Lille

I settled in Lille in May 2018, after living for 7 months in Valenciennes, 45 minutes south of Lille by train. I moved to Valenciennes from Scheveningen in the Netherlands, once my seasonal bar job came to an end, and a job opportunity in the travel industry arose. Valenciennes was a nice small town, but the commute to work was taking up a lot of my time, 3 hours of my day from home to the office and back again. Therefore I chose to move closer to the office and to the interesting city of Lille. Check out my previous post on how I got set up on the French system, and how to get insulin and diabetes supplies in France.

Basilica of Notre-Dame des Enfants – Valenciennes

Being the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, Lille has great transport connections to the rest of France and Europe, with a high-speed TGV train line connecting Paris with Lille in one hour. This along with a Eurostar stop puts Lille at the center of a triangle connecting Paris, London and Brussels.

The old town (Vieux-Lille) has some fantastic French and Flemish architecture, with small cobbled streets, home to an array of branded shops. Down the rue de la Clef there are alternative clothes stores and music shops, all which lie behind colorful shop fronts. There are also many antique shops and small boutiques, as well as some great restaurants and bars. Being a university city there are a large number of students, over 110,000 in the metropolitan area of Lille, leading to an electric atmosphere in the evenings.

Out of the old town there are renowned art museums, such as The Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille. This museum is dedicated to fine arts, modern art, and antiquities. The collection includes works by Raphael, Donatello, Rembrandt, Goya and El Greco. There is also more stylish shopping, churches with fantastic architecture and great restaurants and bars, my favorite being La Luck, with Brasserie-style dining and artisan beers. It has outdoor seating & a board game library upstairs, where you can play games as you eat and drink.

The main square of Lille, the Place du Général de Gaulle (Grand Place), is surrounded by many buildings with their beautiful facades, dating from the seventeenth century and the Flemish Renaissance. These include the Théâtre du Nord, La Voix du Nord, the Old Stock Exchange and Chamber of Commerce. In the center is the fountain with the Column of the Goddess.

Most places are closed on a Sunday, but a 10 minute walk from the main square, or a couple of stops on the Metro, is Wazemmes Market (Marché de Wazemmes). This is a large flea market open from 07:00 – 14:00 (not every day, these are the Sunday hours). Here you can spend your time exploring the interesting market where you can find, and taste, all sorts of local products. Like any market in a city, be aware of pickpockets.

Situated close to the city and accessible by foot from the center to the north, is the Citadel. You cannot enter the Citadel itself as it is still used as a military base, but the park and the moat that surrounds the building offers a lovely walk, and a nice place to relax in the sun away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

The Braderie de Lille is an annual street market/flea market, that takes place on the first weekend of September in the city center. The city is turned into a pedestrian zone with more than 10,000 sellers, and a seemingly endless line of stalls selling a wide variety of products and antiques. With so many different stalls and products, the Braderie is divided into areas by type of object being sold. A map of this is available to download a few weeks before the event. The traditional meal during the event is mussels and chips (Moules Frites). Nearly all of the city’s restaurants sell mussels during the flea market, accompanied by a local beer. It used to be that each restaurant participates in an unofficial competition to see which one is able to build the highest pile of empty mussel shells, but I’m led to believe that this no longer takes place. However I haven’t visited for a couple of years due to cancellations and moving away. The atmosphere is carnivalesque and in the evenings this turns more into a party atmosphere, with people lining the streets sampling a few too many of the local beers.

My time is Lille came to an end, as the company I was working for closed their office due to the COVID pandemic. Therefore everyone was working from home and they gave the option of working from anywhere in mainland France. Therefore I packed my bags and went to sunny Perpignan, at the foot of the Pyrenees and only a few kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea.

Milan

I arrived from Florence via another Flix Bus, leaving at 13:30 and arriving at the Milan Lumpugno Bus Station at 16:45, costing €12. It was a pleasant, easy journey but the scenery wasn’t amazing due to the amount of tunnels we went through.

I was never really very interested in Milan, I’m not the biggest fan of fashion and needless to say I definitely cannot afford to shop there. For this reason I only booked for 2 nights and set aside some time to watch the final three 6 Nations games. Once arriving at the Lumpugno Bus Station, the Metro Station is located directly opposite. I was one staying 2 stops away, a 5 minute walk from the Lotto Metro Stop. This was a nice area to stay, it felt safe and it has good transport links to the city center and back to the Bus Station when I needed to leave.

I woke up early in the morning and went to explore, catching the Metro to Duomo in the city center. This is the main area to explore, and like in Rome the Metro ticket cost €1.50. I however bought a 24 hour ticket for €4.50, with unlimited travel in the 24 hours. Once at Duomo you exit onto the main square of Milan’s iconic cathedral, so name Milan Duomo. It is free to enter the main building but to go into the treasury costs money. It it a very impressive building being the largest church in Italy and the fifth largest in the world.

From the cathedral I walked over to Castello Sforzesco, an old castle with a nice fountain out the front, and some gardens and parks to explore. It is an impressive castle, originally built in the 15th century, but extensive renovation work has since being carried out. I continued through the grounds round the back and side of the castle, which opens up into a beautiful park where you can lose an hour or so walking around or relaxing on one of the many benches in the sun. If you walk all the way through the park you will stumble upon the Arco della Pace an impressive archway built in the 19th century, to mark the gateway to the city, but it’s origins can be traced back to the where the original Roman walls stood. 

