The Traveling Scholar

As you all know, the 18th was one of my BFF’s 25th birthday and, in true veggie style, we hit up the glorious Mildred’s for her dinner celebration! You’ve heard me talk about Mildred’s before (here and here); it’s a tried-and-true favorite! Always delish and this time was no exception. We kept it low key (per Linds’ request), grabbed a table for four and two bottles of wine and hung out for a few hours. After, we headed to Dirty Martini in Covent Garden to continue the party (and to meet up with another birthday girl)! Definitely a fun night — there is certainly something to be said about having a small gathering. Low key & amazing.

Love these kiddos.

This is why I love London <3

xoxo,

Well, S. and I are officially back in London (in my glorious new palace — updates to come!), but I have to take a moment to revisit our time in Ireland. While the trip didn’t turn out exactly as we had expected (there were more than a few obstacles), I have to admit that I am thoroughly impressed with Ireland on the whole. Everything was working against it: I had a mishap at the airport, the weather was super sh*t, emotions were all over the place, it was the busiest weekend in Galway (unbeknownst to us the Galway Races were on!) and thus prices were through the roof and availability for everything was low. Despite that, however, the place was gorgeous! I really, really liked it. It’s incredibly regionally diverse, which definitely adds to its charm and I would definitely recommend it to other visitors. I plan on going back in the future with more money in my pocket and more time on my hands to appopriately explore the the West Coast and the Southwest.

There’s no way I can capture everything in a single post, so I’ll start with Dublin for today. After that crazy airport debacle and a four-hour delay, we arrived in Dublin at around 430P. A short bus ride (€7) took us to the city centre where we jumped off and took a quick stroll to our Temple Bar hotel, Farrington’s. We were thoroughly confused when we approached Farrington’s — it’s a pub and we were certain we booked a hotel to sleep at and not a pub (although I questioned whether they were one and the same for Irish folk). After entering, we met the oh-so-nice manager and got keys to our B&B which was right around the corner (not in the pub). The room was extraordinarily nice — big room, huge bathroom (with a jacuzzi tub!), internet that mostly worked and, above all, a perfect location. While we may have gotten it a bit cheaper if we booked in advance, we were pretty happy with the price for the location (€118 for two nights).

After getting settled, we headed out to The Purty Kitchen for dinner (a gastropub of sorts). I was super impressed with their menu (I was expecting typical greasy pub food) and their prices (€5 for deliciously wonderful crostini and salad) — definitely a bargain! We planned out our excursions for day two and headed back to our gloriously comfortable beds for the night.

Day two was our Dublin sightseeing day. We had a few things on our agenda and had everything mapped out. Stop number one: St. Patrick’s Cathedral. A church was built on the site in 1191 and they recently (broadly speaking) celebrated 800 years of worship. 800. We didn’t to go in, but we were definitely impressed with the architecture… always makes me wonder how people built these amazing structures without technology and machinery!

The next stop was definitely on the top of my list: Christ Church Cathedral. One awesome thing about Dublin? It’s such a great walking city! Everything that tourists typically want to see in Dublin is within walking distance. The Guinness Storehouse is the furthest point and it’s maybe a mile from everything else. Christ Church, for example, was about five minutes walking from St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Early manuscripts apparently date Christ Church back to around 1030 AD. Pretty astounding. There was no way I was going to visit and not go inside. For a mere €3, S. and I got in (thank you, student discount) and got to check out the inside:

Check out my photos for more.

Next stop? Dublin Castle! Oh, how I wish I could say I was impressed with the castle, but no. Perhaps hitting up Edinburgh Castle jaded me? Not sure, but it’s definitely not what I expected. On the bright side, you can explore the majority of the castle grounds for free, so it’s certainly not a waste of money!

The picture above is actually the only ‘castle-y’ part of the castle. The rest of the castle grounds look more Victorian and are definitely not what you envision when you think of fairy tale castles. The gardens, though, are quite nice. Definitely worth a stroll around, even if just for a few pictures.

After Dublin Castle, we grabbed lunch (seafood chowder was our food of choice for the entire trip!) and headed down to the Guinness Storehouse, S.’s number one must-see for the Dublin leg of our adventure! Every living human being knows Guinness and the factory is certainly a testament to its legacy. The place is massive and the marketing is absolutely amazing. It’s not cheap to get in (€11 for students, €13 or €15 for adults) but the ticket includes a free pint at the end of the tour plus pretty incredible views of the city from the Gravity Bar on the top floor.

