Onward to Greece - Ioanniana and Meteora

Amber:  We headed towards Greece via ferry from Brindisi, Italy and landed in Igoumenitsa.  Our Italian is horrible, our Greek, nonexistent.  The first part of our trip had us going to Ioannina for two days to explore the deepest gorge in the world, per the Guinness Book of World Records.  Vikos Gorge was beautiful, and a very nice break from the hustle and bustle of all the historical sights we have been viewing.  We weren't sure if the part we hiked in was actually as deep as the Grand Canyon, but it was pretty just the same.  The gorge was terrifying as we followed a very narrow trail that had been chiseled out of the mountain face, very, very high up, by monks.  Tim was very confident about how safe we were, Heather and I were less so.  In fact, I felt like we were going to fall to our death at every step. I especially felt this way when Tim got a little shaky about the trail, and actually held on as opposed to skipping along, trying to convince us we were as safe as could be, thousands of feet above the gorge floor.

After our hike, we found a great little restaurant in Ioanniana, serving gyros.  Spirros, one of the cooks, could actually speak English, and helped us order, then sent us upstairs to drink really, really nasty Greek wine (we were encouraged to dilute the flavor with a coke) while he cooked our food.  Finally, our meal arrived, and it was wonderful.  We all had admitted to ourselves that we were sick of eating pizza upon leaving Italy, so the soft pita bread, feta cheese, Tadzhik  red onions, tomatoes  and grilled chicken were a great change.  Spirros taught us our first Greek word, "Afaresto" - thank you.

Tim:  Meteora was only an hour and half drive from Ioannina. As we arrived by car, the sight was beautiful. Tall domed rock deposits jutting out of the flat surrounding area with monasteries and nunneries built precariously on top. After getting settled we took t he trail that lead up to several of the monasteries. There first one we visited was the one used in the James Bond film "Four your eyes only." Monks built the monasteries in the 12th century to keep themselves safe from invading Ottoman Turks. Originally, the only access to the monasteries was by baskets that would be lifted from the ground or rope ladders that would be let out the side of the buildings. Of the dozen or so that were originally occupied on six are still in operation today. Nowadays there are roads and stairs cut into the rock to each of the operating monasteries. It was still a really cool experience an the place is beautiful. Apparently the band, Linkin Park name their album, "Meteora" after they saw this place.  Meteora is the name of the largest monastery and it means, suspended in air.

See more photos at our facebook album.

Our first afternoon of hiking was beautiful and we visited two of the sights. The next day it rained and rained and rained with thunder and lighting two. We needed the exercise so we went for it anyway and hiked in the pouring rain.

See more photos at our facebook album.

Pompei

Tim:  We planned for a three night stay near Naples and Pompei. Our hotel was located in the seaside town of Pozzuoli about 10 km north of Naples and about a 45 minute drive from Pompei. We arrived later in the afternoon on our first day and we visited the beach in Pozzuoli. We had a nice time, but the beach was not impressive and quite dirty. We went for a quick swim in the water. The beach was very shallow even though we were several hundred feet offshore it was still not over our heads. The water was cold, but not unpleasant.
     We found pizza for lunch. We chose Napoli style pizza that comes with sardines. None of us were impressed. I am very adventuresome when it comes to food and like all kinds of food, but I cannot understand why people like sardines or anchovies.

Amber:  I have always wanted to go to Pompei, and after discovering that pizza originated in Naples, both places were on the top of my to-go-wish-list for this trip.  Heather and Tim were also excited to go check out the ruins, and nobody can turn down good pizza.  Maybe even the worlds greatest!?  While in Pozzuoli, we found the third largest ancient arena in Italy, and were able to explore to our hearts content its underground passage ways.  It was far less grand then the Colosseum, seating for 25,000 vs around 50,000, but the accessibility of the ruins and the lack of crowds made it a very nice compliment.

All three of us were shocked with how huge Pompei is!  It is probably seventeen blocks across and about ten blocks wide, complete with bakery's, government buildings, homes,  bathhouses, arenas, and theaters. The streets were stone, many with wagon wheel ruts in them. Most of the artwork and artifacts have been removed and taken into Naples, placed into museums.  We walked throughout the ruins for hours, finding some of the casts of the remaining people that perished after the eruption of Mt Vasuvious, looking into lots of very old homes, and walking through the naughty Roman bathhouses.

Having found that most of the more impressive artifacts had been stripped from Pompei, we were glad that finding the worlds greatest pizza in Naples would also allow us to go the a museum in Naples that housed all of Pompei's finest.  We boarded probably the most derelict train any of us have been on, and after traveling through SE Asia, that says a lot!   We found a place that had been recommended by our guide book, and as there was a huge line out the door, figured it must be THE spot for pizza.  It was pouring out, and the wait was taking forever, so we grabbed a quick coffee.  Naples makes very good coffee, and after our wait was finally up, we found that they do, indeed, make very good pizza.  The pizza was cooked perfectly, and the dough was the best part.  It was almost paper thin in the center, and oh so good!

