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Europe Trip 2017
  • celiajohnston

Europe Trip 2017

A 70-day adventure by celiajohnston Read more
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  • Trip start
    June 21, 2017
    celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston

    Day 1: Athens, Greece

    June 21, 2017 in Greece ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    Today I learned a few things:

    1. It's hard to find your way around Athens
    2. Bird poop can sting
    3. You can really see Athens in one day
    4. Don't put Euros in the same pocket that you will pull out your cell phone of on numerous occasions throughout the day
    5. Air Transat flight attendants are super friendly while people in Athens don't have much patience

    After sleeping only three hours on the flight, getting lost twice walking to my room (due to hardly any street signs and incorrect directions), having a bird poop on me, getting yelled at or ignored by at least 5 people (but also helped by 2), losing ten euros (not so bad) and finally getting to my room to spend ten minutes trying (unsuccessfully) to open the door, I met Daniel and Jennifer. Thanks to them for saving my back (literally) and opening the door to the apartment that we're sharing. Turns out they're from Montreal too and they offered for me to join them tomorrow so I'll be third wheeling on their day to the beach and market (they are so nice). On another positive note, I ate my first authentic gyros pita tonight (it did not disappoint) and the Airbnb is actually really nice!    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
    Arch of Hadrian
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    Day 2: Athens, Greece

    June 22, 2017 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Vougliameni beach is really nice. Daniel, Jennifer and I took the bus there and we weren't disappointed. As they brought goggles, we were able to see hundreds of fish that were swimming with us! And the water was beautiful.

    Afterwards, we went to the market and bought some fresh strawberries and cherries, had fresh orange juice, and bought some souvenirs. We were supposed to eat them tonight, but we got back too late as we went to meet Zoe and Alex at the bus stop for 11:30 p.m. Turns out they got off at midnight and they walked right past without me even noticing. We took a taxi back at 12:30 a.m. (or shall I say the third taxi) and ended up getting there at the same time so it worked out. When it came to getting a taxi, the first two preferred Greek fares than listening to us telling them where we had to go (oh well).

    Before we went to the bus stop, we went to a mall which has a lot of the same stores we have back home: Tommy Hilfiger, H&M, Zara, Claire's and more. The mall was super modern (unlike the rest of Athens) and it was a nice change! We also went to a nice restaurant near the Acropolis for dinner and Daniel got hussled by a ten year old. He came up offering flowers with puppy dog eyes so Daniel asked him for one, which was three Euros, and gave him five Euros expecting to get change. The kid smiled, said no change, threw down an extra flower and left. It was actually really funny and I got a nice flower out of it (thanks kid).

    Now my buddies have arrived and can't wait to see the Acropolis tomorrow. Sad to see Daniel and Jennifer go, but I'm happy I got to meet them and I'm so grateful for their kindness. Wishing them a safe flight home!    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
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    Parthenon

    Day 3: Athens, Greece

    June 23, 2017 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    The best two words to describe today: 38 degrees.

    We died of heat, but at least the sights were worth it. We visited the Acropolis and the views of Athens were incredible. Afterwards, we were so hot that we decided to head to Glyfadas beach. It was so nice, however it ended up taking 2 hours to get back as it's impossible to hail a taxi here! We had to use our map and walk an hour to the metro and then metro the rest of the way back. Turned out to be quite the adventure!

    After we got back and showered, we ended up heading out at 10 pm for supper and went to Smiles. We had the best Greek salad, feta, spanakopita, Greek yoghurt and more and it was one of the best and cheapest meals that we ate in Athens.

    While this might be it for Athens, were headed off to Mykonos tomorrow and we're pretty excited (except for the fact that we have to get up at 5:30) 💃    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
    Paraga Beach Hostel

    Day 4: Mykonos, Greece

    June 24, 2017 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Today started with a rush of adrenaline.

