fall break part 5: santorini

wednesday, october 27
literally travelled all day. flew from rome to athens then from athens to santorini. ever been on a propeller plane over the mediterranean sea? well, i have. ellie and tara were super nervous, understandably so, but jess and i were laughing the whole way through the turbulence. we all made it in one piece. a guy from our hostel picked us up from the airport, we got settled a little, then headed out for dinner at el greco restaurant. fried zucchini, tzatziki & bread, greek salad, and baklavah yummmm.

thursday, october 28
the hotel breakfast was bread and butter with warm milk for plain flake cereal and airbone-tasting orange juice. gross. we were moved to a nicer, sister hotel down the road where we unpacked and then set out for the day. we walked up a very long road to fira centre that ended up being a short walk if we make a different turn. anyway, the view once we reached the top of the mountain was incredible. exactly what you imagine greece would look like - a very 'sisterhood of the traveling pants' moment for sure. got another gift then we stopped for lunch at zafora overlooking the sea and the volcano. i had greek penne and it was amaaaazing. we shopped for a while in fira, i got myself a shot glass and another gift. we took a donkey ride down to the old port harbor. mine's name was marcos he was white and gray and it was so much fun, i loved it. we sat in the sun then took the cable car back up to the center for more shopping, i got a few more gifts before the weather quickly changed and it started raining. we had dinner at ladokolla, i got tzatziki and pork kontosouvli, and the restuarant gave us free greek yoghurt panna cotta for dessert. after getting cleaned up a little at the hotel, we went out to find any bars still open this late in the santorini season. 'tropical bar', 'town club', and 'tithora rock club' are all very different but none were that great or that bad. we got cheap chicken souvlaki on our way home to complete the day.

friday, october 29
we decided that weather.com is the devil. it was wrong every day in greece, but we dealt with it. ATVs were first on the agenda for the day. we tooled around the island, first to kamari, a black sand beach, then around and up and down one of the mountains to vlichada beach and harbor. on our way out from there, jess unfortunately crashed. she wasn't hurt, but there were some damages to the ATV so we headed back to the rental place near our hotel. the guy was really rude at first but his boss came and explained everything that needed to be replaced. it was no bueno. dealing with all that for a while made us hungry. lunch at the pelican i had a veggie omelette with feta cheese, then we got gourmet belgian waffles for dessert, mine was topped with chocolate walnut and whipped cream. we all napped for a few hours after that, ellie with her ancient thira blanket lol. and then it was our last night out! we went back to 'town club' for a little because we made friends with one of the bartenders, but were all pretty tired so we didn't stay out super late.

saturday, october 30
the guy from the ATV place knocked on our hotel door because jess owed more money from the crash, he sucks, and the whole situation sucked. so ellie, tara, and i had to go without her on a volcano and hot springs excursion we had been planning to take. a boat took us to the volcano and we hiked around it, none of us in the right kind of shoes. then we went to where we could jump off the boat and swim to hot springs at the bottom of the volcano. i was the only one to do it, and im so glad that i did. the hot springs were weird because the water was brown from the kicked up dirt, but the mediterranean sea right outside the hot springs was so so so refreshing and clear and just unbelievable. i did not want to get back on the boat. when we got back to the port i took a donkey ride by myself back up the mountain on bella while the other two took the cable cars. we all met up again and headed to lunch at stamna garden tavern where we all enjoyed classic gyros. then jess went early to the airport - she just wanted to get out of greece, i don't blame her. the rest of us shopped some more, i found a pair of earrings with lava rock and turquoise for myself, and a city dog named frieda followed us around while we ate pastries and watched one of the most beautiful sunsets i have ever seen. it was a bittersweet goodbye to santorini because we all knew we needed to get back to london, to familiarity, but the vacation time was just beyond amazing. we took a taxi to the airport, flew on a regular plane to athens, flew easyjet (screw easyjet) back to london, took the express train that wasnt so express to central london, a night bus near our flat, and walked the rest of the way to our beds. its strange but good that i can call london home, for now.

