Monday, we visited Garbatella for Neighborhoods class. This neighborhood is a Garden City, a different and somewhat revolutionary idea for solving the 19th century issues of dense, inner-city living conditions. Garden cities were meant to be the best of both city and country life, providing a comfortable amount of personal, garden space while promoting the interaction of community. Each lot is almost like its own little village. A network of footpaths run through it, connecting green inner courtyards, playgrounds, community clothes lines, and more. The architecture itself is reminiscent of vernacular with additive, asymmetrical massing, low archways, tufa, and brick, and it is embedded in local traditions, topography, and needs. People have tried to mimic Garbatella because it was so successful, but the fact remains that every neighborhood is unique, and what worked for Garbatella, might not necessarily work everywhere. What can and should be copied is the set of ideals that underline the Garden City movement, including ample green and community space, a variety of architectural typologies and designs, private gardens, and pedestrian-only paths to name a few. Although Garbatella was an ICP neighborhood, which means it was designed for low-income families, one couldn't tell by looking at it. That is a sign of effective social housing, where social lines are blurred and living is comfortable. Unfortunately, in recent years, many of the housing blocks that were once social housing have been converted into very expensive private apartments, but it shows just how desirable these dwellings are.
The rest of the week was basically a blur spent desperately trying to finish competition entries for the Flaminio Project at work and the Porta Portese project for school, both of which were due on Thursday. Wednesday night I stayed late at work, but we finished! I think the project proposal has a lot of potential. We have a lot of new ideas in there that are unique and intriguing, which will set our project apart from the others. The project is based on three main ideas. 1. Breaking boundaries. Fences, roads, and parked cars in the area create barriers that prevent pedestrians from being able to access public areas or even cross the street. We are moving parking underground and opening up a series of public spaces and pedestrian routes to link them, which leads to point 2. The main road is very linear, but we are hoping to break that linearity by creating a path that is varying and interesting. People can weave in and out of the new housing complexes and commercial spaces to find parks and new green piazzas. Rather than going directly from point A to point B, they will have many choices as to how they want to move. 3. We are moving green space to the top level of the buildings and connecting them through a series of skyways, so that people living in the new housing will be able to socialize and connect on their semi-private green roofs.
The Porta Portese project finished off strongly as well. Nicole and I worked really hard to make our ideas and graphics clear, and to lay it out in a logical manner. I wish we could have had more time to polish our text, but it had already been translated to French, so there was no going back. Hopefully, we get some sort of recognition! If we become finalists, we will have the opportunity to go to Paris for the awards ceremony!
I was so excited to be done with both my projects that we went out and celebrated on Thursday night. Friday morning, all we had was cooking with Fiori, so I was super excited. On our way home on Thursday, we ran into the filming of a scene from the new James Bond movie! They were doing a chase scene where one of the cars jumps, and we got to see a brief glimpse of the car shooting by. Nicole got a video. It was super exciting! But that was where everything starting going downhill for me. Somehow, I think I got food poisoning, because all night, I had awful cramps and diarrhea. Unfortunately, I wasn't much better in the morning when we went to cooking, but we made some amazing food. For appetizer: Tartra, which is basically a soufflé made with eggs and cream infused with sage, rosemary, oregano, and mint. We served it with a delicious pumpkin cream sauce.
For the main course, we made our own spaghetti in a lamb ragout. The Italians call the dish, Maccheroni alla Chitarra. We used a guitar to make our little maccheroni strands.
For desert, we had Torta Caprese, flourless chocolate cake made with almonds (!) This cake just screamed my name. Not only had I been craving chocolate cake, but it was made up of possibly my two favorite ingredients: chocolate and almonds.
My stomach was still really raw, but the food looked so good, I couldn't resist. I ate and enjoyed every last bite of the delicious meal, but I paid the price. My stomach cramps came back with a vengeance. Kristin and I wanted to visit San Saba, a neighborhood for Neighborhoods class, but on the way home, I threw up my entire lunch in a garbage can. We still visited the neighborhood, which reminded me a lot of Garbatella, but the rest of my day was hell. I finally made my way home and collapsed. Luckily, Nicole had some pills I could take and she was able to make me some tea and help me pack, but it was a rough night.