    We made our ferry to Mykonos with 3 minutes to spare and that's not even an overexageration. The guy sent us to the wrong side of the port and we had to run with our backpacks to make it on time. The good point about the ferry ride was that we were supposed to sit in economy in the cafeteria, but we ended up getting some seats inside and having a nice nap. Zoe and Alex also let me practice my French braids.

    When we arrived in Mykonos, we certainly put our seat belts on. The driver would race down one ways and when we would come face to face with another car or if the car in front was going to slow for him, he'd yell "Malaka! Malaka!" which means "Move fat boy move" according to him. They are psycho, but they sure can drive. When we finally made it to our hostel, or shall I say bunker, we settled in and went to the beach.

    To end off the evening, we had some good food, drinks and conversation with Ohio-ins and Massachusetts-ins. I also managed to lose a contact, a pill and bent my converter charger all in the same night, but at least the beach is beautiful. :)    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
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    Paraga Beach HostelMykonos Town

    Day 5: Mykonos, Greece

    June 25, 2017 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Today was beach day.

    We hit the beach and pool for the most part of the day. The beach is really nice and it was really really hot. We all got slightly burnt, but not too bad, and we are slightly scarred by the image of old men swimming and sun tanning naked.

    The best part of the day was really the evening. We took a bus to the old port of Mykonos and it was really nice! We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant which was amazing. We then walked around and walked in a bunch of little stores and ended up getting lost with all the little streets and missing our 11:15 p.m. bus, but it didn't end up so bad as we just went to get ice cream (which was really good) before catching the next at 12:15 a.m. I didn't get any good pictures of the alleys with all the shops, but I don't think any picture could have really shown just how nice it was.

    Even though Mykonos is really nice, we look forward to heading to Santorini! We're not allowed to eat food other than that purchased from the hostel (which is expensive) and we only have one plug. So we either have to sacrifice the fan or sacrifice charging our phones... Lol

    Also! Two quick tips for Greece: (1) The bread they put on the table is not free (they will charge you about two euros per person to eat it) and (2) If the bread is free, there is most likely a service fee that will be added on your bill that includes letting you use their utensils and eat their bread.    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
    Fira Backpackers Hostel1

    Day 6: Santorini, Greece

    June 26, 2017 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Santorini is my new favourite place.

    After checking out from our hostel and heading to the ferry (which was a really nice ferry and we had a table all to ourselves), we arrived in Santorini just in time for lunch. Some girls were so excited to leave Mykonos that they checked out and when we were on our way to the port, they realized that they checked out a day early and had to head back. We all had a pretty good laugh about it.

    After arriving to our hostel, we checked in and sat in the pool for a bit. We met two really nice Canadians from Toronto, two girls from Scotland and two girls from California. So cool to meet people from all over! Afterwards we went to find a place to eat and we fell in love with the city. The views are incredible, the food is amazing and this hostel is certainly better than the last (especially the WiFi) and we are right in the city centre! We also have a fridge and access to a kitchen so we got to go buy our own food at the supermarket.

    I've only been here a few hours and Santorini is exactly what I pictured Greece to look like. Highly recommend it. :)    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
    11Nea Kameni - Active Sulfur Vent1

    Day 7: Santorini, Greece

    June 27, 2017 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Already a week since I left Montreal!

    The boat cruise we went on today was so good. It brought us to hike an active, yet dormant volcano, Nea Kameni, to the hot springs and then the island of Thirassa. To get to our boat, we had to walk down about 400 steps and past the donkeys. There must have been at least 50 of them and they'd walk right for us so we had to almost put ourselves up on the walls along the side so they wouldn't step on our feet.

    When we got to the top of the volcano, the view was incredible and we got to put our hands over one of the active sulfur vents (it was pretty hot). The hot springs weren't very hot, only a difference of 7 degrees, but when you swam back towards the boat, it felt like the water was freezing. The water was also brown. When we got to Thirassa, we had a nice lunch and relaxed. We were supposed to take the 300 steps up to the village, but they advised against it as it was really hot.