fall break parts 2, 3, 4: venice, florence, rome

saturday, october 23

we arrived in venice. and you would think that when arriving to a new country you would have to go through customs and get a stamp in your passport right? well, apparently italy doesnt do customs. according to my passport, i was never there. nope. great security, italy. we took a bus to the island and found our hostel no problem. venice was beautiful, and so interesting. there were few main streets with shops and a few small markets, but mostly 5ft wide alleyways between old old buildings filled with more shops and apartments above. we had our first authentic italian dinner (bread, appetizer, first plate, second plate, salad, dessert, wine) at 'trattoria le campane' then onto the first of so so many gelato stops where i had lime and limoncello. i still do not understand how all italian people are not gigantic. we ventured into the night, failing to find san marco, but succeeding in finding the rialto bridge, which had the most gorgeous view of the grand canal at night. after a few hours out, we made our way back for a good nights sleep.

sunday, october 24.

pizza for breakfast? heck yes. only in italy? nope. better in italy? yep. we started out the day after that with a gondola ride of course and the most precious gondolier who had surprisingly great english for having grown up and lived in venice his whole life. the ride was about an hour of going in and out of little canals seeing cute houses, the rialto bridge again from the water, and a bunch of other cool-looking buildings and important things. gelato stop #2 after that, but i went for the tiramisu this time. walked around the island some more, got another gift, and we finally found san marco. along with the doge palace next to it. turns out we were one turn away from finding it the night before, but we didn't stay long, it wasn't that exciting. we had lunch in one of the several piazzas within the island at 'ristorant s stefano' where i had gnochetti alla s stefano, one of the restaurant's specialty dishes, and it was oh so special, i looooved it. onward we walked, got a few more gifts, stopped for delicious little fruit tarts, and went back to the area around san marco where jess became our official bird lady. this is where you can stand with your arm out and pigeons will land. if you buy seed, however, dozens of pigeons will flock to you, the seed will be gone in a matter of seconds, but the birds will still be flying and landing on and around you. it was hilarious, and just a little gross. we made the trek home after that cause it started raining a little harder and our feet freaking hurt. tagliatelle alfredo for dinner at 'ristorante ai scalzi' and gelato spagnoli for dessert. later we tried to find a group doing a bridge crawl, but that never happened, so we went out for a drink and got a late night pizza to bring back to our room.

monday, october 25

woke up early for breakfast danishes and to catch our 2hour train to florence. we walked to our hostel and dropped off our luggage because our room wouldnt be ready until later in the day. we planned out our day to see everything we wanted to, beginning with food. lunch was penne pomodoro e formaggio at 'birrificio artigianala mostodolce' and who walks by but my flatmate chris and steph. chatted with them for a bit then finished lunch and headed to the san lorenzo market, known for its leather goods. i splurged. i got myself a real leather jacket! its so nice im very excited, and no buyers remorse is a good sign. jess also got leather gloves. we continued to il duomo, but decided against climbing the 463 stairs to the top. our feet had been through enough already with plenty more walking to come. we walked through piazza della repubblica and a carousel with what looked like jesus painted on it. another gelato stop, i had hazelnut, and the boar's head market where tara made her leather purchase, a bright pink purse. jess rubbed the boar's nose for good luck (we're not really sure that it means good luck, but hey why not). then we found neptune's fountain and piazza della signoria, an outside statue gallery, which were both next to the galleria dell'accademia, where the david is. funny story - everything in florence is closed on mondays. why? no one knows. but so we couldn't go into the accademia or the uffizi galleries. instead, we took funny pictures with the david replica outside. good enough for me. we then found ponte vecchio bridge and walked by where people 'lock their love' on cables by the river - adorable. ponte vecchio was stunning, im so glad the weather cleared up when we got there.

