Spring Break in Greece, and the Stein Family Visit to Florence and Rome!

Here’s what I’ve been up to the last two weeks.

Spring Break:

Spring break was two weeks ago, and I went to Corfu and Athens. On the way to Greece, we took an overnight cruise. We went through the Adriatic Sea to Igomenitza, Greece, and then took a short fairy to Corfu. Corfu is a small island off the western coast, and it is in the Ionic Sea. We stayed 2 nights at the Pink Palace; the name couldn’t fit any better. The best way to describe it is an all inclusive hostel/hotel resort on the beach for college students. Because we were there early in the season, we basically had this place to ourselves. The first day we just wandered around and explored the beach and surrounding area. The second day we went ATVing around the entire island. Now this was an experience! The weather wasn’t so great, but we decided to go anyways. The roads were slippery and it down poured on us. One girl swirved off the road and ran into bushes. The next day the weather cleared up and went kayaking in the Ionic Sea. We made it to this little rock island off the shore and tried to climb it. It was pretty hard without shoes and sharp rocks jabbing our feet, so we turned around and just relaxed on the water.

From Corfu we took a fairy and then drove across the entire country of Greece and finally arrived at 9:00 am in Athens. This was a miserable bus ride. I really wasn’t too impressed with the city. It was dirty and not that friendly, and it turned out we didn’t really stay in the safest area. But anyways, it was a good way end to spring break. It was still fun to see the Acropolis, the Archeological Museum, and several other sites around the city. On our way back to Italy we took another overnight cruise, but this time through a thunder storm...you can only imagine how fun that was.


Family Comes to Visit:

After my 30 hours of traveling from Athens back to Florence, I was greeted by my parents and sister. It was great to come home to my family in Florence. The week with them was a lot fun, you should ask them about it. On Saturday we went out to dinner at this restraint my mom has been talking about for months called Trattoria Garga. This was the start of delicious food for the entire week. On Sunday we went on a guided bike ride through Fiesloe and around the Florence outskirts. The hills were challenging and the downhills were dangerous with sharp curves. We stopped at a winery, and had a nice lunch in the country side. Monday was our shopping day. We spent time at the San Lorenzo market and Sami and I both bought leather coats. Tuesday we had an Italian cooking class. We made the best pasta I have ever had along with other great food like bruscetta, chicken, and pesto. Wednesday was a big museum day. They saw the classic museums in Florence while I was in class, and on Thursday we took the high speed train to Rome!

My family only got to spend one full day in Rome so they crammed everything they could into a full day tour. I was able to stay the entire weekend and meet up with some friends, so I was able to see the city and explore more than they did. Some of the things we saw in Rome were the Coliseum, Spanish Steps, Catacombs, many different ruins, the Jewish Ghetto, the Vatican, St. Peters Basilica, and so much more. Rome is one of my favorite cities that I have been to.

Pictures:

Corfu
Athens
Family Visit to Rome and Florence