Europe

Seville, Santa Olalla del Cala, and Merida- See as much of Spain as you can

/ Emily / 1 Comment

So the next day we started off by getting up early to go find some coffee and pastries. We then decided to go see some more of Seville before taking off. We started off by seeing a part of the university that used to be an old tobacco factory. It was very beautiful.

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Then there was the Plaza de España. You might recognize it from Star Wars. It’s a beautiful square regardless of any film attachments you may or may not have, so be sure to visit if you’re in town.

Afterwards it was off to the Cathedral. We had to figure out the confusing entry system, which took a while. Apparently if you have reserved tickets or are with a group you go in one entrance, and the rest go in another. The signs are very unclear, so just be warned it might take a little bit to figure out.

We went inside the cathedral, enjoying its huge size and beautiful decorations. My brother had already been there, so he told us some things he’d learned on his tour years before. My favorite was the story of the picture of Saint Anthony that was stolen years earlier and then eventually found. Apparently Saint Anthony is the patron saint of lost things. We also saw Christopher Columbus’s grave and we climbed up the huge bell tower to enjoy a view of the city. Over all, it was a very fun visit. I highly encourage seeing it if you’re in Seville.

After that we grabbed our things from the hotel and headed on our way.

We stopped in Santa Olalla del Cala which had a beautiful castle on the hill. As we’ve often found traveling in Europe, the roads to it were not well marked. So we ended up driving down a steep rocky road before realizing it was a dead end and having to drive back up. Finally we found the right road and parked to go see the castle.

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It was closed. As far as I can tell it’s not open to the public, but who knows. Maybe it is during the summer. Regardless it was fun to see. I will never tire of seeing castles. They are truly amazing.

After that we continued on our way until we reached Merida.

My father had booked a Casa Rural. We’d done this before, and really enjoyed it. Basically it’s sort of B and B like, where you stay in someone’s home in the country. It’s nice to get away from the big commercial hotels for a while and enjoy some real hospitality from the people of the country you’re in. Sure enough, our hosts welcomed us in and showed us up to our lovely rooms.

After we had dropped our stuff off we set off by car to the center of Merida where there were a variety of Roman ruins.

Merida is especially famous for the Roman theater which is surprisingly intact. I’ve seen lots of Roman ruins over the years traveling through Europe, but I have to admit the theater was quite impressive considering how old it is. We wandered through that and the amphitheater there before setting out to see other things. The ticket we bought allows you to see several of the Roman things in town, which is a good deal. So if you’re sticking around Merida be sure to check it out.

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We headed down to see the temple next, which is open to the public. And then we walked down to the river and enjoyed the Roman bridge there.

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It was cold, however, so we went to Burger King to grab some drinks before our restaurant was open. I have to say, I’ve never seen a dirtier Burger King in my life. Apparently people in the town didn’t understand that you needed to bus your own dishes. So the tables were littered with trash. Just a cultural difference I suppose. Although hey, I’ve seen people being inconsiderate all over the world, so it’s one thing that I’d say is sadly universal.

After that we walked around the main square a little and the little Christmas market and then headed to our restaurant. It was called La Taberna de Sole and featured a lot of meat dishes. I had lamb chops essentially. They weren’t necessarily my favorite, but I made do. Something about eating meat off the bone often makes me feel kind of uncomfortable. Times I think I could become a vegetarian. However, dessert more than made up for it for me. I had hazelnut ice cream. It was absolutely delicious. My father had a sort of dessert soup as well and that was equally amazing. So yes, overall quite good and would definitely recommend.

We headed back to our hotel for the night after that. Over all, a very good day exploring!

See you in Seville

/ Emily / 2 Comments

After our Morocco adventures our family made our way to Seville. Along the way, my father decided it would be fun to stop in the town of Jerez and tour a sherry bodega, something the region was famed for, and therefore a good stopping spot along the road.

However, we arrived to find that the bodega we’d wanted to visit was apparently closed for Christmas hours… even though there were no signs and the website didn’t say anything. This seems to be so much of life traveling. Go someplace and find out it’s closed.

We considered visiting the Spanish riding school, but weren’t sure how much we’d actually be able to see since it wasn’t a day they were putting on a show. So my father instead proposed visiting a fancy manor house.

On our drive towards it, however, we noticed that the Tio Pepe bodega appeared to be open. There were people going in through the gate. So while it wasn’t the one my father had proposed visiting, it still would be a means of seeing the sherry making process and tasting some of the famed product.

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We decided it would be worth a try.

There was an English tour not too long after we’d arrived. They started us on a cute little train, taking us around different parts of the complex to show off what they’d built. Then we took a walk through the actual bodegas before they stopped to show us a really cheesy documentary. In my opinion they could have cut that in half at least, if not left it out entirely. Seeing the actual bodega was far more interesting.

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Our last stop was for tasting. We’d opted to just have two glasses and skip any food or such which cost extra. I ended up being glad we only did two as they filled the glasses quite full. The sherry wasn’t really to my taste. However, I tend to like pretty sweet things and the strength of the alcohol really wasn’t up my alley. For some, I’m sure it would have been wonderful.

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Needless to say two glasses of sherry on an empty stomach had me kind of tipsy. I’m not a big alcohol drinking, so I admit my limits are pretty low. I basically downed the water my mom offered me and started eating cookies I had left over in my purse. I then had to go walk through the gift-shop in that state. And the gift shop at Tio Pepe is a lot of glass bottles… thankfully no disasters ensued.

Thankfully we left not too long after, and I was able to eat some lunch. We had a picnic in the park in town, munching on bread and cheese and olives in the gorgeous afternoon sun.

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After a short break we were back in the car and on the road to Seville.

We arrived in the late afternoon, finding a place in the parking garage and then walking into the center of town where our hotel was. We checked into our hotel and then went to walk around some and find something to eat.

The city was beautiful. All lit up for the holidays with purple lights everywhere. The streets were filled with people and there were flamenco dancers and other fun street entertainment.