Florence: Round Two

Tim: Florence is probably our favorite city in Italy. Amber's sister Heather had joined us and wanted to see the city as well, so we were happy to drive north again to visit the city. We reserved a three person room at Hotel Marcella with a shared bathroom right near the middle of the city. It took us a few minutes to find the hotel. It turned out that it was immediately across the street from Hotel Mario where our friends Sarah and Jane had stayed when we visited Florence just ten days before. Cars without special permits are not allowed on many of Florence's downtown streets. We did not know this until we were told by our hostel staff. We had to illegally park for a few minutes until we got our baggage unloaded and checked into our place. Private parking in the area of downtown Florence costs 18 Euro for 24 hours so we opted to search for free parking further out. Through a google search we were able to find out that there was free parking near the Piazza Michelangelo. This was only 2.1 miles walking distance from our hotel but was over 5 miles driving in the car. We were able to find parking and the area was on a hill with amazing views over all of Florence.

Amber:  We had a great time in Florence with Heather.  The Domo is probably one of the most impressive buildings any of us have seen.  It is beautiful!  Heather had purchased a fancy Nikon camera this summer, so a lot of her trip consisted of photographing all the amazing sights she saw.  I think she may have taken close to 250 pictures of the Domo alone.  On the first day from the hill top where we poached parking.  That day when we walked all the way around it. That night when we went back for more pictures in the dark (it's very beautifully light up).  Then we climbed the Domo, so there were even more photos taken.

We love to eat while we travel, and of course drink good wine at affordable prices, so were happy to take Heather to our favorite wine bar in Florence and sip on a bottle or two of red wine while we ate prosciutto and cheese foccia sandwiches.  It was after she had finished her sandwich we pointed out the curing hindquarters hanging from the ceiling; future prosciutto!

       

Rome Part 3

Tim:    My parents headed back towards Alaska after our third night in Rome. Amber and I took the day to relax and did not head into downtown Rome until mid-afternoon. We visited the Imperial Forum which was very near to the Roman Forum. This Imperial Forum was built after the Roman Forum, but functioned for much of the same time period. Hadrian's Column is at one end of the Imperial Forum. This forum is in further ruin than the Roman forum, and several of the cities main roads were built right over top of the ruins. Sections of the forum are visible in areas next to the main roads. We also visited the Capitoline building in the same area with the stairs that were designed by Michael Angelo. The building is one of the most amazing buildings I have ever seen. There are two matching huge bronze sculptures of an ancient god riding a chariot pulled by four horses. The sculptures are larger than life size and sit at the two corners of the building.

Amber:  We had fun traveling through some amazing historical sights with Tim's folks.  The Vatican and the Colosseum were just as cool as in the pictures, only better because we were actually there!!  After they departed, we enjoyed a lot more of Rome's sights, pizza, wine, and gelato on our own for a few days before picking my sister up at the Rome international airport.  She had flown all the way from Anchorage, Alaska, and was ready to see Rome.  We went from the airport directly to the Colosseum.  Having gotten comfortable with Rome, we knew all the 'good' sights so we drug her from the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, the Capitoline building, over to the Pantheon and then ate an amazing dinner with wonderful wine.  She tired to stay awake as we went in search of the best gelato ever in Rome (they dip their final masterpiece in chocolate before handing the cone to you, so good), then we finally took the train back to our camp ground.

Heather was awake by seven am and ready to go the next morning.  As I am a horrible sister, I had not researched that the Vatican would be closed on Sunday (which, of course, makes sense), my big plan for her second day with us.  Instead we went in search of ancient Roman Aqueducts.  The ones we found were about 2,000 years old, amazing!  It was an excellent way to spend our day, as it was something Heather really wanted to see, it didn't really fit into our huge itinerary that we had for while she was here, and Tim and I hadn't seen them yet.   

    

Pickpocket in Rome

Tim:   My parents, Amber and I were making our way back to our lodging at Seven Hills Village on the outskirts of Rome. We had just gotten of the Metro Line A at Valle Aurale and we were making our way to the FR1 train station for the 25 minute train ride north of the city. As we were walking into the FR1 station we had to hike up several flights of stairs because the escalators were broken or not operating at the time. We had done quite a bit of walking that day, and we were all tired. We were walking up the stairs; I was in the lead with Amber behind me followed by my dad, then my mother. I was about two thirds of the way up the stairs when I heard my dad yell in a strained voice, "Hey, you get your hand out of that lady's purse!" It took a few seconds to register what he was saying as I had not seen anything. No one else seemed to be paying any attention. I looked to my side and understood what was going on. A small man in his mid-twenties was now standing on the stairs with a map of Rome unfolded and held up near his face. He was rigid and not making eye contact. We didn't know what to do. I thought about punching him in the face, but decided against that. My dad had seen the perpetrator slyly lift up the unclipped flap of a middle aged Italian women's purse. He had tried twice to view the contents for anything valuable. When my dad called him out he just stood in the middle of the stairs hoping no one would notice. The lady who had almost gotten pick-pocketed did not speak English and did not know what was going on at first until another Italian told her such.
      All I did was call him, "a piece of sh#t" and we all continued up the stairs to the train platform. We had heard about pick-pockets and there were occasional signs warning people to watch their personal belongings, but it was a different experience viewing a pick-pocket in the act.
See photos of our time in Rome at our facebook album.

