We just got back from our whirlwind tour of the ancient sites of Italy and
Greece. The itenirary was:
-- Three days in Rome, including a trip down to Pompei, a tour of the Vatican,
an afternoon in the Forum and the Colisseum, and a failed jaunt down to Ostia
(closed for strike ={ ).
-- One night in Florence, with a stop in Pisa on the way.
-- Two nights in Venice.
-- One night in Perugia, with a stop in Ferrara on the way.
-- A stop in Assisi on the way to the port of Ancona.
-- An overnight (19 hour) ferry from Ancona to Patra.
-- One night in Olympia.
-- One night in Delphi.
-- Three nights in Athens, including a day ferry to the islands of Hydra,
Poros, and Aigina.
 
This was a tour, although we were trying to escape from the tour as much as
possible. For instance, in Florence, while the rest of the group was buying
gold and leather, we were in the Archaeological Museum. We were going for both
religious reasons and academic ones -- Valerie wanted to see as much
archaeological stuff as possible, but the focus was also on temples. We left
a discreetly tucked away honey offering at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi,
but most of the religious offerings were water.
 
We actually managed to relax and vacate in Venice and the island cruise
(despite yet another temple on Aigina).
 
Hm. I'm still feeling overwhelmed, but if anyone has any curiousity questions
about observations and such, I'll be glad to answer them. =}

11 responses total.

It's great that you could take such a trip. It provides a lifetime of
memories (and a better sense of history!). My daughter took a simliar
trip in her senior HS year with her Latin class. (I covered the same
ground ages ago by motorcycle - it remains memorable.)

I went on a whirlwind tour of Italy once but, like Rane's kid, I went 
with my Latin  teacher so she kept making us translate stuff everywhere 
we went :)

I really want to go back to Italy. I loved it!

Initial comments about each stop:
Rome -- One of the three cities we were really really looking forward to, and
it lived up to the promise. Lots of neat old stuff, and the Colosseum is,
well, collosal, and nearly impossible to describe. We found the Romans
themselves to be very helpful; we got lost several times, and never had a
problem finding someone willing to point us in the correct direction. The
Vatican Museum was worth the visit, although not for the reason I'd initially
thought: I thought the Sistene Chapel would be as awe-inspiring as the
Colosseum, and it wasn't. It was pretty. I'd say it was because it was
Christian and I'm not, but there was plenty of christian stuff that was more
awe-inspiring (including St. Peter's, although our Catholic tour guide
lingered way too long there, and not nearly long enough in the Forum, which
she mostly blew off... we dumped the tour and spent the afternoon in the Forum
while they were off in Tivoli).
 
Pisa -- BORING! Ok, it was fun the walk all the way up to the top of the
Baptistry, then back down, but the Leaning Tower is, well, leaning. And a
tower. Rah-rah. Some engineers screw up hundreds of years ago and we're
supposed to be impressed. Oh, maybe now would be a good time to mention that
I sprained my ankle the second day in Rome and went down the Spanish steps
to the Trevi Fountain anyway. My ankle is still sore, but oh well.
 
Florence -- This is one of the places where the tour didn't make a lot of
sense. We went to see David, but not the Uffizi. Gr. Val and I weren't about
to try to make it to the Uffizi by ourselves, in the glut of tourists, so we
went to the very uncrowded archaeological museum (hint for tourists:
Archaeological museums are fun and tend to be filled with elementary school
kids, not annoying adult tourists). Got a repro of the Chimera there, although
the repro I REALLY wanted was too expensive. ={
 
Venice -- Once we were down with the museum tour there (Doge's, Correr,
Archaeological), there wasn't much to do but actually vacate. And buy glass.
$800 worth of glass... yowch! And yes, the requisite tourist gondola ride,
although we declined the tour's option of six of us per gondola with an
accordion serenade, and went just the two of us in a blessedly silent gondola.
 
Ferrara -- Really a pit stop, with a nice church and enough time to walk
through most of the castle. Bought some Crepax (BDSM comics) from a street
vendor so I'd have something in Italian that I could still enjoy muddling
through. >=}
 
Perugia -- A very scenic town. Typical medieval stuff. Dumped the tour for
dinner because they were having hotel food... yuk!
 
