Day 265 - 16 Mar '24 - Athens, day three. It was another sunny morning, so I decided to wear shorts again for our third day in Athens. I regretted my choice after a couple of hours, when the sun went behind the clouds, and didn't properly come back out until 5pm.
Our first sightseeing spot was Syntagma Square, which was directly in front of the Hellenic Parliament. It was a lovely wee spot, with a fountain in the middle, and a man playing violin to some backing music.
We walked a short distance to the Temple of Olympian Zeus. This temple was once the largest in all of Greece, with 104 columns each 17m high and 2m wide, on a site that measured 41m by 108m.
Only 16 columns remain, including one that fell down in a storm in 1852. The rest of the temple had been scavenged over time to build other buildings and temples.
At one end of the grounds, was the Arch of Hadrian. It was built by the people of Athens as a thank you to the emperor Hadrian, who had been a major benefactor of the city.
We then walked to the Panathenaic Stadium, the original home of the modern Olympic Games! This stadium was originally built in limestone circa 330BC to house the Panathenaic Games, which had been running every four years from 566BC. In 144AD, it was fully replaced with marble, and had around 50,000 seats.
The Games kept going until the 3rd century AD, at which point the stadium was abandoned. It was partially excavated in 1869, and the following year, a precursor to the modern Olympics was held - the Zappas Olympics. In 1895, it was fully excavated and restored in Pentelic marble, back to the original design from Herodes Atticus, and in 1896, the Modern Olympic Games started.
It had an incredible view of the Acropolis and Parthenon from the top row of seats; the Acropolis was so large, the perspectives from this distance all looked wrong! It didn't look quite so domineering when we were up close to it.
"And just think," I commented to Dan, "the Temple of Zeus was even BIGGER than the Parthenon. Imagine how utterly MASSIVE it must have been!"
Alex and Abi had a lot of fun running twice around the track, which had 204m straights. Alex even ran around it four times, and joined us on the seats with bright red cheeks.
Under one side of the seats was a corridor that originally led to a 'magical' cave, where young, unmarried women would leave gifts to the goddesses, then strip naked and dance, guarded by elderly ladies!
Nowadays, the tunnel just led to a museum of the Olympic Games, where the torch from each one was displayed on the wall. That was pretty cool to see!
It was shortly after 1pm when we left, and walked to a nearby-ish gluten free bakery. It didn't have the cheap-and-easy pastries the rest of us had been eating, but Abi enjoyed her slice of mushroom quiche, chocolate brownie, and chocolate donut, and we also bought a baguette for her to eat later.
Dan, Alex, and I had to wait a little longer to get our food, and at 2pm we gave up on finding a bakery and bought some pastries from a supermarket. This was much to Alex's disgust, as there wasn't the pastries he wanted and I had said "no" to "let's keep walking". Naturally, when the lasagne he'd asked for was served cold, and wasn't even the one he wanted, it was my fault.
"THIS ISN'T LASAGNE!"
"Yes, it is!"
"No, it's not, there's no mince or tomato sauce!"
"We've told you before, lasagne is the pasta. Sometimes it comes with mince and tomato sauce. Sometimes it doesn't."
"I'm not eating it!"
"Fine! Go hungry!"
We sat down on the kerb outside the shop to eat our lunch, while Alex moped. And glared. And grumbled. And eventually had a bite. And decided it was actually quite nice. And ate half of it.
We had one last place to visit that was included in the multi-site ticket, which was Aristotle's School, the Lyceum. On the way there, we happened to walk past the presidential palace, and out front were two guards at attention.
They were Evzones, members of the presidential guard, and they had the most hilarious marching style! They honestly looked like they'd copied their walk from Monty Python, and their shoes even had large, black pom-poms on the toes.
We watched them slowly walk up and down the road for a while, then carried on to the Lyceum. We got there shortly after 3pm and discovered it was closed for the day. Since it was another excavated ruins, and we could see it through the fence, we decided to give it a miss tomorrow.
We headed back to the apartment, then went to the supermarket to get dinner for the next two nights. Greek shops are shut on Sundays, and the supermarket was incredibly busy.