Rome Part 2

Tim:   Our second full day in Rome we visited the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. We took the subway to the Colosseum stop and when we stepped out of the station the Colosseum was just 100 meters for the subway exit. Our Foders Guidebook recommended that we check out the Roman Forum first because the ticket is for both and the lines are shorter at the Roman Forum. The Roman Forum is right next to the Colosseum. It includes the actual forum the open area where people gathered and this was surrounded by numerous temples, monuments, and government buildings built from the 1st to the 4th century AD. The buildings were in various stages of mostly ruined to completely ruined. Some still have a few of the original marble pillars still standing. It takes a little bit of imagination, but the ancient architecture is astounding.
     We also visited the Palatine which was the main palace area for the emperors and also house other prominent Romans. The sheer size of the palace area is jaw dropping.

     After our Roman Forum/Palantine visit, we walked over to the Colosseum which is of course very impressive. We did note , that not much of the original marble structure remains. Over the centuries having been built in the 1st Century AD, the marble blocks were looted for other projects including the building of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. Somewhere in there one of the popes stopped the deconstruction of the Colosseum in honor of the Christians that were thought to have been martyred there. Turns out archaeologists do not believe that an Christians were persecuted in the Colosseum. This same pope also sponsored some reconstruction of the Colosseum with brown colored bricks instead of the colossal marble stones originally used.
See more phots at our Rome Facebook Album

                      My Parents

     

Rome, part 1

Amber:  Tim, his Mom and Dad, and I left Cinque Terre's peaceful hillside and headed towards Rome.  We were all excited to go to Rome to experience some of the worlds greatest art and history!  Tim and his Mom had found a little camp ground, Italian style, for us to stay at.  It was actually a bit out of Rome, but Tim and I got our own cabin (a box with two bunks shoved together with a little heater and shelves) and Robin and Val had a little suite, complete with a small kitchenette, bathroom, and tiny dining area.  We went to a nearby store and made tacos for dinner as best we could with the Italian ingredients available.  No sour cream, cheddar cheese, or taco seasoning was to be found! Thankfully, we had Italian wine to make it taste better! 
The next morning, we got up and had breakfast and brewed coffee.  The tiny espresso cups were filled numerous times and the teny coffee pot brewed twice for us to get our fill of caffeine before heading out.  We got a subway map from our campground host and took off towards Rome, huge rain clouds looming.  I was not worried about the rain, as it was hot out  (about 70'), so wore a dress and flip flops.  Thankfully, we all packed raincoats and two umbrellas.  It poured on us the moment we got out of the shuttle and went in search of finding a place to purchase tickets to get into Rome. 
Boarding the train, we headed out.  It only took two trains to get to the station next to the Vatican.  Out we filed, and found our way to the entrance to the Vatican.  Tim and Robin got into a long line once we arrived in St Peters Basilica   It was a long line, so Val and I went off, in search of what was to see.  We spotted signs for the Vatican Museum, so followed them away from the guys, and found ourselves at a different line.  We decided we would rather be in this line, as we both really wanted to see the Sistine Chapel, so Val stayed in the line and I marched back to inform the guys of the good news - we'd found a new line to stand in!  Unfortunately, Tim and Robin were at the front of their line, and Tim was planning on booking tickets for the Vatican Museum online as the que would take us forever to pass through.  Which both Val and I had both missed when we went off.  So, Robin and Tim left their line, followed me to Val, and we all got out of that line so that Robin and Val could go back to the St Peters Basilica line and Tim and I could find and book tickets on line for the Vatican.

Tim: We were able to book tickets for the Vatican Museum later in the afternoon. We just had to walk to the ticket counter and show them the reservation confirmation. This enabled us to skip the line which was probably around 3 hours long for an extra 4 Euro each.
    The museum was amazing! The exhibits were collections of fine art that included sculptures, paintings, tapestries, stucco, and various artifacts. The Egyptian exhibit was expsecially fascinating. The collection was acquired over many centuries of donations, procurement, or by force. There were many ancient Roman Empire sculptures that were beautiful.

Most Valuable artifact in the entire Vatican collection

     The highlight of the Vatican Museum is considered by most to be the Sistine Chapel painted by Michael Angelo. We had purchased audio guides and this was helpful in understanding the amazing paintings. It really is a wonderful piece of art. We spent about 20 minutes inside the chapel staring at the ceiling while security was continuously yelling at people to stop taking pictures. After the Sistine Chapel there were many other exhibits that included a collection of modern art works, but at that point we were a little bit overwhelmed by all of the other exhibits to give more than a passing glance. We spent about almost four hours in the museum and left right at closing time.
     Our lodging was located on the outskirts of Rome so we had to take several subways and one train to get back to our place. The trip to 45 minutes to an hour each time, but we were able to park the car for free which is very difficult inside of Rome.