Conquer Europe 2006

Just our luck. The weather immediately turned to the better as we stepped back on the mini cruise ship/ferry as we returned to Athens for our final days. I owe it to the Greek gods. The sun came out, but it was still a bit chilly. Good thing it didn't rain though as the umbrella was left behind. The city is not what I would have expected. It's not exactly a nice city to look at, but the archaeological sites led us not only on a journey through the landscape but through time as we witnessed the legacy of Europe's greatest ages. The main attraction of Athens and most famous monument of the ancient world literally towers above all else. The Acropolis was the first and only site on our "to do" list. It is by ... read more

It's amazing to think that we were walking around a city with more than 2500 years of history. Old ruins stand next to modern, present-day buildings, cafes line every street, and scooters zip in, out, and around traffic. There are fountains, monuments, or columns at every turn. You can never get bored in this city as there is always something to see and explore. We missed our first train in the entire trip by mere seconds as we tried to connect to Rome from Cinque Terre. Our train was late to arrive as was the ongoing train to Rome. We ran to buy tickets and "Amazing Race-d" it back to the platform only to see it chugging away around the bend and out of sight. But, two hours later, we were on our way to Rome ... read more

I didn't think we would ever make it. Our exit from Seville began before the crack of dawn to make our way back to Italy. We flew to London Gatwick and bored ourselves for over 6 hours during our layover before landing in a chilly Pisa. We were there. It took 16 hours. But we were there. Our bus driver never informed us of our stop so we took the loop on the route and almost ended up back at the airport. A few hours of sleep later we were in the Campo dei Miracoli enjoying the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the slanting Cathedral and Baptistry that accompanies it. It currently leans at 4.1 meters from the perpendicular and appears that it's going to topple over any minute with just the slightest gust of wind. ... read more

The waiting was well worth it. After a few flight delays and a trip northeast to Barcelona before we could fly south, we were there. We finally landed in Africa. Morocco. The northwestern tip of the continent. The airport was small, immigration was packed, and the taxi haggling to "la madina" (city center) had begun. We arrived to the famous Djemaac el-Fna Square and were overwhelmed with what was going on. The place was packed. Women were covered from head to toe peering out at us from behind their veils. Some older women proudly displayed their tattoos on their faces signifying to which tribe they belong. Many men wore their religious robes, too. All sorts of designs and colors. Some had hoods and looked like members of the KKK. People were out and about at 10:30p. ... read more

We arrived from Nice, France via Montpellier to Barcelona after a full day on the train and waiting in the station. At first, we were excited to finally speak spainsh again but soon realized that the Catalonians speak their own tongue. It´s not a spanish that we heard before, seen written before, or even studied before. The foundation is the same, but it´s just different. Weird. At first, we were thinking that our 11pm arrival was late and were surprised that so many people were out late on a Wednesday night. Then we remembered perhaps one of the greatest innovative advances of all time--the siesta. They nap in the afternoon and stay up late. Eating as late as 8 or 9 is completely normal. We weren´t arriving late. We got in just in time. Barcelona is ... read more