In the quest of tracing back ancient history we found ourselves engrossed in the three major civilizations: The majestic Egyptian Pharaohs, the gallant Greeks and the royal Romans.
So we decided to visit them in the exact sequence as they marked their presence in the history of mankind. This is the crust of our first foreign travel, the one that amalgamated to our heart and soul forever:
Day 0:
We took the late night flight of Kuwait Airlines (KU-302 & KU-545) from Mumbai to Cairo with a layover in Kuwait City.
We landed in Cairo at around noon. Baggage collection, immigration and changing currency took about an hour. We had requested our AirBNB to book our transport from airport and it was waiting for us. At around 2 pm we reached our stay near the Giza Pyramids. After freshening up we took a stroll down the streets to sink in the local culture. To shed off the jet lag we slept early that night.
We had breakfast at our AirBNB and went to see the Egyptian Museum.
After lunch we prepared ourselves to witness what we had been reading and seeing in history books and TV channels since childhood- The Great Pyramids of Giza. We dedicated the entire afternoon for the pyramids, still it did not seem enough. The sunset on the backdrop of the pyramids was great though.
At night we visited the buzzing and dazzling Coptic Cairo and Khan-el Khalili market. We had Egyptian Coffee at the famous El Fishawi café. We bought a few souvenirs from the shops. With an unsatiated heart we had to return to our stay as it was almost midnight.
We booked an Uber for the entire day and visited the old towns of Saqqara and Memphis. These marvels are not to be missed if you want to understand the development of pyramids. We bought chocolates and Kunafa from the famous El-Domiaty. The same day evening we had our train (Watania Sleeping Train) from Giza to Luxor.
The train reached Luxor at 7 am. We reached our stay on the west bank of the Nile at 8am. We were served light breakfast and a refreshing cup of Egyptian tea. That day we visited the Valley of Kings. The afternoon was well spent in the pool of our Air BnB.
Early morning we went for a picturesque Hot Air Balloon ride over Luxor. Then after a street side breakfast, we registered ourselves on a tour and visited the main sites of Valley of Queens, Valley of Nobles, Karnak temple, Hatsepshut’s Temple, Medinet Habu, Colossi of Memnon and the Ramesseum…..At the end of our tour we took a felucca ride in Nile witnessing one of the best sunsets of our life. Post sunset we visited the Luxor Temple.
We had an early morning Aegean Airlines flight from Luxor to Athens with a short layover in Cairo. We reached Athens at 11 am. We took a bus from the airport to the city center. Thereafter we took a 24 hour pass and hopped on our metro to reach our AirBNB in Thissio. We unpacked the essentials and immediately went out to explore the town. We immersed ourselves in the vibrant mood of the Flea market, Syntagma square and Monastiraki square.
The first half of the day was reserved for Acropolis complex; in the afternoon we saw the Panathenic Stadium. Thereafter we went to Pireaus Port to collect the tickets (pre-booked) for our Blue Star Ferry to Santorini for the next morning
Early morning we hopped on to the metro to reach Pireaus Port. We queued in to the Blue Star Ferry. Though we had booked and cabin seat, we spent most of our time on the open deck. We reached Santorini at 2 pm. We hired a self-drive car and reached our Air BNB on the Perissa beach by 4 pm. We freshened up and immediately set out to see the night landscape of the beautiful town of Oia.
We saw the Red beach, Fira and finally ended our day by witnessing the world famous sunset at Oia.
We dropped our car early morning at the airport and boarded our Aegean Airlines flight to Rome. There was a short layover in Athens. We reached Rome at around 4 pm. We took a bus from the airport to the city center and we took a 24 hour pass from Roma Termini station. We reached our AirBNB in Monti by 6pm. We strolled out to see the grand Colosseum at night.
We lined up in the early morning queue for the Colosseum. Its grandeur and spectre cannot be explained in words. The ticket was a combined one for Colosseum, The Roman Forum and The Palatine Hill, so next we visited the rest two. After lunch we visited Trastevere.
We visited the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican Museum and St. Peter’s Square. Then we walked up to the Castel Sant’Angelo.
We took an early morning train to Naples where we vistied the old town of Pompei. Later on, we enjoyed the best Napolean Pizza at L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele and Dal Presidente. We took a train back to Rome.
We rushed through the day to cover the not to be missed attractions: Fountain of the Four Rivers, Spanish Steps, Villa Borghese, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon and The Aventine Keyhole.
Late evening we took an Italo Treno to reach Florence. In the evening we strolled to the local market and tried out pasta and cannoli.
We visited Uffizi Gallery in the morning. Post lunch we went to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa by taking a to and fro local train from Firenze to Pisa
We visited Galleria dell’Accademia to witness the Michelangelo masterpiece David. On our way to Mercato Centrale we walked past the marvelous Giotto’s Campanile, Ponte Vecchio, Il Porcellino and Duomo.
We took a train to Venice and walked over the bridges to reach our AirBNB on the main island.
With a 24 hour pass we visited the quaint and picturesque town of Burano. After returning to Venice we saw the famous Rialto Bridge. We also squeezed in an half an hour Gondola ride. Then we boarded our train to Milan. It was quite late when we reached our AirBNB in Milan and we had our dinner from a nearby restaurant.
We visited the Sforza Castle in the castle and then we went to see the mesmerizing Da Vinci masterpirce “The Last Supper” at Santa Maria Delle Grazie. We indulged in the lavish spread of Aperitivo in the evening.
We visited the Milan Duomo Cathedral and Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. To catch the late afternoon flight back to India we took a bus to the airport. We returned by Indian Airlines to Mumbai with a layover in New Delhi with a heavy heart and a smile on our face.