Istanbul

Merhaba from Istanbul! This city is amazing! So much to do, so much to see, and so different than any other port we’ve been to so far.

Day 1: Today was pretty long. My psychology class had a field lab today so the entire day was spent sitting in lectures both on and off the ship (the ships blogger wrote about it: http://www.semesteratsea.org/voyage-blogs/summer-2012/)The lectures dealt with women’s rights in Turkey today and during the Ottoman Empire. It was all very interesting and I learned a lot, but I much rather have spent my day exploring the city. However our teacher, Professor Medora, was kind enough to take us to the Grand Bazaar at the end of the lab and gave us an hour to explore. The Grand Bazaar is like a mall…but bigger, much much bigger! There are over 4,000 shops in the Grand Bazaar, most of them selling Turkish souvenirs like shirts, tiles, glassware, hookahs, etc. There are some name brand stores though selling designer clothing and jewelry, and a few cafes as well. I spent most of the time exploring the place, which was hard to do as the place was absolutely packed and every time you walked by a shop a man would be yelling at you trying to get you buy something. There were some great pickup lines: “how can I take your money” “how can I rip you off today” and my favorite “how can I make you buy something you don’t need”. It was pretty funny. I ended up haggling for a tile painting and a small lamp. The tile painting was originally 120 lira, got it for 60, and the lamp was at first 25 lira but I got it for 10…not a so bad.

                After the Grand Bazaar we stopped at a really nice jewelry/rug shop and got to watch rug show. We went in to this large room that was lined with a cushioned bench and rugs hanging all around. We sat down and were explained why Turkish/Ottoman rugs are the best and most durable in the world (it’s all about the double knot) and showed us how they make them. Next we were served Apple Tea, kinda tasted like apple cider but better, and watched as they began to unroll rugs all over the floor as they explained the differences between each one. All the rugs were very beautiful, but very expensive. A simple one foot by one foot rug cost $158…so I unfortunately was unable to purchase an Ottoman rug.

                Our field lab got back about around 19:00 and I immediately went to my cabin to meet Keenan and Chesely to go out for dinner and drinks. We took the tram to Taksim square, the equivalent of Las Ramblas in Barcelona but much better. A lot more interesting shops, better restaurants, and cheaper beer (Efes is the staple beer around here and is very good but cheap, only 8lira for a liter).It was a good evening and overall good day.

Day 2: Today started early with my SAS trip to Topaki palace and the Harem. The palace was home to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and was like a small city. Parts of the 007 movie From Russia with Love were filmed there, our tour guided pointed out the roof that Shawn Connery ran on. There were a lot of cool displays of Ottoman documents, weapons, armor, clothing, jewelry, gifts, etc. The Harem, where the Sultan housed his some 300 wives, was also really cool and beautiful. The Sultan and his wives lived really well.

                After the tour I met up with Keenan and Chelsey to tour the Basilica Cistern, Hagia Sophia, and the Blue Mosque. All were really cool, but the winner was the Blue Mosque. We go to sit in on a sermon which was the visit I ever go to witness in person. The priest (I don’t know if that is actually his title) sits a story above everyone in this tower like structure. The men sit around him on the floor, barefoot and kind of just lounging back as they listen to the priest talk. The women sit in the back of the mosque behind a white fence that you can barely see through. All very…different. The mosque itself was breath taking. Words can’t describe it and a photo won’t do it justice.

                After that we rushed back to the ship to get ready for dinner that evening. We were meeting Burak around 19:30, my Uncle Conal’s roommate from college who is a native of Istanbul and lives there with his wife and two sons. We walked to the Galata tower and then to Taksim square. Along the way we learned a bit about the city’s history, what there is to see in and around the city, and what there is to do at night in Istanbul. Just before sun down Burak took us into a nice little restaurant by Taksim square on a side street. Side note: right now it’s Ramadan and since the majority of Turkey’s population practice Islam, a lot of people can’t eat until sundown which right now is around 20:40. Anyways dinner with Burak was amazing. So much good food, great conversation, and an overall wonderful time…thanks again Burak for an amazing night. Below is a list of the food we ate. All of which were fantastic:

-Tomato Soup

-Kahn

-Olives

-Spicy Tomato Salad (amazing!)

