#MGoEurope Travel Log: Sunday, Aug. 27
8/27/2017 3:16:00 PM | Women's Basketball, Features
The Michigan women's basketball program is on a week-and-a-half trip to Europe (Aug. 21-31) with stops in Italy and Greece. Follow the Wolverines on social media (#MGoEurope) and with a daily travel log on MGoBlue.com.
Sunday, Aug. 27
9 a.m. -- The group met for a quick breakfast before heading out of Sorrento to the airport in Naples. The view during the first 30 minutes as we exited Sorrento was breathtaking. The road was rather windy as we left the peninsula but to continue to see the coast as we left was amazing.
10:30 a.m. -- The group arrived at the airport in Naples for our 1:10 p.m. flight. We were there so early that our airline was not even checking in groups yet! So we just hung out with all our bags for a while until we were able to check in.
Noon -- Once we cleared security, we found our gate at the small airport and spread out for food. Some went for sandwiches and pizza, while others went for sushi.
1:10 p.m. -- Our 90-minute flight from Naples to Athens left on time. The majority of the group took the chance to catch up on sleep during the time. Just like the bus ride out of Sorrento, there were some amazing views throughout the flight.
"It was a little different flying from that airport," junior Sam Trammel said. "It was a lot smaller than what we are used to and people kept noticing that we had their flags and countries on our shirts. The flight over to Athens was gorgeous. The water is so clear and turquoise."
"It was different," sophomore KeAsja Peace agreed. "It was really calm at that airport and less people. It was an easy flight."
3:50 p.m. -- We landed in Greece after a pretty uneventful flight. Unlike Italy, Greece is seven hours ahead of Eastern time ... so we lost an hour on the trip but in the grand scheme of it all, no one really noticed.
4:30-7:45 p.m. -- We headed from the airport straight to downtown Athens to explore, shop and eat. Our tour guide, Fortuna, showed us around a little part of the city where we could do all three. We learned about some local culture and had a lot of the food options explained to us. Once we knew where we were and what we could do, we split up into small groups for two hours.
We heard so many people say "Go Blue" while we were walking around. One family was from Ann Arbor, another man had on a U-M Flint shirt and another group used to live in Michigan. It was really cool to see some people who share the love of this great University with us.
For dinner, most people went with a gyro or kabob option. Olive oil is available on every table and the people are so friendly here.
"I really thought it was going to be a little older over here," Trammel said. "Coming from Italy where we saw a lot of ruins, I thought everything here was just going to be more ancient but a lot of the city feels really modern. My dinner was really good. I had a gyro and it was awesome. It was a little different than the gyro we have in the States."
"My day was great," Peace said. "I really enjoyed it. It was a nice travel day. We got to see a lot of nice stores and do some shopping. I didn't buy anything here yet but got some ideas. I bought some shirts in Rome but that has been it. I had chicken salvoki and it was really good. It was something new for me.
We headed back to the hotel to rest up for the next few days. Tomorrow is a trip to the Acropolis and Parthenon, more shopping, a pregame clinic and a game. What a way to start our time in Greece!
