Destination #42 - Milan, Italy

After spending a day on a ferry and back in Athens, I was making my way to my final country and the one I have been looking forward to the most in the last 2 years, Italy.

I caught an earlyish flight out and stepping off the plane in shorts and flip flops, I think I forgot that rain existed. My guess is that Zeus was punishing me for leaving Greece. After checking into my hostel, I got a free glass of wine so that was a bonus. When I had left to go explore the city, it wasn't raining anymore so I decided to walk towards the city centre rather than take the metro. This was a big mistake. It was torrential downpour and it went on for what seemed like eternity. The odd thunder boomed here and there as well. A 40 minute walk turned into probably a lot longer as I stood under cover for some time waiting and waiting for it to let up. All I could think was "Take me back to Greece".

Once I finally reached the Milan Cathedral, it did ease up a little bit. I took a few quick photos and then quickly walked over to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, one of the world's oldest shopping malls. Around the square in which the cathedral is situated, they had a bunch of things set up for the Champions League final that took place the day before. I had just missed it. I took a stroll around and eventually stumbled upon a joint that did pizza by the slice. It. Was. Amazing. The slice was huge, it was thick, it was fresh out the oven, the bottom had just a slight crunch, and the amount of mozzarella was generous. It immediately made up for the rain. And then what do you know, the skies parted and the sun made it's appearance at last.

I then made my way over to Milan's sculpture of a middle finger that sends a message to the world of bankers.

I also went and saw the Sforzesco Castle and strolled around in the Sempione Park before making my way back to the hostel (as it started to rain again) to enjoy the free dinner they had on and relax. Not a huge day out, I know, but it legit poured buckets for the rest of evening so I was pretty much confined to the hostel.

Next:
Venice
Cinque Terre
Rome
Sorrento
Assisi
Florence

Destination #41 - Ios, Greece

I think I'll keep this one quick. Ios is pretty much the second party island, other than Mykonos. Our couple of days here were spent mainly at the beach or in town doing some bar hopping. It's an interesting town as it pretty much depends on tourists to keep the bars open. I heard more North American accents in this place than anywhere else I've been in Europe. There seemed to be quite a few people who had just came to Ios recently and were already working as promoters for the bars. They would come down to the beach in the day, act like they were just visiting along with everyone else, become your friend, and then they'd slip in, "You guys should come out to this bar tonight, it's great, blah blah blah." It worked great as well..I saw a few Americans get sucked right in.

After 9 days, both my liver and wallet are hating me. Our tour group was small but we all bonded really well and we have an abundance of stories and memories from the tour. From Nicole having a tumble the first night, to everything being in GMT (Greek Maybe Time), to Ash being accused of peeing on someone's shoes in the hostel (long story). It was a good bunch of people and I'll miss them as I now move onto Italy. My favourite island was Santorini but each island had its own thing going on. Mykonos had the beautiful winding white washed streets, Paros had the calm and relaxing atmosphere, Santorini had the stunning views, and Ios had the beautiful beach and nightlife.

Next:

Milan

Venice

Cinque Terre

Rome

Sorrento

Assisi

Florence

Destination #40 - Santorini, Greece

After spending the morning in Paros, we were on our way to the beautiful island of Santorini. I had been looking forward to this one the most and for good reason. As we approached the island, it was amazing just looking at all the buildings situated high up on the cliffs. It made me wonder how they got up their in the first place.

By the time we had settled in, it was already time to have dinner. We first had a drink at a bar that overlooked the ocean and we got our first of many breathtaking views. The weather wasn't all that great and it was very windy so the best was yet to come. Our dinner was at another place that also overlooked the ocean but with the sunset in the background.

We ordered way too much food for dinner and we thought it would be a good idea to try some ouzo, a Greek spirit. Here we thought they would just be shots but nope, we got full regular sized glasses of this stuff. The rest of the evening is as you can imagine, spent at a nearby pub.

The next day, we had a tour of the island that took us to a beach with black sand (Perissa beach) and a beach with red sand (due to the amount of iron in it). It felt like I was on Mars.

Later in the afternoon, we went to a winery that had a stunning view overlooking the ocean. We could not have asked for a better view and to have such a beautiful day as well.

When we finished up at the winery, we headed to the town of Oia where we got probably the most famous view of Santorini with its white buildings and blue churches. Along with about a million other tourists, we took in the sunset while we had a picnic of gyros and Greek salad.

