EuroSafari2006

4/17 Upon invitation, we joined Christopher and his group of retired Brits on a walking tour of Mycanae, the ancient city to have purportedly been the headquarters of Agamemnon during the Mycenaean empire, that 12th Century BC epoch oh-so romanticized by Homer four centuries later. According to the participants of the tour, you had to be intelligent and an alcoholic to partake. We were driven down a dirt road and dropped off some few kilometers away. We approached the ruins by foot, talked to new interesting people and eventually found reprieve on a grassy knoll to consume Greece’s fine wine, a wine that arrives to ones palette exclusively aged in plastic bottles, before our final descent upon our destination. We visited Agamemnon’s tomb and then entered the fortified city through the Lion’s Gate, an entrance decorated ... read more

After a restless sleep on a cold cement floor, indeed Spartan accommodations, we charged up the ancient fortress of Mystras. Similar to the Alhambra in concept but by no means in grandeur, this protected hillside was once a Christian stronghold during the Byzantine era before succumbing to the Turks. The remains reveal what it once took to sustain existence in a tumultuous time; water, food, commerce, defense, and church, of course. Sitting outside of St. Christopher’s church, the saint of travel, was a scholar who we came to know also as Christopher. Now retired from his teaching position, he guides tours for an organization called Headwater and was at that moment waiting for his group to finish their walk and meet him for lunch. Long story short, upon learning that we were heading to Naflion ... read more

We boarded an overnight ferry from Bari to Corfu and spent the night sitting upright, staring at the wall. The boat had a real booze cruise feel to it, the bar filled with smoke an hour before the boat even departed and we were the only people at dinner without our own bottle of hard liquor (per person) on the tray. It was an interesting group passengers, the handful of backpackers and vacationers were greatly outnumbered by large, sun baked, burly men who clearly not on holiday. In the morning we were picked up by someone from the ‘Pink Palace’, a place notorious for crazy parting and a huge Anglophone clientele. On arrival we were greeted with a shot of pink ouzo and promptly fell asleep. The proprietors apparently own 1,000 rooms, every one of which ... read more

Towards the end of Italy we started to experience travel fatigue. We owe it to the fact that we had split the trip into two parts (based on geography, time, eurail passes and what was familiar- part I ending in Italy and part II starting in Greece) and as the first half was coming to an end it felt we were emotionally closing a chapter and yet were not physically moving on. Motivation and morale were rather low anyway, and having to wait till 2:30 am in the train station to catch an overnight ride to Sicily was not enticing. We also did not have reservations and noted with dismay that about 400 young Italian soldiers were also waiting for the same train. We were fortunate and got our own compartment, which allowed us to ... read more

We headed to the notoriously gritty city and upon arrival were not disappointed; it is just as hectic and hairy as we had been forewarned. We arrived in the evening and ferried across seemingly lawless roads and onto a bus, which no other passenger appeared to pay for. The bus was packed with young people, girls in entirely pink outfits (including their devastatingly high heels) and guys sporting gelled hair and big sunglasses. Following the directions in our trusty guidebook, we navigated the dark streets (sorry Mom) and got off the tiny elevator onto the seventh floor of an innocuous apartment building. We were exhausted, famished and frazzled by the trip but immediately revitalized by the bright, colorful, friendly vibe of the hostel. We went out and savored our first true Neapolitan pizza, which with ... read more

We rode through the Tuscan landscape into Umbria and up a huge hill to get to cold and misty Perugia. Another beautiful medieval town, Perugia is known worldwide for its chocolate but remembered by us as where we got sick. The mist was romantic but we were both ready for some warm weather and were eager to get to Rome. We did spend an evening at the movies which was by chance playing a film in English and so we and literally every other Anglophone in Perugia at the time filled the theater to see the now rendition of “Pride and Prejudice”. Perhaps more enchanting than the film was the theater, an old opera house with a beautiful ceiling and private balconies for its viewers. ... read more