We gave ourselves about an hour from the time we left the hotel to the time our train left. That gave us plenty of time to sleep in and have another relaxing breakfast at the hotel. As we finished up eating, we struck up a conversation with three Americans in their 50's. They were from Long Beach and come to find out the man was an urban planner. They were just arriving to Venice so we shared what we had done over the last two days there.

We got our stuff together and grabbed the crowded #1 towards the train station. That was an experience. We were pushed every which direction with our luggage. Josh was worried we wouldn't make our train so I struck up a conversation with a young couple from Malibu. They were going to Florence as well and Josh said they had been on our flight. 

Despite Josh's worrying, we got to the train on time. We had to ask about 5 times to make sure we should be getting in the Rome train. We figured out that the #6 on our ticket meant we should be on car 6. I, however, messued us up. When I had been doing my research I thought I had read that the difference between the 1st and 2nd class was that 2nd class didn't have assigned seats. I guess I was wrong for the Eurostar fast trains. After only one stop with us comfortably relaxing in our seats, we were interrupted from reading by an Italian couple who were standing above us and speaking loudly to us. We had no clue what they were saying which seemed to only make them speak louder. Luckily, the woman next to me explained we were sitting in their seats. I got scared that we had no assigned seats and had unfortunately chosen the two seats promised to others - meaning we would have to stand for the next two hours. The same woman took our tickets and showed us that we too had reserved seats right across the aisle. Whew. 

Sheepishly, we took our correct seats with a young Canadian couple. They had their own problems. No one told them that although they had seat assignments on this train, they had to trade their EuroRail passes for separate tickets. The ticket checker charged them 23E a piece and they were not happy. 

Two and a half hours on the train and we were in Florence. We both agreed how easy the train was. Quicker and cheaper than a plane. And more comfortable. 

Upon arrival, I should have known better than to leave the instructions for meeting Phil up to Josh. All Josh said was to meet him by the buses. Huh? I aimlessly stood around the buses while Josh wandered around to see if there were buses somewhere else. Just then I saw Phil through the crowd. He seemed so happy to see us. Josh emerged just then, too. After exchanging hugs we loaded into Phil's tiny little car (literally barely the size of the Smart Car). 

Driving in Italy is crazy. Josh kept comparing it to being part of the movie The Italian Job. After driving in and out of traffic we lucked into a parking spot and walked across the bridge. The weird thing about the city is that you have to have a special pass on your windshield in order to park in the city during the day. If you drive in there and don't have it, somehow a camera is triggered, it takes your picture and you get a ticket in the mail. A similar system works for nighttime. Because of the number of folks out at night, no one can drive in a certain part of the city between midnight and 4 am. 

We dropped our stuff and made a mad dash for lunch. Most places close by 2:30 pm or 3 for lunch. The first two placed we tried were closed and ended up at a place Phil had never eaten. I was decent, though. Wine, pasta, etc. 

After we had eaten we no longer had to run and followed Phil all over Florence. We saw the big piazzas, the huge modern light sculpture, some churches, the river and bridges, etc. We were quite tuckered out by evening and headed home to shower and rest a bit. 

Since we had a late and big lunch we just went out for appertivos. Appertivos are genius. the cocktail prices are outrageous here (8-9 euro minimum). However, every night (even Sundays) the bars serve appetizers from around 7-10pm. The food is free as long as you get a drink. Some places it sees to be a set price for the drink, too - no matter what you drink. THat is key as some cocktails are much more expensive than beer and thus a much better deal. We started at a place that had a really cool staircase leading up to a loft. The food was so-so but we were so full. Phil ordered a Nigroni that had those horrible bitters from the spritzers. I stuck with a rum and coke and Josh got his new favorite prosecco.

After a drink we headed to the next spot "Slowly". It was very cool inside. Long bar with booths on the other wall. One more drink and we all seemed down for the count. We were getting up really early the next morning. 

After 20 hours of traveling, door to door, we are safely back. For some reason the travel back was much harder on me. Probably because I was drugged up on the flight out there and slept the entire 10 hours of the Athens flight. The trip back was brutal. A long metro to the airport, 10 hour flight to Philly, 2 hour flight to Charlotte, lots of begging to get us on an earlier flight, 4 movies, lots of pretzels, you get the picture. I have never been so excited to see my bed before in my life.

