What the hell is Keian doing in Patras?!

The cruise ship to Patras was not as luxurious as our previous cruise ship but it still came fully equipped with a bar and pool. The only two things that really matte on a cruise ship I think. Our sleeping quarters made us feel like we on the Titanic in the low class quarters. We were on the deck in our sleeping bags with a few other people just hanging out in the open with everyone else. We were a little nervous to leave our stuff unattended right away but we got over that real quick. We didn’t like to wait around while others in our group were out walking around.

The best part about this cruise wad the old men that we got to watch in the bar late that night. They were Greek natives in there fifties doing a traditional Greek dance in the middle of the disco tech. The Greek kids were kind of annoyed at the situation but Linds and I loved every second of it. Also, we couldn’t believe how young the kids on the dance floor were. They must have been in there early teens, like 13-15. It was bizarre. It made me feel really old for my age. Thank goodness for the elderly gentlemen doing the heel slap dance. We didn’t hang around for too long. We went to our deck to get some sleep on the cold hard steel mattress we had. 

The ship hit up a few spots before Patras. I’m not sure why we chose Patras for our stop but we did. Most people got off the boat at Corfu. From the boat, it seemed like an amazing place to be. We decided to ride it out though and get to Patras. Upon our arrival we were stoked. I had heard so many good things about Greece that it was hard not to be excited. We loaded our packs into the lockers at the ticket office building and met a couple of Canadians while getting our day packs together. They were wondering what the heck we were doing in Patras instead other heading to Santorini r Athens or something like that. This gave us an idea of what Patras was going to be like. To sum up things in a few sentences, we left the docks and headed off to find a hostel. Well, Brandon and I wanted to stay at a hostel and Lindsey and Ramsey just wanted to sleep on the ground somewhere. We said screw that and Brandon and myself found a hostel and unloaded our stuff. We then got some food at a fast food kebab joint and hit up the internet café for a few hours. Brandon and I went back to the hostel and fell asleep watching Roxanne with Steve Martin. I had never seen it before. I’ll have to finish it sometime.

We were woken up by Lindsey and Ramsey who were both real tired from sleeping out on the docks where the ferry had dropped us off. They took over our beds in a hurry but didn’t make it too far since we had to get checked out right away. We decided that Patras just wasn’t the place we wanted to be so we got a train to Athens. While waiting at the station to get on our train Linds saw a guy we had met in Barcelona, Keian. We couldn’t believe it! He had taken a ferry over as well and was heading to Athens as well. He caught the train before we did so we couldn’t catch a ride with him. No matter. I was just happy to be getting out of Patras.

When we arrived to Athens, it was dark outside and we had no clue where to go. Once again, Linds and Ramsey wanted to crash somewhere outside and Brandon and I was not having it. There is a big difference between camping and being homeless. Although I have had my homeless moments I did not want to be a bum on this certain occasion. Once again, Brandon and I found a hostel o crash in. The coolest part about arriving in Athens was that they were having a celebration for the opening of the new Acropolis museum which included all sorts of light shows and music going on around the city near Acropolis hill. The acropolis hill itself was amazing! It was beautiful the way they had it lit up.

In the one day we had in Athens I saw the Acropolis and the ancient Agora with Ramsey and Brandon while Lindsey went and found a hostel. I split up from the group for the day to do my own thing and ended meeting up with Hillary, a girl that I met when we ran into Keian at the train station. She had come to Greece on the same ferry as Keian. She was coincidentally staying at the same hostel as Brandon and I. She told me that she only had the one night and was leaving the next day to see the Greek Aisles. She and I went for a stroll through the city and ate some lovely Greek food. I got to try moussaka for the first time. I was please although she swore that it wasn’t the “real deal”. Afterwards, we were presented with an amazing sunset on acropolis hill. There were a few other people around as well to witness the wonderful sky colors. When I got back to the hostel I played guitar with a couple of Aussie girls who were in mine and Brandon’s room, had a few drinks with some other Americans and then went to bed.

We checked out the following morning and headed to the train station to get back to Patras to catch our ferry out. We decided that Sicily was a must see and jumped ferry abroad. Back at sea once again.

