Tag: Travel

Greece

After 6 weeks of solo travel, I am ending my trip with about 8 days with Adam, one of my best friends from high school! Also our friend Matt joined us for Santorini. It was so much fun to see a familiar face and travel with a friend!

CITY: Mykonos

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed Orpheas Rooms hotel and it was GREAT. It was reasonably priced and we had two separate bedrooms. The location was perfect and close to everything. The shower was AMAZING, we both had never seen anything like it. It had like 4 different water spouts and was piping hot. We also had a little patio with a table and chairs where we spent hours playing cards and drinking wine. Definitely recommend a stay here!

Our little patio

The coolest door that was next to our place

WHERE TO EAT:

After settling into our place, we wandered out to find some food. We eventually found Kavos Cafe Bar Restaurant, which is right on the water. I am trying to try new foods in each place I go and thus ordered my first ever plate of gyros– and I think I fell in love. They were delicious! Plus they come with tzatziki and french fries so I was in heaven.

After renting ATV’s and exploring some beaches, we wanted to find a restaurant outside of the more touristy downtown and we were in for a treat when we found Myconian Plate. It felt homey and local. The food was delicious and the waiters were very attentive. We had such a great experience at this place!

Lunch at Mykonian Plate

Mykonian Plate

After laying out in the sun the next day we found a lovely restaurant right on the beach on the other side of the island called Yialo yialo. The staff were super friendly and the food was good. The best part was that after we ate we were allowed to use their chaise lounges on the beach.

Our last meal on Mykonos was at Marco Polo. It’s a family run restaurant in the middle of Mykonos Town that had a nice ambiance. I ordered a delicious plate of Greek meatballs and Adam and I shared a bottle of wine. It was a nice end to our food experience in Mykonos.

Dinner at Marco Polo

our dessert

WHAT TO DO:

Other than walking around Mykonos Town, which is quite cute, the main thing to do on the island is rent ATV’s and go to the cool beaches— So that’s what we did. It was so much fun zipping around the tiny island on them. We used them to beach-hop all day. As you can imagine, we played cards, read our books, napped, and swam all day long. Overall, super fun and relaxing!

The famous windmills

Beach day

“Try and look like you are not freezing!”

All the chaise lounges

Adam being inventive

However, as we were here in May, it was a little too early for all the famous partying and clubs to even be open. I think Adam and I were actually pretty happy about that because neither of us are super into that scene. We did end up going out to a bar/club in Mykonos Town and had a blast! They played super fun danceable music and we made some Australian friends.

The “crazy” famous beach clubs that weren’t so happen’ while we were there

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I really enjoyed Mykonos and am not sad about being here in the shoulder season. The beaches were beautiful, although a bit windy. I also really liked Mykonos Town, as it was quite cute and trendy.

Our ferry to Santorini

CITY: Santorini

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at an airbnb that was literally carved into the cliffs. It was accurately described as a cocoon. It was on the small side but had everything you needed. The best part of the airbnb was the incredible patio that offered chaise lounges to view the incredible sunsets every night. The bathroom was spacious and there was a tiny kitchenette. The bed was comfy and there was also a table with two chairs. Really enjoyed this special airbnb.

Our patio

WHERE TO EAT:

Our favorite place ended up being a cafe right near our airbnb called Cafe Galini. I think we ended up eating here about 5 times during our stay in Santorini. We had amazing greek yogurt bowls with fresh fruit + honey. Also the club sandwich was our go-to for lunch. I often enjoyed some hot milk + honey in the mornings because I was feeling a little under the weather while here.

Greek yogurt + fresh berries + honey 🙂

Our other favorite spot was Zafora. We ended up here twice, once for a late dinner, and once for an entire afternoon of playing cards and snacking until the sun had set. We really enjoyed the food, customer service, and most importantly, the view.  One night I had a yummy crepe, and the other I had a yummier gyros plate.

Zafora!

Sunset from Zafora

One night we cooked our own meal with some pasta, prosciutto, garlic, and onions and ate on Matt’s balcony.

Dinner on Matt’s balcony

The sunset the next day from the same spot

Drinks to celebrate our birthdays

WHAT TO DO:

Santorini has plenty to offer in forms of things to do. First up was a walk through Fira. Settled at the top of some cliffs, you are offered some incredible views as you stroll through the town. There were plenty of restaurants and stores to wander through. What we came to realize in our time in Santorini was that given how the town is etched into the cliffs, almost everywhere you go has an incredible view over the water.

Views

Near our airbnb

Santorini at sunset

My favorite wall

The next day, along with Matt, we rented ATV’s and headed over to some black sand beaches. I have never been on ATV’s before Greece and really, really enjoyed riding around in the open air on these things. It’s the best way to explore the Greek islands. After the beaches, we rode 45 minutes over to Oía, the other main city on the island. We walked around the famous city streets and eventually headed down to the water so Matt and Adam could go cliff-jumping. After, we found a nice lunch spot.

Black sand beach

Snack break

Oía

Matt + Adam jumping off the cliff!

Another highlight was a boat tour to an active volcanic island and to some hot springs. We got to walk around the island, even seeing some smoking craters. Next up we boated to the island next door and jumped into the fairly cold water to swim towards the hot springs. Pretty quickly we realized a more accurate description would be “lukewarm springs” but we still had a good time spreading the “healing” mud all over our bodies!

Exploring the volcanic island

Santorini in the background

Where the hot springs are

Adam and I enjoyed a nice afternoon at Galini cafe playing cards and reading our books after a couple of action-filled days. We had said bye to Matt, who was supposed to fly to Rome that day BUT he got bumped from his flight and got “stuck” in Santorini one more night. Lucky for us he got put up in a super nice hotel on the other side of the island where all the beaches are. SO the next day (and our last day) Adam and I lugged our luggage over to his hotel to hang pool and beach side until our midnight flight to Athens. We really lucked out because this place was super nice and we were just able to relax all day.

Sunscreen is important!

Attempting to skip rocks

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Santorini is awesome! Incredible views, incredible people, incredible sunsets. Such a picturesque place. It’s definitely not the cheapest place I went, but we had such a fun time exploring the island.

