And Then There Was One...

As one adventure ends, another begins. Our venture through Europe started with two travelers, then increased to a total of four travelers once in Greece, now down to just one! However with life saving sandals (Tevas), one backpack, and one suitcase that now weighs ten more pounds since Greece, I continue my journey. Now it is just me traveling back to Italy to experience the culture in a small town at the top of a mountain called Montefegatessi. 

One city train, two plains, one train strike, two inner city trains, two angels sent from God, and a lot of prayer and I finally made it!  

Walking into this town is like stepping into a painting. It is so unbelievably gorgeous that it doesn't seam real! I am in the middle of the Apennine mountain range in a small village with stone buildings and red rooftops. There is only one main road into and out of the village and the streets are so narrow that you must park your car before entering the neighborhood. Although this wonderful place does not have a library, a hospital, a hotel, not even one taxi, no police officers, no post office, and no English, it does hold 1 bar, 1 market, 4 churches, goats, tiny vehicles, forests for days, slugs, snails, scorpions, snakes, fox, wild boar, fresh water, stone baked pizza, gelato, mushrooms, fresh garden food, cappuccino, 1 crazy blonde tourist, and 150 people with a tough shell that I am determined to crack. Being that we are at the top of a mountain, it is a daily exercise to hike from one end of the village to another. Each house has it's own unique historic Tuscan feel. Laundry hangs from the windows and iron stoves leave a fresh smoky smell that is impressively calming and welcoming. Wild cats line the streets and if your lucky, you can see the goats in the valley bellow. 

The most incredible part about Montefegatessi is the heart of the people. At first glance this village is crazy intimidating. The piazza is filled with eyes that know the travelers from the familiar locals. The Italians are comfortable and confident with who they are. The young talk to the old and know everything about everybody. They love their children wholeheartedly. They love their authenticity. They love their community. 

So as I look from a far on the first day, I drank water that streamed down from the mountain and pretended to read my book as I pondered how to get to know the people who lived here; how to have an authentic experience. I love a good challenge and opening new doors, but it has been a while since I have truly felt God pushing me beyond my boundaries. This time I had to walk this path with only myself and God. It was awfully intimidating and frankly quite scary. 

So, a few days pass, and with God in my back pocket, I finally got the guts to not simply sit outside the piazza and gaze in at the culture, but to walk right into its center and experience the heart of the people. After some time of attempting the Italian language, proving my superior skill in table football (foosball) :) and exchanging conversation over cappuccino, the locals got use to the unfamiliar blonde and accepted me into their family. 

Since then I hear Ciao followed by a giant smile from everyone I pass in the streets. I have met numerous families from Chicago, chatted with a very interesting author, walked through the mountains to a ravioli fest, ventured to Florence and Lucca, walked the trail of love (wishing my boyfriend was with me to enjoy the view), participated in sipping proseco with the grandpas of the village, baked cookies for the town potluck, learned about creating ebooks from a publisher from Chicago, danced in the rain, climbed through the mountains and swam through the rivers of Botri, talked politics and education with Italian women, spent time with the kids, and so much more. As my adventure continues I am learning that personalities of people can sometimes be difficult to find, but so worth the effort and discovery. 

I thank God for the courage to take this journey, but am so thankful for the family and community that I have in Chicago and can't wait to get home! 

*Special shoutout to the wonderful friends and family who helped me through the tough part of this journey. Couldn't have done it without you! 

Ciao! 

-Heather 

Sunsets and Cliff Diving

Santorini July 8-13

Arriving in Santorini after our luxurious ferry ride, we were greeted by our taxi driver, holding a sign with Jenny's name on it- just like the movies!  Around the corner was a small coach bus - apparently we'd be riding up the windy cliff roads in style! Once we arrived in Oia, we were greeted by Visili, our porter, who was a Bulgarian version of Arnold Schwartzenager. After a quick greeting he hoisted Jenny's bag over his shoulder and jetted through the step laden streets of Santorini. Leading us in an exhausting chase for this elusive man with some of the most defined calf muscles I've ever seen. It was well worth it when we arrived at the beautiful Danai house that would be our home for the next few days.