    At night, we went to have dinner by the sunset in Fira and it was incredible (as is everything in Santorini). If only this platform would let me post more than 6 pictures per post... To end off the night, we went dancing with about ten people from our hostel and it was the perfect ending to the perfect day.    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
    2Amoudi Bay1Amoudi BayRed Beach

    Day 8: Santorini, Greece

    June 28, 2017 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Today we drove around the island with ATVs. We drove from Fira to the Red Beach (Akrotiri) for a few hours and then drove to Oia to go to Amoudi Bay and see the sunset.

    On the way back from Oia, we didn't realize and took another way back so we were driving along a cliff in the dark for the majority of the drive with many impatient people passing us any chance they got, even other ATVs! Turns out ours were quite slow...

    Amoudi Bay made it all worth it. We did some "cliff" jumping (it was really a platform) and we did a bit of rock climbing. It was so much fun and the view was worth it too. Thank god for Alex's googling magic. Red Beach was really nice too. There was a vendor so we got some fresh fruit and we took it easy for a few hours.    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
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    Day 9: Santorini/Piraeus, Greece

    June 29, 2017 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C

    We slept in this morning and packed up all our stuff to check out of our hostel in Santorini. It's bittersweet, but next stop is Italy which is exciting!

    Before we caught the bus to the port, we made ourselves some pasta for lunch and sandwiches and cut up veggies for the 8 hour ferry. It didn't feel like 8 hours at all as it was super comfy.

    Now we're all settled in Piraeus to then wake up and travel to Italy tomorrow.    Read more

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    Day 10: Adriatic Sea

    June 30, 2017, Ionian Sea ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    I don't even know how we made it, but we did.

    The time to the bus station to catch our bus to Patras at 2 o'clock was 45 minutes so we left at 12:20 to be safe. We ended up getting lost as Google directed us to a bus stop that didn't exist. After spending too much time looking and asking a local who didn't know where it was either, we decided to run to the metro and take that instead.

    We ended up getting to the bus station at exactly 2 o'clock, but the bus was full so we had to wait to take the 3 o'clock one. The ride to Patras is 2.5-3 hours and our ferry was at 6 to go to Italy... We ended up getting to Patras at 5:40, jumping in a taxi, telling him to step on it, and making our ferry with five minutes to spare. We've never been so happy, sweaty and hungry.

    At least before we left our Airbnb, we had made sandwiches and pasta to eat on the ferry as it's 16 hours long to go to Bari, Italy. Our host for the Airbnb was super friendly and we were able to do all our laundry and use her kitchen to make all our food. We also lost one of our three musketeers today as Alex headed back to Israel this morning.    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston

    Day 11: Bari, Italy

    July 1, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Today we arrived in Bari after a 16 hour ferry ride. The ferry ride didn't turn out to be so bad and felt like it was actually pretty quick.

    When we arrived in Bari, google told us of yet another bus that didn't exist so when we asked around and no one knew, one of the port guards asked the Police. Since they couldn't find the bus either, they told us to get in a gave us a lift to our Airbnb. They were really nice and gave us some tips about Bari. There car was really small so the backseat was full with us and our two backpacks.

    Our Airbnb was pretty nice too. They had a cute 2 and a half year old son (or daughter - Zoe and I are debating as I heard Liam and she heard Lea, but he looked like a boy). At one point we were napping and we heard our door creeking so I went to go check and he was in the hallway.

    At night, we had a nice walk around the city and went to a pizzeria recommended by our Airbnb host. It was delicious, but took us a while to find it as it goes by three names apparently and we only knew 2/3 and it wasn't the one listed on the outside of the restaurant. Zoe had a Margharita pizza and I had a Caprese and then we walked around the town a bit and walked in a few stores (including H&M).