We branched out of our recent dinner menu, and had prawns and salad for tea. I also bought some olives (super cheap at €5/kg), some tzatziki and bread, and two bottles of bubbly rosé (also super cheap at €4.50!).
After dinner, we cracked a bottle open.
"How can they produce a bottle of wine for that price?" Dan asked.
We both had a sip, grimacing slightly.
"Ah, THAT'S how...!"
Day 266 - 17 Mar '24 - Athens, day four. Another sunny morning and breakfast on the patio, enjoying the warmth of the sun.
I'd done some washing last night, and a second load this morning, so took advantage of the weather and put the clothes horse outside. Then we left the apartment for our one excursion today - Mount Lycabettus.
This was the large hill we could see from our apartment balcony, and was in fact the largest hill in Athens at 277m.
"We've got three options," I'd said to the kids at breakfast. "First, we take the cable train up and then walk down, second, we walk up and take the train down, third, we walk up and walk down."
"What about take the train up and down?" Abi asked.
"That's not an option."
"I want to train up and walk down," she decided.
"I want to walk up and walk down," declared Alex.
"Okay, I'm happy with either, let's go and ask daddy."
"Am I the deciding vote?" Dan asked.
"Right, so Daddy wants the train up. We'll take the train up and walk down."
We got off the subway at the base of the hill, then walked up, and up, and up, just to get to the train depot. By the time we got near it, we'd already climbed over 170m.
"Well, we've come up this far, we might as well carry on walking!" I puffed. "Look! There's the top! It's only going to take us another five minutes to get there!"
WHAT A VIEW! We could see all of Athens, the Panathenaic Stadium, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Ancient Agora, and of course, the Acropolis and the Parthenon. It was worth every step.
There was a quaint little church at the top for Saint Isidore, a bell tower, and a café. Part way down the hill was a restaurant with unequalled views of the Acropolis - must cost a fortune to eat there!
"Definitely wouldn't be going there for dinner with the two of you!" I said to the kids.
"Nope!" they agreed.
We walked the rest of the way down the hill and then through a restaurant street at Dexameni Square, before heading back to Syntagma Square via the National Garden.
This was a large park at the back of the parliament building, and was filled with families. All the children were in fancy dress, there were balloon sellers, and people were eating candy floss.
We wondered what was going on; Dan looked online and found out tomorrow was Clean Monday, the start of Great Lent, so today was a party and celebration.
As we left the park, the sky got darker, then there were a few spits of rain that quickly got heavier. When we made it to the square, it really started raining.
"No! My washing!"
"It might not be raining at the house?" Dan hopefully suggested.
We waited out the rain under some orange trees (they were everywhere, lining every street, such an awesome initiative!), bought some pastries for lunch (LOVING their filo pastries, today I got spinach), then hopped on the subway back to the apartment.
The rain was even heavier there, and our washing was half wet again when I brought it inside. Bugger!
"Oh well, at least it can dry overnight."
The rest of the afternoon was spent indoors. Dan and I did some work, and the kids did some schoolwork, then we watched Avengers 2, and had icecream at 4:30pm, because we could. Nobody felt like dinner at dinner time , surprise surprise!
Day 267 - 18 Mar '24 - Athens to Bari. Yet another gorgeous morning, with blue skies and the sun streaming onto the balcony. I much prefer the cold in winter, but it's still nice to sit on a deck chair and feel the sun on my face.
We didn't have to leave the apartment until midday, which was perfect, as our train left at 12:35pm.
The rail network wasn't finished where we were headed, so halfway through, we all disembarked and got on a bus to take us the rest of the way to the port at Patras.
The ferry terminal was rather busy, filled with what looked like an entire year of a high school. After buying a couple of sandwiches at a mini-mart there, we went through the border control and X-ray.
"My little grey bag!" Abi suddenly said, with a look of horror on her face.
"WHAT??!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!" I yelled.
"Abi's little bag?" Dan asked.
"Yes, it's not here," answered Alex.
"WHAT?!"
"YOU'D BETTER GET BACK THERE QUICKLY! Alex, go with her. RUN!"
