Well a few days ago I flew in from Europe. It was totally a last minute thing- my sister was going to Italy for a week, she wanted me to chaperone her, and my parents said I could stay an extra while longer after she went back home.
We ended up staying in Italy for nearly two weeks (Florence, Cinque Terre, and Rome). After that, I went to Athens for five days (longer than I needed to stay there), then went to Crete, rented a car, and spent a somewhat nomadic week and a half there. I then spent about ten days in Amsterdam, and topped the trip off with a last minute addition of a few nights in Edinburgh, Scotland.
So here are a (relatively) select few photos from my trip. There's quite a bit I'm leaving out, but this is pretty representative of where I went and what I did. It's easier to post pictures than to actually write about it, and I don't feel like doing that yet. It was quite an experience, here and there, although I wish I could have made more of it in terms of meeting people, enjoying the nightlife of various places I visited, etc. But whatever, who am I to complain about an all-expenses-paid month-and-a-half long trip through Europe?
Florence, ITALY
The Duomo cathedral.
No pictures my ass!
Nice view of Florence.
A nice church a bit further up from that view.
Cemetary in front of the church.
An alley opposite the Uffizi art museum.
My sister and I outside the Duomo.
the Cinque Terre, ITALY
The town where we stayed the night, Riomaggiore.
The nicest town of the Cinque Terre was definitely Manarola, also the smallest town. We made our way up the road of the town which winds its way to the top, and we came across a group of kids playing soccer in front of a church. We watched them for a few minutes and then crossed over to one of the most enchanting views I've ever seen...
The picture hardly does it justice. I really wanna go back there.
Manarola from the seaside.
Rome, ITALY
Creepy but kinda cool hotel we stayed at one night, run by a guy who smelled like a mutant armpit.
Sistine Chapel, in the Vatican. Far more crowded than I would have liked.
Just one small section of St. Peter's Basilica, again in the Vatican. The vast and unbelievably ornate interior was by far the most incredible interior of a building I've ever seen. Simply amazing.
Inside the Colosseum. Didn't really impress me like I thought it would (I'd imagined it would be bigger) but it was incredible to be standing inside such a historically famous ancient structure.
Inside a charming little wine bar on the last night with my sister.
Athens, GREECE
The Parthenon at the Acropolis. cats, lol.
The view from just one side of the Acropolis, which is situated in the middle (I think?) of Athens. I was blown away by how huge this sprawling city is.
Somewhere a few minutes from my hotel.
Some free techno/live DJ concert I came across in some square on my first night. Spent a good couple hours hanging out there. Music was okay I suppose.
One of the pictures I took in some meat market I wandered into while walking around the city. Several connected halls with rows of endless butcher stands filled with assortments of sliced and diced animals.
Mainland Greece coast. Next stop, Crete...
CRETE
While the geography of crete is fairly varied, this is a good idea of what it's generally like, at least in the more scenic areas.
Near the Lasithi Plateau. The ride there was a lot more interesting than the plateau itself, IMO. I was looking forward to seeing the the thousands of centuries-old windmills that used to be scattered across the plain. I wasn't aware of that "used to" part, so it was kinda boring. But not as boring as...
The Lasithi Plateau zoo, supposedly the biggest or official or whatever zoo in Crete. Don't go here. The most interesting animals they had were pigs. Most worthless zoo on earth.
...
Agio Nikolaos, a nice tourist town with a laid-back atmosphere where I stayed three or four nights. It was near lots of watersports/diving/etc spots, and had quite a bit of nightlife, which I didn't really take advantage of.
View from my hotel room in Ag. Nikolaos.
Driving through mountains and along cliffs on the much less developed south coast. An awesome drive with awesome scenery.
Ammoudi beach
Matala beach; I stayed about a minute away for a few nights. I thought I'd feel otherwise, but looking back I liked it a lot more than Agios Nikolaos. It had a much more 'local', middle of nowhere feel than any other part of the island I visited. The beach itself is surrounded by cliffs littered with little caves, which were supposedly really popular with hippies in the 60s. It was a nice place to chill, and the first topless beach (I guess they all are) I visited. I did a little cliff diving about 20-30 meters out, which was fun.