Venice Masks and Nude Frog Boy Statue

It was another long, uneventful, long series of trains to get to Venice. A great time to journal and read, but for some reason I get nauseous when I try to read and write while in a moving vehicle. Our first mission was to get to where the ferry departed Venice for Greece so we could make reservations for our departure to Patras. It took forever to walk to the port. With all of the run-around directions we received it was not easy and by the time we arrived to the reservation office, they were closed. A man told us to just show up the day we wanted to leave and we would have no problems getting on a ferry to Patras. Go figure. After a cranky walk back to the bus station, we jumped on a bus off the island to our campground hostel. We unloaded our things into our little cabin and hit decided to get a nice meal before heading back to the island. Brandon was real tired so he stayed behind to get some sleep while the rest of us went out.

The dinner was amazing. Fresh, delicious pasta with house vino was just what we needed to get us going for a night tour of Venice. We wanted to do a Gondola ride but the cheapest we could find for the three of us was €80. We just jumped on a shuttle boat and saw the waterways of Venice that way. The shuttle boats were free with our bus passes so it was definitely the best way to do it. It wasn’t too long before we got tired and wanted to head back. We needed to catch the midnight bus anyhow or we would have been S.O.L.

The next day was a good day to lounge around for a while by the pool and read. I got all caught up on Stephen King’s “The Gunslinger”, The Dark Tower series. I am definitely going to get the second book and more if I can find them at some point during the trip. It wasn’t long before evening came and we figured we better get into the city so we could see more of the sights with Brandon. We hopped on the bus to the island and went for a walk over the flooded streets of Venice. There was temptation to get a gondola ride but we are on a budget and must save as many pennies as possible. It was great walking by the stands in = and trying on the goofy masks and checking out the cool artwork. There were pigeons everywhere! If the thought you had food on you they would fly right on you trying to get a treat.

I think my favorite parts of Venice was sitting on Lido di Venezia island watching the sun set, checking out the boy with frog statue, and just cruising around on the boats throughout Venice. We did try to go to a casino but we were denied because apparently t-shirts, flip-flops and torn shorts on not proper attire for such a ritzy place. We got some kebabs and went back to the campsite. I had a beer at the campsite bar but there were not many people there so I just went back to our cabin to crash.

We got all cleaned up and got our stuff packed up for our ferry ride we needed to catch to Greece. Yet another long trek with our packs. Not fun. We met a guy from the Algarve right before we boarded which was pretty cool considering we had been there for a while. He couldn’t believe it. Our cruise left port at 5 in the p.m. towards Greece on a 36 hour journey. Back at sea once again! We didn’t have such posh accommodations his time but we didn’t care. Ciao Venice, yassou Greece!

Croatian Get-away

This train ride was not so much fun. We had no sleeper car and had to switch three times. We were all out of it when we finally arrived in Split. We were met by a local woman as soon as we stepped off of the train. She was telling us to follow her so she could show us a couple of hostels and B&B’s that we could stay at. The first place she led us towards was a hostel ran by one of her friends. This woman was much older and dressed like she was a prostitute. She had tight cut-off shorts on revealing her beautiful varicose veins and a tight t-shirt to boot. She wanted too much so we turned her down and were then led to another place that seemed much more comfortable. It was the home of a different friend of our guide and it was just right for us.

We went for a walk to the center of town getting some slices of pizza on our way. The streets were very tight and full of people. It reminded me of being on the streets of Lisbon again. We decided to go to the nearest beach to hang out for a while. It was not a very impressive one. It was extremely little. Not like the beaches we had heard about. The people who were there were all playing the same game, as well. It was a version of handball where people stand in a circle in the water and have to keep the racquetball size ball in motion by using your palms. It seemed fun. I wish we would have tried but we didn’t bring our swimsuits.

Just on the other side of the beach was a group of restaurants and clubs. We went over to check it out and couldn’t believe how young the crowd was. The average age must have been 14 or 15 years old. It was so bizarre. We got some food at one of the eateries and then got out of there. It was too weird for us. It was a good thing we did though because as soon as we got back into the city center, there was a stage set up and live music going on with performers everywhere. It was very cool. The best was the street drummers with the fire spinning dance girls.

