided to change it's mind, we walked fast & straight to Sz. Istvan Bazilika (St. Stephen's Basilica). It was damaged during World War II, & is the city's largest church.
Along the Duna (Danube) to get to Parlament or Parliament. And a nice stroll along Andrassy ut to get to Hosok tere (Heroes' Square). Saw Vajdahunyad vara (another castle) which is now also a museum. This is probably the greenest place I've seen in Hungary, so it was a good change :)
Got up at 4am to pack, have breakfast, shower, & check-out of the hostel...then be on our way to Nepliget where the main bus station is. We rode our first Eurolines bus for the trip, & in about 4 hours we arrived in Bratislava, Slovakia. Got on the trolley bus to get to our hostel - Hostel Vegas which is located in the Old Town.
We finished all the sights in Bratislava even before lunch time. The first thing we saw was Novy Most (New Bridge) which was built by the Communists during the 70s. Then it was a short walk up the hill to Bratislavsky hrad (Bratislava Castle). Again it was closed, but you could walk around the not so groomed gardens.
Down the hill, & across the road was Dom sv. Martina (St. Martin's Cathedral), one of the national historic monuments. At Primacialny palac (Primatial's Palace), we only got to see the courtyard with Fontana sv. Juraja krasli (St. George's Fountain) where he is depicted as a night slaying a 3 headed dragon. Following that, it was a quick trip to Slovenske narodne divadlo (Slovak National Theatre), and then to Modry kostolik (Kostol sv. Alzbety) or the Blue Church (St. Elizabeth's Church). Finished the day at the city's only remaining medieval gateway Michalska brana (St. Michael's Gate). We've been lucky with the weather here, since it's been forecast to rain :)
I don't know what it is, but the night before we have an early morning travel, we just can't get a proper night's sleep. Though it might just be the fact I'm paranoid about missing the alarm ring, sleep through it & will be late or totally miss out transportation. As if I would though, the phone is right on my ear, I'm practically sleeping on it!
*SIGH* Got on the tram to the main bus station & waited for the bus to Vienna. It was such a quick ride! Within 20 minutes we were already in Austria but Slovakia still on the other side of the Danube. The bus was packed, & most got off at an Austrian airport. Another tram, & a good 15 minutes walk, we arrived at Wombat's City Hostel - The Base.
No schnitzel today, instead we went in search of those sausage stands. Got a hot dog mit kasekrainer from Wurstel Express. What it is, is simply a sausage with cheese inside, then put into a hot dog bun with your regular mustard & tomato sauce. Mmmm oh so good! But I'm sure that it is bad bad BAD for the arteries. By the time we got back to the hostel, it started to pour for a good 30 minutes or so. I haven't seen that much rain in awhile...
One of the guys in our room was from Romania, couldn't really speak English well so most of our conversations included waving our arms around wildly trying to understand each other. He was successful in letting us know that it was his birthday too. The other guys were from Serbia, & Russia, but we didn't see them much.
Glad to walk out with the sun shining through those clouds :) It makes the sights much more picture worthy. It probably takes us about 30 minutes to walk into town from our hostel. A quick stroll through the well-trimmed gardens of Maria-Theresien-Platz to start off, then to check out the Hofburg Palace. Full of museums, & a library...so obviously we stayed clear from it! When you walk through one of the arches of the palace, you get to Michaelerplatz. They have a section in the middle of the square that is protecting an archaeological site. Part of it is from the foundations of the palace, another I think was a theatre, & the others that you could clearly make out was rented houses.
Stephansdom is quite a site, even if there was scaffolding covering the front facade, & one of the towers on the right. Inside was just as pretty, at least there was no work going on in there. Mozart lived at a house in an alley just behind the cathedral, & of course, is now also a museum.
Hoher Markt doesn't have much to show except for the 1914 Jugendstil Ankeruhr (clock), & a few minutes away Stadttempel. It's the only synogogue in Vienna to escape Kristaunacht. Across town to Karlskirche, were we sat around the pond & soaked in the sun...and watched the people eat their schnitzel burgers, even our eyes were drooling! Another place that made us hungry was walking the whole length of Naschmarkt, with it's fresh food stalls, & little cafes.
Overcast :( We brought our umbrellas just in case. This time the 30 minutes walk was the other direction to Schloss Shunbrunn. Even though we didn't enter the palace, we got to stroll around the gardens. Probably still the best gardens I've ever seen. Everything is so well kept! Lots of monuments, ponds, fountains, trees, green green grass, & weird but cool looking ducks...oh and SQUIRREL!!!
Walked all the way into town to look for that column/monument commemorating the end of the plague. I couldn't find it last time, & we couldn't find this time. There's no plaque, but I did take a picture of one that was close enough, & the only one I see near Petersplatz, so hopefully that was it...And last but not least was Am Hof, where it was once used for jousting...today it's a square mostly used as a car park. On our way back, my legs felt like they were going to fall off...
Another tram to get us to Wien Meidling to catch the train to Prague. So many people were there, mostly university students, already drinking the morning away in preparation of some big festival somewhere. Glad they weren't in our train, otherwise we'll all be sitting on each others lap. We were in Prague by about 2:30pm, & walked to Hostel Elf. He couldn't find my booking...because some ass forgot to put it in, but it was showing in their Hostelbookers.com account. Well it was was awhile until we got to check in, because I wouldn't budge in getting another type of room or changing rooms every night, nor could he be bothered to find me another hostel with the same price & close to the train station. He finally gave in & couldn't care less that he was getting flustered, wasn't my fault they're so stupid. But somehow, he was able to find us 2 beds in the dorm I want for all 3 nights, EVEN if he says they were fully booked.
The people who were in our room made up for it though, 4 from USA, & a Brazilian girl. We were up till almost 2am just talking & laughing. All had such a good sleep...even I didn't wake-up until 8am. Yes to some of you that may sound ridiculously early anyway, but my body clock usually gets wakes me at 5:30am. And today, it was drizzling :(
Still had to get out anyway...what if the next day was worse? It was cold cold cold :( So we did brief visits to the sights, enough to just say this is this, take a picture, & move on to the next. In this short trip we saw the Powder Gate (which cars drive through), Panna Marie pred Tynem (Tyn Church), the Astronomical Clock, Karlov Most (Charles Bridge), walked along the river Vltava up to Tanc ici dum (Dancing House)...then back to the hostel. That whole time we were out, it didn't stop raining :(
We had a glimpse of sunlight the next morning, but it soon hid behind the dark grey clouds again. But at least we didn't need to use our umbrella. Crossed the Karluv most & up the hill to Prazsky hrad (Prague Castle). Didn't do much, just walked through the grounds. The lines were just too long to enter anything, even if the apartments were free we weren't in the mood to wait.
Joined a free walking tour on the last day. Our guide was Justin, quite a know-it-all & hyper active guy...that or he just wanted to keep warm. But he took us around for about 3 & half hours. Justin was able to summarize all of Czech Republic's history in roughly 10 minutes, quite impressive for a country that has gone through so much! It was a good tour, & I would recommend anyone to go along if ever in Prague. At least now we got to hear the stories behind each of the sights we saw during our walks the passed few days, & even places that aren't in guide books.