I couldn't help but notice that so many people were spending more time taking photos than actually enjoying the sunset. There was even some who would take their photos, turn their back on the sun, and review their photos to make sure they got a good shot. I love taking photos and I'm always looking for that perfect shot, but I constantly remind myself to enjoy the moment as well. It's worthy to note that as soon as the sun went down, everyone deserted the area, even though it was still a gorgeous view. We took the opportunity and stuck around to get some photos.

For the evening, some of us went back to the same pub to have a drink.

Santorini met all my expectations and I can say it was easily my favourite island and possibly ranks among my top 5 places. I will definitely be coming back as I don't feel like I spent enough time there.

Next:
Ios
Milan
Venice
Cinque Terre
Rome
Sorrento
Assisi
Florence

Destination #39 - Paros, Greece

If you're continuing on from the previous post, you'll know we were out at the resorts main beach clubs opening night. 2 of the Aussie girls, Nicole and Ash, and I were out to about 5am and would have to eventually wake up at 8:30am to catch the next ferry. I didn't drink a whole lot so I was in fine shape other than just being tired. The other two were something else! Either their alarms didn't go off or they slept through them and we had a little bit of a panicked rush to get their bags packed and catch our ferry. Poor Nicole was in a pretty bad way, not only hungover (or possibly still drunk) but had her twisted ankle in probably a worsened state.

We made our ferry on time and were soon on the island of Paros. Our accommodation was this small hotel run by a tiny Irish lady who probably said the F word every other word. She meant very well but one could definitely take offense to some of the things that were coming out of her mouth. When she saw the state Nicole was in, she went into full worried mother mode (while still swearing throughout) and made sure Nicole was going to sleep the rest of the afternoon. We didn't argue and of course left her there to recover. For the rest of the afternoon, I mainly chilled at the beach and made the mistake of thinking I didn't need sunscreen. My face was definitely burnt after. I swear I used to be fine without sunscreen!

In the evening, we all went out to a beach side dinner where we got a 4 course meal and took part in some traditional Greek dancing and plate smashing. We topped off the evening with a cocktail and settled down for an early night in to catch up on some sleep.

Paros is a pretty quaint and quiet town so there isn't a whole lot to see and do. So for the next day, I did a little bit of a hike up to a monastery called Jesus of the Woods. There was not a single soul there but I got a good view of the town and it felt good to get some exercise.

Once back into town, I took to the beach again to make my face even worse, despite putting on sunscreen.

I met up with the group in the evening for some dinner and a couple cocktails again, keeping it tame.

I'm not sure if I would return to Paros but I suppose it was a nice break after Mykonos.

Next:
Santorini
Ios
Milan
Venice
Cinque Terre
Rome
Sorrento
Assisi
Florence

Destination #38 - Mykonos, Greece

It was an early start today as me and 6 others were heading to the Greek Islands for 9 days. We all left Athens at a gruelling 5:30am and set sail for the island of Mykonos. My other travellers were 5 Aussies (that would eventually turn into 7) and 1 British. Our tour guide was Aussie as well!

After a lengthy ferry, we arrived at our accommodation which was sort of like a massive camping resort. The plan for the night was to hit up the town so I got a quick nap in before we met up at the resorts bar for some drinks. One of the girls, Nicole, was already hammered by this point and had a little tumble. Day 1 and she was injured already!! We think she had maybe twisted or sprained her ankle. Yikes. Leaving her behind, we headed into town to get some dinner at a traditional Greek restaurant, have a little walking tour, and experience some of the Mykonos nightlife.

The next day, I headed back into town to do a bit of exploring. There isn't a great deal to see in this town but just wandering down the streets and getting lost is enough. Everything is pretty much painted white and blue (and sometimes red) and the streets are constantly winding - very picturesque.

I eventually found my way up the hill where I got a great view of the town.

In the evening, I met up with the group at the resort for some pizza (which was amazing). It was the opening night for the resorts main beach club and also a full moon and thus, it was called the Full Moon Party! The setting was perfect with the moon and its light bouncing off the water. Supposedly some well known DJ's perform here from time to time, not that I really care, but Mykonos is known for its nightlife. We danced well into the night and you'll have to stay tuned for the eventful morning after!

Next:
Paros
Santorini
Ios
Milan
Venice
Cinque Terre
Rome
Sorrento
Assisi
Florence

Destination #37 - Athens, Greece

Booking an early flight always seems like a great idea at the time of booking until the morning comes when you have to take that flight. I was scheduled to leave at 7:50am and luckily the European mindset is a little more relaxed than that of North Americans thinking they have to arrive at the airport at least 3 hours early. I woke up at about 5:45am to notice I still had the 6 bed dorm I was staying in to myself. I guess the 5 others were still out partying. I got to the airport around 6:20am with plenty of time to spare and I made sure I hung onto my boarding pass this time!