CITY: Athens

HOW LONG: 2 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at Athens Backpackers and it was the perfect location. Adam and I were only here for one full day so it was critical to be centrally located. This place also had a guest kitchen and common room. The beds were comfy and there were lockers. They were connected to a bar, restaurant and a laundry facility so there were options to explore beyond just the common room. Definitely would stay here again.

WHERE TO EAT:

We only had the one day but we had 2 great finds. First off, to warn everyone, Athens restaurants were SO AGGRESSIVE at trying to lure in the tourists. Adam and I were harassed almost every where we went. It was overwhelming. But eventually we picked a restaurant and we ended up having a great meal with the first round of drinks on them 🙂

The more important find was a dessert place called Lukumades. They had these fresh, homemade donuts and they you could add ice cream + the donuts in a bowl. WOWOWOW it was good. We got two combos to split.

Lukumades

Apple filled with honey + cinnamon on top

Chocolate on Chocolate on Chocolate

WHAT TO DO:

We started the day with a visit to the Acropolis. Pretty spectacular what the Greeks were able to build all those years ago. After walking around that site, we meandered through all the pedestrian friendly shopping streets before popping into the National Garden to soak up the sun and play some cards. The gardens had some interesting combos of animals in the park. One tiny pond had probably more than 50 turtles. There were goats and rabbits in the same pen. They had all sorts of birds. It was a crazy place haha.

The Parthenon

Exploring the Acropolis

Ancient ruins feat. Adam

National Gardens

Adam checking out the sun dial

approx. 1,000,000 turtles

Walking through the park

Beautiful purple trees

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I went in with low expectations of Athens, and was quite pleasantly surprised! Adam and I had fun exploring Athens by foot and enjoyed everything except the harassment from the restaurants. I wouldn’t necessarily rush back to spend a ton more time in Athens, as there are other places I would rather go back to and obviously there even more places that I want to go that I haven’t been to! BUT I really liked my time in Athens.

Montenegro

1 Comment

After Dubrovnik, I crossed into Montenegro! This was my first time to this tiny country of  only about 700,000 people.

CITY: Kotor

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at Montenegro Hostel 4U and had very mixed feelings about this place. On the one hand, the facilities were great- Big rooms, big lockers, nice bathrooms, and good kitchen/common area. There were kayaks and bikes available to rent and it was right on the water. HOWEVER, this hostel had the most aggressive organized drinking I had ever seen. I mean it’s one thing for the staff to encourage people to socialize and drink, but it’s another to pressure a kid into drinking so much that he had to go to the hospital. I found the staff to be very sexist and too involved with getting people to drink. When I would say that I was fine drinking water, they seemed to be upset and continually asked me to drink alcohol instead. Despite the aggressive staff, I did meet some awesome people here!

WHERE TO EAT:

The hostel had organized BBQ’s most nights so I tended to join in to meet people, but my favorite restaurant I went to was called Konoba Akustik. They had delicious Cevapi and other yummy food.

WHAT TO DO:

The most important thing to do while in Kotor is hike the old fortress. It’s not the easiest hike (about 1,300 steps straight up the mountain) but the views make it worth it. It was only 3 euros (as opposed to the 20 euros it costs to do the city walls in Dubrovnik).

Walking across the bridge into Old Town

Heading up with Jacob, a guy I met at the hostel

View over old town

Up we go!

The old fort at the top over looking the bay

Old Town

Next up was renting some kayaks with some new British friends (Yay Louisa + Matt!). We spent many hours joking about our mutual appreciation for good butter (butterbaes for life) and Louisa does an amazing valley girl accent so we also had many made up conversations about our alter egos Becca and Ashley! We literally couldn’t even….

Lastly, I decided to do a day tour of Montenegro because apparently with one day tour you can see about 60% of the country. Crazy right?! While I did see some cool things and we went for a boat ride on a river, the tour wasn’t anything special. I probably would’ve preferred to just hang around Kotor.

View over Bay of Kotor

the Mausoleum (the second highest peak of mount Lovcen) where is buried the great Montenegrin ruler and poet Petar II Petrovic Njegos

Cetinje Monastery

River Crnojevica

Budva

Budva

 

 

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Despite my hostel being less than ideal, I met some fun people and enjoyed exploring Kotor/ other parts of Montenegro. Kotor and Montenegro in general are so untouched compared to many other parts of Europe. But, slowly it is being discovered. In Kotor, more and more cruise ships are stopping for a visit and surely, it will become a hotspot in the next 5 years.

 

CITY: Ulcinj

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at Hostel Pirate and it couldn’t have been more opposite to my hostel in Kotor. It was so relaxing and because Ulcinj is not very big, there wasn’t much to do at night so all the guests would drink beer and just hang at the hostel. I had a great time meeting new people and playing cards. The rooms were nice and the lockers were big enough for valuables. A large guest kitchen and common room were available for use. Also the staff were super awesome, helpful, & generous. ALSO as a bonus there was a Belgian Shepard and the house cat had just had kittens!!!!

WHERE TO EAT:

I mostly cooked my own food while I was here so don’t have any recommendations unfortunately.

WHAT TO DO:

Despite being fairly small, Ulcinj has plenty to do! First up for me was a walk through the old town, which was literally empty (again polar opposite to Dubrovnik). Fun views of the little cove and town below the old town.

Walking through the Old Town

View of Ulcinj

Next was a day trip to ALBANIA!! I went to Shkodër which is near Skadarsko Jezero, a huge lake that is half in Montenegro and half in Albania. I spent a couple of hours exploring the town and went to some castle ruins. Rozafa Castle was built around the 14th century. Definitely cool to walk around the ruins, and it wasn’t really regulated in terms of where you could go, so you can essentially walk everywhere and can climb up all the old walls.

Rozafa Castle ruins

Albanian flag

Ebu Beker Mosque

The best day was my first proper beach day in a while. I ventured out with an American couple I had met on the bus from Shkodër that also happened to be staying at my hostel. First, I went with Tess to a women’s only nudist beach, which is interesting as this is a Muslim dominated area, but we had a very relaxing time. After an hour in the sun we walked 40 minutes along the coast to another beach (14km long!!!) We met up with her boyfriend, Aaron, here. Our hike ended with a treacherous bridge, but we survived! I honestly thought this might be how my life ended (or at least how I ended my trip with a broken leg). After the adrenaline wore off, the three of us enjoyed the breeze and sun rays for a couple of hours.