All in all, we had an amazing day. We had only allocated that day and a half to exploring Dublin and though we could have easily enjoyed a few more days there, I think we had enough time to see the things we really wanted to check out. The city is great, the people are friendly and the Temple Bar area is so charming, albeit a bit touristy. As vegetarians it was a bit difficult to feast on real Irish fare (lots of meatiness), but we managed. On the bright side (?), it was a bit cold outside so seafood chowder and potato & leek soup definitely fit the bill!

Check back tomorrow to see our trip to Clifden, Connemara by way of Galway! Lots of traveling and lots of gorgeous Irish countryside.

Love from England,

PS. Dad, mom and professors who may (or may not) be reading this: I took a break from dissertation-writing to write this post. I’m being ever so diligent in getting to work on my dissertation now that I’m back. Cue motivation!

Our trip to Andorra wasn’t something we had initially planned. We had talked about doing a day trip from Barcelona but after looking at accommodation prices in Barcelona vs. Andorra, we decided that Andorra could perhaps be more of a destination in and of itself rather than a day trip (costs for hotels were significantly cheaper). Our day and a half (two nights) there ended up being a brilliant decision – Andorra is absolutely amazing. Truly, brilliantly amazing.

Getting to Andorra is a feat in and of itself; you can’t really go on a whim. Due to the fact that the Principality of Andorra (a little country of its own with 70,000 people or so) is tucked away in the Pyrenees, the rough terrain means that it doesn’t have a train station nor does it have an airport. Ultimately there are three options: rent a car and drive in, bus in from Barcelona or Toulouse (the nearest airports) or grab the helicopter you have sitting around and drop into their helipad.

S. and I didn’t know this beforehand (not really, at least) but Andorra is a baller country. There are two real reasons people go to Andorra: to enjoy the natural beauty (skiing in the winter, water sports and hiking in the summer) or to shop. The streets are filled with shops and the country is known for its shopping (and allegedly discounted prices). The ‘well-priced’ shopping I had read about was really hard for me to place: yes, there were discounts everywhere but when discounts are on D&G, Prada, Tod’s, Chloe, etc., it’s difficult. While €900 for a bag might be a good deal (for that particular bag), it’s definitely out of my price range regardless. Moral of the story: if you’re a baller in the same way that Andorra is, you’ll be in a shopper’s paradise!

S. and I did some shopping, yes, but that’s not why we were there. Instead, we focused our sights on hiking in the Pyrenees. You may recall our amazing hike while we were at the Amalfi Coast? This was equally amazing although entirely different. The hike was steep and rugged but the air was much cooler and the path was a bit shorter. Check out some snapshots from our journey:

For anyone heading to Andorra/thinking about heading to Andorra, there are loads of hiking trails there. You can also book guided hikes through Naturlandia (kind of like the Disneyland of the Andorran outdoors) if you want something more organized. For anyone looking for a self-guided hike, the tourist offices in Andorra have a thousand guides with tons of different hikes depending on the amount of time you have to spare and your fitness level: some are mostly flatland while others are straight rock-climbing.

All in all, my personal experience in Andorra was amazing. The natural beauty of the country is mesmerizing and the feel of it is very familiar. It reminds me very much of Lake Tahoe with its stunning landscape and ski town feel, but it has a chic air about it that Tahoe sometimes lacks. In all honesty, while it was a random choice of place to visit, I felt an instant connection with the place that blurred my memories of Barcelona. Yes, Barcelona is amazing/interesting/fun, but it’s kind of overdone in my opinion.  Andorra is quite the opposite. It’s certainly not overdone and it has an appeal that has nothing to do with things that have to be purchased; it’s naturally awesome.

Some things we learned about Andorra/important take-aways:

1)      Andorra is a baller country. If you, too, are a baller you’re in for fun!

2)      By our standards, pizza and beer is typical Andorran fare. We feasted on veggie pizza and beer (gasp! – I never order beer!) both nights.

3)      The Andorran lingua franca is Catalan but you can get away with Spanish and French (and English at most places).

4)      Renting a car would be valuable. While it can be expensive to nab a vehicle, Andorra’s public transport is a bit more limited than many EU countries. A car will get you to tucked away areas with some stellar views.