We walked across the river and enjoyed the views of the city. However, with some low-blood sugars in the family and people just becoming more hangry by the second, it became apparent it was time to find food, which was why we settled for heading to La Azotea for food.

It ended up being one of our favorite restaurants of the entire trip. We arrived right when it opened, had a seat and within minutes the whole place was full. And it became apparent why.

We picked several different dishes, and they all ended up being amazing. We started with a salad…I honestly forget what was on it.  We devoured it before I could get a picture, so sadly no photo evidence exists. The next was our favorite though. Rice paper wantons with shrimp and cheese. They were incredible. Then came the artichoke hearts, which were yummy, but not quite to the same level. And then a plate with cod in a sauce that was also quite delicious.

However, it was decided that the wontons were amazing. So we ordered another plate of those. Everything on the menu looked good, but it was hard to resist this particularly delicious dish.

After that we walked a little more. My brother wanted churros but the place we’d seen earlier was closing. The joy of Spanish meal times means that you can’t do anything after you’ve had dinner usually.

After that it was back to the hotel for sleeping. We were excited for the next full day ahead!

Beware of the Monkeys: Gibraltar

/ Emily / 3 Comments

“Everything is improved by the judicious application of primates.”
― Chris Roberson

The next day our family headed on our way further south. We made a stop along the ocean to walk along the beach and enjoy the lovely sunshine. However, our real destination for the day was Gibraltar.

I really didn’t know much about the place overall. My mother kept talking about it though, and the apes especially. And that definitely caught my attention.

“We might see…like actual wild monkeys?” I’d asked my father.

“More than likely,” he said. “They’re usually pretty easy to spot. Like to hang out around areas with lots of tourists in hopes of food and such. They’re pretty used to people from what I’ve heard.”

Well that sounded pretty exciting. My family has a favorite story of when my grandmother and grandfather lived in the Philippines. Apparently my grandfather came running in yelling one day that he’d caught a monkey. He led my startled grandmother outside to a trashbin where he opened the lid and out came a startled “meow”. Or at least that’s sort of how my grandmother tells it.

So I had fun joking with my brother about fulfilling the family legacy of catching a monkey (jokingly of course, I’d never harm a living thing). And it was all good fun.

We arrived at the border of Gibraltar. The family decided to leave our car in Spain and walk over instead. My father had read this was simpler, so we opted to try that.

We then headed through customs, and walked into another country. Our walk took us across a tarmac, which still seems strange thinking back. And with that we were in Gibraltar.

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Our walk took us up to the trolleys where we would be able to catch a ride to the top of the hill. Even though it was the off season, the line was very long. It looks like they only have two trolleys working at a time, each with a limited number of people on board. So for any heading to Gibraltar, just know you might have to wait a while to catch one to the top. Maybe they find a way to speed up the process at other times of the year, but not during December. Also, it’s not cheap, so definitely investigate other options if you can.

At the very least, the views were beautiful. And we enjoyed our slow ascent up to the top of the rock.

We’d thought to bring a picnic with us. It seemed logical, as it was an open outdoor area, so we could probably eat and admire the views while we did so. So with a baguette sticking out of our bag, we headed off.

Now we’d seen signs warning us not to feed the monkeys. What we didn’t plan for was the monkeys trying to feed themselves.

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The moment we stepped off the trolley, there were little hands grabbing at our grocery bag. You might think I’m exaggerating, but I’m not. Almost the second we were off of that trolley, there was a swarm of monkeys around us, grabbing at our grocery bag, staring up at us with their deceptively cute little faces.

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My dad pulled the bag away from them, using his height to keep it out of reach, but it was already too late, and the other passengers had clearly gotten the impression that the monkeys would attack you. They took off fleeing. I think some people were probably scarred for life, and I’d like to sincerely apologize to them. So if you were in Gibraltar in December of 2016 and are now reading a blog that sounds vaguely familiar… I am so so so sorry.

For the rest of you, I can say that I felt something on my leg next. And I looked down and sure enough there was a little monkey grabbing at my pant leg, staring up into my face with a “please give me food expression”. So yes, I have now officially been grabbed by a monkey. Of all the things to be grabbed by, not all that bad I suppose. But I was sort of scared he would climb up me, and we still needed to get our food to a safe place, because more and more monkeys were coming.

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We took off up the steps and towards the inside part of a restaurant. Surely, we’d be safe there! There was a sign on the door saying we weren’t allowed to bring outside food in, but looking around it appeared we’d escaped. There were no monkeys in sight in the narrow hallway leading to the restaurant. But it didn’t keep us from feeling like we might be attacked at any moment.

My dad put the baguette that had been sticking out of the bag out of sight. It was already slightly damaged anyways, so it didn’t hurt to break it further and stick it down. My mother put her backpack under her coat hoping to fool the monkeys, and with those measures in place, we set back out.

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The monkeys were still lingering. One even wandered inside the restaurant while we watched. I just imagine the poor staff having to deal with that.

We had to guard our belongings closely, but they had begun dispersing in hopes of getting their next meal from the next trolley coming up. We watched as they lay in wait. One snuck up from behind and nearly snatched our picnic, but my dad had a good hold on the bag. I think more people were traumatized again. Sorry fellow tourists.

The lesson is, don’t bring food with you. At all. It’s a bad idea. Hold onto your belongings. And just be warned these little guys are fast and sneaky.

After feeling safer we began to take in the beautiful views. We snapped some pictures, and then headed down along the rock, watching all of the monkeys as we did. There were even babies playing in the trees! They were so cute and small and they kept fighting with each other.

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They were truly fascinating creatures. We watched as some of them hopped onto passing cabs and then rode for a bit before hopping off again. They were a wonder to watch, unafraid of humans so close enough to get a good look at.

We walked further down the hill and finally found an area with very few monkeys. I stood watch as the family started pulling out food. We had a very quick picnic, always looking all around us, worrying that at any moment monkeys might appear and steal our food.

After our very speedy picnic we headed on down the rock, admiring the beautiful views. We walked back through the town and over the tarmac again and through customs once more. We found our car and headed off towards our hotel.

