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1979 was my defining year for travel. I was in college working as a photographer for the art and archeology department when Dr. Lodi, my biology professor who was from India wanted me to change my history and journalism major to pre-medicine. He and several of his colleagues who were from India tried their best to get me into a summer work-study abroad program in Kerala, India, which meant that I would have a slim to none chance to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra, and spend some time in Mumbai because the emphasis was placed on work, but the prospects of going to Hyderbad, in the state of Andhra Padesh as a side trip were looking pretty good. Going to India would have been my dream trip, but I was not accepted. I was hurt and so was Dr. Lodi and his colleagues. But, before a tear could fall, another trip of a life time came my way from the history department. I could join a work-study abroad program for 90 days in Sudan, Africa, with a possible side trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with a history and archeology group from several universities from across America.To ensure that I would be accepted into the program, the art and archeology department assigned me as the group photographer. Our flight to Sudan was filled with tension and missed opportunities to sight see because the itinerary was ad hoc and we were flying on the cheap. We did not have a chance to get off the plane in Rome, Italy or Athens, Greece. From Athens we flew to Cairo, Egypt for a connecting flight to Khartoum, Sudan, but was diverted to Riyadh, then Jiddah, Saudi Arabia for a six-hour lay over which turned into an over night lay over. We were allowed off the plane, but we could not leave the airport. However, I could have gotten out and about, but because of restrictions from the group and restrictions on the group I had to go with the flow. The next morning we flew back to Cairo for our flight to Sudan. In Khartoum I saw the tomb of the Mahdi, and met and danced with the descendants of the whirling dervish, I also had my first cup of real espresso. I was given a small cup that was the size of a shot glass, and the espresso looked like oil from the crank case of an automobile, and was exceptionally sweet. As a none coffee drinker, I was thinking that I could handle it with no problems. After three shots of espresso, I stood up, the ground moved from under my feet and the table came rushing up to meet my face. Need I say every one had a darn good laugh, all at my expense. I found that I was drinking pure unadulterated caffeine. I will write about my stay in the Sudan later. In 1980 I had a chance to return to Greece and the Mediterranean Region as a member of the US air force. I was assigned to a cargo crew on a flight to Aviano Air Base in Aviano, near Pordenone, Italy.This time I made it to Venice and Rome, but they were rush trips, because we would be at Aviano for only three days, therefore we hit the ground running.The city center of Venice was 45 minutes from Pordenone, and Rome was about a four and a half hour train ride from Venice. there is so much to see in Venice, you just stand and stare in wonderment. You will need more than one day in Venice to find a starting point to see this beautiful city. Rome was awesome, and like Venice, you will need more than one day, maybe four or more. There was a million tourist in Rome on the day that I arrived, and they all were in the streets at the same time jockeying for a position to take the photograph of a life time, or enter an ancient site. I did get a chance to make a brief pit stop in San Marino, Italy. Our next stop before we returned back to America was a five-day lay over at Souda Bay US air base on the Akrotiri Peninsula in Crete. From there I caught a flight on a med-evac with several air force members up to Athens where we did a quick tour of the city. We saw the Acropolis, the Parthenon, and the Temple Of Hephaestus. Because of the element of time we did not get all over Athens; however we did go to the Monattiraki and Theseum district. In the Monastiriaki district we made a stop at a small street side, sort of in the alley family restaurant. The food was incredible. I think we did the menu because platters of food kept coming and the owner kept saying try this.There was fresh seafood, grilled octopus, Souvlaki,Tzatziki, Spanakopita, lamb, Mousakas, Baklavas, Saganaki, Dolmadakia yiaprakia, mezes, wine, and fresh olives that were not from a can or jar.Things were going great until I made the mistake of being talked into trying ouzo the national drink of Greece, by the wife of the restaurant owner.The drink was about 42% alcohol by volume, and tasted like the black jelly beans in the jelly bean bag of candy, or licorice. We sat , talked, ate, and drank ouzo for what appeared to be for ever. Back at Souda Bay that night, I had the seven-day trots, and my very own personal and private toilet. Mount Vesuvius eruption did not have anything on me. For awhile I thought I was going blind. I was not drunk, or had a hang over, or hang on.The ouzo just did not agree with my digestive system. I will say that there is more to Greece than Athens, and I think there is a lot to see and do in Akrotiri and the Souda Bay Area. Let me make it clear that since 1980 things have changed considerably and very drastically. I would not by any means suggest that you or anyone try to make the tours that I did on the cheap and in a rush.Take some time and enjoy the Mediterranean Region like I did in November, 2003 when I deployed to NAS Sigonella in Eastern Sicily approximately 10 miles west of the city of Catania. I will also write about my time in Sicily later. If you have plans on visiting or touring the Mediterranean Region and want to really enjoy the area, see the sights, enjoy the food, and indulge in the culture, I would suggest that you take a crash course on the history, art, archeology and a little geography of the Mediterranean Region.There