From here I continued north to the FourFourTwo Sports Bar, situated very near Gerusalemme Metro Station. I settled down to watch the 6 hours of rugby, mingling with the Italian fans who were there to watch Inter Milan play and lots of Irish who were celebrating the St Patrick’s weekend and who were also overjoyed that the Irish best the English. This bought an end to my time in Milan, I don’t think I really gave it the time it deserved, but for now I’m off to Venice, maybe to return to Milan someday! 

Florence and a Day Trip to Pisa

From Rome I had 2 options on how to get to Florence, a train for over €30 taking around an hour, or a bus for €12 taking 3 hours. As I have all the time in the world, I decided to go by bus. I booked my ticket online at FlixBus.it, printed out my ticket and I was set to go. The bus left from the Tiburtina Bus Station, 4 stops from Termini on Metro Line B (Blue line). On your ticket it will have your departure point, arrival point and the bus number and the Flix busses are all bright green so you can’t really miss them. There is no schedule or electronic board displayed at the Bus Station, you just have to wait and see where your bus pulls up. The bus was big, comfortable and clean, with reclining seats, WiFi, a toilet and charge points for your electrical items. Florence is called Firenze in Italy so make sure you don’t miss your stop. When looking for trains on the Train Italia website you have to enter the Italian names for the stations. 

I arrived in Florence at the Firenze Piazzale Montelungo Bus Terminal, situated directly behind the Firenze Santa Maria Novella Train Station, which is fantastic to say in an Italian accent… try it!! I had booked into a hostel, Hostel 7 Santi, near one of the other Train Stations, Firenze Campo di Marte so I caught a train costing €1.50 for the 7 minute journey. From there it was a 5 minute walk to my hostel. The hostel was nice, had an all you can eat breakfast for €5 and an all you can eat dinner for €7 which was pretty good.

From the hostel it was a pleasant 20 minute walk to the historical part of Florence. I decided I was going to have a free day so I didn’t pay to go in any of the museum’s or buildings, I just admired the amazing architecture from the outside. The most notable attractions were: Florence Cathedral, Santa Croce, Palazzo Pitti and The Florence Baptisery. I then walked down to the river and followed it for a while, which was lovely and relaxing, before crossing and heading up the Piazzale Michelangelo. It wasn’t a hard climb, only took 5 minutes and it offers fantastic views of the city of Florence, with the domed buildings and churches dominating the skyline with a mountainous background.

The following day I decided to take a day trip to Pisa to see the famous Leaning Tower. A train ticket cost €8.40 from any of the Firenze train stations, but you will nearly always have to change at the main Santa Maria Novella Station. If you are staying near one of the other station don’t buy an individual ticket to Santa Maria Novella and then another one to Pisa, as this will cost you an extra €1.50. The train to Pisa Central took 47 minutes and from there it was a nice 15 minute walk to the Leaning Tower, through the main high street. The city of Pisa is lovely but I didn’t feel like there was that much to do apart from visit the Leaning Tower. It does have some fantastic architecture but nothing you can’t see in Florence, so I would say half a day is easily enough time. The Learning Tower is actually the Bell Tower of the adjoining Cathedral and it really is crazy how far it leans. Originally it slanted the other way and many architects tried over the year’s to remedy this, causing it to slant the other way. There is the option of climbing the Tower but the queues are long and it costs a whopping €18. 

I had a great time in Florence and Pisa, soaking up the relaxing atmosphere and admiring the amazing architecture, but from here I am heading to the fashion capital of the world, Milan. 

Rome

Arriving in this beautiful city from Ancona I had to get my priorities straight, Wales had beaten Ireland in the 6 Nations the day before, meaning that if England beat Scotland then they would be crowned 6 nations champions. I went out for my first walk on the streets of Rome, bypassed the Colosseum and went straight to a pub showing the game. First up before the England game was Italy v France, which had a great atmosphere in the pub and then England thrashed Scotland, what a great start!

I had 3 days in Rome altogether and I knew I could fit everything in that I wanted to do in the remaining 2 days. First up was the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. A ticket cost €12 and allows entry to both sights and the Palatino (I actually forgot to go in the Palatino… oops) and is valid for 2 days, with 1 entry into each attraction. If you are between the ages of 18-25 and are from an EU country the ticket is only €7.50. Now I missed the whole Brexit thing, being in the middle of the Gobi Desert with no WIFI, but I’m pretty sure we are leaving the EU, luckily that didn’t matter, I managed to secure the cheaper ticket.

The Colosseum, or Colosseo in Italian, is an amazing piece of architecture. Make sure you approach it from the park to the east as you will see it growing bigger and bigger through the trees, and eventually it towers over you, a spectacular sight. After your visit follow the walkway round the outside which takes you to the Roman Forum and dive inside to explore. A good tip given to me by my mum’s window cleaner (weird I know!) is to purchase your combined ticket at the Roman Forum, that way you skip the queues at the Colosseum, however I didn’t have too much trouble with the queues as its not a busy time of year! The Roman Forum is huge with a large number of historical ruins, with information boards next to each ruin to fill you in on the history of this fantastic site. 

