Italy & Greece Blog

April 21

Day 15 

Today we disembarked from our 4 day cruise in Athens and hopped on a bus. Before going to the Acropolis we had a quick stop at the olympic stadium to take photos then continued on our way. After the Acropolis we had some free time to look around the gift shops and then took a visit to the museum. After the museum we had some free time in the city centre of Athens! We then went out for supper where there was lovely live music. After checking into our hotel we had evening free time before an early bedtime to be well rested for tomorrow’s exciting long day.

-Hadley and Thulisa :)

April 20

Day 14

Everyone started off the day tired today, because we all had to be up and ready by 7:45. Most of us were headed to Ephesus for a tour. Since we docked in Turkey we technically visited Asia today! In Ephesus we learned lots about its history and the cats that live there. We walked down the same path that both Cleopatra and Virgin Mary walked down. After that we stopped at a carpet making demonstration and saw all the work that goes into them. We also tried some Turkish Delights and fancy olive oil before we headed back to our boat. It was greek night on our cruise so most of us were dressed up in blue and white for our last supper on the boat. We ended off the day with karaoke and disco to celebrate the great past four days we’ve had!

Hannah G 

April 19

Day 13

1 - Today during our tour of Rhodes, we by learning that there were seven different arches in the Mediaeval town, named after various saints and religious figures, such as Saint Catherine and Virgin Mary. After discovering that the town was built on top of ancient ruins, we made it to the Jewish Martyr’s Square and learned about the honorable lives of Jewish people during World War II. After making it up the Street of the Knights, we were guided through the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes. We got to see many mosaics in the palace, some representing Catholic beliefs, and others telling Greek Mythology. What a great tour! 

-Charlie Lysyk 

2 -  day 3 of the cruise!! today was an amazing experience visiting rhodes. You had the choice of going on the walking tours of rhodes to see the beautiful medieval city😍. If you stayed back then you had free range of going and exploring the city yourself! Everyone had the chance to swim at the beautiful blue beach!🏊‍♀️ Anddddd the best for last was karaoke! so much talent!!! 10/10 day forsure 

-Hannah Generoux And Ava Helgason

April 18

Day 12

Today was our second day aboard the cruise ship. In the morning we departed the boat in a ferry because ships are unable to doc at Santorini island. We took a bus to Oia, a beautiful city famous for its white washed buildings and blue domed structures. We had two hours of free time to explore the city, enjoy the views, and spend time in local shops. We then took a bus to Fira, the capital city of Santorini and another very famous tourist destination. After two more hours of free time, we took cable cars down the cliff of the island, and boarded a ferry back to the cruise ship. On the boat we had the rest of the afternoon to participate in activities offered by the ship, hang out near the pool, and enjoy everything the cruise has to offer. Later in the evening many of us participated in the ladies VS gentlemen show, sang songs at karaoke, and attended the disco. It was another great day to remember. 

By Alexa and Ashlyn

April 17

Day 11

Hey families and friends! Today we started our day with a short bus ride from our hotel in Athens to the port and boarded our cruise ship. Our ship is called The Gemini. Our cruise includes on-board entertainment, and we watched dancers perform multiple performances. There are amazing musicians on board, and the meals are all spectacular. At 8:00 PM, we docked in Mykonos. The sun was already set when we took our walking tour, and we learned a lot about religion and Saint Nicholas. We then had free time around this party capital to shop, and we all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Good night from Greece!

M. Stang 

April 16

Day 10

We started off today with a 3 hour bus ride but we eventually made it to Athens, where we stopped at a beautiful beach. We enjoyed the sun, water, and a delicious restaurant that was on the beach. A lot of us swam and some of us even got henna tattoos from people on the beach. After a few hours, we hopped back in the bus and drove to dinner, at a nice restaurant in Athens. We were given a dish with egg plant once again, which was surprisingly better than last time. We also got some ice cream for dessert. After that we headed back to our hotel. We were given some free time, where some of us left the hotel to do some shopping and walking around.

April 15

Day 9

We travelled from Kalambaka to Delphi (another 4 hour drive). We stopped at a restaurant for lunch that had traditional greek food. Then we visited the temple of Apollo, it is an excavated site said to be home of the oracle. The site also had a museum that we walked through after the temple, it had ancient artifacts and ruins from excavation. We got to the hotel around 4pm and had free time until 7pm to explore the city or take a small nap. For supper we had rice and pork, for desert we had Jello. 

Another great day travelling the world!

~Ty & Katie

April 14

Day 8

Yassou from Greece! Yesterday afternoon we boarded an overnight 18 hour ferry to Greece. There was alot of unease with the travel, and a very early morning but despite all that, we made it! After disembarking from the ferry we started on a 2 1/2 hour bus ride into the beautiful Greek mountains, though most of the ride was spent sleeping. We visited a monastery high up in the mountains and took pictures of the beautiful views. We stopped for a delicious buffet lunch in a small town tucked away amongst the cliffs, then checked into our hotel. We had a few hours of free time in the evening until bedtime. Tomorrow we head to Delphi and the many adventures that await us there. 