Abi's little grey bag had her Nintendo, her noise-cancelling headphones, her kindle, and her electronic drawing pad, as well as her cuddly toys, diary, pens, and a scarf. So, close to $1000NZD worth of stuff. I could have yelled louder.
Luckily for her, it was still where she'd left it while we were queueing up to get outside, and nobody had decided to nick it.
Not even two minutes later, she walked out the border control area and left her sunglasses on the table.
For crying out loud!
We had to wait a few minutes for the shuttle bus to take us to the ferry, and once on board, we dumped our bags in our cabin and headed up to the sun deck.
We had a lovely view of Patras, and there were hundreds of people having a picnic at a park and flying kites!
The next hour was spent playing various card games in the lounge, and then we paid for a not-inexpensive and sub-par meal. I had salmon steak that should have come out the pan a week ago and a lovely Greek salad with extremely pungent cow's milk feta (it tasted like the smell of a dairy farm). Alex had a portion of spaghetti bolognese that would have fed two grown men, Abi had chips and a well-over-cooked chicken fillet, and Dan had a succulent lamb shank. In addition, we had five mini dinner rolls and four cans of Fanta, all for the princely sum of €82!
"I'll tell you this much for free," I said once I'd finished, "I will never eat another dinner on this ferry again."
We dragged out the meal as long as we could, and watched the islands out the window disappear into darkness. Time to go back to our cabin and put the kids to bed.
We could have had free aeroplane seats on the ferry, but I told Dan to pay extra for a cabin so we could all lie down and get a few hours of sleep. Our cabin was very comfortable, with two sets of bunk beds, a wardrobe and bedside table, a window, and our own bathroom with shower!
All we had to do now, was listen to Alex go on and on and on about the ferry sinking. I swear to god, if it's not one disaster occupying his mind, like a tsunami in a sheltered harbour, it's another.
"Is it going to sink?"
"It's not going to sink."
"I can feel it sinking."
"It's not sinking, that's the engines."
"What if they don't set off the alarm?"
"You'll be able to hear the alarm, don't worry."
"What if there's no space on the lifeboats."
"There's plenty of space. There's only about 30 people on the entire ferry."
"Will I drown?"
"You're not going to drown."
"What if I fall out my bunk bed and break my neck?"
"Well then, if that happens, you won't need to worry about drowning when the boat sinks because you'll already be dead."
Good night, sweet dreams!
Day 268 - 19 Mar '24 - Bari to Naples. That sure was an interesting night! The beds were comfy, and the room was dark, but it was sooooo hot, like nobody-had-a-duvet-and-more-than-two-of-us-were-naked hot! There was an air ventilation system that was blowing out coolish air all night, but I don't think it could keep up with four bodies.
There were two dials in the cabin that may have been for the ventilation system, but your guess is as good as mine, when this is what they had on them:
1o2o3o4o5o6o and 123456123456.
Also, at 12:11am we were woken by an announcement "your attention please, the self service restaurant will remain open for another 30 minutes", which was immediately followed by "please direct your attention to a TV screen to watch the following safety video", both messages broadcast is Greek, English, Italian, and German.
Then, at 7:07am, another message told us the self-service restaurant was open for 30 more minutes.
"Where was the message telling us it was open?"
Not that we were eating on board, mind you.
We arrived at the port of Bari 45 minutes earlier than scheduled, which was quite impressive, but we didn't get to disembark until half an hour later. It was raining, and all us foot traffic people were directed to a nearby shelter to wait it out. or it may have been to get us out of the way of the 10,000 trucks that kept coming out the belly of the ferry.
"Oh no! We won't be able to see Bari now," Dan said, as we had almost four hours to wait until our train departed.
About 10 minutes later the rain stopped, so we all followed the demarcated pedestrian walking zone until we got to the free shuttle bus station. We couldn't be bothered waiting for the bus when we saw a man who had arrived there about 15 minutes earlier, so we started walking to the port building.
When we got there and looked at the map, we saw it was only another 25 minutes to the train station.
"Well, let's just carry on then!" I said.
