Iceland…nothing short of amazing!!

So after taking the summer off from travel, besides a couple business trips to the Ukraine (new country for me) and Germany, we decided to crank it up again. We ended up not going to South America for unrelated reasons to regular travel, but we’ll make it back down there next year. I found some great fares to Iceland for this past weekend, so decided to jump on them since it’s a country we’ve wanted to visit since 2008! We hit the road Thursday, hopped on our IcelandAir flight, and off to Keflavik Airport we went.

We land and go grab the rental car, which was the smallest 4×4 I’ve ever seen, and if the wind had been stronger than the 30 MPH winds that we had while there, I think we would’ve been on our side. We held up, and the car was a trooper for the 3 days that we were there. Our first stop was the Blue Lagoon, which is an infamous geothermal pool, which is fed from the runoff of the plant next door. They actually pump fresh water in every 40 hours! This place is nothing short of incredible, and was perfect for a cold (40 degrees) and rainy day! We paid our fees, grabbed our towels, and headed out. WOW IT IS DAMN COLD…until you get in, then it’s perfect! I’m not exactly sure how big it is, but I’m sure it could fit a few thousand people if it was packed. We floated around for a while before grabbing a few drinks, which only seems normal. Hanging outside in 40 degree weather, in a geothermal pool, with silica all over your face, drinking a beer. Yep, seems pretty normal to me.

They also have a few steam showers, saunas & waterfalls that are pretty soothing. The majority of the people there we noticed were Norwegian, or Americans who were on layovers over to Europe. All in all, it was pretty amazing, and a great kickoff to the trip.

We moved on from there, to only be handed a bill for about a million Icelandic Kroner! Well, not that high exactly, but the conversion rate is about 160/1, so even a €100 bill seems like it’s ridiculous, but whatever. So we hit the road to downtown Reykjavik, and checked into Hotel Reykjavik Centrum. The pad was pretty centrally located, not that the downtown area is that big, but it was nice not to drive to anything. After checking in, got a reco for a restaurant that night, which was a local’s joint, and was exactly what I was expecting. A little whale, steak & sashimi style, and some puffin. Yes, some readers might be against dining like this, but let me tell you, OUTSTANDING! I’ll leave it at that.

Our first full day we wanted to complete the Golden Circle, and it typical fashion, we finished it in about half the time or normal travelers. We drove through Þingvellir National Park, stood in front of Strokkur and Geysir, and heard the thunderous noise while getting soaked at Gulfoss. The landscape of this country is incredible, as are the weather patterns. I wouldn’t say it was the most perfect day weather wise, but I don’t think they really have them in Iceland, so that’s ok. We drove around for a bit as well, and actually stopped to check out Kerið, a volcanic crater. I guess Bjork actually performed on a raft in the middle of this crater at one time, and the fans sat on the hills that surrounded it.

Since we had some daylight left, we headed back to town so we could walk around and get our bearings. We walked up the main drag to see the unique shops and cafes, only to end up at the top, where the infamous Hallgrímskirkja Lutheran Church sits, with a large statue of Leifur Eiríksson in front. Of course we were 5 minutes late to get inside and go to the top for the best view of the city, but we can’t do it all, even if we think we can. Ultimately, we headed back to hotel, had another great dinner, and crashed for the night.

Day 3, we wanted to see everything on the southern coast that we could. We saw a couple of waterfalls, Seljandfoss and Skogafoss, as well as driving by the volcano that interrupted travel for a week, Eyjafjallajokull. We drove all the way to a small town called Vik, which I think is the largest town in the southern part of the country. We hung out for a bit to see the view and the cliffs that reminded me of the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. On our way back, we decided to go off road a bit, and check out the main glacier in the area, Mýrdalsjökull. Walking up to it really felt like being on the moon….If being on the moon is what I imagine it would be. Afterwards, we headed back to town again, and hit up the restaurant that was supposedly the new trendy spot to hit in the whole country, and it didn’t disappoint. A quick synopsis would be 10 courses, all different Icelandic food, with wasabi somehow incorporated. Yes, fantastic!

Iceland will definitely be a country that we’ll revisit and hopefully do the northern part of the country on our return and the more remote areas. It was great to finally get there and see all the sights that we’ve only salivated over for years through pictures. I’m not sure yet where our next destination will be, but 2012 I think will be our busiest year yet, with about 20 countries on the docket, if not more. My goal was to hit 50 countries before we slowed down a bit, and then I put it up at 75, but I really think by the end of 2013, and with our current home in Amsterdam, that we can see half the countries in the world, which right now would take us up towards 100 almost. So quite a bit of work in front of us seeing we aren’t even halfway there, but we’ll do it.

Time to conquer the Balkans…Bulgaria & Romania

We want to see every country in the world, so that includes going to some countries that most people I know haven’t been to, or could point out on a map. That for some reason intrigues me more to go there, so of course I booked a trip to go to Bulgaria & Romania for a long weekend…that happend to fall on our 6th wedding anniversary. I wanted to make sure of one thing on this trip and that was it ended up better than Poland, which was also the weekend of Annemaries’ birthday. I was determined not to let that happen again, and I think we made out alright.

Peleş Castle

Another trip, another new airline. This time we flew TAROM, the national airline of Romania. Not bad, the most posture perfect seats I’ve ever sat in, which really aren’t that comfortable, but ok. They also had an interesting meal service, in that the meal was actually wrapped in a serving mat, genius, and came with a bag to put everything in when you’re done for easier cleanup. Not sure why every airline doesn’t do this, but I guess everyone has to be different. So we were off to Romania.

somewhere outside Brasov....our "try to be artsy" photo of the trip

We land in Bucharest, go through the 21 questions at immigration, and find a taxi…which one again we got ripped off by. I won’t get into the story, but Annemarie was right, I was wrong, and once again we got ripped off by a cab driver. It seems pretty par for the course nowadays, but I never seem to get around it. At least it was the only hiccup of the trip. We made our way to the hotel, Hotel Christina, right outside the city center. The rooms had some unique touches such as craftmatic adjustable beds, and sensors on the shower head to let you know if the water was cold or hot. They also had a pretty good restaurant there, and was uber cheap. I said the Baltics were cheap in an earlier post, but this made the Baltics seem like staying at the Ritz. We had 4 course meals for $20, it was incredible. Again, meat is a staple of all meals in Romania, but we didn’t care.