We stopped in Tarifa for the night. We stayed in La Missiona, a nice hotel in the middle of town. Since we’d arrived in the evening after our full day in Gibraltar, we decided to get food first. We went ahead and just ate at the restaurant attached to the hotel, which actually had surprisingly delicious food. My mom and I had fish and chips and my dad and brother were more adventurous with some fun tuna dishes.

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After dinner we took a walk and grabbed some pastries from a local shop. The town had been having an even with fake snow for children to play in. The fake snow turned out to be foam (like soapy foam), but we walked over to where the event was going on to see what it had looked like. Mostly we just worked off our dinner and enjoyed the town by night.

Then it was back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep. After all, the next day we were going to leave the continent. Morocco was waiting.

Christmas in Ronda

/ Emily / 1 Comment

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”
― Charles Dickens

On Christmas day we started by finishing off our exploration of Granada. Since so much was closed we ended up mostly walking around, going up to the Mirador San Nicolas to look at the city and then walking around the neighborhood and exploring. It was a lovely way to start the holiday.

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The day was sunny, and the neighborhood was beautiful. We wandered into a not as good area full of cave dwellings, but otherwise it was quite the sight.

After we were finished, we headed back to checkout of the hotel, and we made our way towards Ronda.

We stopped for lunch in a town called Antequera. There were some old dolmens there, but unfortunately all of them were closed for the holidays. Danny did have some fun climbing around in these fun pots outside of the sites however. He always manages to find something fun to do. That’s my brother, always making people smile.

So my family settled for finding food. Luckily, McDonalds are still open on Christmas, even in Europe. Or at least this one was. So we filled up on a fast food picnic in a park and then went and walked around some of the city walls, admiring the views and the sights.

After a while we went on our way, and before long we had arrived in Ronda where we stayed at Hotel Polo, a fun little place right near the old town.

So we had the same problem of course. Things that were normally open were closed. And my brother had also already been to Ronda, so he wasn’t eager to repeat the same things anyways.

So we went ahead and settled for exploring around the famous bridge in the town. It’s an absolute marvel to behold, a ginormous structure stretching between a large canyon. I’d heard my brother tell me about it before, but even with descriptions I couldn’t imagine how amazing it would be to see it in person.

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I’m slightly scared of heights, so I admit walking around the little curving paths below the bridge was a little scary. However, I was very glad I’d done it in the end. For the more adventurous I’ve heard there’s a very narrow walkway in the canyons nearby, but even if it had been open I’m not sure I would have dared to attempt it.

After finishing our explorations it was time to try to find dinner. Being a holiday, we weren’t sure what we’d find. And sure enough walking through town proved to be fruitless after a while. All of the recommended places we’d heard of were closed. So we headed back towards our hotel hoping to spot something.

There was another hotel with an attached restaurant nearby that happened to be open. Feeling hungry and a bit desperate, our family just settled for it. However, we found that the food was altogether quite decent and not overpriced. I had the duck and then had truffles for a dessert. It felt nice to celebrate the holidays together, even if it wasn’t quite what we were used to for Christmas. We had a toast of wine and headed back to our hotel for the evening.

Christmas Eve in Granada

/ Emily / 1 Comment

“You’re skipping Christmas! Isn’t that against the law?” –Christmas with the Kranks

The above quote is from a family Christmas favorite that is pulled out to watch almost every year. Little did we realize how relevant it would be until this one.

So for any who haven’t seen it, Christmas with the Kranks is about a couple of empty nesters who decide to save themselves stress (and money) and go on a cruise instead of celebrating Christmas. Of course, their Christmas obsessed friends and neighbors are anything but understanding.

It’s a silly movie, and a humorous book, and it became even funnier when my family skipped Christmas to come see me. Little did we realize what that would entail.

My father had scheduled Granada as our stop for Christmas Eve, perhaps hoping that more things would be open in a larger city.

We actually first started with a stop near some windmills in a town called Consuegra.

It was sunny and beautiful and the family had a good time taking photos and being models and just enjoying the gorgeous scenery. One of the windmills was actually open, so we went inside and looked around it.

After that we were back on the road and heading for Granada. In the car on the way, we tried to look into what things would be open that we could do. Unfortunately, plenty of websites didn’t say, while others clearly stipulated that they were closed. The only exception was the Alhambra.

We arrived in Granada and after some struggles getting into a very tiny spot in the parking garage near our hotel, we headed to the hotel Posada del Toro where we were staying the night. It was a cute little local place on a quiet pedestrian street, and close enough to walk to a lot of the main parts of the city.

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The bull in our hotel

We started by heading to a nearby church where Ferdinand and Isabella are buried, but of course, due to Christmas Eve it was closed so we couldn’t go in. So we were left to head towards the Alhambra where we’d reserved tickets already.

After some confusion in finding the right bus to take, we hopped onto a tiny little city bus and headed up the hill towards the magnificent palace.

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Our father ran to grab our tickets for the gardens, since we hadn’t been able to get reservations to see the inside of the palace. However, when he came back he was delighted to tell us that he’d asked and they actually had cancellations so we would be able to see the palace after all! So hey, never hurts to check somewhere if you can possibly get in. You never know, things might just work out.

We had about half an hour until our scheduled time to go in, so we figured we were safe to spend some time wandering around the grounds first.

After snapping some photos and enjoying the scenery, we decided it might be good to head towards where we were supposed to be for our visit.

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Unfortunately, what we hadn’t realized was that the gardens weren’t really close by the line to get into the Alhambra.

So we might have had a slight panic, and had to run to get to our line. Afterwards we all sort of realized it was a waste of time, as the main thing the time indicator did on your ticket was made sure you couldn’t go into the building too early.

My poor brother had already been to the Alhambra before, having visited with his school orchestra when they did a tour in Spain. So he was a bit bored. However, the rest of the family was awed by the gorgeous architecture and we had a very enjoyable afternoon seeing the place.

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After some debate about what to do for dinner, the family agreed to head back to our hotel and ask for a recommendation. We weren’t sure how much would be open for Christmas Eve.