Views along the hike to the beach

The beach all to ourselves

THE CRAZY BRIDGE

I ran out of time so was not able to do all I wanted to do in Ulcinj, so if you have time definitely explore all the forests and hikes in the area!!

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Ulcinj was awesome!! I barely heard any english being spoken as I walked around and all the locals were so friendly!! There was so much to do and I enjoyed everything I did while here. I would love to come back some day!

 

 

Dubrovnik

2 Comments

City: Dubrovnik

How Long: 4 nights

Accommodation:

I stayed at Hostel Villa Angelina Old Town while in Dubrovnik. I had very mixed feelings about this hostel. The beds were comfy and had individual plugs and lights, which is always appreciated. Small lockers for valuables in the room. Guest kitchen and common room were available for use. BUT the staff were sorta of rude and the staff wake you up every morning. The shower always flooded the entire bathroom, which is gross. The kitchen was quite small so only one person could really be cooking at one time. I would not stay here again.

I did have a nice view from my dorm room though 🙂

Where to eat:

2 highlights for eating: Preša and Dolce Vita. Preša is a cheap restaurant in a sea of overpriced, touristy restaurants in the old town. It’s yummy food and it has tons of options ranging from burgers, traditional Croatian meat platters, salads, & crepes. Came here a few times during my stay in Dubrovnik. Secondly, Dolce Vita was the go to ice cream place. Need I say more?

The alleyway where Dolce Vita lives

What to do:

Dubrovnik has so much to offer in terms of things to do!! The first thing I did was go on a kayaking tour that took us to Lokrum, an island right next to Dubrovnik. I went with a Scottish guy I met at the hostel, George. We kayaked around the island and even visited a cave. After rounding the island we headed to a beach that you can only reach by boat. They provided snorkeling gear so George and I quickly jumped into the cold water to explore!

Grabbing our kayaks

and we’re off!

Exploring caves

Beach only accessible by water

Snorkeling

George!

Heading back to Dubrovnik

After getting back, George and I decided to walk the ancient city walls of Dubrovnik. It was annoyingly expensive, but I thought it was worth it. It provided incredible views, and we went at sunset, making it even more special.

Starting the hike around the walls

Main street from above

Old fort

George and me

City walls

Outside the walled in part of town

Old port

The old roofs

What a unique city 🙂

Next up was a trip up the gondola to an even more incredible viewpoint before hiking down the hill with an American girl I had met at the hostel. You can also just hike up and not take the gondola.

After the gondola ride

On our way down

Other than the more organized activities, you must just wander through the town.

The amazing alleyways

Main square

One of the entrances

Another entrance

George!

Sunset

Outside the walls

Overall thoughts:

Despite being the most touristy place I had been, and by far the most expensive, I really enjoyed my time in Dubrovnik. As I walked around I felt like I had been transported to another time period. Loved being here, but I was SO happy to be here in May and not in peak season. I can’t even imagine what it is like in August, but it would be a nightmare.

Now I’m making my way to Montenegro!

SaveSave

Northern Croatia

1 Comment

After spending a few days hiking in Bled, Slovenia, I headed to the capital of Croatia: Zagreb.

City: Zagreb

How Long: 3 nights

Accommodation:

I stayed at the Swanky Mint in Zagreb. It was a larger hostel with two separate bars that were filled with both locals and guests staying at the hostel. It also had a common room attached to the guest kitchen, which was just for guests. I did find it a little hard to meet people but that is to be expected at a larger hostel with a bar in the building. The beds were comfy and the lockers were big enough to hold my backpack. I will say that the staff were spectacular! I was sick and asked for extra blankets and they were happy to help me. They also made sure the heater was working. I just felt they consistently went above and beyond!

Where to eat:

One of my favorite meals from this trip was at La Struk in Zagreb. WOW it was so good. They serve a traditional Croatian meal called strukli. It’s basically dough and cheese + whatever variation of flavor you choose and then they throw it in the oven and it comes out piping hot. SO GOOD. I had the truffle strukli and the blueberry strukli because yes I came back twice. HIGHLY recommend a stop here if you are in Zagreb. Other than this I used leftover groceries from Lake Bled to save money.

My blueberry Strukli

What to do:

I arrived in Zagreb feeling fairly sick so unfortunately I did not do much while I was there but I did go on the free walking tour, which as always was a great way to orient myself and get a flavor for the history and culture. ALSO, after my walking tour I ran into Tom, a Brit I had met at my hostel in Bled. He had come to Zagreb with another girl I had met at Bled so we decided to grab drinks later that night. Always so much fun to randomly run into people you’ve met at previous stops along your trip. I’m so glad we ran into each other because Tom and Sam, the Kiwi he was traveling with, decided to come with me to my next stop!! The three of us took off the next day for Plitvice Lakes National Park.

Viewpoint of Zagreb

St. Mark’s Church, and no it is not made of legos 🙂

Walking through town

Zagreb Cathedral (Tallest building in Croatia)

Overall thoughts:

Because I was sick, I didn’t really get a full chance to explore Zagreb as it deserves. Although, from what I saw I don’t know if I need to go back. It was a capital city that felt not all too different from any other metropolitan capital city. I keep finding that I like smaller towns and this felt a little too industrial for me.

City: Plitvice Lakes National Park

How Long: 2 nights

Accommodation:

I stayed at the awesome Falling Lakes Hostel while exploring the Plitvice Lakes National Park. This hostel was GREAT. I was in a 10 person room and there were large locker under the bed (my favorite type because it’s so easy to just grab what you need!) Nice guest kitchen and plenty of bathrooms/showers. There was a common room with plenty of seating. My favorite part of this hostel was all the board games they had!! Tom, Sam and I played Settlers of Catan on our table while others at the hostel played other games, and others still were playing guitar and singing. Such a fun scene.

Where to eat:

The three of us went to the store for both dinners and made pasta one night, and pizza the other. It was a fun struggle because Tom is vegetarian, but I don’t like tomato sauce so both nights the three of us had a slightly deconstructed version of the meal. Sam and I would have meat on ours, while Tom and Sam had tomato sauce other theirs. Nevertheless, it was delicious! On our hike at the national park, we just bought lunch at the restaurant in the park.