after that we trekked up to the highest point in the city, piazzale michelangelo. at first we were on the other side of the mountain at giuseppe poggi, which had the most amazing fairytale view of the city - probably my favorite view of the whole break. i would definitely travel back to florence just for this if and when i ever get the chance. we walked to meet chris and steph as the sun went down and the view became an amazing nightscene. bussed back to the hostel to finally check in and then went out for dinner. emily, brian, and keith saw us on our way and happened to be staying in the same hostel, more small world encounters. we went to nuti antica pizzeria-ristorante where i had florentine steak yummm then met up with another friend taylor for drinks. chilled with emily, brian, and keith back at the hostel for a bit before bedtime.

tuesday, october 26

mcdonalds for breakfast in the train station then an hour and a half ride to rome. our hostel was a short walk away above a little cafe shop near piazza dell'esquilino. we saw another friend brittany from cuse on our way. the metro was useful in rome, we got a daypass and headed first to the vatican. we had a quick lunch, margherita pizza, then tara went into vatican city and the museum while jess, ellie, and i wandered around the entrance for a while then got more gelato because we didn't want to wait in line. we hopped back on the metro to circus maximus, the constantine arch, the colosseum (ellie went in), the acropolis, and other old things. jess and i decided we could see everything and appreciate it from afar rather than paying to see the rocks close up. all four of us met back at the hostel then took the metro to the spanish steps, which were really cool lit up at night. we found a bar crawl that included a tshirt so of course we were in! i think that was my favorite part of rome. dont get me wrong, it was really interesting to think about how old the city was and how people lived back then and everything so im glad i went. im no history buff though, so it just wasn't my cup of tea overall. i dont really need to go back.

wednesday, october 27

travel day. rough, early morning, but the guy from the hostel was so sweet and gave us juice and glazed croissants on our way out. we took a train to the airport, saw a few guys from the bar crawl the night before (luckily they didn't see us still in our tshirts haha). and we were off to greece. ciao, italy!

fall break part 1: barcelona

thursday, october 21

easybus to the airport, and easyjet flight to barcelona. arrived at night, local bus to the city center, wandered for a while before we found our hostel, checked in, changed, and went out for dinner. we found a great little place that opened only a few weeks earlier, so the food was relatively cheap but amaaaazing. i had an avacado, cream cheese, and lettuce sandwich made on fresh bread, but alex and tara won with their simple choice of nachos - the best nachos any of us had ever encountered. so much guac! we headed back to the hostel fairly early but were shhh'd in our fort beds by the other people staying in our 12person room. we laughed.

friday, october 22
breakfast at the hostel and off to the picasso museum around the corner. pretty cool stuff, got myself a unique shot glass and a gift. we then walked through a street market on our way to la rambla, a long street filled with souvenir shops and street performers. found a huge food market that we spent hours in looking at all the different fruits, meats, seafood, bread, peppers, etc. anything you could imagine. i got myself some coconut to snack on, yum. then tara and i split off from the group and walked a long way along the beach, which was beautiful except for the few naked men we saw walking around, awkward. we got lunch in port olympic and another gift. when we got back to the hostel to meet up with everyone, alex, alex, and sam (who were on their way to their cooking class) told us that jess and ellie had hopped on a catamaran jazz cruise leaving in 10 minutes! tara and i literally ran close to a mile to catch this cruise, but it was so worth it. it was an hour and a half during a barcelona sunset, with a guy playing saxophone and €1 euro sangria. perfection. that night we all went out in port olympic - ritzy ritzy bars/clubs (most expensive champagne bottle was €2500). after a while, we left in three groups at different times and all had strange, rough nights in our own ways.

saturday, october 23
breakfast at the hostel again where tara nudges me and goes, 'is that hannah?' sure enough, a girl in our sorority who is studying in strasbourg was staying at the same hostel (the first of many random encounters over break). we headed out to the cathedral - nothing special or different from the ones around london ive seen. then we all had fun in the 'happy pills' store which is literally just a wall of candies that you stuff in what looks like a clear pill bottle, such a great idea. went back to la rambla for another gift and ran into mara, her sister, and izzie. we ate a little something then took a taxi to the airport, and said adios to barcelona!