Check out all of my pictures from Barcelona and Andorra!

Lots of love,

Alright, kiddos. I’ve clearly been slacking on updates, but in my defense our internet has been awful at the last few spots we’ve stayed at! While S. and I are in Ireland right now, I’m gonna try to catch up on the Spanish-soaked days of our adventures. Barcelona was great and Andorra was even better, so I’ll have to rewind and start from the beginning. Let’s go back – waaaaay back – to Barcelona.

S. and I arrived in Barcelona the evening of the 23rd, checked in at our hotel, and had time to grab dinner at a nearby eatery before heading to bed. While I’ve been to Spain before, Barcelona was unique in the sense that the citizens speak Catalan (and Spanish). The flag of Catalunya graces many a balcony and Catalunyan patches sit at most tourist shops. We ended up staying in E’ixample at Hotel del Comte and saved tons of money! While we looked at places in the Las Ramblas area, our place was about a 15 minute walk from there and we grabbed a killer room for about $100 a night. Only downside: the internet was super in-and-out.

In any case, with limited time in Catalunya’s capital, we opted for some Hop On/Hop Off bus action to make the most of our time. Barcelona is a city loaded with sites and one that I felt couldn’t be seen on foot in the time we had. For anyone that is also hitting up this city with limited time, I would totally recommend the Hop On/Hop Off buses. There are a number of them that run throughout the area and hit up all the main sites within a short period of time. When we woke up the morning of the 24^th, we headed down to Catalunya Square and jumped on one of three bus lines to begin our sightseeing adventure. Here’s a bit of a photo tour of our trip… so many sights!

Catalunya Square

Some views of the city.

The Columbus Monument!

FC Barcelona’s stadium — holds 100′000 people!

And, of course, loads of Gaudi’s masterpieces strewn across the city:

La Sagrada Familia (pictured above) was one of the top must-sees on my Barcelona list. I have always questioned it’s ‘beauty’ as such (I think it looks like a melting candle), but the fact that construction is still underway after having been started by Antoni Gaudi in 1882 is incredible to me. There’s certainly something awe-inspiring about it!

After our hop on/hop off tour, we headed back, got ready and headed out for paella and sangria to experience true Spanish cuisine (we were informed that true Catalonian cuisine wasn’t anything too special).

In true S-squared fashion, day two in Barcelona was time for us to hang out on the beach! We spent most of the day soaking up sunshine and relaxing before heading out semi-early. I have to say that thus far, Barcelona’s beaches are some of the best we’ve seen! They were a bit crowded with it being a summer Sunday, but the beaches were big and sandy! To top it off, we were able to rent chairs and an umbrella for 17 euro for the entire day. Bliss.

All in all, I liked Barcelona, but I wouldn’t go much further than that. Many of my friends who have visited are obsessed but I’ve enjoyed a number of our other trips more. The beaches were great and it was so much fun practicing Spanish for a few days but our time in Andorra was so incredibly amazing that it kind of blurs my memories of Catalunya. Stay tuned, though — more on that tomorrow!

Happy travels,

Though S. and I spent two and a half days soaking up the amazingness that is the French Riviera, I have but one posts’ worth of goodies to share. If I were to blog every day, it would look something like this:

July 19^th: S. and I went to the beach.
July 20^th: S. and I went to the beach.
July 21^st: S. and I went to the beach.

That’s right, two and a half awesome days enjoying sun in the south of France. I’m sure it would be more impressive/studious if I were to say we hit up some of the many museums that dot Cote d’Azur, but no. The sun was shining and the beach was a five-minute walk from our Avenue des Fleurs apartment. I swear the sun is stronger here – I felt it literally sizzling my legs, but seeing as how my poor Californian self hasn’t seen the sun (regularly, anyway) for a good 10 months, I soaked it up.

Our first day, S. and I stuck to the beaches of Nice. We got in late the night before and went out for a late-night jaunt to explore the area. With a full day ahead of us, we headed down to the promenade and found a perfect little area on the beach. Sadly, the beaches around us were rocky – sand is definitely a luxury with which Californians are incredibly spoiled. We wanted to rent beach chairs (the kind with the perfectly perched umbrellas), but the same chairs that we rented in Malta and in Greece for €5 were running €20 in Nice! Definitely a bit excessive for our taste, so we posted up on the rocky beach, purchased rafts and intertubes and floated around in the sea until we were sufficiently sunned.