From the Roman Forum I continued north by foot and arrived at the Pantheon, another fantastic building and very similar to the one I had just seen in Athens, just in a lot better condition. There are plenty of restaurants and cafes surrounding the Pantheon, so it’s probably a good place to stop for lunch and soak up the atmosphere. From there I walked over to the Trevi Fountain which was incredibly impressive and then I continued on to the Spanish Steps. After I walked up the Spanish Steps I took a left and followed the road into the park, where I spent a lazy afternoon recovering from the long walk and I took my time watching full grown adults falling over trying to learn to rollerblade.

I then walked over to the view point and looked down over the Piazza Del Popollo which offers great views of the city, if you time it right you can catch the sunset. I then went down the steps to view the Piazza Del Poppolo up close before catching the Metro back to my hostel to freshen up, before an amazing Italian dinner. I was staying a 10 minute walk from the Central Station or Termini which I felt was a great location. It meant I was close to the public transport links if I didn’t feel like walking, and I wasn’t far from the Colosseum. A ticket for the Metro costs €1.50 and is valid for one whole journey with a total time of 100 minutes. It means if you want to travel from the end of Line A, swap lines at Termini and continue to the end of Line B, as long as it takes under 100 minutes, it will cost the same as travelling 1 stop, €1.50.

On my final day I caught the Metro to the Vatican. The stop to get off at is Ottaviano even thought the stop before is called Lepanto Vaticano. You will see a lot of people getting off at Lepanto but it is a longer walk to the Vatican. The 2 main attractions are St Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museum, which houses the Sistine Chapel. One thing to note is you are not allowed to enter if you are wearing shorts or showing your shoulders, no matter how hot it is or what gender you are, I saw people getting turned away. Also the Museum is shut on a Sunday which can be annoying if you are only there for the weekend. When you enter St Peter’s Square you will see a huge queue with people queuing to go through, airport security style, to enter the Basilica. I decided not to join this queue and went back outside and round to the left to join the queue for the Museum.

I had about 20 touts come up to me and say that the queue was over 2 hours long and I could pay them €60 so I could jump to the front of both lines, for the Museum and the Basilica. I decided against this and joined the queue, which was down to the second corner and I was inside within 37 minutes. Now this was quite a long time to wait but it saved me tons of money and everything moves quite quickly. The entry ticket was €16 and the Museum is home to sooooooo much art and history, if you are an art lover then you could easily lose 5 hours in the museum.

If you haven’t purchased the queue jump ticket make sure you visit the Sistine Chapel last. It is an amazing piece of art and it takes a while to get through the crowds. Once you are through to the end there is a door on the right which says “Exit Strictly For Tour Groups Only” and an exit on the left which takes you back out the front. If you take the door on the left you have to walk back round to St Peter’s Square and join the queue for the Basilica. Or you can be cheeky and do what I did… I immersed myself into the middle of a tour group heading out the exit on the right and 2 minutes later found myself in St Peter’s Basilica, looking out at everyone queuing in the square.

I took my time looking around and taking in the amazing architecture before joining another queue to head up to the top of the dome. This is definitely something you have to do, as the views from the top of the whole city are amazing. You can pay €6 to walk up all 551 steps or pay €8 to get an elevator up some of the way and then walk up 301 steps. It’s not worth paying and waiting for the elevator, the first 250 steps are small, wide and its an easy climb, its after that things get narrow. The final 301 steps are quite steep, tight and tricky but I thought it was fantastic. There are a few places to stop and rest if needed and the views from the top make it all worth while. After I took a few snaps I made the descent before walking back into the center of Rome along the river, appreciating my final walk in this beautiful city.

From Rome I’m catching a bus to Florence, supposedly one of the most beautiful cities in Italy, it will do well to beat Rome

Patras to Ancona Ferry

As I mentioned at the end of my last post, the Workaway I had travelled over 200 miles and 9 hours for was cancelled as I arrived at Corinth station,. This left me in a pickle as I didn’t want to travel back to Athens and didn’t want to stay in Corinth. I perhaps rather rashly booked a ferry to Italy for the following day. The ferry left from Patras at 17:00 meaning I had all day to travel there and I left early to avoid any hiccups.

In order to get from Corinth to Patras (Patra) you have to catch a bus from the main Isthmus Bus Station in Corinth, over by the canal. To get to the Isthmus Bus Station a bus leave from the smaller bus station in the center, costing €2. I ended up catching a taxi to the Isthmus Bus Station as it was hammering it down with rain. I didn’t have any waterproofs, I was wearing jeans and the waterproof cover on my bag is broken, these 8 months of travelling are taking their toll. The taxi, from New Corinth town, cost €7 and as soon as I got to the Bus Station my bus to Patras turned up, leaving at 10:10 and arriving at 12:20, costing €13.80.

From Patras Bus Station to the New Port you have to catch the blue bus, ask inside the station if you are unsure, costing €1.20. I was allowed to check in for my trip at 15:45, meaning I had a couple of hours to kill at the Port which was easy enough to do in the bar. The ferry cost €65 for an air seat, basically the same as an airplane seat, to get a cabin would have been €200 more. Checking in was very smooth, my passport was checked and my bag scanned, there were no issues with my injections and I walked straight onto the boat. The seats were comfortable enough and there were only 5 people in the 150+ seats meaning I could lay down across 3 and get a good nights sleep. The ferry was absolutely huge, with 3 restaurants, a swimming pool, a casino and 11 decks, if only I had more money!