Veliko Tarnovo

So we called it a night, seeing our driver was picking us up early to take us down to Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria. This little town, which used to be the capital during the Byzantine Empire, was about 3 hours away from Bucharest. Again, not that much to see between the two towns, except an interesting border crossing where if weren’t with a driver, not sure if we could’ve managed. That being said, we got across ok, and headed down into Bulgaria. The town is quite small, with this fortress overlooking it from all angles. This fortress is massive, and had been around for about 600 years. Bulgaria at one time was the largest country in Europe, and this was the capital. Nowadays, most people can’t point out Bulgaria on a map and it’s one of the smaller, and less established countries in Europe. We spent some time walking around and checking out the views, as this town is right in the middle of a valley. It was pretty incredible, and I think we were the only English speaking people around, as I don’t think this is on the top 10 of anyone’s travel list from the states, but it is quite the destination for people in the Balkans.

the entrance to the fortress in Veliko Tarnovo

We had some time to walk around town as well, which again, wasn’t big, but had quite a few places to eat. Bringing up cheap again, this town was half the cost of Bucharest. Annemarie & I had two small pizza’s, two beers, and an appetizer for $10. The pizzas were the size of small pizzas you’d order in the States, so this was a ton of food as shown below. I couldn’t believe how cheap this stuff was. The beer is actually a half liter as well, so really it’s two beers in one. Let’s just say we left full and felt we ate & drank for free.

We couldn't find the house!

We headed back to the hotel, and then headed out to a local restaurant in Bucharest before we crashed for the night. The restaurant was Vatra, and was excellent. The only thing we found strange was it wasn’t that busy at 9pm on Friday night, but then we forgot it’s a Romanian restaurant, and mostly non-locals would go there. It was good none the less, and way too much food. We called it a night to get ready for our day trip up to Brasov.

Frescos for days inside an old church outside Brasov

Woke up early, grabbed breakfast, and out the door again for a 2 hour drive up to Brasov. This town was perfect, and right up our alley. It reminded us of Krakow and many other cities, as you’ll see from pictures. We took a tour around the city, and had some lunch before we headed off to see the castles. I’ll just post pictures to describe the places as I can’t do them justice. We did see Bran Castle, which most people know as Dracula’s Castle, even though Dracula has nothing to do with it. It’s a complete tourist trap, but still a sight to see. The area up there is picturesque like no other that we’ve seen, and was totally unexpected. We saw some great sights in the area that most wouldn’t see as our driver was actually from Rusnov, which is the town next to Brasov and knew where everything was. We even stopped by a dirtbike race, that ended up being the practice round for the Romanian Autocross Championships.

a view of Brasov from above

All in all, the trip was great and exceeded our expectations. If we had the chance, we would love to visit Brasov again an spend some time in northern Romania. The food, the wine and the people all made the experience great.

Bran Castle

The next time I update this blog as of now will be in early September, after we get back from Argentina, Chile, Peru & Ecuador….but knowing us we’ll probably hit up a couple more before then. Cheers

Easter weekend in the Baltics…and passing #40!

Every time I look into booking a trip, I always look to see if we can knock out at least a couple countries if possible. When I looked at booking a trip to the Baltics, I knew it would be quite easy to see Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in a short amount of time. I also looked at adding Belarus to the trip, but after learning about the visa hassle, I decided against it. So we were off to the Baltics, not to be confused wit the Balkans, and during our trip we would hit our 40th country! When I said I wanted us to visit 50 countries before we settled down, I didn’t really think we could reach it. But at the time that I wrote this, we were already sitting on 43 and had plans to already be on 47 before the end of summer. I think we’ll hit 50 and keep going strong.

Orthodox church atop the hill in Tallinn

So we started the trip in Tallin, after a 2 hour flight on Estonian Airlines, yet another one to add to the list. I should put together a list of airlines that we’ve flown as well, that could be quite a list as well. Anyway, so we were coming in for landing, and I got deja vu as the area looked in pretty bad shape, and in fact the airport looked like it was surrounded by a ghetto! Well, it actually was a ghetto, and one of the poorest parts of Tallinn. Good thing the old town area was the exact opposite of this, otherwise I fear we would’ve been on the first flight out of Estonia, stat!

"Make sure the Church is in the middle or off to the side...ok thx!"...ugh

We were only staying in Tallinn for one night, so in our typical style, we needed to conquer the city quick. Well, not knowing that old town was as small as it actually is, we conquered all the sights in about 3 hours, tops! We spent a majority of the time at a cafe on the square drinking, and enjoying some of the best soup we’ve ever had. It was smoked gouda cheese soup with bacon. Now, meat is a staple of the Baltics, and it’s everywhere. I don’t know how the girls stay so thin, but you can’t escape meat here. Vegans, collect your $200 and keep moving because there is nothing to see here. We had a nice dinner, although very heavy even for our tastes, and crashed for the night so we could be fresh for our bus ride down to Riga, Latvia!