It was a long walk, after a long night; it was about 38 minutes in total from the ferry to the station. On the positive side, we did get to see Bari after all! We walked past an old fortress, and then through the old town area of San Nicola (great name), before we headed down the main shopping street.
We put our bags in a storage locker then went to find some food. First stop was a dedicated gluten free bakery and patisserie, with lots of savoury options (arancini, potato croquettes, pizza, quiche, sausage rolls, pies) and sweet ones, as well as a large store selling gluten free items, including pasta we'd never seen anywhere else! Abi enjoyed her food so much, that after getting ourselves something to eat from a different bakery, I took her back to buy some more items for the train.
Dan and I split up to do some shopping (he went to buy a present for Alex's upcoming birthday, and I needed some socks), then met up back at the train station, where we discovered there was a cancellation with our train.
On 12 March, there had been a landslide that had damaged some track, so instead of getting a train from Bari to Carnesta, then from Carnesta to Napoli, we (as well as everyone else) got a train from Bari to Foggia, a bus from Foggia to Benevento, a train from Benevento to Carnesta, then a train from Carnesta to Napoli.
Not exactly what we had planned, as it was more hassle than we were wanting, and the journey took two hours longer than expected.
"That one hour flight from Athens to Naples is looking pretty good now, isn't it, Nic?" Dan asked me rather pointedly.
"Yes," I conceded, "but we booked this weeks ago before the landslide, and the ferry saved us a nights' accommodation, and we wouldn't have been able to see Bari or go to that gluten free bakery or buy socks, and we'd never have seen Foggia, and we wouldn't have received those yummy snack boxes on the train!"
We walked to our accommodation on the other side of Piazza Garibaldi, then climbed the five floors to our apartment. We were all done in; sore shoulders, sore legs, sore hips, and tired from our exertions plus the clocks going back an hour when we arrived in Italy. There was a bottle of water in the fridge, and a bottle of red wine on the kitchen table - nice! Nobody felt like dinner because we'd eaten so much on the train, so after a little bit of TV and computer work, we went to bed.
Day 269 - 20 Mar '24 - Naples. For some strange reason, we were all awake at 7:30am, which was only half an hour earlier than the time I'd set my alarm for. We were off to Pompeii, and caught the 9:45am train.
By the time we arrived about 40 minutes later, I had zero patience with our kids from having to tell them to be quiet, or to sit still, or to stop hitting each other, or to get ready, or to brush their teeth, or to not walk away from us, or to tidy their mess, or to stop making stupid noises, or to stop picking their nose, since 7:35am!
"For goodness sake! Can the two of you please just BEHAVE and BE QUIET! We've done nothing but tell you off since the minute you woke up!"
Some days, they are okay for an hour. Some days, they just rub us right up the wrong way.
As we approached the ruins of Pompeii, a friendly tourist worker came up to us and tried to talk to us about tickets. Naturally, we assumed it was some sort of scam and carried on walking.
"No, no, Segnora, it's not a scam, see?" and he showed me his ID badge. "I work for the tourist office over there, and you can't go in that entrance because it's for tour groups only. Come with me."
He escorted us to the tourist office, where he passed us over to a lady who then convinced us to buy a guidebook that came with a map, and was only €10. By comparison, an audio guide was €10 per person, and we had to hire a minimum of two. Plus, we would get to keep the book!
We walked 10 minutes past the first entrance to the second one, which in reality was better, as it meant we could start at one end and walk our way through the complex. Before we'd even made it through the gates, Abigail was in trouble for wandering off and for not coming when we called her. In fact, she was away out of sight for long enough for the ticket lady to only issue one child ticket and not two.
Then, when Alex asked to have a look at the guidebook, she refused to hand it to him, or me when I asked. She was told off yet again, by me, and when she kept walking slowly behind us, by Dan, who then grabbed her hand/wrist to keep her from wandering off some more.
She has been incredibly tiresome recently.
After almost 10 minutes of being dragged forcibly past everyone, she eventually decided that maybe it was in her best interests to walk with us nicely, at which point Dan released his grip and I asked her to read out the information from the book.
