Trip to Europe
by: Byron Daley '10
The Mount Saint Michael trip to Europe was indeed a fun one and something that should be on your radar for next year. This year's trip was to Italy and Greece, and was organized by the C.H.A. tour company, who set up our schedule. We all were to meet at JFK for our late 10 pm flight. Our group on the tour would be made up of seven people: Miss Bonano (Group Leader), freshman Bran Gittens, Mrs. Gittens (Brain's Mother), sophomore Byron Daley, junior Paul Fragoso, senior Mark Isabella, and Mirtha Rivera (a friend of Miss Bonano). After our eight-hour flight we arrived in Rome, Italy where we would meet our C.H.A. tour guide for our time in Italy.
We were put into a bus group which contained groups from all over the United States; there were a total of 48 people in our bus group. All the people were on the same tour we were and we would be with them often during the trip. After everyone loaded their luggage we began our bus to ride into Rome. On the way to our hotel we would make several sight seeing stops for that day. At the end of the day we arrived at The Grand Hotel Ritz where we would spend the night. In the morning we would be awoken early for the tour of Vatican City. This tour included many stops, for example we got a tour inside of The Sistine Chapel, and saw the beautiful art work and statues within the building. We would see Saint Peter's Basilica on our way to the Roman Coliseum, and the last stop for the day was the underground catacombs which still exist in good shape.
The next day we would be up early for the bus ride to Sorrento, Italy, after everyone in the bus group loaded their luggage we left Rome. On our way to Sorrento we would stop in Naples, Italy to visit the National Archaeological Museum, which contained a lot of Greco-Roman antiques. We would continue to cliff-side Sorrento from which you can see the city and the bay next to it. From the windy roads on the cliff-side we would stop to take pictures which from that angle seemed like something you would send someone on a postcard. When we got into the city we unpacked our stuff at the Tirrenia hotel where we would stay.
In the morning we headed to the Island of Capri via a ferry ride. Capri contained great shopping areas, and we took a tour of the Gardens of Augustus. Within the schedule we had plenty of free time to explore the island for ourselves. In the afternoon we would take the ferry back to Sorrento for the rest of the day. The next day would be the last one in Italy for that later we would be leaving for Greece.
Packed up and ready to go the tour bus would be headed for Pompeii before we leave Italy. In Pompeii we saw the remains of the city that was covered in ash from the volcanic eruption that took place many years ago. From the city of Pompeii you can still see the volcano off in the distance which made for great pictures. Later we would leave Pompeii for our over night cruise to Greece, and meet our Greek tour guide.
After an overnight cruise we arrived in Patras, Greece where we loaded into our new tour bus. While in Patras we went to Olympia to visit the original site of the Olympics. Due to the long ride back and forth that would be it for that day as we arrived to the Hotel Pavlina to spend one night. In the morning we packed up once again to head to Athens. On our way would be multiple stops, like the ancient city of Corinth. From there we visited Mycenae to see the Tombs of Agamemnon and Clytemnetra, also we stopped at the Theatre at Epidaurus which has an impressive view of the landscape from the top seat in the center, from within the theatre any noise for the center can be heard from all sides which was amazing since it was all made of stone.
From Epidaurus we would go to Athens and unpack our stuff in our hotel the Dorian Inn. Before the night was over we would be on the bus again shortly after dinner for a night tour of Athens. Within the night tour we saw places we would visit the next day, and we saw the glow of the acropolis as the many lights around it were on full power. When the night tour ended it was late and time for bed. This would be the last day of the trip as we toured around the city with many stops. We visited the Parthenon which sits on the acropolis of Athens; from there you can see almost the entire city of Athens. The next two stops would be the Theatre of Dionysius, and the National Archaeological Museum which had a massive amount of Greek sculptures. After the tour of the city we had some free time to look around for ourselves. When we returned to our hotel we had plenty of time to be ready to leave because we had a 3 AM flight (Greek Time). So that was to be the end of a very fun trip as we boarded the plane for another eight-hour flight back to JFK.
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