old town square in Tallinn

We hopped the bus, which was actually quite nice, and headed to Latvia. The scenery between the two cities was, well, dreadful. There is nothing to see, and nothing to travel back for either. Then again, didn’t expect much, so just wanted to get to Riga. We pulled into the bus station, and nothing looked that great to be honest, but we had to walk for about 10 minutes to reach the old town area and our hotel. We turned the corner, and it we did a 180, as the old town area was beautiful and what we expected. Our hotel was quite unique, as it was built within the walls of an old building that was either torn down or bombed out. The backdrop of our bed was actually the original brick wall of the old building, quite unique actually.

our room at Old City Hotel in Riga

The old town area was great, and very easy to get around. Don’t think many cars have ever made it through Riga’s old town area, as the stones were still pretty jagged in areas, and hadn’t been worn down much. The architecture was very similar to Tallinns, as was the craving for meat The weather was great, so we just walked around all day, looked at about a dozen church’s, and then once again, sat in the square and had some drinks while we people watched. After heading back to the hotel just to change, we headed out to some popular local stop for dinner, which was extremely cheap for the amount of food they gave you. Cheap is a word that is synonymous with Eastern Europe, and still holds true in the Baltics somewhat, but I can see prices creeping up slowly as they become even more popular. Glad we stopped by when we did. After taking a late stroll through town and admiring everything lit up, we crashed out and got ready for our trip down to Vilnius, Lithuania!

Freedom Tower in Riga...guarded 24/7 by two people

Morning came, breakfast was had, and we were off to the bus station one last time to head to Vilnius! This is a country that I always heard about growing up, especially during the Barcelona Olympics when their first national basketball team was allowed to play following the end of the Russian occupation. They were made famous by the tie-dye basketball shirts they wore as warm ups. Anyway, we arrived in Vilnius around 4pm, and again, I looked around and had thought I made a huge mistake, since everything looked very drab and dreary. A local man actually spotted us, and pointed in the right direction to our hotel. We walked down the road and saw a gate-like opening on the right side. We walked through it, and immediately things changed. All of these old towns in these cities are shut off because they were walled in like a fortress, just seems strange that nothing outside those walls ever developed as nicely.

Vegans Welcome??

So we roll in to Vilnius and walk around a bit, and much to our surprise, find the city very appealing. It was quiet that day, seeing it was Easter, but we could tell the city was pretty lively none the less. We had dinner at this basement restaurant, that was a favorite among the locals, and came on the recommendation of a business colleague. It lived up to its hype, and even made it’s own beer, which made it more special for me. Again, the food was extremely heavy, and we left quite a bit on our plates, but that’s ok, since again, it was cheap. We tackled the city early the next day, and hit every spot we read about and more, including walking through the part of town that is still identical to the time it was Russian occupied. You will be able to appreciate what we saw a bit more by the pictures we took, but fair to say that Vilnius was a surprise to us, and the highlight of the trip!

sign as you enter the "Russian Occupation" part of town

Also on day 2, we headed out to a small town about 30 minutes outside of Vilnius called Trakai. The town is famous for and old castle that lies on an island in town, and is extremely well preserved. It was the off season, so we figured we could get some good pictures that would make it seem like we were the only people there. I think we succeeded:

Trakai Castle in Lithuania

All in all I really enjoyed Vilnius, and would like to see other parts, especially Klaipeda on the coast, but that was all the time we had for this adventure. I’m not sure if we’ll ever get to Belarus now seeing it’s not the easiest country to get to with the visa situation, and there is nothing near it that would be easy to go to either, but that really has never stopped us, so who knows.

Our snack outside the castle...deep fried garlic bread with cheese....nom nom

Keep on traveling!

Krakow, Poland….a trip to (not) remember!

Now not every trip is going to be a winner, but we have had quite a bit of luck from our traveling over the last 5 years. Almost every trip has had more good than bad, and that would declare it successful. However, our trip to Poland was summed up in one simple word: FAIL!!

Maybe it came from the lack of real planning on my part? Maybe the weather didn’t really cooperate, and in fact got worse as the trip progressed? Maybe it was the fact we didn’t have actual seats on our 3.5-hour train ride between Warsaw and Krakow, and then the return as well? Or maybe it came down to the fact that for my wife’s 31^st birthday we celebrated at….Auschwitz? Yes, these all are contributing factors of the worst weekend trip we have ever taken, but on the flipside, we saw some interesting things, and if was under any other circumstance, I would love to go back and spend some more time in Krakow.

So, the real reason we headed to Poland for a weekend back in March was we had never been there…and I found some cheap plane tickets on LOT Airlines. We had to fly into Warsaw, which was unfortunately a 3+ hour train ride from Krakow, our ultimate destination. I knew the trip was going to start out rough when we got to the train station, which wasn’t the main station, and it looked like something out of the Cold War. There were no signs in English, it was freezing, the building was falling apart, and at any time you felt like you were about to be in a sequel to Hostel. Luckily, we found a nice girl who spoke enough English and pointed us to the right train to get out of that hellhole and head down to Krakow. Too bad that it was the slow, miserable train!!

The scenery on the way to Krakow was, well, for lack of a better term, ugly! There really is not much to see between the two cities, especially when you make a million stops at miniscule towns and the train moves at a snails pace. It truly was the worst train ride we have ever been on….well up until that point!

We finally made it into Krakow, and it was an oasis. You would never think that this beautiful old town area of Krakow was only steps from the train station in town, or anywhere near the desolate landscape we had just traveled through. Either way, we walked into town wide-eyed, made it to the hotel, and headed to dinner. Dinner was on recommendation from the hotel, and it didn’t disappoint. I have no idea what we ate (need to update blog more frequently) but it was good, especially after a long travel day. We decided the next day that we were going to head to the concentrations camps since we were in town, so we called it a night early.

