What is that smell?

You know how in the States the fast-food chain 'Subway' quite literally pumps sandwich aromas through vents out onto the street? Well, call me crazy but I think the leather shops in Florence might do it too! It is intoxicating. I am so glad that I was alone in Florence, because no one, not even a girlfriend would I think have so happily browsed through dozens of shoe shops with me. Just you mom.

But wait, there is much more to Florence than the leather! There is the David! And there is a lot of him. The musuem in Florence that took the biggest toll on my feet was the Ufitzi. It just kept going! I spent at least four hours there but the Leonardo Da Vinci paintings are well worth it. I found the unfinished ones the most fascinating.

This is the 'Ponte Vecchio' ('old bridge') of Florence just southwest of the Ufitzi.




What a wild little store


Me at the top of the Duomo in Florence!





My first meal in Florence. It looks a little bit like mealworms in pesto but I swear it was a delicious pasta!



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Location:Florence

Mini detour back to France!

And an absolutely wonderful detour it was! After Cinque Terre my friend and I went to La Turbie where his mother, Judith, is looking after a family friend's house. She is currently in the process of fearlessly relocating to La Turbie from the States! Thank you so much Judith for letting me stay and especially for teaching me how to play bananagrams. Judith and her son are erudite bananagrams competitors, but I think they eased up when I joined in. Many thanks!

The second day I was in La Turbie we all went to Eze to visit Judith's friend and have lunch. After lunch Judith and I enjoyed a tour at the local perfumery while Will rather suffered through it. He was a very good sport though!

Thank you both so much for having me.

This has to be one of the best road side icons of the trip, he's groovin'!











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Location:La Turbie, France

I thought I was too old for poison ivy!

Well apparently I am not! After my friend and I hiked for about an hour in a traffic jam of tourists on the 'most difficult' trail in Cinque Terre, we headed uphill. We ended up taking a trail that took us all the way up the hills until the whole forest's foliage changed completely. It was a great hike! I bored him to tears with a recount of my evolution book but he took it in stride, literally, but not fast enough!

Cinque Terre consists of five small fishing villages on the north western coast of Italy, about 20 minutes north of La Spezia. I highly recommend it and I even more highly recommend taking the paths less traveled. One word of warning, when the conversation starts to sound like this put on protective clothing:
-- "hey this one sort of looks like poison ivy, see the three leaves? Two with wings?"
--- "oh yeah I sure do, great...."
-- "oh wait no, this over here looks wayyy more like poison ivy than that other stuff."

We stayed in the first town, called Riomaggiore:





Photos from the hike!











This guy was huge!


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Location:Cinque Terre

The ferry

The stats:
37 hours
Deck seating only (which means no assigned seat)
The reason: I wanted to go to Venice! And with my eurail pass the ferry ticket only cost 10 euros, which is pretty unbeatable considering I average spending 25 euros a night on a hostel and the ferry would count for two nights.

The facts:
When you have no seat the whole boat is your home! I slept on three different lounge couches and I wouldn't be surprised if they were softer than the bunk beds in the expensive private rooms.

The supplies:
tomatoes, salt, bananas, olives, chocolate, granola bars, wine, and as fancy a glass as you can get for 30 cents!

The entertainment:
'The Greatest Show on Earth!' by Richard Dawkins. Evolution is so exciting it makes me pace and mumble out loud. Or maybe that was the 37 hours talking?

All in all, I had a blast.



View from the stern to the docks of Patra, Greece.


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Location:Minoan lines, patra to venice

Land, ho! Well, kind of. Does it count if it's sinking?

Ah ha!
Now I know why whenever I would say to people that I was going to Venice they would swoon, 'oh it's sooo romantic.' and their eyes would twinkle,

It's because you can't walk 10 feet in that city without getting hit on by a Venetian! Old, young, male, female. My oh my. I'll blame it on the boots but seriously, maybe it's because the city is sinking? They all feel some sloshy gravitational clock ticking? All I know is I'm excited for when Venice becomes a diver's destination, talk about romance!

The point is, Venice is absolutely beautiful. I am not ashamed to admit that my sense of direction is so bad that I proudly wear a compass around my neck. But in Venice, the roads fail to even pretend to comply with straight lines, let alone cardinal directions. Direction is limited to up, down, walk or swim. It really doesn't matter what street you take because so far it has taken you to Venice!

