Chapter 2: Greece

This is a continuation of my last post about starting my freshman year back in 2004. After finishing my winter quarter classes in Italian, English, chemistry, and matrix algebra, I took a few days off and then flew from Seattle to Rome. En route, I got bumped from my flight and ended up with a first class flight from Cincinnati to Rome. Not a bad way to start my international traveling debut!

I spent a few days traipsing around Rome, Naples, and then jumped on a large ferry that went from Brindisi, Italy to Igoumenitsa, Greece. The ferry took all night to cross the Adriatic Sea, and when I disembarked around 5am in the gritty little port area, I realized that all of the signs were written in the Greek alphabet, so it took some wandering and horrific mispronunciations to eventually find the bus terminal where I could catch a bus up to Ioannina. 

We went out to the temple of Dodoni after our first week in Ioannina. Dodoni had an ancient Greek temple and this massive Roman amphitheater. I think I'll always think about the photo below as being sort of a pivotal moment in my life. It was the first time I thought about a photograph as being a creative expression. I thought a little about how I wanted to frame this tree since I liked how it looked up at the top of the theater, and rather than just take a snapshot for posterity, I tried to frame it in a way that captured the feeling of being in this place. From that moment forward, taking photos for me was more about artistic expression than about documentation. 

I gave my camera to my new friend Conner (who became a great friend for me over the years), and he took this photo of me in the middle of the amphitheater. 

I didn't realize that northwestern Greece had so many mountains. We had arrived in late March, and there was still quite a bit of snow in the mountains during our first few weeks in Ioannina. 

We spent another weekend traveling to Meteora in north-central Greece. Yes, this is the area that gave Linkin Park the name for their album. Haha. It consists of a bunch of monasteries perched on the top of these tall rock structures. 

This is Conner exploring some ancient tunnels in towntown Ioannina. 

This photo was taken from a monastery outside of Ioannina, looking back across Ioannina's lake. 

We spent another weekend driving out to the Zagori Gorge up near the border with Albania. I think I've been to three gorges now that claim to have a Guinness record for being the deepest, longest, etc.. Not exactly sure if any of them are true 

Me, Conner, and Jake posing at the edge of the gorge. 

A bridge built out of rock just south of Zagori. Sure wish I knew more about photography back then...

Church in a village outside of Zagori. 

Of course we made time to stop by a little cafe serving wine...

We had a week or two off for Orthodox Easter. My sister was studying abroad in Rome, so I went back to Igoumenitsa and took the ferry back across the Adriatic, this time to Bari. In Bari, I got on a train and rode it across the Italian Peninsula to Rome. En route, I sat next to a guy from Syria. He didn't speak much English and I didn't speak much Italian and no Arabic, but we managed to have a small conversation. Nice guy. I probably could not have placed Syria on a map at that time. 

The next day in Rome, I walked around with my mom taking photos while we waited for my sister to finish her last bit of work before she was free for the weekend. This is the Parthenon. 

Pope Francis had died a few weeks earlier, and people were still crowding around the Vatican to pass by his grave, which is pictured below. I'm not religious but it was incredible to be in the Vatican while this pivotal event was occurring. 

Nun inside the Vatican. 

Mom and I sipped limoncello in Campo di Fiori while we waited for Emily to finish up her work on Friday...

After a few days in Rome, we took a train to Naples and then rented a car and drove down into the Amalfi Coast south of Naples. 

Emily and I on the Amalfi Coast. 

Looking north along the Amalfi. 

Emily, Mom, and me

Sunset on the Amalfi

We spent a few days driving down south towards Sicily, enjoying lunches with wine and amazing dinners. Mom continued on to catch a ferry to Tunisia, Emily went back to Rome, and I took a train back up to Bari to head back to Ioannina. One of my train trips got delayed and I ended up spending a night sleeping in my sleeping bag in the middle of a park, and then I ended up taking the wrong train and ended up in the port city of Patras, Greece, instead. I'm good at problem solving through and found a bus to take up to Ioannina. There was this one little picturesque creek running through someone's backyard about an hour out of Ioannina. I thought it was so beautiful, and then I ended up passing by it 3-4 more times during my time in Greece. 

Back in Ioannina for the last few weeks of my exchange program. Nivi from Egypt:

Ice cream with Morgan. 

Another lazy weekend on the Mediterranean, eating moussaka and drinking wine..

Another little port on the Adriatic...

Hanging out with Nivi and her friends back in Ioannina. 

Bilyana from Bulgaria. 

After sad goodbyes to all of our new friends, we left Ioannina for a few days of touring some other sites in Greece. One of our first stops was Olympia, home of the original Olympics. 

Running into the stadium. 

Selfie circa 2005 before we had iPhones, selfie sticks, or reversible LCD screens on our cameras...

We ended our trip in Athens. I went out to Corfu for a few days with some friends and then had to head back to Athens to catch my flight to Brussels. I spent a few days seeing Brussels before taking the train to London and flying back to the states. 

London

That's all for Chapter 2! Hope you enjoyed seeing a few photos from northern Greece. It is a beautiful place. Please bear with me. I do get better at photography over the years.