Though we should have (theoretically) opted for French cuisine come dinner time, we instead headed to a cute little Turkish place down the way from our apartment (Le Bosphore). While the service was a bit questionable, we had a pretty awesome dinner and spent a couple of hours chatting before heading home for the night.

For our second day, we knew we wanted to hit up a nearby city to get a taste of towns outside of Nice. Our first choice was the oh-so-glamour St. Tropez, but it was entirely too far for a one day outing. Second choice (per S.’s request): Cannes. I was 50/50 between Cannes and nearby Antibes (having had been to neither), so we jumped on the #200 bus down the street from our apartment (for a mere €1!) and headed in the direction of Cannes by way of Antibes. It took us nearly at least 45 minutes to get to Antibes and considering the distance between Antibes and Cannes, we decided to avoid the latter and spend our time beachside.

We jumped off at the Antibes stop and strolled through the old town before settling into a perfect place on a (sandy) beach! We hung out for a few hours watching the yachts pass by, before taking the train back to Nice. With it being our last night in the south of France, we wanted to do something fun; to experience something new. Since I have been in the business of seeing as many countries as possible this year, we thought a jaunt to the Principality of Monaco should be in order for the evening.

After getting home and cooling off, we got dressed up and took the train down to Monte Carlo for the evening. We arrived at around 11:15P to grab dinner and check out the casinos and hotels and people watch. People-watching is infinitely more fun when the people roll up in Bentleys, Ferarris, Lamborghinis, etc.

We decided to check out the restaurants and hotel eateries to find a place for dinner. We wandered into a swanky eatery inside an oh-so-glamorous hotel just to see the first hors d’oeuvres listed on the menu for €247. We took that as a cue to leave and headed across the way to a casino’s (still fancy) restaurant to eat (Le Cafe de Paris). We noshed on light dinners and grabbed celebratory drinks to commemorate our night out in Monte Carlo.

We definitely didn’t do our homework, though. After having a late night dinner and drinks, we were ready to head back at around 1:15A. Sadly, the trains and buses stop running at around midnight, leaving visitors with three options: stay in Monte Carlo overnight; stay in Monte Carlo until 5A at which point the trains begin running again; take a taxi to your destination. We opted for the latter since staying in Monte Carlo overnight was never going to happen! Note to readers, though: taxis from Monaco to Nice are not cheap. As the taxi driver put it when we gasped in shock, “This is Monaco!” €70 later we arrived at the doorstep at Nice Fleurs, our apartment complex, where we got into our sweltering rooms and headed to bed.

Today was our last day in Nice and with our train to Carcassonne not leaving until 430P, we decided to hit the beach one last time. We packed up, checked out, stored our luggage and headed down to the rocky beach we had visited on our first day. After a few hours of sizzling in the French sun, we grabbed lunch and grabbed a cab to the train station.

We’re currently en route to Carcassonne after having left Nice a few hours ago. We’re passing through Montpellier soon, tired and a bit sad to have to leave the French Riviera behind. Cote d’Azur definitely goes on my list of places to visit again in the future – ties with the Amalfi Coast for first place!

Want to see more pictures from our jaunt in the French Riviera? Click here.

xoxo from the French countryside,

With only a few days in Florence, S. and I wanted to make the most of our time in Tuscany. We found an amazing ‘Tuscany in One Day’ tour through Viator and booked it Friday night. While the package wasn’t cheap, we both found it to be a good deal (£60/€70) for what was included.

The tour was 12 hours and began at 8:30A. We got up bright and early and headed out of our hotel around 7:45A to grab morning goodies and get there a bit early. After departing, our first stop was Siena, a little town (p. 50,000) about an hour or so from Florence famous for its horse races and the color with its namesake (Burnt Siena). The city was much smaller than Florence but incredibly charming. We learned (during our tour) that banking as we know it today effectively began in Italy (in Tuscany, actually) and that Siena is currently home to the oldest working bank in the world (founded in the 14^th c. or so):

