Adventures Abroad

The subtitle to this blog is "Adventures in Maine and beyond." This post can definitely be filed under the "beyond."

A couple weeks ago Daniel and I hopped on a plane bound for Rome. There we met up with my brother Skip, sister-in-law Julie, nephews Paul, Lyndan, and Connor, and Julie's parents for a whirlwind 11-day trip around Rome, Athens, and Naxos Island. The whole thing was pretty amazing, with lots of ancient things to see, incredible art, great food, and wonderful family time. Since this blog is mostly about outdoor, athletic adventures, I'll tell you about that part of our trip.

Right next to our hotel in Rome was a big (huge!) walled-in green space called the Borghese Gardens. Many of the streets through the area were pedestrian-only, so it was a great place for running. Daniel and I went on a couple morning runs here. It was fun and parts of it were beautiful, but it also seemed pretty run down. It was disappointing to see how much litter was around.

A GIANT, and I mean GIANT, statue in Borghese.

Borghese Museum - we came back here later with the rest of the clan to go inside.

The streets weren't exactly pedestrian-only. There were also these crazy bike carts that we took around one time.
My nephews loved it. I worried we were going to tip over on the steep paths.

The wall outside the Borghese, seen from next to our hotel.

Then it was off to Athens! Daniel and I both liked running in Athens a bit more. There were hills, the National Gardens with lots of trails, and a long pedestrian-only street that connected some of the sites. Everything felt better taken care of than in Rome. We did see lots of stray dogs, unfortunately, and that made me sad.

We ran by excavated Roman baths that were found when the city was digging for a new Metro station.  

They preserved the baths and moved the Metro station location instead.

Local kids doing a track workout under the watchful eyes of the Acropolis. So cool! 

We ran up a hill with fun trails and at the top were gifted this beautiful view of the Acropolis and the hills beyond.

You can see the crane they are using to do restoration work on the Acropolis. Some might see it as an eye-sore, but with all of the information around explaining the work being done it really helped you appreciate the undertaking. Instead of an eye-sore, it seemed nice how well everything was being taken care of.

Panoramic view from the top of our hill. This hill had the Temple of the Muses, seen here on the left.

The Temple of Zeus. We ran by this on a couple mornings and then came back later with everyone to see it up close.

The original Olympic Stadium from 1896! Even though that was the date of the first modern Olympics, the ancient Olympics happened on this site as well. The hills naturally make a sort of stadium here. This is another spot we ran by and then came back to see close up with everyone. We even did a "race" of one lap with my nephews. 

Next it was off to Naxos Island, part of the Cyclades (ie home to Cyclops). The island turned out to be much bigger than we expected. It was easy to get lost! There were lots of hills, mountains really. And, of course, LOTS of beaches.

We had plenty of beach time and one day decided to hike a hill near the end of the beach where we were hanging out. 

The views - and the wind - and the top were incredible!

On another morning Daniel and I got up early (well, relatively for vacation) and drove inland to hike Mt. Zeus. It took about an hour to get to the trail head. And involved driving through this beautiful village of Filoti.

The hike was rugged and steep, but well-marked. 

About 15 minutes into the hike we came across Zeus' Cave. I poked my head in until I heard bats, then I got out of there!

View from the summit of Mt. Zeus

Fantastic hike with great views. The whole hike took about 2 hours. There was a log book at the top, so we signed our names. It was fun to see where everyone was from.

This was quite a different vacation than I usually take, since most of my travel tends to be skiing or outdoor-adventure related. It was great fun to do something different and wonderful to spend time with my family and Daniel. I also learned a great lesson: even in the biggest cities there's usually green space to explore, and doing so on foot is the best way to get a feel for the place! Ciao!