Komos beach, a really long beach about 10 minutes from Matala beach. There's a long stretch of it that is "nudist friendly", and supposedly the best nude beach in Crete. I was surprised to see the occasional actually hot naked chick. Did I go nude? Maybe I did, maybe I didn't.
Very nice scenery from the cliffs above the beach as well.
Vai beach, way over on the east coast. It has the only palm forest in europe, which was one of the initial draws but something I didn't really pay much attention to once I was there. It was actually the nicest beach, IMO, that I visted during my trip. Not very crowded, fairly large, great scenery, clear water, and some nice hiking over to a remote beach a bit south. I also when jet-skiing for the first time. I didn't know it was so easy, although the waves made it a bitch sometimes.
The beginning of my trek through the Samaria Gorge, the longest gorge/canyon/whatever in Europe. I took tons of pictures, but this was the best one. One of the best parts, however, was...
...the cute Bulgarian chick I met on the hike. She was with my tour group, and we chatted a little bit and stuck together during the 5 hour, 16km long hike. At the end we had about three hours to spare before the ferry picked us up, and she asked me to join her at the beach. We sat there for a while, swam a little bit, chatted, etc etc. She was Bulgarian, and turns out she's, umm, 18. She seemed pretty mature and intelligent, though, certainly compared to my 19 year old sister. But ohmigod, she had such a freakin fantastic body, which I'm sure her Bulgarian boyfriend, who by happy coincidence happens to be the same age as me, enjoys back home. (her: "you're 24? my boyfriend back in Bulgaria is the same age." Me: "AWESOME!") But I got a hug and a kiss on the cheek when we said goodbye, so that counts as getting laid.......rite?
ah yes, the one-eyed, one-horned goat we ran into on the hike.
AMSTERDAM
The redlight district
A coffeeshop somewhere in the redlight district.
The Dampkring, the coffeeshop (place that sells weed) featured in everybody's favorite sequel to Ocean's 11- Ocean's 12. I bought some shit there a few times, but it was always so crowded so I never hung out.
The Abraxas coffeeshop, the one I hung out at the most. Much more spacious and pleasant than most of the coffeeshops I found. I miss that place :/
Growing weed in the back of the cannabis museum.
A shot I took in the original Bulldog coffeeshop, which was originally a police station.
The Magic Mushroom, a mushroom shop where I bought my first mushroom. That was a helluva thing. They had different mushrooms for sale, and I bought the Philosopher's Stone, a non-hallucinagenic mushroom which supposedly feels like ecstasy. They aren't kiddin. I felt REALLY damn good, and physically it kinda felt like a 4 hour long full body orgasm. That's some good shit.
A shot I took an hour or two after the mushroom's effects kicked in (after I realized I wouldn't be able to handle it in public I quickly went back to my room and enjoyed it for another three or four hours). I remember being mesmerized by this view, like the people were coming out of a painting or something.
It may seem as though I spent most of my time in Amsterdam getting high and whatnot......and you'd be right. I visted all the museums and did the cultural stuff, but I was kinda burned out and wanted to kick back for a while, and amsterdam coffeeshops were the perfect place. Yes, I was one of "those" tourists.
And no, I didn't get a hooker. I certainly thought about it, but I just couldn't do it. I did go to the Banana Bar, though, and got to feel up a really hot naked chick. (giggidy giggidy)
Edinburgh, SCOTLAND
I ended the trip with a few nights in Edinbugh...
Edinburgh Castle.
Monument to the poet Sir Walter Scott. They sure must've loved the guy to have built a monument like that.
some street near the castle.
Some old dude in a pub I stopped in for a pint of guinness.
On my way up to "Arthur's Seat", the top of a big hill/little mountain with a fantastic view of Edinburgh.
One of those views.
Should this picture not remind me of Project Ego?
Another big hill/tiny mountain in North Berwick, around 30km east of Edinburgh. The top gave some of the best views I've ever seen.
halfway up..
At the top.
One of my favorite pictures from the trip. God the view from the top of that hill/mountain was serene. (this wasn't even all the way up)
The best view, however, was from the window of the hotel I stayed at my final night:
Amazing, no?