-Eggplant Salad

-Diced Chicken/Meat with onion, peppers, and tortilla wrap

-Meat Kebab (great spices!!!)

-Turkish Coffee (very good, pretty strong)

-Raki (the drink of Turkey…tasted like black liquorish…pretty awful)

                After dinner we wandered around a bit more with Burak. He got us to try Kokorec, after which we learned was wrapped lamb intestines diced with spices and severed in a roll with onion, tomato, & pepper…kind of gross sounding but actually not that bad of a snack. After a bit more wondering we said goodbye to Burak and thanked him for a wonderful evening. We then proceeded to meet up with Nick and Kindle to go to a roof top bar on by Taksim square. We spent the rest of the night drinking Efes and playing cards.

Day 3: Last night was a late night so I slept a lot today…more than I would have liked. I woke up at 11:00, got some work done on the ship, went for a nice run, and in the evening went with SAS to see a Sufi Dervish Ceremony. It was a very interesting thing to see. The music was great, and the Dervishes were amazing with all there whirling…almost looks as if they were in a trance when doing it. Anyways it was a very interesting and nice thing to do. Defiantly felt more cultured after attending the ceremony.

Day 4: Today started early with my Bosporus by Boat trip. We took a quick bus ride to the port and hopped onto a small boat. We travelled up the Bosporus to the Black Sea. Along the way our guide pointed out the Mosques and Palaces that lined the water, saw the amazing Yasis (mansions) that were all along the water each costing upwards to $25 million, and got to glimpse a family of dolphins heading towards the old city. It was a nice relaxing ride and great to see the city from the water. We got off the boat just before we hit the Black Sea to visit the Sadberk Hanim Museum, a really cool private museum that had all these artifacts from Turkey since the 5^th millennia BC. Pretty sick stuff.

                I got back to the ship around 13:00 and met up with Kindle and Nick to go to the Spice Bazaar. The Bazaar is similar to the Grand Bazaar, but instead of lamp shops and clothing shops the Spice Bazaar has a bunch of spice and tea shops…it’s really neat and it smelling awesome in there. Got some great apple and love tea leaves and a thing of olive oil spice…can’t wait to try it when I get back to the States! We explored the Bazaar for a few hours, got back to the ship around 17:00, went for a good run, ate dinner, and then rested up for my the hike I was going to go on to tomorrow.

Day 5: Another early day. Woke up at 6:00 to go for my hike…glad I didn’t go out last night haha. It was a two hour long bus ride to the start of the hike. We hoped out on the side of some road in the middle of nowhere are just started walking through a cow pasture and headed for the trail. It was an amazing hike! Great trails and incredible sites, it was just awesome! It was a good 5 mile hike. We got back to the ship around 16:00, I went for a good run, and then started writing this post as we sailed away from the port of Istanbul. Next stop Morocco.

P.S. Other very good food in Turkey: -Simit (circluar bread with seaseme seeds) and Nokul (cinnamon pastry)

ATHENS

Athens = olive trees, democracy, Greek salad, gyro, wine, sandals, Olympic Games, and history. It was an amazing city but one that is experiencing economic and political woes. It is dirty, scary, and sad in many parts, but the history and the people make up for this. I <3 ΑΘήνΑ.

Day 1: Chelsea, Keenan, Tyler and I disembarked the ship at 8:00 to take a bus from Piraeus to go on our “Athens by Bike” trip. Driving through Piraeus reminded me of Napoli. It had a beautiful coast line, but you could tell that the city had seen better days. We arrived in Athens, just by the Temple of Zeus, at 9ish and started our tour. We went through Plaka (the center of Athens), the Acropolis, and around some old Greek and Roman ruins. It was a nice tour and we learned a lot about how Athens was founded and the building of the Acropolis. After the ride, Keenan, Chelsea and I went around the shops looking for souvenirs before grabbing Gyros and beers for lunch. Surprisingly you don’t get a lamb gyro in Athens; instead you get pork which was ten times better than any lamb gyro I got in the States.

