Italy and Greece 2011

September 9, 2011

Day 1 – Arrival in Athens Greece

September 9, 2011 This is the start of a two week, two country trip for me. Bill will be with me in Greece for the first week and I’ll be on my own in Italy the second week. Our planned itinerary is 3 days in the Peloponnese, followed by a ferry ride to Crete and...
September 11, 2011

Day 2 -Exploring the Argolid of Peloponnese

September 10, 2011 On Saturday we squeezed in a week’s worth of activities in one day. I woke Bill up at 8:00 (this is the man who gets up at 4:30am at home) because I wanted to get to Mycenae archaelogical site early before the heat of the day. It was maybe a 20 minute...
September 11, 2011

Day 3 – Driving to southern tip of mainland Greece

Today is Sunday 9/11/11. We went to church this morning in the little village church just below our hotel and said a prayer for our country and the people who died on 9/11/01 and all those people all over the world who are suffering as a result of the wars that started that day. In...
September 13, 2011

Day 4 – From Monemvasia to Athens to board a ship

Monday already – feels like we’ve been here a week. Didn’t sleep very well last night and decided at 4am to take a Tylenol PM. Not a good idea. Bill had trouble convincing me to get moving at 8:00am. We wanted to go back to the old town in daylight and take more pictures and...
September 13, 2011

Day 5 – Arrival in Crete

Sleeping on a boat is always very comforting to me, even on a big ship.  We awoke as the was coming into the port of Chania around 5:30am, still very dark. We disembarked and jumped on a city bus going to the center. I was regretting that I had not made advance reservations for a car...
September 15, 2011

Days 6 and 7 – Relaxing in Crete

We’ve spent a total of 3 days in Crete since our arrival on Tuesday morning. It’s been a delightful,  peaceful three days. We didn’t do any sightseeing other than a quick trip to the old town of Rethymnon today but that was mostly so Yiannis could do some banking.  The village (Archontiki) is about halfway...
September 16, 2011

Day 8 – Whirlwind Day in Athens

I stayed up way too late on Friday night getting things done on John’s computer – this blog, work stuff, email etc. Typical for me I ended up getting just a couple of hours of sleep before it was time to get up at 0 dark thirty to catch a 7am flight out of Chania...
September 17, 2011

Day 9 Arrival in Rome

Flew on EasyJet from Athens to Rome. Even scheduled a decent departure time at 10am. Figured out the location of the hotel using my phone and map feature ahead of time (gotta love the Internet). But wasn’t sure how I was going to get to my hotel. I hate paying a lot of money for...
September 18, 2011

Day 10 – Rome in a Day

My only full day in Rome and I wanted to maximize my time in the city. Before breakfast I went over to St. Peters Basilica hoping I could get in without waiting in the long lines I had seen the afternoon before. The hotel told me the Basilica was not open on Sundays but they...
September 19, 2011

Day 11 – Travel from Rome to Firenze

Took advantage of hotels proximity to run back to St. Peters early before the lines to take some pictures with my Nikon Coolpix. The largest church in the world, amazing. Leisurely packing, checking email, waiting for laundry to dry.  With the efficient Italian train system, you just show up and buy a ticket in a...
September 20, 2011

Day 12 – Florence in a Day?

Today I had two things planned and it does not include a marathon tour but it still turned out to be an 13 hour day by the time I got back to my hotel tonight. First was a cooking class recommended by the company who helped plan our travel to Italy. The second was a...
September 21, 2011

Day 13 – Florence to Venice

Another transition day. I liked Florence but was looking forward to seeing Venice again. We spent less than 24 hours there in 2000 with the kids and I’ve always wanted to go back and see the city in more depth. Checkout time was 12:30 at my hotel. I got up early and worked on this...
September 22, 2011

Day 14 – Exploring Venice by Vaporetto

First of two full days in Venice. The public transportation in Venice for the commoners is the Vaporetto. It’s a city bus on the water, making many stops and cramming people on with standing room only. But the views are fantastic. The tickets are similar to the bus system. Buy a ticket before you get...
September 23, 2011

Day 15 – Museums and Churches of Venice

My last day in Italy. Travelling alone is getting a little lonely by now. I’ve enjoyed the solitude and not having to consult anyone else about decisions throughout the day. Staying only two or three nights in a town doesn’t give you a chance to get to know the place as a visitor rather than a tourist. But...
September 25, 2011

Day 16 – Home, Sweet Home

Made it home after a long day of travelling. Up at 4am and home by 7pm CST. (20 hour trip). Glad to be in my own bed. Seems like jet lag is worse coming home than going. I guess that is a good thing. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law are headed to Italy on Thursday for...