Pompeii was a town that in 79AD was completely covered by the effects of Mount Vesuvius' eruption. Pumice, ash, and gasses smothered everything and everyone, and was left untouched for almost 17 centuries.
Excavators found holes where bodies once were, and after removing some bones, would fill the holes with a mixture of gypsum and water. When that hardened, and they removed the layers of rock, they found the shapes of people in the moment they died. Some were lying peacefully on their back (asleep, or resigned to their fate?), some were sitting with their knees curled up (praying or covering their mouth?) and some were lying where they fell as they tried to outrun the impossible, protecting a few valuables or children as best they could.
It was remarkable to walk down the roads and see the tracks worn into the stone by the carts, and all the houses and shops that opened onto the street. Periodically, there would be one or two stepping stones for people to use (no occasionally supplemented by metal grilles for wheelchairs or prams), to avoid standing in the water or filth that may have been on the road.
What really amazed us all, were the number of tiled floors and frescoed walls still in excellent condition. Some walls were red with beautiful paintings and framed illustrations, and some walls were green and gold and black, with flowering trees!
The mosaic floors were incredibly detailed, and clearly told stories to those who crossed the threshold of the houses, like 'I am someone who likes water, or works with the sea' and 'I am someone who likes dogs and has a guard dog at the door'.
We stopped for a while to have some lunch we'd brought with us (to avoid exorbitant prices onsite), and had a great view of Mount Vesuvius. We could clearly see how close it was to Pompeii, and could only imagine how terrifying it must have been to see it erupt and head towards them.
After lunch, we walked through a few more streets, with Abi taking great delight walking around with the guidebook held high and speaking into a drink bottle, and Alex being the navigator up ahead. They led us to some more of the people casts, a fantastic exhibition of artefacts recovered as well as some more decorated walls, and finally to the amphitheatre.
We'd then spent about four hours at Pompeii, and even though there were more things to see, it had started to feel a bit repetitive. We were also getting thirsty, and we refused to spend €4 on a 330ml bottle of soft drink.
We left the park and found a nearby vending machine shop, where the drinks were only €1.50 - much better! It really sucks that attractions worldwide charge like a wounded bull, where there really isn't any need for it. It is purely greed.
We were unfortunately two minutes late for the train, but luckily the next one came along just 30 minutes later. We had been close to Sorrento while at Pompeii, and it would have been lovely to see, but we didn't have the time. Maybe if I come back in another 20 years, I'll get to see it then!
Back in Naples, we did a shop at a supermarket at the train station, then went back to our apartment. Dan and Abi went back out again to get some supplies for Alex's birthday, as well as collect Dan's new sunglasses.
"It's pretty amazing that I ordered them in Greece and got them delivered to a DHL dropbox in Naples," he said when they returned. "I was really doubtful it would work!"
"I wonder how long you'll have these ones for?" I said rather cynically.
We had a delicious pasta and salad for dinner, as well as two sips each of what turned out to be a not-very-nice free bottle of red wine, which the rest of got poured down the sink. Dessert was Haribo gummy bears.
"They were only €2.50 each, mummy!" Abi said. 1.2kg of gummy bears for €2.50. Naturally, Dan bought two boxes.
"I think they fell off the back of a truck," Dan said with a smile.
After dinner we watched Ant-Man, even though it ended an hour past the kids' bedtime. Well, we don't have to get up early tomorrow!
Day 270 - 21 Mar '24 - Naples. Alex's 12th birthday! Today was a sightseeing day of Naples, just what Alex had always envisioned doing on his birthday. My parents called to wish him a happy birthday, closely followed by Dan's parents, then we left to see the city.
We first went to the Naples Cathedral, which had fabulous paintings on the ceiling, and some beautiful artwork in rooms off the side. There was a service happening when we were there (even though we were in the allocated visiting time), so we didn't hang around too long, especially once we'd seen the sign saying no shorts or tshirts!
We walked through some of the old streets of Naples, meandering through Spaccanapoli and Via San Gregorio Armeno. They were very clearly tourist traps, with every single shop selling tat.
