It has been a whirlwind since the final trip of the semester wrapped up about a week ago. The trip started on June 30 with a flight to Spain, where I met up with Mackenzie and her family for a 6-day tour through a couple of the best spots in southern Spain. From there, I flew to Athens through Bucharest, Romania (where I had a 13-hour layover -- enough to explore the city!). I stayed in Athens for two days by myself before flying and ferrying to Skopelos island, where I met up with my parents and spent three days on the island before spending one back on the mainland. I flew out of Europe from Athens on June 11 and arrived at Dulles Airport at 8:00 PM. I got to my apartment for the summer at 10:30 PM, and woke up for my internship the next morning at 7:30 AM.
The trip as a whole (besides the 3 days in the middle in Bucharest/Athens) took on an incredibly different flavor than the rest of the semester since we were with our parents and therefore staying in hotels and nice Airbnbs and eating out many meals. While this did take some bit of the "adventure" element out of the travel, it was fantastic and much-needed after many months of noisy 16-person hostel dorms and countless ham sandwiches.
Spain
I flew from Copenhagen to Málaga, from where I took a high-speed train to Seville and met up with the Dalton gang at the hotel around 8:00 PM. On the way to the Daltons, it quickly became clear how different the terrain of Spain was from everything else I had seen in Europe. Rather than green and lush, Spain was rocky and arid. The color scheme was filled with far more oranges and tans than the green and blue that I was used to, but don't let that make you think it was any less beautiful. The train from Málaga to Seville was on of the prettiest I've been through, and it took me through the dramatic hills of Andalusia (one of Spain's 17 regions). Once reunited with the Daltons, we had some drinks on the hotel balcony (which had a fantastic view of the Seville Cathedral) before heading to dinner on the Guadalquivir River, where I had my best dinner in way too long, indulging in a bunch of different tapas. We headed back to the hotel and called in a night, ready for the next full day of exploring Seville!
I flew over this incredibly lake during the descent to Málaga --
hopefully it helps give you an idea of Spain's terrain
We awoke on Wednesday to a fantastic continental breakfast, during which I met Kelly. Kelly is a American-born who has been living in Spain for the past 30-years. She fell in love with the country after a summer spent living here between high school and college. Nowadays, she gives tours of Spain (as well as a few other European countries) and acts as a fantastically friendly guide of the country that she calls home. She spent a couple weeks with the Dalton family (including the 6 days I was with them) and quickly became integrated as another member of the family.
The breathtaking Plaza de Espana
The day began with a walking tour of Seville. We strolled through the tiny back alleyways of the city, admiring the beautiful mudéjar architecture (created by Spaniards as a throwback to the Islamic architecture that was popular in the region prior to when the Muslims were expelled). Once again, the tan color-scheme of the city was completely new to me, but also completely beautiful. After passing through the center of town, we grabbed some bikes and cycled through the Plaza de Espana (one of the most beautiful buildings of the semester) and the Parque de Maria Luisa, which was filled with wonderful green space and pavilions from around the world from the 1992 World Fair.
Biking through the Parque de Maria Luisa was a great way to see the big park!
After finishing on the bikes, we walked over to the Jewish Quarter, where we did a little more wandering before grabbing paella for lunch at a restaurant that also featured -- much to the amusement of Mackenzie -- a talking parrot. From lunch, we walked back to the center of town, where we parted with Kelly for the night, before heading back to our hotel to change, grab some dinner, then head out to the main entertainment for the night: a traditional flamenco show! The show lasted about an hour and a half, and was filled with dramatic, energy-filled dancing and clapping. It was a blast, and we all loved it.
Many of the very energetic flamenco dancers from the show!
The next morning we awoke to another great breakfast before meeting up with Kelly and heading into the city. We had two main destinations for the day, starting with the rightfully popular Seville Cathedral. The cathedral is the third largest in the world (behind St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London) and, of course, was filled top to bottom with beautiful works of art and history. Christopher Columbus was even buried inside! Adjoined to the cathedral was a museum of sorts, where we saw some of the old crowns and other finds from history.
Christopher Columbus' tomb!
After the cathedral, we headed to lunch before going to one of my favorite spots in Seville: the alcázar! A remnant of the time when the Islamic Moors were the majority in the city, the alcázar was historically both the palace and fortress of the ruler. The inside was covered in beautiful mudéjar architecture and included all of the features so common of Muslim architecture, from long reflecting pools to wide open spaces and rooms filled with large windows to maximize light. Even moreso than the mudéjar architecture I found along the streets of Seville, I fell in love with the geometric patterns and colorful tilework of the alcázar. A fantastic, beautiful complex.