    It's a cute little town and it was nice to see it. Our Airbnb was right by the water too which made for a nice walk. :)    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston

    Day 12: Naples, Italy

    July 2, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    It took us longer than expected to get to Naples, but we've learned to go with the flow. We stopped over in a town called Taranto for two hours while we waited for our train to Naples and it was the type of town where you expected hay bales to just pass in front of you because there was absolutely nothing there. We ended up getting to Naples at 2:45.

    Naples is quite iffy, but our Airbnb is nice and we're pretty centrally located. We went for a walk tonight to end up at a Castle which google said was open till 7:30, but it actually closed at 1:45 (damn google). It turned out good though because we ended up in a really nice part of Naples, had more amazing pizza (we tried fried pizza too!), ate with a really nice couple from Arizona and then went to a store to get sandwiches for our hike tomorrow and told her to surprise us. We shall see how they taste tomorrow! I'm not 100% sure what she put in there.    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston

    Day 13: Amalfi Coast, Italy

    July 3, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Today we did the most amazing hike. The views we saw looked like came right out of a calendar or desktop. We did the hike "Path of the Gods" from Bomerano to Nocelle and then walked down the steps to Positano. It's debatable online as to how many steps there is, but we think at least 1,000. We ended up meeting a guy from Montreal, Richard, who was really nice and hiked the majority of the way with us.

    Our plan was to go back to Amalfi to go swimming after our hike, but we decided to jump a bus to Sorrento instead and it did not disappoint. Such a nice place! There are all private beaches there though, so we had to squeeze on the only private free beach (because that 8 Euros can get us 4 gelato instead...) :)

    That brings me to saying that I forgot how much I missed the gelato here, but then again, probably best that we don't have it back home because I'd have it every day. The pistachio is my absolute favourite. Sounds weird, but it's honestly a must.

    We then had supper with Richard and my caprese ravioli was to die for. The only thing in Italy is they serve the food super weirdly. They don't serve them as appetizers (we ordered bruschetta) and most of the time they serve it last or one plate at a time.

    To end off the night, we were going to catch the 50 minute train from Sorrento and Amalfi, but turns out the last one was at 9:30 so we missed it (by 7 minutes). We had to wait for the 11 o'clock bus and it took 2 and a half hours to get back to Naples.

    Regardless of the time it took, our day was amazing and we are totally dead. 😴 Too bad I can't add more than six pictures to this post because it doesn't do it justice.    Read more

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    Day 14: Pompeii, Italy

    July 4, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Pompeii was the town that was destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted. They've actually built a whole new city around it, but they've kept the ruins and it's pretty big. We spent four hours there and still didn't feel like we saw much.

    For those who ever go, we highly suggest a walking tour. It's confusing and hard to get all the information without a tour guide and the audio tours weren't the best. We didn't know we could go to the entrance and wait for them to collect a larger tour for us to take it with a bunch of people as the tour guide said it would be 100 Euros for just the two of us. Regardless, the sights were really cool and it was interesting to see how they lived back then. They even had mummified bodies of the people. It was hard to look at. Since they were covered in ash, they were able to fill them with plaster and show the position and what they looked like after carving the excess away.

    For the night, we went to a nice restaurant and had amazing spaghetti and meatballs and pasta with seafood. We also went to Lush and H&M which made us have a nice taste of back home.    Read more

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    Day 15: Rome, Italy

    July 5, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    We are in Rome!

    Our Airbnb is so nice, the sights are amazing and the food is delicious.

    We got to Rome at noon, brought our bags to the Airbnb and took off to see the Colosseum and Ancient Rome which is only a 20 minute walk from our Airbnb. We got a tour that included both areas so it was a lot of fun. We got some pretty interesting facts:

    1. Ancient Rome was originally a lot higher in some areas as they built over the originally standing buildings. They excavated it to show the true Ancient Rome so the "newer" buildings' doorsteps are much higher than the ground.

    2. If you were convicted of a crime and you were Roman, you had to fight. If you won, you were free and if you lost, well you were dead...