What to do:

The main/only reason to come here is to go to the Plitvice Lakes National Park. IT IS INCREDIBLE!! Basically it’s a magical place filled with waterfalls around every corner. The photos below do not do it justice!! Highly recommend a visit here. This was definitely one of the highlights of my trip.

Beginning our hike though the most magical place 🙂

Look at this water!!!

The waterfalls begin

Up we go

WOW

SO MANY WATERFALLS

Tom, Me, & Sam

Friends 🙂

Unbelievable

Look at that water flow

The tallest waterfall in the park

Overall thoughts:

Please visit this incredible spot! I can’t say enough good things 🙂

 

After this awesome spot, Tom and Sam decided to follow me again, but this time to Split!! We decided to try out hand at hitchhiking, to the dismay of my mother (my dad was fully supportive, which is why I told him beforehand and not Mom 🙂 ) Unfortunately it was raining, which means it is much less likely that someone will pick you up. BUT someone did stop while we were waving our “SPLIT” sign around. However, he was going to Zadar not Split. We made a group decision to take him up on his offer, figuring we would at least be that much closer to Split. He was a super nice guy who was on his way to work in Zadar. We arrived in Zadar and walked around until we found “Crazy Pizza” which was an indeed pretty crazy as the pizza’s were HUGE. After lunch we found the sea organ that is famous in Zadar, which is essentially an organ that makes noise as the water hits it (?) It was pretty cool even if I don’t totally understand how it works. The rain started coming down so we decided to give up on hitchhiking and took a bus the rest of the way to Split.

Anyone wanna take us to Split???

City: Split

How Long: 3 nights

Accommodation:

I stayed at the Backpackers Fairytale hostel in Split. While the facilities were for the most part adequate as there was a guest kitchen, nice sized lockers, and a common room, my experience here was ruined by the staff. They were unavailable, rude, and seemed annoyed to help me whenever I had questions. Also there were not enough showers/bathrooms. The beds were also super squeaky so whenever someone turned over the whole room could hear it. Also, security was sorely lacking, as a girl turned up around midnight, somehow got into the hostel and crashed in the bed above me, without having a reservation. There was no staff around to stop this so I think she just left in the morning and the staff were none the wiser… Would not stay here again.

Where to eat:

Our favorite spot ended up being a restaurant in one of the main squares called Bepa! We ate there for breakfast twice and wish we had time to eat there again. The first time I had a delicious chia pudding with a hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was one of the best I’ve ever had… seriously. It was so thick and rich. It almost felt like a chocolate pudding. I wish I could have another one right now as I am writing this. We also went to Fife for Tom’s last dinner before he left to go back to England. It was a great spot with cheap, yummy food.

Chia pudding at Bepa

Tom feat. his fruit infused water at Bepa

What to do:

We walked around the old walled in city in Split, which is super cool. No matter how many “old towns” or “walled in cities” I see, I still think they are awesome!! Maybe it’s because we don’t have any in the States, but I just love an “old town.” We also walked along the beach and found a spot to lay down and read for a bit. On Tom’s last night we went to grab a drink at a bar that turned into a nightclub as the night went on. We had fun singing and dancing to the music until it turned into very clubby music and we decided to leave. Tom caught a flight early the next morning, leaving Sam and I to our own devices for out last day in Split. We decided to catch a ferry to a city called Supertar, which is on Brač, the third largest island in the Adriatic Sea. Supertar has 3,300 habitants, but apparently it is a growing population as we saw construction of a lot of new houses. We enjoyed wandering the old streets and then plopped ourselves on the beach to read for a couple of hours. We ate a yummy lunch before heading back to the port to grab our ferry to Split.

Split

Tom pondering his life as sailboats sail on by

So pretty

Can’t get over this water!

Tom testing the water

On the clock tower

Split from the clock tower

Relaxing in Supertar

Overall thoughts:

I really enjoyed my time in this city. It was definitely touristy and busy, so I can’t imagine what it’s like in August!! But I still have a blast walking around and finding my favorite ice cream places and bakeries. I also bought a punch of lavender so now my bag smells amazing! Definitely would go back to Split!

 

Now off to Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina 🙂

Slovenia

1 Comment

Slovenia: the only country with the word LOVE in its name!

After Austria, I took a bus to the capital of Slovenia, which is called Ljubljana.

***Apologies in advance for the amount of photos, but this place was just so darn beautiful!!

City: Ljubljana

How Long: 5 nights

Accommodation:

I stayed at Hostel Vrba in Ljubljana. At first, when I arrived I feared it would not be that social, but I found some awesome people at this hostel! Mainly a British couple who have quit their jobs and are riding their motorcycles all the way to CHINA! Crazy cool! (Check them out here) Lottie and Ryan were super fun and sweet to me, even getting me a bottle of champagne for my birthday 🙂 Anyway back to the hostel itself, there was a good kitchen/ common room and plenty of bathrooms and showers. It was about a 15 minute walk to the center of town, but it’s a lovely walk along the river. The lockers were good-sized and the beds had personal sockets for charging devices.

 

Drinking Birthday champagne in the common room of the hostel!

The walk along the river

Where to eat:

Because I was here so long, I went to the grocery store and loaded up one eggs, chicken, and cereal. Saved a bunch of money and hung out with people in the common room while cooking/eating. BUT the highlight of Ljubljana food was an ice cream store called Vigo. Ryan seemed to go every day and I managed to tag along a fair bit of the time. It was just so good (+ cheap)!

What to do:

Wow Slovenia has so many things you can do! The first day I was there I went on the free walking tour and saw most of the major sites in main part of the city, as it is not very big. I ran into an Australian guy I had met at my hostel in Vienna so we did the tour together and after walked up to the castle!

On my way up to the castle

Still on my way up

The final stretch!!!

Finally the view!

and….. on my way down

View of the castle from the town!

The next day I decided to do a day trip to small town about 30 minutes outside of Ljubljana called Škofja Loka. Lottie and Ryan joined me as we headed out to explore a bit of the countryside. The town was tiny, tiny, tiny, but super cute. Of course there was a castle and a church (as every town in Slovenia seems to have) and an old town so we walked around all these areas. We also grabbed a bite to eat and a beer (cider for me, though).

