Trip Update 7 - Out of Greece, into Italy

[Josh Seamon]

Hello everyone,

We've covered alot of ground in the last few days -- here goes:

2/25/07: We had another nice breakfast in the Hotel Candia dining room and then broke up into two groups. 31 of us headed for a day in Delphi and 10 stayed behind to further explore the city. On the three hour drive north to Delphi, we all slept some more and then Flo talked to us about the region and what we were going to see. We stopped at a small town high in the mountains a little bit outside of Delphi and spent 30 mins walking through the cobblestone streets. The weather was cool and mist was everywhere. A couple students bought some very nice small rugs and Mrs. Prevost bought a GREAT Davie Crocket hat (seriously). We then drove the short rest of the way to Delphi where the weather was much clearer and warmer. At Delphi Flo turned us over to our tour guide -- a hyper version of Julia Child. She was great and Delphi was absolutely stunning. The views into the valley were breath taking and the rock formations grand. The whole place has an intense presence with jutting valleys, green hills, and age. The tour was informative and very helpful with understanding what we were looking at. We saw the stone navels of Delphi, the Oracle's temple, the Oracle's stone the tripods were placed on, the amphitheater, and the Delphi museum. The museum was full of sculptures, beaten metal work and columns, all found on the Delphi site. Highlights include the large Sphinx, the the column of 3 dancing women, and the charioteer. We then had 15 minutes of free time -- some kids hiked over to the spring that the oracles used to purify themselves before prophesying, and 3 of us hiked back up the hill. The sun was out and the temp was cool -- it was a perfect experience. We then all met up again and headed back by bus to Athens. On the way back we made out way through fog and huge switchbacks. We had lunch at a cute Taverna and enjoyed more Greek cheese. We got back to the hotel around 6:15 and met up with Denise and the kids who stayed in the city. During their day they traveled far and wide. The highlight of their day was seeing the main museum in Athens which included a viewing of the mask of Agamemnon. At 7 we broke up into groups and headed out into the city for our dinner on our own. Lots of kids stayed around the hotel and 10 of us headed out with Flo via subway to a cute walking area near the south east of the Acropolis hill. We had another nice Greek dinner, picked up some little gifts, and got back to the hotel around 9:30.

2/26/07: We woke up early and had breakfast in the hotel. After an 8am departure we were on our way out of Athens with a fully packed bus, headed for Mycenae. Our first stop along the way was at the veyr large man made canal that bridges two parts of Greece, whose names I can't remember. Soon after we met our guide and made out first stop at the beehive tomb of Agamemnon -- a HUGE in-ground enclosure. Our guide gave us an extensive lecture on the tomb and we climbed up onto the hill for the fantastic view and group pictures. we then got back on the bus and went the next half mile up the hill to Mycenae and our first stop at Clytemnestra's tomb. Next we walked up to the Lion gate which was totally awe inspiring after we all had seen it so many times in books. After another group picture and then a great lecture next to the ring tomb in Mycenae, we had 30 minutes of free time to climb around on the hill. The 360 view was again amazing. Some kids climbed all the way down into the bottom of the cistern. Next we got back on the bus and had lunch very close by at a fabulously fancy, yet cheap restaurant. After lunch we got back on the bus and headed for Epidarus, the home of a 2,400, almost perfectly preserved theater. The acoustics were as impressive as we were left to believe. Up on the 50 or 60th row you could clearly hear change hitting the ground and paper ripping. Flo sang for us and then a group of kids and chaperones sung the Alma mater, followed by a rousing Happy Birthday to Amelia Williams. We then said good bye to our guide for the day and headed to our hotel for 2 hours of free time on a small beach. Some kids swam in the Aegean! Our dinner was at a restaurant 3 seconds down the beach. We all then went to bed earl to prep for a very long following day...

