.jpg)
Editor’s note: From June 4 to June 14, a group of Rockbridge County High School students, parents and teachers went on a tour of Italy, the Vatican, San Marino, and Greece. One of the travelers, Claire Crossman, wrote up the following account of their trip.
The trip to Greece and Italy was marked by breathtaking scenery, centuries-old art, and many friendly cats.
On a misty Sunday morning, 37 students, chaperones and family members set out on a ten-day tour to Italy and Greece. The preparation for this trip had begun a year before with chaperones Stephanie Brooks, Chris Gallagher, Zack Rhodenizer, and Cynthia Spangler, who organize yearly trips through the educational tour company EF.
The tour featured both scheduled events, where we would visit as a group, and free times where you could explore on your own, which started as soon as we got into Rome.
During scheduled times, we took tours of places I could never have imagined. We walked through the Vatican, past massive frescos, halls of tapestries filled with illusions, and, of course, the Sistine Chapel with pictures so high you almost couldn’t take it all in.
We spent a few days in Rome, seeing multiple sites across the city like the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon Trevi fountain, and the Ancient Forum. I especially liked our trip to the catacombs outside of Rome. It was amazing that the tombs had lasted so long in spite of time and pillaging. In fact, two columns in the catacombs had not been moved from their original position in two thousand years!
We then traveled north through the rolling green countryside, stopping at Orvieto, a mountaintop town between Rome and Florence. It seemed out of a movie with shops lined up on cobblestone streets, a beautiful church in the square on top of the mountain, and a picturesque view of the surrounding countryside. It is also where a few of the other travelers and I had our first Italian pizza!
After our short stop, we continued to Florence which was filled with both art and food. We learned about leather, explored the city, and wandered around the Uffizi, which houses paintings such as “The Birth of Venus.” My mom and I had some of our favorite food there: pesto gnocchi.
Next we traveled to the country of San Marino, which like Orvieto, was on top of a mountain. San Marino, however, had walls and towers across it and the town rose in elevation with the mountain.
After that, we took an overnight ferry to Greece. Though the wind was whipping, we were all excited to stand out on the deck and see the Adriatic Sea.
Upon arrival in Greece, we stopped at a restaurant and got an introduction to both Greek food and Greek cats. Soon after we traveled to Meteora, an amazing rock formation with
THIS WAS ONE of the many candid photos of the not-so-foreign feline residents students encountered throughout Italy and Greece. This particular fellow was right at home amidst the tourists. (photo by Emma Watkins) monasteries and convents perched high on the rocks. We toured one church in a convent that was being restored and after seeing so much Catholic religious art in Italy, it was interesting to see Orthodox art and how they differed.
The group then traveled past endless fields of olive trees to Delphi, where we saw the Temple of Apollo and learned about the history of the site.
We then raced up the steep path to get to the top, where a theater was. Some cloud coverage made the descent cooler, but the trip wasn’t without some slips. We quickly visited the museum and went to our lunch place which came highly recommended and rightfully so. I got the wild boar stew with local pasta which was absolutely delicious.
Finally we arrived in Athens. In Athens we toured the Parthenon, and while quite crowded with people, we were assured that it was in fact a slow day. Exploring the city, we stopped in several interesting shops such as the Byzantine Church Supply and a cork shop.
Later that night we all engaged in a Greek dinner where we learned about the making of olive oil, broke plates, and got to participate in dancing. A few people were even chosen to participate in a Greek dance wearing traditional clothes.
Sometimes, though, the most exciting things to see are familiar ones, which meant that everyone fell in love with the many dogs and cats we saw around Greece, taking plenty of pictures and giving them much attention. The entire trip was a blast and cemented a hope to continue traveling throughout the world in the future.
