Sorrento, Italy - May 20 - 23 2010

From Bari we made our way to Naples by bus (which was preceded by an unbelievable difficult search for a mythical "bus station"!!), and from Naples we took a train to the town of Sorrento, on the north side of the peninsula which houses the Amalfi coast. The only thing we saw of Napoli was its main train terminal!

A view from the terrace of our hotel the first night we stayed in Sorrento (we had a different hotel the other two nights).

At the suggestion of a local shop owner, we made our way to this little pizzeria which was a bit away from the city centre (and tourists). As we waited for our take-out pizzas we saw them being made by the pizza chef! Little did we know, this would be the first in a VERY long line of pizzas as we make our way through Italy. When the budget angel (or devil, depending on your view...) knocks on your conscience, you end up with pizza in your tummy!

Stefan shovin' his face full of 'za like the gentleman he is... Keep in mind though this was the first meal after traveling from Patras to Bari, Bari to Naples, and Naples to Sorrento, which amounted to about 48 hours of traveling. So... maybe we can forgive him for scarfin' down his dinner!

He had a mushroom, mozza and tomato sauce pizza... simple, but damn good!

Cliff's pizza: another simple pizza with tomato sauce, mozza, and proscuitto. He's not a big pig-eater, but when in Italy...

The next day, we walked by a sweets shop and Stefan got this "Lemon Delight", which consisted of something like lemon mousse with pieces of cake soaked in Limoncello. YUMMY!

A view of a street in Sorrento from the main square (Piazza Tasso).

Whoa, check out the GIANT Nutella bottle in the window of a gelateria in Sorrento!! The bottles on the left are the normal-sized ones.

        

Inside the gelateria... so many flavours, and all done up so well!

A shot of the main square Piazza Tasso in Sorrento.

Sorrento by the water.

Sorrento's port.

        

We came across some enormous peppers in Sorrento. We had no idea they could grow to be so big. Pepper steroids are apparently legal in Italy!

Patras, Greece to Bari, Italy - May 19-20 2010

We arrived to Patras the next day to catch the 14-hour ferry ride to Italy.

A view from the ferry of Patras, a major port in Greece.

Another view of the harbour...

Patras and the smokestack of the ferry.

The ferry pulling away from Patras! Such a bittersweet goodbye to Greece! We were excited for Italy but also very sad to leave Greece, which we loved very much.

A bridge in Patras as we pull away from Greece!

Return to Athens - May 18-19 2010

After Chania we were planning to go to Olympia and Delphi for more ruins-sightseeing, but the frustration of trying to plan the two destinations with as little backtracking as possible (last-minute!) as well as the cost of what would turn out to be a half-day trip to each city ended up in our scratching the two sites off our itinerary. Sad, but we will return to Greece for sure in the future and will try to see them then. We returned to Athens for a day and night from Crete before heading off on a ferry to Italy. Our previous Athens Couchsurfing host Dimitri was generous enough to host us for another night while we were in Athens.

Here is a beautiful shot of the Acropolis in sunset from the neighbourhood of Gazi.

Chania, Crete, Greece - May 15-18 2010

After Rethymno it was off to Chania, a city in the west of Crete. A fair bit larger than Rethymno but it still had a really great little old town section, which was where we spent most of our time. We stayed in a little hotel on the outskirts of the city which was a tiny beach resort. Sadly the days we picked to go to the beach gave us non-beach weather, which meant we had no beach time in Chania!

A shot of one side of the harbours in the old town (the harbour was a U shape).

Some housing in the old town.

The shoreline of Chania was beautiful! Here we spent the day walking the coast of Chania. We would have taken advantage of the beach here if we were more beach-ready (we had nothing with us). For a beach that was butted up against the edge of the city it was certainly beautiful...

Another picture of the beautiful shoreline...

Ahh... Greece!

On our walk along the coast towards a particular neighbourhood we came across some houses which seemed to be reconditioned dilapidated buildings. They had a walkway built right to the edge of the water. How's that for a front yard?! In this same cove there was a very small "fleet" of fishing boats.

The same row of housing as seen from the sea level.

Just past the houses in the previous pictures is an industrial area which comprised of many leather tanneries. Many of them have been deserted what must have been decades ago and are falling apart, but we came across one which is clearly also very old but is still in use. In the bottom right of the picture you can see the massive tanning drum and on either side of the pillar you can see the pelts hanging.

A partial view of the tannery section in Chania. Stefan climbed onto the roof of one of the tanneries to present to you this spectacular photo!

Some church in Chania. We found it interesting how the blue dome, which is usually found in the Greek islands, is juxtaposed with the non-white architecture of the rest of the church.

A random house we thought had a lot of eerie character!

Another view of the old town harbour (this time from the other side of the "U").

An old town street.

Cliff's entree: a Cretan salad! Potatoes, cucumber, green pepper, tomatoes, dried olives, a boiled egg, anchovies, and ricotta cheese on top. Delicious!

Stefan tried a Greek beer named Alpha, which was disappointingly not great, but just okay.

And Stefan's main course: HOLY HELL! This may not look like much, but was quite possibly one of the tastiest things he has ever eaten! Chicken in a thick tomato sauce with tomato chunks, onions, spices, and fresh basil, surrounded by a puree of eggplant and spices. Now we don't know what the hell they put in there (unicorn dust?) but it was damn magical!!! We would go back to Chania for this meal alone!

The Raki and halvas which traditionally follows a Cretan dinner. No matter how many times you get it's still awesome! Free booze and dessert!

The restaurant where we had the dinner shown in the previous photos. Cute little street!

Rethymno, Crete, Greece - May 14-15 2010

After Heraklion our next stop in Crete (at the suggestion of a very nice travel agent!) was the town of Rethymno. It's a small city of about 30 000, and like Heraklion Rethymno had some ruins from the Venetian rule as well as the Ottoman rule. It's a very cute city with a wonderful "old town," where we were lucky enough to stay during our time here. The old town has cobblestone roads and lemon trees in the gardens!We couchsurfed here and was hosted by a really sweet and super-friendly girl named Maria who took the day to show us around!

Some great old architecture left over from Turkish rule. They look great in person because of their wood construction and character given their weathered look. It was a great contrast to the rest of the typical Grecian architecture.

A church in the old town.

The board of DEATH!!! In public square there are boards like this one where obituaries are posted. They list the person's full name as well as the name they were known by around town, plus all the other standard things like birth and death dates.

A view of the Rethymno harbour with a little lighthouse in the back!

A view from the top of an old fort (we can't remember if it's Turkish or Venetian) overlooking Rethymno.

Some cool headstones found in the fort and placed and displayed in an underground room.

A shot (from a window in the fort) of the coast where Rethymno is located.

Us trapped in the lookout point!

Throughout the old town you could find these beautifully coloured flowers!

A cute walking street in the old town. Notice the huge vine that runs up one side of the building and grows across to the other!

An old town street.

By the water in Rethymno you can find this sculpture, which is the official emblem of Rethymno.

Another shot of the harbour.

FOOD! This was a slice of chocolate-covered pastry-like bread with sweet crunchy bits on top. Most of the time you saw this as a full loaf about 10 inches long! Sadly we were too full (and not piggish enough) to eat a whole loaf so we had to settle with just a slice! Cover anything with chocolate and it's delicious!

A picture of one side of the fort facing the water.

Maria, our wonderful Couchsurfing host, with Cliff! We only had one day and one night with her but we would love to spend more time with her (whether it's in Greece or Timbuktu!) in the future!

An old town street at night!