It was a long wait that night, since we had an overnight train to Krakow, Poland. Glad it wasn't raining when we had to walk back to the train station. We stood eyes glued to the departure board with all the other passengers waiting for a platform to come up for our train. When I purchased the ticket, I was hoping I made it clear enough that we wanted a 2-bed cabin...I guess next time I should learn how to say it in Czech. Though it didn't turn out as bad as I thought...who needs proper sleep anyway right? No, we had a little compartment, smaller than the ones in China, & it had 6 beds, 3 on each side. And I just had to be the one right on the top, right? I couldn't sit down, because my head was hitting the roof, & I couldn't stretch out because the luggage were at my feet (there was no room anywhere else). It did turn out to be like a miniature hostel dorm though, shared with another young couple from Krakow, & a Norwegian girl, so it was ok :)
Arrived early morning in Krakow, with the rain pouring down to greet us. We tried using garbage bags which I took from the hostel in Budapest to cover our luggage...it was too small, so used in for the backpacks instead. Fifteen minutes walking, trying to balance a map, directions, umbrella in one hand, pulling the luggage on the other, & watching out for crazy drivers who like to drive right by the kurb & splash dirty water all over the next unattentive pedestrian. Arrived at Orange Hostel, left our luggage in the storeroom went walking back in the rain to the mall.
Yes you heard that right, the mall - Galeria Krakowska. Didn't want to do any sightseeing in the rain today, so we walked around all 3 floors, reptile exhibitions, & other stores worth checking out. But spent most of the time back at the hostel staying dry :)
Even if the weather wasn't going to cooperate the next day, we decided to go to Kopalnia Soli Wieliczka (Wieliczka Salt Mine). This wasn't our first choice, but the sights at Auschwitz-Birkenau were closed until further noticed due to flood warnings. It took awhile to find the stupid bus because the lady at reception pointed us out to the wrong stop. So finally found the right stop & waited waited for #304. Arrived the salt mine & again...waited waited for an hour for the English tour to begin. It was a tour that lasted about 3 hours or so. And by the way, I wasn't going to pay for another ticket just to take pictures...are you kidding me?!? I still took anyway, just stayed behind the group.
Ok long boring story cut short...don't go to the salt mines. Not worth the money or effort to get out there. Not much to see really...yes there were a FEW cool sculptures, but all you need to see is one & you've seen them all. The tour guide was too quiet & quite frankly boring as a door knob. Then in the rain, we....waited...at the bus stop forever (no exageration there) for the bus back. All I can say is it's a good thing we didn't pay for it (I mean of course there's payment, but the bus driver never asks).
Next day was slightly better, we headed out early when it was not drizzling too hard. We were able to walk for 10 minutes without the umbrella, quite impressive huh? Walked up to Zamek Wawelski (Wawel Castle), I'm sure it ha great views when the weather isn't shit. And you know what, we WAITED 20 minutes to get into Katedra Wawlska (Wawel Cathedral), and would you believe our luck that mass will be on until 12noon & no visitors allowed? It seems that all we have been doing in Poland is wait, nothing has come out of these. Because all I think so far is...booooring...
After our descend from the castle hill, we proceeded towards the main square where there were markets. Ok maybe on weekends only? Because there was such a poor amount opened. And of course one of the sights to see - Sukiennice (Cloth Hall) - is covered in scaffolding! It's the place that is supposed to house all those hawkers with souvenirs & galleries of Polish art.
On one corner of the square is Kosciol Mariacki (St. Mary's Church). Every hour on the hour, there's a trumpet call that cuts off abruptly to recall the near-destruction of Krakow in 1241. This was when the Tatars were invading, they shot down the trumpeter with an arrow as he attempted to warn the city.
A short stroll down one of the little streets brings you to the 3rd oldest university in Europe - Uniwersytet Jagiellonski. At it's Collegium Maius is where astronomer Mikolaj Kopernik, better known as Copernicus once studied. At another street off the square you get to a gate called Brama Florianska, & beyond that, Barbakan. It was the most importantelement in the system of defense walls around the city. At the height of its importance, it was surrounded by a 6m deep & sometimes 26m wide moat!
Now, all along I thought the bagel was just another American thing, until one of the guys in the hostel in Prague told us it was actually a Jewish thing. Come to Krakow, & according to legend a Jewish baker in Vienna concocted the first bagel in 1683 as a gift to a Polish king Jan Sobieski to thank him for routing the Turkish invaders. And according to historical records, the bagel first appears in Krakow in 1610! SOOO of course I just had to have a bagel :)
Glad it wasn't raining when we walked back to the train station to catch our train to Warsaw. It was the EC3510, departing at 10:15am, but was actually a tad late in leaving. Got to the countryside of Poland which we had not seen yet, but I was really falling asleep. Saw rain, dark clouds, & finally, some sunlight...all the way to Warsaw. So hot on arrival that I had to take of my jacket :) The hostel was a 15 minute walk, named Nathan's Villa Hostel Warsaw, & thank goodness we were able to check in straight away.
Didn't get much time to look at the sights, since it was already late in the afternoon. We just beelined for the supermarket & stocked up for lunch/dinner. It was hard to get to sleep since everytime you make the slightest movement, the bed creaks & probably wake everyone up. But it was worse in the morning when a guy left early & dropped his keys twice on the wooden floor, & kept coming in & out of the room...*SIGH* the perks of staying at a hostel dorm room :) HE - HE - HE
It was nice to see that the sun was out in full force. We walked our legs right off! The furthest they took us was at Umschlagplatz, a monument marking the spot where around 300,000 Jews were loaded on cattle wagons bound for Treblinka. Along the same road, but on the opposite side of the intersection is another monument to remember the victims of Soviet aggression & all those deported to the wastes of Siberia. And just passed the Sad Najwyzszy (Supreme Court) is yet another monument - Pomnik Powstania Warszawskiego (Monument to the Warsaw Uprising). It depicts a group of insurgents in battle, & another faction retreating into the sewers.
Leading to the Barbakan, is a little street called ul.Freta, & in house number 16 is where Nobel prize winning physicist & chemist Maria Sklodowska was born (better known as Marie Curie). Much of Stare Miasto was destroyed during the war, so what you see today is just the reconstruction. Only the use of paintings & drawings were used as the blueprints to rebuild this town.
In the middle of Rynek Starego Miasta (Old Town Square) is one of 3 Warszawa Syrenka (Warsaw Mermaid) you will find in the city. According to legend, a greedy merchant kidnapped the mermaid from Wisla River, but local fishermen came to her rescue. In return, she swore to defend the city, & is depicted as holding a shield & a raised sword.