I’m not sure where I thought banking started, but I definitely didn’t think it was Italy. Fun tid bit, indeed. After seeing the bank, we explored the city center, saw seven of the seventeen districts in Siena and got to see where the famous horse races take place during July and August. Despite it’s small size, Siena is split up into 17 districts that are represented by their own flag and animal. Each district has its own fountain, its own church, etc. and there are rivalries (sometimes intense) between the districts. The horse races that happen each year take place between ten of the districts; the winning district gets to hang their flag for everyone to see/admire. The rhino district (it has a much better name than that in Sienese) won last time:

Our last stop was the church in Siena. While nearly all of my travels have included gazing at cathedrals (since churches tend to be some of the most amzing examples of architecture), I have yet to become tired of seeing the façades of these cathedrals – so incredible. Admittedly, I get a bit tired of exploring the insides, but it was nice to check it out and hear our Italian tour guide tell us about the church’s history:

After our tour and some free time in Siena, we boarded our coach once again to head to an organic farm where we had lunch. S. and I were the only vegetarians in the group so they had to make up a special lunch for us (sadly, we couldn’t have the ‘wild boar sauce’…). We got a tour of the farm, including the wine cellar (they produce 200’000 bottles of wine a year!), and got to check out some incredible views of San Gimignano. Pretty breathtaking:

Fittingly, the lunch included wine tasting. Everything that was served up was organic and produced on the farm (except for the pecorino cheese which was brought in) and was absolutely delish! You know S. and I were way too excited for some organic action in our lives! After lunch, a glass of white, two glasses of red and a (strong) dessert wine (note: I had but a taste of the reds since I’m not a big red wine-drinker… I have yet to learn how to drink red wine like grown-ups), we re-boarded our coach to head to nearby San Gimignano, a medieval town that has been left untouched.

Now, San Gimignano (San Jim-EE-jee-ohn-oh), while small, was completely darling. The views were great and the streets of the city are dotted with cute wine and cheese shops and little restaurants and cafes. San Gimignano is perhaps most famous for their gelato (aside from their white wine and saffron). A gelateria in town has won ‘Best Gelato in the World’ on two separate occasions, so you know that we had to test it out (despite being disgustingly full from lunch). After exploring the town, we headed down to the gelateria as our last stop before heading back to the coach. In true San Gimignano fashion, the gelateria even has white wine and saffron-flavored gelato! Although I could have been more adventurous, the line was out the door so I made my order quick: mint (at least I moved away from lemon)! S., staying true to her chocolate-loving roots, got a scoop of plain chocolate (her defense was that if this was supposd to be the best gelato in the world, the chocolate should be the best she had ever tasted… I understood her thinking on that one). The gelato was good, but the best in the world? Not so sure… You’ll have to try for yourself.

After San Gimgnano, we headed to our last stop of the day: Pisa! S. and I had wanted to go to Pisa, but I didn’t think it was worth a day trip on its own (much like I didn’t think Siena was worth a day trip unto itself). This tour ended up being pure perfection since it brought in all of the Tuscan cities we were interested in with just the right amount of time in each. We arrived in Pisa after a scenic one and a half hour drive (where we passed by a sunflower patch):

There was little to do in Pisa. We took quintessential tourist pictures (unashamedly) and laid out in the grass in front of the leaning tower. Bonus: the leaning tower of Pisa is one of the wonders of the world – got to check one off of my list!

After our time in Pisa, we headed back to Florence with our tour bus and our oh-so-amazing tour guide, Becky. It was a long, long day of exploring but it was so worth it. The £60 seemed more than worth it for all of the sightseeing we got to do, the information that we got and the amazing lunch that we had! If you’re a big wine drinker, you could definitely get your money’s worth; I saw a girl swoop on a half a bottle of red wine left at the end of lunch and enjoy the entire thing! After seeing the best of Tuscany, S. and I are on our way out. It’s been real, Toscana! Now, off to Cote d’Azur where we’ll be staying in Nice!

Love from the train,

S. and I just got back from a day of exploring Amalfi and I can firmly say that it was just as amazing as I had imagined. I set my alarm last night for 9:30A but woke up long before my alarm. We’re staying in Agerola, which is set an incredibly high elevation with a cool mist that encapsulates the town. The cloudy mist was visibly dissipating throughout the town as we journeyed toward the SITA bus stop to catch our 11A ride to the town of Amalfi.

Amalfi isn’t that far from Agerola, but the bus ride took nearly an hour for us to get in to town. The roads wind drastically down the hillside, weaving in and out. How the bus drivers do it, I’ll never know; the roads are big enough for a single car, yet buses meander their way around like pros, honk-honking their way down the hillside so oncoming traffic is prepped.