It turned out plenty of places were open, but many were crowded and didn’t have enough sitting room for four. Everyone was tired and hungry, so we ended up settling for a kebab place out of desperation to have some food and sit down inside for a bit.

My brother and I were both exhausted. He was sick. So both of us decided that we were feeling too worn out to go to the midnight mass at the cathedral. So after walking around the city a little more by night, we headed back to our hotel to rest up.

So that was our night before Christmas. I suppose the thing to remember for the holidays abroad, is it doesn’t matter so much what things you get to see (because most of them will be closed), but who you spend time with, and how you make the most of the situations you’re in at the time.

A Visit with an Old Friend

/ Emily / 1 Comment

So as a young person, my father had a Spanish exchange student come live with his family. Somehow even after all this time, my father has kept in touch with her. When we came to Europe the first time when I was nine, we went to visit her and her family. I remember a whole trip filled with people I didn’t know chattering away in Spanish and eating new foods and having a fun time exploring around Bilbao where she lived.

Now, I hadn’t seen these people in fifteen years. However, my family decided it might be nice to stop by and say hello while we were in the area. So that was how I ended up at a table with about twenty people all speaking Spanish and enjoying a fantastic meal together.

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I will say, I’ve forgotten what it feels like to not speak a language. Sure, I’m terrible at French and still struggle. However, I can sit at a table and at least know what’s going on, and order my food. So it was a bit difficult to readjust to not understanding much of anything at all.

Still, it’s always nice to be around friendly people even if you don’t speak their language.

Our friend of the family started by taking us for a beautiful walk in the countryside. It was a lovely day, so nice we didn’t need coats (this was December 23rd just to keep that in mind). And we walked with her, her parents, and her adorable dog! My brother and I had a great time watching the silly dog and giving her attention. That was until she rolled in cow poop. Well, that’s the one problem with dogs I suppose.

After a very pleasant walk, going over a Roman bridge, and seeing sheep being herded, we headed by car to a nearby town to have lunch.

We started with an aperitif in another restaurant while people continued to arrive. We eventually finished drinks and moved to another restaurant that didn’t even have enough room for us at first, because there were so many of us!

At long last we settled at a table and began a feast!

We started with some kind of a traditional bean and sausage stew. Since I didn’t speak the language, I never did see the names of the dishes, but it was very good.

Next I had a chicken dish. And I finished off with a delicious pastry dessert. It was all amazing, but it was also fun to spend time with people we hadn’t seen since childhood. Still, some things never change. I remembered my brother pulling out his Gameboy back in the day to interact with the other boys. Sure enough he and one of the boys pulled out their phones to play games together. Well, guess technology at least can pass the language barrier.

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After some coffee and more chatting, we said our goodbyes and headed on the road. Everyone was pretty full from all the food, so there was some napping on the road and otherwise we went straight towards our destination.

We stopped in Madrid for the night, though we didn’t head into the city as it is hard to find parking and all, and we were all pretty exhausted anyways. So we stayed at another B&B near the airport. Everyone was tired, so we took advantage of the restaurant in the hotel and ate there. I had pizza and for the most part everyone enjoyed themselves even if it wasn’t fantastic food.

With full stomachs we headed off to bed to get some rest for the next day.

The Christmas Adventure Begins- Bourges and Brive-la-Guillarde

/ Emily / 1 Comment

“I have learned that to be with those I like is enough”-Walt Whitman

So, as I’ve just finished up writing about my last round of travel so it’s time to start another round.

For Christmas vacation my family came to visit me in France! The joke is that my family never ever does a relaxing vacation. On the first day, my brother remarked that couldn’t we just have a relaxing rest at a resort instead of our usual crazy rush from one city to another. My joke, the one time my family tried a vacation on a beach in Mexico a few years ago, we all became sick and weren’t able to go to the beach due to an incoming hurricane. So yes, it’s been concluded that my family is not allowed to have a restful time traveling. We must always be moving or we will invoke some kind of unknown deity’s wrath. The family curse I tell you.

Therefore, I invite you to follow the next few weeks worth of blogs to hear the full experience of this trip. It was almost two weeks long, and covered five (six…unsure on technicalities) countries, and multiple different cities, all while celebrating the holidays. So there should be some very interesting posts to come. They might seem a little crazy at times, but I hope you can enjoy hearing a little bit about our adventures.

The first day of the trip isn’t all that interesting for two reasons. One, long drives down towards the Spanish border. And two…jetlag.

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So my family flew into Paris Thursday morning, and I took a train down to meet them from Lille. It’s about an hour train, but of course my luck was it was delayed…and my family’s  plane happened to be early. Just my luck. So I ended up waiting in the train station for more than an hour at seven in the morning (think five AM wake up to be there on time).

Finally, finally, the train arrived and I was able to board and head in the direction of Paris. Thank heavens for the modern convenience of fast trains. About an hour later, I was safely in the big city, wandering through the large corridors of the Charles de Gaulle airport, eagerly awaiting the sight of the people I hadn’t seen since September. To say I was excited would be an understatement.

Sure enough, I found them still waiting for the rental car, so no harm was done in being late. After lots of hugs and getting our affairs in order, we went to find our cute little orange car and start off on our adventure.

The biggest part to start with was escaping Paris, trying to wind our way out of the congested roads and off towards the countryside. After several long periods of sitting in traffic, we finally made it onto our road and were on our way.

As I said earlier, one of the big obstacles was jetlag. My family was pretty much wiped out after such a long flight. None of them had slept well leading up to the trip, and all of them looked thoroughly exhausted. I at least was adjusted to the time, but had only slept three or four hours the night before in eager anticipation and with such an early morning. So, we ended up keeping it pretty leisurely for the first day.

We started with a quick stop at a grocery store to buy a picnic lunch. Well, picnic in the sense that we ate at little tables in the entryway to the store. It was rainy and gray and no one felt like trying to brave the poor weather to eat outside. So we devoured our food and were on our way once more.