Another gorgeous day in Warsaw :) Walked down to Lazienki Park. There's a long lake, several palaces, a fake ruin of an amphitheatre, greenhouses, & a flock of peacocks strolling around. The only palace we visited was Palac na Wodzie (Palace on Water). Sat on one of the benches for a quick rest & to enjoy the heat.
I wanted to see Synagoga Nozykow (Nozyk Synogogue), but it proved hard to find! Or at least both different maps I had marked it wrong! Instead we went to see 2 parts of the Jewish Ghetto walls that were left standing. One was in the courtyard of ul. Zlota 62, & another at ul. Sienna 55. Three bricks from the first one have been taken out to display at museums in Melbourne (Australia in case any of you were wondering), another in Houston (USA), & the other to Jerusalem (Israel). On the other wall, one was taken out for a museum in Washington DC (USA). We also walked through ul. Prozna which is the only street of the Jewish neighbourhood that survived. You can even see the bullet marks, & there are large photographs of Jewish people from the windows.
It was a bit of a nightmare the next morning, when we got up at 2:15am to get ready for our bus to Vilnius, Lithuania. We walked about 20 minutes to Warszawa Centralna (the main train staion), waited for the night bus to take us to Warszawa Zachodnia, about 30 minutes away. When we arrived, we had another 30 minutes or so to spare. It was good timing when we got to the stand there because it started to rain...cold...windy... Come 4am our bus hadn't arrived...4:30...nothing.
Finally at 5am the station opened it's doors, but nodbody at the counters until 5:30am. The lady wasn't helpful...not even to the Polish lady who eventually helped out. It was already 6am & we know for sure that the bus will not be arriving. Because everyone she had asked had no idea about it, mostly because it's not the same bus company as the one based at the station. There wasn't even a Eurolines stand in there. To make things worse, the reservations number on our ticket was closed on Sundays :( Luckily however, this amazing lady drove us back to the train station where we ended up purchasing a ticket for the train instead. Already wasted 4 hours of our morning, we were finally able to board the D10011 bound for Vilnius (even though it was going to be another 10 hours till we got there).
Around 12:30pm, we arrived at a station called Sowalki, where the train carriages were split & the last 3 continued on the journey. Now we would not have known to go to the back carriages if the ticket officer didn't inform us a couple of hours ahead. Then at 2:50pm, we arrived at what I'm assuming is the border between Poland & Lithuania - Sestokai. Here, we had to change trains, luckily it was just on the opposite side of the platform. And in a few hours time we arrived tired, lethargic, & bothered in Vilnius.
Luckily there was no more need for any more form of transportation to get to our hostel - Old Town Hostel. Only 300m to walk & we could finally just relax :)
Pretty much saw everything in one day. Just down the road is the 16th century Ausros Vartai (Gates of Dawn) which we walked through & got to the Senamiestis (Old Town). Close by is Sv. Dvasios baznycia (Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit) which is the seat of Lithuania's Russian Orthodox Bishop. East Europe's oldest university is also within the Senamiestis, but unfortunately we couldn't enter the courtyard since classes were on. Founded in 1579, & called Vilniaus Universitetas. I find it funny that everywhere, no matter where you are in the world, the word for university is similar :)
We got to Arkikatedros aikste (Cathedral Square), where you wouldn't believe it, the Arkikatedra bazilica (The Cathedral) is situated ;) Who would have guest right??? But it looked more like their version of the White House than a cathedral. But it's huge inside, & there's also the ornate Sv. Kazimiero koplycia (Chapel of St. Casimir) tucked away in the corner.
We didn't go to see the Choraline synagoga (The Choral Synagogue) until the next day. Also tried going to the Museum of Genocide Victims, which unfortunately was closed :( How unlucky that it was closed both days that we could roam around the city. Even MORE unlucky when it started to rain & we had to walk back to the hostel through it :( In the afternoon though, we managed to make it up to Aukstutine (Gedimino) pilis (The Upper Castle).
Joel's birthday :) Walked so fast to the bus station because the grey clouds were threatening to drop buckets any minute. Quickly went to the supermarket to spend the rest of our Lithuanian loose change, the closest I could get to a cake/cupcake was a poppyseed scroll that was iced with chocolate. Each piece was big & tasted quite good ;)
Luckily the bus arrived on time & we were allowed on board. The other Australian couple from Tasmania though weren't so lucky :( They had booked their tickets online about 6 months ahead & weren't contacted when the timetable changed. Their tickets showed 9:30am, but we were scheduled to depart at 10am. Because of this, the driver would not let them on. They went instead to the Eurolines office with the driver, but even when we finally drove off, they weren't on board.
It was a good day to travel because it wasn't all sunshine outside, it was gloomy & wet. Though that wasn't the story when we finally arrived in Riga, Latvia around 3pm :) Our hostel was a short distance away from the bus station so we had no problems finding it - Riga Hostel.
Since it was so sunny outside, & there was no clouds in sight, I wanted to go out & take pictures in case the next day was going to be raining. On the map, it looked as though Riga was big, but we found out soon after starting our walk that everything was just a few steps away ;) So in that afternoon, we checked out the Latviesu Strlnieku Laukums (Latvian Riflemen Monument) which is one of only a few Soviet monuments not torn down. The monument honors Lenin's bodyguards. Just beyond that is the recently rebuilt Melngalvju (House of the Blackheads), named so because during the 17th century the Blackheads' union became the only inhabitants of the building. Sv. Petera baznica (St. Peter's Church) was first built in the 13th century. However the tower was not built until the 17th century. It's tower has a viewing platform which can be reached by an elevator! Doma laukums (Dome Square) is quite big, it got it's name from the Doma baznica (Cathedral Church of Riga). Inside (which we missed out on) is a gigantic church organ with 6,767 pipes, the 4th largest organ in the world! I would have wanted to see that, but you would have to buy tickets to watch an orchestra play at night in one of their concerts...can't be bothered.
Found a book at the hostel's common room that had a walking tour you could follow, & it had the background of the attractions you pass. So I took it around with us as we explored more of Riga :) To start off, we went to Livu laukums (Livu Square) which is surrounded by cafes/restaurants/bars & is quite a popular meeting place among the locals. Across the road & over the bridge is "Milda" the nickname for Brivibas piemineklis (Freedom Monument), flanked by two guards at it's base. If you retrace your steps back a few metres & take a right, you arrive at a small park with the Bastejalns (Bastion Hill) which is where you find the remaining defense structure of Old Riga. Around the park, there are memorial stones where five people were killed by the Soviets during the 1991 communist suppression.
Got to Rigas pils (Riga Castle) close to the Daugava river. It was nothing exciting, it's the president's official office & is also home to three museums. It did have a couple of guards marching back & forth at the front... Tris brali (The Three Brothers) are the oldest stone residential buildings in the city, over 500 years old! Jakaba katedrale (Saint Jacob's Church) is Old Riga's Catholic cathedral from the 13th century, & the Saeima (Parliament) across the street was nothing great.
