Bratislava, Slovakia

Days 29-30

I really liked Bratislava, it kind of reminds me of Prague, but unspoilt by drunken yobs. It was a bit cold and it had been raining a bit before we got there. But we managed to get a hotel right next to the castle, and found ourselves an excellent Slovakian pub to settle into for the night! Late the next day we ventured out and found ourselves eating again, this time from a UFO perched high atop the bridge. Whilst a bit unusual, the food was great and the views were too.

Sofia, Bulgaria

Days 28-29

Arriving in the very cold light of early morning, nothing really looks it best. The dodgy people at the dodgy station, and along the dodgy walk to the hotel. But after a quick nap at our rather nice hotel, and the sun higher in the sky, the city is actually quite nice. Plus the police cars are Porsches - what more could you ask for.

Travelling - Athens to Sofia

Day 27

Spent the day in Athens, finished of our site seeing. Get on train for 6 hour trip to Thessaloniki. We spent the next 3 hours talking to our new found Anarchist friend before boarding our communist era sleeper train to sofia. Seriously, this train was straight out of 1960 soviet Russia. It had beds though and we were tired. Pity that, as we got very little sleep between the screeching brakes, sudden stops (the brakes seemed to have only on or off - there was no gradual slow down) and the nice 1 hour interruption for a border security check in the middle of the night. So tired.

Athens, again

Day 26

Spent today travelling on ferry - 8 hour trip back to athens, arriving in at about midnight. One night stopover here before travelling to Sofia via train tomorrow.

Santorini

Days 23-25


Satorini is the postcard image for the Greek Islands and was created from a volcanic explosion several hundred years ago. The city is perched high atop the cliff face, the white houses looking like snow caps. We hired a smart car to drive around the island, which was again covered in small postcard image villages. One question about Greece - what is with all the stray dogs?

Naxos

Days 20-21

The largest of the greek cycladic islands, is like all the others, full of quaint villages. Accessible by winding roads, mopeds are the order of the day but since it looked like it would rain, we hired a car to visit said quaint villages. Highlight of the trip so far has to be walking thorough the narrowed cobbled streets of a mountain top village, and having a bunch of greek school children come past and practice their best english on us. Having 10 kids yell "What's your name?" at you is quite funny.

Athens, Greece

Days 18-19

We had to get the early morning flight from Rome :( We were so no used to waking up that early, but sometimes these things have to be done for the greater good. We managed to find a reasonably cheap hotel in the old area of town, and they were good enough to give us a room with views of the Acropolis. After about 2 hours, I have discovered that I absolutely love Greek food. I think that we ate Souvlaki and gyros every day. And best of all, its very cheap! We have really managed to get good weather so far (excluding that one day in Rome) and once again its sunshine all round. We walked up the acropolis to check out the Parthenon and Temple of Zeus, but like the rest of Europe is it under construction at the moment. They are refurbishing it back to its originial splendour or something. Its still amazing though.

Vatican City

Day 17

When in Rome ... go to the Vatican. The smallest independent state in the world, or something like that, we though it could be sacrilege if we didn't go pay the Pope a visit (plus they apparently have some arty type stuff to look at). The line-up stretched for about 500m from the entry to the Vatican museums. The museums' content is amazing and is also home to the Sistine Chapel and the famous ceiling. Like the Mona Lisa, taking pictures is forbidden, but that didn't stop most people from having a go. St Peter's basillica is amazing too, but I still found the church in Florence to be more inspiring. One question though, what is it about praising dead popes with lavish monuments etc, I thought that they were supposed to be humble!

Rome

Days 15-17

After taking a pleasant train trip through the Italian country side we arrived in the splendour of Rome. Unfortunately it was raining when we arrived, not a good omen. However this was soon forgotten after we had managed to find our way to our apartment. Absolutely amazing - despite it being quite small and requiring a quick outside dash from the bedroom to the kitchen/bathroom across the rooftop terrace. It was a pity it was raining and winter, it would be absolutely amazing in summer to sit on the terrace, drinking wine and soaking in the view.

We were also lucky to find an excellent restaurant around the corner that had a set menu for 14 euros, that gave us about 5 courses with drinks included! Rome has too much stuff to look at and talk about but we got to as many as possible including, the Colosseum, ancient Forum, spanish steps, trevi fountain, various obelisks, Piazza Venezia. Trying to describe them is impossible, look at the pictures, or even better pay them a visit yourself. Also little electric busses are cool!

Florence, Italy

Days 13-15


Most of Tuesday was spent on the train from Nice to Florence via Milan. About 8 hours in total. But was worth it. Florence is spectacular. Couldn't belive the number of tourists there even though its still winter. Thousands of them. Lines about 30 mins long into everything. Hate to think what it would be like during summer. The big church was the first time I have been amazed by a building in a while, the sheer size of it is staggering.