Assisi -- One of the Christian sites I was actually looking forward to. For
Catholics, the Fransiscans actually do their best to walk the walk. Whisked
through the church by the tour guide, but otherwise got a nice view of things.
 
The ferry -- Dull, dull, dull. But the only "included meals" we could actually
stand. We'd already told the tour director we weren't going to be eating any
included meals after the slop they'd fed us in Florence, but it's not like
we had a whole lot of options on the boat, despite my jokes about the cute
little bistro on the tugboat.
 
Olympia -- Worth seeing once, but I don't think I'd go back, unless it's for
the guy with the repro shop. We dumped another $400 buying a very well done
kylix and decanter, by far the highest quality repros I'd seen on the trip
(well, except for his REALLY good stuff, which started at E1200 or so.
 
Delphi -- For us, the major stop on the trip, to visit and pay respects to
the Temple of Apollo. We visited it twice: Once alone, when we walked from
the hotel to the temple, then up to the stadium, back down to the Temple of
Athena, then a stop at the Castillian Springs and another for dinner before
limping home. It's amazing how far you can walk on a sprain when you're
stubborn enough. (The whole walk was probably about three miles, up and down
hills with an average 30 degree slope, all at about a mile or so above sea
level.)
 
Athens -- Cool. After the tour-led visit to the Acropolis, we also visited
the Temple of Zeus, and Roman and Ancient Agoras, and the Cemetary. Then over
to the Plakas for dinner.

Poros, Hydra, Aigina -- Ferries are boring. But the islands were nifty, and
we mostly just relaxed.

#1> Delphi or Peruigia by motorcycle would be scary. =} Especially Delphi,
with all those sharp switchbacks up Parnassus.

It sounds like fun, but I hope you have your ankle elevated and iced.  Yowch!

I loved Italy, too. Silvia and I have visited Rome, Florence, and 
Venice. (Pisa is really a Florence side trip.) Of the three, I liked 
Florence the most and Venice the least. Silvia and I spent five days in 
Florence and could have easily spent another two weeks. I'd love to go 
back soon.

About the only thing I liked about Venice was the glass. The rest was 
way too touristy for me.

There are some back alleys in Venice, but even those don't get a long way from
the tourists, and it may depend on when you go. St Mark's was, obviously, the
absolutely worst for tourists (and that's where the glass factories are).
Supposedly, the tourist density was about half of what it will be in two
months, though, so I could see that bleeding over more (Venice isn't that big
a town, after all, at least not the lagoon part).
 
#5> It's mostly healed now. The guy who taped it up told me to remember RICE:
Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. I didn't really do any of them, except the
ice, and I survived. I guess the sprain wasn't that bad, as sprains go.

When you walk down the Spanish Steps, it's the Bernini fountain you 
come to, not the Trevi.  A cool thing about the Spanish Steps, at least 
for English majors, is the Casa di Keats e Shelley to the left of the 
steps as you come down.  The apartment Keats died in is there.  There's 
also a clothing boutique called "Byron" on that side a few doors down, 
and of course the Babington Tea Room on the other side.  And straight 
ahead is Via Condotti, shoppers' heaven.  One of my favorite spots in 
my favorite city.  

They never take tour groups to il cimitero acatolico (the Protestant 
cemetary).  Keats is buried there -- under a stone that identifies him 
only as "one whose name was writ in water" -- as is Shelley's heart, 
which Byron snatched out of the pyre on the beach with his bare hand.  
It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited anywhere on 
the planet, every bit as breathtaking as Shelley said it was in his 
memorial poem to Keats.  One of my long-deferred promises is to retire 
to an apartment on the street that climbs from the Caius Cestius 
pyramid, at the end of the Protestant cemetary, up to the Baths of 
Caracalla.  Some day.

"The Uncatholic Cemetary" ... nice.

#8, paragraph 1> It's the Trevi Fountain you get to if you walk down the steps
and keep going a few blocks.

Keats died in Italy??? Well, I guess that explains why he hasn't been
online lately... :S

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