1994 · Rome · Amalfi Coast · Athens · Mykonos · Cairo
Rome, Greece
The first frequent flyer score: Washington to Rome on American, ferry to Greece, sketchy local airline from Athens to Cairo, TWA home — total airfare under $300 for two. A 15-lb statue bought on day one in Rome hauled through four countries for three weeks. The selfie invented. Mykonos in March. Camel negotiations outside the Pyramids settled with a threat of zero.
(These posts were written during the Great Shutdown of 2020. Memory isn’t this good — internet searches filled in a lot of holes.)
This was the 1st leg of my first frequent flyer “score.” I had some miles on American and somehow I got a buy-one-get-one-free promotion on TWA. I don’t remember the specifics but we flew from Washington — Rome on American, took a ferry to Greece, and then flew a local airline from Athens to Cairo where I met up with friends. Flew TWA back to USA.
After getting settled and taking a nap, headed out in Rome. Of course the first thing you do in Rome is buy a 15 lb statue to haul around for the next three weeks. We still have it 25 years later — we hoped it would make us rich but the artist isn’t on the Google. It was a lesson learned that we continued to apply — don’t buy stuff the first day of the trip.
We then hit all the famous sites and when we got off the metro at the Colosseum — exactly as the book predicted — kids came up to sell us newspapers while older kids lingered behind to attempt the pick-pocket — we survived. Colosseum is very impressive and the Roman Forum is right next door.
Over the next couple of days we went to the Spanish Steps, Vatican, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and Tivoli Gardens. The highlight was when I invented the selfie — I didn’t know I was supposed to smile.
Tivoli Gardens was on the way out of Rome heading south to the Amalfi Coast — very nice with a set of gravity-powered fountains that used an elaborate set of pipes and channels to work. Of course, it was offseason and no water was flowing.
The Villa d’Este at Tivoli, about 30km east of Rome, was built in the 1550s for Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este on the site of a former Benedictine monastery. Its gardens contain over 500 fountains, nymphaea, grottos, and water features all powered entirely by gravity — water diverted from the Aniene River flows through an elaborate system of channels and pipes without any pumps. The garden is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is considered a masterpiece of Renaissance garden design. The offseason visit described — with no water flowing — is a known limitation: the fountains are typically at full operation from spring through autumn but maintenance periods can leave sections dry.
Sharon had a recommendation from a co-worker to stay in an old castle. It worked out pretty well and they had a fax machine — very important technology at the time to communicate back to the USA where we were closing on our first house.
The drive along the Amalfi Coast was awesome — can’t believe I have never been back and it has always been one of the top of the “places to go back to.” The primary places to stop are the town of Sorrento (where we bought stuff, but learned to mail it back at this point), Capri (had to take a ferry to the island), and Positano. Below is the Rick Steves guidebook that we used.
We left Ravello and did our Pompeii tour on the way to Bari on the east coast of Italy to catch our cruise (ferry). Pretty much farm country after you leave the coast. I remember showing up in plenty of time, dropped the rental car off, and were killing time and boarded the cruise ship when we figured out it was a ferry without a lot of amenities. Then we realized we might want some anti-nausea for sea-sickness and left the ferry and went back to town to find some — took a while to communicate how to find a pharmacy and ended up running for the ferry. But we were off to Corfu, Greece!
Sharon had a recommendation from a co-worker to stay in an old castle. It worked out pretty well and they had a fax machine — very important technology at the time to communicate back to USA where we were closing on our first house. Managing a property closing via fax from a castle on the Amalfi Coast while simultaneously hauling a 15-lb statue bought on day one of the trip is a fairly complete picture of where life was in 1994.
This was the 2nd leg of my first frequent flyer “score.” With the 15-lb statue we purchased in Rome in tow, we took a cruise from Bari to Corfu on an old ferry. I did splurge for a cabin rather than sleeping in the seats on the indoor deck. We left at night from Bari and all I remember about the next day is that it was too cold to be outside and I was doing homework (I was in grad school) most of the day inside. No real scenery either along the coast…this was not the Greek Islands in this area. After getting to Corfu, all I remember is that on the corniche there were people grilling animals on spits — we never resolved if it was a goat or a dog. Followed up with Moussaka — not my favourite either.
We picked up a rental car and drove to Olympia and saw the ancient sites of the Olympic Games, but we also learned Mt. Olympus was literally on the other side of the country, so we didn’t see the mountain nor Zeus.
We then headed cross-country to Athens where we stayed for a couple of days. Stayed in Plaka which was right below the Acropolis — great location for visiting all of the sites. We also came during a holiday period — was a great night out in Plaka and then people started playfully hitting each other lightly on the top of the head with sticks. However, after a couple of hours of Ouzo, the hitting was increasing to the annoying level so we called it a night.
