Nicholas Poulsen

Greece: The 23 hour flying time from Auckland to Sydney, then Sydney to Dubai was pretty bad although that’s just part of the experience. After a 15 hour flight we touched down in Athens. The first day in Athens we walked to Oemonia square and saw the “not so intimidating,” imperial guards. They reminded of ducks in away. The skirts and pom-poms on their shoes didn’t change my view a whole lot on the overall appearance of the guards. After checking into the Hotel Economy we went off to explore the area around our hotel. Later that night we walked up Mount Lykevittos and saw amazing views of the city at night.

The next day we took a 2-3 hour bus trip to Delphi. Here we saw our first taste of classical architecture and historic ruins. The hazy weather added to the mysterious feel of the place. Delphi was the home of the oracle. After visiting Delphi, the next day we went to the Acropolis. It was amazing, looking out over the city it made me think what Athens would’ve been like all those years ago. In our last day in Greece we went to the historic city of Corinth and Mycenae, the home of Agamemnon before he sailed out to conquer Troy. From Mycenae we headed to the overnight ferry and set out on a voyage to Ancona in Italy then on to Rome.

Rome: We spent a week in Rome. During our visit in Rome we saw a lot, the colourful walls in the hostel made the trip very exciting. Day one; we walked around Rome, visited churches such as Santa Maria Maggiore and even managed to fit in a night walk to the colosseum. The second day we continued you visit to the many churches in Rome, the baths of Diocletian and the temple of Ares the avenger, built by Augustus after his three triumphs. That night we visited the Trevi fountain and continued to stroll around Rome. On the third day we went to Tivoli and Hadrian’s villa, probably the best ruins in Rome I thought. On the second to last day the weather turned bad but that didn’t stop us from seeing the colosseum and the Roman forum. We visited Ostia on the forth day, probably one the best things about the whole trip, not like Pompeii in Ostia you could get lost and walk among the ruins.

In Pompeii you only really stick to the main roads. Saint Peters and the Sistine chapel were another highlight of the trip, as everywhere you looked there was something to see. The view from the top of Saint Peters’ dome was awesome! During our last day in Rome we visited the famous ruined city of Pompeii. Even though Joseph Youl and I took a slight detour around the city, we still managed to see a lot and we did find the House of the Faun before everyone else. We left Rome and headed towards Florence.

Florence: Florence was probably the cleanest and nicest city out of the trip so far. The hotel was a little plain but it was still comfortable. After checking into the hotel we walked around Florence saw Il Duomo and the markets. One thing I liked about Florence was the history of the city. The city seemed as though not much had changed from when it was the super power of Italy during the Renaissance. The day trip to Pisa was cool although the leaning tower of Pisa was too short to climb up, unlike the dome at Saint Peters. Florence was a lot more relaxed then Rome and Athens. The free time was awesome and when Ben, Loosh and I climbed to the top of Il Duomo’s dome was even more awesome! The views from the top of the dome made me feel like I was living in middle-aged Florence. After visiting Santa Croce and many other churches in Florence as well as climbing to the top of two hills to see the panoramic views of the city we left Florence to go to Venice another great medieval city. The Rialto Bridge and Saint Mark’s Square were the two great sights we saw and again I could relate to Assassin’s creed. We left Venice on an over night train and we headed to the French town of Beaucaire…