There And Back In 28 Days

Starting out from Iraklion airport on the early plane to Athens I had no idea of our destination. David, my husband and personal travel guide, had arranged the trip as a surprise for our 40th wedding anniversary. He only said we’d be going “somewhere special” and I would need a good dress.

That night we were in Rome, and as we settled in to enjoy the opera Madam Butterfly in the open air auditorium at the ancient site of the Baths of Caracalla, I indeed felt very special. Rome was everything I expected and more. No corner was turned without being in sight of some magnificent building, monument, fountain or history-telling wall. We did visit the Vatican but, in the blistering heat, we decided to enjoy a cooling ice cream in the shade of the ‘Piazza san Pietro’ (St. Peter’s Square) instead of queuing for hours to see Saint Peter’s Basilica.

Anyway, when in Rome… we ate pasta, drank velvety Italian wine and tossed a coin into the Trevi fountain.

From Rome, we flew to Newcastle, arriving, of course, in the rain. Actually, it was quite a welcome sight after the baking Mediterranean temperatures.

We took the train next, an effortless journey to York for a British seaside family holiday. Five days in bustling Bridlington. We had a brilliant time, playing on the sand, doing the fairground bit, eating fish and chips, but it was a bit of a culture shock after the glitz of the Opera and the splendor of Bernini’s sculptures.

There were tears as we left the family behind, but the excitement of not knowing what part of the globe I was being whisked off to next helped to balance out the sadness.  

We landed in Zurich at about eleven in the morning after a very pleasant flight with Swiss Air, complete with complementary Swiss Chocolate.

From there, we took a double-decker train, and, after crossing the historic Chapel Bridge over the Reuss River, we arrived in Lucerne by mid-afternoon. Our little, independent package, bought over the Internet from the Swiss Travel Centre, included return flights Heathrow to Zurich, vouchers for train, bus and boat travel, and 4 nights in a hotel (2 in Lucerne and 2 in Interlaken).

We took a boat across Lake Lucerne and then climbed aboard the little vernacular train, which claims to be the steepest in the world, which brought us to the 7,000-foot apex of Mount Pilatus.

We were up in the high mountain pastures, past the tree line (the tallest fir trees I have ever seen) and, stood very close to the top, admiring the magnificent views from the observatory.   

The Jungfrau, mountain number two at 11,000 feet, was even more amazing.

A little train took us through the most beautiful alpine scenery, slowly taking us to the highest railway station in Europe.

Once there, we followed the signs which led to the glacier and stepped outside onto the ice packed mountain. Then, we slid our way through the ice palace under the glacier and climbed to the top viewing platform.

Leaving cow bells and cuckoo clocks behind, we headed south – with Rhodes as our next destination, where we picked up the “Viking Star” for a week’s cruise around the Dodecanese. With only 30 passengers, it was not exactly the Queen Mary, but it was fun, with excellent service, and the food was fresh, homemade and delicious.

The boat took us to many ports-of-call, such as Halki, Tilos, Nissiros (a geologist’s paradise), Cos, and Simi, all small Greek islands.  

Back in Rhodes, we stayed two more nights to explore the Medieval Town, a World Heritage Site and former home of the Order of the Knights of St John.

Finally, there is no better way to return to Crete than by boat, especially when it completes a month long odyssey.

We took the Lane Lines ferry from Rhodes to Agios Nikolaos and it was a long journey in an old boat but it got us home. 

Our trip had indeed been eclectic.  We had traveled around Europe by plane, train, coach and boat, we had seen ancient cities and snow capped mountains, we had visited archaeological sites, medieval streets and modern art galleries, and we enjoyed every single minute.

I recommend it to you, too and find a personal tour organizer; not mine, though, because he’s already booked for next year!