I was actually excited for the long ride. While the views are pretty from Agerola and from Amalfi, the ride down provides for striking views of the cliff sides and the idyllic houses scattered about. I had seen pictures of the hillside, like I’m sure many of you have, but nothing really prepared me for the awesomeness of our surroundings. The morning mist that laid over the mountains made everything all the more surreal.

We arrived in Amalfi around noon and began to explore the town. We took a short walk near the pier to check out the mini beaches and the views from the ground before we snagged some mid-day gelato (as per usual, limoncello for me and chocolate for S.) Delish.

After our mid-day snack, we stumbled upon the actual town of Amalfi. The streets were strewn with jewelers, markets, all things lemon (the fruit for which Amalfi is famed), gelateries, restaurants, cafes; a tourist’s heaven. We grabbed a few postcards and a couple of gifts and hit up the local post office to mail things out. S. also nabbed some souvenirs for the fam to take back at the end of our adventures. One thing is for certain: Amalfi is famous for it’s lemons for a reason. As we walked down the streets, we noticed that all of the souvenirs displayed the bright yellow fruit ever so proudly. I had heard that Amalfi’s lemons were larger than our typical grocery store lemons, but I wasn’t sure how big they were. They’re big. Incredibly so. Some of the lemons we saw were bigger than the biggest grapefruits I have seen in local grocery stores!

After shopping and admiring the town, we headed back to the bus stop at around 430P and jumped on the 5P bus back to Agerola. The bus ride was seemingly longer this time with the mid-day heat and the masses of people (and annoying children), but we made it (and treated ourselves to a mid-day gelato upon our return).

Salvatore, the son of the owner of our B&B (Nido degli Dei) talked with us during our breakfast and invited us out to dinner in Bomerano for the evening. We headed to a little Italian place and enjoyed dinner with him and his friend, Roberto, and got to see how Italians really do dinner. A few things of mention on how Americans and Italians differ in their eating habits: a) they eat dinner late, much like the Spaniards. We didn’t head out until about 830P and didn’t start eating dinner until 10P; b) dinner is a production. It’s a multi-course meal with loads of vino that’s a slow-moving, enjoyable process vs. the fast food nation that we see in the US. We didn’t end up getting home until around midnight but it was an interesting/authentic adventure!

Up for tomorrow – Sentiero Degli Dei: ‘The walk of the gods’ that will take S. and us about 5km from Bomerano to Positano. Stay tuned!

Love from Agerola,

Sorry for the lack of internet access, kiddos. Finally got online & have been able to post my blogs from the last few days, starting with numero uno:

It’s nighttime now and the sun has gone down in Agerola, where S. and I are staying for our three days in the Amalfi area. While we’re not far from the town of Amalfi, the drive takes nearly an hour due to the twisty, windy roads that lead down to the waterfront. The roads are intense. We arrived in Napoli at around 2:45P and (somehow) managed to get down to Agerola after a number of bus changes and miserable attempts at speaking Italian.

I had heard that Naples was a questionable area and all of the tales rang very true during our hour waiting for the SITA bus. The roads were dirty, the people (that we interacted with) were borderline creepy and for one of the first times since my move to Europe, I felt uncomfortable being a girl in a city. Soon, however, we met K., another English-speaking traveler from Australia, and joined forces in to make our way to the town of Agerola (she was staying there, too, though in a different B&B).

After jumping on the SITA bus to Amalfi via Agerola, we arrived an hour later at San Lazarro in the quaint (‘tranquilo’ is how our new friend Sebastiano described it) town of our B&B, Nido degli Dei. The roads weaved in and out, higher and higher while the views of the Amalfi Coast grew below us. The drive is not for the faint-hearted; the roads are narrow and the bus drivers are quite skilled at horn-honking to ensure that cars coming the opposite direction are aware of their presence. The views were exactly as I had imagined them, though I’m not sure that there’s a word that sufficiently describes it. Beautiful. Gorgeous. Dramatic. Breathtaking. Perfection.