    3. They would fight other men or animals. When they fought animals, it was 3-to-1, and the chance of survival was apparently 30%.

    4. There was a "vomit" staircase in the Colosseum for when fights broke out in the stands and they had to empty out the venue. They called it that because the 80,000 people could empty out in less than 18 minutes and the staircase would look like it was "vomiting" people.

    5. The Colosseum used to have all equal standing walls, however an earthquake made large parts of the walls collapse, thus giving its shape today.

    They were pretty interesting tours, but by the end, we were really excited for food (what a surprise). We found this cute restaurant by our place and had delicious carbonara pasta and a plate of meatballs. We got back pretty late to our Airbnb and crashed out as we have to be up at 5:30 am tomorrow to head to our Vatican tour.    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
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    Day 16: Vatican City & Rome, Italy

    July 6, 2017 in Vatican City ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    We woke up at 5:30 to make our way to Vatican City. We bought tickets to go in with a tour guide at 8 so it wouldn't be as crowded when it opened to the public at 9. It was still so crowded with all the other tours doing the same thing, but our turtle-paced walk allowed us to really look at everything. The Vatican is just simply amazing.

    We walked through all the galleries, into the Sistine Chapel and then finished off in St. Peter's Basilica. I don't think any of my pictures do the art and architecture any justice. We also walked the 551 steps to the top of the St. Peter's Basilica Dome and the views were incredible. I forgot just how narrow the staircases were!

    After the Vatican, our plan was the head back to our Airbnb to eat lunch and freshen up before heading out to the Trevi Fountain. Since all public transportation was on strike from 8:00-5:30, we had to change our plans. The metro was completely closed and the buses were incredibly limited and packed to the point where no one could get in. We decided to walk from the Vatican to the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and then the Spanish Steps.

    The Pantheon is so cool as there's a 9 meter hole in the ceiling so it essentially tells time from the inside from wherever the sun is shining. When it rains (which is barely does) they have holes in the middle to drain all the water. The Trevi Fountain was gorgeous and of course we made our wishes. The Spanish Steps were really nice too.

    By the time we saw it all, it was 4:30 and we were pooped out so we decided to walk the hour back to our Airbnb rather than wait for the public transportation to start up again. When we got back, I've never loved a shower or a bed so much.

    After we relaxed, Zoe cooked up the chicken we bought and tried to kill me by serving it to me raw. All is well, but I think she just wanted the big bed to herself as none of us offered to take the single...

    We also met our roommate from Michigan. He's really nice and we all went out for dessert. Zoe had Tiramisu which she said didn't disappoint and I had some Nutella dessert (not sure exactly what it was), but it was really good too.    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
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    Day 17: Rome, Italy

    July 7, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Food, food and more food.

    Whenever we plan our day, we always make sure we add in a restaurant (or two) to our itinerary. For those of you who know me well, this shouldn't come as a surprise. Today we had the most amazing fresh gnocchi from That's Amore (a cute restaurant near the Trevi Fountain) and gelato from Venchi. I've recently become obsessed with Pistachio gelato because it's the best.

    Thank god we've been walking a lot the past few days to work it all off. Cumulatively, we've walked 47 km within the two and a half days that we've been in Rome. Today we visited the Jewish Ghetto, the Piazza Venezia and the Crypt of the Capuchins. The crypt was cool, yet eery and the Piazza was gorgeous. The detail in Italy's architecture is on another level. It's incredible.

    Today also reminded me of the best advice that we got for Italy. It was from two Australian girls we shared a room with in Santorini. They said "just walk" and at first we were confused, but after having been in Italy for a few days, it makes complete sense. No one gives you the opportunity to cross so you've got to wait for the perfect moment (or take a chance) and just walk across. Seems like we've got it down pat as many people today followed our lead.    Read more

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    Day 18: Rome, Italy

    July 8, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    It was a wonderful, lazy day.