This way to Schindler's Factory

I could go on and on about our trip to Schindler’s Factory while in Krakow, but it was an experience I’ll never forget. I had never even seen the movie until after we visited, since the intrigue was quite high. I highly recommend anyone visiting Krakow to take the time to stop over there, as it’s a piece of history that everyone should see, but again, I could go on for days about it, so won’t get into any deeper in this brief overview.

Schindler's original desk

Anyway, I had found this travel guide on TripAdvisor named Bob. Yes, his name is Bob, and his company was called, “Bob, the Taxi Driver.” He had received great reviews, so I was a bit cautious we would even get him on short notice, but we did. So at 11am, he picked us up from the hotel, and we were off to see the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. I have to be honest, I had never heard of the second one, and I’m not sure why, but glad we saw both. Now what can you say? They are depressing, with Auschwitz being set up more like a museum and memorial, whereas the latter is in the same condition as it was founded 60 years ago. That made it a bit more eerie, and surreal to know that thousands of people were trapped in this place. On top of that, it got dark, cold and started snowing while we were walking around, which made it even more uncomfortable knowing that people could never leave, and they were stuck in this man-made hell! Safe to say, we ended our trip a bit early and got out of there, since at one point we were the only ones in the place, and that didn’t sit well with either of us.

"Work shall set you Free"....the lie that stood in the mind of thousands

Even though the day was really depressing, Bob made it quite informational and taught us quite a bit about the area. He drove us around to areas that tour groups wouldn’t go, and showed us monuments that 99% of the people who visit would never see. That made it 100% worthwhile to have him around, and made up for the stupid jokes he told for about 4 hours straight.

main square in Krakow

We headed back to Krakow then, walked around for a bit, and then got some dinner, which again was amazing. It’s really bugging me now I can’t remember what we ate, but it was phenomenal from what I remember. We didn’t have a ton of time the next day since we had to train it back to Warsaw to catch our flight, but the sun finally came out and we were able to take some better pictures, and have some breakfast out on the old town squre.

one of the better shots I took in Krakow

At least it ended on a high note, right?

Venezia & Milano…two more Italian Cities!

Well, been a while, so there are going to be quite a few posts in a row to sum up our travels from the past 3 months, where we hit another 6 countries! After we were in San Marino, we decided we must check out Venice before heading back to Milan for the Champions League match between Tottenham and AC Milan. Anyway, after a shorter train ride, we dropped into Venice around 7pm, dropped our bags and got some dinner before hitting the city the next day.

Crazy bird guy in San Marco Square

We hear all the stories about Venice sinking, smelling bad, and pretty much falling apart. Well, all of those are true unfortunately, in one way or the other. Venice is sinking, but not in the way we think. The water keeps rising because of the oceans, and the fact that Venice still doesn’t have a good lock system surrounding it. If they ever get that up and running, I think Venice will be safe, but that’s only the first step to preserving that city. The whole city has fallen into ruin, and is dilapidated everywhere you look. Yes, it’s not as easy to maintain a city where everything can only be accessed by canals, but it must be done. The city is not built for children or the elderly either, so if you have them or are so, don’t visit Venice.

We stayed at a small hotel right on the canal, across from the train station. It actually was nice, but you could tell they are always under the constant battle of humidity, especially since it seemed all the wood in the building was being replaced with composite wood. Anyway, it was a good location and the next morning we set our sights on the city. Venice is very small, but at times seems large because you have to walk everywhere, and some of the streets are so small (3 feet wide) that you feel like you’re walking forever in a maze at times. Well, in fact you are, since you technically can never get lost in Venice, albeit we tried a few times and ran into the same thing each time….water!

the view of the Rialto Bridge from our gondola

Now, we did the few things that ever person “should” do when the visit Venice. Have dinner at a nice little restaurant, walk across the Rialto Bridge, sit in San Marco square, and take a ride in an overpriced, and less charming than advertised, gondola! The latter is the most famous thing to do in Venice, as heard by tourists for years, but we’ll confirm that it has lost most of its charm. There are hundreds of gondola’s around the canals, and they all bother you like a peddler on the beach in Mexico. Second, they are vastly overpriced. $85 for a half hour is robbery, but it’s for the experience right? Then, when you think that the gondoliers are going to sing, they actually get on their mobile phones and chat with their friends…..who are also gondoliers! Was it nice going down the Grand Canal on a gondola, sure. Would we do it again, no!

Getting lost in the streets of Venice

Venice is extremely expensive to live in, so rates like these need to exist for these workers to live. The problem is I didn’t think Venice was that great, and didn’t live up to the hype. On the other hand, it’s a unique city, and does have hidden gems to see…like riding away on a boat to see Murano Island, the home of the famous glass makers, which surprise, is also vastly overpriced! We thought we found a killer piece for our home, wherever that might be in a few years, only to find out that it was about 10x the price I had in my head….and there were thousands of pieces in this one store on the island. Safe to say, I can see why their business is hurting as well.

Worker molding out some pieces on Murano Island

The food we had for a few nights there was extremely good, taking away the joint we ate on the first night that was some of the worst Italian food I’ve ever eaten, let alone Annemarie who is a critic beyond critics when it comes to her favorite food. The little trattorias that we found the other nights were great, and tucked away in corners as we expected they woud be, spoke zero english, and everything was homemade. That will stick with me as my fondest memory of Venice.

Best shot of the weekend!

After 2 nights in Venice, we headed back over to Milan to only encounter some terrible weather, which continued throughout the whole day and night. Good thing there was some cover, and that our seats were covered at the match, otherwise it would have been a pretty miserable day. It was a great end to the trip, as Tottenham upset AC Milan, 1-0, with the winner coming in the 80th minute. Standing up and cheering in the middle of a group of Italian fans is not the smartest thing to do, but with the amount of police around, I had no fear. Of course we left the match before most of the Tottenham fans did, and disguised ourselves until we made it back to the hotel

Great match & a great win for Spurs!

