Last Trip to Tuscany

Since the first weekend trip we took when we arrived to Italy was to Tuscany, we think it's very fitting that our last trip during our time here was also to this region. This was our fifth trip to Tuscany so we decided to hit a favorite city of ours first, Florence, and then move on to towns that we hadn't seen before - Pienza, Montepulciano, & Montalcino.

The drive to Florence took us just over four hours. Since we have been to this city many times in the past we decided to stay a little outside the city center in a more residential area. We really just wanted to take in the atmosphere of Florence, enjoy the food, and shop at the leather market. We did some damage at the market and we each ended up getting a leather coat... among other things :)

The next morning after breakfast we drove to a very small town outside of Greve in Chianti called Montefioralle (maybe 45 minutes from Florence). There is a small winery here owned by a lovely family. We sat outside in the shade with Fernando, a grandfatherly type, while he poured us tastings from some of his bottles.

After that we drove down to Montalcino and visited San Polo, a winery just outside of the town. The estate prides itself on not only having very good wine, but also because it is very eco-friendly. They are the second winery in the world that has received the CasaClima certification for ecological, environmental, and economic sustainability. The winery is both impressive in design and attention to its surroundings.

Montalcino

Wind tunnels for the cellar below

The natural humidity chamber.

We then drove to Pienza where our agriturismo was located. The agriturismo was situated in such a picturesque setting. High up on a hill with cyprus trees lining the dirt road, we were able to see the countryside for miles and miles. Breakfast was served each morning outside our room, with fresh eggs taken right from the chickens in the coop! It was simply gorgeous and it was the perfect place to end our time here.

View of Pienza from the agriturismo

Our breakfast area

The next day we went to Montepulciano. Montepulciano is a medieval and Renaissance hill town that sits about 2000 feet up. The area is very well-known for its wine and for its regional cuisines including "pici" pasta, lentils, honey, and pork. We walked through the town, climbed the steep hills, and window shopped.

Inside an underground old wine cellar

A sleeping cat

After lunch we went back to the area of Montalcino and went to one more winery. This was a pretty interesting experience as the one who was giving us the tour was giving us tastings directly from the barrels and barriques in order for us to taste different years in the aging process. Another reason we were tasting from the different barrels and barriques is that we were also tasting the differences between the Slovenian oak and the French oak. Even though I wasn't able to taste as much wine as I would have liked (Jon is now drinking for three) I was still able to taste the differences. It was pretty cool!

Pouring directly from the barrel!

Getting samples from the barriques.

We left Pienza around 11am on Sunday morning and started the drive back down to Naples. On the way down we decided to stop in a city named Tivoli, about 18 miles outside of Rome. Just outside the  city is a complex of ancient buildings built in he 2nd century by the Roman emperor Hadrian. Villa Adriana, or Hadrian's villa, consisted of over 30 buildings covering about 250 acres. We were amazed at just how large this complex is - we definitely didn't expect it when we decided to stop by. As impressive as they were, we were done after about 20-30 minutes... after two years of seeing many many many Roman ruins they really all start to look the same and start becoming less spectacular. With a shrug of the shoulders and the words, "Eh, it's more ruins" we called it quits. We hope we haven't become too jaded in our thinking...

Teatro Marittimo

Salla dei Filosofi (Philosopher's Room)

Heliocaminus (Baths)

We could not think of a more serene setting to spend our last weekend in Italy. We tried to take in as much as we could from gobbling on Tuscan specialties like ribollita, pici pasta, and wild boar, drinking the famed wines of the region - Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, and driving through the rolling hills and winding roads of the region. We could not have asked for a better end to our time here.

Athens, Greece

Our last stop on the cruise was to Athens, Greece. Athens is one of the world's oldest cities and has been one of the most important and influential cities of the Western world. The peak of this occurred during a period known as the "Golden Age" for 70 years in the fifth century B.C. Many efforts were made in architecture, literature, math, science, philosophy, and medicine, with many famous men leading the way such as Socrates, Aristotle, and Hippocrates.

We hired a private guide/driver for the day to take us to all of the important sites in Athens. Our first stop was the Acropolis. The word acropolis comes from the Greek words "akron" meaning edge or extremity, and "polis" meaning city. This impressive area is situated on top of a large hill overlooking the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great historical and architectural significance, with the most famous being the Parthenon.

We entered the Acropolis through the Propylae, the monumental entrance to the sacred area. It consists of a central hall with two wings on either side. We saw the Temple of Athena Nike, The Odeum of Herodus Atticus, the Theater of Dionysus, the Erechtheion, and of course the impressive Parthenon.