is so much ancient history, art, and archeology in this area that it would be very easy to miss some inspirational sites or area. For sure, there is something for every one to see and do.The Mediterranean Region is very diverse and has a rich, varied and unique cultural heritage. If you have only a few days to see Rome, Venice, Athens or any of the Mediterranean Region, I would like to pass along these notes from a fellow traveler: Aviano is located in the northeastern part of Italy, at the base of the Italian Alps, about 20 miles north of Pordenone, and approximately 50 miles north of Venice. Pordenone is the closest large town, (population approximately 50,000), and is the provincial capital of Pordenone province. The region in which both Aviano and Pordenone are located is called Friuli Venezia Giulia. Aviano has been inhabited since the 900s. However, evidence of a human presence dates to before the Romans entered the area in 186 BC. Most historians believe that Aviano developed with a commercial center located where present-day Aviano is situated and a cultural and defensive center in the castle(Castello d’Aviano) area. Aviano was a possession of the Proto-Christian Catholic Church of Aquileia, a small Roman town located on the Adriatic Sea, until 1420 when it came under the influence of the Venetian Republic. Aviano became a part of the Italian State in 1866. Pordenone was created in the High Middle Ages as a river port on the Noncello, with the name Portus Naonis. There were already villas and agricultural settlements in the Roman age. In 1378, after having been administrated by several feudatories, the city was handed over to the Habsburg family, forming an Austrian enclave within the territory of Patriarchate of Aquileia. In the 14th century, Pordenone grew substantially due to the flourishing river trades, gaining the status of city in 1314. In 1514, it was acquired by the Republic of Venice, under which a new port was built and the manufacturers improved. After the Napoleonic period, Pordenone was included in the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia.The railway connection and the construction of the Pontebbana road brought on the decline of the port, but spurred substantial industrial development especially for the working of cotton. Pordenone was annexed to Italy in 1866.The cotton sector decayed after the damage of World War l and failed completely after the 1929 crisis. After World War II, the local Zanussi firm became a world giant of household appliances, and in 1968, Pordenone became capital of the province with the same name, including territory belonging to Udine. After World War II, Pordenone, as well as the rest of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, became a garrison for many military units, in order to prevent an Soviet invasion from the east. The heavy military presence boosted the economy of the once-depressed area. Pordenone is as now garrison of the 132nd Armored Brigade “Ariete”.
Venice or Venezia is the capital of the region Veneto, a population of 271,367 census estimate 1 January 2004. Together with Padua, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area population 1,600,000. The city historically was an independent nation. Venice has been known as the “La Dominante”, “Serenissima”, “Queen of the Adriatic”, “City of Water”, “City of Bridges”, and “The City of Light”. Luigi Barzini, writing in The New York Times, described it as “undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man”. Venice has also been described by the Times Online as being one of Europe’s most romantic cities. The city stretches across 118 small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater lagoon stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po (south) and the Piave (north) Rivers. The Republic of Venice was a major maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades and the Battle of Lepanto, as well as a very important center of commerce, especially silk, grain and spice trade, and art in the 13th century up to the end of the 17th century. Venice is also famous for its musical, particularly operatic, history, and its most famous son in this field is Antonio Vivaldi. If you should by chance find yourself in Venice, I strongly recommend using the water taxi service. When you walk  out of the train station, go down the steps and to your right. Buy a ticket for the whole day, it costs about 10 euros, and is worth it. You can see all the great sights along the grand canal, and the taxi even drops you off right at St. Mark’s Square. If you are buying souvenirs in Venice, be sure to walk down the alleyways around St. Marks for the best deals, and great, less touristy things. They have the masks, and the murano glass as well, but for a lot less than most vendors sell them for. The same goes with food or restaurants. The more you walk through these alleys, the more the price goes down, and I think, the better the meal. This is where the people who live in Venice go to eat, so the food isn’t “Americanized”.
The Most Serene Republic of San Marino,Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino is a country situated in the Apennine Mountains. It is a landlocked enclave, completely surrounded by Italy. Its size is just over 37 miles with an estimated population of almost 30000. Its capital is the City of San Marino. One of the European microstates along with Liechtenstein, the Vatican, Monaco, Andorra, and Malta, San Marino has the smallest population of all the members of the Council of Europe. San Marino is the oldest recorded sovereign state and constitutional republic in the world, having been founded on 3 September 301 by stone-cutter Marinus of Rab. Legend has it that Marinus left Rab, then a Roman colony, in 257 when the future emperor, Diocletian, issued a decree calling for the reconstruction of the city walls of Rimini, which had been destroyed by Liburnian pirates. The constitution of San Marino, enacted in 1600, is the world’s oldest constitution still in effect.
