Hi all,
Sorry I haven't posted since Santorini. Unfortunately, I installed Microsoft updates to my Netbook and now I can't preview pictures. I haven't figured out what's going on yet. And what is a travel blog without pictures? Boring!
Anyway, here's a recap of Greece:.
All together I went island hopping to 4 different Greek Island - Rhodes, Santorini, Crete and Mykinos. Rhodes was definitely my favorite, probably a tie between Santorini and Mykinos but Crete was my least favorite. That surprised me because Crete is a big island and has so much to do. Unfortunately, the time of year I was there, the stuff I wanted to do was closed. The Samaria Gorge is a 10 mile long gorge, the longest in Europe and it was closed to hikers because of the bad weather conditions. It pretty much rained every day I was in Crete which puts a damper on things.
I flew to from Athens to Rhodes but I took various ferry boats between the other islands and then back again to Athens. I rode on big slow ferry boats the size of cruise ships and much smaller high speed Catamarans. The most unforgettable boat ride was from Crete to Mykinos on the Flying Cat IV. It was a 5 hour roller coaster ride that would raise you out of your seat and drop you every couple of minutes. I knew we where in trouble when the cabin attendant came around and passed out barf bags. Even worse, people sitting all around me took them and used them! Now I LOVE roller coasters but after 5 hours even I was feeling queasy. Plus listening to people throw up all around you is enough to make you sick!
After island hopping I ended up back in Athens where I spent a few more days hanging out at the Acropolis, Parthenon, Agora and enjoying the festivities leading up to Easter. Athens is a wonderful place with good food, lots to see and do and really friendly, nice people. If you ever get the chance to go to Greece - GO!!!
I flew out of Greece to Prague, Czech Republic. I arrived on the Saturday before Easter and the main Old Town Square looked like a giant Temporary Food Festival. There must have been 30 food booths with every kind of ham, pork, sausage you can imagine being cooked out in the Old Town square. I swear in Prague you are served meat for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. The only vegatables I saw were cooked cabbage and boiled potatoes.
The Danube River runs through the middle of Prague. Prague has enough sights to keep you busy for weeks. Old Town Quarter has the Charles Bridge, Astronomical Clock, Old Town Square and Tyn Church. I loved the Astronomical Clock - it is 600 years old, is the 3rd oldest Astronomical clock in the world and is the only one still working. Large crowds gather in the Old Town square to watch it ring the hour.
The New Town has Wenceslas Square (Yes, that Good King Wenceslas) and the best ice cream I have ever eaten (and that's saying a lot b/c I try out ice cream everywhere I go!) I laughed that the New Town is called that because it was founded in 1348.
On the opposite side of the Danube is the (possibly) the biggest Castle in the world. Czech rulers have lived there for over 1000 years. The Castle is surrounded by a bunch of Palaces and St. Vitus Cathedral and the Lennon Wall named after John Lennon because his (and the Beatles) lyrics are written as grafitti on this wall as a protest during the years of Communist rule.
I'm now in the Czech Republic but originally it was called Czechoslovakia and had been under Communist rule since WWII, until the Velvet Revolution in 1989. On November 17, 1989 riot police beat marchers at a peaceful student protest. This event sparked more (peaceful) demonstrations in the following days with 20,000 people the next day and 250,000 gathered in Wenceslas square on Nov. 20th. General public strikes ensued. By December the Communist Government had resigned and on Dec. 29, 1989 Vaclav Havel was elected President of Czechoslovakia. This non-violent overthrow of the Communist government is called the Velvet Revolution. In 1993 Czechoslovakia split into Slovakia and the Czech Republic, again without violence.
I did a couple of really interesting day trips to places in the Czech Republic (Chesky Krumlov - a fairy tale castle town, Terezin Concentration Camp and Kutna Hora - a cool old silver mining town with a really creepy church decorated with over 40,000 human skeletons. I'll try to do blog updates on these individually. In my spare time.