  

We spent the first night taking in the beautiful scenery and wading through crowds of people to watch the breathtaking Santorini sunset. The next morning we stumbled upon a local bakery which became a favorite for the gluten eaters in our group. A certain member of our group may of inquired if it's possible to ship several  kilos of honey cheese tarts to the states. Then it was off to rent ATVs and with 150cc engines (versus the 50cc engines we had in Mykonos) we had some power and independence. We were off to navigate the steep winding roads of Santorini with the sun at our backs and wind in our hair. This day we did some black sand beach hopping and learned some important lessons while soaking in the sun's rays including the fact that you need to buy a drink to sit in the shaded beach chairs and just say no when Asian women solicit you for massages on the beach. 

Once back in Oia with hungry bellies we went on a search for dinner and found PitoGryo, a local gyro/souvlaki grill, we knew we had found our feast! Only problem was a power outage had surged through a majority of the town leaving our hopes of dining on delicious souvlaki almost dashed. Thankfully the kind grill owner offered to take our order from a limited menu. We were able to stave off extreme hanger and our friendly foursome was able to remain in high spirits. With what turned out to be an appetizer we collectively decided to "look for something sweet". Now this term has been very subjective in our group and for some of us this means eating 2 kilos worth of sweet cherries in one sitting and for others it means a $20 (USD) waffle with scoops of Carmel cookie ice cream or massive chocolate banana crepe.  In a seaside taverna two members of our group found themselves cheering on the other two, who each decided she wanted to tackle a sweet treat by herself. Lets just say that waffles and crepes in Greece are quite large and I believe that these two ladies could shut down a competitive food eating contest!

With some of us still on a gut busting sugar high we woke up the next morning to watch the sunrise. This time in the morning was daily used to experience God in nature, pray, journal, draw and of course take good Facebook profile pics! Afterwards we headed to breakfast at a local restaurant with amazing views of Santorini. We befriended our waitress who originally was from Russia and warned us not to fall in love with a Greek man because we'd get stuck in Greece (which honestly doesn't sound half-bad). Whilst sipping fantastic frappes and falling even more in love with Greek yogurt and honey we made a game plan for the day. We hopped on our ATVs and headed to check out the archaeological site in Akrotiri, a town destroyed by volcanic eruption and earthquakes.

After experiencing these ruins the Santorini beaches called our names and we were off to the beach at Akrotiri with black/red sand. This beach was well worth the view but required a bit of hiking up and over boulders and lava rocks in order to reach its shore. With a workout in the scorching sun a nice dip in the ocean sounded like a fine idea to one member despite her other group members likening the tide to "gross chocolate milk". Thinking she was going to make everyone else jealous when she was cooling off in the water she waded into the water up to her knees and quickly realized why no one else at the entire beach was in the water. With algae and black/brow debris coating her legs, the hike off the beach was filled with regret and a plan to thoroughly think through potentially dicey decisions in the future.

Exploring the island and looking for a beach, we stumbled upon the adorable family owned Faros Market with their very own sun dried tomatoes.  There we sampled a myriad of things from honey to capers to olives.  We watched Kosas prepare the tomatoes to be sun dried and he gave us a tour of the expansive garden out back. He was very kind, gave us a couple melons from his garden, and tried to thwart the plans of a little boy who kept throwing rocks at Heather. Then riding off with our purchases, we set off to find "the perfect beach". We found it - clear at the other tip of then"C" shaped island,  a black stone beach with clear water and not many people, just the way we like it.  All too soon it was time to head back and  we rode off, taking in the views as we made our way to our cave home.

