The Acropolis and apocalyptic rain in Athens

The Acropolis is totally unmissable in Athens. All roads seemingly lead to it, and it looms over the city by day and glows through the darkness at night. As well as seeing it up close, we also ascended a couple of hills on opposite sides of the city to enjoy the view from all angles, despite what the weather threw at us.

Golden hour at the Acropolis

We chose to visit the Acropolis site itself at 6.30pm, shortly before sunset (and the site closing). We’d heard that it gets very busy in the middle of the day, so this seemed to avoid both the crowds and an early start for us; win-win! We entered the site from the quieter south-eastern entrance and made a bee-line for the Parthenon, heading up past the Theatre of Dionysus, the Temple of Asclepios, and finally arriving at the plateau via the impressive Propylaea entry way. By this point, the sun was already low enough in the sky to cast a beautiful golden glow across each of the temple ruins.

We spent a good half hour exploring both the Parthenon (below) and Erechtheion (above). I also managed to snap one of our finest selfies to date. By that, I mean a rare selfie that survived Sara’s regular culls of any photos that contain her.

Biblical rain and sunset on Philopappos Hill

The next day, we’d planned to take a sunset stroll up Philopappos Hill, a mound just to the south-west of the Acropolis that we’d read had great views over the city. The one issue with this plan was the weather, as there were thunderstorms forecast throughout the afternoon. We’d made it as far as the very calm and semi-pedestrianised Iraklidon street when the heavens opened, so we took shelter in the nearest bar, and waited for it all to blow over. And it wasn’t long before the chalkboard outside the bar literally did blow over and was carried away by the torrent of water flowing down the street.

A few drinks later and the rain had started to clear, so we headed off towards the park. Halfway up the hill we came across a rather large church bell, and Sara (with the help of some dutch courage) tested it out. Surprisingly, the bell was incredibly loud, so Sara did the honourable thing and did a runner. Apologies to the people of Athens who set their watch by these bells.

Eventually, we made it to the top of Philopappos Hill and found a viewpoint overlooking the Acropolis. This time, we waited the sun to actually set and the lights to come on before moving on to dinner. The deluge earlier in the afternoon seemed to have scared off anyone with any sense, leaving us alone to enjoy the views. The remaining clouds even added some atmosphere to the evening sky. It was pretty magical.

Rain and shine at Lycabettus Hill

For our final Acropolis view we travelled to Lycabettus Hill, the highest point in Central Athens. We climbed up a handful of stairs through a quiet neighbourhood north-east of the Acropolis to reach the funicular railway’s lower station. Just after purchasing our ticket but before the train departed, an ominous rumble of thunder rolled across the city. We exchanged a glance and wondered whether this was a good idea at all, but our typical we’ve-come-this-far determination encouraged us to hop on the train shortly before it departed.

To our surprise, the funicular railway travelled underground all the way to the hill’s summit, some 277m above sea level. We emerged from the upper station into a torrential downpour, and while the other passengers made a run for the cafe, we joined a sweet little cat sheltering under a tree. Although heavy, the downpour didn’t last long, and the sun was shining again across the city before we knew it.

Unlike most other people who took the funicular, we were far too cheap to buy a return ticket so planned to walk down. And actually, this was even more enjoyable than the view from the church at the top – we passed huge cacti and every turn in the path focused the view on a different part of the city in a new light, keeping us entertained as we descended.

In addition to the many Acropolis viewings, we did our best to make the most of our time in a big city once again – more on this in Part II.

Ciao, Italy!

It’s been 15 days since we left the UK, and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed our time in Italy. Our route covered the length of the country from Turin to Bari, which meant that we saw a huge amount of variety, from the Alpine-escape above Aosta to the cacophonous old town of Naples. I’m writing this from our ferry en route to Greece, and it feels like the perfect moment to reflect on our experiences over the past fortnight.