Saturday morning, we left for Greece! I was still under the weather and basically hadn't eaten anything for a day, but we were all excited. Our flights went really smoothly. Our second flight was a tiny propeller plane, which was basically half the size of a regular plane, but it went fine. We made a few friends on this flight. Niko is an environmental law student trying to complete his degree this year and Christopher is a student who's graduated and is traveling around Europe on his own before going to grad school. We were picked up at the airport by the son of the couple who's house we are renting. It was dark and raining, but we could still tell it was a beautiful area. After settling in a bit, we went out to wander around and find somewhere to eat. We couldn't see much, and practically everything was closed, but we did run into a small restaurant on the hill that looked nice. The owners were so happy to have us that they gave us two free pitchers of house wine plus free dessert! I felt so bad because I still wasn't able to stomach wine and couldn't help finish it. Nicole and Kristin ordered Moussaka at my recommendation, and it was really delicious. The Greeks know how to do it right! I have to say, nothing can beat my mom's homemade Moussaka, though. They also brought us free dessert at the end, which I am still trying to identify. The top was a custard, but the bottom was a nest of fibrous (fruit?) drenched in syrup with pecans. It was good, but I need to figure out what it was!
The next day I was feeling much better, and we decided to go out to explore. We stopped briefly at a restaurant for breakfast, then retraced our steps from the night before. The views were exquisite! We wandered for a while along the western edge just taking random photos and seeing what was there. Along the way, we were stopped by a man from a cruise agency. Normally, that's something I would just say no to, but I'm on vacation, and we didn't really have plans for the rest of the week, so we looked into it. Of course, there never really is a "just looking into it," because once you step into that office and let them give you the run-down on what a great cruise it's going to be, you're already sold. Once we heard we would get to see three different beaches, the hot springs, we could go swimming, and they were feeding us a delicious lunch for 70 Euros, we gave in. All things considered, it was a pretty good deal. The cost is normally at least 130, and I think it was even more for the other couples on the trip because they specifically told us not to mention how much we paid to the others. We scheduled the cruise for the next morning because the weather looked great.
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| Donkeys! |
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| Little Blue-domed church |
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| Adorable kitty! |
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| Stray doggy |
Afterwards, we got a bit lost trying to find the nearest beach, but there are two things to know about getting lost in Santorini. 1. You are never really lost because you can always see where you are in relation to the rest of the island. 2. If you don't know if it's the right way, just check it out. If it's a dead-end, you'll find out soon enough. We basically managed to find our way without a map, and we only had to ask for directions once, but we finally made it down to the beach. I couldn't believe that I was lounging on a beach in the middle of Winter! The beach was pretty rocky, and the water was too cold for me to go in completely, but it was still lovely. We spent the rest of the afternoon there reading, hunting for rocks, exploring, and walking up and down the beach.
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| Emu?? |
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| Two black kitties sitting on a wall |
Unfortunately, the grocery stores were closed because it was Sunday, so we went out to dinner instead of cooking. We tried a little tavern close to our house, which had okay food, but not great. I couldn't resist trying the octopus because I love it, and Kristin and I also split the mussels. The octopus was a bit overcooked and the sauce for the mussels wasn't great, but it was worth a try. I should know better than to order octopus at a sub-par restaurant. Afterwards, we had a relaxing night in and watched Django Unchained together.
Monday we rose early for the cruise! At 9 they picked us up from the tourist shop and drove us down to the south of the island where the boat picks up. It was a really gorgeous boat, and we got to sit on a hammock-like net that sat right over the water. Not only was it comfortable; it was exhilarating! We were allowed to have any drinks we wanted, and we enjoyed them as we made our way to the red beach, made red by iron. The red beach is only accessible by boat, so it was nice to get a chance to see it. Our next beach was the black beach, made black by the volcanic ash, and our final beach was the white beach, white because it's limestone. After making our way to each of the beaches, we headed out to the volcanic island in the middle, which is home to the hot springs. This is where we had our lunch of grilled prawns, spaghetti, stewed chicken, fried fish, Greek salad, and wine. The food was delicious. Tummies full, Nicole, Kristin and I jumped into the water and swam over to the hot springs where we stayed for as long as we could. The water wasn't hot, but it was the perfect warm temperature so that we could have lain there unmoving for hours and been perfectly comfortable. Before getting back on the boat, the captain had to spray us down with fresh water. Apparently, not only is the spring water very salty, but it has a lot of sulfur in it, so much so that it would turn a white suit yellow. Both Kristin and I fell asleep on our way back. Just laying there in the sun with the gentle rocking of the waves and the wind on my face, I couldn't help it.
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| The net we got to sit on |
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| The red beach |
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The black beach    |
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| The hot springs |
We still had a good portion of the day left when we returned, so we shopped around a bit, watched the sunset, and I made Mediterranean cabbage rolls for dinner. On my way to watch the sunset, I even ran into Niko, one of our friends from the plane ride. With a bottle of local white wine to top off the meal, dinner was delicious. It felt good to save some money and cook for once.