The next morning we got up to watch the sunrise again, some of us promptly went back to bed, didn't get up at all, or stayed up to journal or read or draw before going back to bed.  We went to an adorable and delicious pizza place for lunch, owned by Assia, a Bulgarian who told us not to fall in love with a Greek man (again) when we asked how she ended up in Santorini. She taught us some Greek dancing, how to make the perfect frappe, and told us how to get to the tiny beach in our town. Well, We didn't quite understand her directions and ended up walking down a very steep road that we thought lead to the water. About 20-30 minutes in we began to question our choice. One of our members in particular wasn't too keen on this misdirection as her bladder wasn't too pleased that we were in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere. We came upon some donkeys, then some sort of plant or dam and a "Danger" sign, so we decided to turn around. After we made our way back to the top we saw donkeys coming up the path - if only 15 minutes earlier we could've ridden them.  We went back to our place to regroup and set out again. This time we found the beach! A bit of climbing over some questionable rocks that looked like they could have been from an avalanche, was totally worth it as we sat on the ledge and took turns going in the water two at a time. It was gorgeous!! We swam over to a giant rock and Heather even cliff dove! It was amazing.  Three of us rode back up the 200- some steps on donkeys which was a fun/terrifying experience! We did a little shopping, watched the sunset, and went to Dimitri's down by the water for a fresh fish dinner. We even got to pick them out of the tank! It was a delicious meal of fava bean dip and bread, tomato fritters, and fish. At the end of the meal Joy (the owner, who is from the states and told us again not to fall in love with a greek man) gave us a chocolate soufflé with ice cream on the house!! We thought we were stuffed, but we downed it! A delicious dinner for our last night in Santorini was just what we needed. We walked back up the couple hundred stairs doing our best to dodge donkey poop and stood for a while admiring the view; denying that it was our last night.

The next morning we got up for our last Santorini sunrise, had quiet time, packed up and made sure we stocked up on Greek pastries from our bakery before Visili came to pick us up to take us to the taxi to ferry back to Athens.

Thank you Santorini for giving us a taste for sun dried tomatoes to match one members fire engine red skin, toned thighs from climbing your numerous steps, honing one members ability to attract every stray cat in the city, unmatched sunrises and sunsets and wonderful memories with soul friends. 

Off Athens and the Acropolis Saturday morning we packed up and left our cave home. Though none of us were ready for our adventures to be over, we soaked up every minute until we had to catch our cab.  In Athens we saw the Acropolis as the sun was setting - it was beautiful!  We got one last Greek dinner of gyros souvlaki, and lemon fanta. For dessert a couple of us tried Greek frozen yogurt...boy was it delicious!! We then went up to the rooftop bar at our hostel where we met a group of British men who had early enjoyed happy hour. They pinpointed us as Americans right away, apparently because of some of us wearing running shoes and one of us was "the edgy one" because of her headband and having lived near Camden Town in London for a summer.  Somehow they started singing the theme song from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, so of course we joined them, it was hilarious and fabulous, though we're not sure how the rest of the bar felt about it. We definitely went out with a bang our last evening. 

Three of us took a 3 hour nap and we parted ways at 3:30am heading back for home and leaving one member to continue on in her amazing journey.

A fantastic time was had by all and we will never forget this wonderful trip with soul friends!

-Lisa and Jessica

White Walls Blue Doors

July 4-8, Mykonos, Greece

The ladies have arrived at the islands everyone. Our first stop in Cyclades is Mykonos! Party Centrale! And partying it is.... Here is a glimpse of night number one.....

The island definitely schooled us on the party scene. We thought we were bringing the party to the island but little did we know the island had something else in store for us...turns out a 10:30pm start time was unacceptable! After a nice dinner (at 9:00pm mind you), we headed on over to what we thought was party central. Upon our arrival, we came across some techno/euro music and unique dance moves by young folk from all over the world. Needless to say, the night ended up being one full of people watching (which was nothing short of fascinating) and all in all a successful night...well according to our standards! 

        *the Greeks tend to take advantage of siesta time in the afternoon and take partying to a whole other level. It's typical to eat dinner after 9 and party until sunrise.

Given our lack of Mykonos party skills, we decided to ease our way into the local scene. First step? ADVENTURE. ATVs became our mode of transportation for the next two days. These little vehicles not only gave us the opportunity to explore the island, but they also got us to the beaches. After a few days of basking in the sun, we found we all no longer blended in with the white architecture of Mykonos, but rather the golden sand of the island's many beaches...well let me clarify, maybe not all of us...one person in our group (who will remain nameless) actually ended up blending in with the bright red tomatoes that became a part of our daily diet.

Now that we had the adventure and a golden glow under our belts, it was time to get our party pants on and live it up like a Mykonos local. We had been working towards this moment for so long and alas, it was here! We dined like an Italian (at midnight), attempted to try a shot of the infamous Mastiha  (but failed miserably) and danced like Greek goddesses among a sea full of good looking international young'uns. 

We left the island excited (for our next adventure), sad (to be leaving the friends we had made), stuffed (with all the amazing eats) and accomplished.