The main part of town along the river

View from the church

Then it was my birthday! I decided to book a day trip around Slovenia so I was doing something fun for my bday. I visited Predjama Castle, then the Lipizzan horses in Lipica, Piran, and the Škocjan caves.

Predjama castle

Predjama castle feat. me

Piran, Slovenia

Above the caves/river that runs through it

Where we exited the caves

Overall thoughts:

I really enjoyed my time in the capital of Slovenia. After traveling for so long, I’ve determined that I tend to like cities on the smaller side with a few obvious exceptions (London, Paris, and of course BARCELONA!) Ljubljana is a good base for seeing other parts of the country as well! It’s a quaint town that only needs about 2 days for the city itself, but if you want to explore the region, add a couple more days to that.

City: Lake Bled

How Long: 3 nights

Accommodation:

I stayed at a great hostel called Castle Hostel 1004. I would highly recommend staying here if you ever get to Lake Bled. It was 5 minutes from the lake and 1 minute to the bus station. The hostel itself has a great communal kitchen and common room. There are big lockers in the room, but you needed your own padlock because sometimes they run out. The only annoying thing was that sometimes all the bathrooms were full (right before bed + in the morning) but overall wasn’t that big of a deal.

Where to eat:

I mostly ate food I bought from the grocery store to save money and then I would eat in the common room with everyone else while they were eating food they had bought, but the hostel had a deal with some of the restaurants in town so I went to Pizzeria Rustica. We got a 10% discount and the food was great!! I had a yummy white pizza with truffle oil and bacon.

What to do:

WOW, there is a lot to do in the Lake Bled region if you want to spend the time and money. You can go canyoning, sky diving, kayaking, rafting, hiking, swimming, and paragliding. It’s amazing all the outdoor activities that are within reach. As I am on a budget and I was here in April, where it wasn’t quite warm enough for some of the above activities, I mostly stuck to the hiking. BUT the hiking is spectacular, so I definitely did not feel like I was settling. The first day I hiked around Lake Bled with a stop at an incredible view-point. It was about a 5 mile hike in total.

The starting point of the hike along the lake and already it is so beautiful

Ducks!

So peaceful

Hike up to the viewpoint

Unreal!!

At the viewpoint I ended up sitting on the bench next to a girl from South Africa. We got to talking and decided to hike up to the Vintgar Gorge together. It was stunning. Definitely recommend going here. It’s a 5 euro entrance fee (cash only) and about 2 miles roundtrip.

Headed through the gorge on these cool pathways

So pretty!

THIS WATER

My second day consisted of hiking around a different lake called Bohinj Lake. This lake is bigger and less developed when compared to Lake Bled. It’s about 40 minutes away by bus. I went with an Australia guy I met at the hostel the night before. He had just hiked to Base Camp of Everest so needless to say I was much less fit than he was. I managed to keep up with him (for the most part) up to the waterfall, but once we started on hiking around the lake, I was left in the dust. I meandered along at my own (slow) pace and enjoyed the marvel that was this valley, which had been created by a glacier many, many years ago.

The start of the climb to the waterfalls!

The valley as we climbed to the waterfalls

THE WATERFALLS

Lake Bohinj

The day started off cloudy

but the sun turned up for us towards the end of our hike!

Can’t get enough of this place!

Overall thoughts:

I stayed 3 nights in Lake Bled, but really only got 2 full days out of it. At first I thought 3 nights would be too much, but I wish I had booked more time here. After spending so much time in large cities, it was so relaxing being here. I loved being in the nature! Overall, I would highly recommend a stop here in Lake Bled.

 

Off to Croatia now 🙂

Warsaw + Krakow

1 Comment

 

After wrapping up my time in Spain (sadly), I flew to Poland to start the final chapter of my trip! I will be traveling from Poland all the way down to Greece, mostly by bus.  I will be traveling to 10 countries in about 7 weeks. First up: Poland + Austria.

City: Warsaw

How Long: 3 nights

Accommodation:

This was a bit of a different type of travel for me as I was here for a tech conference! My former boss invited me to help him at a conference he was speaking at so I got to stay at the same hotel he was staying at. It was quite the treat after staying in hostels with 5 to 11 other people for most of my trip.

Where to Eat:

Most of our meals were centered around the conference, so nothing too exciting, but we did eat dinner our first night in Warsaw at a great restaurant called Karmnik. We had delicious cocktails and traditional Polish dumplings. Definitely worth a visit!

What to do:

As I have said, most of my time was spent at the conference so sadly I did not do anything noteworthy. However, one thing I learned was that during WWII, Warsaw was pretty much leveled so all the “old” buildings we saw had are actually reconstructions and are not the original buildings.

Warsaw

Overall Thoughts:

I did not really get a full sense of Warsaw, but I am not sure I would go back as there are so many other places in the world I want to go to. In general, I would not say Warsaw is a must see.

City: Krakow

How Long: 3 nights

Accommodation:

I stayed at an amazing hostel called Mosquito Hostel. Great sized lockers. Guest kitchen. Free breakfast and free dinner. Free laundry. Great location. Every night there were organized social activities and it was super easy to meet people. I HIGHLY recommend this hostel 🙂

Playing Monopoly with some people I met 🙂

Where to Eat:

Because there was free breakfast and free dinner, I ended up mostly eating at the hostel. However, some friends and I found a delicious cupcake place in the old town called Cupcake Corner. Great cupcakes, but even more fun, we got bagels. For some reason I often crave bagels while I am in Europe, which is odd because when I am home I rarely eat them. Anyway, I got a cheese bagel with thyme cream cheese. SO GOOD.

What to do:

I booked a tour to Auschwitz through my hostel and it worked out really well. They picked us up from the hostel and dropped us back after. We had an incredible tour guide, who had worked directly with Holocaust survivors for many years. Overall, my time spent at Auschwitz was sobering, tough, enlightening, and so very powerful. I think it is incredibly important for us to understand the past and ensure we learn from it as we move forward. Auschwitz is a must while you are in Krakow.