I arrived in the beautiful town of Ancona at 15:30, around 2 hours late and walked for 15 minutes to my hostel next to the train station, my passport didn’t get checked at the Port, I was allowed straight off the boat and on my way. The cheapest hostel I could find was €16 a night but it was very pleasant with only 2 people in an 8 bed dorm. There was a shop next door and a launderettes round the corner, meaning I could finally do some washing. In the evening I went out for my first taste of Italian food, which was amazing, before settling down for a much needed rest in a proper bed. The following morning I caught a train to Rome, leaving at 08:45 and costing €17.75 (same time and price everyday). The train ride was very nice, at first following the coast, before cutting inland through the mountains, past rivers and beautiful waterfalls. I arrived in Rome around 12:30, just in time to catch some of the 6 nations! 

Santorini And A Cancelled Workaway

What a fantastically diverse, beautiful island Santorini is, with it’s mountains, green landscape, rocky landscape, red sand beaches, black sand beaches and beautiful seaside towns. I had a brilliant time and it is a shame I only had 3 nights, however it was the low season so there was hardly anyone about. 

I managed to secure a return flight from Athens for £30, half the cost of a return ferry ticket and considerably shorter, with the flight taking 35 minutes and the ferry 8 hours. I did only take hand luggage with me on the flight, as to check in a bag would have been over double the price. Flying to the Greek Islands is definitely something to consider as you not only save time, but money as well if you can find a nice deal. However the views from the ferry I’m sure would have been fantastic.

I was staying in Kamari, a small town with a beautiful black sand beach. To get there from the airport you first have to catch a bus to the capital Thira (Fira) for €1.80, and then another bus costing the same amount to Kamari. When I say bus they are actually big comfortable coaches which make up the Santorini local bus network. The buses can get you to all the main towns on the island, however in the off season they do not run frequently at all, sometimes I was waiting for an hour and half and on Sundays only 4 buses a day run to each town. I arrived on a Sunday morning and when I eventually got the 09:00 bus from Thira to Kamari I arrived in a ghost town. The whole day I saw 7 people, the restaurants were boarded up and the hotels closed for the winter. I spoke to my hotel owner and he said in the summer it is teaming with people, but in the winter it is not worth it for a lot of the businesses to stay open.

If you want to travel around the island in the winter by bus I would definitely recommend staying in Thira. If you stay in one of the other towns you always have to transfer in Thira and wait a considerable amount of time for another bus to the next town. Alternatively you could easily rent a car and drive, the roads are in good condition and not busy at all. On my first full day I caught a couple of buses and eventually arrived in Akrotiri, the location of the beautiful Red Beach. The total travel time was 2 hours, in which 23 minutes were spent on the buses. The bus from Thira drops you a nice 10 minute walk from the Red Beach, where you have to clamber up a rocky hill and make the shingly descent to the beach. The beach itself is actually quite stony but it was nice to relax for a while watching a catamaran glide past and birds swooping through the air. There was a group of girls determined to sunbathe on the beach, making me feel silly in my jeans, jumper, trainers and scarf, whist they were laying there in bikinis. I figured they must have been from Alaska! I made my way back to the bus stop for another long wait and after 30 minutes the girls drove past on 4 quad bikes having a whale of a time, they clearly had the right idea. After my bus turned up I made my way over to the lovely beach town of Perissa before heading back to Kamari for a well earned rest.

The following day, my last full day on the Island, I decided to do the 12km walk from Thira to Oia, this meant I was finally doing some proper exercise for the first time in months and I didn’t have to wait around for the buses, well apart from the one to Thira. The walk has to be one of the nicest I have ever done. From the bus station head north until you reach the cliffs and then just basically follow the dirt track all the way. There is a couple of steep hills which are totally worth it for the views from the top, and you also stumble across some amazing hidden churches. The track takes you right alongside the cliffs and at some points you can see the sea in both directions. I didn’t see a single person on the walk, I knew it would be quiet, so I was well stocked up with snacks in case my diabetes started playing up. I took my time, stopping every now and again to take in the views and at one point stopping in a cave for a diet coke, next to a lovely hidden church.

I eventually descended into Oia, a beautiful town built what looks like into the cliffs, with crisp white buildings, blue domed churches and donkeys wandering the streets. I timed my walk well and didn’t have to wait long for the bus back to Thira, then in Thira I had an hour’s wait for my bus to Kamari. On my final night it started raining, the first time I had seen rain in over 3 months. My room actually got flooded with 2 inches of water overnight which was a shock when I got out of bed in the morning. My flight back to Athens was at 08:00 but of course the buses didn’t start early enough for me to get to the airport in time. A taxi to to the airport from Kamari costs €20.

Once back in Athens I headed over to Corinth as I had organized to do a Workaway on a farm for 3 weeks, 5 hours work a day for free food and accommodation. I rang my host Kostandis when I was back in Athens to tell him I was on my way, and he told me to ring him again when I was on the last of my 3 trains. I eventually got on my last train and called Kostandis who didn’t answer I then tired again with no answer so I continued trying. I didn’t know what to do, I thought my phone was playing up because I have an English number, trying to call a Greek mobile in Greece. The phone wasn’t connecting and just kept beeping every time I tired. I eventually reached Corinth Train Station and tried one last time. He answered the phone this time and said I couldn’t stay with him and do the farmwork as I rang him too much when he was trying to sleep. He’s the one who told me to call, he’s the one who didn’t answer, what did he expect me to do? I had travelled for 9 hours, over 200 miles, caught a taxi, a plane, a bus and 3 trains to get to Corinth to help him on his farm and he cancels because I did what he asked me to do.