We made it to San Marino….and yes it’s a country!

After fiddling with this blog for the last couple years, it’s pretty well documented that I want to see every country in the world. Some people want a big house, a lot of cars, a nice watch, designer clothes. I wouldn’t mind some of that, but those are all depreciating assets, and in the end, most people don’t care what kind of car you drive or if your hand bag was made in France. You can always strike up a conversation about travel. Whether it’s where you’ve been, or where you’re going, there is always a common chord in people who like to know or hear about travel. Now I know most people don’t have the same luxury, for lack of a better term, that I have when it comes to traveling so freely. I must admit I travel a bit more than the average person would even in my position perhaps, but when it comes to travel I firmly believe in the “you only live once” philosophy. I’m not sure where I got this urge to constantly travel, but if every person has some kind of addiction hidden in their DNA, I’m glad I found mine, and I’m glad this is it.

That being said, how many people, outside of people who love geography and seasoned travelers, have ever heard of San Marino? I’m guessing not many, which is made it that much cooler that we were actually going to go there, and see what the third smallest country in the world had to offer!

a view of Tower #1 and most of San Marino

Now, there are a handful of micro countries in the world, with most of them being in Europe. Up to this point, we have visited most of them (Vatican City, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein). With Andorra, Monaco and Malta still to conquer, I was going to take any opportunity to see San Marino that I could, especially since it’s not the easiest place to get to. Here’s a quick rundown of how we got to this tiny place. We flew into Milan, which was about a 90 minute flight from Amsterdam. We then had to take a 45 minute bus to downtown Milan to the main train terminal, where we then had to hop on a 3.5 hour train to Rimini. We then had to wait around 45 minutes, to then hop on a bus for another 45 minutes to get dropped of in the center of San Marino. Then after walking aimlessly for about 15 minutes and finding our hotel, we were settled. Up to this point I think both of us would’ve said it wasn’t worth it, but in the end we both ate our words.

The only proof San Marino exists when you arrive in Rimini

San Marino, as I said, is the third smallest country in the world, behind Holy See (Vatican City) and Monaco. It actually has one of the oldest running governments in the world, and people from there do not consider themselves Italian, but rather Sanmarinese! You could honestly drive right by the country without ever knowing it, other than the fact that the old town is situated up on top of a hill, which is one of the higher peaks in the area, so that’s a bit hard to miss. Anyway, we checked in and realized that we might have been one of the few guests at the hotel that night since it was off-season. We strolled down the street, and found which we think was probably the only busy restaurant in town that night, and it was good, or at least we thought it was since we had been traveling all day. We walked the streets a bit, but closed shop early so we could conquer the country/city the next day before we took off.

Dinner spot....it's cold, everyone is inside

So we get up, grab something small, and hit the…country. The old town area is great with the cobblestone roads, secrets in every alleyway, and the views over the countryside all the way out to the Adriatic Sea were breathtaking. As far as landmarks, there aren’t a whole lot in this little place, but the two towers which look over the whole place were pretty impressive, especially since they were built on top of this rock and anchored into the earth….mind you this was over 300 years ago!

Yeah, we're in San Marino!...and Annemarie smiling!

I’m really just going to let the pictures do the talking since the views and the architecture were the most interesting things while we were here. And of course the remainder of the pictures are in the album. We spent about 15 hours in this country, and saw everything it had to offer, but nothing that most people would remember, besides the towers and the views. We liked it of course, but there really is no reason to go back, unless they get a train station right in the country, which won’t happen, and even then I can’t see it happening either. It’s a country that 99% of people I talk to will never visit, let alone hear of, but glad to say that we saw it and that we’ve been there….and of course got the magnet and tourist passport stamp for proof!

Ciao!

View from up top

The smallest tourist information center I've ever seen

The public transport from the new town below to the old town above

2011 travels have begun….first stop, Istanbul!

Since we have now moved to Europe, of course we are going to take advantage and see as much as we can over here. We’d like to see every country in the world of course, but would definitely like to cover the whole EU while we are here. That being said, when I see a good deal on airfare to a country that we haven’t visited as of yet, I’ll try to find a way to book it and get over there ASAP. And what did I find in the middle of January….a good fare to Istanbul, Turkey!

Hagia Sophia

I’ve always read that Istanbul is a city you must visit, but of course I was a bit skeptical with all the news about the mosques, and how important religion is there. Those things have never really scared me, albeit maybe they should, but I’ve never seen an issue traveling somewhere just because some others are nervous. I wanted to take full advantage of being in Turkey, so we booked a 3 day trip to Istanbul with an open mind and hoped for the best.

Sultan Ahmed Mosque...otherwise known as the Blue Mosque

First, we took Turkish Airlines….one of the best airlines we’ve been on to date. Unlike airlines in the states, they still serve full meals in coach, full drink service, etc. We even had a laugh when the flight attendant thought Annemarie was Turkish. Note, Annemarie has now been asked if she was the following: Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Dutch and Hispanic. Quite the renaissance woman I married don’t ya think? Anyway, we got into Istanbul right on time and made our way through customs. We had a bit of a snafu with the transportation, as the hotel was supposed to pick us up, but to our surprise when we arrived they had upgraded us to a suite, on the house. While they were getting the room ready, they invited down to the lounge for a glass of house wine, and showed us the lay of the land. I’ll be the first to recommend Hotel Amira to anyone that ever visits Istanbul. The service was impeccable, great location, the works.

As usual, we wanted to crush the city as we like to say it, or see as much as possible in 3 days. We read up on a walking tour of the city that was supposed to take 6 days. We finished it in 6 hours. I’m not sure if the tour book was geared toward people who were over the age of 70 or blind, but I think they need to update their book. Now, we are some of the craziest travelers I know, so maybe to the average walker it would’ve taken 2 days tops, but in no way would it take 6 days. Since our hotel was in the Old Town area in Sultanahmet, we were pretty close to all of the major sites. Our first stop was over at Hagia Sophia.