In addition to Auschwitz, I went to Oskar’s Schindler’s Factory museum. Overall it was in interesting museum on the history of Krakow and a little bit on the Schindler’s role in WWII, but it was very heavy on the reading. I found that I didn’t get much out of it because there was an overwhelming amount of words on the walls. If you are interested in visiting this museum, you might consider going with a guide.

I also went to the Easter markets, which were in the main square in the old town. Very similar to Christmas markets, but with less Christmas ornaments and more decorated eggs.

Main Square

Tatum with her favorite new store

Streets of Krakow

Some friends!!

Almost died in Krakow

Wawel Castle

Inside Wawel Castle

Lastly I went on a free walking tour that ended in the castle, which was super cool. Krakow has a very tough, interesting history.

Overall Thoughts:

Overall, I absolutely loved Krakow. I wish I could have stayed longer! I met amazing people and ate some delicious cheap food! I am already looking forward to returning to this city in the future. Krakow has easily entered into my top 5 favorite cities in Europe 🙂

SaveSave

Living in Spain- Thoughts

Leave a comment

This post will be a little different as it is not about traveling, and rather it is about my time spent as an au pair with two different families in Spain! My first family was in Galicia, which is in the Northwest part of Spain, right on the Atlantic Ocean. No really, right on the water.

Vilanova de Arousa

Vilanova de Arousa at sunset

Everyday I would go for a walk or run along the waterfront. So beautiful.

I spent 4 weeks there with a lovely family with three kids. Twin girls who were 10 years old and a boy who was 16 years old.

My next family was just north of Barcelona in a town called Vilassar de Dalt. Lucky for me, there was a direct bus to downtown Barcelona that was just 35 minutes, making it easy to head in to meet friends. The house here was also near the coast, although the Mediterranean this time.

Can’t complain, this was waiting for me after a 2 mile run from my house!

Vilassar de Mar

I spent 5 weeks with this family, which consisted of one girl who was 6 years old, one girl who was 8 years old, and one boy who was 12 years old. This family loves to ski so almost every weekend we went to their ski cabin in France! Such a fun time!

I had such amazing experiences with both families, but life is definitely different in Spain then it is in the States! I wanted to write about some of the fun/funny/strange differences 🙂 (Also just want to preface this with the fact that this is just my observations from living with two different families. In no way am I saying these observations are applicable to a greater population.)

Eating times

This is an obvious one but it is such a big one that I thought I would still mention it. Here’s roughly the eating schedule in Spain:

Breakfast- 7:30-8:00.

Snack- 11:00-11:30

Lunch- 2:00-3:30

Snack- 5:00-6:00

Dinner- 9:00-10:00

I definitely struggled with eating lunch and dinner so much later than what I’m used to. My stomach would often grumble around 12:30 and 7:30, so I would grab a piece of fruit or some crackers to tide me over.

Another difference when it comes to eating is that lunch in Spain is the big meal of the day, whereas in the States dinner is more often the important meal. In fact, in the middle of the day, often people stop working and go home to eat lunch with the whole family. There is a pause in the work day for 2-3 hours to eat lunch in your home. Lunch is the heavier meal with more meat and sides, and often 2-3 courses. Dinner in Spain tends to be lighter. My first family actually only ate sandwiches for dinner. Every night. Like they had the same thing every single night for dinner. After the first week, I started to make my own spinach salad instead of eating a sandwich everyday.

Food quirks:

Speaking of eating, they have some weird food habits. Although for them, they thought some of the things I do is weird too! One example is that the grandma of one of the families would always give the kids milk as part of their snack in the afternoon, which of course isn’t weird at all until you consider the fact that she would put sugar in it. And it wasn’t non-fat milk, it was WHOLE MILK. I repeat, SUGAR IN WHOLE MILK. For me that seems crazy as whole milk already so sweet and fatty, but I’m sure it is tasty.

Another example is surrounding cereal. The kids in my second family would eat their cereal either dry, as in without milk, or with hot milk, but never with cold milk. When they saw me put the milk on my cereal right out of the fridge their jaws dropped. I was so confused as I had never seen another way to eat cereal. I mean, cereal without milk I understand because it is sort of like a trail mix/snack thing, but hot milk in your Cheerios seems weird to me. Sometimes they would even put their hot Cola-Cao (which is like a powder chocolate milk mix) on their cereal. To me, it seemed strange, although I’m not knocking it because I’m sure it would be good.

Another new one for me was one of the dad’s loved his toast with olive oil and sugar. At first I was suspicious but after trying it, I really liked it.

The mom of one family would make fresh squeezed orange juice and add some lemon and honey to it before heating it in the microwave for when one of the kids was sick. Sounds strange to me, hot orange juice, but after trying it, I absolutely love it. It is super soothing for a sore throat.

As for things the families often found weird about my eating, one was my love of peanut butter and how I put it on everything. Cereal, apples, bananas, carrots, toast, ice cream, you name it. Peanut butter is not very common in Spain, so most of the kids hadn’t even tried it before, but after trying it, all but one loved it! I even gave the twins from my first family a jar of peanut butter each for their 10th birthday, which I happened to be around for while I was staying with them. Also on a peanut butter note… I made PB&J’s for the kids and they took it for school as a snack. They loved it!!

Assembling the PB&J’s

 

 

They thought it was weird that I put butter on untoasted bread. They always dip their bread in the sauce of whatever dish they were serving or in olive oil.

They thought it was weird that I put salt on everything from salads and soups, to meats. (America is wayyyyy addicted to salt)

One night my second family made beef and as a side dish they made apple puree (or apple sauce), but it was hot. At first I thought this was strange, but, once again, it ended up being tasty!

Pets:

Birds are very popular as pets because in small apartments in Barcelona, not much else fits. Dogs and cats are popular as well, but I noticed some interesting things about these pets. The most obvious and interesting one for me was that the German Shepard at my first house was not allowed inside the house. As in, it was kept outside 100% of the time. For me this is so strange! Even when there were thunderstorms and even when it was cold, he was kept outside. It also meant interactions with the dog were minimal as the only time spent with dog was when we left the house or were arriving. I think the whole month I was there they took him on 2 walks. The whole thing made me sad because my dogs are such an important part of my daily life. Whether I am walking them, or snuggling with them, I spend a significant amount of time with them. Also they fed him whatever human food we didn’t finish including bones or chocolate, which made me uncomfortable because depending on the type, they both are dangerous for a dog. But alas, different customs I guess. Also, there are a significant number of stray dogs and cats in both places I lived, although less stray dogs in my second town. I know this does happen in the US as well, but where I live I rarely see a stray dog and most cats I see are just outside cats, rather than stray cats.