    We were exhausted from the past few days and decided to be lazy in our lovely room before heading to a hostel tomorrow.

    For dinner, we went to a nice place near the Trevi Fountain and had pasta carbonara for the fourth or fifth time since being in Rome. Best pasta ever.

    We then went to have gelato at Venchi again, but had the cone that they fill with Nutella. Thank god we're leaving Rome tomorrow as I would go back everyday to eat that. We also walked over to the Trevi Fountain to see it all lit up and it was really nice. There was even a proposal!

    It was a nice ending to our last night. I shall miss the lovely Rome, but on to Florence tomorrow!    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston

    Day 19: Florence, Italy

    July 9, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    We got to Florence around noon and took the opportunity to walk around the city. We wanted to go see the Statue of David, but the line was 2.5 hours to get in so we said we'd give it a shot on Tuesday (since it's closed on Monday).

    The city is beautiful and the people are really artistically talented. The art and music certainly adds to the feel of Florence.

    We decided to go to the Central Market for supper and it was perfect. It's so nice and the food was really good. We had Caprese Pizza and Ravioli (we're still not sure what kind of meat was inside, but we think lamb). Zoe always bought us Spinach Arancini and two glasses of wine. When we got back to the hostel, Zoe and I played cards for a bit. It was a nice ending to the day.

    The sleeping part not so much. Our hostel is the most humid and hot place I've ever slept. Thankfully we got another fan, but it doesn't make much of a difference. We shall survive with only three nights, but makes me miss the good old weather of Canada (and air conditioning).    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
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    Day 20: Pisa, Italy & Viareggio, Italy

    July 10, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Since the museum was closed on Monday, we decided to take the day to go see the leaning tower of Pisa and relax by the beach.

    The leaning tower of Pisa was actually really cool, but it's essentially one of the very few things to do in Pisa. You can visit for half a day and feel satisfied that you've seen the city. When you get to the tower, it's really funny to see everyone posing for their pictures as if they're either holding up the tower and pushing it down. We fit right in when we started taking ours.

    After our visit to Pisa, we took a train to Viareggio. We ate at this cute local pizzeria and then headed to the beach. The local (free) part of the beach is about 1:100th of the whole thing, but we found a good spot and spent a good four hours enjoying the sun. Zoe and I got some nice burns.

    When we headed back, we planned to cook ourselves a meal with the food we bought, but we were just too tired so we stopped and had a nice bite to eat close to our hostel. We were slightly dreading heading back to our room, but it didn't turn out so bad because we put aloe which felt really nice when the fan hit it and we left the door open which let in some cooler air.    Read more

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    Day 21: Florence, Italy

    July 11, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We woke up early to stand in line for the Basilica. We stood in line for about 45 minutes before it opened and good thing we did because the line got crazy. We met some really nice people in line from California and Jersey so it was cool to talk to people and know the places that they were talking about.

    The church was beautiful, of course. We couldn't go up to the top as it was fully booked for the next two days, but we were happy with what we saw. We then went to Piazza Michaelangelo and had a really nice view of the city. We sat there for a bit just taking in the view. We also wanted to see the gardens so we took a walk over and walked around for a bit. The botanicals were closed as apparently they were being worked on so we didn't get to see them, but it was still worth the visit.

    After being out for a good eight hours, we headed back for some showers and took time to cool off (we were the only two in the room so we got to have the fans directly on us, it was heaven).

    On our way to the Galleria dell'Accademia, to see good old David, we stopped to get some gelato (no surprise there). I had dark chocolate and After Eight and it was really good until I tasted Zoe's chocolate mousse gelato and that was on another level. We ate our ice cream while we walked over to the museum and it turned out to be pretty cool.

    The Statue of David was huge and made of marble. We got to see a bunch of other paintings and statues during our tour. I can't get over how much detail was can be sculpted out of marble and even plaster. Thank god we went at 8 at night because there was a lot less people and we got in pretty easily and were able to really appreciate it all.