When I arrived in Athens, I couldn't believe the lack of information available for getting from the airport to the city centre. I'm grateful that travelling in this day and age, I have the internet to guide me to a lot of places as opposed to those who travelled say 20 years ago. The hostel had said I need to take the blue line but this still wasn't clear enough as most signage was in Greek. You would think that as big of a city and entry point that is Athens that it would be a bit more tourist friendly. Figuring out how to buy a ticket on the machine proved impossible so I bought one from a ticket agent, which was a whopping €10! Then once on the platform, I had no idea which train to take (along with about 5 other people). All looking confused at each other, we finally found someone who looked like he knew what he was doing and luckily spoke English. He let me know which train to take and I was on my way.

Athens has been played down quite a bit for me from a few friends and I can see why. It's a very big city and the particular area I was staying in was a bit grungy. After checking into the hostel, I took to the sights of Athens. My first stop was the area where the Parthenon and Acropolis were situated. I didn't actually go right up to them because it was going to cost me an arm and a leg to get access. You can see it from around the city so I didn't really see the point. Instead, there was a cool area that overlooked the entire city and I could not believe the massive concrete jungle in front of me. It was just building after building for miles and miles and it looked like there was no room in between buildings. The perspective was interesting as well because at the forefront was the ancient Temple of Hephaestus and behind was all urban sprawl.

I spent the rest of the afternoon seeing the ancient Olympic stadium and strolling around the park where there was a random pool full of turtles and a mini farm with goats, rabbits, peacocks, ducks, and roosters.

The rest of the evening was spent meeting and hanging out with the Busabout tour group that I would eventually spend the next 9 days with. We got a great view of the Acropolis and Parthenon while we had some drinks.

Next:
Mykonos
Paros
Santorini
Ios
Milan
Venice
Cinque Terre
Rome
Sorrento
Assisi
Florence

Destination #36 - Malta

Okay, so the first 24 hours of "vacation" were a bit stressful. Of course, I left packing to the last minute and there was the unfortunate task of having to prepare my suitcase to ship back home. My morning consisted of making sure my suitcase was under weight and closable. Having accumulated things in the past 2 years, I unfortunately had to leave things behind. Because I couldn't part with everything, my backpack to travel with is packed to the brim and is heavier than the last trip I did. That was the first half of the day. The second half was of course taking off. Between getting through security and boarding my flight, I dropped my boarding pass somewhere. I have heard nightmares when using Ryanair, which happened to be my flight carrier, that they charge extra when things like this happen. Luckily, this was not the case and I was able to board the flight without losing an arm and leg. A few hours later and I was on the ground in Malta, taking the bus in the wrong direction. Counting my lucky stars again, there were some English people on the bus who did know what they were doing and were able to tell me what to do! That wasn't even the end of it too as I had to connect to a different bus, which when I got to the stop, they were no longer running. Desperately turning on my mobile data, I found an alternative bus that FINALLY got me to my hostel. Needless to say it was late and I was exhausted.

The following morning, I came to the conclusion that I was just not going to get on well with the bus system as I waited and waited for a bus to come at a particular stop to take me into Valetta. This was not the best start to a holiday. Everything was made up though when I had a decent breakfast in the sun overlooking the ocean. I cannot recall the last time I was in weather this perfect. Not a cloud in the sky.

Since the buses weren't going well, I decided I would walk all the way from St Julians, where I was staying, to Valetta. I really took the scenic route so it took quite some time to reach the capital but it was well worth it. I was easily captivated by Malta's beauty. Valetta itself had a really old, medieval vibe to it and I sometimes felt like I was in Game of Thrones. :)

I also stopped by the Blue Grotto later on which was a bit underwhelming as I couldn't get very close and there was really only one spot to view it.

For dinner, I got a big plate of pasta. I think since Malta is so close to Italy, this falls under the cuisine because there seemed to be an abundance of pasta places! Later on, I went out with people from the hostel to experience some of the nightlife.

The next day I went on a tour that took us to the Maltese islands Gozo and Comino. The first bit was Gozo where I can't really say I got to see a whole lot...it was a bit of a rushed tour. It was a fairly long boat ride to get there and when we landed, we hopped in vans to take us around. The vans made only 3 stops. The first was a souvenir shop which I think could have been excluded. The second was the Azure Window which was the most exciting part. If you're a Game of Thrones fan, this can be seen in the pilot episode.