And that was my trip.
We ended up staying in Italy for nearly two weeks (Florence, Cinque Terre, and Rome). After that, I went to Athens for five days (longer than I needed to stay there), then went to Crete, rented a car, and spent a somewhat nomadic week and a half there. I then spent about ten days in Amsterdam, and topped the trip off with a last minute addition of a few nights in Edinburgh, Scotland.
So here are a (relatively) select few photos from my trip. There's quite a bit I'm leaving out, but this is pretty representative of where I went and what I did. It's easier to post pictures than to actually write about it, and I don't feel like doing that yet. It was quite an experience, here and there, although I wish I could have made more of it in terms of meeting people, enjoying the nightlife of various places I visited, etc. But whatever, who am I to complain about an all-expenses-paid month-and-a-half long trip through Europe?
Florence, ITALY
The Duomo cathedral.
No pictures my ass!
Nice view of Florence.
A nice church a bit further up from that view.
Cemetary in front of the church.
An alley opposite the Uffizi art museum.
My sister and I outside the Duomo.
the Cinque Terre, ITALY
The town where we stayed the night, Riomaggiore.
The nicest town of the Cinque Terre was definitely Manarola, also the smallest town. We made our way up the road of the town which winds its way to the top, and we came across a group of kids playing soccer in front of a church. We watched them for a few minutes and then crossed over to one of the most enchanting views I've ever seen...
The picture hardly does it justice. I really wanna go back there.
Manarola from the seaside.
Rome, ITALY
Creepy but kinda cool hotel we stayed at one night, run by a guy who smelled like a mutant armpit.
Sistine Chapel, in the Vatican. Far more crowded than I would have liked.
Just one small section of St. Peter's Basilica, again in the Vatican. The vast and unbelievably ornate interior was by far the most incredible interior of a building I've ever seen. Simply amazing.
Inside the Colosseum. Didn't really impress me like I thought it would (I'd imagined it would be bigger) but it was incredible to be standing inside such a historically famous ancient structure.
Inside a charming little wine bar on the last night with my sister.
Athens, GREECE
The Parthenon at the Acropolis. cats, lol.
The view from just one side of the Acropolis, which is situated in the middle (I think?) of Athens. I was blown away by how huge this sprawling city is.
Somewhere a few minutes from my hotel.
Some free techno/live DJ concert I came across in some square on my first night. Spent a good couple hours hanging out there. Music was okay I suppose.
One of the pictures I took in some meat market I wandered into while walking around the city. Several connected halls with rows of endless butcher stands filled with assortments of sliced and diced animals.
Mainland Greece coast. Next stop, Crete...
CRETE
While the geography of crete is fairly varied, this is a good idea of what it's generally like, at least in the more scenic areas.
Near the Lasithi Plateau. The ride there was a lot more interesting than the plateau itself, IMO. I was looking forward to seeing the the thousands of centuries-old windmills that used to be scattered across the plain. I wasn't aware of that "used to" part, so it was kinda boring. But not as boring as...
The Lasithi Plateau zoo, supposedly the biggest or official or whatever zoo in Crete. Don't go here. The most interesting animals they had were pigs. Most worthless zoo on earth.
...
Agio Nikolaos, a nice tourist town with a laid-back atmosphere where I stayed three or four nights. It was near lots of watersports/diving/etc spots, and had quite a bit of nightlife, which I didn't really take advantage of.
View from my hotel room in Ag. Nikolaos.
Driving through mountains and along cliffs on the much less developed south coast. An awesome drive with awesome scenery.
Ammoudi beach
Matala beach; I stayed about a minute away for a few nights. I thought I'd feel otherwise, but looking back I liked it a lot more than Agios Nikolaos. It had a much more 'local', middle of nowhere feel than any other part of the island I visited. The beach itself is surrounded by cliffs littered with little caves, which were supposedly really popular with hippies in the 60s. It was a nice place to chill, and the first topless beach (I guess they all are) I visited. I did a little cliff diving about 20-30 meters out, which was fun.