It turns out there are no hostels in Corinth either so I had to pay €25 for a hotel for one night. This had thrown my plans up in the air. I regrouped in my hotel and tried to decide what to do next. I’d already stayed in Athens for 5 days and didn’t need to go back, all the flights out of Greece were over £100 for the next day, and I didn;t want to stay another night in Corinth. I decided to book a ferry to Italy, leaving the following day from Patras and arriving in Ancona with a travel time of 20 hours (more information on this will be in my next post). I am currently writing this from the ferry, rocking from side to side as a thunderstorm hits from all angles, it turns out I don’t miss rain after 3 months without it! 

Athens

After over 8 months in Asia and the last 2 and a half of them in India, I decided it was time to head back to Europe. I managed to find flights from New Delhi to Athens for £250 which was too good an opportunity to pass up, I’d always wanted to go to Athens because of its rich, still present history and fantastic ancient ruins. I booked my flights through Etihad Airways and the price included meals on each of my 3 flights, with stopovers in Mumbai and Abu Dhabi and included 30kg of baggage. The travel time was around 16 hours and the most I had to wait in an airport was 2 hours, which could have been interesting if any of my flights were delayed.

From Athens airport to the city you have a choice of the Metro or the X95 bus. The Metro costs €10, taking 40 minutes and the bus €6 taking around 50 minutes, both arriving at Syntagma Square, the so called heart of Athens. I had booked 5 nights in Hotel Dioskouros, a short walk from Syntagma Square and was very pleased with my choice. A dorm room is €10 a night and a private room, which I had for 2 nights to recover from India, is €15 a night. This was the cheapest I could find and was well worth the money as breakfast was included and it was slap bang in the middle of all the sights. 

After a couple of days relaxing and recovering from the madness of India, I set out to explore Athens. In order to see the main sights of Athens: The Acropolis, Ancient Agora, Roman Agora, Hadrians Library, Olympieion, Kerameikos and Aristotle’s Lykeion you can purchase a ticket package, valid for 5 days for €30. However if you are visiting between October and April the entrance price to all the main sights is halved, but the package ticket isn’t. If you are exploring during the winter it is not worth buying the combined ticket as its cheaper to buy an individual ticket for each attraction. The Acropolis was fantastic, an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop towering over the city. The entrance fee of €10, in the winter months, includes the remains of several other ancient buildings including the Parthenon, the Old Temple of Athena, the Odeion of Herodes Atticus, the Erechtheion and many more. It’s nice to take a couple of hours walking around, taking photos and exploring all around the base of the rock its located on, which rises 150 meters over Athens. 

The sights of the Roman Agora and Hadrians Library can be viewed from the outside. You can pay the €2 entrance fee to get close and personal to the ruins but I personally didn’t. There is a walkway round the outside of both attractions where you can easily take some photos of the ruins. Inside the grounds it does give you some more information, but you really have to use your imagination to picture what used to be there. The Ancient Agora however is well worth the €4 entrance fee as it includes 28 separate sights, including the Temple of Hephaistos which is the best preserved temple of its kind left in Greece, situated on top of the Agoraios Kolonos Hill. The ticket price also includes the Museum of the Athenian Agora, housed in the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos. The ground floor exhibition displays a view on the public life of Athenian citizens with the exhibits coming from the excavations of public buildings. 

The following day I explored the other half of the city, losing a morning strolling through the National Garden, taking in the calm surroundings. The Olympieion of Zeus is situated through the south side of the the park but I didn’t pay the €2 to enter the grounds. Again, you can get a fantastic view by walking around the outside of the area and its only worth going in if you wish to get really close. I then walked over to The Panathenaic Stadium, the site of the 1896 Olympic Games. I paid for the €5 entry for this, and it includes an audio guide and I was very interested in the history of the stadium. It turns out the site has been used since 330B.C., as a sporting arena, but the building you see today was started in 1894, ready for the 1896 Olympics. It holds 68000 people and you can really feel the history of this ancient site and imagine the ecstasy when the Greek, Spyros Louis, won the Marathon Race, the most popular contest, entering the stadium to the roars of 68000 Greeks. 

Athens is a fantastic city and I really enjoyed my time in the Greek capital. It is worth taking some time exploring the streets and soaking up the relaxed atmosphere. Every other building seems to be a coffee shop, café or restaurant and there are competitively priced Greek Tavernas, serving local food all over the place. It is a city I would definitely recommend, especially in the winter months where it is no where near as crowded, everything is cheaper and its a nice 16 degrees during the day. This brings an end to my time in Athens and I am now off to the beautiful island of Santorini. 

New Delhi

I arrived in New Delhi from Amritsar via the Amritsar-Delhi Shatabdi Express Train, which is by far the quickest way between the two cities. The train left at 05:00, arriving at New Delhi Train Station at 10:30, with the same amenities included on the last Shatabdi Train: Tea, biscuits, water, breakfast and a newspaper. It is quicker then flying if you take into consideration the wait time at the airport, plus travel time into the heart of Delhi and is also considerably cheaper. 