The next day we went to the Acropolis and everyone was flying kites — it was “Clean Monday” — the first day of Lent (btw — did a lot of googling and couldn’t find out why the night before involved the sticks). Good day to walk around and explore all of the sites.
Clean Monday (Kathara Deftera) is the first day of Great Lent in the Greek Orthodox calendar and is a national public holiday in Greece. The kite-flying tradition on Clean Monday is widespread across the country — kites are flown from hills, parks, and rooftops as a symbol of the spirit rising toward heaven. The stick-hitting custom from the night before is likely related to Apokries (the Greek pre-Lenten carnival season), where various playful traditions vary by region. The Acropolis of Athens, built under Pericles in the 5th century BCE, contains the Parthenon, the Erechtheion (with the famous Porch of the Caryatids), and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus — all visible in these photos. The site sits on a rocky outcrop 156 metres above the city and has been continuously occupied for over 5,000 years.
For some reason, we decided to forego a couple of more days in Athens and fly to Mykonos for two days — maybe because the ferry trip wasn’t scenic. Was a relatively expensive flight plus rental car there and generally wasn’t worth it. First, it was still a bit cold and out of season and second we had assumed it would be similar to the stereotypical Greek Island pictures that you see — like Santorini.
We found a place to stay in the middle of town, probably pretty cheap since we were the only people there visiting. I recall going for dinner and then hard to find an open bar afterwards. This was March — who knew so cold in Greece — and was not the European party scene we were expecting.
We left the next day, flew back to Athens and then changed from the domestic airport to the International Airport and flew some sketchy airline to Cairo…statue still in tow.
For some reason, we decided to forego a couple of more days in Athens and fly to Mykonos for two days — maybe because the ferry trip wasn’t scenic. Relatively expensive flight plus rental car there and generally wasn’t worth it. First, it was still a bit cold and out of season and second we had assumed it would be similar to the stereotypical Greek Island pictures that you see — like Santorini. Mykonos’s reputation as one of the world’s great party destinations is earned — but exclusively in the summer. In March it is a quiet whitewashed island town where the few locals who remained looked at two Americans with a 15-lb statue with mild curiosity.
Made my initial trip to Egypt in 1994 — the 3rd leg of my first frequent flyer “score.” I had miles on American and somehow I got a buy-one-get-one-free promotion on TWA. I don’t remember the specifics but we flew from Washington — Rome on American, took a ferry to Greece, flew a local airline from Athens to Cairo, and then flew from Cairo to NYC on TWA with a stop somewhere to refuel. Then took a different flight from NYC to Washington. Total cost for airfare was less than $300 for both of us plus whatever frequent flyer miles I used.
With our 15-lb statue we purchased two weeks before in Rome, we flew from Athens to meet up with friends in Cairo that were working in Saudi Arabia, did all the tourist traps — Giza Pyramids, Egyptian Museum, various carpet and perfume markets, Great Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha, and a couple of casinos.
The most memorable part was the camel ride at the Giza Pyramids, the price was “whatever we thought was fair.” So we knew the going price should be about $20 each. So after the ride, we said we didn’t want to go to the perfume and carpet markets — of course we got sucked in. When departing, we gave him $80 and he threw a fit — wanted a lot more (can’t remember now) and my buddy who had been working in the Middle East a couple of years (and had a low tolerance for BS at this point) said “then it will be zero” and we quickly hopped in a taxi.
The other memorable part — the Giza Pyramids were on the edge of the city — the slums went right up to the edge. Not expected to me at the time.
Cairo was the final stop — we loaded up everything and took the longest flight I have ever been on — 18 hours from Cairo to NYC with a refueling stop somewhere I can’t remember.
The Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha, also known as the Alabaster Mosque, sits atop the Citadel of Cairo and dominates the city’s skyline. It was built between 1830 and 1848 under the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha, an Ottoman-appointed ruler who is considered the founder of modern Egypt. The mosque is built in the Ottoman style, modelled loosely on the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, with its distinctive twin minarets reaching 82 metres. The interior is clad entirely in alabaster (hence the nickname) up to a height of 11.3 metres. The Citadel on which it stands was built by Saladin in the 12th century and served as Egypt’s seat of government for 700 years. The 18-hour flight home to NYC via a refueling stop was standard for long-haul routes before modern wide-body aircraft made direct service possible — in 1994 the Cairo to New York route typically stopped in Shannon, Ireland or Rome.
“Then it will be zero” — and we quickly hopped in a taxi.”