2/27/07: 5:45am wake up went as smoothly as we could have hoped and we got on the bus on time. After a 3 hour drive with another stop at a cute rest stop, this time one with winding staircases up to the bathrooms, we arrived at Olympia. Again, we ducked some bad weather (rain) and when we got off the bus the sun was out and the birds were chirping. We then met up with our guide who POWERED through another great guided tour. We essentially had the entire, HUGE complex to ourselves. Highlights include seeing Zeus' temple, Phidias' workshop, and the large stadium, which we had a foot race in (I won :) ). This was another site where you could, again, just feel the weight of the age of the place. The one HUGE reconstructed column of Zeus' temple was particularly impressive. We had another nice lunch right next to the ruins and got back on the bus for Patras. Two hours later we got to the port and the huge white bridge of the city came into view. Another 30 minutes later we were unloaded and working our way up the back of the VERY LARGE ferry -- a floating hotel! The Ionian Queen was nothing like what I expected. It was spacious, with lots of open areas and the rooms were comfortable. We had 2 hours of gorgeous free time on the deck watching the sun go down, and then a pasta dinner on the ship. I passed out early and many of the kids did the same.

2/28/07: A few kids had trouble sleeping on the ferry, but other than that everyone slept well. Some kids got up early and watched the sun some up over the water. We had a simple breakfast and then relaxed on deck and in the common room for a couple hours until we landed in Bari. We exited from the back of the Ferry along with many, MANY trucks and met up with our new driver, Rocco, who will be with us for the rest of the trip. We then headed across Italy towards Sorrento. The landscape was super green and full of rolling hills. After one rest stop, we got to Pompei -- What a city! It is HUGE! We had a 1.5 hour tour where we saw a large portion of the city. We saw several of the plaster people and walked the streets of the ancient city. After Pompei we filled up on Pizza and were wildly entertained by the skill of Rocco's driving through the TOTALLY crazy traffic. We got out of lunch very late and the weather was very foggy, so we were not able to go up to see the Vesuvius crater, but we certainly saw the mountain. 45 minutes later we arrived at our best hotel yet -- a series of little bungalow style rooms in a orange and lemon tree grove! It was like staying in the Swiss Family Robinson tree house! We had a great dinner where everyone left totally full. Next, everyone got settled and then most of the group walked down the winding street to town where not much was open. The arcade proved to be a perfect form of late evening entertainment. Going to sleep with oranges on the breeze was soothing.

3/1/07: This morning we woke up a little later, had a VERY tasty breakfast of hot croissants, meat, cheese, and full access to a hot chocolate and coffee machine. Soon after we were on the road for another Ferry. We drove straight to the Sorrento docks, and boarded our ferry for a 30 minute ride out to Capri. This ferry was rather fast moving, so even though the sea was calm, the boat pitched a great deal. We landed on the island and immediately met up with out guide for the day, Sasha. He took us straight over to small tour boat which we got on and headed out for our on-sea tour of the island. The sun was out and there was a breeze, so the view was stellar and we were all very comfortable. We saw several grottos and houses WAY up on the cliffs. We traveled half way around the island and back, and along the way weaved through a couple LARGE rock outcroppings. We got back to the main port and boarded two buses that took us up a jaw dropping switchback to the upper part of the town. We had another good lunch and then took a single seated chair lift to the very top of the island. The chair lift was about 5-10 meters above ground the entire way up, over people's backyards and terraced farms. At the top was a resort-ish area that was almost completely fogged in... yet the 360 view was fun because the clouds would break and then you could see the fog zooming by. We then headed back down, got on the buses, and went back to almost the bottom of the island. Our tour continued and we saw some very fancy hotels and shops. We saw a gorgeous garden and made a stop at a famous perfume factory. We then walked a long way down a very cozy cobblestone walkway back to the dock, had 15 minutes of free time, and then boarded a 1.5 hour ferry ride for Naples. This ferry ride was much smoother and seemed to go by very quickly. We arrived in Naples, met up with Rocco, and got moving for Rome. After 3 hours of driving without stopping we arrived in Rome for a very filling dinner. 10 minutes later we got to our hotel -- a former convent -- and everyone checked in. We got in later tonight so there was no free time.

Tomorrow we head out for our busiest day yet. We are going to see just about ALL of Rome. We can't wait.

The kids are asleep and I should head in that direction too. Hope all is well back home!


- Josh