After lunch we headed to the Acropolis, only to find out it closed an hour ago due to the unbearably heat that had stricken the city (was around 45 degrees Celsius the entire day…just awful). Unable to see the Acropolis, which was supposed to be the highlight of our day, we just bummed around Athens the rest of the day. I took the Metro back to the port around 16:00 to give myself enough time to go for a run and then to meet my Mom, Charlie, and Maddy, who made the trip to visit me, for a nice dinner. We ate on top of the Electra Hotel which they were staying at and had a fantastic/elegant dinner with a marvelous view of the Acropolis. It was a good time and really nice to see them. Afterwards I took the metro back to the port, was attacked my stray dogs (nipped at but lucky wasn’t bit), and then passed out in my cool AC cabin.

Day 2: Today started early. Chelsea Kennan and I were walking off the ship at 7:00 to get to the Acropolis right when it opened at 8:00. It was a much cooler day with hurricane gusts! The sand on top of the Acropolis was flying into our eyes and stinging our skin. It was a challenge just taking a photo with the wind being so strong it would throw me off balance causing the camera to go out of focus. Still though, the Acropolis was beautiful and amazing. Afterwards we went to the Acropolis Museum which was pretty cool, grabbed a small bite to eat, and headed back to the ship as Keenan and Chelsea had a SAS trip to attend. We got back to the ship just before noon. I went for a run, rested, and then rushed back to the city to meet my family as we were heading off to go swimming and then Poseidon’s Temple to watch the sunset. Both were a lot of fun. The water at the beach was cool and clear, the sunset was beautiful and breathtaking.

Day 3: Another early morning. I met the family at their hotel at about 7:30 for our journey to Delphi. It was a long but worthwhile drive. We had the same driver who took us to the beach and Poseidon’s Temple. He was a nice man, very knowledgeable, and very proud to be Greek…too proud when you’re in a car with him for 6 hours “you know”. Anyways halfway through the 3 hour journey to Delphi we stopped in a small village that suffered a massacre during the Nazi occupation. Our driver, Marcus I believe, was took us to this nice little bakery in the center of the village that has been around for around 100 years. He bought us spinach pie, a flaky pastry filled with spinach. It was delicious. ***I’m tired writing this post write now and need to finish it before a meeting I have to go to so the rest of this will be short and to the point. We then sat down in the village square for a few minutes, talked a retired Chicago Godfather, and then got back in the car to finish our journey to Delphi. Delphi was gorgeous, so historic and so beautiful. Saw the Temple of Apollo, the Treasuries, and the stadium. We then went to the Museum and grabbed a nice lunch that had bread, olive oil, greek salad, stuffed grape leaves, lamb, and an eggplant dish. We then made the long journey back to Athens. I went back to the ship to run and then met the folks again for dinner (donuts with greek honey for dessert = amazing) and to say goodbye. It was a long but wonderful day.

Day 4: Slept in, took the Metro to Athens, saw the Parliament building, the Presidential residence, walked through a nice park, and saw the Panathenaic Stadium. The stadium was beautiful. I sat wear the founder of the Modern Olympics sat, walked through the tunnel that past athletes walked, and ran a lap of the track that so many great athletes ran before. My heart was racing haha. Afterwards I met Keenan in the Plaka to grab a quick bite to eat, and then we took the metro to the sad 2004 Olympic complex. The games were held their only 8 years ago but today the stadiums are in disrepair and to be blunt are disgusting. It’s sad and is a disgrace. We both agree through it was worth the 30minute metro ride to see.  We then went back to the Plaka to spend a few euros. Keenan got a traditional Greek string instrument, and I got some greek olive oil and honey. We also each got a nice pair of Athenian sandals.

                Athens was awesome. Istanbul tomorrow

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik, Croatia = Gorgeous. The nice stone house with red tiled roofs, the mountainous coast line, and the clear blue water just makes you want to sit outside, drink an espresso, and soak up the view (which I did today on my last day in port). This port was a relaxing port for me. My days here consisted of sleeping in, going for a run, seeing a site or two, exploring Old Town (Dubrovnik is split in two main groups: Old Town is inside the city walls and New Town is the newer part that is outside the walls), and then having dinner and going to bed. It was a much need break after the non-stop ports of Barcelona, Civitavecchia, and Napoli.