Around the corner is Zviedru varti (The Swedish Gate), & a reconstruction of Vecpilsetas muris (The Old City Wall). The wall is supposedly the oldest remaining part of Old Riga's fortifications, but it didn't look old at all...Down the street is Pulvertornis (The Powder Tower), kinda cool because it has green vines growing on it's brick walls, & you can also see two cannonballs stuck from when the Russians were attacking the Swedes.
At the Tourist Information office, I found another map with walking tours. Mostly around Art Nouveau structures. Alberta Street, & Elizabetes Street has most of these buildings. The walk also brought us back through most of the places we saw yesterday, & it had extra information which the book didn't have.
Since we arrived in Riga, I have been cooking some meals I miss from home so I asked mum to send me a few of these recipes. Now, Joel & I are so full, & stuffed that I'm sure we won't starve in expensive countries that we are about to hit. I think we'll be able to stick to crackers & tuna for awhile hehehe.
It's nice when we you don't have to rush early in the morning to get to the airport :) After breakfast we were able to go to the shopping centre & exchange currencies, & anything left over is easily spent at the supermarket...lollies...3 bags of it! Joel & I spend wisely you see, we won't eat these all at once, no, instead it will be split up between the next plane & train travels ;) I mean, we'll TRY to make it last that long hehehe
Lidosta Riga International Airport is about 20-30 minutes away from the city & is quite small. Flew with AirBaltic B105, only 50 minutes (I bet a chunk of that is taxing on the runways) to get to Stockholm, Sweden. Really excited, because we've heard lots of good things about it, though we were warned about the prices. Which is why I decided not to go to Finland & Norway too, Sweden out of the 3 had the "cheapest" hostels. On arrival it was a 40 minutes bus ride to the central station, & then 10 minutes on the tunnelbana (subway) to our stop.
Now at Skanstulls Vandrarhem...thank goodness there's no stairs! Walking distance to cafes/bars/restaurants (we probably won't be able to afford the water there, let alone a side dish of fries), supermarket (our BESTFRIEND!), & the sights are a bit of a walk but a pleasant one :)
The next couple of days were beautiful! Sun was out, warm enough that I could be in shorts & spaghetti-strap shirts (I still brought my jacket along though, JUST INCASE)! Even if we wanted to go inside the museums, we had to hold back because it was expensive & exchanging money here meant having to give up a big chunk just for commissions :( I also wanted to hold off on pasta & rice for a bit...but they have FREE pasta & rice at the hostel, & you know you CAN'T go passed FREEBIES especially in an expensive city. So there, we were stuck with more pasta & more rice with just having to buy the sauce or flavours to add to the blandness of it all. Though really, we shouldn't complain, that's less spending for food!
Since we didn't go into any museums we just walked passed the places mentioned in the guide books, or maps. Stockholm, if you didn't know is partly made up of 14 islands. And one of these islands is Gamla Stan (Old Town). The street of Våsterlånggatan is the main thouroughfare for the tourists with souvenir stores, cafes lining both sides. Joel & I probably checked every single one of those souvenir stores looking for the cheapest postcards & patches...all were the same price...too much.
Luckily it doesn't cost anything to view buildings from the outside. And the first we saw was Kungliga Slottet (The Royal Palace). Not only is it the winter residence of the Swedish Royal family, but it also houses 4 museums within itäs walls. One of the little alleys we passed along the way was Mårten Trotzigs Gränd, I took a picture of it because it was so cute & narrow. I didn't realise that it's actually the narrowest street in the city only 90cm wide! Stortorget (Main Square) has been the meeting point since the Middle Ages. It's also the site of the Stockholm Bloodbath, where in November 1520, 80 noblemen & Stockholm citizens were beheaded.
Crossed Centralbron, one of the bridges to the city area & get a close up shot of Stadshuset (Town Hall). Completed in 1923 & it's Blue Hall is the venue for the annual Nobel Prize festivities. We also read that 8 million bricks were used for the building! There's a nice small garden at the back along the river Riddarfjärden where we sat on the steps with everyone to enjoy the sunshine :)
Another pedestrian/shopping street we found in the city was Drottninggaten, which also crossed over back to Gamla Stan. You can't miss Riksdagshuset (The Parliament Building) since you walk trough it's arches to get back to Kungliga Slottet. It's also worth checking out the inside of Storkykran (The Cathedral of Stockholm), one because it's FREE, & two because it is 700+ years old! There's a cool organ, & a sculpture of St George & the Dragon which was done by Bernt Notke in 1489.
If you want to spend the day just walking around, Djurgärden is the place to go. It used to be the royal hunting ground, a natural park right in the city. Only a few buildings & they say only around 800 people live here (still a lot though right?). Two of the museums we really wanted to go to were here - Vasamuseet, & Skansen. Why? Well, Vasamuseet because is has the 1628 warship "Vasa" on display. About 95% of it intact after renovation. It capsized on it's maiden voyage in the Stockholm harbour in 1628. Then Skansen - it's the world's first open-air museum. Opened in 1891 to show today's society how people onced lived. There are houses, farm buildings brought in from all over Sweden. There's also a bear pit, wolves, & farm animals.
So it looks like Sweden is on the "To come back" list. A list that will probably stay hidden in a box until we become millionaires...But for now, we're happy to sit back & let other people spend their money here :)
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Rome - Cairo - Dahab - Sharm El Sheikh - Athens - Mykonos - Paros - Naxos - Santorini
01 - 30 April, 2010
Not sure why, but I'm feeling absolutely crap today. Real lethargic, & so we walked real slow today. Didn't get to do much, but at least the sun was out and it was nice to sit out on the Piazza di Spagna. Where for awhile a group of Spanish guys (looks like a school group) were entertaining the crowd with songs & dances, before the police stopped them. The crown of course "booed" them for that.
Felt better the next day though, & thank goodness for that, because we were flying to Cairo, Egypt! We took the express train to Terminal 3, flew with Egyptair MS792. I was quite surprised that there were a lot of tourists, because the last time I flew to Egypt it was mostly Egyptians. Our flight of course was delayed, but it was only a quick ride anyway.
We had our pick-up waiting for us to take us to Hostel Brothers. Street we're on is very busy! Pretty much the main shopping street in Cairo - Talaart Harb St. But since the hostel is on the 4th floor, it was pretty quite.
The Egyptian Museum was walking distance, so we started of in the morning & spent practically the whole day there. Just like the Louvre in Paris, we checked out every single floor & exhibition in the museum including the Royal Mummy Hall. It's a shame we can't take cameras in here, I would be able to finish a whole 4GB card here, & that's no exaggeration ;)
From day 1 in Cairo, Summer, one of the girls working at the hostel introduced us to Felfela. They have the most amazing chicken shawerma ever! Actually everything we have tried here has been great & the prices are cheap as too.