We carried on to the Complesso Museale di Santa Chiara, a church and museum that was supposed to have beautifully tiled cloisters, but we couldn't see where they were, so continued our journey.
Next stop was Piazza del Gesu Nuovo, which had an incredible column called Collona di Sant'Oronzo, as well as a church with a very unusual facade - it was completely covered in pyramids!
We kept walking to the Fontana del Nettuno, a fountain dedicated to the god Neptune. From there we could see Castel Sant-Elmo on the top of the hill, as well as Castel Nuovo near the waterfront. There was also an interesting piece of public art, a white goddess-like statue next to a mountain of clothes.
"She hasn't done her laundry for a year!" Dan said, laughingly.
It was then lunchtime, and when in Napoli, you eat pizza! We had seen lots of pizzerias advertising gluten free on our travels, and I had done lots of searching last night, so I knew we would find something. Sure enough, just 100m up the road, we found San Carlo Pizzeria and Trattoria.
Freshly made Napolitana-style pizza. Thin bases with a fluffy crust at the edges, and just a few tasty ingredients. Abi had a Margherita (tomato, basil, oil, cheese, salt), I had Filetto (cherry tomato, basil, cheese, oil, salt), Dan had Buffala (tomato, buffalo mozzarella, basil, oil, salt), and Alex had Calzone al salame o al cotto (ham, ricotta, cheese, tomato, basil, oil, salt).
Abi was full from eating gummy bears all morning, but she did eat about a quarter of her pizza, Dan didn't really enjoy his pizza due to the water content from the tomatoes, Alex didn't much like the ricotta but loved the flavour of his calzone, and I enjoyed every mouthful of the half I ate before swapping it with Alex.
Dan was the only one who managed to eat his entire pizza, and the rest we put in a couple of boxes to take away. Only €45 for four pizzas and four drinks, including the cover charge - fantastic value!
We kept on going, popping in to Galleria Umberto, a stunning enclosed shopping plaza with a really high glass domed ceiling. There were quite a few high-end clothing shops that we admired from afar, then walked quickly past. Beautiful dresses and smart suits that could stay on the mannekins.
Our next stop was the Piazza del Plebiscito, a semi-circular public square that had the San Francisco di Paola church, a Royal Palace, and two other smaller palaces. It was named after the referendum in 1863 that led to Naples joining Unified Italy.
We walked along the waterfront to the 12th century Castel del Ovo, so named after a legend about an egg buried in a jar - it is said that when the egg is broken, the castle will fall. It must be an incredibly well-protected egg, as the castle is still standing!
Time to head home. Abi was complaining about having to walk 45 minutes back to the apartment, and Alex keen to start his 'party'. On the way back along the waterfront, a man on a scooter stopped to ask for directions.
He pulled out a map, telling us he was trying to get to Piazza Garibaldi, which is exactly where we were heading. It was straight along the road, so I checked the directions on my phone and told him which way to go. He told us he was from Switzerland, and after asking where we were from, told us his sister-in-law lived in Wellington. He also told us he was a merchandise rep for Ferrari, and as a thank you, he would give us these two Ferrari watches he had in his bag.
"Oh wow, that's so kind of you," we all said. "Thank you very much!" "You're welcome, you're very nice people, I'm sorry I don't have four!"
"That's okay, not a problem."
"Do you have any euro for me to fill up my scooter? My car is at the train station."
"Em..."
At this point, I was thinking "aha, here it is, here's the scam" and was going to hand the watches back, but the kids were thrilled with them, and Dan already had his wallet out and had given the man €5.
"What about €20?"
"No, that's all we've got. We've only got €50s, and we're not giving you that."
"€10?"
"Here's another €1."
"Okay, thank you, you're very nice people. My email is in the bag, please get in touch when you are in Switzerland. Bye!"
He drove off and we opened up the watch boxes. They were definitely Ferrari watches. The tiny piece of paper that was badly printed and stuck onto the dial said so.
"Ha ha ha ha ha," we all laughed. "What a scam! That was brilliant! So clever! He really had us"
"Happy birthday Alex, didn't you want a watch?" I said.
"Yes, and this is a Ferrari one!"