Day 1: We ported at 08:00 and were allowed to disembark at 09:00. I slept ‘til around 09:00, went for a good run, did some core and leg exercises, worked on one of my two essays due tomorrow (just completed the second essayJ) and then headed off for my City Wall tour at 13:00. The tour was fun with great sites and very interesting info from our guide…but it was very VERY hot. It was about 35 degrees Celsius in Dubrovnik, even hotter when inside the Old Town as it is surrounded by a mile and a quarter limestone wall. Any who the tour was on top of the Old Town walls which date back to the 14^th century during the Dubrovnik Republic when the city was basically its own country. From the top of the wall you can see all of the Old Town its harbor. I took about 70 photos, all of which are now gone as I accidently deleted them…very sad but my memories will do. The walls have held strong over the years going through a number of attacks from the people of Venice, the Turks, and the Serbs during the Balkan War. It was a fun tour after which I got to try some Croatian gelato, almost as good as Italy’s, and I had a chance to buy a nice piece of Croatian street art. All in all a good day.

Day 2: Day two started the same way. Slept in, ran, worked, and then left the ship at noon. Today I decided to take a cable car up to Fort Imperial on a hill (a big hill) overlooking the Old Town and the port. The fort was constructed in the 1800s when Neapolitan conquered Dubrovnik and was a key in defending Dubrovnik during the Balkan Wars. The view of the coast from the fort was amazing and I made up for the photos I lost from the City Walls haha. The view behind the fort was even more amazing. There were mountains for mile extending into the far boarder of Bosnia. Just beautiful and awing. Someday I want to go back up there with a mountain bike and some camping gear to explore and sleep under what I know would be a beautiful array of stars. In the fort there was a museum that should how the people of Dubrovnik defended themselves against the superior Serbs during the war. It was very interesting and sad.

In the late afternoon Keene, Chelsea, Nick, Kindle and I (yes the fifth wheel haha) got some surprisingly good 30 Kuna ($6) Croatian champagne and sat on the rocky Old Town beach to watch the sunset and celebrate Nick’s birthday. It was a good time. While watching the sunset and enjoying
Champagne we meet a few people from the UK. We spent a good hour make fun of each other’s country and accents, it was really fun haha. In the evening we went to a restaurant in the middle of the town and got some good authentic Croatian food. I had some homemade sausages, very good. After that we roamed around for a bit before we made our way back to the ship.

Day 3: Couldn’t sleep in today as I had Kayaking!!! We left at 09:00 to go on a 5 to 6 mile Kayaking trip around an island called Lokrum, just off the coast of Old Town. Beautiful and very fun time. Got to do some snorkeling too, not much to see but the water was fabulous. Got back to the ship around 02:30, went for a run, hung out with Keenen and Chelsea before they went off for their anniversary dinner (7 months) and then passed out. It was a lazy but enjoyable night.

Day 4: Slept in ‘til 08:30, went for a good run, and then went into old town for a mission to find an old map (picture to come) and to get rid of the rest of my Kuna. Found a café that had wifi, sat outside, had an espresso, did some emails, got work done, and wrote this post. That was Croatia. Up next Greece!!! Will defiantly be more active and will have a much longer post haha.

               

Update on the Running at Sea

                My training is going better than expected on my voyage through the Mediterranean. I’m hitting about 30miles a week (this week I’ll hit 36…big man right here haha) with typically one day off (overnight trips/too busy) and then doing weight/core/leg circuits around 3 times per week. I’m cycling every so often, but they only have recline trainers on the ship, which I hate, and it would just take too much time out of my voyage to throw it in to the mix. So it’s not great summer training, but considering the circumstances it’s not bad training, more of an “eah” as the Italians would say.

                 I’ve only run on land in Spain thus far (quite enjoyable runs) but not in the two Italian ports. Civitavecchia and Napoli just aren’t running cities; there aren’t any parks, no beaches, very narrow two way roads, and crazy Italian drives that will literally drive on the side walk to get through traffic. It’s dangerous enough walking in theses ports, so I just ran on the ship every day before I went on my daily expeditions. It’s actually great running on the treadmill in port; there is no one in the fitness center at 8:00 so I’m able to get in straight hour runs (8.5mi). And, since no one is in the fitness center, I can sing with the music on my iPod without looking like nut – bag, it great!