Finally a day out to the pyramids with our driver & guide Khaled. The guy likes to talk a lot, even if we didn't understand half of what he was saying, we just kept smiling & nodding, very entertaining guy :)
He first took us to Saqqara to see the Step Pyramid of Djoser. The prototype for the pyramids in Giza, & all that followed. Built for 3rd Dynasty King Djoser by his architect & high priest Imhotep in the 27th century BC. Khaled explained the reliefs inside the Tomb of Mereruka, who was the son-in-law of Teti. There's a marsh scene inside with Mereruka hunting among birds, fish, & hippos. Then went inside the Pyramid of Teti (1st king of the 6th Dynasty), it contains the king's well-preserved giant basalt sarcophagus. And the ceiling of the chamber is decorated with stars, & walls inscribed with sections of Pyramid texts. From the outside the pyramid just looks like a mound of stones, so I was surprised when Khaled said it was a pyramid!
We drove passed Memphis on the way to Dahshur. The two Old Kingdom pyramids here were constructed by 4th Dynasty King Snefery (26132589BC) father of Khufu the builder of the Great Pyramid. Here, the Bent Pyramid is considered to by Egypt's first proper pyramid because until this time, pyramids were stepped. King Snefery wasn't happy with this pyramid, & on the 13th year of his reign, he began construction of the northern Red Pyramid. There are two smaller pyramids in the area, but they are badly dilapidated.
Then off to the Giza Plateau. We were able to walk around the pyramids here at our own leisure which was nice for a change. Circled both the Great Pyramid, & the Pyramid of Khafre. And headed down to Khafre's Valley Temple, & the Sphinx. The area also had the boat pits, the queen's pyramids, a number of mastabas, as well as the Pyramid of Menkaure.
When we got back to Cairo, it was time to rest before leaving for our overnight bus to Dahab. We rode with East Delta Lines on the 12:15am bus. Much better than the overnight bus to Edinburgh, only annoying thing was the Arabic music playing the whole trip. There were numerous check points where we had to stop and have our passports & tickets checked. But finally arrived in Dahab at around 9am. Our pick-up wasn't there so we had to barter for a taxi to take us there instead, wasn't long, only about 5 minutes drive away.
Luckily we were already able to check-in at Octopus Garden Resort & even get breakfast. Afterward a quick walk about the area, & off to bed to catch up on a bit of rest. In the afternoon we went for a swim at the resort's pool & also sunbathe. Felt so good to be under the sun again :)
It was like this pretty much the whole stay. Just nice to relax for a change, we've been on the go pretty much since December. The restaurants we were eating at were all by the water, & you can see Saudi Arabia across the Red Sea. It was all cheap & very good food. Some were even offering free starters, desserts, & shisha. Of course we took advantage of that, but always regret after when my stomach is so full...I guess our stomachs have shrunk & aren't used to eating this much anymore.
One of those mornings was spent at the Blue Hole, a popular snorkeling & dive spot. But it was so windy & cold that I only lasted around 10 minutes in the water. I really couldn't stand it anymore. Didn't see as much colours this time around, & there was so much more people so I think even if the water was nice I would not have enjoyed it.
Another bus trip with East Delta Lines around lunch time to Sharm El Sheikh, a quick one only about 2 hrs. Checked-in at Oonas Dive Club Hotel, good location just by the beach & away from all the shops & busy areas. Everything is a lot more expensive here because more Europeans come here for their getaways.
It was the same story here, just relaxing & doing nothing but eating :) Though this time we were swimming at the beach, the water was so clear & beautiful, not to mention the amount of fish that were around the shallow areas. It was better than snorkeling, lots more to see & all free!
On the last night both Joel, & I got sick. But we were able to keep the room until we left at midnight. We used this time to just sleep all day, hoping to get better by the time we get on the bus. East Delta Lines again at 12 midnight to go back to Cairo. We arrived early in the morning, but again were lucky to already be able to check-in. Only spent the night here, so we made sure to get our fill of chicken shawerma for one last time before flying out :)
Left early the next morning for our flight to Athens, Greece. Exchanged our unspent Egyptian Pounds into Euros, & anything left was used to buy junk food...ie. Burger King's onion rings :) Again with Egyptair, flight MS747 & landed at around lunch time.
We took the metro to Monastiraki. At first there was so much room in the carriages, & as we got closer to the city centre, it filled up until we were so squashed in there I was bathing in other people's bad odour...real nasty stuff, but they cleared out at Syndagma which is where the Parliament House is.
Able to recognise the area almost straight away, it all looks the same & our hostel is pretty much just around the corner - AthenStyle. We checked-out the flea markets before I introduced Joel to Savva's chicken souvlaki...mmm mmm still filling & same great taste as before, only 20c more expensive hehehe.
Got up early in the morning, & after breakfast headed to Ancient Agora. It's best to buy the EUR12.00 ticket which gets you into the Acropolis & all the other archeaological sites. Ancient Agora had a huge area to explore, & I don't even think we got to see all of it. We got caught up taking pictures of flowers & weird insects. It was the city's marketplace, administrative center & hub of daily life during the 6th century BC to the 6th century AD. There's also the Stoa of Attalos which has been converted into the Agora Museum. Housing relics from the site.
Then climbed up to the Acropolis, passing Odeon of Herodus Atticus (a theatre which has been restored & is still in use today). When we reached the top, there were so many people just sitting on the steps blocking the way which was really irritating. Same as in 2007, cranes & scaffolding ruin the site. An ongoing process to "preserve" the buildings.
Afterwards we headed down to Keramikos, a cemetery built around the Sacred Way (which is the oldest road in Athens). We saw quite a few tortoises wondering around here, a bit strange, but not as strange as the one I saw on top of a hill hiding in the bushes! They seem to be content just eating the flowers :)
The next day we continued checking out the archaeological sites. First was Hadrian's Library, the Roman, the Roman Forum, Hadrian's Arch & finally my favourite...the Temple of Olympian Zeus. It's the only one that only huge structure I've seen in Greece that doesn't have scaffolding or cranes ruining it :)
Walked up the Hill of The Musses (Filopappou)...on the way up we passed The Prison of Socrates. Supposedly he was held here before he was killed. During the war this "prison" cut into the rock, was used to store all the artifacts from the Archaeological Museum, they sealed it up with a concrete wall placed against the entrance.
I had lack of sleep the night before departing for Mykonos. I kept waking up thinking that we've missed the alarm we set. It happens all the time if we leave early in the morning, & today we were getting picked-up at 6:30am. It was a good thing that we got downstairs at reception early because the driver arrived 30 minutes ahead, & the guy at reception didn't have a clue what he wanted. The only reason I knew was because he was carrying an envelope with our names & the ferry tickets!
We waited at Pireaus Port for about an hour before we were allowed to board. It was Aegean Speed Lines: Speedrunner 3. Stopped Syros, & Tinos before finally arriving at Mykonos around 11am. A representative for the company was waiting for us with the details of our accommodation, & the transfer to the hotel. Stayed at Hermes Mykonos Hotel. Right on the side of the hill, facing Mykonos Town & the sea. It was such a pretty place, with the best views! Joel made me take sunset pictures every night!