We made a quick stop in Bourges, deciding to stretch our legs for a bit. There was a Christmas market going on as there are in many French towns, so we wandered amongst the booths before heading over to look into the big cathedral there. I thought the stained glass seemed particularly magnificent. Although I have seen hundreds of cathedrals now, I never tire of going into a new one. I can always find something that intrigues me in the grand halls of these beautiful old churches.

After that it was back on the road and towards Brive-la-Guillarde. We arrived late to our hotel. As my father did most of the research for hotels, I’ll list where we stayed, but I should warn readers that as I didn’t do research on lodging I’m not the best person to consult for recommendations. However, the challenge of finding cheap accommodation for four people in France can be difficult. Thankfully my family knows a few ways to keep it more budget. We stayed in a chain called B&B, a convenient “motel” like set up that keeps the prices down by having an automated check in system instead of a person at the desk.

We dropped our things off and went to find food.

So, you’ll notice very soon that I’m not always going to have a magical restaurant recommendation either. That’s because, my family has to find ways to be budget in order to travel. So admittedly, we do a lot of picnics for lunches…and a lot of cafeterias for dinner. So in Brive-La-Guillarde we ate at a local Flunch.

Honestly, it’s really a pretty good deal. For less than 50 euros, all four of us can eat a full meal with vegetables, meat, starches, desserts, and wine. It’s quick and convenient, and some of them are open all seven days of the week which can be very useful in a place like France that often has things closed on Sundays and even Mondays too.

After a filling but maybe not delicious dinner, the family went off to explore the city a little bit, mostly just walking around in the old town. It was very beautiful in the evening, though quite empty on a Thursday. Still, we enjoyed exploring the winding old pathways of the old city. These lamps seemed particularly beautiful to me, a sort of brief glimpse of magic in the empty roads.

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So I can’t say a lot about either of these places, but what I will say is that going around and seeing smaller towns and cities can be fun too. They still have their charms, even if they don’t have their famous tourist sites.

End of the Road: Amsterdam

/ Emily / Leave a comment

The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see. -G.K. Chesterton

If Munich was bad, Amsterdam was even worse. Exhaustion and illness and homesickness all just added up to me wanting to be done. I don’t think it made things any easier that more than one of my friends had made Amsterdam sound like the best place on the planet.

The moment I arrived I was overwhelmed. I’d spent most of the day on the train and arrived in the late evening. And even on a weekday night the streets were insanely crowded! Can I blame John Green or something for making every little girl think Amsterdam is a fairy tale land?

I’m only half kidding. I began feeling overwhelmed just walking to my hostel, I dropped my things and set out to find food, hoping that filling my stomach might help me feel a little more at ease.

I found a place that had good tripadvisor reviews, because again my hostel did the “anything on this street is awesome” thing that I hate. Please don’t do this hostels. It doesn’t help.

It was called Het Karbeel, and it was a fondue place but also had some good looking dishes. I wasn’t sure how much the fondue would be for one person, but ended up wishing I’d done it because the people next to me had it and it looked amazing. Anyhow, I had a broccoli soup and then chicken with a cream and mushroom sauce which was amazing. So delicious. Also loved that shortly after I arrived and was seated, people started being turned away because the restaurant was so full up. It was a fun place with good food and decent prices. I’d highly recommend it, but make sure you call ahead for a reservation.

After that I walked back to my hostel and decided to have an early night since I was so sick.

The hilarious thing was it was Halloween. And every single person in my room and apparently decided to go party.

It wasn’t really a surprise. I was staying at a hostel called Durty Nelly’s Inn, which was right over a bar. Clearly it was meant to be a party zone. Finding out later it was one block from the redlight district…well…img_2175

Needless to say my night was not restful. Lots of noise outside, tons of people stumbling in at different hours of the night…a few whispering “wow someone’s already in bed” which was funny.

The next morning I roused myself semi-early and went down to the free breakfast in the bar. I sat there for over an hour and just gorged myself for a while which was nice. After that I headed out for my walking tour.

I’ve plugged Sandeman’s tours before but I’ll do it again. Free tours are often the best, especially from reputable groups that try to do a really good job and hire good workers.

The tour was very fun. Amsterdam is a cool city, but again I think it’s too easy to just walk past canals and not know the significance of what I’m seeing. Having a guide to tell me some stories was helpful.

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I enjoyed it so much that I figured maybe it would be good to do another tour. So I signed up for the Redlight District one, figuring it was a big part of Amsterdam but certainly not something I felt comfortable doing myself.

I also purchased a ticket for the Rijksmuseum determined that after my tour I’d head straight there and enjoy it.

Unfortunately for whatever reason the tram I tried to take there seemed to be going in a different direction? And also hit every bit of traffic possible, thoroughly wasting my time.

I had to hop off. I was not feeling patient enough to just sit and watch myself get further and further away. And I wasn’t in the mood to try to ask someone about it or anything else. So I just stepped off at the next stop and started walking back towards the center of town.

After a little crying, ranting to my mother and a friend, I found a restaurant to rest and recharge at called La Oliva. Had a hamburger, because what the heck I just wanted to go home…and at that point was almost thinking back to the United States version of home. Yay homesickness (good topic for another post). It was pretty good actually, although incredibly messy with a piece of bread for a bun instead of the normal type.

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I sat there for more than an hour and definitely cried a bit as I ate, thinking how much I’d been excited to go to Amsterdam and how disappointed I now was. That’s part of travel sometimes. Having expectations built up and then having them not work out. You just have to learn to live with it.

I did stop by the Anne Frank House and tried standing in line for a bit to see how long it might take without a reservation. Waited fifteen minutes and had barely moved in line, so I decided it wasn’t worth it…especially not in the freezing cold. If you want to go, make sure you have reservations. I learned the hard way.

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The line… the dreaded line

Back to the hostel for a bit. I rested and wrote some blog posts and had some time to talk with friends before finally heading out to catch my tour of the Redlight District.

If you’re interested in seeing the district but are like me and shy and maybe are by yourself, I definitely recommend Sandeman’s tour. Not too expensive and it was very interesting and informative, and I had a really good time.