Mykonos...you were so good to us...you adopted us into your culture, shared the breathtaking beauty of the land and sea and showed us how to "live it up" like a true Greek. So we say to you...EFHARISTO!

Ode to Mykonos...

Friends - Igli (Lisa's lover from ATV shop...born and raised in Mykonos), GiGi and Simone (Italian buddies from our breakfast adventures at Cosmos), Panos (the Greek pilot who gave good conversation and a great history lesson on Greece), George (a native Mykonos citizen who made us feel at home at our hostel), friends from the ferry (Two couples from Toronto who we enjoyed joking around with)

Food- some of our favorite most delicious foods to enjoy in Mykonos included gyros, Greek salad, honey, frappe, tomatoes, moussaka, lemon fanta, souvlaki 

Hostel- our stay in Mykonos included a quaint little white painted hostel called Orpheas with cute windows two bedrooms, a kitchen,  and a porch. The people were wonderful and invited us right into their culture. 

ATVs - our mode of transportation throughout the wonderful island included two old ATVs, which barely worked, but did the trick!..... Most of the time. Only once were we read to leave a beach with helmets on shades down and ready to fire up the engine when one team of two sat in their tracks without movement. ATV number two was down. It had died and was sadly stuck at the beach. Eventually Heather and Jenny rode off into the distance leaving half of our team behind. We had no choice. Within 20 minutes we had two of Gods gifts (Greek men) strolling around the corner to save the day and the team was back in action! We are ATV pros and ready to take on the adventures of streets of Santorini.

Over -n- out 

Till the next island! 

- Jenny and Heather 

What time is it?! Rome time!

July 2, 2014

Rome, Italy

Packing up in Riomaggiore, we took one more look out our hostel window and headed to one of our favorite little cafés, Giammi Caffe, for breakfast pastries and sandwiches for lunch on the train. 

On our way to the train we met a local fisherman who lived in Florida for a few years.  We bought our tickets and boarded the train. Of all the times we took this Cinque Terre train, our tickets have never been checked. Of course they were checked this time and it took us a good 3 minutes to find where we put them...the train conductor didn't look too pleased. 

On the train from La Spezia to Rome, we sat by some interesting characters. Luckily we were able to sleep most of the 4 hour train ride, but it seemed every single time I woke up briefly the nun was on the phone. I have no clue what she was talking about for 4 hours and we couldn't even eves drop because we didn't understand what language she was speaking. It seemed she was speaking one language, writing another, and reading yet another!  The parts of the countryside I was awake to see were gorgeous! 

Arriving in Rome we found our hostel  without any trouble, settled in and headed out to pack as much sightseeing as we could into the afternoon. We ended up on a bus tour because our schedule was so tight, which turned out to be a great choice! We hopped on and off when we wanted and got to see the outside of the Vatican and the Coliseum and even took a guided tour of the Coliseum. 

After our tour was over we went to the Trevi fountain, which we knew was under construction thanks to our Air Force Academy friends we made in Riomaggiore, but I didn't realize quite how bad it was.  

Afterwards we ate dinner at a cute little pasta place in an adorable alley filled with restaurants and outside dining. Next we walked to the Pantheon, took our silly pictures and headed back to the hostel. Rome in a few hours was a success.

Ciao!

Lisa

Sweet Serenity

Tuesday, July 1st, 2014

Cinque Terre, Italy

Day five of our trip and we have already done so much! It is about time for some rest and boy did God hear our prayers. 

Here is our scene from last night...

Hundreds of people exhausted from a day of hiking between towns. Everyone is sticky and smelly, sitting in a train without any sort of air flow. My head was spinning and I was in daze. Lisa was falling asleep when a lightbulb goes off in her head and she had a brilliant discovery amongst her dreams. We have one more day in the beautiful Riomaggiore! It's a good thing she had a coming to God moment or we would've left early and been in Rome without a place to stay! It's hard to keep track of the date or time of day when you are traveling. And it's always 5 o'clock somewhere which makes everything even better! 

With all that being said we are absolutely loving this day as I am writing this to you while laying in a multicolored hammock, listening to guitar music, under a bamboo awning, drinking orange juice, and eating strawberries, above the sea. If that didn't sound incredibly amazing to you, it definitely should! I am in complete awe of the beauty. Praise God for this wonderful place! We are in one of those moments that you cannot capture with a spontaneous picture or the most descriptive words in a dictionary. It is just something you need to remember and be thankful for! 