The breakfast was great - BUFFET!!! Our stomach satisfied, we went for a long walk reaching almost opposite Agios Georgios. It was nice & sunny today with not a cloud in the sky :) Afterwards we ventured into the labyrinth alleys in town before trying our first mousakka & spicy meatballs in tomato sauce.
The next day we did the same - breakfast, then walk. But this time the opposite direction, & more challenging as there were more hills. We passed the New Port, Agios Stefanos, & up to Agios Sostis before heading back.
On both days, we went into the pool (freezing water) just to say we used it, & then sunbathed. It was good to just kick back & relax again :)
Goodbye Mykonos, for now we are off to Paros. Boarded on Seajet 2 at 10am, it was only a short ride, just under an hour. :) Instead of staying at the main city in Paros called Parika, our accommodation was in Naoussa - a busy fishing town. Again the place we stayed at - Kanales Apartments Paros, had views of the sea :)
There wasn't much things to do in Naoussa, most of the shops still closed even if it says that this place is a busy tourist area. I guess they thrive only in the peak seasons...we came here in the shoulder season which is also good.
We were able to hire bikes, something we weren't able to do in Mykonos. It was a good workout, after a heavy breakfast. Up & down those hills, even if they don't look challenging at all. The sun was also out on full blast! Unfortunately we forgot to time how long it took us to get to Parikia.
This area seems to be a bit more busy, with more stores open. We visited some archaeological sites scattered around the area. Some not even shown on the map, we just happen to pass a sign pointing us to the direction. One of the things on my list to see was Panagia Ekatontapiliani (Church of Our Lady of 100 Doors). I didn't count the doors, but I'm certain that it was well under that. This is one of the most treasured basilicas in the Orthodox faith.
Biked back to the apartments for a quick rest, before heading out to the other direction towards Santa Maria where we had a little picnic by the beach. The bike ride back was the worst, we had to just walk our bikes back up the hill. But at the end of the day when we returned the bikes, we had done at least 50km worth of biking :)
Stayed only a couple of nights in Paros before taking another ferry, this time only half an hour, to the island just across the waters called Naxos. This resort is probably the best we've stayed in so far - Naxos Resort - just a short walk to Saint George Beach. Though we didn't dare go to the beach, or even get into the pool. It was way too cold & windy!
After breakfast we walked to Palatia Sanctuary of Delian Apollo (Portara), a 6th century BC archway that is visible from the port. It's HUGE! The views from it were amazing! Then we went to Metropolis Square (Ancient town of Naxos) & checked out the Mitropolis Museum. This museum is built around an excavation site from a 13th century settlement. Walked up the little alleys to get to the top of the hill where the remains of the Kastro or Venetian Castle sits. One of the structures left there is the Tower of Sanoudos. The central edifice of the castle which was created in 1207 by the Venetian Marco Sanoudo, who at the time created the Duchy of Archipelago. The resort had a gym which we made use of. Thank goodness since we need to get rid of all that buffet breakfast we've been eating!
So there goes our 2 nights in Naxos, & the next island was Santorini. One of my most favourite Greek Islands :) We were booked into Daedalous Hotel, not much of a view except for the garden & pool, but close enough to walk into Fira Town.
On our first full day, we decided to do a half-day excursion to the volcano & hot springs. Walked to the Old Port via the 589 or so steps down a smelly, donkey-poo-covered path. Not only were we dodging the crap, but also the donkeys when they would come up & down the path carrying the lazy tourists.
We took the boat to The National Geological Park of Nea Kameni. An islet made by a volcano. Our guide took us around for about an hour or so pointing out the different craters (which ones were active & those that were dormant). You could even see smoke coming out of the vents. Afterward, we were taken to Palea Kameni where the hot springs were. The boat couldn't get too close to the shore, so we had to jump out into 6m deep FREEZING water & swim 50m to the springs. They really shouldn't call it "hot" springs if it's not going to be hot. It was murky brown water that smelt weird. There were some hot parts but it wasn't continuous, so I was a little disappointed :( Back to the Old Port & we made our way to town up that same zig-zag path ;)
Got ready to go out to dinner. We wanted a restaurant with views of the sunset. I really wanted to go to Oia, but because it's not the peak season yet, not much is open in the area. We settled with Zafora, which turned out to be perfect anyway because we got the best table & the best view...& yes the best food. We made sure before we made a booking that they had mousakka & spicy meatballs in tomato sauce (we've become addicted to these dishes hehehe). After dinner Joel wanted to go for a walk along the caldera. Enjoyed the views for awhile until Joel surprised me with a marriage proposal :) Well if you've been following Facebook, you'd know that I said YES! :) :) :)
After breakfast the next day we took the bus to Pyrgos & trekked up the mountain to Profitis Ilias, & again we forgot to time ourselves. It was overcast & super windy! Walked along the beaten path along the mountain ridge to get to the bottom on the other side, only to climb up another to get to Ancient Thira. Spent some time here taking in the views all around, & reading about the ruins on the summit. Then it was back down the mountain to the black sand beach of Kamari.
We had the morning to do any last minute exploring in Santorini before taking the ferry back to Pireaus (Athens). We walked towards Oia, but only got halfway before we had to turn back. There was even a dog making sure we'd go the right direction. Everytime we'd stop to take a picture, he/she would be waiting around the corner before he/she would move on :)
I dreaded the trip back. It was the slowest, longest, bumpiest ride we had to take. We left Santorini at 4pm, & arrived 8hrs later, I was lying down practically the whole time to make sure that I didn't get motion sickness. We were glad we made an overnight booking at Hotel Delfini just across the port, so we didn't have to take any other transportation so late at night.
We left early in the morning to get back to Athens, & were able to check-in at the same hostel even if it was only 6:30am. We were even upgraded to a private room! Took a nap then did our most favourite thing - laundry...*SIGH* But as soon as we could, we left & walked up Likavitos (Lycabettus Hill), where we took some pictures by Ag. Georgias.
Today is our last full day in Athens, & the first thing we did was go to the Parliament House to watch the amusing, changing of the guards. Love their fur-ball shoes, & funny marches :) Walked through the National Gardens to get to the Panathenaic Stadium (site of the first Modern Olympics in 1896). I hope to come back to Greece again one day, I just love it here & there is still so many places to discover!
Not sure why, but I'm feeling absolutely crap today. Real lethargic, & so we walked real slow today. Didn't get to do much, but at least the sun was out and it was nice to sit out on the Piazza di Spagna. Where for awhile a group of Spanish guys (looks like a school group) were entertaining the crowd with songs & dances, before the police stopped them. The crown of course "booed" them for that.
Felt better the next day though, & thank goodness for that, because we were flying to Cairo, Egypt! We took the express train to Terminal 3, flew with Egyptair MS792. I was quite surprised that there were a lot of tourists, because the last time I flew to Egypt it was mostly Egyptians. Our flight of course was delayed, but it was only a quick ride anyway.
We had our pick-up waiting for us to take us to Hostel Brothers. Street we're on is very busy! Pretty much the main shopping street in Cairo - Talaart Harb St. But since the hostel is on the 4th floor, it was pretty quite.