Zapatillas (slippers):

Both families would take off their shoes as soon as they enter their house and put on zapatillas. They never were barefoot or walked around with shoes on. When I told them at my house, everyone either wore their “outside shoes” or were barefoot they were shocked. I always forget to put on my zapatillas so sometimes I would just be wearing my socks and the mom of my first mom would say that I would get sick without wearing my zapatillas. I figured in my head that if for the first 22 years of my life I managed without zapatillas then I would manage to not get sick the month I was there- and I was right- but as often as I could I would try to remember to wear my zapatillas.

Cleaning:

It was clearly quite important to both families that the house was always clean. And obviously that’s not a bad or unique thing, but it felt more important than what I have seen in my experiences in the States. I mean, my family has someone who cleans the house every week or every other week, so I can appreciate having a clean home. But one of my families had someone come EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. to clean the entire home. This seemed a bit excessive to me. The other family had me vacuum and dust every single day. I didn’t mind doing it, of course, but it just seemed again a bit excessive. Another difference that I think might affect this behavior is that I’ve noticed a lack of carpets in Spain. Homes here tend to have a few rugs here and there, but in general it’s all hard floors, whether it is hardwood or concrete. This means dust and dirt is more visible and gets onto your feet more, as opposed the carpet which sort of ends up absorbing the dust and dirt. My house is certainly a higher percentage carpet than it is hardwood.

Playdates:

I don’t know if this is applicable generally to Spain or if I just got two families that don’t participate in this, but in my 9 weeks total with Spanish families there was not one playdate. The only time a kid came over to one of the houses was a birthday party for the twins in my first family. I asked the families about this and their replies were similar: Time away from school and work is for family time. Interesting right? This is so different to my experience growing up where almost every day I had some sort of playdate where I was going to someone’s house or someone was coming to mine. Not only was it great for the kids, it allowed parents some extra time to get stuff done. I never really met any of the friends of the 6 kids I au paired for. Sort of strange to me.

Vacations:

With my two families, it seemed vacations were for the entire family or no one. For example, when I told my first family that growing up sometimes my parents took a weekend away just the two of us or that in the past 7 years, vacations are spent with some combination of the family (as in sometimes my sister isn’t there, or sometimes my dad misses it), they again were shocked. To them, vacation is for the whole family. They don’t want to spend time with one family member missing. Between the playdates and vacations, my takeaway is that the family unit is very strong in Spain. They value spending time as a full unit and don’t want anyone outside the family a part of it. It’s not time for friends or other groups- just family. In my experience, once my sister and I were a little older, we almost always brought friends on vacation with us, or we went with family friends, so again just a slightly different way of doing things.

Family:

On the theme of family, extended family seemed to be much more involved in the daily life compared to my experiences growing up. Both families had one set of grandparents living about a 5-minute walk away. Often part of the daily routine was having a snack at the grandparent’s house before Grandpa would take some of the kids to an extracurricular such as track and field or music class. They pitched in to help with the grandkids on a daily/weekly basis. In my experience growing up, while I definitely saw my grandparents a decent amount because luckily they lived in the next town over, they weren’t part of the daily routine. Obviously, if my parents needed help in a pinch, my grandparents would help out, but like I said, they weren’t part of the daily routine. In fact, the mom of my second family had grown up in downtown Barcelona, but once married she moved out to the town they live in currently. Her parents, who had lived in Barcelona their entire lives, followed her and bought a house a five-minute walk away to be closer to their daughter and future grandkids.

 

Anyway, these are just some of my thoughts and observations after living in Spain for just 9 weeks. Like I said at the beginning, I’m not saying these observations are applicable to all of Spain, just what I noticed after living with two families! Hope you enjoyed reading this!

Bath + London

1 Comment

 

In between my homestays I took a week to travel, spending time in England and Barcelona!

City: Reigate

How Long: 3 days

Accommodation:

I stayed with my friend Tony, who I met two years ago in a hostel in Barcelona. So while his parents are super generous I don’t think I can recommend staying at their house :). Reigate is about a 30-minute train ride south from London.

Where to Eat:

Well, we mostly ate at his house, so again I probably can’t tell you to show up there! But we did have a great sandwich in Brighton, where we visited for the day. Before visiting Windsor Castle, we ate lunch at The Carpenters Arms, a pub that has a tunnel that used to run from below the pub into the medieval Castle. Food was good and it was fun to see a piece of history with the tunnel. Also, we stopped for some tea and desserts after going to Windsor Castle at Madam Posh. It was yummy but nothing to write home about.

AJ’s burger at The Carpenters Arms

What to do:

We essentially had two days to sight-see and we made the most of it. The first thing we did was participate in a local 5k run right near Tony’s house! It was the first race I’ve done since my marathon and it was super fun to be back in that environment. It makes me want to sign up for another half-marathon when I get home! After a lovely breakfast at Tony’s house we headed out on the road. Our first stop was South Downs National Park and Seven Sisters Country Park, which houses the UK’s highest chalk sea cliff. It was super cool and the cliffs were incredible. Definitely not a lay out in the sun kinda beach as instead of sand there were pebbles. Tony did find some pebbles that had been made from the brick in the houses above the beach, which was cool.

The Cliffs

Sitting on the beach

After a walk around the cliffs, we took off for Brighton, a big beach town directly South of London. I really liked it! So many cool shops and restaurants.We walked past the Royal Pavillion, an exotic palace that was built as a seaside pleasure palace for King George IV. It felt so out-of-place as it was built in the visual style closer to that of India and China, rather than Central Europe or England. Also there is a long pier which is home to an amusement park with rides, attractions, and an arcade. We managed to be at the end of the pier at sunset, which was stunning. Also we saw two swimmers without wetsuits on swim to the end of the pier and back… in February.