Komos beach, a really long beach about 10 minutes from Matala beach. There's a long stretch of it that is "nudist friendly", and supposedly the best nude beach in Crete. I was surprised to see the occasional actually hot naked chick. Did I go nude? Maybe I did, maybe I didn't.
I did. =O
Vai beach, way over on the east coast. It has the only palm forest in europe, which was one of the initial draws but something I didn't really pay much attention to once I was there. It was actually the nicest beach, IMO, that I visted during my trip. Not very crowded, fairly large, great scenery, clear water, and some nice hiking over to a remote beach a bit south. I also when jet-skiing for the first time. I didn't know it was so easy, although the waves made it a bitch sometimes.
The beginning of my trek through the Samaria Gorge, the longest gorge/canyon/whatever in Europe. I took tons of pictures, but this was the best one. One of the best parts, however, was...
...the cute Bulgarian chick I met on the hike. She was with my tour group, and we chatted a little bit and stuck together during the 5 hour, 16km long hike. At the end we had about three hours to spare before the ferry picked us up, and she asked me to join her at the beach. We sat there for a while, swam a little bit, chatted, etc etc. She was Bulgarian, and turns out she's, umm, 18. She seemed pretty mature and intelligent, though, certainly compared to my 19 year old sister. But ohmigod, she had such a freakin fantastic body, which I'm sure her Bulgarian boyfriend, who by happy coincidence happens to be the same age as me, enjoys back home. (her: "you're 24? my boyfriend back in Bulgaria is the same age." Me: "AWESOME!") But I got a hug and a kiss on the cheek when we said goodbye, so that counts as getting laid.......rite?
ah yes, the one-eyed, one-horned goat we ran into on the hike.
AMSTERDAM
The redlight district
A coffeeshop somewhere in the redlight district.
The Dampkring, the coffeeshop (place that sells weed) featured in everybody's favorite sequel to Ocean's 11- Ocean's 12. I bought some shit there a few times, but it was always so crowded so I never hung out.
The Abraxas coffeeshop, the one I hung out at the most. Much more spacious and pleasant than most of the coffeeshops I found. I miss that place :/
Growing weed in the back of the cannabis museum.
A shot I took in the original Bulldog coffeeshop, which was originally a police station.
The Magic Mushroom, a mushroom shop where I bought my first mushroom. That was a helluva thing. They had different mushrooms for sale, and I bought the Philosopher's Stone, a non-hallucinagenic mushroom which supposedly feels like ecstasy. They aren't kiddin. I felt REALLY damn good, and physically it kinda felt like a 4 hour long full body orgasm. That's some good shit.
A shot I took an hour or two after the mushroom's effects kicked in (after I realized I wouldn't be able to handle it in public I quickly went back to my room and enjoyed it for another three or four hours). I remember being mesmerized by this view, like the people were coming out of a painting or something.
It may seem as though I spent most of my time in Amsterdam getting high and whatnot......and you'd be right. I visted all the museums and did the cultural stuff, but I was kinda burned out and wanted to kick back for a while, and amsterdam coffeeshops were the perfect place. Yes, I was one of "those" tourists.
And no, I didn't get a hooker. I certainly thought about it, but I just couldn't do it. I did go to the Banana Bar, though, and got to feel up a really hot naked chick. (giggidy giggidy)
Edinburgh, SCOTLAND
I ended the trip with a few nights in Edinbugh...
Edinburgh Castle.
Monument to the poet Sir Walter Scott. They sure must've loved the guy to have built a monument like that.
some street near the castle.
Some old dude in a pub I stopped in for a pint of guinness.
On my way up to "Arthur's Seat", the top of a big hill/little mountain with a fantastic view of Edinburgh.
One of those views.
Should this picture not remind me of Project Ego?
Another big hill/tiny mountain in North Berwick, around 30km east of Edinburgh. The top gave some of the best views I've ever seen.
halfway up..
At the top.
One of my favorite pictures from the trip. God the view from the top of that hill/mountain was serene. (this wasn't even all the way up)
The best view, however, was from the window of the hotel I stayed at my final night:
Amazing, no?
And that was my trip.