New Delhi was not as crazy as I was expecting, perhaps because I have been in India for over 2 months now, but for me it was definitely manageable. I was staying at Backpacker Panda, a short walk from the main station up Main Bazaar Road. I would recommend this hostel for the very comfortable beds, 24 hour hot water, good WiFi, a relaxing common area, a kitchen if you wish to cook, great location and it somehow blocks out the noise from the madness outside. It is within walking distance of many of the sights I wished to see in Delhi and if not there, is a Metro Station pretty much next door, meaning it had good connections to thec city and the Airport. Main Bazaar Road was incredibly busy, the streets lined with a plethora of shops, restaurants, bars and cafes and the streets swarming with a range of different people. There were business men in suits, beggars, shop owners, rickshaw drivers and locals all going about their daily business. Make sure you keep an eye on your things, but this really goes without saying everywhere in the world, it just feels more likely in this area. 

The following day I set out to explore, walking to Connaught Place. This was a lovely area with ring roads of shops circling around a pleasant park. I then continued walking towards Urgasen Ki Baoli, a massive Stepwell situated in a now built up posh area. It was definitely worth the trip up there and was free to enter. I then continued walking towards India Gate, a fantastic archway situated in a large park. It was very busy around the gate but you can easily relax in the shade of the trees in the surrounding parks. I then took a long walk to the Humayuns Tombs, which were said to be the inspiration for the Taj Mahal. I had never heard of Humayun and I’m still none the wiser as to who he was, but it was definitely worth the 500 Rupee entrance fee. The building was incredibly impressive with a striking likeness to the Taj, just built with red stone instead of marble. It was a very quiet, peaceful area and the gardens were fantastic to relax in and remove yourself from the noisy streets. I think I walked about 5 miles in total so caught a rickshaw back to Connaught Place for a much needed coffee. 

The following day I planned to go to the Red Fort in Old Delhi, but the price had been raised from 250 Rupees to 1000 Rupees so I decided not to go. I had seen many impressive forts in India, especially in Rajasthan, and I didn’t want to have to withdraw more money out on my last day. This brought me to the end of my 2 and a half months in India. I am now flying out of Delhi and heading to Athens and Santorini for a while, and from there, who knows!

Agra and Amritsar

The Jaipur-Agra Shatabdi Express train is a bit more expensive then your standard Indian train, costing around 700 Rupees (£8.40), but for me it really was worth it. The journey from Jaipur to Agra took 3 and a half hours, had comfortable reclining seats with tea, biscuits, water, a vegetarian breakfast and a newspaper included. I had my doubts about Agra from what I had heard from other travelers, but for me it was a very pleasant experience. I don’t think people give it the amount of time it deserves. 

I decided to stay about a 15 minute walk from the East Gate of the Taj Mahal, down a road full of a range of different hostels. I went very cheap at 300 Rupees (£3.60) a night in Namastey Hostel, which had a comfortableish bed, a squat toilet and a hot, yet very weak shower. I could have spent 800-1000 Rupees (£10-12) a night and stayed across the road at either Moustache Hostel or Backpacker Panda. I spent 2 nights in Agra and went out to explore on the first day, after a short rest because of the early train. I walked down the road that approaches the East Gate and found the Taj Nature Walk on the right hand side. It cost 100 Rupees (£1.20) to enter the grounds but was incredibly peaceful inside. You can see a large variety of rare birds, peacocks weave in and out of the trees and confident chipmunks scurry around, not paying you the slightest bit of attention. You also get a fantastic view of the Taj Mahal from atop a hill with nobody else around and it offers some fantastic photo opportunities. 

The following day I woke up at 05:30 to try and beat the crowds for the Taj Mahal. I left the hostel at 06:00 and made my way towards the Taj. The ticket office is on the left hand side, around 500 meters from the entrance. It opens at 06:45 and when I arrived around 06:15 there was already a quickly forming queue. There is a separate queue for foreigners and for locals, and also a hefty price difference, 10 Rupees (£0.12) for a local, 1000 Rupees (£12) for a foreigner… crazy. After grabbing your ticket don’t forget to pick up your free map, shoe covers (for inside the mausoleum) and bottle of water from just outside the ticket booth. If you can’t be bothered to walk the 500m or so to the gate entrance you can jump in a cycle rickshaw, but I wasn’t that lazy. You then join another queue to have your ticket checked, men and women queue separately, then you have a pat down and your bags searched if you have one. The Taj was as amazing as I was expecting, yet I was slightly disappointed in the scaffolding that was on one of the pillars. It was built in 1631 by Emperor Shahjahan as a memorial for his beloved wife Arjumand Bano Begumn, who died during her 14th pregnancy. There is a mosque on one side and an identical building on the other, which isn’t a mosque, it is simply there to keep the symmetry. The pillars all slant slightly away from the main building, in case of an earthquake, where they would crumble away from the Taj Mahal, so not to damage the main building. The gardens are equally as fantastic with the design taken from the Qur’ans description of paradise. 