"Not bad for €3," said Dan. "Do they work?"
"Yep."
"Even better!"
We had a chuckle all the way back to the apartment, amazed at how easily we were suckered into such a clever scam. We even talked about the red flags we had seen and ignored, like him coming from Switzerland yet speaking with an Italian accent, working for Ferrari yet driving a scooter and not having any money for petrol, and being the manager of the merchandise division yet having hardly any teeth, and the ones he had being brown and yellow. Luckily we hadn't had a €20 or a €10 on us, or we wouldn't have been laughing quite so much.
We stopped on the way to buy a sfogliatelle for Alex, a typical Napoletana pastry for him to enjoy on his birthday. That brought the party food to eat at home to 2kg of gummy bears, a sfogliatelle, two leftover pizzas, and a massive birthday cake we bought yesterday for just €4.99! It was a Christmas yule log cake filled with cream, and tasted yummy. No candles, but he pretended to blow them out anyway.
Time for the party - balloon fights and his perfect playlist on You Tube (basically all the songs we'd played in the car that he'd liked and kept a list of). Dan and I worked a bit while Alex played on his new birthday present, Super Mario Maker 2 for his Nintendo Switch - you get to build your own Super Mario levels.
Skooshy cream directly into his mouth (the only way to eat it) and marshmallows rounded out the day.
Day 271 - 22 Mar '24 - Naples to Rome. We couldn't have a lie-in this morning, as there were some workmen coming to fix the balcony doors at 9am. This had been arranged with the host, and he had brought us some pastries to thank us.
We lay on our beds for the next hour, staying out of the workmen's way, then walked to the train station. We didn't have to wait long for our train, and by 12:05pm, we had arrived in Rome. Unfortunately, we couldn't check in to our accommodation until 4pm, so we had to pay the extortionate price of €27 for two luggage storage lockers for four hours!
"Let's go and see what we can see, now we've got some time. Maybe we could just do the Colossuem and Roman Forum today, as they're on the same ticket."
It was either 21°C or 24°C (the pharmacies were showing different numbers on their digital signs), and it didn't take long for us to feel hot. We tried to stay out of the sun as much as we could, since none of us had sunscreen on. When we got to the Colosseum, we found out the morning session had ended and we had to wait until 3pm to be able to get in.
Correction - we had to wait until 3pm for the ticket office to open, and there was already a massive queue. Since it had only just gone 1pm, and we didn't feel like standing in a queue in the sunshine for two hours, just to get a ticket (!!!), we decided to just do a quick walking tour instead.
First things first though, Abigail. Also known as Miss Fussy. Also known as Miss Rude. Also known as Miss Argumentative. Also known as Miss Disrespectful. Also known as Miss Complainer. Also known as Miss Perpetually-Hungry-But-Doesn't-Want-To-Eat-What-Is-Offered-So-Clearly-Isn't-As-Hungry-As-She-Perpetually-Claims-To-Be. Sooo many aliases!
There were loads of gluten free restaurants around, but we were just after a quick bite. After discounting the cafes and bakeries that were back at the train station, I finally found one that was near the Pantheon.
"Great!" I said. "I've found one, and it's only 20 minutes away. On the way, we'll walk past a few things to look at that we can cross off our list!"
We stumbled across some ruins that were amazingly in the middle of the roads; the forums of Trajan, Augustus, Nerva, and Caesar, and the temples of Minerva and Marte Ultori. It was incredible these areas had survived all the building works around them, and recent excavations had unveiled green and pink marble floors as well as some beautifully patterned green marble columns.
Just past this was the Vittorio Emanuele Monument, a humongous edifice known locally as the 'wedding cake'. It was a huge multi-levelled white building, with two massive bronze quadrigas (one called Liberty and one called Unity), and of course, an even larger bronze statue of the man himself. He was the first king of Unified Italy, and the monument was built between 1885 and 1935.
As with many places we have seen, there was scaffolding and mesh barricades around part of it. Also happening, was the extension of the underground line, so there were even bigger fences and poles and some machinery right in front.