It’s places like this that reignite my desire to travel and reinvigorate my soul. I know that seems rather dramatic (I realize this even while typing it), but it’s the truth. We have yet to head into Amalfi and the neighboring towns of Positano and Ravello but even the area that we’re in now is glorious. The views are spectacular, the area is relaxing and the weather is perfect. S. and I had dinner at a tiny, hole-in-the-wall restaurant in town where the food was incredibly inexpensive but 100% delicious (€5 for an entire veg pizza)! It was a perfect place to re-energize after a long day off travel.

Tomorrow we’re heading to Amalfi to explore and check out the town and the next day we’re doing the walk of the gods. I’ve been here for about five hours and am already obsessed! This is definitely my kind of place – pure, unadulterated beauty in an otherwise chaotic world. I can’t wait to see what the next three days hold!

Love from Agerola,

See all of the pictures of the Amalfi Coast here.

S. and I are currently packing our stuff up and waiting for our laundry to be done so we can make our way to the Metro and the Athens Airport to head to the Amalfi Coast! We spent the last two days exploring the Cyclades: Mykonos and Paros, specifically. Though S. wanted to hit up Santorini, the eight hour ferry ride to the southern part of the islands was definitely a deterrent.

We grabbed a 7:45A ferry to Mykonos on Saturday morning and I tried desperately to spend the four hours working on my dissertation, reading, etc. Sadly, my attempts were only mildly successful. We arrived in Mykonos at around 12P, bags in hand with no reservations. We had decided the night before that we would see what was to be had when we arrived at the port. We were immediately bombarded with a thousand hotel marketers trying to peddle their goods. We ended up choosing Paraga Beach to relax and a hostel therein to stay the night.

If we could go back in time, we would have completely rethought this choice. We ended up waiting for literally two and a half hours for the bus to leave the port and head to Paraga. Tired, hot, sweaty and a little pissed, we arrived at the beach at around 3P and grabbed a tent for the night. The hostel reminded me a bit of Yosemite’s Curry Village: a bunch of glorified tents dotted throughout a massive campground plus room for people who came equipped with their own tents.

After we got settled, we headed out to the hostel’s deck to grab lunch and soak up some famous Grecian sun. The area was actually really pretty; very idyllic and very much the image that comes to mind when you think of Greece.

After laying out for a few hours, we went back to our mansion of a tent and took a nap for a few hours before heading out to explore Mykonos Town. We ended up heading to town around 930P and hung out for a few hours to check out the cute shops and hangouts. With it being a Saturday night, there were definitely a lot of people hanging out in town, tourists and Greeks alike.

After exploring the town and debating on whether or not to patronize Mykonos Tattoo (we decided against it), we headed back to Paraga Bay to get some sleep.

We woke up Sunday morning bright and early and headed out of the beach area and into town by 930A. We grabbed ferry tickets to Paros (and from Paros to Athens) so we could see another island before coming back to Pireaus. We spent our next few hours on Mykonos enjoying beachfront breakfast at Galera, exploring the shops, picking up some postcards and trinkets and laying out on the sunny beaches by the port.

We headed to Paros at around 3P, arrived at 4P and left at 5P. To say it was a whirlwind tour of the island would be an understatement. We stopped long enough to snap a few shots, grab lunch and then re-board the ferry to Athens.

In hindsight, I may have picked another island to visit (rather than Mykonos, that is). Mykonos, while beautiful, is highly touristed and a bit intense. I think Paros or Naxos may have been a better choice for my lifestyle. Either way, though, the Cyclades were definitely a good choice for us for a few days and a great way to get out of Athens and get some sun.

Greece, in general, has been a bit different than I thought it would be. I’m happy that I visited, mind you, but I find myself leaving Athens a bit disappointed. I think that Greece, as a whole, has done an incredible job of marketing. The streets of the capital city were dirty, the people (on the whole) were rather rude and  I found the city a bit unwelcoming. While the islands were beautiful (I found Hydra especially charming), I thought that the beaches of Malta and of Marbella were more noteworthy. In any case, I’m glad that I had an opportunity to visit and even happier that we’re departing in less than an hour!

Now, we’re packing up and heading off to the Amalfi Coast — can’t wait to see the dramatic coastline and gorgeous views. Catch up with you later!

xoxo,

Before I went to bed, I set my alarm for 730A so S. and I could get up bright and early and head to the Hop On/Hop Off bus at the Sliema Ferry port. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but perhaps subconsciously I shut off the alarm before we went to bed to catch a few more zzzs. Needless to say, it definitely didn’t go off as scheduled. I woke up at 930A and quickly woke S. up so we could get going. We ran down to the front desk and scheduled a Malta Sightseeing tour for 1030A. We jumped on at a pick-up point right outside of our hotel and began our journey.