Last thought for the day... It is pretty wonderful how friendly everyone is when you're traveling. You can sit down on the train next to anyone and have a conversation, you could go eat dinner with someone you just introduced yourself to, you can talk about life and drink wine with the group that sits next you at the harbor. I mean heck, you are even living with people you just meet! We are currently staying in a hostel with four other people from other places around the world. It just seems that everyone is so kind, and outgoing, and adventurous! And everybody loves it!!! So why aren't we always like this? I think about Chicago how I sit with a cold shoulder to the person next to me or how I throw in my headphones when I walk down the street. I do not go out of my way to be extra friendly, say hello, or learn anything new about anybody! I wonder what travelers think of that when they come to the states? Life would be so different if everyone acted like we do when we are feeling adventurous and free. I think it would be more fun! 

Which actually brings me to one more thought. We had a spectacular night by the harbor with wine, cheese, friends, and a bonfire. What could be better!? 

So all in all, if you are reading this, I hope you have a spontaneous, fun, free, beautiful day! 

Ciao! 

-Heather 

Slippery Slope

Sunday, June 28th, 2014 

Corneglia and Manerola, Cinque Terre, IL

Quote of the day- 

"Let go of your fear. Walk into every situation knowing that the one conquers all is holding your hand."

Through the small green shutters of the third floor window in 74 Via Colombo the morning began as follows....

Snooze was pressed three times and we still remained fast asleep in bed. Ten came our second wake up call, the Riomaggiore church bells that sound more like bongos outside the window. They ring about fifteen times every hour on the hour. It is pretty much the local alarm clock, and well it definitely works! We managed to finally wake up, but what a beautiful sight it was! The windows are always left open to a quaint terrace across the street that has beautiful violet flowers and plants of many other colors. 

So now we were up and finally determined to explore! Our first stop of the day was church. There are three very old traditional Catholic Churches in Riomaggiore. They are all beautiful, but no services were anywhere to be found! We tried our best, that's all you can do, right!? However, as typical explorers, we chose a dark alley way and we were on our way for further adventures. 

Next stop, after wandering around the city, A Pie de Ma (The Foot of the Sea) cafe. Words cannot even describe how amazing this little discovery was. We sat outside on the side of a cliff drinking coffee and tea. Straight down on both sides of us was the water and the waves far below. Behind us is a hammock. Lisa and I sat at the cafe for a few hours, had some devotion time and talked about how thankful we were to be in that place at that time. When doors and opportunities open up , always take them! There are so many wonderful new challenges and adventures when you do jump on those chances. 

It was finally time to leave when we noticed the most fantastic prosciutto and cheese sandwich ever! It was heavenly. It was a somewhat successful start of our day in Cinque .... For now. 

As the afternoon rolled in, so did the clouds. But that would not stop us! No way! No how! We have cities to explore. So Cinque Terre stands for '5 lands.' It is a place along the west coast of Italy with 5 small towns that you can hike between. From north to south they are called Monterosso, Vernazza, Corneglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. So today was hike number one. We began taking the mountain hike between Corniglia and Manarola. It was to take a total of three hours. Twenty minutes up the trail and we were hit with a slippery slope. It was down pouring. The clouds had made their way up the mountain and brought a storm with it. We were joyfully making our way in our raincoats and determination after passing four people who told us to turn around and go back. We almost listened to them..... A few more minutes up we could barely see because of the rain. A couple coming down the path told us we should definitely not go any further because it was slippery and getting dangerous. So we did finally listen and went back down to the town to explore that instead. Similar to Riomaggiore it was colorful and quaint. We ended up taking cover out of the rain in a pizzeria that was fantastic! There we meet a nice couple from Greenland. We knew it was going to be a long lunch once we started telling stories. We asked how that couple meet and the man began by saying, "well the longest stories are the best right." We didnt respond so he dived into his story...needless to say we know his entire life since he was 12 in 1957. The day continued to be a slippery slope :)   They were kind and we were happy to hear more stories while enjoying some delicious pizza. 

Ciao!!

-Heather