After the obligatory tantrum from Abi, we eventually carried on to the bakery. By the time we got there, it was only 15 minutes until they closed for the afternoon break, and consequently, there wasn't much on offer. A not-quite-10-year-old's-tastebuds meant there was even less.
"Okay Abi, this is what's on offer now," I said, as I patiently listed what was available. "A rice salad, mozzarella and prosciutto, and roasted onions and spinach with mozzarella." "I don't want any of that."
"Well, that's all there is."
"Is there nothing else?"
I asked the lady behind the counter if there was anything bread-ish. She pointed out the focaccia, which Abi could even have made into a sandwich with mozzarella and prosciutto.
"I don't like mozzarella."
"Fine, don't get the cheese."
Once the lady had cut off a wedge of the bread and gone away to make the sandwich, Abi asked if she could have the rice salad instead.
"NO!"
The bread was sold by weight, and the amount of prosciutto in it would have cost about $30 (if not more) in New Zealand. I had a small bite, and it was delicious; the bread was so moist and fluffy, it had just the right amount of salt and herbs and olive oil, and it was really nice proscuitto.
"I don't want it. I don't like the ham. It's got no cheese. It's got lots of salt on it."
"WELL, YOU'RE GOING TO EAT IT OR WE WILL. We have just walked almost 30 minutes across Rome to get YOU some food. The rest of us haven't eaten anything! We're sick and tired of you complaining about EVERYTHING! You haven't even tried it!"
There was a hole-in-the-wall type of pizza place across the road, so the rest of us bought a slice each of reheated pizza, and we walked around the corner to the Pantheon. There was a queue of people waiting to get in, as well as loads of people milling around or sitting at cafes around the edges.
"It's too late for us to go in, as we have to make it back to the lockers," I said to Dan. "We can come back another day. We're here for five days after all."
On our way back, we walked past the Trevi Fountain. It is a surprising place, as it isn't visible from anywhere due to its location being completely surrounded by buildings that have obviously been built after-the-fact. Suddenly, you round a corner, and there it is.
"Wow! There are so many people!" Dan said, amazed. "I really didn't think it would look like this!"
"I know!" I agreed, "and this isn't even summer time."
"I guess they're all here now because of the afternoon sun."
"I'm pretty sure it's like this all the time."
We gave the kids a coin each, as legend dictates that when you throw a coin in the fountain, you are sure to return to Rome. This was my third visit to Rome, and I'd thrown a coin in there twice, so I guess it's true! I didn't throw one in this time...
It was a long walk back to the luggage storage, and then an even longer 19 minutes to our apartment. Our bags have all become much heavier. I started our journey with 17.6kg, and my bag now weighs 20kg. I have gained a pair of trail shoes, four stainless steel mugs, some winter socks, a thick jumper, a thin jumper, thick gloves, a tshirt, a card game in a tin, and a duffle bag for airline transportation. It is no longer including Abi's winter jacket as Dan is now carrying that, likewise her Chromebook, and it doesn't have my zip up fleece, as I'm carrying that by hand because there's no space in my rucksack.
Alex now has a winter jacket, two duffle bags, a pair of hiking boots, a jumper, two extra tshirts, and some socks. Dan has two boxes of laundry detergent pods (one regular that we were all using until I found a sensitive one for me), a bottle of laundry stain remover, Abi's Chromebook and jacket as previously mentioned, a jumper, some socks, and winter gloves. Abi has some socks, and her trail shoes.
Plus our bag of groceries. Plus the 2kg bag of gummy bears.
And soon we'll have Dan's next supply of medical equipment to divvy up! We're going to have to send some stuff home. Or leave it somewhere. But we can't keep going like we are.
"I think tomorrow we should just have a quiet day at the house," Dan suggested at dinner. "We're all tired, plus it's Saturday tomorrow, so the crowds will be worse."
"I agree," I said. "We had a bonus afternoon of seeing things today, so maybe a quiet day of rest is a good idea."
We put the kids to bed at 8:10pm. At 9:10pm, Abi was shifted to the hallway to sleep on a blanket, and Alex was told to close his eyes to block out the light. Maybe a quiet day of rest is absolutely a good idea!
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