Tuesday, we each sort of did our own thing. Nicole had an interview at 4, so she stayed close to home while Kristin and I went out to explore. I tried taking a new path that led north towards Oia, the northern-most town on the island, but I only got a little ways before it met up with the same path we'd been taking since we arrived. There really is only one main foot path that runs through Santorini. However, I took it a little further than before up to a large blue-domed church on the hill. This church was fantastic because although the doors were locked, one can easily climb onto the roof and get a great view of the city from there. A little further down the island is a little peninsula sticking out from the coast. At first, I didn't think it was accessible on foot. But as I neared, I realized that there was a path wrapping around the peninsula. I took the path. It was a bit treacherous because the wind was extremely strong, but it felt special because I was literally the only one on the entire peninsula. I spent the majority of my morning exploring the island. Around the back, there is a lone little church with a fantastic view of the ocean. This is where I stayed until hunger overtook me and I headed back into town for lunch. Lunch was actually one of my favorite meals of the trip. The restaurant had just gotten in some fresh fish, so I ordered the fresh swordfish with a rice pilaf and roasted vegetables. It was definitely worth it. I had been hoping for some fresh fish on this trip--we are on an island, after all. I was surprised not to see many fish markets. All the seafood is frozen in the grocery store. I ran into one early in the morning, but I was told they are very expensive and they don't sell for very long. I guess they don't have as much business when it isn't tourist season. I keep wondering what the town is like when it is tourist season. All the closed shops are probably open, the deserted streets are probably packed, prices probably go up, service is slower. There are definitely a lot of perks to coming at this time of year, not to mention that I come from Minnesota, where this kind of weather doesn't happen for at least another three months.
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| The Peninsula |
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| Fluffy dog! |
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| Lunch |
I made Mediterranean fish stew for dinner with some (semi) fresh fish from the market and local wine. It was delicious. This is one of my favorite recipes that I got from my mom. I have it memorized because I love it so much, and I think Kristin and Nicole enjoyed it as well. After dinner, we had another girl's night in because there really isn't much night life in this town. We played some cards and put on face masks from a local cosmetics store. We each got some samples of their different face scrubs and masks, which are said to help hydrate and clear skin. One was honey and the other was pomegranate. It feels very soothing. After it goes on, you let it sit and it turns cold on your skin. After five to ten minutes, you wash it off and voila! Nice skin. I definitely wouldn't pay for more than a sample, but it's still fun to try.
Wednesday, we went for a hike to Oia! This was my favorite day. The wind had gone down, so the weather was absolutely perfect. After breakfast, we packed our lunch and set off. The views were just spectacular. We had a lot of fun snapping pictures on random rocks and off cliff edges that we came to. We stopped for lunch on a large peak overlooking the rest of the island--just beautiful. We stopped a few more times for some good pictures, but we still made it to Oia in 2 1/2 hours instead of 3. Oia is a very scenic town. Somehow, it seemed a bit cleaner and better maintained than Fira, the main town that we came from. Where Fira is filled with stray cats, Oia is filled with stray dogs. They were literally around every corner and down every alley. Two of them even accompanied us to the beach. First, however, we stopped into a charming little bookstore that had been recommended to us. It is called Atlantis books, and they have books in many languages including English, Italian, and German. Kristin found an old hard-cover copy of Alice in Wonderland, which I am very jealous of. Nicole got all four volumes in hard-cover of a very old copy of Le Miserables in the original French. I ended up getting a copy of the first part of Goethe's Faust (I still haven't read it, and as a German Major, I really should), an old copy of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight translated by Keith Harrison, who the shop owner said is one of the best, and The Scorpion God by William Golding. I'm super excited. Yes, I could have gotten these books at a different place, but there was something special about this little shop in San Torini. The owner even gave us special stamps so I will always remember where I got them from. We were told that Oia is the best place on the island to watch the sunset, so we decided to wait on the beach until sunset, then take the bus back to Fira. There was nothing between us and the vast expanse of the ocean extending as far as the eye can see, the sun glimmering on its surface as it slowly descended and was engulfed by the water. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets I can remember in my lifetime.
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| Atlantis Bookstore! |
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| The beach |
We were hungry by the time the bus had dropped us off, and I didn't feel like cooking, so we ambled over to our favorite restaurant, the place we went on our first night there. The owner was extremely happy to see us, so he started us off with a nice bottle of local white wine on the house. It was actually a delicious wine with hints of honey in it, but it was strong. For appetizers, we had hot pita with a red cabbage dip and baked feta cheese. I ordered the red snapper for my main course, Nicole had the lamb, and Kristin had Moussaka. They were all delicious. Before we knew it, however, the waiter had brought us a dessert and another pitcher of white wine, a different kind this time. The owner actually sat down to have a drink with us. He kept telling us how gorgeous we were, and before we could go, we had to finish the fresh pita, garlic sauce, and fried cheese they brought us. They were all delicious, but I was bursting at the seams from eating and drinking so much. They even brought us a third pitcher of wine, but we couldn't finish that one. Three hours after arriving, we finally made our way out.
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