I decided to leave the Taj Mahal via the South Gate, so I could grab a Costa Coffee for the first time in over 8 months. This was a little bit silly and more expensive then I could really afford, perhaps that’s because I had 2 lattes and 2 chocolate brownies, however a diabetic has to treat himself once in a while! From Costa I walked over to Agra Fort, something which is often missed by visitors, as they are only interested in seeing the Taj and then leaving. The Fort cost 500 Rupees (£6) to enter but was brilliant, built in 1565 in a striking red sandstone. It is absolutely huge and you can easily lose a couple of hours exploring this fantastic old building. From the fort I took a walk back to the hostel, through a beautiful quiet park leading up to the West Gate of the Taj Mahal. This is the way I would recommend walking to the Fort from the Taj if you’d don’t want a cheeky Costa! In all fairness it was quite a long walk, around 35 minutes but it was nice, quiet and very relaxing. 

The following day I caught a night train to Amritsar, leaving at 16:20 and arriving in Amritsar at 08:10. Of course the train didn’t leave and arrive at these times, there are always delays, but it was close enough! I was travelling by Sleeper Class for the final time and it was by far the busiest it had been, due to the fact the train was passing through Delhi. It seemed like every person in India was squeezing on the train, which was quite an experience, but I eventually got my bed around 23:00! I arrived in Amritsar just before 09:00 and caught a 100 Rupee rickshaw to the hotel. I was only staying about a mile away from the train station but didn’t fancy the walk, due to me messing up the dates of the trains I had booked and having under 24 hours in Amritsar. I checked in at 10:00, had a shower and some breakfast and set out to explore, my first and only taste of the Punjab state. It is a predominately Sikh state and for me it felt different from the other areas of India. It was busy, chaotic and noisy (nothing new there) but the rickshaw drivers took no for an answer, everyone appeared happy and there were not many beggars on the streets.

I walked over to the Golden Temple and after depositing my shoes for free, washing my feet for free, covering my head for free and entering the Golden Temple complex… for free, I was greeted with the magnificent temple glowing in the morning sunlight. Everywhere you go in India there is a tourist price for everything, hence why I was so surprised that everything was free. Inside the temple complex there was a fantastic atmosphere with thousands of colorfully dressed people who flock there each day to wash in the Holy Water or accept a free meal. The queue to enter the temple itself was humongous so I decided not to go in, the wait was over four hours. I took my time strolling around, taking photos with beaming school children and soaking up the fantastic atmosphere, it was one of my favorite experiences in India. After, I walked for 20 minutes over to the Hanuman Mandir Temple, which looks pretty much identical, however it is a Hindu Temple not a Sikh Temple. It was very quiet with only 4 other people inside. Clearly nobody knows, or perhaps cares about this one, however for me it was definitely worth the walk.

I then headed back over towards the Golden Temple and visited Jallianwala Bagh, a memorial for the hundreds of innocent people killed by the British, when they were peacefully protesting for independence. It was a nice area to visit and interesting to see and read about, there are bullet holes still visible in a couple of places where the shootings took place. I then grabbed some food in Neelam’s, which I would highly recommend, especially the Punjab Thali, before I went back to the hotel ready for my 05:00 train to my last stop in India, Delhi. 

Jaisalmer and Jaipur

From Jodhpur I caught the Delhi-Jaisalmer Express train to Jaisalmer which was due to depart Jodhpur Junction at 04:50. This was a horrendous time of morning to try and function, let alone attempt to trek across the streets of Jodhpur, so I organized a rickshaw with the hotel. They claimed that it would be more expensive as it was so early in the morning, 150 Rupees, confirming my suspicions that I was overcharged when I arrived in Jodhpur, paying the same price to get to the hotel at 18:00. I booked the rickshaw for 04:30 and settled down for a short nights sleep before the early alarm. At 04:30 I was waiting outside the hotel and, with this being India, of course there was no rickshaw. I woke up the owner who apologized profusely, made a phone call and I was eventually on my way at 04:50, the time the train was due to leave. Luckily the train was due to stop at the station for 30 minutes and it was running a little late, of course, so I made it with plenty of time to spare. The train went by very smoothly, arriving at its final destinations, Jaisalmer around an hour late. 

The fantastic thing about Jaisalmer in the incredibly impressive Golden Fort, an architectural masterpiece made from sandstone. There is still a whole community who live inside the forts walls, along with a plethora of guesthouses, rooftop restaurants and winding alleys filled with colorful shops. I had found a great deal on booking.com, 200 Rupees (£2.50) a night for a hotel situated inside the fort, with a double room and an attached bathroom. I tried to catch a rickshaw to the forts gate but ended up jumping in the back of a Jeep, owned by a pushy man outside the train station. I knew straight away the pushy man was going to try and sell me a camel safari, a room in his guesthouse or anything he could but I was armed with my hotels address and we agreed a price of 50 Rupees before we left. Of course at the end he was blabbing on about Lonely Planet, how all the guesthouses had fallen down, how his hotel was better and that he sold the best camel safari in the land. I gave him my 50 Rupee note and went on my way, ignoring his shouts and door slams and him claiming it was now 50 Rupees per person and 50 Rupees per bag…fool. 

The hotel, Hotel Temple View turned out to be quite nice and by far the cheapest I have stayed in so far. It turns out it is that price online because they try very hard to sell you a camel safari once you are there, which is the main reason people go to Jaisalmer. I decided not to do it as I wanted to explore the fort and had ridden camels before. There are options of a half day tour, a full day tour and a 1, 2 or 3 night tours where you sleep out in the dessert on a rug under the stars. In all fairness it did sound amazing.

