Do not go to Greece. I repeat, do not go to Greece. It will ruin you.
Fall break was a whirlwind, Whereas most people seemed to explore one or two places, I ran through three countries and five cities. First up was Prague. A midnight trip to a city where words look like gibberish is not wise unless you have an amazing friend who will come to pick you up in the middle of the night. The city is a gorgeous fairy tale, made moreso by the fall foliage. A chill wind follows you wherever you go, but it only adds to the surreal vision of autumn. It was a perfect way to start my journey. Two days was the perfect amount of time to tour the city-the castles, the cathedrals, the Jewish quarter (don’t go on a Saturday though, that’s silly, why would you do that?), the clock. It’s quite a bit smaller than London and everything is pretty much walkable.
But Greece. Athens was stop two. Let me note that I was a fan of Greek food before I ever visited. Now I am totally obsessed. No one can quite capture the same sticky, gooey filling of baklava or the right spices on souvlaki. I think I ate cheese every day, this coming from a kid who avoids cheese apart from pizza and tacos. The people a re wonderful. You can stop into any shop, restaurant, taxi, or person walking down the street, and they will help you find your hostel. I explored the entire area of the Acropolis before setting sail for a day trip to Aegina, the closest island to Athens. It was nice to have a beach day to shake off the autumn chill. There were so many cats on the island and I almost took one home with me, though I think it was just using me to eat my food. I left on Oxi Day, which I am totally bummed about. The day is so important they’ve named a main street after it (28th October Street). Oxi (or Ohi) Day is the day Metaxas, military general, denied occupation by Mussolini’s troops. There were parades and all museums and sites were free. Not a great day to leave a city!
My trip ended in Rome. After flying in to Naples, I took a train to Rome and met up with another friend. She took me on a hardcore speed tour through the sites of Rome. We saw everything in 2.5 hours. It was nice though because we went at night and avoided the tourist crowds. I only had one day in the city, which is certainly not enough time to truly see everything. I did get to enjoy pizza, pasta, and gelato. Really, what more do you need?