Three years, one month, and one week ago I started a blog post with the same sentence. Having the time of my life in Italy, I had just stepped into the Road and was giddy with the possibilities of travel. Yesterday evening, I arrived home in Istanbul from an eleven day journey through Greece and Croatia (with minor stops in Italy and Norway, and one 5 minute drive through Bosnia and Herzegovina). And I'm back on the Road.
This was my first time traveling by myself, and it was an incredible experience. I feel at once infinitely confident in my ability to go places by myself, yet more aware of the realities of traveling by myself. I definitely had some adventures: taking last minute taxis to make it to the port on time to catch my ferry; walking down a mountain and down a highway for a couple of hours to find the bus station that would bring me back to Athens; nearly missing the bus from Athens to Patra...most stories, of course, occurring due to my carefree attitude of "it'll all work out!" which, admittedly, it did.
To keep this post brief, I'll try to summarize the trip:
ATHENS: amazing, of course. To walk around the ancient Agora, to stand upon the Acropolis, to walk through a very dirty and vibrant and real and modern Greek life taking place upon the stage of ancient Greece...it was incredible. I was able to take a couple of excursions, one to a beach, and another to a monastery in the nearby Mt. Hymettus, both of which offered nice escapes into the gorgeous natural world. The food, of course, was mouth-watering, and the friends that I met in my hostel made my trip so much more memorable.
patra: I write this in lowercase because it was not truly a destination in my travel plans, but merely a layover of a few hours as I waited to catch my ferry to Bari. I had read online that there was not much to see in Patra. This reinforced for me that you cannot believe everything you read on the internet. I wandered up more stairs than I would have liked to reach the peaceful old city, with whitewashed houses piled on top of the hill, bougainvillea everywhere, and quiet, sunny alleyways to get lost in.
bari: Another layover city, I was in Bari from 9:30 (the time when my ferry from Greece arrived) until 20:00 (the time when I boarded the ferry to Croatia). I am so glad I went. To revisit my once-home of Italy was so fun--my Italian was rusty, but understandable, and the historic part of Bari--complete with fortress, cathedral, and various other sights--was great to visit. But to be able to once again taste pesto and gelato and proscuitto...mamma mia! Definitely the high point.
DUBROVNIK: One of my favorite cities ever (said anyone who's ever visited Dubrovnik). I arrived at seven in the morning, which definitely enhanced my arrival. It was grey and cool, just hours after a huge thunderstorm and a few hours away from another downpour. I walked about 45 minutes from the port, through the new city with gorgeous views of the sea, and once I entered Pile Gate and was in the Old City, completely surrounded by ancient walls, it was like magic. They call it the city of light and stone--much more accurate than any description I could come up with. The only element I would add is water; the clearest turquoise water I've ever seen, cold and salty and wonderful.
SPLIT: I initially wanted to spend two days in Split, but my inadequate planning made it such that I really only had an afternoon there. Perhaps it was for the best, as I was so tired by the time I finally made it there that I could only bring myself to visit Diocletian's Palace (breath-taking, of course) and have a walk on the beach and then have dinner, during which I was served two whole fish! Way too much food, but on the bright side, I now know how to properly de-spine a fish. Split was a beautiful, but odd experience, partly due to my being exhausted, partly due to the fact that I had to remind myself constantly that I was in Croatia, not Italy; they were so similar!
oslo: In what is probably the weirdest flight plan I've ever had, the cheapest flight I could find from Split to Istanbul included a 20-hour layover in the Norweigan capital. I decided to embrace my first opportunity to see Scandinavia, booking a hostel near the city center and walking around in the evening and the next morning. Although I wasn't able to really visit anything, I did see some beautiful architecture (the Akershus Fortress, Opera House, National Theater, Royal Palace, and Parliament buildings) and got my much-needed dose of fall with the brisk temperature and yellow leaves covering the pavement.
And finally, I arrived back in Istanbul, happy to return and happy to find that, for now at least, I really do call it home.
To travel, to meet kind people, to try new food, to see art that you would never otherwise see, to stand in places that people have been living in for thousands of years, to be moved by natural beauty, to be inspired, to open yourself like a cardboard box that can hold nothing but echoes of light and sound...in other words, to feel the call of the road and to not want to step back in the hobbit hole afterwards!
GREECE
FERRY #1
BARI:
FERRY #2
DUBROVNIK
SPLIT
No comments:
Post a Comment