Temple of Athena Nike

The back of the Propylae

The Odeum

The Theater of Dionysus

The Parthenon

The Parthenon, courtesy of Ashley & Kamalan Selvarajah who had clearer skies than we did!

The Erechtheion

East side of the Erechtheion

Female statues used as columns at the Erechtheion

After our visit at the Acropolis our driver drove us up to Lycabettus Hill. It is the highest point in Athens and has a great 360 panoramic view of the city.

Next we drove to Maximos Mansion, which is the residence of the Prime Minister of Greece.

Jon and I standing outside with the guard who isn't allowed to move. 

We also went to Panathenaic Stadium, which is the site of the first modern Olympic Games held in 1896. It was reconstructed from the remains of an ancient Greek stadium.

We took a quick stop at the Olympian of Zeus, which started construction in the 6th century BC. It was a massive temple (the largest in Greece) that was dedicated to Zeus, the king of the Olympian Gods.

Olympian of Zeus from the Acropolis

Next we went to the Roman Agora, the marketplace of that time. It was built in the 2nd half of the 1st century BC, with the intention of transferring the commercial center of the city to it from the Ancient Agora.

Our driver Sakis then dropped us off for lunch at what he called the best place to have souvalkis. Souvlakis are very similar to gyros in that small pieces of meat and/or vegetables are grilled on a skewer and are put into a pita bread (or not) with a sauce like tzatziki or something similar. The souvalkis we had were fantastic! They were just what we wanted for our last Greek lunch.

After lunch Jon and I walked around the Plaka area of Athens. Plaka is the oldest historical part of Athens. It's built on top of the residential areas of ancient Athens and is clustered around some of the Acropolis. Plaka is full of labyrinthine streets and tons of shopping. We spent a good amount of time here picking up souvenirs and gifts, including a very nice cherry wood backgammon board (we heard that Greeks love backgammon).

One of the wider streets in Plaka.

Our last stop of the day was to the New Acropolis Museum. Having just opened in 2009, the New Acropolis Museum is very modern and is a beautiful place to spend an hour or two learning about the Acropolis and seeing items from the "sacred rock", although many of the original items are in Britain - a big controversy for the Greek people! There is a glass floor where you can see results from excavations. Pictures weren't allowed in the majority of the museum, but this is what we were able to capture:

The Acropolis from inside the museum

Excavations underneath the museum

By the time we knew it our day had come to a close and Sakis was driving us back to the ship. There is so much history here and to be able to see this city before we leave was truly fantastic.

Kusadasi, Turkey (for Ephesus)

After Istanbul, our next stop on the cruise was to a beach resort town called Kusadasi in Turkey. One of the main tourist attractions to see here is the ancient city of Ephesus, one of the great Greek cities in Asia Minor. It is also home to the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The town is further a sacred site for Christians due to its association with St. Paul, St. John the Evangelist, and the Virgin Mary (where it is believed that she spent her last days and died there).  Within the vicinity of the ancient city one can visit the ruins of St. John's Basilica and the religious shrine of The Virgin Mary's House.

Our time in Kusadasi turned out to be our worst weather day the entire trip. Not only was it pouring the entire time we were there, but it was also thundering and lightning. The lines to see the House of the Virgin Mary were 45 minutes to an hour long outside and, for people like Jon and I, we definitely could have skipped this part as it doesn't hold much religious significance for us. But we can appreciate the importance and meaning of it so we waited. We walked through the small house and then down a ramp where we were led to three different types of holy water. One was for health, one was for love, and one was for money. We got ceramic containers beforehand and we filled them with a third of each kind of water to bring back as souvenirs for friends.

The small house!

Holy water

Prayers and notes 

We then drove to the site of the ancient city of Ephesus. Ephesus is the best preserved classical city of the Eastern Mediterranean and was actually built four times in history. Just like many of the ancient ruins that we have seen during our time in Europe, this one did not disappoint. It's astonishing that these structures were built without the use of modern technology and even more so that they are still standing today.

Celsius Library - dates back to 2nd century AD

Grand theater - capacity of 25,000

Magnesia Gate 

Fountain of Trajan

Arcadian Way

Temple of Hadrian 

After leaving Ephesus we spent some time in Kusadasi shopping at the markets and eating a fantastic Turkish lunch. Not long afterwards we walked back to the ship and got ready to head to our last destination, Athens!