Travel Break to Athens & Milan

Ok, brace yourselves. This is going to be a long post.

Over the past 8 days, I have had a break from school and got the chance to do some more traveling. I wrote down everything we did while traveling, and I'll relay it all to you!

Our first stop was Athens, Greece. Me, Bri, Aimee, Ben, Dylan, Casey, and our new friend Kris flew from Copenhagen to Athens on Saturday night. Warning: I was a lot better at taking pictures in Athens than I was in Milan. Sorry!

Saturday 9/29:
When we stepped off the metro in Monastiraki Square, the sight was incredible. We looked up to see the Acropolis, lit at night, far above the city. The only appropriate word to describe it is majestic. The square, too, was full of entertainers, live musicians, people eating outside, and general liveliness. Did I mention it was 80 degrees?

Monastiraki Square and The Acropolis

On the first night, we found a street vendor selling authentic gyros for 2.20 Euros. Probably the most delicious thing in the whole world and a perfect dinner for poor students. Our hostel, the Pella Inn, was located just a few blocks from Monastiraki Square. Great location, great hostel. Couldn't have been happier with it. 

Sunday 9/30:
Our first full day in Athens was dedicated to seeing all of the main historical sites around the city.

We started at 10am by climbing to the top of the Acropolis. On the way to the Acropolis, we passed the Roman Agora.

By chance, we visited the Acropolis on day when entrance was completely free, an awesome surprise. The day was already hot. Around 90 degrees. I have no complaints, though. A break from rainy Copenhagen was very welcome. Sites of the city on the way to and from the Acropolis are breathtaking, and the Parthenon itself is incredible. Such an impressive experience. The hundreds of other people viewing the Acropolis with us that morning definitely agreed :)

View of Athens on the way to the Acropolis

View of Athens on the way to the Acropolis

The Parthenon

View of the Acropolis from the walk up

Following the Acropolis, we visited the New Acropolis museum. It was an amazing museum, definitely one of my favorites I've ever been to (especially considering I wouldn't call museums my #1 fav attractions.)

After the New Acropolis museum, we wandered East of the Acropolis to the neighborhood called Plaka. Plaka was possibly my favorite part of Athens. A neighborhood with labyrinthine streets North and East of the Acropolis, it was densely populated, colorful, and exciting. We ate a delicious traditional Greek lunch of Moussaka, Souvlaki, Calamari, and Greek salad. We spent hours wandering around Plaka, doing a lot of shopping (I bought gifts for myself, Mom, Bub, Matt, Luke, & David in Athens. LOVED everything I saw), and wandering the streets. It's my favorite way to see a city. Every Greek shop owner was friendly and eager to help.

[Side note: We counted. Throughout my time in Greece, 7 different Greeks asked me if I was Greek or from Athens!]

After Plaka, we made our way to Kerameikos, an ancient cemetery. Kerameikos is incredible. Knowing this burial ground has been in use for around 3,000 years is mind-boggling. Unfortunately, we got there around sunset and the museum about Kerameikos was closed.

Following about 8 straight hours of wandering the city by foot, we took a little break. We went back to the hostel to rest & gather ourselves before getting another gyro for dinner. After dinner, we went to a little cafe/bar across from our hostel and ordered some wine and baked feta. After a few minutes, Michael Promisel, my dear friend who I've known since 4th grade, met up with me and my group. We spent time at the cafe, then went to the hostel's roof to enjoy the gorgeous evening. Seeing Michael and catching up with him throughout my time in Greece was so much fun.

Things I noticed about Athens:

-Much louder than Copenhagen

-Lots of COLOR!

-Crazy traffic patterns

-Dirtier than Copenhagen: Lots of graffiti and trash cans are just cardboard boxes

-There are historical sites everywhere. So amazing.

Monday 10/1: Island Day

Instead of spending the day in Athens again, we took the opportunity to see one of the world-renowned Greek islands.

Early in the morning, we hopped on a metro to the port, Piraeus, and bought a ferry ticket to the island Aegina. The ferry was just over an hour in each direction. Aegina is famous for its pistachio farms and is rumored to have the most delicious pistachios in the world (which I agree with). 

We arrived in Aegina to some of the most blue water I've ever seen. This day was pretty simple for all of us. We spent the day lounging on the beach and in the gorgeous water. We sampled fresh pistachios from the Aegina farms. I played with the stray kittens all over town. It was a gorgeous, perfect day.

That night, we returned to Athens and, of course, had gyros for dinner. Soon after, Michael brought a bunch of his friends to Monatiraki and we all went out for a few drinks. It was great to talk to students from a different study abroad program. Their program has only about 75 students, where ours has nearly 1,000. His friends are great and we all agreed to meet up again the next night.

Tuesday 10/2

Tuesday was another day spent exploring Athens. We started in the morning by trying to find a large market that we'd been told about. We never found it. 

We made our way to Syntagma Square and the site of Parliament, where a lot of the recent riots have taken place. It was a quiet day, though, until later when we saw a lot of police presence and left the area.

We explored the National Gardens of Athens, where I got pooped on by a bird for the first time ever while watching Army cadets in training.

After that, we made our way to the amazing Temple of the Olympian Zeus. The columns still standing at the Temple are incredibly impressive. The ruins surrounding the temple, too, are in great shape, and there is a great view of the Acropolis from the site.

Syntagma Square

Temple of Olympian Zeus

Temple of Olympian Zeus

After the temple, we walked past the President's residence and noticed a ton of police around Syntagma Square. Not wanting to get involved in anything we shouldn't, we left the area.

Bri and I returned to a shop near the Acropolis to buy a tapestry we'd seen the previous day. The girls split up from the boys, and we got frozen greek yogurt (absurdly delicious) and wandered around before retiring to the hostel for an hour-long siesta before dinner.

