Europe Trip: Part One

FLORENCE

As we mentioned last time, we plan to post some pictures and write some words about our eurotrip, and as you can tell on our headline our first stop was Florence :)

We arrived in Italy around 6:00 pm, drove our way, and kind of getting lost, or following an unsuitable route to be exact, so the result was to arrive at our hotel around 00:30 instead of 9:30, after crossing a never ending mountain haha, which would be ideal for daytime but being completely dark outside we kind of missed out the opportunity on a great view..

Sailing (a 24 hour journey) from Patra (Greece) to Ancona (Italy)

Including top class entertainment (ehum) and a Hercules room. 

So since we had only 1 full day to spend in Florence we had to take advantage of every hour and try to explore as much was possible of the city, which luckily enough is not THAT big. Can also add that for late October it was such nice weather with around 16/17 degrees, which allowed us to stay out very late without jackets and cold.

 A small river with the natives taking their bath :)

 Imported Moroccan trees (naah)

 Any moment now the ghost of the headless rider will jump out of that haha (that's Aris writing, Isabella might not agree entirely but right now the blog is under occupation!!! YEAH!)

Very nice trees there btw. We did our best to capture them, but kind of failed..

 Isabella, on a tree we had to chop down for the shooting, no animals we hurt though :)

Aris got jealous and gave me his best pose, cheered by the crowd behind him, that would be the guy on the bench, in the dark. 

 First meal had to be a pizza or pasta of course! La grotta de Leo was the name, the pizza wasn't as meow though... and yes the expectations weren't met, damn..

 Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, cathedral

 The whole architecture, as well as the painting inside the church was astonishing, no words really. The amount of pictures we took speak for themselves, and well we took way more than we could ever post.

 Dante's little church, very atmospheric, with some baroque-like music playing in, we found it by accident while strolling the streets of the old city.

The Arno river

 The infamous Ponte Vecchio bridge

Somewhere on the left hand side, a couple of blocks from what you can see from here is the supposed best ice cream in Florence, while it was good, lets say that you probably have tasted something better in your hometown... Although it is a bit understandable from the location, and the fact that everyone had their ice cream on the bridge next to the river. Did we mention that it was expensive? haha.

So, about Florence? We suggest it to anyone really, it was the best destination of our trip. There are things for everyone to do, either you prefer something more quiet, romantic, sightseeing, shopping, etc etc etc. Wish we had have stayed a few more days than we did; maybe some other time though :)

Next post will be about our time in Austria!

Pictures: 1, 3, 4, 7. 8, 10, 13, 15, 18, 20& 23 by Isabella

2, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 19, 21& 22 by his majesty the royal highness ARIS the Great! (and humble)

p.s. We know the list on who took the pictures looks ugly, we'll try to figure out a more stylish way next time :)

Finally an update!

God Kväll!

We're very near to the two month limit (yeah that's actually when we last posted!), so we HAVE to post something.

So what has happened since the last time? Well we drove our way up north to Sweden, with stops at Florence, Italy to Innsbruck, Austria then to Hanover, Germany, and a "coffee" break in Denmark.

After the trip was over we arrived in a small town, Lomma, and moved into a little light blue cottage (yay!), where we plan to stay for a while, so yes, we managed to take the brave step to finally live together!

We know that this is not what we would call a major update as far as size is concerned, but more will come, promise, a bit later though, since we have lots of photos that we have to go through and make a somewhat decent (and fair) selection.

Bye for now!

Picture: Isabella

OpenWalkAthens "Γεύσεις του Κέντρου (Flavours of the Centre)"

You can say that we are back for more :)
Today's menu: A stroll in central Athens, the as mentioned in the title "OpenWalkAthens", and also as you notice just below on the poster.

The event is organised by a group of volunteers called "atenistas", that are involved to pretty much anything that regards the city life, may that be cleaning neighbourhoods, beaches, planting trees etc.
As far as this event is concerned it was a walk to some traditional (and not only) shops of the city that you could try/taste/look/drink/etc and of course buy. As for more info, just take a look at the pictures! ;)

1. Aristokratikon - Pastry shop

(nice chocolate pralines!)

2. Mitropolitikon - Also a pastry shop

3. Pnika - Bakery

(nice wholemeal bread)

4. Peri Lesvou - A smaller traditional grocery shop

(really nice decorated!)

5. Elixir - Shop selling herbs and spices

Had a very nice and original name on one of the spice jars

 

6. Miran - Cold cuts shop

(the wall of the upper floor had a garden attached.. awesome!)

Hanging over everyone's heads..

Sacks full of spices

7. Gianniotiko - Mostly various kinds of cheese (and some fish, so not much to report on that)

8. Stou Meidani - Cozy tavern with very tasty "giant" beans

Inside the tavern, some old radio on the wall stealing the show!

9. Ariana - Olives

As you can see it had a lot of those :)

10. Klimataria - Another tavern...

... with a lovely interior

11. Mokka - Coffee brewing shop 

The aroma was so overwhelming and lovely

at some spots it looked like the inside of a ship

(actually it had various kinds of coffee)

12. Vorrias - Nuts and dry fruits

13. Krinos - Donuts (not like the american ones though) with honey, miam miam!

14. Another traditional grocery shop with lots of Mediterranean delicacies 

Very cosy interior, clean, big and with a big variety

15. Zafolia brothers - Cheese (yes only!)

16. Folia meliou - Honey shop!

A honeycomb

17. Limnia Gi - Products from Lemnos island

18. O mpakalogatos - Traditional grocery shop (yup another one)

19. Polykalas - Alcohol shop

Very very nice rakomelo (that's raki a greek traditional drink with honey)

20. Ktistakis - Donuts

21. Stani - Milk and sweets

We got yoghurt with honey, yummy!

22. Last but not least, Kafenio ton mousikon - Traditional cafe with live music

(unfortunately was too crowded and we didn't have the chance to stay and listen)

Overall a great walk in central Athens, with a lot of participants and maybe more than a couple of places to discover even for someone that already knows the city, lovely!

p.s. Goodnight!