After that I grabbed a waffle with chocolate sauce at a place the guide had recommended and then was off to bed again, because again I was too tired to do much else besides crash.

Amsterdam was definitely not my best on the trip. Again, it’s just something that you have to accept in traveling. I’d suggest to fellow travelers to rest up and make sure you have enough time in each city. Do your research to know about reservations and such, and then just make the most of bad situations. And in the end just enjoy what you end up seeing. It’s part of the fun, and things will turn out okay in the end.

So last fall break Eurail post! If you’ve missed the others I can link you to them. I leave you the list below so you can catch up! I might do a summary as well, but no promises. To be honest in the next few days I’m going to be setting off on another trip! So hey, I’ll try to do better on getting updates for that one up sooner.

Eurail journey 2016:

Cologne

Hamburg

Dresden

Prague

Bratislava

Budapest

Vienna

Munich

Vanquishing Vienna…Sort of

/ Emily / 1 Comment

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

Vienna was another bit of a small adventure. Thanks to the Eurail pass, I wasn’t allowed to just board any old train I wanted. I had to be on trains that didn’t require reservations. My luck was, there was only one leaving that day. And it was early in the morning.

However, when I arrived and started waiting there was an announcement saying that reservations were mandatory. And I maybe began to panic a little more than I should have.

Honestly, travel is kind of always like that for me. Moments of panic before I can remind myself there’s always something else I can do to solve the problem. The reality was I realized I could always go try to add a reservation if need be. If no one would give me one I could simply try to buy a ticket and pay for it that way. And if nothing else…I could pay a little extra and spend another night in Budapest. Not ideal, but it would work.

So with that in mind I determined I would board the train and try to ask before making my decision about what to do. Worst case was they would tell me I couldn’t be on board and needed a reservation.

Thankfully there were a few other people as confused as I was. So glad that the world confirms that I am not the only one with difficulty following instructions given over crackly intercoms. I soon found out if I was going to be going somewhere in Hungary I needed a seat reservation. But to go to Austria or another international destination it was fine. Completely confusing.

Once in Austria further confusion began. I swear, figuring out public transportation… there are certainly times I understand why there are travelers who are unwilling to do it. Every place is different, and sometimes it’s not so easy to figure out. Thankfully, I did eventually find the right bus, and I was just glad I had enough time that it wasn’t a problem. Never try to figure out public transport in a new city in a rush. You will end up regretting it.

I arrived at my hostel. I stayed at H.I. Myrthengasse. I’d stayed at other Hosteling International branches before and had good experiences with them, so I figured this one would be okay too.

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It ended up being my least favorite of my trip, and my lowest rating on Hostelworld. When I asked for a dinner recommendation the man at the desk simply pointed me to a region in town rather than a specific place or places. He insisted “everything was good” in that area. Sorry, but there are no towns where every single restaurant is good. I’m just lucky I have tripadvisor and a good sense of how to pick restaurants myself.

On top of that, the rooms were really outdated and did not have wifi in them and only had two outlets. The lobby was not very clean and was smoky and unappealing. The only real saving feature of this hostel was the fact that it had a really yummy breakfast included. It was also not too far from downtown, although more of a walk than I would have preferred. Mostly I’d recommend seeing if you could find something better that is closer to the city center.

After looking over a map I made my decisions of what I wanted to see for the day.

I began by purchasing the Vienna Card. Figured the unlimited transportation was a good deal in itself, and getting discounts on museums and such couldn’t hurt either. There’s also a pass that might be an option for more than one day, but I’ll leave you to research that on your own. So with the card in hand, I set off for the Belvedere Palace and Museum.

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The palace and grounds were stunning. Absolutely beautiful to see. I think for me, this is what I picture when I hear Vienna. Grand palaces and opera houses and finery.

I purchased a pass to both the upper and lower Belvedere. Honestly, I’d just recommend the upper one. It has more of the famous works and is more interesting as a building too. Sadly no photographs inside, so I can’t show you what I saw. The most exciting was The Kiss by Gustave Klimt, but otherwise the museum mostly just had other fine works.

After exploring the whole place (again save your time and money and just go to the Upper Belvedere unless you’re a real art nerd), I decided it was time to try something else. So I set off for the Haus der Musik. In English it’s referred to as The Sound Museum.

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It was highly recommended on a few lists of things to do in Vienna, and I would agree it seemed worth the money, especially as someone who was classically trained in music and wanted to feel I’d gotten the most out of Vienna. For any people with children, I also would seriously recommend this museum. Very interactive and interesting. Brought out the kid at heart in me, and I only wished I’d had someone to share it with at the time.

After exploring this museum it was getting late and I was feeling ready to eat. Again, since I hadn’t received any recommendations from my hostel, I did just take off in the area they’d indicated, pulling up my phone and searching tripadvisor to see what was nearby.

I ended up at a place called Glacis Beisl. I had some wine, a creamy mushroom soup, and some Wienner Schnitzel…because I was in Vienna and it’s one of my favorite foods anyways.

The food was very good and I enjoyed myself thoroughly. Feeling very content, I headed back to my hostel. Actually had a chance to chat with my roommate who was a fellow English assistant from a different region of France! So that was very entertaining.

The next day I woke up fairly early to get a good start on the day. Headed down and had breakfast. Again, one redeeming feature of the hostel.

From there I set out for the Schonbrunn Palace. So for people looking for art, head to Belvedere, or to one of the many museums in the city center, but for those looking for history go to Schonbrunn. This palace still is set up as it was used by the royal family. You can do an audio-guide or a guided tour, I’d recommend audio-guide as it lets you go at your own pace and is easier in the crowded setting anyways. Get there early to help avoid more of the crowds.

There are lots of options on what tickets you can buy. I ended up wishing I’d bought the more simple one for just the palace, as a majority of the gardens are open to the public, and the few that are blocked off and required pay weren’t that interesting (especially in the fall).

Regardless the interiors were beautiful and it was a fun walk through history for me. The gardens were fun with the fall colors, but again don’t waste your money on the smaller ones. They’re not worth it.