Souda or Suda is a town and municipality of the Greek island of Crete, in the prefecture of Chania. It is an important ferry and naval port at the head of Souda Bay. Souda is about 4 miles to the east of central Chania, although the area in between is mostly built-up. The town is a relatively new settlement, built on what used to be salt beds and marshland. The Turks knew the area as ‘Tuzla’, their name for salt-beds. In the 1870s, they began to build a new settlement here which grew as the port expanded. Souda Bay is one of the deepest natural harbours in the Mediterranean and is easy to defend. Now Souda is the arrival point for ferries from Pireaus. There is also a NATO naval base located in Souda and across the bay, with military accommodation and hospital in the town. Much of the command, particularly for US forces, is found across the bay on the Akrotiri. A grain silo overshadows the center of town. Perhaps because of its nature as a departure point and military town, it is not popular with tourists and can appear seedy and threatening. However it is well-served with shops of all types and some renowned fish restaurants in the old center. The Allied war cemetery, mostly of soldiers from World War II, is found in Souda on the shore. There are 1,527 graves, mostly British with 447 New Zealanders and 197 Australians. Buried in the cemetery is the archaeologist John Pendlebury. Pendlebury was the curator at Knossos for the British School in Athens and had been continuing excavations in Crete until the war. He was executed by the Germans in 1941 whilst working for British Intelligence. Souda is the main town in the municipality of the same name, with the town hall found in Souda itself. The municipality extends from Chania’s hinterland (Souda, Nerokourou and Tsikalaria) along the coast, taking in the villages of Kalami and Megala Chorafia. Around 8,000 people live in the municipality, the majority in Souda itself. Due to the area’s beautiful views across the sea and up to the White Mountains and its proximity to Chania, there is a great deal of pressure to build new houses and apartments. However, there has been some protection afforded by the restrictions of having a military base in the area. The earliest history of the local area is related to the founding of the nearby ancient city of Kydonia, one of the most powerful cities of ancient Crete. The tombs of Eleftherios Venizelos and his son Sophoklis are found On Akrotiri, at a site overlooking Chania. At this site, the Greek flag was raised in defiance of the Turks and the Great Powers, with the peninsula acting as a headquarters of the Cretan Revolution. Three monasteries are found in the hills to the north. Aghia Triada dates from the 17th Century and was founded by two Venetian monks who had joined the Orthodox church, Jeremiah and Laurentio Giancarolo.These brothers renovated an older monastery endowed by the Mourtari family.The imposing buildings are visible across the plateau and from planes arriving at the airport and are set in olive and orange groves. A little way into the hills, accessible by car through a small gorge, is the Gouvernetos Monastery, 5 km north of Aghia Triada. Here the buildings appear fortress-like, with a large square building around a central courtyard, in which stands the church dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
Rome In One Day: Begin by having coffee at Caffe San’Eustachio in the piazza behind the Pantheon and then visit the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. By 11 am, arrive at the Vatican Museums entrance and visit the museums and Sistine Chapel (2 to 3 hours), exiting the far right door towards Saint Peter’s Cathedral. Walk around the Cathedral (1 hour) and head out into the Piazza to catch a cab to the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and Forum. From there, you can walk out of the Campidoglio towards the Trevi Fountain. It should be about 4 pm, just in time to make a wish, walk to Piazza di Spagna, do a little shopping and catch a cab back to the train station, hotel or meeting point. Eating in Rome is no problem because Rome has hundreds, or maybe thousands of excellent restaurants, delicious cafés, pizzerias, and ice cream shops. It’s more important to know what you want to eat and what kind of atmosphere before you go. Outdoors, indoors, traditional, nouvelle cuisine, chic, simple—Rome has it all. The more “traditional” Roman restaurants are in the Trastevere neighborhood, where as the center has some of the best pizza places and some very good Italian restaurants.
Advice from a fellow traveler: Avoid carrying anything in your pockets. Wallets, etc, should be well hidden from pickpockets or firmly secured to your belt. Purses should be carried across the chest, with your arm protecting it. As far as crime goes, most of the time, it’s just being aware of your surroundings. I’ve never been robbed but have seen it happen to many people. The conductors in southern Italy and along the coast on the way to Spain tried to pull fast ones on us all of the time. I speak Italian so I could tell them to basically “sod off” but they always tried to charge us an extra 10 euros for some “tax” even with our Eurail Pass. Most people would pay it because they didn’t want to argue, and the gypsies are a problem. After seeing the kids run down the aisle and literally grab backpacks and bags off the shelves before the train pulled out of the station, we always made sure to keep our backpacks on the floor by our feet, usually with the strap hooked around our ankles or legs. Many people weren’t so lucky and would attempt to run after them, to no avail. Be smart, dress inconspicuously, meaning no logo clothes, white tennis shoes or baseball hats, and don’t stand in the middle of the street with a huge map folded out or a guidebook open. I took apart the guidebook by section of city we were traveling in. You don’t have to be paranoid, but you do have to be smart. Having your luggage stolen or worse, your passport, would totally ruin your vacation. Are you asking whether you can go from Venice to Rome in a day, or go as a day trip? Absolutely, you can get there in a day. As the previous poster stated, it takes about 4 hours by Eurostar. If you take an EC or an IC train, it would take longer. It would, however, not make a good day trip. It’s just too far and Venice has too many pleasures not to be taken in at a leisurely pace. Please note, it is very important that whenever you take a Eurostar train, reservations are mandatory. You need them regardless of whether you have a rail pass or a ticket. Caio and buona fortuna!
Keep things on your trip in perspective, and you’ll be amazed at the perspective you gain on things back home while you’re away…One’s little world is put into perspective by the bigger world out there….Miriam Beard

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