Gozo

We were only there for 20 minutes though which was annoying. Then the third stop was the city centre which was also a bit underwhelming. We eventually ventured over to Comino, an island with only 3 residents. Here, they had the Blue Lagoon. Beautiful, but the water was freezing and the beach was teeny tiny and packed, so I had to settle for sitting on some rock.

By the time I had got back to the main island and to my hostel, it was time for dinner in which I just helped myself to a ham and cheese pastry thing and some gelato. I chilled for the rest of the night as I had an early flight to Athens the next morning.

Malta was stunning, even though I know the second day didn't sound all that great, but the main island from what I saw was beautiful and there was plenty left to still do that I didn't get to see. Put it on your list!

Next:
Athens
Mykonos
Paros
Santorini
Ios
Milan
Venice
Cinque Terre
Rome
Sorrento
Assisi
Florence

Destination #34 & #35 - Bratislava, Slovakia & Vienna, Austria

Sunday morning and I was on my way to Bratislava. It was just a 2 and a half journey over to the Slovakian Capital and I would be arriving around 2pm. The best part about the train journey? For the first time ever, I got to ride in a carriage, like how it is on the Hogwarts express!! For the first hour, I even had it to myself.

When I arrived, I headed straight to the old town where I would meet up with a free walking tour. It ended up being around 3 hours but was still interesting and informative. Already though I was running out of time as I was eventually catching a train later to Vienna. I quickly climbed the hill to see the main castle and it was a really interesting view from up top. On the side of the river that I was on, you could see a range of different buildings, old and new but across the river it looked like apartment building after apartment building, all in various colours. I definitely got the sense of communism just by looking that way as this was the main type of accommodation for the working classes in communist times.

After that, I had just enough time to grab a meal. I found a place in the old town that seemed to brew their own beer so I took advantage. I also tried their local dish called bryndzové halušky and it was pretty tasty. It was like a pasta/gnocchi with sheep cheese and bacon.

Bratislava was an interesting city. It gets a bad rep because of the movies Euro Trip and Hostel supposedly, which is unfortunate. If you don't know the movies, one pokes fun at the city and the latter is a horror film about some travellers who stay at a hostel...and you can guess the rest. It's a bit run down with the remnants of being a former communist country but I would say its worth putting on your list and visiting. The time I spent was probably enough but I'm still glad I went.

So Sunday evening after eating the bryndzové halušky, I took a short hour train over to Vienna. I was getting in somewhat late, so after checking into my hostel, I just chilled and planned my out my next day.

It was another walking tour to start the next day. Before the tour though, I went and grabbed some breakfast at a nearby coffee house. The Viennese are quite known for their coffee and their own version of the cappuccino. It was pretty good I guess.

For the walking tour, I found the lady more so just taking us to random spots and talking about the history of the city..which is fine but I don't think I took any pictures while with the group. I also didn't realize up until this point that they speak German in this country. Am I dumb for not knowing that? After the tour was done, I went and took some snaps of St Stephen's Cathedral, Hofburg Palace, and others. Then I went to this awesome sausage stand that the lady had pointed out on the tour. I got this massive sausage in a bun and a beer and I was thoroughly enjoying Vienna.

My next stop was the Schönbrunn Palace. Very similar to Versailles in terms of its lavishness and massive garden. The sun had come out at this point which made my time spent in the gardens all that more perfect. If you had read my post from Paris back a while ago, you may know that I was in love with Versailles and I was very much enjoying this palace as well. If I'm rich one day, I want to have an unnecessarily massive garden to walk around like these ones.

Afterwards, I headed back central hoping to see at least one of the museums in the MuseumsQuartier. They were too pricey for my taste so instead, I caught the views of the Parliament building, City Hall, and Belvedere Palace, another lavish palace and gardens to stroll around in.

I also went and grabbed some coffee at another cafe with some apple strudel. The strudel was very disappointing and I swear it had peas in it. I could be very wrong and they could've been raisins or something but overall, it was not very good. For dinner, I went and grabbed some schnitzel at the Naschmarkt - their main market place.

For my final day, I visited the Central Cemetery. A weird spot to visit, but here lied many famous Austrians and musicians. The most well known in my books, Beethoven. They also had a memorial for Mozart as his grave is in an unknown spot at a different cemetery in Vienna. Other names you might recognise that were there: Strauss, Schubert, Brahms. I can't even express the endless amount of graves there were in the cemetery but it was eerie at first, but then turned into a more peaceful mood.

I thought Vienna was great and I would definitely visit again. I don't think it really gets talked about enough. There are so many stunning buildings, the people are nice, the food is good, and there's lots to do.