    When we got back, I chatted with our Australian and New Zealand roommates who were really nice. Apparently New Zealand-ers are referred to as Kiwis because they are named after their national bird. They showed it to me and it's one of the funniest looking birds, I encourage you to google it.    Read more

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    Day 22: Venice, Italy

    July 12, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Leaving Florence was bittersweet. We were sad to leave the city, but really happy to leave the hot and humid hostel.

    When we got to Venice, we checked into our Airbnb and it was wonderful. We had plenty of space and were located in a really good spot. We had a lot of laundry to do so I had to set up the clothesline back and forth across the room a few times so it felt like we were doing limbo or attempting to avoid lasers for the majority of our time there.

    At night, we took a walk around the city and had a nice dinner with Venchi gelato afterwards (of course). I really love Venice because it's so unique. No cars, only boats and walking to get around. And all the little streets make it like a bunch of little mazes. We also went in so many glass and leather stores and we were pretty upset that we couldn't buy anything to bring back.    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston

    Day 23: Venice, Italy

    July 13, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Today we visited St. Mark's Cathedral and Doge's Palace. Doge's Palace was pretty cool:

    1. Houses the largest oil painting in the entire world

    2. Has a "Bridge of Sighs" as the view from the bridge was the last prisoners got to see of the outside world before being banished to their cells

    3. There was always a room before the actual room. There was always a mini room that would serve as an entrance or waiting area for the following room and it was like that for pretty much every room! After you'd leave one big room, you were in the waiting/mini room for the next.

    After the tour, we went to the Cathedral and it was really nice. I forgot just how many churches there was to see in Italy, but nothing compares to the Vatican/St. Peter's Basilica.

    After our tourist touring, we grabbed sandwiches and ate them in the square. We also took a walk, found a place by the water, had a drink and then headed back to our Airbnb for a mini "spa" night and packing up. We made ourselves dinner at the Airbnb and we originally bought rice, but we couldn't figure out how to make it as it was all in Italian and turns out we actually bought Risotto, so we ditched that idea and made chicken breasts, broccoli and pasta. Turned out pretty good.    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston
    1

    Day 24: Travel Day

    July 14, 2017 in Slovenia ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    Today/night we travelled 20 hours to get to Split, Croatia, but not before getting amazing crossaints and taking a picture of the Rialto bridge in Venice. Since it was raining, we had the bridge to ourselves so it was perfect.

    We started our travel with a train to Trieste, Italy from Venice. We then had to find our bus quick to get to Ljubljana, Slovenia. We had a four hour layover in Ljubljana and I honestly wish we had more. We walked around the city and up to the castle where we had such a nice view and played some Yahtzee before having to head back down. I would definitely love to see more of Slovenia one day.

    Afterwards, we caught a train to Zagreb, Croatia, where we ate a really good dinner and ran to catch our overnight train to Split. The train was not the cleanest nor comfiest, but it did the job. After sleeping on a European overnight train twice in my life, I think it's safe to say that I'm good not ever doing it again (but I guess never say never). We were lucky and were the only two in a six bed room.    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017celiajohnston

    Day 25: Split, Croatia

    July 15, 2017 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    After getting off our overnight train to Split, we took a taxi to Storbec, where our Airbnb is, and since we arrived to early, we got to leave our bags, grabbed some breakfast and then headed to the beach for a few hours. The beach is totally gorgeous and the water was perfect. Best beach so far by far!

    When we finished checked in around noon, the Airbnb host was really nice and even brought us fresh chocolate crepes! We got to eat them with a view on our balcony and I wish I had 50 more crepes.

    We then went back to the beach for a bit, passed out, woke up like lobsters and then headed back to shower and look decent for our night in Old Town of Split. When we got to Split, we had amazing sushi, booked our tour to Krka the next day and planned to go to Diocletian's Palace, but opted for dessert with enough time to catch the last bus (which didn't come so we had to take another taxi).    Read more

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