Hagia Sophia is an old mosque/church that is no longer in commission because it’s not that structurally sound anymore. It’s huge, and quite unique on the inside, but after seeing St. Peter’s in Vatican City and La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, it’s not the most incredible thing we’ve seen. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still unique and quite an amazing structure, we’ve just been spoiled by seeing some of the world’s most incredible holy buildings. After stepping out, and walking across the street, literally, we headed over to the Blue Mosque, which is the largest active Muslim mosque in Istanbul. This again, is quite incredible….from the outside. The minarets that surround it are lit up at night which allows you to see it from any part of the city, which by the way is enormous. The first night we were in town we walked by it at night and were in awe, and then the call of prayer started, and we were floored. I’ve never heard a loud-speaker system like that, and you can hear it from all points in the city. You have to be there and experience it for yourself to really appreciate how loud and clear it is.

entrance to Topkapı Palace

Since we got in kind of late, we wanted to grab some dinner, and of course we like to eat at local joints versus tourist spots or any place that has a “tourist menu.” The hotel made a couple of suggestions, and we hit one up. There were probably only 6 people in the place total, as January isn’t exactly the high tourist season in Istanbul. We were told this place was famous for its clay pot dishes, so of course we had to order one. DAMN! I don’t like lamb all that much, but whatever spices they added to this, and on top of that cooking it in the clay pot, it was unbelievable. That along with some appetizer dish that I can’t quite describe now, but I know I also ate more eggplant on this trip than in my whole life combined. We knew from this point that our trip was going to be great!

having some lamb cooked straight from the clay pot

The next day we got up early, got some breakfast downstairs, and hit the city. Since the weather was perfect, we wanted to hit everything that was outside and keep the Grand Bazaar for the final day since that was covered. As I mentioned above, we hit both Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, which both were unique and massive. We also went inside the Blue Mosque, where women are still supposed to cover their heads, and no shoes are allowed. So pretty much all you see is a ton of tourist, walking around with plastic bags filled with shoes, and women with scarves or hooded jackets on. We both said “wow, this is really nice carpet!”…but it better be since hundreds have to kneel down on it multiple times a day to pray. The architecture and design on the inside is kind of ruined by all the wires and such that hang from the ceiling so there can be light closer to the floor, but we got the general layout of the place. It’s actually not that big on the inside, compared to the massive structure you see from the outside.

After we hit both of those up, we headed over to the Basilica Cisterns, which are underneath the city. To this day, they are still unsure why exactly they were built, and how two Medusa heads, that most likely came from Greece or Italy, are down there as well. Today it really seems to be used just as a tourist destination, a place to take strange pictures, and act as a giant fishbowl (tons of fish swimming down there, with no predators, so they get quite large.)

Why is this here?...and why is it sideways?

While there, we also went into the new city area, where the Galato Tower is, which has one of the best views of the city from the top. Of course they had to ruin it by putting a restaurant at the top with highly overpriced drinks, but I guess that was a no brainer for them. The new city area is where all the high-end shopping is, the “modern life” of the city you could say. There is a shopping row there, which is pedestrian, which seems like it goes on for miles. You start at the top, which is reached by a funicular, which in my eyes, seems a waste of money as it’s only a 45 second ride to the top, but I guess it warrants enough daily travelers to be worth it. Some things I just don’t get, and especially this one since it wasn’t built for tourism, but for locals. Oh well, moving on. We decided to then walk back to the old town area, and across the Galato Bridge, where hundreds of fisherman are lined up catching dinner and then sell it on the bridge. I’m not sure what kind of fish they were catching exactly, but you knew one thing, it was fresh.

Getting the catch of the day!

After finally getting across the bridge, we walked around the spice market, and through a maze of streets, up and down hills, until we made it back to our hotel to get ready for restaurant #2, which once again, was fantastic. This time we ordered way too much food, but again, was fantastic. I can’t even remember what I had, but I do remember the service once again being amazing and finishing the night with some shots of grappa. We then took a late night stroll around the Blue Mosque and stood there wide-eyed at the lit up minarets once again. Istanbul had won us over.

On the final day, we of course wanted to check out the Grand Bazaar. Now, we’ve been to markets all over the world, but this place is enormous. It’s something like 600 acres of real estate….and it’s the same store repeated every 4 stores! You’d have a lamp shop, a carpet shop, a scarf shop, and then a knock off shop. That’s it! And there were at least 1,000 stores inside this bazaar, so after about 15 minutes, I got a headache and wanted to get hell out of there! I don’t mind these markets that much, but when they are constantly in your face and yelling at you to buy, I get a little put off.

Lack of indecision would work well in this store!

We ended up getting a lamp ourselves, and shipped it back where it met us at home only 4 days later. Not bad for not really having any definitive proof that it would ever show up at all. I recommend anyone traveling that wants to see something a tad different and expose themselves to a completely different culture to visit Istanbul. I know it doesn’t represent the whole country, let alone the other half (Asia) of the city, but from what we saw, it definitely will stick in our memory. You can see all of our photo’s in the photo album link at the bottom of the page.

Liechtenstein….#35 and one to remember

This blog post is long overdue, about 6 months, but there are good reasons for it. One, I just got lazy since I had been blogging so much about our travels. Second, I was putting together preparations for our move across the pond. For those that don’t know, we relocated to Amsterdam back in October, and love it. We intend on using this new location to the fullest, and travel as much as we can since many new places are a lot closer. Weekend trips to new places is something that really intrigues us. Anyway, onto the last new country we visited, Liechtenstein!