When we got back to the B&B Brandon and Ramsey went to sleep and Lindsey and I stayed up to plan out the rest of our trip. We had 8 eurail passes left and wanted to cover as much ground as possible in the little time we had. It took a lot longer than we had planned and once again the sun was coming up before I knew it. We went over the agenda with the guys the next morning and they seemed alright with what we had chosen.

Later that day, we decided to hit up a very to Brac island to see if we could find some real beaches. We also wanted to get some more use out of the sleeping bags and find a neat place to camp. The camping part was easy. There was a site right next to where the ferry dropped us off at. The beach thing was still not so easy. We walked along the shore for a while but it was all very rocky. It was beautiful but the rocks were real jagged and no too comfortable to walk on. We swam for a while and then went back to shower at the campsite. We went to a bar we found just outside of the main port that looked like it was full of people our age, but they didn’t want o have anything to do with us. We didn’t feel too comfortable there so we went back to the campsite to sleep and decided that we would go to Bol on the other side the island when we got up.

We share a van with some Australian girls, who had stayed at the same campsite as us, on our way to Bol. This place was gorgeous! The beach was made up of tiny smooth pebbles that felt so good to walk and lie out on. The sun was shining and there were wind surfers and para-surfers everywhere. There were a large number of yachts around as well. You could tell that this was a ritzy beach to be on. We hung out all day long. The best part was the fruit stand they had. You could get a large cup of mixed fruit for €3.00 and for €1.00 more, they would add some rum! Pirate punch! Aaargggh! Gotta love it.

We hitched a ride via taxi back afterward and jumped on the ferry back to Split so we could catch our next train out of town. We barely made it. The ferry took much longer than we had anticipated, but we were still on time. The next stop… Venice! Four ex-Cessnans on their way to romance land. How special.

Roma Reunion

The conductor woke us up once we hit Rome. It is always a strange feeling waking up in an entirely different city. It’s like someone put a blindfold on you and spun you around in circles. Kind of like pin the tail on the donkey but instead of pins and donkeys, we are using trains and world cities. We found our way to the information desk and asked them about a camping hostel that Alex had told us about. We purchased a Roma pass as well which covered all of my transportation and allowed a couple free entrances to two museums, monuments, or ruins.

We checked into our hostel and instantly hit up the pool. It was a really nice hostel. They had several dozen tents set up for people to accommodate and also had camping spots for those who had their own equipment. We played beach volleyball also which was so much fun. We didn’t linger for too long before we got a quick bite to eat at the hostel supermarket and got ready to head to the Spanish Steps to see Vanessa.

We got some cheap boxes of vino and hung out on the steps for a while and then trekked over to the Trevi Fountain to enjoy the waterworks with what seemed like every tourist in the city. We all tossed in coins for hopes to return once again and had fun with the guys selling flowers and trying to take your picture for money. We sang song and climbed parts of the fountain that wouldn’t get us kicked out and then had to get to the Metro. Our last rain left around midnight which didn’t really give us much time to play but we didn’t want to pay for a taxi considering we already had purchased the two day metro pass. We said farewell to Vanessa and were off on a drunken metro/bus ride back to the hostel. Lindsey and I were singing annoyingly the whole time. Beautiful.

The next day we planned on meeting up with Vanessa again at the Vatican because the Pope was going to giving a service in front of St. Peters Basilica. We failed miserably at rendezvousing with her but it didn’t matter. We still got to hit up the Pope Party. Later, went on doing our tourist thing and jumped on some free tours at the Coliseum and the Palatines. Brandon and I went back to the Vatican afterwards to see St. Peters Basilica and the gallows since Brandon had never had the experience. Lindsey and Ramsey just wanted to go back to sleep. After we couldn’t handle walking anymore, we caught the next bus back o the hostel and meet back up with Linds and Ramsey. We then went back into town to meet up with Vanessa since we had missed her before. I brought her some wine to apologize for missing her earlier. We met up with her at the Parthenon and went to a nearby restaurant to get a quick bite to eat. The gang wanted to catch the lat bus back to the campsite which left nearly 45 minutes after we had just arrived. I thought it was silly and decided to hang out with Vanessa for a while longer and get to see Rome at night. It was so amazing! It is a completely different world in the dark. The moon was shining bright that night as well so we got to see it all under the moonlight. Even though the coliseum isn’t all that impressive anymore, it is one of my favorites. There is just some kind of magic I feel when I’m there.