Train travel

Travelling by train has been incredibly easy in Italy. Admittedly, we did alter our itinerary to minimise the number of times we traversed the country, thereby avoiding many mountain passes that would have been time consuming by public transport. Specifically, we swapped a hike to the Marche region for a Tuscan adventure in Lucca, so we’ve already got one reason to return to Italy. Special thanks to Mario for his travel advice, which helped us make the most of our time in Italy. In total, we took 19 trains in Italy, and spent 47 hours trundling along the tracks.

We were genuinely impressed by the rail infrastructure, especially given that it extended to the mountainous coastline around the Cinque Terre. The trains were consistently large, modern and very comfortable. I’m sure low-carbon travel won’t always be this easy, which is all the more reason to appreciate it while it is.

Carbon audit

Our two-week itinerary from London to Bari resulted in 127 kgCO2 being emitted into the atmosphere, so there’s still a long way to go before we hit the minimum carbon offset credit size (1,000 kgCO2e). For comparison, we emitted 847 kgCO2e during our 2010 three-week interrail trip from London -> Berlin -> Pula -> London. It just goes to show the difference made by avoiding flying!

Unsurprisingly, the majority of our carbon emissions resulted from train travel, given that we travelled the vast majority of distance by train. Still, I was surprised to learn that low speed rail emits more than 7 times the amount of carbon of high speed rail, for journeys of the same distance. This is definitely something to consider for the future, given we sometimes opted for slower regional trains to save money.

Costs

The largest share of our money went towards accommodation costs, while food and transport costs occupied about a quarter of our budget each. I’m slightly surprised that activities made up less than 5% of our costs, but then again, I am really cheap and we both do enjoy walking!

Recycling

We didn’t buy a single plastic water bottle in Italy, owing to the abundance of water fountains present throughout every town. At times this meant that we sometimes carried more water than we would have if we’d bought it as we went, but this was a trade-off we were happy to make. Probably the largest detour we had to make for water was between trains at Roma Centrale, when I dashed out to a slightly sketchy neighbourhood to fill up our bottles at a public fountain while Sara remained anxiously fixated on the departures board. Fortunately, we had over an hour to kill during this connection, which we faffed away without issue.

I was also really impressed by the amount of public recycling. It seemed everywhere in Italy had 3 flavours of recycle bin, as well as a fourth bin for general waste. At least this meant that when we were given a couple of plastic water bottles by one Airbnb host, we knew they weren’t going into landfill. In fact, recycling seemed so popular in some places that some large recycling bins belonging to residential buildings were locked to prevent randomers (like us) from using them. We LOVE recycling, in case you couldn’t tell.

Cats

We miss Thomas (our cat) a lot. So much so, that Sara’s been keeping a count of the cats throughout Italy, inspired by the increasingly complex system of counting and ratings that we’ve developed while walking the London LOOP with our friends George and Erin. Disappointingly, we didn’t spot a single cat on our trip until we reached Naples. However, thanks to the feline population of southern Italy, the total now stands at 27, and we were delighted to have a cat as our neighbour out on the deck of our ferry (I think he was less delighted to be there).

Next stop: Greece!

Pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza in Naples

Naples is the birthplace of pizza, and we were keen to do it justice.

Neapolitan pizza is quite unlike pizza found throughout the rest of Italy. Restrictions of the ingredients are tight; the tomatoes must be either San Marzano or Pomodorino del Piennolo del Vesuvio, and the mozzarella must either made from water buffalo milk or Fior di Latte (a specific type of cow’s milk). Furthermore, the dough must be kneaded and formed by hand, and baked for 60-90 seconds at 485 degrees celsius in a wood fired oven, producing a soft and elastic base once cooked. Yum! This is our experience of Naples through four pizzas in four days.

Pizza Imperatore 1906

We arrived in Naples on a Friday evening after 7 hours spent on 3 regional trains from Lucca. Although I’d heard about the city’s passion, noise and grit (and Sara had visited Naples previously), we both felt a pang of culture shock as we walked the raucous, dark streets of the Centro Storico (old town) on our way to pick up a late night takeaway pizza. This feeling was beautifully encapsulated when, back at our 5th floor apartment, a whole cake of fireworks were set off in the street below, exploding just outside our window.