This map shows you how large Vaduz is...or how small really!

Now, I’ll first say that about 90% of my friends had never even heard of this country, let alone be able to point out on a map where the hell it’s located! Being a geography freak myself, I always wanted to visit all the tiniest countries in the world. Europe has a handful, and we’ve seen a few: Vatican City and Luxembourg. We plan in 2011 to see Andorra, Monaco and San Marino….and maybe Malta….and Cyprus. Who knows, I’m known from time to time just to go somewhere because I’m bored.

The Royal Castle of Vaduz

This visit was easy, as we were staying in Zürich, and it’s only about a 1.5 hour trek over to Vaduz by train and bus. The train ride scenery was spectacular, as it glides through Eastern Switzerland which is full of mountains, waterfalls and the clearest lakes you’ll ever see. Switzerland passed an ordinance way back that allows no sewage dumping in any lake. Some of the locals say the lake water is cleaner than the tap water. Not sure if that’s true, but it sure looked like it was. We took the train for about an hour until we got to Sargans. From there, you had to catch the “Liechtenstein Bus” that would take you into Vaduz. Now many people thought we were crazy for traveling over to Vaduz for what was about 3 hours, but I can tell you now after doing it, that’s what most people do. There isn’t a whole lot to see there, but it’s worth the day trip for sure.

Watching the match in town square...hot tub for kids??

The weather was pretty dismal that day, but that never stopped us before. Vaduz is quite small, with a nice town square, some restaurants, museums, etc. The royal castle is also in town, and sits overhead the town. It was pretty cloudy that day, so we didn’t get a great view of it, but I was told we didn’t miss much as tourists are not allowed inside, as they royals still use it as their personal residence. We realized there wasn’t much to do, so we grabbed a bite to eat in town, headed over to the store to get our country magnet, and then sat in the square as many were watching a world cup match on a big screen. I assumed if the weather was better the square would’ve been packed, but oh well. One other thing we did which is customary for tourists in Vaduz is to get your passport stamped with a “tourist” stamp. Liechtenstein is part of the Schengen Zone, and doesn’t have an airport, so officially you don’t need to be stamped when you visit. The country has taken advantage of this “tourist” stamp that they give people, just to show proof that you visited the country. Well, we had to get one, and 3 euro’s later, we both had one in our passports. I’ve already been asked where I got that and “where is that place” many times, so I guess it’s a conversation starter.

 

Always try out the local beer....this was good...and from Hell!!

All in all it was a quick trip to Vaduz, and I’m glad we went. It really is a nice little town, but unless you’ve got extreme wealth and are trying to escape taxes, or are naturally a resident of this tiny country, there aren’t too many reasons to visit….of course unless you want that illustrious stamp!

The tourist booth....really just the place to get your famous stamp!

The 2011 travel schedule is starting to take shape, with our travels kicking off in January with a trip to Istanbul, Turkey! I plan on getting us to more countries this year than ever before, with the goal being around 18 or so, with a trip to continent #5 in the works. My old goal of reaching 50 countries before we settled down I think is a goal of the past now, and now I want to hit 75! I think we can do it, just have to work a ton before we can do so. Cheers!

Here we come Switzerland….and then a tiny side trip to Liechtenstein!

If you haven’t already figure about by reading this blog that we are travel obsessed, I’m not sure what you’re reading. How many people on a vacation would visit Luxembourg….and Liechtenstein? Half of my friends had never even heard of the latter country, so that made me think of course, “this place is going to be something special.” But we’ll get to that in a bit, because this leg of the crazy trip lands us in Zurich, Switzerland. I honestly was shocked after looking at our travels in Europe thus far that we had never been to Switzerland, but had traveled to every country surrounding it. I guess we just never had a reason to go. Then again, we didn’t have one now either, but we both like to see new things, so it seemed like a good stop. We hopped our train in Luxembourg, only to find out that our direct tickets to Zurich weren’t direct, and that we had to change in Basel…good thing someone told us…in Basel…after we sat on the train for 10 minutes wondering why it was not moving. But, we made the train connection, and an hour later we were in Zurich….where once again, it was pouring!! The weather on the start of the trip was definitely a 180 compared to the weather at the end of the trip, but that was fine. We headed off to the hotel, checked in, and crashed hard.

On the train to Zurich from Luxembourg

Now, we stayed at some sort of business hotel where they kind of treat you like you’re at a B&B, but there really is no staff or regular hotel services around. Yet our room was enormous, had a full kitchen, and a deck looking over the river that flows through Zurich. Mind you, Zurich is one of the most expensive cities in all of Europe, so this hotel was a relative bargain with location and size of the room being the top factors. Anyway, we at some breakfast and then set out on the city. Zurich is pretty nice, and very upscale. Pretty easy to get around too, as most of downtown is packed into a really tiny area. There really isn’t a whole to see in Zurich, it’s just a nice city to kick back in for a couple days, eat some overpriced food, drink some overpriced beers, and buy some overpriced chocolate, which by the way, Annemarie thought took a back seat to Belgian chocolate, but I wouldn’t know. I will say this though. The stores had this one chocolate treat called a Luxembourgli, which was pretty damn good, but very rich, and I could have a few. They come in a ton of different flavors, so I figured we’d try almost all of them. Then after I realized I was paying around 1 euro per chocolate, I kicked myself for buying them in the first place. When in Rome I guess.