We ended up making it until sunrise and caught the first train back towards our places of rest. I didn’t get back to the campground until 7 in the a.m. and we had to be out of there by 9. You do the math. I was tired. We made it to the train station on time though and caught our next ride to Croatia. I hadn’t heard much about this country so I was excited for this adventure. Things always seem to work out much better when you have little or no expectation at all.

Gimmelwald; aka: Heaven on Earth

The train ride took a long time but it was well worth it. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking. The mountains were magnificent. I couldn’t believe how massive the Alps were. Even though I had been to Switzerland before I never got to experience the mountains. Everything was so green and the sun was shining the entire way. We did have to make a couple pit stops on our way which is always annoying. We stopped once in Geneva, once in Kraggenfurt, and once in Bern.

We arrived in Interlaken in the evening with no plans once so ever. We ditched our stuff into some lockers at the train station and decided to get by on our day packs and sleeping bags. We headed for the hills o see a wildlife park that was also near a hostel/campground. It was probably the most un-impressive animal exhibit I had ever seen but the fact that I was seeing it in Interlaken made it the coolest crappy animal exhibit ever! There were a few mountain sheep and a marmot. We didn’t stay long. We headed down the hill to the hostel but decided not to stay. We wanted to sleep out under the stars instead. I pointed out a mountain on the back side of the town that looked like a real easy hike to the top. We decided to go for it. There was an old hotel near the bottom of the hill that seemed to be more of a historical landmark than anything else. I had never heard of it before though. We found our way to the summit and made a nice little roost to bed down in. We played a couple games of cards and then fell asleep looking out over the city.

What seemed like hours later, we were being awoken by some juicy raindrops. We quickly go the stuff packed up and tried to find our way off the mountain. Luckily, Ramsey had a head lamp with him and a poncho as well. Head led us in a different way that we came up the mountain that ended up bringing us into town next to a bar. We got our bags rolled up and went in the bar to discover that it was only 11 p.m. This did not make us happy. We were hoping we had at least slept for a while so we could push on through the morning. Turns out we had only slept an hour maybe two. We asked the bar man for some advice as to where we could find a place to sleep. He only had hostels to recommend which is something we were trying to avoid considering we are travelling on a budget. We decided to return to the old hotel we passed earlier to see if we could find any shelter but it seemed to be inhabited. There were security lights which caught us off guard. There were also vans and cars outside that we didn’t see earlier. After a few minutes of not-so-deep thinking, we dropped to the pavement. We gave up hope and slept right there in the hotel parking lot in our sleeping bags.

We were not happy campers the next morning. We went and got some hot chocolate and then hit up the co-op for some grub. We decided that we had had enough of Interlaken and were going to head off to Gimmelwald since we had heard so many amazing things about it. We caught a train to the town of Lautennbrunen and then jumped on a bus to Stechelberg which is where we boarded a gondola that took us up the mountain to Gimmelwald. There were cliffs, rivers, and waterfalls surrounding us in every direction. It was very gloomy this day so it was hard to see the mountains in the midst of all the clouds. We entered the Mountain Hostel, the only hostel in Gimmelwald, and waited to check in. We met a few people who were also waiting to check in and Ramsey and I decided to hike up to Murren with one of them. The clouds lifted for a brief while, and when they did I was knocked on my ass by the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. It was simply gorgeous!

We stayed in Gimmelwald for two nights before we had to get back to Interlaken to jump on a train to Rome. The highlight of Gimmelwald was the wonderful hike we took to what the locals call “Shark’s Fin”. It was a long way to the top but we did it! This put the Moroccan hike to shame. I, Brandon, Ramsey, and our new friend Kyle all rode the back of the shark. It was sad to leave but I was most definitely looking forward to returning to Rome for my second visit! We were also going to see Vanessa again! After almost missing our night train due to lack of reservation, we were only a night’s sleep away from Rome. Here we go again!