The Egyptian Museum was walking distance, so we started of in the morning & spent practically the whole day there. Just like the Louvre in Paris, we checked out every single floor & exhibition in the museum including the Royal Mummy Hall. It's a shame we can't take cameras in here, I would be able to finish a whole 4GB card here, & that's no exaggeration ;)
From day 1 in Cairo, Summer, one of the girls working at the hostel introduced us to Felfela. They have the most amazing chicken shawerma ever! Actually everything we have tried here has been great & the prices are cheap as too.
Finally a day out to the pyramids with our driver & guide Khaled. The guy likes to talk a lot, even if we didn't understand half of what he was saying, we just kept smiling & nodding, very entertaining guy :)
He first took us to Saqqara to see the Step Pyramid of Djoser. The prototype for the pyramids in Giza, & all that followed. Built for 3rd Dynasty King Djoser by his architect & high priest Imhotep in the 27th century BC. Khaled explained the reliefs inside the Tomb of Mereruka, who was the son-in-law of Teti. There's a marsh scene inside with Mereruka hunting among birds, fish, & hippos. Then went inside the Pyramid of Teti (1st king of the 6th Dynasty), it contains the king's well-preserved giant basalt sarcophagus. And the ceiling of the chamber is decorated with stars, & walls inscribed with sections of Pyramid texts. From the outside the pyramid just looks like a mound of stones, so I was surprised when Khaled said it was a pyramid!
We drove passed Memphis on the way to Dahshur. The two Old Kingdom pyramids here were constructed by 4th Dynasty King Snefery (26132589BC) father of Khufu the builder of the Great Pyramid. Here, the Bent Pyramid is considered to by Egypt's first proper pyramid because until this time, pyramids were stepped. King Snefery wasn't happy with this pyramid, & on the 13th year of his reign, he began construction of the northern Red Pyramid. There are two smaller pyramids in the area, but they are badly dilapidated.
Then off to the Giza Plateau. We were able to walk around the pyramids here at our own leisure which was nice for a change. Circled both the Great Pyramid, & the Pyramid of Khafre. And headed down to Khafre's Valley Temple, & the Sphinx. The area also had the boat pits, the queen's pyramids, a number of mastabas, as well as the Pyramid of Menkaure.
When we got back to Cairo, it was time to rest before leaving for our overnight bus to Dahab. We rode with East Delta Lines on the 12:15am bus. Much better than the overnight bus to Edinburgh, only annoying thing was the Arabic music playing the whole trip. There were numerous check points where we had to stop and have our passports & tickets checked. But finally arrived in Dahab at around 9am. Our pick-up wasn't there so we had to barter for a taxi to take us there instead, wasn't long, only about 5 minutes drive away.
Luckily we were already able to check-in at Octopus Garden Resort & even get breakfast. Afterward a quick walk about the area, & off to bed to catch up on a bit of rest. In the afternoon we went for a swim at the resort's pool & also sunbathe. Felt so good to be under the sun again :)
It was like this pretty much the whole stay. Just nice to relax for a change, we've been on the go pretty much since December. The restaurants we were eating at were all by the water, & you can see Saudi Arabia across the Red Sea. It was all cheap & very good food. Some were even offering free starters, desserts, & shisha. Of course we took advantage of that, but always regret after when my stomach is so full...I guess our stomachs have shrunk & aren't used to eating this much anymore.
One of those mornings was spent at the Blue Hole, a popular snorkeling & dive spot. But it was so windy & cold that I only lasted around 10 minutes in the water. I really couldn't stand it anymore. Didn't see as much colours this time around, & there was so much more people so I think even if the water was nice I would not have enjoyed it.
Another bus trip with East Delta Lines around lunch time to Sharm El Sheikh, a quick one only about 2 hrs. Checked-in at Oonas Dive Club Hotel, good location just by the beach & away from all the shops & busy areas. Everything is a lot more expensive here because more Europeans come here for their getaways.
It was the same story here, just relaxing & doing nothing but eating :) Though this time we were swimming at the beach, the water was so clear & beautiful, not to mention the amount of fish that were around the shallow areas. It was better than snorkeling, lots more to see & all free!
On the last night both Joel, & I got sick. But we were able to keep the room until we left at midnight. We used this time to just sleep all day, hoping to get better by the time we get on the bus. East Delta Lines again at 12 midnight to go back to Cairo. We arrived early in the morning, but again were lucky to already be able to check-in. Only spent the night here, so we made sure to get our fill of chicken shawerma for one last time before flying out :)
Left early the next morning for our flight to Athens, Greece. Exchanged our unspent Egyptian Pounds into Euros, & anything left was used to buy junk food...ie. Burger King's onion rings :) Again with Egyptair, flight MS747 & landed at around lunch time.
We took the metro to Monastiraki. At first there was so much room in the carriages, & as we got closer to the city centre, it filled up until we were so squashed in there I was bathing in other people's bad odour...real nasty stuff, but they cleared out at Syndagma which is where the Parliament House is.
Able to recognise the area almost straight away, it all looks the same & our hostel is pretty much just around the corner - AthenStyle. We checked-out the flea markets before I introduced Joel to Savva's chicken souvlaki...mmm mmm still filling & same great taste as before, only 20c more expensive hehehe.
Got up early in the morning, & after breakfast headed to Ancient Agora. It's best to buy the EUR12.00 ticket which gets you into the Acropolis & all the other archeaological sites. Ancient Agora had a huge area to explore, & I don't even think we got to see all of it. We got caught up taking pictures of flowers & weird insects. It was the city's marketplace, administrative center & hub of daily life during the 6th century BC to the 6th century AD. There's also the Stoa of Attalos which has been converted into the Agora Museum. Housing relics from the site.
Then climbed up to the Acropolis, passing Odeon of Herodus Atticus (a theatre which has been restored & is still in use today). When we reached the top, there were so many people just sitting on the steps blocking the way which was really irritating. Same as in 2007, cranes & scaffolding ruin the site. An ongoing process to "preserve" the buildings.
Afterwards we headed down to Keramikos, a cemetery built around the Sacred Way (which is the oldest road in Athens). We saw quite a few tortoises wondering around here, a bit strange, but not as strange as the one I saw on top of a hill hiding in the bushes! They seem to be content just eating the flowers :)
The next day we continued checking out the archaeological sites. First was Hadrian's Library, the Roman, the Roman Forum, Hadrian's Arch & finally my favourite...the Temple of Olympian Zeus. It's the only one that only huge structure I've seen in Greece that doesn't have scaffolding or cranes ruining it :)
Walked up the Hill of The Musses (Filopappou)...on the way up we passed The Prison of Socrates. Supposedly he was held here before he was killed. During the war this "prison" cut into the rock, was used to store all the artifacts from the Archaeological Museum, they sealed it up with a concrete wall placed against the entrance.