Also while there I met up with a college friend! It was such a change to travel with someone for a bit. I still preach solo travel or travel with siblings, but having a buddy once in a while can be very nice. Thanks friend for hanging out and letting me talk your ear off after almost a month of only talking to complete strangers!






Mmm pizza













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Location:Venice, Italy

I may be a little too old for Ios

Ios is a more picturesque Greek island than Naxos, but there is a price. While Naxos is calm and breezy, Ios is a hangover on a beach. My first night in Ios I tried my best to keep up with the hostel lot, but I wasn't fooling anyone. The next two nights I stuck to water and sprite, and the mornings were beautiful! I did learn something though about myself in Ios besides the fact that I'm a lightweight- I want an ATV.
ATVs are wildly fun! A few friends and I rented them to explore the other side of the island and not only did we find a lovely lunch spot, but Homer's tomb and some off-roading! Those machines are fearless and have a mesmerizingly similar effect on their passengers.
Here are some photos of the day:


The Canadians! Max literally picked up my vehicle and turned it around when I got stuck, thanks!


At Homer's tomb!


The Kiwis! Jess and Katie, I had so much fun with you and I hope to see you in your windy Capital!





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Location:Ios, Cyclades, Greece

Greek style

Being in desperate need of a haircut, I went out this morning before my ferry to search for a salon. Boy did I find what I was looking for. My stylist asked what I wanted, and then told me that here in Greece they have something called 'blah blah blah (Greek word)' which translates to 'it doesn't matter what I want, he will give me he likes.' That was just fine with me as long as it meant my hair would get shorter. He gave me a great cut, and then proceeded to style it, the way he wanted to. I left that salon looking like an early '90s nightmare! See for yourself.






Luckily I had just enough time to go back to the hostel for a shower before catching the next ferry to Ios. I had to wash my hair twice to get all of the goop out!


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Location:Naxos, Greece

One is never enough

One island, that is. The first island I stopped at was Naxos, for three whole nights! That's the longest I have stayed in any one place yet on this trip. There is literally only one hotel on the island that sells beds by the, well, bed. So it would make sense that all of the single travelers were in my room right? And they were! I met two fantastic girls, Jenna and Elle. Our hostel was named Soula hotel and it was maybe 15 meters from the main beach. Convenient.



The old center of Naxos





Our fantastic debut snack together.


The girls!


Elle, on the left is from australia and Jenna is from Canada.


This photo was taken on our walk to a more secluded private beach, fancy.





My last night out- I broke out the boots for the second time on the whole trip. Worth carrying around? Absolutely.
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Location:Naxos, Cyclades, Greek islands

Acropolis!

The new Acropolis Museum, designed by Italian architects Manfredi Nicoletti and Lucio Passarelli, creates excitement to visit the acropolis above. I love how in places like Athens and Rome, if you want to build a building on schedule don't dig into the ground at all because you are sure to find ancient ruins that will undoubtedly change the build schedule, and in the case of the New Museum change the entire buildings design. It's wonderful! You enter the building on a glass floor which looks down into an active archeological site! Talk about setting the mood for visitor interest.

After the museum I walked around all afternoon to the surrounding sites with a woman I met named Mei Wan from Singapore! We had a lot to talk about.
Here she is.











Acropolis Theatre





Next years Christmas card?











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Location:Athens, Greece

Some great advice

The greatest aspect of this trip has been its flexibility. When I meet travelers, they always give me advice, and because I have very few concrete plans I can actually take their advice! The Australian, Simone, over dinner in Thessaloniki gave me the greatest advice which was to visit Meteora on my way down to Athens. It was definitely out of the way, but I don't really have a designated 'way' so therefore everything is on the way. Meteora consists of six monasteries on the sandstone rock pillars above Kalambaka. I stayed at a hostel for one night in Kalambaka and spent the evening there hiking from one monastery to another, and then finally trekking down and back to town. It sounds extreme but it wasn't at all, it was accessible and easy. I can't really describe the monasteries so I will just resort to posting photos.





Just bizarre formations, apparently the pinnacles were carved 60 million years ago! By glaciers maybe?





Wild wild flower









This one is from the walk back to town.


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Location:Meteora