We had been looking forward to Madrid for quite some time because it’s the city where one of our best friends was going to join us during her own European adventure. We’ve traveled with Mo before, though not for as long as this time around. She added an element of fun and energy to our adventures that Arcadiy and I wish we had on our own. And we successfully didn’t lose her, despite her occasional wandering off. Tapas – The…
Port wine has long been one of my favorite types of wine. The flavor is full, often sweet, and the drink packs a delightful punch of alcohol content. When we decided to head to Portugal I knew Porto, home of port wine, was a city we absolutely must visit. The Wander Before taking care of my port wine craving, we wandered all over the city. It’s a stunning place with most of the city perched on hills alongside the Duomo…
After weeks of moving around at a breakneck pace we knew we had to stay in one place for a while and do very little touristing. Essentially, we needed a vacation from our vacation (full-time travel is as exhausting as a full-time job!) Aveiro was that break for us and we couldn’t have picked a more perfect place to take it easy for a little while. The city is known as the “Venice of Portugal” because of its canals that run through…
The first thing we did when we arrived in Lisbon was visit the Praca do Comercio, one of the main squares and tourist stops in the city. It’s a big, open area lined with beautiful buildings and has a fun “guy on a horse” statue, as we like to call them, in the center. The weather was almost too perfect for a sunflower like me, with its sunny skies and mid 70s temperatures. My husband had to run away from…
While planning our trip through Croatia, and the very long bus ride it would entail, we decided to be a little bit spontaneous and add a stop in Mostar, Bosnia. One of my goals for this trip was to plan on the go a bit more, much like many long-term travelers who tend to make plans one or two cities at a time. For the most part, we still plan in advance to keep the stress down, but this was…
I’m a fair bit behind on blog updates for our trip, in large part due to the anxiety of processing all of my photos for Croatia (500 photos over 7 days). Turns out, even my fledgling photography skills and cell phone camera couldn’t make the place look bad. Dubrovnik For most people, Dubrovnik is the city they associate with Croatia. It’s best known for its walled old town, which many people know as King’s Landing from HBO’s Game of Thrones. (Confession: I…
On our way from the airport to our apartment in Skopje we were chatting with our cab driver: Cab driver: “Where are you from?” Us: “USA” Cab driver: “Why would you come to Macedonia!?” Us: “We’re here for a wedding.” Cab driver: “Oh, a Macedonian wedding? You’re in for a treat!” We were extremely amused by the shock at American tourists in Macedonia, though if not for the wedding we may have never visited the country. Also, the cab driver…
I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t actually know very much about Belgium before planning our itinerary for the country. I knew they have tasty waffles, beer, and frites. Oh, and Stromae is from Belgium. Even so, I knew that it was a country I very much wanted to visit. All of the above is true, of course, but Belgium is so much more. Brussels I would have to say we spent about 80% of our time in Brussels wandering…
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everybody! This time of year is best spent with friends and family so it’s appropriate timing for my England post. England is one of the few countries Arcadiy and I had both already visited before we started dating. It was a big priority to make a stop there during this trip, in spite of that fact, because I have family in Bournemouth that I wanted to visit while we were in their area of…
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned so far on our trip is that we were crazy to think we only needed 5 days in Scotland, one of the great loves of my life. Edinburgh Our time in Edinburgh was mainly divided into 2 activities: hiking around Holyrood Park and wandering all around the city proper. For those who don’t know, Holyrood Park is an absurd park right on the edge of the city with amazing views from the top….