A taste of the colorful tilework that covered the enormous alcázar complex
After a long time spent in the alcázar we left, pit stopped at the hotel, and strolled around the nighttime streets of Seville and along the river for a while before settling on a tasty pizza spot for dinner. From there, we retreated back to the hotel, ready for a busy next day of leaving Seville towards Ronda, our next (and, in my case, very anticipated) destination.
The alcázar also had large gardens in the back!
We took a rental car down to Ronda, stopping at a lovely olive oil mill with a fantastic view over the Andalusia countryside along the way. At the mill, we learned about the traditional process of producing olive oil and tasted some of their product alongside tasty cheeses, olives, bread, and sweet sweet wine. We continued onward from the mill about another 45 minutes before arriving at Ronda, a beautiful town strategically situated on the top of two large cliffs, with an impressive bridge spanning the gorge in between.
View from the olive olive mill, including the old machine on the right,
used for separating the twigs from the olives!
After settling into the hotel, we quickly walked across town and then down to the bottom of the gorge, where we met up with Carlos, our incredibly friendly Spanish adventure guide who would be taking us back up the side of the cliff via rock climbing. It was around the time that Kelly dropped us off with Carlos that we learned that he spoke basically zero English, meaning Mackenzie, Miller, and I would have to scrape together our mishmash Spanish vocabulary in attempts to communicate to him while hanging on the side of a cliff. This was going to be interesting.
Our view back up to Ronda after hiking to the bottom of the cliffs -- spectacular!!
The 6 of us (The four Daltons + me + Carlos) spent the next 30 difficult minutes scaling the craggy cliffside, finally arriving at the top feeling victorious and tired! We had finished the rock climbing and all completed it! We began taking off our gear, high-fiving, and taking triumphant photos. This is when, through our broken Spanish, we learned that we had only just completed the "easy" route up the cliffside, and had another harder one to go! We needed to make sure we were translating correctly about five times, because we couldn't believe that what we just did was considered "easy", but it was!
Breathtaking view of Ronda, perched on the cliffs, as well as the surround
Andalusian countryside. I took this one mid-climb while hanging off the cliff face!
After some disbelief, we descended once more and, after about 30 more minutes, fantastic view after fantastic view, and plenty of times getting saved by Carlos, we were back at the top and actually done! It was a super fun, but also very exhausting, afternoon exercise session, and we happily returned to the hotel afterwards to relax at the pool before venturing out to dinner.
We had dinner at an incredibly Spanish square, filled with boys playing soccer and families relaxing and lined with Catholic churches and countless restaurants alike. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner in which we celebrated Dr. Dalton's birthday, and returned to the hotel for the night a couple hours later full of food and happy.
All suited up and ready to do some canyoning (our guide Carlos is on the left --
that smile never left his face!)
Our next day featured more adventure! This time we were canyoning, which entailed putting on thick wetsuits and trudging through shin high water for a few hours with some tricky waterfalls that we needed to navigate down scattered in. Once again, the activity provided much more of a challenge than expected, but with the help of trusty Carlos (who was once again our guide) we were able to get down the three large waterfalls (one of which is accurately named "El Diablo") without breaking any limbs!
The Smurf Village of Júzcar from a distance - so funny and unique!
After a long and exciting 3.5 hours of canyoning, we traveled the short distance back to Ronda, passing through the unique Júzcar on the way back. Back in 2010, Júzcar struck a deal with the producers of the Smurf Movie, and, as a result, the entire city was painted bright blue! After filming in the city concluded, the producers offered to repaint the city back to its original white, but due to the dramatic increase in tourism, the city voted to remain blue, and has been that way since! We grabbed lunch here and spent a little bit checking out the "Smurf Village" before finishing the trip back to Ronda, where we had dinner and relaxed at the hotel.
More of Ronda's iconic bridge, this time from the opposite point of view
On our final full day in Ronda, we started with a thorough tour through the old town, filled with plenty of views of the impressive bridge, before hiking down to the bottom of the gorge and to our spot for lunch, where we had a fantastic view up from the base of the cliffs to the bridge. A fantastic paella lunch was prepared live for us, which gave us some fun insight into the classic Spanish dish. From lunch, we headed to a nearby Schatz winery (it was, interestingly, founded by a German man), where we toured the vineyards and sampled some of the tasty vinos. We finished the day with more much-needed relaxation at the hotel pool before relaxing on the balcony for some great views of the sunset.
Final sunset in Spain!