I had lack of sleep the night before departing for Mykonos. I kept waking up thinking that we've missed the alarm we set. It happens all the time if we leave early in the morning, & today we were getting picked-up at 6:30am. It was a good thing that we got downstairs at reception early because the driver arrived 30 minutes ahead, & the guy at reception didn't have a clue what he wanted. The only reason I knew was because he was carrying an envelope with our names & the ferry tickets!
We waited at Pireaus Port for about an hour before we were allowed to board. It was Aegean Speed Lines: Speedrunner 3. Stopped Syros, & Tinos before finally arriving at Mykonos around 11am. A representative for the company was waiting for us with the details of our accommodation, & the transfer to the hotel. Stayed at Hermes Mykonos Hotel. Right on the side of the hill, facing Mykonos Town & the sea. It was such a pretty place, with the best views! Joel made me take sunset pictures every night!
The breakfast was great - BUFFET!!! Our stomach satisfied, we went for a long walk reaching almost opposite Agios Georgios. It was nice & sunny today with not a cloud in the sky :) Afterwards we ventured into the labyrinth alleys in town before trying our first mousakka & spicy meatballs in tomato sauce.
The next day we did the same - breakfast, then walk. But this time the opposite direction, & more challenging as there were more hills. We passed the New Port, Agios Stefanos, & up to Agios Sostis before heading back.
On both days, we went into the pool (freezing water) just to say we used it, & then sunbathed. It was good to just kick back & relax again :)
Goodbye Mykonos, for now we are off to Paros. Boarded on Seajet 2 at 10am, it was only a short ride, just under an hour. :) Instead of staying at the main city in Paros called Parika, our accommodation was in Naoussa - a busy fishing town. Again the place we stayed at - Kanales Apartments Paros, had views of the sea :)
There wasn't much things to do in Naoussa, most of the shops still closed even if it says that this place is a busy tourist area. I guess they thrive only in the peak seasons...we came here in the shoulder season which is also good.
We were able to hire bikes, something we weren't able to do in Mykonos. It was a good workout, after a heavy breakfast. Up & down those hills, even if they don't look challenging at all. The sun was also out on full blast! Unfortunately we forgot to time how long it took us to get to Parikia.
This area seems to be a bit more busy, with more stores open. We visited some archaeological sites scattered around the area. Some not even shown on the map, we just happen to pass a sign pointing us to the direction. One of the things on my list to see was Panagia Ekatontapiliani (Church of Our Lady of 100 Doors). I didn't count the doors, but I'm certain that it was well under that. This is one of the most treasured basilicas in the Orthodox faith.
Biked back to the apartments for a quick rest, before heading out to the other direction towards Santa Maria where we had a little picnic by the beach. The bike ride back was the worst, we had to just walk our bikes back up the hill. But at the end of the day when we returned the bikes, we had done at least 50km worth of biking :)
Stayed only a couple of nights in Paros before taking another ferry, this time only half an hour, to the island just across the waters called Naxos. This resort is probably the best we've stayed in so far - Naxos Resort - just a short walk to Saint George Beach. Though we didn't dare go to the beach, or even get into the pool. It was way too cold & windy!
After breakfast we walked to Palatia Sanctuary of Delian Apollo (Portara), a 6th century BC archway that is visible from the port. It's HUGE! The views from it were amazing! Then we went to Metropolis Square (Ancient town of Naxos) & checked out the Mitropolis Museum. This museum is built around an excavation site from a 13th century settlement. Walked up the little alleys to get to the top of the hill where the remains of the Kastro or Venetian Castle sits. One of the structures left there is the Tower of Sanoudos. The central edifice of the castle which was created in 1207 by the Venetian Marco Sanoudo, who at the time created the Duchy of Archipelago. The resort had a gym which we made use of. Thank goodness since we need to get rid of all that buffet breakfast we've been eating!
So there goes our 2 nights in Naxos, & the next island was Santorini. One of my most favourite Greek Islands :) We were booked into Daedalous Hotel, not much of a view except for the garden & pool, but close enough to walk into Fira Town.
On our first full day, we decided to do a half-day excursion to the volcano & hot springs. Walked to the Old Port via the 589 or so steps down a smelly, donkey-poo-covered path. Not only were we dodging the crap, but also the donkeys when they would come up & down the path carrying the lazy tourists.
We took the boat to The National Geological Park of Nea Kameni. An islet made by a volcano. Our guide took us around for about an hour or so pointing out the different craters (which ones were active & those that were dormant). You could even see smoke coming out of the vents. Afterward, we were taken to Palea Kameni where the hot springs were. The boat couldn't get too close to the shore, so we had to jump out into 6m deep FREEZING water & swim 50m to the springs. They really shouldn't call it "hot" springs if it's not going to be hot. It was murky brown water that smelt weird. There were some hot parts but it wasn't continuous, so I was a little disappointed :( Back to the Old Port & we made our way to town up that same zig-zag path ;)
Got ready to go out to dinner. We wanted a restaurant with views of the sunset. I really wanted to go to Oia, but because it's not the peak season yet, not much is open in the area. We settled with Zafora, which turned out to be perfect anyway because we got the best table & the best view...& yes the best food. We made sure before we made a booking that they had mousakka & spicy meatballs in tomato sauce (we've become addicted to these dishes hehehe). After dinner Joel wanted to go for a walk along the caldera. Enjoyed the views for awhile until Joel surprised me with a marriage proposal :) Well if you've been following Facebook, you'd know that I said YES! :) :) :)
After breakfast the next day we took the bus to Pyrgos & trekked up the mountain to Profitis Ilias, & again we forgot to time ourselves. It was overcast & super windy! Walked along the beaten path along the mountain ridge to get to the bottom on the other side, only to climb up another to get to Ancient Thira. Spent some time here taking in the views all around, & reading about the ruins on the summit. Then it was back down the mountain to the black sand beach of Kamari.
We had the morning to do any last minute exploring in Santorini before taking the ferry back to Pireaus (Athens). We walked towards Oia, but only got halfway before we had to turn back. There was even a dog making sure we'd go the right direction. Everytime we'd stop to take a picture, he/she would be waiting around the corner before he/she would move on :)
I dreaded the trip back. It was the slowest, longest, bumpiest ride we had to take. We left Santorini at 4pm, & arrived 8hrs later, I was lying down practically the whole time to make sure that I didn't get motion sickness. We were glad we made an overnight booking at Hotel Delfini just across the port, so we didn't have to take any other transportation so late at night.
We left early in the morning to get back to Athens, & were able to check-in at the same hostel even if it was only 6:30am. We were even upgraded to a private room! Took a nap then did our most favourite thing - laundry...*SIGH* But as soon as we could, we left & walked up Likavitos (Lycabettus Hill), where we took some pictures by Ag. Georgias.
Today is our last full day in Athens, & the first thing we did was go to the Parliament House to watch the amusing, changing of the guards. Love their fur-ball shoes, & funny marches :) Walked through the National Gardens to get to the Panathenaic Stadium (site of the first Modern Olympics in 1896). I hope to come back to Greece again one day, I just love it here & there is still so many places to discover!
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