After my palace explorations there was somewhere else I wanted to go.

The zoo!

Vienna has the oldest zoo in the world (or so they claim), and one that has very good ratings online too. So I figured I’d check it out and see some fun animals for the rest of the morning.

Turned out to be a good decision, although I will say I did feel a little weird at a place like a zoo completely on my own. But I had fun regardless, enjoyed the silly animals and the nice layout. It’s a good sized zoo and they’ve also just done a nice job of making it aesthetically attractive. Views from the boardwalk up the hill are fun too.

I saw all that I wanted and then caught the subway back into town where I was scheduled to do a free walking tour. I had signed up in advance, worried that I might not get a spot otherwise as it was a weekend. Turned out to be a good decision as there was quite a crowd and they had to turn some people away.

Our guide was very entertaining and insightful. I also really loved that she used a microphone and made use of her ipad to show images and videos and other material to help us understand. I thought that was a very clever addition to the traditional tour routine.

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We saw a lot of good things. My only wish is that I’d taken the tour my first day because it would have given me some good insights on fun things to do in Vienna before arriving. I enjoyed what I had seen, but I wished I’d had time to see the Royal Treasury, and some of the other interesting sights she pointed out.

I asked for a restaurant recommendation from her and again received a vague area suggestion instead. Something weird about Vienna I guess, or at least the people I ran into at the time.

I had to head back to my hostel to charge my phone anyways. So I headed back there and did some more searches for ideas on restaurants. Found a good looking schnitzel place, but by the time I got there it had a line out the door. I decided it wasn’t worth it and went looking for something else.

I stumbled across Boheme by accident. It had good reviews and the food sounded good. Sure enough it ended up being one of my favorite meals of the trip. I had a pumpkin soup, tortellini, and apple strudel. It was all so amazingly delicious, and I left extremely satisfied.

I headed back to my hostel feeling that for the most part I’d seen some good things in Vienna. Again, it’s a city I would definitely love to come back to someday.

My advice to fellow travelers is to give yourself plenty of time here. Rushing through it really does you no good in the long run. But here’s a bit of what I loved about this fun city in the meantime. Live and learn I suppose.

Relax and be Spontaneous – Budapest

/ Emily / 2 Comments

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

I’d heard marvelous things about Budapest.

It sounded like some kind of magical land. Something out of a fairy tale. A place of adventure and wonder like nothing I’d quite seen before. Something exotic and new.

Okay, perhaps that’s going a bit far. However, I’m not denying I was really looking forward to traveling there. The only thing was, I did very little research about what to actually do.

So I arrived there midday. It was early, but I figured maybe my hostel could at least keep my bags. Or maybe I could check in early. A lot of places will at least check if your room is ready.

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Yet another train station selfie!

I had to withdraw money first. As in the Czech Republic, I had no idea how much to take out being a completely foreign currency. So I started with a ridiculously small amount. Basically enough for my metro ticket. I’d say doing some research on currency might save you money, but oh well. Things I’ve learned for next time.

I arrived at my hostel, the Avenue Hostel, and they were not so helpful. I had to wait to check in and they wouldn’t take my bags. There was a huge crowd of people already waiting. I looked at the time. I’d hoped to catch a walking tour to orient myself on the city for the first day. It started at two thirty. My check-in wasn’t until two.

So I sat in the lobby and waited, feeling antsy and unable to really focus on much. By the time two rolled around, I should have realized… the crowds were growing and other people were clearly getting pretty eager to get going too. So as two o’clock hit there was a rush for the desk and the two people who could check in.

For some reason the process seemed longer than most of my other hostels. Perhaps that was simply a result of having a deadline of when I needed to be out, or because there were so many people, but they just seemed to take a good ten minutes a person on check in! I kept pulling out my phone and checking the time. Figured even if I was late I could possibly still see a big group in the area and join in. Most free tours don’t care if you come a little late or leave a little early.

So finally I got up to check-in for myself. Again, every bit of the process seemed to take forever. They told me if I paid cash I could try rolling their dice to see if I didn’t have to pay. Which is kind of cool…but I wasn’t sure I had enough money on hand anyhow, and the dice game would only prolong things. So I declined.

Then one of the workers showed me up to my room. The place was in a sort of apartment complex, so it wasn’t always easy to tell where your room was. So nice of them to show me, but still continued to take more time.

Shoved my things in my locker and ran out the door. It was pretty much 2:30, but I figured that they might not leave right on time and that a big group of walking tour people might be easy to spot near to the starting point.

So I set off on the subway, disembarking at the next stop over and running out to try to find the place. It said it was near the lion fountain. But I again saw no signs of a lion fountain. Hmm. Strange.

I wandered around, and I spotted a large group! I ran over, but I didn’t really hear any one person talking like they were giving a tour. Sure enough, I asked one of the girls standing there and she said she was waiting for the house of terror. I thanked her and bolted off.

After fifteen minutes I realized I wasn’t going to find them.

I sat down on a bench and pulled out my map.

And I realized that the name of the square, was the same name of the street I was currently on. And I’d gotten off at the wrong stop because I’d seen the name and assumed it was the same place. And it wasn’t.

So I sighed and headed back to my hostel. I had some tea and charged my phone and texted my mother in despair over having an afternoon in Budapest and no idea what to do with it.

After finally dealing with my self-pity, I did resolve that I had to see something before night came.

So I took the subway down to the river and then walked for a bit until I came to one of the indoor markets. It was starting to shut down, but I enjoyed getting to see some of it anyhow.

Then I walked over to the other side of the river, the Pest side and randomly decided I was going to walk up to the citadel.

Best decision I’d made of the day.

The views were breathtaking. But best of all, the sun was setting so the city looked even more gorgeous than before.

 

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To any heading to Budapest, this is an easy and fun thing to do. I highly recommend it.

After that I had the fun of getting to walk down in the dark. Not very good lighting apparently, which was a wee bit scary as a woman by myself, but there were other people walking around me so that was reassuring. I’m definitely writing a post on this issue, so you’ll get more details on it later.