So the trip was GREAT! I wouldn't say it was what I expected, because I really had no idea what to expect. I can't really compare Santorini to Folegandros; we loved them both for different reasons. Santorini was beautiful, touristy and commercial. We were not too thrilled about the town of Fira there, but much preferred the more artsy town of Ia (where most of the pictures are taken when you visualize the Greek Islands) at the edge of the town. We were technically there in "off-season" it Fira was jamb-packed with tourists. It was a bit claustrophobic and I can't imagine what it would be like in July and August.

Ia was pretty magical. Quaint back alleys with low doors, flowers and a bit-run down architecture that captures a charm in a way that is indescribable. We only saw a sliver of the world famous sunsets, but it was pretty. We really enjoyed this island and had the most memorable two meals (Josh and I are split on which was our favorite) and an awe-inspiring hike here.

Folegandros is a remote island of only about 650 inhabitants (If I remember correctly). It took quite a bit of work to figure out the ferries and we only knew if we would have a ferry back, 36 hours before its departure. Completely worth the trek, though. Folegandros truly felt almost untouched by the outside world. I say "almost" untouched, because although you could feel the authenticity here, the younger men wore diesels and ipods were used at hotels to play the mood music.

Our time on Folegandros was quite relaxing. Our most difficult decisions of the day were usually which outdoor restaurant to eat at under the hanging lights in one of the five beautiful interconnected squares. We found our favorite beach on this island and had some great conversations with other travelers and locals.

I completely maxed out the space in my travel journal and I apologize in advance for how long my trip report will probably end up. I look back on my Costa Rica trip and love reading what I wrote then as it brings back memories of moments that I would otherwise have forgotten over time. Please enjoy and I hope that by reading about our travels, you will get the travel bug too.

I'm going to post them according to the actual days, so go all the way back to May 27th to start, then work your way up (to read it in order)!

THE SUNRISE

We had read about the amazing sunset from above the church, so we planned to get up early and make the climb. The alarm went off at 5:15 a.m. and it was already getting light out. We threw on some clothes and literally went running out the door. I thought I would have a heart attack by the time we got up to the church. We then realized we had to go to the top of the peak above the church. (A good ways up the side of a mountain.) We climbed some terraces and finally reached the top. Actually we went to one peak and realized we had missed the high peak and I made Josh hike even some more. 

It was quite peaceful on top of the mountain at 5:30 in the morning. The ocean looked like glass with only a few fishing boats out. It seemed as though the only other living creatures at that moment were the roosters, donkeys and goats. As we sat waiting for the show, the sky had already started to glow red and a few roosters had now woken up. A herd of goats was on the adjacent hill and we watched as two of the younger goats got adventurous and took off down the side towards the ocean. We never saw what happened to them. It took ½ hour for the sun to finally poke out from the horizon. It was a red slice as it peeked out and quickly turned to yellow ball of fire. We sat on the rocks and watched until the sun was pretty high in the sky and headed back down towards our warm bed. As we stumbled back down the hill, we found that a herd of goats was blocking the last gate to get back onto the church grounds. We kept walking towards them, thinking they would scatter once we got close. We were wrong. As we got close, the Granddaddy goat started at us. He didn’t appear to be stopping and we back up a little. When we realized he really wasn’t stopping, and getting quite close, we got a little worried and started running up the steep incline.  Rocks were falling out from under our feet and we had no other option but to climb the church wall.  The wall was made of stones and we worried that it would crumble if we climbed on it. With Granddaddy Goat hot on our tails, we tried our luck and made it over the fence successfully.