I spent our final morning in Ronda sleeping in and taking it easy (as I wasn't feeling good), but the rest of the Daltons (minus Mackenzie) tackled the last couple historic sites within Ronda, before all of us packed up our things and headed to a second winery. Here, again, we toured the vineyard and were shown how the wine is made before tasting a variety of the products alongside a meal prepared by the vineyard owner. From here, all seven of us (Daltons + me + Kelly) hopped in the car towards Nerja, the next destination. I, however, was dropped off along the way at the Málaga airport, as my time in Spain was over. Next stop was Bucharest, in Romania, for a long layover before completing my journey to my final country in Europe: Greece!
Romania & Greece
After saying my goodbyes to the Daltons and Kelly, I quickly passed through the airport and boarded my flight to Bucharest, arriving around 1:00 AM local time. I got a surprisingly good sleep in the airport, and headed out early (around 5:15 AM) towards the city center. The bus ride to the center, which lasted about 45 minutes, cost a measly 60 cents. I could get used to this!
The Palace of Parliament! The biggest building I've ever seen; no way
of actually capturing its scale!
After arriving in the city center and heading to the luggage storage center where I intended to store my 30 kilos of luggage for the next few hours only to learn that the center didn't open until 9:00 AM, I began my slow-paced stroll around the downtown. I wandered through the empty city streets for an hour, surprised at how modern it was, before arriving at the main attraction: the Palace of Parliament. The largest legislative building in the world (about 4 million square feet!!), this thing was shocking. I stood at stared at the monolithic building for a long time, never able to quite take in its stature, before turning around and walking down the main street of Bucharest to its central park to rest my sore shoulders and arm from carrying all my heavy luggage for the past hour.
One of my favorite streets I walked down -- completely covered by colorful umbrellas!
From the park, I walked down the main street of Bucharest, with was intermittently lined with museums, large churches, statues, and small green spaces. Once again, I was shocked by the modernity of Bucharest -- its buildings were large and extravagant, its streets were well-maintained, and its people were up-to-date with the European fashion scene. It was no Paris by any means, but it certainly didn't feel like the capital of an eastern European country. After walking a mile or so down the main street, I meandered to the nearest bus station and caught another 60 cent bus back to the airport, where I relaxed for an hour before boarding my flight to Athens, arriving at around 4 PM.
After touching down in Greece, the process of getting from airport to hostel (which included lots of walking, a long bus ride, and a metro) took almost 2-hours, and by the time I was settled in and ready to explore the city some it was almost 7 PM. Regardless, I spent a couple hours exploring some of the best neighborhoods in Athens and all the historical goodies they included.
Walking through Plaka neighborhood
I was quickly struck by the (unfortunate) dirtiness of Athens. Nowhere else in Europe has I seen as much graffiti as on the buildings of Athens. The city was still very much suffering the repercussions of the economic crisis of 2008 and not recovering. Despite this, the innate worth of the country (being its massive historical significance) couldn't be diminished by the state of the country's economy or its cleanliness. I started the evening by walking through Plaka, which, despite being filled with touristy shops everywhere, still felt very Greek. The neighborhood was covered in cute side streets and it seemed on every block where a building should be was left vacant and ancient Greek ruins sat in the empty lot. I took a quick walk off the main street of the Plaka to view the ruins of Hadrian's Arch and of the Temple of Zeus before finishing up the neighborhood and heading to Monastiraki.
Ruins of the once-great Temple of Zeus!
Along the way I wandered past Hadrian's Library and the Roman Forum, admiring each, before arriving at the lively Monastiraki Square, which was filled with fruit vendors beginning to close up their stands for the night. The vacant square space left by the vendors would soon be taken up by eager street performers looking to make some money for their musical, artistic, or dancing skills. I walked around Monastiraki a bit more, stopping briefly at a beautiful Byzantine style church, before hopping on the metro back to my hostel for the evening. Prior to bed, I grabbed a gyro at a nearby fast food joint for a couple bucks.
Walking past the Roman Forum, with the Acropolis looming in the background --
my first look at the "Holy Rock"!
Day two (and my only full day) in Athens was packed with activity. I began the day with a couple hours in the Archaeological Museum, which was filled to the brim with significant finds from ancient Greece. Not only did this include Greek artifacts, but also Egyptian, Ottoman, and other civilizations that ever had territory within the modern Greek borders. From the Archaeological Museum, I metro'd to the second most important museum in Greece: the Acropolis Museum. On the way, I grabbed a kilo of strawberries for a dollar and a massive pretzel for 60 cents (resulting in my makeshift lunch).
