St. Augustine School - Italy and Greece Tour 2009

View Photo Album                                              

 

From March 25 to April 3 students from St. Augustine in Ponoka and Holy Trinity Academy in Drayton Valley, traveled to Italy and Greece touring many historic sites. 11 students, 2 staff, and 1 parent made the trip.

Our trip began in Edmonton with a short stop in Calgary before flying directly to Frankfurt, Germany. From there they carried onto Rome, which saw them have time for some Italian cuisine, and head to bed. The first touring day of the trip saw our group visit the Vatican City, in which we toured St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. Later in the day, we began a walking tour of Rome, by starting at the famous Coliseum built in 72 A.D. Several hours were spent touring ancient ruins of Rome, such as the Pantheon. Of course there was also time for some shopping and snacking at the local stores. Over the next few days we saw several interesting sites like the Catacombs where the ancient Christians buried their dead, and a tour of Rome by night.

After a couple days, we then made our way down to Pompeii to visit the ruins of the city that was destroyed in 79 A.D. by the eruption at Mt. Vesuvius. Later we took a ride to the top of that famous mountain too. The group was supposed to go on a tour of the island of Capri, but the sea was too rough for the ferry, so it was cancelled. This allowed us to spend more time in the beautiful coastal town of Sorrento, where more shopping and local foods were available.

We spent part of a day traveling across Italy from west to east, to the port city of Bali. It was here that we caught a ferry to Delphi in Greece. The next day we toured the ruins of the Temple of Apollo, and saw the sites of the first Peloponnesian games. A day later we drove to the city of Athens to see some more magnificent ruins, especially those at the Acropolis. Here we saw the Temple of Nike, and the amazing Parthenon built in the 5th century B.C.

Eventually it was time to come home, so we departed Athens and after a 3 hr flight to Frankfurt, we hopped on a plane for an 8hr trip to Toronto. Another 3.5 hrs and we were home in Edmonton at 1:30 am in the morning.

It really was an amazing trip as we all got to see many important historical sites, witness the landscape of two beautiful countries, and immerse ourselves in the wonderful culture of these places.

 

Mr. Josephison
Travel Club Coordinator