                It can be tough to run during this program though. After a long day traveling the port you get extremely tired. In Barcelona I probably put 30 miles on my legs just walking…no joke. In Italy it was probably the same. I’ve been pushing through it though and drink A LOT of water and Gatorade to compensate. Anyways here’s my last week of training…typical week…

Monday

Run = 4.25mi (30min)

Tuesday

Run = 4.25mi (30min)

Wednesday

OFF (All day in Rome)

Thursday

Run = 8.5mi (30min)

Friday

Run = 8.5mi (60min)

Core

Leg Circuit

Saturday

Run = 4.25mi (30min

Sunday

Run = 7mi (48min)

Weights

Core

TOTAL

Run = 36.75mi

ITALIA

Italy was what I expected and more. I expected the food to be amazing, the sites and art breathtaking, the wine incredible, and the drives to be horrendous. I was surprise to find that Italy has amazing country side, thousands of kilometers of underground city, shanti towns, and the nicest people on the planet (minus Will Griffin). Like Spain I will have to go back to Italy one day. I saw a lot in my 7day stay in the historic country, but there is still so much for me to see and do. 6 days will never be enough to fully take in Rome much less Rome and Napoli, but I made the most of what I had.

Day 1: We docked in Civitavecchia at 8:00 and I was on a bus with Tyler, Keenan, Chelsea, and Liz heading to Orvieto. It was about an hour drive NE to this ancient town, and along the way we saw some amazing country side, farms, vineyards, and Ferraris (seeing a classic red Ferrari in Italy is something else). We arrived in the parking lot for the funicular, an uphill train similar to the one I took up ton Montjuic in Barcelona, and we packed in to reach the town. The town sits on volcanic rock several hundred meters about sea level. It was settled in the late B.C. as the land around it was very fertile, and the hard yet easy to manipulate volcanic rock allowed for the people to dig tunnels to store food during and for protection against invaders. In the modern era the tunnels were used for shelter against the bombings of WW2 and as a kind of “underground railroad” for rebels fighting the then fascist Italian government. Once you enter the tunnels the temperature drops 5 degree Celsius not to mention when you start climbing 30 or so meters down to the caves (great for when its  frickin 25 to 30 degree Celsius outside). We walked through about 2 kilometers on the tunnel/cave system, only a fraction of the 100 kilometers known to exist today. It was really cool, both as in cool temperature and amazingness.

After the tour was completed we had a couple hours to explore the town. Kennan, Chelsea and I went into the church of Orvieto (very old and very beautiful) and got to witness an old school Latin catholic mass. We looked around the shops buying olive oil and a few gifts (you can literally drink olive oil like water in Italy; it’s that frickin good and that much of it…cheap too). Finally we sat down at a nice restaurant and had a beer and our first taste of Italian cuisine. Kennan and I each got a pizza (about the size of a dinner plate) and Chelsea got some ravioli. It was incredible, very simple but incredible. The crust of the pizza was okay, but the cheese and sauce (especially the tomato sauce on Chelsea’s ravioli) was to die for. It just melted in your mouth. My meal was definitely the best (a sausage and mushroom pizza with an Italian beer) but all of our food was good. Afterwards we continued to roam around town, picked up gelato (very very good, would end up having about 5 gelatos during my time in Italy…far too little haha) and then headed back to the funicular to meet up with the group. It was a well done trip.

                Once we got back to the ship I went for a run on the treadmill (GAMECHANGER!!! Fitness center is open in port!). I would have loved to run off the ship, but Civitavecchia didn’t seem like a running city (Rome and Napoli would turn out to be the same way). After my run Tyler, Liz, Rio, and I had dinner on the ship and then set out to find a cemetery in Civitavecchia. Tyler is an avoid photographer and want to take some shots of this supposable very old but beautiful cemetery in the heart of the city. We spent about 2 hours roaming around the city looking for this cemetery, on the way encountering the poverty that we would see through Italy during our stay, at least 50 stray dogs, and cars/mopeds that don’t see the difference between a street and a walkway. We never found the cemetery, but it turned out to be an interesting and somewhat fun night.