Along the water in Zurich

We honestly didn’t know what to see in Zurich, so when all else fails, you take the HopOn/HopOff bus tour that the city has. Zurich might have the worst city tour I’ve ever been on, and for those that know about our Salzburg tour from 4 years back, this was even more boring. There’s really just not that much to see, and the stuff they do point out, does not have a “wow” factor. Again, one of my best memories of Zurich would be getting a pretzel bread sandwich….for 8 euros! This is the equivalent of their street meat, but they overcharge like crazy for it. Why? Because their taxes are ridiculous. We were told before even getting to Zurich to not make a dinner reservation, because you’d break the bank. That was then confirmed when we spoke with some locals and said no one eats out, everyone cooks, because it’s too expensive! One thing I do enjoy in expensive cities though: car spotting. I saw quite the lineup of high end cars, and probably didn’t see a car that more than 5 years old. So for any car lover out there, Zurich is a nice spot.

Luxembourgli's for days....about 15 flavors

All in all, I’m glad we visited Zurich, but I don’t think I’d put it on anyone’s “must hit list.” And there are many other cities in Switzerland I want to visit, like Basel, Interlocken and Zermatt. I assume I’ll be back for business one day, but pleasure, I think not.

Belgian Waffle? Yes I’ll have two….and then off to Luxembourg

After traveling for yet another 15 hours between country stops, we finally made it to Brussels. Now our blog only goes back about 18 months, but we have been to Brussels before and it included a detainment at the border control. It was nothing serious other than a little passport tampering done by yours truly. Who would’ve thought that drawing the lines back in for Euro stamps would be against federal law? Luckily, the immigration only detained us for 90 minutes, after going over all of our travel history. They said to never return to Europe with that old passport, and to be careful smoking weed in Amsterdam. Good advice, now let us go so we can catch our flight to Barcelona. And that wraps up our first trip to Brussels.

The main square in Brussels

Anyway, after traveling all night from South Africa, and then connecting in Madrid, again, we made it to Brussels. We only had about 7 hours there before our train departed, so we had to get a move on, and we did. Now, I never know how big these cities might be, or how much we could do there, so I thought 7 hours would be enough. It was about 3 hours too long, as there really is not that much to do in Brussels. We saw the main attractions, that being the back alley Red Light District (wrong turn) and the infamous square where all the trendy restaurants and bars are, stopped at a traditional Belgian waffle shop, and then saw the Mannekin Pis. Brussels actually is a very nice city, and reminded me of a cross between Paris with it’s long straight roads through the city, and a little of Prague with it’s squares and old buildings. None the less, I like the other two more, but I’m glad we saw it. Honestly my fondest memory while being there was getting a sub sandwich, freshly made, for 3 euro’s. It was so good I bought a second one for the train ride to Luxembourg, which was then devoured after being on the train for 10 minutes.

The infamous Mannekin Pis...how you doing buddy?

That being said, we headed back to the train station and hopped our train to Luxembourg. Now most of my friends said “what the hell is in Luxembourg and why are you going there?” Well, I always have a pretty simple answer for those. One, I’m not sure, but I’m sure something is there, and I’m going there because I’ve never been there! Now, after getting on the train, I started to overhear some conversations and learned that quite a few people that work in Brussels actually live in Luxembourg. I’m not sure of all the reasons, but I’m sure taxes play some part, and even though Luxembourg, the city, is the capital, it feels more like a village compared to a big city like Brussels. It’s about a 2.5 hour train ride, and the train station is pretty small and leaves you on the edge of the “city.” I had mapped out before we got there our route up to the hotel, yet not knowing that it would be primarily uphill the whole way, damnit. Nevertheless, we made it up to the hotel, which actually was in a killer location. Hotel Simoncini was our home for the night, and we were right off the main square in the middle of town.

Inside the Casemates...all carved out by hand

Now, we always like to knock out the big tourist things immediately, so we dropped our bags, took a shower since we had traveled through 4 countries in the last 24 hours, and headed out to dinner. We found some little french restaurant (main language in Luxembourg) and sat on a square where an orchestra was playing for the locals. It was pretty cool, and the food wasn’t bad at all either. Now, most would’ve considered it touristy, but Luxembourg isn’t the most frequented stop by most travelers in Europe, so we didn’t really feel that it was touristy. We felt that we were with the locals, which was good. We had been on the go for 24 hours, so we decided to head back to the hotel after dinner and crash hard for the night, and then attack the city the next day before we grabbed our train to Zurich. So we got up, and bam, it’s pouring. Really the first day of our whole trip where rain was going to affect our schedule. But did it? No. It was on and off all day, so we had to make the best of it. We knew that we wanted to see the old caves in the city, or otherwise known as the Casemates, which were used in the wars. You’d never think it, but the city of Luxembourg had quite an elaborate system, and quite a bit of leverage if someone tried to invade them. Hence, nothing was ever overtaken, and no buildings were ever destroyed. It was pretty cool to see the system of caves and tunnels that they used to prepare for battle, and to see that they haven’t changed since they were created years ago.

Nice weapon to use from a cave I'd say

After seeing those, which really was the highlight of the whole city unless you are addicted to seeing high end retail, which Luxembourg has plenty of, we had to head over to a shop to get our customary country magnet. One day I hope to have a magnet from every country in the world and then do something with them, but for now we just needed one. We stepped into a store, and they had a few, but they were all behind glass. So we couldn’t check them out, strange. Then Annemarie likes to collect postcards, and she started checking them out, and the lady in the shop spat out some French, which I translated into “read the sign, don’t touch that.” So I looked over and there actually was a sign “don’t touch the postcards.” You gotta be kidding me, how are we supposed to check them out and browse through them if we can’t touch them?? So she got the appropriate scowl from Annemarie, and walked right out. These people obviously didn’t want to make any money. We walked down the street, found another shop, better magnets, and cheaper, picked up our goods and got out of dodge. Luxembourg was all that we imagined….not much, but we saw the highlights and had a good meal. Will I be back? Probably not unless necessary. Next post will be about our fun times in Zurich and Vaduz, which I’ll have up tomorrow. Playing some catch up.

You can see the Casemates built into the rock

Au revoir!