Shari
Shari
Sorry I haven't posted since Santorini. Unfortunately, I installed Microsoft updates to my Netbook and now I can't preview pictures. I haven't figured out what's going on yet. And what is a travel blog without pictures? Boring!
Anyway, here's a recap of Greece:.
All together I went island hopping to 4 different Greek Island - Rhodes, Santorini, Crete and Mykinos. Rhodes was definitely my favorite, probably a tie between Santorini and Mykinos but Crete was my least favorite. That surprised me because Crete is a big island and has so much to do. Unfortunately, the time of year I was there, the stuff I wanted to do was closed. The Samaria Gorge is a 10 mile long gorge, the longest in Europe and it was closed to hikers because of the bad weather conditions. It pretty much rained every day I was in Crete which puts a damper on things.
I flew to from Athens to Rhodes but I took various ferry boats between the other islands and then back again to Athens. I rode on big slow ferry boats the size of cruise ships and much smaller high speed Catamarans. The most unforgettable boat ride was from Crete to Mykinos on the Flying Cat IV. It was a 5 hour roller coaster ride that would raise you out of your seat and drop you every couple of minutes. I knew we where in trouble when the cabin attendant came around and passed out barf bags. Even worse, people sitting all around me took them and used them! Now I LOVE roller coasters but after 5 hours even I was feeling queasy. Plus listening to people throw up all around you is enough to make you sick!
After island hopping I ended up back in Athens where I spent a few more days hanging out at the Acropolis, Parthenon, Agora and enjoying the festivities leading up to Easter. Athens is a wonderful place with good food, lots to see and do and really friendly, nice people. If you ever get the chance to go to Greece - GO!!!
I flew out of Greece to Prague, Czech Republic. I arrived on the Saturday before Easter and the main Old Town Square looked like a giant Temporary Food Festival. There must have been 30 food booths with every kind of ham, pork, sausage you can imagine being cooked out in the Old Town square. I swear in Prague you are served meat for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. The only vegatables I saw were cooked cabbage and boiled potatoes.
The Danube River runs through the middle of Prague. Prague has enough sights to keep you busy for weeks. Old Town Quarter has the Charles Bridge, Astronomical Clock, Old Town Square and Tyn Church. I loved the Astronomical Clock - it is 600 years old, is the 3rd oldest Astronomical clock in the world and is the only one still working. Large crowds gather in the Old Town square to watch it ring the hour.
The New Town has Wenceslas Square (Yes, that Good King Wenceslas) and the best ice cream I have ever eaten (and that's saying a lot b/c I try out ice cream everywhere I go!) I laughed that the New Town is called that because it was founded in 1348.
On the opposite side of the Danube is the (possibly) the biggest Castle in the world. Czech rulers have lived there for over 1000 years. The Castle is surrounded by a bunch of Palaces and St. Vitus Cathedral and the Lennon Wall named after John Lennon because his (and the Beatles) lyrics are written as grafitti on this wall as a protest during the years of Communist rule.
I'm now in the Czech Republic but originally it was called Czechoslovakia and had been under Communist rule since WWII, until the Velvet Revolution in 1989. On November 17, 1989 riot police beat marchers at a peaceful student protest. This event sparked more (peaceful) demonstrations in the following days with 20,000 people the next day and 250,000 gathered in Wenceslas square on Nov. 20th. General public strikes ensued. By December the Communist Government had resigned and on Dec. 29, 1989 Vaclav Havel was elected President of Czechoslovakia. This non-violent overthrow of the Communist government is called the Velvet Revolution. In 1993 Czechoslovakia split into Slovakia and the Czech Republic, again without violence.
I did a couple of really interesting day trips to places in the Czech Republic (Chesky Krumlov - a fairy tale castle town, Terezin Concentration Camp and Kutna Hora - a cool old silver mining town with a really creepy church decorated with over 40,000 human skeletons. I'll try to do blog updates on these individually. In my spare time.
Shari
Shari
No comments:
Post a Comment