A LAZY AFTERNOON & LUNCH AT POUNTA

Before heading back to the studio, we went to the bakery as soon as it opened at 7. We got some delicious croissants (one stuffed with spinach and the other ham and cheese) and headed back to the hotel. After doing some wash, we accidentally fell back to sleep and didn’t’ wake up until 11.  We were still exhausted when we woke up and decided to go relax at the pool and read for a few hours.  Josh was quite burned from our hike yesterday, so he found some shade while I lay in the sun. After a few hours, we got hungry and decided to try Pounta while it was still open.  I think I overheard the Owner saying that he closes each day at 4. The back patio at Pounta is really peaceful.  A few other couples were there and we were allowed to order off of either the breakfast or lunch menu. I was craving something different and hadn’t tried the Greek yogurt, yet. I ordered the yogurt with fresh fruit and honey. It was delicious and hit the spot. I now understand people’s love for Greek yogurt. It was light and whipped.  Josh had the “special potato salad” which was a warm salad with potatoes, zucchini, carrots, olives, capers, salt, pepper, olive oil & onions. He wasn’t crazy about it.

ANO MERIA

We had checked the bus times before lunch and headed out to the square to catch the first afternoon bus to Ano Meria, the other town on the island. We didn’t really know where to go or what to do in Ano Meria, but the bus driver told us to get off at the very last stop. He explained that the Folk Museum was back down the main street. We decided just to walk through the town, making our way back towards the museum. There really wasn’t much for us to look at in Ano Meria. We were able to see some of the terrain that we hiked yesterday and we realized we were glad we hadn’t continued on to hike to the last beach and then to Ano Meria after our lunch at the Terrace restaurant.  We knew that the next bus wouldn’t leave for two hours and we figured we could easily waste two hours just wondering around. The highlight of the walk through Ano Meria was the two old mills. The rest of the sites were mainly farm land and a couple restaurants. Only one looked as if it had opened for the season. We found the Folk Museum , but a local man across the street motioned that it was closed. It was only 4 and our guidebook said it didn’t open until 5. We weren’t sure if it would open or not, so we took the next bus back. We climbed up to the museum to rest in the shade while we waited for the bus.

DINNER AT PIZZA PAZZA(?), CHORA RESORT & FINDING EL GRECO!

Back at the hotel, we grabbed our books and some wine and headed down to the terrace again. There was a good breeze and the hotel turns on lounge music in the evenings. It was so peaceful with the ocean below us. Before we even realized it, it was already 8.  By nine, we had showered and were heading back out for dinner. 

On the bus ride we saw the back portion of Chora that we had never explored before. It was past all the squares. As soon as we saw the Chora Resort and a few other restaurants we said “ah-hah!” This must be where El Greco is. I’m not sure why we were so obsessed with finding this bar. I am determined no to be defeated and I wasn’t going to let one little bar get the best of me.  We didn’t go inside Chora Resort but peeked in through the gates. The pool, bar, grounds, etc. were beautiful. I haven’t checked the rates, but if the Cliffside location isn’t necessary, this place was gorgeous. Just off of our impression, this seemed more like a resort while Anemomilos was a family run group of villas. They would be hard to compare as they are so different. Next to the hotel was a cool looking bar that I think was called The UnderRoom. It wasn’t open, though, so I couldn’t check it out. Next to that was Sweet Chora. This was a really cool dessert shop. It was a gorgeous and modern all white shop. Very elegant. It looked brand new. We weren’t in the mood for sweets, so we can’t vouch for the food, but it looked delicious. Nearby was the closed Laomi.

We were in the mood to try the pizza place, so we headed over to El Greco, as it was located upstairs. This was the first place we went that was playing all American music. Rap, hip-hop, Elton John. It was a very eclectic mix of American music. Strangely, we were the only tourists there. The dinner was quite cheap. We got a full size pizza, half Greek - half 4 cheeses, and a Greek salad. After all the work to find El Greco, we weren’t in the mood to go to the bar that night. It looked like a neat place to hang out. It definitely had a bit of a funky vibe to it. On the way back to the hotel, we passed Eva’s Garden which is right past the last square. There was only one table of people inside, but it looked like a nice atmosphere with a lot of lit lanterns.

FINALLY GOT FERRY TICKETS

Before dinner, we headed back to El Diablos to check on the ferry ticket situation again. The girl behind the counter smiled and said that they in fact had gotten the schedule for Sunday. The boat we were expecting was on the schedule. Good thing since it was now Friday night. That was a little nerve-wracking. The Ios stop did get cancelled from our boat, so thankfully that wasn’t our ultimate destination.