Despite how tired and overwhelmed we felt at the time, our Margherita pizza from Pizzeria Imperatore 1906 turned out to be our favourite of our visit to Naples. Maybe it was our hunger levels, or possibly our initiation into Neapolitan pizza, but my goodness did it hit the spot. We were hooked, and immediately understood why there was a pizzeria on almost every block.

Queueing chaos: 2/10 (disappointingly orderly)
Pizza base: 10/10 (perfectly stretchy and very tasty)
Toppings: 8/10 (simple but effective)
Ambience: 8/10 (fireworks as dinnertime entertainment)

L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele

On our second evening in Naples, we headed to the hugely popular L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele, just across the square from our Airbnb. Upon arriving, the swarm of people surrounding the pizzeria gave us confidence this was a good choice, whilst simultaneously piquing our queuing anxiety. Almost everywhere we experienced in Italy had its own unique queuing system, and this was no different. A fellow punter took pity on us and explained how to navigate the rabble. At length, we placed our order, picked up some beers from a nearby shop to drink while we waited, and joined the impatient crowd to claim our pizzas.

This pizzeria served pizza as it used to be, without many “toppings” as we know them. You could choose between 4 options:

Margherita – tomato, Fior di latte, basil, pecorino
Marinara – tomato, oregano, garlic
Cosacca – tomato, basil, pecorino, pepper
Marita – half Marinara, half Margherita

Sara ordered a Marita, and I went for a Cosacca. In both cases, we were blown away by the level of flavour produced by so few ingredients. Maybe the protected local produce did have more flavour than those found elsewhere, or maybe these flavours are just easier to appreciate with few distracting toppings. Either way, we were both glad to have experienced what felt like the most authentic pizza of our visit to Italy so far.

Queueing chaos: 10/10 (maximum confusion, loved it)
Pizza base: 7/10 (a bit too floppy)
Toppings: 10/10
Ambience: 5/10 (eaten in our weird Airbnb)

Pizzeria e Trattoria Del Purgatorio

For our third Neapolitan pizza, we ate at a restaurant on the busy and largely pedestrian Via dei Tribunali. Despite its positive reviews, Pizzeria Del Purgatorio felt like it catered more to tourists, and matched neither the elegance or rustic charm of our first two pizzas. Desperate for more vegetables, Sara ordered a Siciliana, and I stuck with the classic Margherita. The pizza went down just fine, but it seemed like there was far better to be eaten in Naples.

Queueing chaos: 1/10 (table service)
Pizza base: 8/10
Toppings: 8/10
Ambience: 7/10 (good eavesdropping opportunities but the couple on the neighbouring table got distracted from their discussion of whether to make a go of their relationship so we were left with a cliffhanger)

‘a Puteca d”a Pizza

We’d seen “pizza fritta” (fried pizza) advertised and consumed throughout Naples. Having never even heard of it before, we were keen to experience it ourselves before leaving the city, even though we were very full of pizza by this point. On our final day, we joined the large crowd surrounding ‘a Puteca d”a Pizza, again in the Centro Storico. Long queues outside food venues generally mean either good food, or inefficient kitchens, or both.

We shared a pizza fritta filled with broccoli salsiccia (broccoli and sausage), one of our standard orders from our local pizzeria at home. Although the crispy folded outer was deliciously unhealthy, the pizza didn’t have the deep-filled, puffy centre that we’d seen from other vendors and definitely didn’t match our beloved Pizzeria di Camden on flavour. I’m sure there’s a place in my life for fried pizza so we’ll have to return to Naples to give it another shot.

Queueing chaos: 8/10
Pizza base: 9/10
Toppings: 7/10
Ambience: 9/10 (eaten in the suitably rowdy Centro Storico)

We did things other than eat pizza while in Naples (honest!), but for that you’ll have to wait for the next post.