Malta Sightseeing runs a North Tour, a South Tour and a Gozo Tour at €15 per person per tour. If you book the North and South tour together you can snag both for €26. Though it would have saved us a few euros, we opted for the North tour only to save some money and enjoy the tour a bit more leisurely (we’re planning on doing the South tour on Wednesday morning before we leave Malta).

We headed to Sliema by way of Qawra and St. Julian’s to connect with the other tour and begin the official route. The blistering heat was a bit worrisome but the open-air bus was actually cooling with the mild winds. While we got a bit crispy (in the words of S., “I feel like I’m a brownie; like I’m literally baking in an oven”), the heat was pretty bearable.

The tour was scheduled to pass by a number of Maltese sights, but we decided to pick the few we found most enticing. After passing Ta’Xbiex Harbour and Msida Yacht Marina, we jumped off at Valletta, Malta’s capital city. I had been to Valletta before with the family in December and remembered the gorgeous views from the waterfront and the historic nature of the city. It was just as I remembered it, albeit much more crowded and 35 degrees hotter.

We grabbed lunch at Kantina Café to charge out batteries for the day. A couple of sandwiches and caffeinated beverages later, we hit the streets of the capital city. We stopped off at the nearby St. John’s Co-Cathedral to snap some pictures and headed down the streets to the Valletta waterfront before departing. With the buses coming around every 30 minutes, we tried to plan our time strategically so we a) wouldn’t waste valuable in-city time, and b) wouldn’t have to burn to a crisp in the sweltering heat. We arrived at the bus stop just in time and continued our route.

The bus passed by Hamrun, San Anton Garden, Ta’ Qali Crafts Village and Mdina Glass before hitting Mosta. Mosta was on our ‘hop-off’ list because of the history of the city. Our grandpa is from Mosta, so the city held special value to both of us. Unfortunately, the city’s main site, the church, was closed so we hopped off for but a moment to snap some shots of the façade before getting back on the bus. Still, even though we only glimpsed the exterior (see pictures from my first trip to Malta to get some glimpses of the inside), it was beautiful. There’s also something awesome about S. and I seeing the city together, the city that was home to the person that made us cousins.

With our quick passing through Mosta, we jumped off at the next city, Mdina. I was excited for Mdina before we even stopped off. I remembered the city from my last visit to Malta and recalled it being cute, quaint and charming. Indeed, it was all of those things and the characteristic red doors and clean buildings made it a great stop for a half hour.

After passing through the narrow streets and grabbing a few postcards (we sent one to our grandma from a post box in Mdina!), we headed back to the bus stop. Again, we jumped on and passed a few more nondescript cities before a fifteen-minute break in Mgarr. Now, while Mgarr is home to a pretty-enough church, we wouldn’t normally have thought much of the city. It was fairly quiet, somewhat desolate, in fact, aside from a cool little shop:

This picture is effectively a shout out to my uncle, J. Falzon! While I’m pretty sure my San Diego- based uncle does not own a butcher shop in Mgarr, still cool that this place had his name emblazoned on the exterior.

Back on the bus we went, heading back to our drop-off point at Bugibba Square, a cute little touristy spot near our hotel in St. Paul’s Bay. After a few hours of down time, we got ready to head out and check out the Malta Arts Festival in Floriana where my other cousin, P., was performing with his band. En route, we stopped off at a little pub so S. could grab a pint of Maltese beer, Cisk, while we waited to head to Ospizio. From 9 until about 1030P, we caught a pretty cool (and very interactive) performance near Valletta. Even though the entire performance was in Maltese (and my Maltese is a bit… rough), it was still cool getting to experience something unique and cultural while we were in town.

Now, we’re mentally prepping for a fairly early morning and a trip to Gozo (Ghawdex) with P.! We’re taking the ferry over there and checking out the gorgeous Azur Window, Ta’ Pinu, Calypso’s Cave and some other quintessential Gozitan sights before we grab dinner with the fam.

Catch up with you tomorrow after our adventure on the Isle of Calypso!

See all of our pics from Malta here!

xoxo,