May 2008

OK so its true that everything always does seem better in the morning and it really does. I know have places to stay in Lyon and Paris -in the Latin Quarter no less, arent I cool?- so now feeling a little more relaxed and quite happy. Now just keeping my fingers crossed, and all yours too please I can get in to see Michelangelos David tomorrow -seriously you have to make reservations for the museum! I mean really who thought of that? Anyways feeling happy now and off for my train to Firenze...or Florence to all you non Italian speakers lol because clearly I am such an expert!

OK so apologies if this comes across as narky but my damned bank have cancelled one of my cards today and put a security check on the other. Didnt think to warn me you understand. So Im having trouble finding places to stay in France anyway so quite stressed but finally find somewhere for lyon and get message - card denied - OMFG. OK so tried the other one - card denied - aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stressed out of my mind. Try to phone bank on mobile and mobile says you are not authorised to call from here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Find pay phone. Only accept credit cards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway finally managed to get through on mobile to have them say that they put a security check on the card earlier but had already taken it off!!!!!!!!!!!!! And had cancelled old one because got new one. Well, OK but got new one two months ago! Going out of my mind. Thought was just going to have to fly back home with cash I have. SO PISSED OFF with Lloyds TSB. Anyway. Is OK now I think. Though mobile wont let me register card so doubtless no credit now.

Rome has been quite nice - nearly got run over on way to Colosseum as there was a marathon being run around it. Trevi Fountain amazing -wasnt expecting anything like as fancy as that! Threw two coins in but they havent worked so far. Still Im pretty sure its not time specific lol Went in loads of lovely churches though skipped the Vatican as decided to have a lazy day today so Im fully rested to hit Florence tomorrow, especially as Im hoping to get reservations to see Michealangelos David but no luck with that so far. Have decided I love metros as its nearly impossible to get lost on one! Always helpful that! Eating very cheaply - free if a little dodgy pizza at hotel. Broken bits of breadsticks at supermarket. Mozzarella balls for 47 cents so lots of tomato basil + mozzarella sandwiches which are delish. Also sundried tomato and olive foccacia for 1.50. Yay! Oh and Agean Airlines is the best airline Ive ever flown with. Seriously their economy seats are nearly as big as ba s buisness ones! Just a little promotion...lol

So...been around Athens since last blog -miles to climb upto the top of the Parthenon but really really amazing and wonderful views. You could almost imagine you were an ancient greek -except for all the tourists! Archaeological museum had some amazing stuff -you really need several days to see it all then off to Delphi yesterday. Delphi is a huge town -a grand total of 2800 people and about 4 whole roads! Amazing views of the countryside though right up in the mountains. Seeing the ancient town was very cool -being where all these famous legends have been-though no oracle to tell me whether I'm going to run out of money anytime soon! Crazy steps to climb up so naturally I've sprained my ankle plus from sitting on buses and so on my feet are so swollen I actually have CANKLES. Seriously. Like old people feet. Ew. Have been wandering around with a girl from Brazil staying at my hostel though which has been very fun. Plus she's vegetarian too so have tried some totally scrummy greek food. Traditional stews, stuffed vine leaves, tomatoes and peppers. Saganaki -cheese cooked with lemon and lots and lots of spanakopita for 1.50 euros each. LOVE GREEK FOOD. Also love hostel. Am staying in Athen's Backpackers and they have a rooftop terrace right under the acropolis. It's great. Plus free ouzo shot per stay so I've tried that. Well, it certainly stays with you for a while lol. Have loved Greece and, again, definitely coming back but onwards bound... Rome tomorrow!

Just a short entry to say I have broken my not getting lost record :-( 14 hr ferry last night so was planning on sleeping but everytime I was dozing off a steward would come by and go no, no you cannot sleep here. Well no kidding I can't if you keep waking me up! What the hell? So got like 2hrs sleep then was assured metro only 1km from port. Well, whatever was it! Took me like an hour to find it and when I finally got to the other end no one knew where the hostel was and it was off the edge of my map and wandered around for about 3hrs until finally just gave up and came here. More expensive though...and so knackered...so knackered.

So... I'm taking advantage of internet now while it's cheap (you should all feel blessed -I could have bought a Spanakopita with what this cost)I may have mentioned this before butI HATE having to make reservations I mean really, what the hell? I'd much rather just amble on as and when I feel like it. Nevermind I guess. I was also in this cafe last time i blogged and I couldn't mention it at the time but...OK so I talked to this guy at the ferry port -agreed to go and see his hotel/hostel which i must say is really quite scummy but he was like you know what -it's low season you clean for me for an hour a night you stay free. Well, a gal's on a budget so I was like OK but then he couldn't even be bothered to show me what he wanted me to clean so I basically just got 2 nights free acomadation! Yay! Anyway he said to me that there was only one other person in the dorm so i'm thinking that's great -good night's sleep etc. Then he goes: it's an Albanian and he's an alcoholic. Well, an Albanian alcoholic now doesn't that just sound promising! No actually he was pretty helpful and showed me here -which is why I couldn't mention this before.
Anyway, Rhodes has gorgeous old cobblestone streets and seems pretty much like what I expected of Greece -except with loads of leftovers from when it was owned by Turkey. (Mosques and so on) Beach gorgeous but don't dare swim. You can see there's a strong rip and loads of rocks. Mind you I was sat up on the fortifications yesterday having my lunch and looking down at the Agean and it was actually quite funny because all the tourists would approach the edge with trepidation but the Greeks would just hop right over onto the rocks about 15 ft below! Also I saw a funny sign yesterday. It said: "Don't Even Think About Parking Here". Well it amused me anyway!
Island life must be lovely and certainly everyone seems very laid back -and let's face it, it's hard not to be so close to the sea- but I'm feeling quite energetic so I've decided to head straight on to Athens. Night ferry (13 hours, how fun!) Oh and btw I have a tan! I know, I almost fell off my stool yesterday when I realised! Some people from Somerset were talking to me like i was greek! For real!