Fruit stands like this with colorful fruits piled high were everywhere.
I grabbed some strawberries from this one for a lunchtime snack!
Similar to the Archaeological Museum but more focused, the Acropolis Museum held countless artifacts from, you guessed it, the ancient Acropolis. It was here that I learned that the Acropolis held not only the Parthenon but, over the course of history, dozens of other important temples! The Parthenon was just the largest and (for the most part) most well-preserved of the many temples that once stood atop the "holy rock". Besides this, my favorite tidbit learned from the museum was that, since it was originally created as a temple to the Greek god Athens (the goddess after which Athens is named), the Parthenon has also served as a Christian Church and later as a Muslim Mosque! And here I was thinking that as soon as the Greek gods were no longer believed in the Parthenon immediately became a historic monument!
The Acropolis Museum housed a lot of the original parts of Acropolis temples for safekeeping --
these are the original Caryatids from the Erechtheion (2400 years old)!
From the Acropolis Museum I took the logical next step and headed straight to the actual Acropolis. It took a while to walk up the long path to the top of the holy rock, and on the way passed by an ancient theater (in which orchestral shows are still performed today!). Once on the Acropolis, I spent about an hour marveling at the ruins of the Temple of Athena Nike, Erechtheion, the Propylaea, the Sanctuary of Pandeon, and, of course, the Parthenon. Besides the structures that were still standing, downed columns and other ruins were spread throughout the Acropolis. It was incredibly surreal to know I was walking among the ancient heart of one of the greatest civilizations to ever touch the Earth. After I felt I had gotten all I could out of the Acropolis, I walked down to Mars Hill, which gave me a fantastic view over the sprawling metropolitan Athens, before heading all the way down to the Ancient Agora.
In front of the mighty Parthenon!
The Ancient Agora was the center of academic, athletic, and political life in the city during its hey-day, and, like the Acropolis, was filled with ruins from the ancient civilization. I walked through the Museum of the Ancient Agora briefly, admired the beautiful Byzantine church, and walked through the many ruins towards the star of the agora: the Temple of Hephaestus. Built around the same time as the Parthenon (~450 BC), the Temple of Hephaestus is amazingly still in fantastic condition. As such, it is fitting that the temple is built to the Greek god of metalworking and craftsmanship (sounds a lot like engineering!!).
The impressively preserved Temple of Hephaestrus. This is as old as the Parthenon!
After finishing up at the Ancient Agora, I stopped by Monastiraki Square once more before heading back to the hostel to recharge my batteries after a long day on my feet. After a couple hours of relaxing and getting dinner, I headed back out into the city to get a feel for Athens at night. Without much direction, I ended up aimlessly wandering the streets of Plaka and Monastiraki before calling it a night.
One of the many Byzantine-style churches scattered throughout the city.
They all looked exactly the same!
On my third morning in Greece I woke up early, around 6:30 AM, to take the metro to the airport to catch a 10 AM flight to Skiathos, from where I would (after walking across the island from airport to boat port with all my luggage) take a ferry to nearby Skopelos island. The trip was easy, and by 2 PM I was on Skopelos and reunited with my very happy parents.
Looking back at Skiathos from the port during my short stay on the island
We grabbed lunch as soon as I arrived, and I immediately could tell that Skopelos was very different than both dirty and densely populated Athens and heavily-touristed Skiathos (don't get me wrong though, I loved Athens, there's just no arguing about it being dirty/dense with people). Skopelos was quiet, slow-paced, charming, and totally devoid of tourists. After travelling across Europe for a couple months in her 20's, my mom ended up on this tiny island for about 6 months, during which time she fell in love with it. And now, about 30 years later, her son has finally arrived at her Greek island to get the all-inclusive tour! It was a really cool and meaningful visit, and I was so excited to see and get to know the island that was so important to my mom.
Looking down over Skopelos from our balcony -- not a bad view to wake up to!
The goal of the couple days I spent in Skopelos was clear: relaxation. After five months spent sprinting across Europe, there was nothing I wanted more than to take it easy on the island and not be constantly racing from destination to destination. And, while we certainly didn't sit around and do nothing for the time I spent with my parents, it was definitely slower-paced than what I was used to. After lunch, we headed up the Airbnb we would be staying at, where we spent some time settling in and catching up before going for a spin around the island, driving to a couple lovely beaches and stopping in at one for a beer and more catching up.
Panormos Beach was the perfect place to grab a drink and catch up!
