Ah...it's been a year exactly since I was in...Greece.
That was part of a trip I took in 2005 that brought me to Italy, Turkey, Greece and Vatican City.
I saw a lot of really, really neat things. That was my second time going to Europe, and it is quite the experience. It's not just the things that you see, but the oddities of foreigners: languages, food, mannerisms, and feelings toward Americans. And the feel of it all. It's completely different from going somewhere in the U.S. where you understand what you overhear, you know what every dish of your dinner contains, you know how to ask directions, know how much what you're buying REALLY costs, and you don't act like you're from a different country so that you aren't charged more for everything. You're wandering back to wherever because you've lost your way and your ears are filled with the sounds of the street: babbling Italians (or whomever), street vendors, and - usually - a cat. (I'm telling you, I've never seen so many stray cats. And they're FAT. Thanks to the tourists like me who give them a pinch of whatever they happen to be eating...)
So...now I've finally gotten my scanner up and working (this trip was before the reign of my digital camera) and this was the first thing I did.
I have quite a few pictures that I thought summed a lot up. Because my computer is so horribly slow, I'm only going to do a few at a time.
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The first little section, I guess, is going to be the first few days in Italy.
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We flew to Rome, where we stayed in the Hotel Imperiale, just down from the Hard Rock Cafe Roma (I wear my shirt all the time). The first day, we took a bus to the Roman Forum - home of the Colosseum. We took a tour nearly four hours long of the Forum. (May it be noted that we had just disembarked a cramped plane after a sleepless eight hour trans-Atlantic flight, taken our suitcases to the hotel, and then gone straight to the Forum on the Roman equivalent of a Greyhound bus. I was feeling a bit off-color, I admit.) There was a lot to see there - the Colosseum was the main attraction, but there was also the Arch of St. Constantine, the tomb of Julius Caesar, and various basilicas and statues.
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Our next stop in Italy was Civitavecchia, a port-town about an hour from Rome. Here we boarded our ship, the Costa Tropicale: home for the next week or so. Our first stop after boarding was in Catania, Sicily. (Sicily is a region of Italy - and island to the Southwest.) It was really quite rough and there was a lot of evidence that it was a port city - it was messy, fishy, and there were a ton of boats around. I have lots of pictures taken just of some of the trash and fish piled high on the sides of the roads. The streets were filled with markets and everything for a while once you got there. We were starting to think that there had to be something more to Sicily when the busy street we were on opened up into a courtyard - downtown Sicily. Here we found an abbey (Very, very pretty - I couldn't find a picture of this, though), lots of statues, a place that sold Coca-Colas (one phrase that can be recognized in any language), and even a "Euro-Store" - the European equivalent of a Dollar General. (Here I bought lots of gifts for people. They were cheap, but still authentic. We also gave the store's workers quarters and candy from the U.S. - they spoke only Italian and were very interested in us.)
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We left Catania at the end of the day: laden with packages from the Euro-Store, full on pastries and Cokes, and about ready to be back on the ship for dinner and a nap.
-
Thus ends the first leg of the trip...I'll pick up on the rest of it sometime soon! The next post should be on Turkey and Greece and the last one will be about the Vatican, etc.
-
[Note: My computer is currently being disagreeable and refuses to load my beautiful pictures. I've even tried a few different computers and it still doesn't work. It does this often, so I will just post this now and try tomorrow to get the pictures up...they're the best part, I think.]
That was part of a trip I took in 2005 that brought me to Italy, Turkey, Greece and Vatican City.
I saw a lot of really, really neat things. That was my second time going to Europe, and it is quite the experience. It's not just the things that you see, but the oddities of foreigners: languages, food, mannerisms, and feelings toward Americans. And the feel of it all. It's completely different from going somewhere in the U.S. where you understand what you overhear, you know what every dish of your dinner contains, you know how to ask directions, know how much what you're buying REALLY costs, and you don't act like you're from a different country so that you aren't charged more for everything. You're wandering back to wherever because you've lost your way and your ears are filled with the sounds of the street: babbling Italians (or whomever), street vendors, and - usually - a cat. (I'm telling you, I've never seen so many stray cats. And they're FAT. Thanks to the tourists like me who give them a pinch of whatever they happen to be eating...)
So...now I've finally gotten my scanner up and working (this trip was before the reign of my digital camera) and this was the first thing I did.
I have quite a few pictures that I thought summed a lot up. Because my computer is so horribly slow, I'm only going to do a few at a time.
-
The first little section, I guess, is going to be the first few days in Italy.
-
We flew to Rome, where we stayed in the Hotel Imperiale, just down from the Hard Rock Cafe Roma (I wear my shirt all the time). The first day, we took a bus to the Roman Forum - home of the Colosseum. We took a tour nearly four hours long of the Forum. (May it be noted that we had just disembarked a cramped plane after a sleepless eight hour trans-Atlantic flight, taken our suitcases to the hotel, and then gone straight to the Forum on the Roman equivalent of a Greyhound bus. I was feeling a bit off-color, I admit.) There was a lot to see there - the Colosseum was the main attraction, but there was also the Arch of St. Constantine, the tomb of Julius Caesar, and various basilicas and statues.
-
Our next stop in Italy was Civitavecchia, a port-town about an hour from Rome. Here we boarded our ship, the Costa Tropicale: home for the next week or so. Our first stop after boarding was in Catania, Sicily. (Sicily is a region of Italy - and island to the Southwest.) It was really quite rough and there was a lot of evidence that it was a port city - it was messy, fishy, and there were a ton of boats around. I have lots of pictures taken just of some of the trash and fish piled high on the sides of the roads. The streets were filled with markets and everything for a while once you got there. We were starting to think that there had to be something more to Sicily when the busy street we were on opened up into a courtyard - downtown Sicily. Here we found an abbey (Very, very pretty - I couldn't find a picture of this, though), lots of statues, a place that sold Coca-Colas (one phrase that can be recognized in any language), and even a "Euro-Store" - the European equivalent of a Dollar General. (Here I bought lots of gifts for people. They were cheap, but still authentic. We also gave the store's workers quarters and candy from the U.S. - they spoke only Italian and were very interested in us.)
-
We left Catania at the end of the day: laden with packages from the Euro-Store, full on pastries and Cokes, and about ready to be back on the ship for dinner and a nap.
-
Thus ends the first leg of the trip...I'll pick up on the rest of it sometime soon! The next post should be on Turkey and Greece and the last one will be about the Vatican, etc.
-
[Note: My computer is currently being disagreeable and refuses to load my beautiful pictures. I've even tried a few different computers and it still doesn't work. It does this often, so I will just post this now and try tomorrow to get the pictures up...they're the best part, I think.]
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[I beleive that I have surpassed the deadline I set for myself at the beginning of this "series" - I wanted to get it all done during the 8-18 of October, because that's when I was there last year. However, it is currently the 20th of October (nearly the 21st, for that matter). I'll get it done eventually. I think my picture troubles are nearly over. I'm trying again. It hasn't worked. I'm off to bed...I'll try once more tomorrow.]
2 comments:
Wow, the "Euro-Store"... that sounds so classically European. New post! (finally) check it.
I WANNA GO TO GREECE! Or at least...somewhere that's not America.
-Rachel
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