Day 5
So the main reason we were in Naples was because Lauren wanted to see Pompeii. I'm not as much of a history buff as she is, so I wasn't as excited but I went along for the ride. It took longer than I thought to get there. However, half the problem was the metro in Naples. It was slow & took forever the trains to arrive. Finally we made it to the train station & then had to figure out how to get to Pompeii. We opted out of taking a regular train there because it was more expensive, and took what was like their metro, but not underground went to local cities in the area. Now we weren't sure what stop we needed to take and almost missed it! Thankfully the girl sitting across from us was reading a Rick Steves' book on Pompeii, so we knew she was going there. When I saw her get off - I ran for the door & we literally squeezed through and jumped on the ramp before the train left again!
Then we spent the day walking around Pompeii which was HUGE. Definitely way bigger than I imagined it to be. It is pretty cool how a city like that can be preserved for all these years due to a natural disaster and then one day someone just stumbles upon it! The day started to get a little long for me, but I know Lauren was enjoying every minute of it!
We headed back for the train, but on the way stopped for some food. I couldn't decide what I wanted to eat, but in the end had some more pizza! Ooo yum - Italy! When we got back to the train station, we had to figure out our plans for the next day. We were taking a ferry from Bari, Italy to Patras, Greece. Bari was on the other side of Italy, so we need to find a bus or train there. We looked at train prices and times, and decided to go with the bus. It left at 8:20 the next morning, which was earlier than we had planned, but it was what worked best, so we went with it. We had to go buy the bus tickets from the booth which was on the street in the local plaza. I noticed there were quite a few homeless people there, in fact one that came up to us and was begging for money the whole time we were trying to buy our tickets. Then another man started following us on the way back to the hostel. Thank goodness it was day light & I wasn't alone! Nonetheless, I wasn't impressed with Naples, and didn't feel that safe - so I was glad to catch a bus outta there the next morning.
We went back to the hostel to take a break, as we had been walking all day long. The whole time we were in Italy - the goal had been to find a nice place to have an authentic dinner. The problem was things were still closed from Easter, and that made it really difficult! We ended up stopping a small market where Lauren bought materials to cook for dinner & I went back to the cheap pastry shop and bought my dinner. Lauren attempted to concoct an Italian dinner, which turned out pretty good in the end! I was pretty exhausted after that, so it was bedtime ;o)

Day 6
We got up really early and decided to walk to the bus stop because the metro had proved to be more trouble than it was worth. The bus stop was literally just on the street and not a bus terminal we were used to. So I started getting a little nervous because it started getting closer and close to the time to leave and still no bus! In the end, it ended up showing up at the exact time, opened the doors - we got on & it left! Thank goodness we weren't late! So then we sat back and relaxed for the next couple hours as we traveled across Italy! When we got to Bari, we had no idea how to get to the port. We stopped several times to ask for directions & finally got a map and walked there. Thank goodness it was a beautiful day! We bought some french fries and sat by the water for awhile to rest. Then we went to find our check in point & got our boarding passes. We had a lot of time to kill & still wanted our authentic dinner, so we wandered around Bari for awhile. The restaurant we stopped at seemed to only offer one item, which confused me, but it sounded good so we went with it! It was orrechiette pasta - apparently a specialty of the region - with a red sauce and mushrooms. Yumm! We walked around a bit more & had our last gelato of Italy and headed back to the Port.
Boarding the ferry was pretty sweet! I have never been on a cruise before, so this was the closest thing to it! We took 2 escalators up (escalators on a BOAT?!?!) and then found the lobby, and continued onto our room! Our room was really cute - it had four beds & a tiny bathroom, with shower & hot water! We ended up getting one roommate - an older lady who didn't speak any English, so that didn't work very well, but luckily she wasn't around much! Lauren wanted a hot shower & then we went up on deck to watch the ferry leave the port! Ciao Italy - only a 16 hour ride and we would be to Greece!

Day 7
I was woken by the PA system announcing breakfast would be served for an additional 15 minutes. Followed by a knock on our door saying we needed to get out because they needed to clean before we got to the port in Greece! It threw me off because I was planning on showering and taking my time, but alas, change of plans. So we got dressed quick & went to hang out in the lobby as the boat docked. Coming into Greece was incredible! There are not even words to describe how beautiful it was; I would go back in a heartbeat! We got off the boat & after a lot of waiting around, caught a bus to Athens. Another couple hours on a bus and we would be in Athens!
So the bus in Athens left us off on a random street with no map or anything to guide us. We walked around for awhile and could not find our hotel, so we finally stopped at a travel agency and got a map. Turns out it was very close to where we started! We got settled and then went in search of food & shopping. We stopped at this cute restaurant where I ordered a chocolate milkshake! I know, not authentic, but I had been craving one the whole time I was in Europe. It was delicious & I also tried Lauren's gyro which I loved. It was my goal for the next day to find one for dinner! Not too much sightseeing yet, but LOVING Greece!

Day 8
First thing in the morning we set off to see the Akropolis. I looked way up there & thought there is no way I'm climbing all the way up there! But the climb wasn't really that bad. The hard part was finding the actual entrance. Surprisingly enough, they let us in free! Yes, I love free things! It's pretty incredible to see ancient Greek architecture. I can never wrap my mind around how OLD this stuff really is. Then we wandered down to see the Agora. Again, incredible stuff! We had some lunch & then did some souvenir shopping & checked out their market/fair. O how I loved Athens! We had to go back to the hotel to meet Lauren's friend who was coming, and on the way back we picked out a cute little place for dinner (they had gyros!) and we promised the manager we would be back. We sat in the National Gardens while I wrote my postcards and then went back to the hotel. Once Lauren friend got there, she wanted to go with her to meet some other girls from their program. Then we headed to the Olympic Stadium, which is what I picked out to do that day! I thought it would be cool to see the stadium in the city where the Olympics started - even if it was the brand new one! It was really cool to walk around & just imagine all the people who had been there. I sooo want to go to the next Olympics that are in the States; it's fun to people watch and be part of a historic world event!
So we took the next metro back in, and found our restaurant for dinner. The manager recognized us and was so excited we had kept our promise and came back! I had a delicious gyro, which I'm so glad I tried. And another day was over.
I absolutely loved Athens. There was something about the city, it was clean & friendly. An interesting aspect were all the dogs roaming around. They didn't hurt anyone or look scuzzy; they were just hanging out ALL over town. Nobody was phased at all. I was really glad they had picked English as the roman letter language to put their signs in. I tried looking at the Greek alphabet, but it was hopeless. If not for the English street signs, it would have been awful trying to maneuver around! I was disappointed though, because I wanted to see what they show in the movies - the little towns, built on the hills with the donkeys riding up & the white houses w/ blue roofs. I guess you have to go out to the islands to see that. So someday I will go back and see that!