I decided to visit the Jaisalmer Fort Palace costing 500 Rupees, plus 100 for a camera, but unfortunately this really isn’t worth the money. There’s nothing much to see inside but the included audio guide is interesting. In all honesty I would skip paying for the palace and explore the walls and fort yourself. I found a route to a thin walkway which separates the main wall from another protecting wall, given you some fantastic views and understanding on the scale of the build. Another thing I would recommend is walking the road outside the fort which loops around, again helping you really understand and get a scale for this magnificent old fort. Around a 10 minute walk outside the forts gate there is a fantastic collection of Havelis, intricately decorated carved buildings built in the 19th century to show off a families wealth. These all cost 200 Rupees to enter, but are more impressive from the outside. I was taking a photo of one of the Havelis and all of the sudden I was lifted 3ft in the air by an impatient cow, whose horn caught me directly under my bum and the top of the hamstring. I managed to wiggle off, landing with a thump and a dead leg before scampering away to safely. 

Cows are everywhere in India and normally very docile animals, but they do rule the roads and apparently can’t be bothered to walk around mere humans. I have now become very wary of the almighty cow… of all the animals to be scared of. Most restaurants inside the Fort are not up to much, with their Indian food being as equally bad as their Western food. The one exception is Free Tibet which also offers fantastic views of the Golden City. Don’t get this confused with Little Tibet, which opened up just down the road with a similar name, to take away the successful restaurants custom, with a lot of success. 

After Jaisalmer I caught a train to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, via sleeper class. The train departed at 17:00 and arrived in Jaipur at 04:50, costing 340 Rupees (£4.00). I had booked a hotel ahead as it was such an early arrival time and organized for them to pick me up from the train station. Obviously they didn’t turn up, as its India, in all truthfulness I never really expected them to be there. I caught a rickshaw to the hotel for 50 Rupees and arrived to some padlocked gates. After ringing the doorbell a few times they let me in, apologized and paid the rickshaw driver for me, which was unexpected and I settled down for a much needed rest day! 

The following morning I decided to visit the Amer Fort, named after the town it is situated in, Amer, around 13km north of Jaipur. I contemplated catching a bus for a couple of Rupees but it would have been a 2 mile walk to the bus stop and then a fair walk up to the fort. Instead I flagged down a rickshaw and organized a return trip for 600 Rupees, with the driver waiting in the car park at the base of the fort. I decided to buy a composite ticket for 1000 Rupees, a crazy price for India, but the tourist price, which gave me entry to: The Amber Fort, Jantar Mantar, Albert Hall Museum, Nahargarh Fort, Hawa Mahal, Sisodia Rani Gardens and the Vidhiyadhar Gardens. If you pay individually for all the attractions, without the composite ticket it would cost 2000 Rupees. If you go to the 4 main attractions the entry cost would be 1200 Rupees, so even though its expensive, its worth it and you save money. The ticket is valid for 2 days but not valid for night time viewings. 

The Amer Fort was very impressive and the 10 minute walk up offers fantastic views of the surrounding area. It is constructed of red sandstone and marble, consisting of four different levels each with its own courtyard. You can tell that a lot of restoration work has taken place, which for me doesn’t make it as exciting as the other forts in Rajasthan, but it is still an impressive spectacle. I spent around an hour exploring and getting lost inside the fort, before heading back down to the rickshaw driver. I paid his 20 Rupee parking fee and enquired about stopping at the Nahargarh Fort but he asked for another 600 Rupees for this, even though it was on the way back. I decided to decline and instead got dropped at the Albert Hall Museum, near the old city. The museum was okay but didn’t offer much on Indian history, it was more about the history of other parts of the world. However it was nice to walk around the old building and some parts were interesting. 

The following day I took a walk across to the Pink City (Old City) and explored the different alleys and nooks and crannies. There are endless rows of shops selling everything from fabrics, to saris, to handicrafts, children’s toys, mobile phones and books and it is visited by people from all over India to buy in bulk and stock up on goods. I then took a trip to the Jantar Mantar, which is a collection of 19th century architectural astronomical instruments, built by Rajput Jai Singh. It includes the world’s largest sundial and many other crazy looking monuments, used to tell the time and display the positioning of planets and star formations. From here I went to the City Palace, which stupidly isn’t included in the composite ticket price. This is an extra 500 Rupees. The Indian government has cranked up the prices for every attraction in India, its almost double the price that is stated in the lonely planet book, written in early 2016. The City Palace was lovely and I really enjoyed the museum, displaying the different outfits worn by the Maharajas when they played polo, chess and billiards. Obviously you need a specific chess and billiard uniform! 

I then continued on to the Hawa Mahal, built in 1799 as a place for the royal ladies to watch the everyday life on the streets, through the 953 windows, without being seen. The women did not appear in public but were keen to follow day to day life and the Hawa Mahal gave them a sense of freedom, without them having to appear in public. Some of the walkways can get quite claustrophobic, especially when its busy and hot, but it is good fun to explore and gives you great views of the Nahargarh Fort!

Jaisalmer and Jaipur were both fantastic places, especially if you are a fan of history and especially old Indian forts. Jaipur was a great end to Rajasthan and I am now heading across to Agra, to experience the amazing Taj Mahal.