I was starting to feel hungry, so I caught the subway back to the area of my hostel. I’d had a recommendation to try Langos Papas, which was nearby and had very cheap traditional Hungarian food, plus I had a voucher from my hostel for a free shot of Palinka, which is a fruit brandy. Spirits are traditional in places like Hungary, so I figured it was worth a shot. Yes that was a pun.

Regardless, I had a goulash for my starter, deer stew with langos for my main course, and then a dessert that I’m still not quite sure what it was… but I did google and found something called begli that looks quite similar. I guess it is a pastry filled with either poppy seeds or walnuts? I preferred the walnut one.

Overall the food was good, and it was quite cheap. Paired it with a beer and then the shot of Palinka which was not too bad either.

After that it was back to my hostel for the night. I had fun chatting with some fellow Americans and weirdly enough four Canadians who had all been on my tour in Bratislava.

I didn’t sleep great unfortunately, which certainly didn’t help with the exhaustion that was beginning to set in after having been to so many places. Unfortunately, the hostel had a large window on one of the walls into the hallway, which did nothing to keep out noises of guests coming back late into the night and let a significant amount of light into the room as well. Not sure what idiot designed that, but very foolish overall. Another reason I wouldn’t recommend this hostel. It’s not a horrible place, but it definitely has some issues. And for the price I think there might be places that are better.

So day two in Budapest.

Now, I’d talked with some people earlier in my trip about the city. And the one thing they highly recommended… was going to the thermal baths.

And I was excited by the prospect! It sounded like an amazing experience, and one of my friends had already told me that maybe I should take it easy and relax a little.

Only problem was…I’d forgotten to bring a bathing suit.

Well not forgotten. Just hadn’t anticipated needing one. To be honest, at all other times during the trip I was either in clothes or pajamas, so really it wasn’t something I would have used excessively.

So the question was what to do? I wanted to go to the baths. I didn’t have the necessary equipment with me other than my flipflops and a towel.

The easy answer was to go buy one. So I did set out for a nearby H & M to see if they might have something. Unfortunately, the store didn’t open until ten. And I wanted an early start at the baths, so that made it a no go.

The second easy answer was one I didn’t particularly like but would nonetheless just have to deal with if I wanted to experience. Swimsuit rental.

A lot of people are maybe hesitant on that. I mean, it sounds a little unhygienic. And weird. However, I’ll just go ahead and say for any fellow forgetful/didn’t think of visiting the baths people in Budapest who can’t or don’t want to buy a suit…this is an easy way to do it.

So the first question you should ask is which bath to visit. There are quite a few in Budapest with the natural and abundant hot springs. However, the most popular are usually the Szechenyi or the Gellert. I was a bit torn, but Szechenyi had better reviews on tripadvisor, lower prices, and was easier to access from my hostel… so it came down to deciding that might be the better one for me.

I headed over and bought my ticket. As I’d suspected, rentals are done inside the spa, so once through the gate I put in the money for my bathing suit rental, part of which I would get back on return. The man looked a bit dubious on my size I told him… I know I’m not a skinny little European thing, but I did look up size conversion and was pretty sure I had it right. However, down in the locker rooms it became apparent it was maybe a little bit small…but I figured it would stretch in the water anyways so no big deal.

And then off to the baths themselves.

I cannot put into words what an amazing experience this was for me. The baths were incredible. Multiple pools all at different temperatures, saunas, and steam rooms as well. Outside there were two very warm pools running, both of which felt amazing in the cool fall air. I sat and enjoyed and relaxed for a bit. Let the stress and tiredness from traveling slowly fade away. Some of the most fun was actually dunking in the colder pools and then hopping back into the warmer ones or going to relax in the saunas.

 

After two hours (I honestly don’t even remember how much time I spent there, but that sounds about right) I managed to drag myself out. It was very difficult to do, but I felt like I’d had the experience I wanted. I’m not really a massage person, but for anyone looking for that kind of thing I’m sure you can spend more time at the baths for other things like that. Overall I felt like two hours was sufficient and probably enough to experience the baths for the most part.

I dressed and headed off to my hostel again where I grabbed a grocery store lunch before setting back out. I had a few other things in mind I wanted to do like seeing the Parliament, the bunker museum, and some other fun sites. However, I felt like with my limited time a walking tour might be just the thing to help me see some of the major points of the city.

I headed off to meet up with the free walking tour I’d missed the day before. Honestly, I’m just going to have to say it was a disappointment to me.

The tour was very slow paced. In Bratislava I understood why a guide might need to fill some time with discussions of traditions or food or language. But in a big city like Budapest, it seemed strange that so much time was dedicated to those things when there were plenty of sights to see.

I did have to cut out halfway through, so I admit I didn’t see it to the end, but again the pacing just seemed off to me anyways, so it was probably for the best. Besides, I had something else I wanted to do.

See I had to get to my boat tour!

Impulsively I had decided that it might be fun to take a cheap one hour boat tour. Actually all things considered it wasn’t bad value. For an 8 euro student price I had a glass of wine, an audioguide in English, and of course beautiful river views right at sunset (because I know how to plan these things). Utterly perfect. I enjoyed a relaxing, although quite cold ride.

 

The one good thing I did find out from my walking tour was two restaurant recommendations. So after I was off the boat, I set off to try one of those for dinner.

I tried a place called Koleves. I thought the food was delicious and really enjoyed my time there. Cute atmosphere! Definitely would recommend trying it. And there was a restaurant dog! Who can pass up on that.

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Afterwards I headed back to my hostel. I was feeling pretty worn out and ready for bed. I grabbed my laundry at reception, since they wouldn’t let you do it for yourself (still don’t understand that…) and found they’d lost my towel, but they insisted they hadn’t. Lovely fun there. That’s the joy of traveling I suppose.

I wish I’d had more time in this city. It was amazing and beautiful and I will have to go back another time! The best thing for me was being impulsive in Budapest. Deciding to do things on a whim and experiencing new things. I’ll never regret what I was able to see and do while I was here, and it continues to remind me that spontaneity can be a wonderful thing.