- Nifemi O. and Alandra Y.

April 13

Day 7

Today was a long… yet an unusually uneventful day. In the early morning we hopped on the bus for a quick 4 hour drive to Ancona Port to set sail for Greece! We took off to the Adriatic Sea, feeling very VERY strong winds in our hair and a bit of rain, but nothing we couldn’t handle. Although the sea was a little rough we adventured through the Olympic Champion ferry, exploring every inch during our 18 hour ride. To start off the evening we ate diner and then moved on to relax in our small cozy rooms, awaiting for our arrival to our next adventure.

-Arianna and Camryn

April 12

Day 6

Today was a very relaxing day!! We started off with a delicious breakfast at our very fancy hotel. After we had breakfast, we made our way into Florence! Quick pit stop at a make of a statue of David with the beautiful view, then back on the bus we went! Started off with a tour of Florence we saw... Statues made by Michael Angelo, went over the bridge in the city, pics at the beautiful river and made our way to the leather store. Had a very interesting presentation about leather making and gold. Finally!!!!! Was the gelato tasting!!! Separate groups went at separate times for half an hour learning about gelato and tasting the amazing flavours while the other waiting had free time! Made our way to this delicious little restaurant in Florence where we had spaghetti, roast beef and peas and crème brûlée for desert. Today was a very fun and relaxing! Tomorrow will be another level of excitement...... making our way to Greece!!!!!!! 

-Hannah Generoux & Ava Helgason 

April 11

Day 5

Hello parents, today was an early morning, waking up at 5:45 and leaving by 7:30 to the Vatican. When we got there we met our tour guide and started our tour. We saw the sistine chapel, unfortunately we were unable to take any pictures in there but it was beautiful! We also saw St. Peter’s Basilica. Next, we went on a 4 hour bus ride to San Gimignano and had some free time. At 6:45 pm we got back onto the bus and finally made our way to Florence. we checked into the hotel, ate our supper, we had pasta for our main dish tonight it was amazing, and that’s how we ended the night.

Ella D

April 10

Day 4

Today we enjoyed a more relaxed morning that allowed us to catch up on some much needed sleep. After a short ride on the bus, our amazing tour guides treated us to some gelato, in which we had 150 flavours to choose from. Then we were given some free time in the city centre. Many of us chose to tour the inside of the Pantheon while others visited local shops and restaurants. After a chaotic McDonalds bathroom stop, we were split into two groups to complete a bike tour of the Borghese park. To end the day we spent some time in a pizzeria where we were able to make our very own Italian pizzas. Despite some challenges, we had another amazing day in Rome that we will never forget. 

By Alexa and Ashlyn

Second blog 

Hello parents of fellow travellers. We had a more relaxed day today. We got to sleep in and didn’t have to leave the hotel until 10am. Our tour guides Milan and Milos bought us all a gelato cup to fill. After gelato some could go to the Pantheon and others could take free time around the square. We then hurried over to the Borghese Park for a beautiful (yet packed) bike ride with a guide in groups of 30. We were able to get an amazing view of the city at the end of our tour. Our bus driver then took us to a pizzeria to make our own pizzas (they were delicious). There Donna was toasted and given an award from EF for her work for our travel club! Afterwards we also received a reward but it was a lot smaller than Donna’s and it was a certificate saying that we are pizza chefs now! (Rightfully so) We got back to the hotel at about 9:45 and everyone went to bed because of our early adventure tomorrow! 

-Maddy. A, Lisa. B, Leah. M

April 9 

Day 3

This morning we woke refreshed and ready to explore Rome and its history. We had a delicious breakfast in the hotel then hopped on the bus to go to Gladiator School! Once we got to the school our instructors taught us how to do archery, combat training, and we also learnt how to use a javelin. They treated us to some lemon cake. Once we were done we got on the bus and headed to the Colosseum. We took a tour of the Colosseum and more of the surrounding ancient area with our wonderful tour guide. We learnt so much, it was so cool to see. After that we had some free-time then went to dinner. We had chicken and spinach, yum! It was a great day and we are so excited for tomorrow!

⁃ Lillian and Jenna

April 7 and 8

Day 1-2

The trip started off rocky with some last minute flight cancellations for half of us but luckily EF got us onto the direct flight to Rome with the other group. Once we were in Toronto there was a long layover so we all got a little tour of the city, spent some time outside, and did some shopping at the Eaton Centre. Unfortunately when it was time to check in for our final flight to Rome there was some problems with Air Canada’s system, so the majority of us could not get through and sat at the check-in desk for over 2 hours. Everyone handled it pretty well though and we eventually all got boarding passes!

As soon as we landed we hopped on a bus and started touring. We got lots of free time to see the Spanish steps which was super cool and for lunch there was lots of little shops to choose from, some people ate pasta and some ate pizza, everyone seemed to enjoy it! Later on we got to see the Trevi Fountain which was unreal and way bigger than we thought it would be. We ended the evening with a very interesting supper that was some kind of eggplant and some bread which wasn’t most people’s favourite but everyone got to try something new! After our busy day we all went to our hotel for some much needed showers and sleep.