Quick clarification before continuing: "Skopelos" refers to both the island, which includes a handful of small towns, as well as the largest town on this island. I was staying in the town of Skopelos on the island of Skopelos. After our drive, we returned to Skopelos town and had a fantastic dinner at one of the parents' favorite spots on the island (and the one where my mom worked when she lived here in the 80's!) after which we stayed and listened to a couple locals and the restaurant owner play some energetic very Greek music. Being with my parents made me feel like a local! Somehow, over the course of this trip and their last one here (last Fall), they had seemingly befriended everyone on the island -- they were talking to all the restaurant owners, the waiters, and the shopkeepers like old friends, and even knew all their names! Both claimed that this was just the "Greek way", with the people (as long as you're a little off-the-beaten-track and into the real Greece) being incredibly friendly and open. Whatever it was, I loved it.
I loved the endless splashes of color all over the tiny white houses of the town!
Our next day started with a slow morning in the Airbnb, which had a balcony with fantastic view over the whole town and down to the water, where we sat and enjoyed some breakfast and morning coffee. After finishing up, we headed down into the town, where we wandered through the endless back alleys all the way down to the water's edge and back up. The white houses were accented with touches of colors, usually blue, as well as generous green foliage and flowers of every color. Back dropped by the deep blue of the Aegean, the view was more than picturesque, and I found myself taking photos around every bend.
After getting a great feel for the town, grabbing lunch, and seeing some of the significant sites from when my mom was here, we trekked back up the Airbnb and hopped in the car, heading north up the island towards the Church of Agios Ioannis Kastri, better known as the Mama Mia Church! We arrived after an hour of winding along the gorgeous Skopelos coastline, and were immediately hit with one of the best views of the trip and possibly the entire semester. The church is the one right out of the end of the movie, when the main characters (whose name I don't know and won't cheat by Googling) runs up the steep steps on the huge rock that juts into the sea towards the church to get married.
Mama Mia Church!!
The area is just as dramatic in real life as it is in the water, and I quickly reenacted the movie scene by sprinting up the stairs (except I wasn't looking to get married, I just wanted to get the great view). From the top, I looked down on some of the clearest, most turquoise blue waters of the semester. We stayed here for almost an hour probably, enjoying the spectacular views and checking out the cool tiny church atop the hill.
The dramatic coastline and crystal clear turquoise water that no camera
could ever do justice. Incredible!
From here, we drove the car back down, past Skopelos town, and to Stafilos Beach, the most popular on the island. We stayed here, laying in the sand and relaxing, for at least another hour before heading back to Skopelos town for dinner.
Small beach right by the Mama Mia Church -- captures the color of the water a little better!
On the final morning in Skopelos, we awoke and had another leisurely breakfast before driving across the island to its second largest town, Glossa, from where we drove the car onto the ferry towards Evia, the second largest island of Greece, which is attached to the mainland via a bridge. After the ferry docked, we spent the next couple hours uneventfully (besides a pleasant lunch during which a large elderly Greek party seemed to be playing bingo and dancing) driving across Evia back to the mainland, and then furthermore to our very nice apartment for the evening in Porto Rafti, about a 15 minute drive from the airport.
Dad skipping stones as we wait for the ferry in Glossa. Simply
cannot get enough of that clear turquoise water
After dropping our things off at Porto Rafti, my final excursion of the semester entailed taking the car about an hour south to the southernmost point of mainland Greece, where the ancient Temple of Poseidon is found. We stayed here admiring the temple ruins for a long time, watching the beautiful sun set on my last day in Europe. It was a fitting end. After a brief ride back to the apartment, a restful sleep, and a short ride to Athens Airport, it was time to board my final flight out of Europe.
My last sunset in Europe, seen alongside the spectacular ruins
of the Temple of Poseidon! Perfect ending to the best semester!
From Athens, I flew to Istanbul in Turkey, from where I took an 11-hour journey to Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. From there, I bussed and metro'd to my studio apartment in Foggy Bottom for the summer, arriving approximately 10 hours before the first day of my internship was set to start.
The final trip of my European journey was over! Spain and Greece (and Romania, for that matter) were fantastic countries, and some of the best of all of Europe! They checked off my trifecta of culture, history, and people, and wow'd me in every way. I completely intend to return to these countries in the future and cannot wait to be able to explore the many remaining highlights of them!
The entire semester has been an absolute joy and a privilege, and I am so lucky to have been able to experience it all, and even moreso to have been able to experience it all with someone else with whom I can share all these memories. I intend to post a short retrospective recap blog in the coming days (weeks?) outlining the semester from a more aerial view, so be on the lookout.