                Day 2: The second day I had my Rome orientation trip with S@S. This trip would turn out to be a major disappointment. I started the day with a short run on the Ship and then caught the bus for the trip at 9:00. It was about an hour drive into the city and then another 15min to the museum that we were going to explore. On the way we saw the reunions of the Roman baths, but weren’t allowed off the bus to look. We also passed Circus Maximus which was used for chariot racing, again we didn’t get to stop and look around. Next we reached the Capitoline Museums and went on a 2 hour long tour. The structures, writings (one letter was written by the Pope asking the Swiss for army personal, basically the letter that started the Swiss Guard…pretty cool), and art work inside the museum were very interesting, but our tour guide was incredibly boring, spoke in very broken English, and took forever at single things. He was very smart and knew a lot about the pieces of work in the museum, but he just wasn’t a good tour guide. Anyways it was a long 2 hours and at the end I was happy to get out of the museum and begin to explore Rome on my own. I first visited the Piazza Venezia which houses a giant monument dedicated to the first king of Rome (before the Republic and the Empire). It was beautiful and blindingly white. At the top of the steps that led up to the monument stood two Italian Military men guarding the tomb of “the unknown solider” from WW2, pretty cool. Next I hit up the Coliseum, the place I was most excited about seeing in Rome. Once I entered the old stadium I was lucky enough to run into Keenan and Chelsea. We were planning to meet up an in 5 hours at the hotel where we were sharing a room, but now we could explore Rome together for the rest of the day. The coliseum was breath taking. I felt like I had just stepped through a worm hole into the times of the Roman Republic. We must have spent an hour and half circling the stadium taking in its beauty and taking a lot of Panorama photos (we started this thing that every site we go to we do a panorama of one of us posing for the three photos that are needed to make the panorama. I’ll try to post a photo).

                After the Coliseum we made our way to the Forum which is about a half to one square mile of reunions. Very cool stuff, we spent a long time there and still didn’t see everything. After the forum we were famished so we decided to head over to the Trevi Fountain, where we were supposed to meet Nick and Kindle (my other roommate and his girlfriend), and on the way grab some good Italian food. After taking the Metro (there were lots of Nuns on the metro…that really made me feel like I was in Rome) to a station close to the fountain we must have spent an hour looking for a good restaurant. We settled on a little place called “Civa Pizza”. We ordered an appetizer that had a variety of treats, a bottle of white wine (Keenan isn’t a fan of red) and a main dish. I got some classic spaghetti in meat sauce, delicious but not the highlight of my meal. The highlight was the bread with olive oil. It was THE BEST olive oil I’ve ever had. Keenan had some pasta and Chelsea had a white pizza, both very good and probably beat my spaghetti, but it was still a wonderful meal, the second best one that we ate in Italy.

                After dinner we made our way to the Triva fountain on the way running into a fabulous cellist, an accordion player, the Pantheon, and the Colum Trajan. Once at the fountain we hung out for about an hour taking in the beautiful the fountain (basically it’s a fountain depicting Zeus just being the man, very cool to see at night). The girls through in their coins and we were off to the hotel. Took a long metro ride and a good 3 miles of walking but we eventually made it to the hotel just before midnight.

Day 3: In the morning we had a very nice complimentary breakfast at the hotel (a pastry and espresso) and then we were off to Vatican City. Amazing, simply amazing. We spent 4 hours going through the Vatican museum…they just have some much stuff!!! Art work, sculptures, scrolls, Egyptian artifacts, maps, chariots, cars…just a stuff after stuff after stuff! I was incredible, amazing, beautiful, breath taking, etc. At the end of the museum (we had to skip a few sections or else we’d probably be there all day) we went into the Sistine Chapel, again amazing. We then walked down to St. Peter’s Basilica, took a panorama of Keenan, and then headed to the Pantheon/grab lunch before we took a train to go back to the ship. Rome was awesome and a lot of fun. It did not disappoint.

Day 4: We arrived in Napoli at 8/9:00. I went for a run and then was off to Pompeii. It’s about was about a 30minute drive from the port to the reunions and on the way I saw the saddest and most surprising thing I’ve ever seen…a shanti town. I never expected to see one in the EU Mediterranean and definitely no in Italy. Maybe that ignorant of me, but I was surprised and a little sad. How could such a great country, a highly developed first world country have shanti towns? I mean the closest thing I know of in the US close to a shanti town is a trailer park…but those are never in major cities. Napoli is the 3^rd largest city in the country and has a shanti town; I had to do a double take to make sure I was seeing what I was seeing.