That night, we ate- you guessed it- gyros and greek salad for dinner. After dinner, we walked to one of Michael's friends apartments to help her celebrate her 21st birthday. We got to taste the traditional greek liquor, Ouzo, and we all hung out and mingled for a while before returning to the hostel. Because we were leaving the next day, I had to say goodbye to Michael, but hopefully will get to see him in London later this semester.

Wednesday 10/3

In the morning before we had to leave Athens, we finally found the market we'd been looking for. It was a huge open air market with tons of fruits, veggies, meat, fish, nuts, and goodies. Markets are beautiful and crazy, and this one was no different.

Because we didn't have much time before we had to head to the airport, we all had one more gyro, wandered around the shops, and said goodbye to the city and sites before leaving. At the airport, I said goodbye to the rest of the group (who went to Rome), and left for Milan.

In Milan, I met up with Caroline Garger just outside the city. 1) Seeing Caroline was amazing. 2) Milan is a fabulous city! I stayed with Caroline with her host family for the 4 days I was in Milan. Her family is wonderful. Enrico, Clelio, and their two daughters Francesca (18) and Elisa (11) are a lovely family. Very welcoming and sweet. They also cooked me the first home cooked meal I've had made for me in 2 months. And they did the same every night. It was amazing. We had a relaxing night, talking and catching up for hours, and we even got to Skype with Minor Problem for a few minutes. 

Thursday 10/4

Unfortunately, Caroline had class from 9am-3pm on Thursday, so I did a lot of exploring by myself. I was totally fine with that, though, and loved seeing the city again. I was there once before a few years ago, but I feel like I had a better chance to see the real Milan this time!

Places I explored:

-Outside and inside Il Duomo

-Piazza del Duomo

-Piazza Scala, Teatra all Scala

-Galleria

-Via Dante

I noticed as I explored that my head has become a jumbled mess of foreign languages. Between English, Danish, Greek, Italian, and my head reverting to the Spanish I've learned... I'm a mess. The background in Spanish makes picking up some Italian very easy though. I loved learning some Italian from Caroline's host family. ALSO, they saw my tattoo and 1) verified that it's perfect grammar, spelling, etc, and 2) they loved it! So nice to have more affirmation from real live Italians that they love my Italian tattoo :)

Galleria

Il Duomo

Inside Il Duomo

Inside Il Duomo

Milan, the fashion capital of the world, is obviously full of absurdly well-dressed people. Copenhagen is the same way, so I'm used to it. I met Caroline at her school, Universitat Cattolica del Sacro Cuore after her classes ended. After that, we went exploring once more. We did a little shopping before going home to have dinner with her family& watch a movie. Caroline also booked a flight to meet me and Olivia in Vienna, Austria in December to see the Viennese christmas markets, which is obviously very exciting!!

Friday 10/5

On Friday, Caroline and I took the train one hour outside the city to Lake Como for the day. I have been there once before, but it's incredibly beautiful and seeing it again was a treat. 

We first explored the city of Como before taking a boat to the tiny lake town of Cernobbio. In Cernobbio, we walked about a mile to a tiny pizza place, Pizzeria L'ancora, that is supposed to be incredible. Rumors were true: The pizza and beer was amazing. And I don't even like beer.

 We spent the rest of the day exploring the lake. We sat by the lake and enjoyed the sites and the ducks.
 We also took the Funicolare (Funicular, the lift) to the mountain town of Brunate far above the lake. Technically a railway, the Funicolare takes you to where there are gorgeous sites above Lake Como.

After leaving Lake Como, we ate dinner with the family then went out with Caroline's friends. We met her friends in the Canal District, known as Navigli, where the night life was awesome. As is customary in many bars in Milan, with the purchase of one cocktail comes a buffet of authentic Italian food. It was hilarious to see people in a bar setting with a full buffet to one side.

Saturday 10/6

Saturday we had a little bit of a late start to the day because Caroline had to get her permit to stay in Italy for the semester, which took several hours.

Around noon, we headed to a market in Milan. There was tons of food, like most markets, but also cheap goods, knock off designer items, and other fun things. I bought two pairs of leggings for 3 euro.

After that, we went back to the Duomo to visit Luini. Luini is an INCREDIBLE Panzarotti shop behind Il Duomo. Panzarotti are essentially filled pastries. My favorites from Luini are the Tomato and Mozzarella Panzarotti and the Spinach and Ricotta Panzarrotti. The line, pictured below, gives you an idea of how popular and delicious Luini is. 

Line and crowd for Luini

After lunch, Caroline and I ventured to Corso Como, a beautiful street with upscale shops. It was nice to walk, but we soon went to the nearby Milanese china town to do some shopping (against the suggestions of her host family). China town was a lot of fun! Some shops sold goods only in wholesale, but it was a ton of fun exploring the streets and different atmosphere.

After getting gelato (again), we went to a grocery store and returned to Caroline's home. We cooked dinner together, shared a bottle of wine, ate fresh mozzarella and hazelnut chocolate, and watched a movie. Being with Caroline for a couple of days was a huge treat. Thank you again, Caroline, for hosting me. I'll see you soon in Paris, hopefully sometime in Copenhagen, and in Vienna in December!

Our homemade final meal together

I had to wake up at 4:30am this morning to catch my 7:15am flight back to Copenhagen. Being back in my room is nice. The last week of travel, though, was incredible.

I'm so lucky to be having the experiences I'm having. And I'm so lucky that I'm getting to share them with such amazing people. I am almost at the halfway point of my semester, and though I'm still sometimes quite homesick (especially Villanova-sick), the things I'm doing are truly phenomenal.

Sorry for the essay! I'll update soon. Next stop: Barcelona and London with Bri, Marissa, and Dee starting on Saturday!!!