Anyways we got to Pompeii. Again I was surprised. What I thought was just a small village turns out to a city covering over 40 acres (20 or so more still being dug up). Pompeii it turns out was a great city: had plumping (lead pipes mind you but still pumping), a democratic government, power, etc. It also had a lot of brothels, 25 or so in the city. We toured through one that still had a picture menu on the wall depicting what the house could offer their customers…pretty damn funny ha-ha. I got back from Pompeii at around 17:30 and then went into Napoli at 19:00 to grab dinner with Keenan, Chelsea, and Jesse (a friend who’s from Manhattan and goes to UVa). We explored the streets of Napoli looking for and “official Napoli pizzeria” (Napoli is trying to bring the pizza back to its origins so they have created a certification that is supposed distinguish authentic pizzerias from non-authentic ones).  After an hour of exploring we settled on a “non-authentic” pizzeria that was near the water and had outdoor seating. We each got a pizza and shared a bottle of wine. This was my favorite meal in Italy. I can’t remember the name of my pizza, but it had prosciutto, black olives, mushrooms, and artichoke. It was delicious and went well with the Greco (Napoli white wine). After good food and good conversation we walked along the shore looking for a nice place to sit down and have some more wine. We ended up sitting down right next to the water over looking one of the few castles (like fairy tale castles) in Napoli. Right after we bought the bottles of red and white and sat down fireworks started going off from the castles. It was a great night with good wine, great conversation, and beautiful sights.

Day 5: On the fifth day Keenan, Chelsea and I went on the S@S trip to hike Mt. Vesuvius. It turned out not to be a hike-hike. More like a scary bus ride up the mountain, then a mini hike (1mile) to the top of Vesuvius. I was looking forward to doing an actual hike, but it was still a great time and was amazing to see the crater close up (fucking huge). The view was amazing too! After the hike we went back to the ship. I went for a run and then went to the National Archeological Museum. Got lost along the way and really got to see the ghetto and how bad (dirty and sad) the city of Napoli is. Great history, amazing views, and a few nice streets, but in all it is a run down and poor city from…at least from what I’ve experienced. Anyways the museum was pretty cool. Lots of old sculptors a bunch of paintings from Pompeii, it was a worthwhile visit.

Day 6: Keenan, Chelsea, and I again went off to explore. We first hit up the Napoli aquarium, small but had a lot of cool aquatic life and since Keenan and Chelsea are Marine Science majors I learned a few things about fish. Also the aquarium is apparently the, or one of the, oldest aquariums in the world. Next we grab lunch, Keenan and I ordered some decent pizzas, and Chelsea had some spaghetti. We all thought it was good, but not great. We walked out about to head to Napoli Saterenia, the underground tunnels of Napoli, when we spotted the “authentic Napoli pizza” sign outside the restaurant! The sign we were trying to find all night before we found completely by accident and had no idea we were eating there! We were disappointed though with the food, but the amazing dinner the previous night made up for the mediocre “authentic Napoli pizza”.  So we headed to the underground tunnels and once there were amazed. We took a two hour tour 42meters below the city through a fraction of miles of tunnels below Napoli. These tunnels were once aqueducts built by the Greeks (the founders of Napoli – new town in Greek – back in the 8^th century BC) and were used for up to the mid – 1800, they were shut down due to a E – coli outbreak. During WW2 though the Napoli government cemented the water of the tunnels and used them as a shelter against the bombing Napoli faced during the war. The tour was fabulous, the tunnels really cool, and the tour guide was hilarious. In one part of the tour we had to walk through a narrow tunnel (about 50 cm at the widest) while carrying candles to see!!! It was awesome. After that we walked around for a bit, looking for street art, having gelato, seeing a Justin Bieber flash mod (hilarious), and then headed back to the ship. Italy was amazing. Next up Croatia.

A Few Barcelona Photos

Font Magica

Monjuic - Museum of Art (only photo I was able to take)

montserrat Trails

Montjuic - National Art Museum of Catalan

 

Port of Barcelona

 

Espanol Futbol Stadium

 

montserrat

 

montserrat

 

montserrat

 

montserrat

 

montserrat

 

montserrat

 

montserrat

 

Restaurant overlooking Montjuic

 

Chupitos

 

Olympic Stadium

 

Market

 
 

Barcelona

 

 

Colom

 
 

Barcelona

 

Parc de la Ciutadella