The beach

The Royal Pavillion

The sunset over the pier as we were leaving

That night we ate dinner with his parents again, which was so fun. I really enjoyed hanging out with them. His mom and I ended up staying up late chatting about anything and everything—Including Trump/Brexit. Super interesting talking to people about their opinions and thoughts; it’s actually one of my favorite things about traveling.

We went to Windsor Castle, one of the Queen’s homes, on our second day. We met up with AJ and Henry, two of the other guys from the Barcelona weekend 2 years ago. I usually end up meeting up with the three of them when I am anywhere near London! We purchased our tickets (student rate: 18.70 pounds) and began walking the castle grounds. Despite seeing my fair share of castles on this trip, this one is a must-see. It’s one of the bigger castles I’ve been too and the rooms we got to go through were incredible. Definitely some cool history in this castle and the Queen was actually there while we were. Surprisingly I was not able to schedule a meeting with her… After saying goodbyes to Tony, AJ, and Henry, I took off on a train to Bath!

Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle

Tony, Me, Henry, & AJ

Overall thoughts:

I really enjoyed my weekend exploring England by car (Thanks Tony!) It allowed me to see a bunch of new places that normally would have been tough to see all in two days. I also absolutely loved staying with a local British family! I kept telling Tony that if an American were to imagine a stereotypical British couple that his parents would be it. They are the most lovely, kind, generous couple. They made me a roast the first night I arrived, filled with potatoes, carrots, and chicken. Most importantly, they drank so much tea. To me that’s about as British as it gets 🙂

City: Bath

How Long: 3 days

Accommodation:

I really enjoyed my stay here. There seemed to be a lot of people staying here long-term (as it is cheaper to stay in a hostel than renting an apartment, especially for those only working in Bath during the week), but everyone I met was super nice and friendly! Great guest kitchen and there was common room with sofas, tables for eating, and a tv. The lockers were small so I couldn’t store my whole bag in the locker, which is always a bummer. But I was able to just put my valuables in the locker and lock it with my padlock. The staff was all super nice. Absolutely would stay here again.

Where to Eat:

I mostly ate at the hostel, having bought groceries to save money, but I did go to one café in Bradford-on-Avon called Coffee, etc. It was delicious. I had a deluxe hot chocolate and yummy sandwich. If you end up in the quaint town, I would absolutely recommend this place. However, there definitely seemed to be no shortage of cute, more upscale restaurants that were out of my price range, so don’t be afraid to explore other options.

What to do:

Bath is not all that big so to start I went on a walking tour to get a comprehensive understanding of the history of the city. Obviously the Roman Baths were a big part of the city’s history. The water was thought to heal all types of diseases so royalty from all over would come to the baths to heal their ailments. Also the architecture is very important to Bath. It is all made from Bath stone. Because the whole town is essentially built with the same stone, it is stunningly cohesive. I really enjoyed my time just walking around the town. Also the Abbey is not to be missed.

Bath architecture

The Abbey

Because Bath is fairly small, I decided to use a half-day to take a train two stops down to Bradford-on-Avon. It is a small town right on the river, as the name suggests. Its population is less than 10,000 people. There isn’t much to do other than take a walk through the hilly town with stops at the Saxon Church and Holy Trinity Church. I ended up walking along the river to the next train stop towards Bath to enjoy the sunny day as it wasn’t that far. After enjoying my three days in Bath, I was off to London.

Clearly a very old building 🙂

The bridge in Bradford

Overall thoughts:

I really liked Bath! It was fun to see a smaller British city as opposed to London. Obviously it was still touristy, but it felt much more local than London. The architecture is beautiful and I absolutely loved just wandering the city. Definitely recommend a visit to this city and if you have an extra half day, Bradford on Avon is worth the time!

City: London

How Long: 1 day

Accommodation:

I stayed at The Walrus Hostel. My sister stayed here and recommended it to me! Overall great hostel. Beds were comfortable (although the pillows were not very good) and the lockers were big enough to fit my bag. Small guest kitchen. There’s a bar downstairs that locals seem to frequent as well. I only stayed here one night and wish I could have stayed longer. The bathrooms weren’t the cleanest I have ever seen but it wasn’t that big of a deal for me. You need your own padlock here or you can buy one. Definitely would stay here again!

Where to Eat:

I was only here one night, but I met up with Henry for drinks at The Southwark Tavern. It was right by the London Bridge and clearly a popular place. It was definitely a British pub. We sat at a table downstairs where there were all these small alcoves. It gave it a more private feeling and allowed you to actually hear what people at your table were saying. I really liked this place! After drinks I headed back to the hostel and grabbed some food from a supermarket on the way.

What to do:

Essentially all I did was meet Henry for drinks because I arrived in the late afternoon and left early the next morning for my flight to Barcelona!

Overall thoughts:

Well this was a quick trip in London, so now major thoughts about this specific stay in London–but I love London, and hope to move here at some point, even for just a year or two.

 

Hostels/Airbnb Reviews

1 Comment

A list of all the places I have stayed over the past 2 years! I will update it as I keep traveling 🙂

Austria

Vienna– 7/10 The hostel itself is great. Tons of fun people, and there’s a bar within the hostel. There’s a guest kitchen and a 4.5 euro breakfast option. Good security lockers in the room and comfy beds. However, unfortunately it is fairly far from the city center so it takes 40 minutes to get anywhere (walking). I just find that I prefer to be able to walk right from the hostel to where I want to go without using public transit, which is why I rated it 7/10. I would try to find a hostel closer to town if I came back to Vienna, but if I couldn’t find anything closer that looked good I would stay here again.

Bosnia & Herzegovina

Mostar– 10/10 This place is incredible!! The owner, Miran, was an incredibly nice man who is extremely knowledgeable about the history of the region, as he had grown up there and actually lived through and fought in the Bosnian War. I learned so much from him. The hostel had small lockers in each room to store valuables but not big enough to store your whole bag, but I found everyone at the hostel to be very friendly and nice so I wasn’t worried about anyone stealing stuff from my bag. There was free breakfast and often at night Miran would BBQ so there was a free dinner sometimes. Small kitchen, but food is so cheap you will want to experience the local cuisine. They also offered a great tour of the region (don’t miss this tour). Highly recommend this place!!

Croatia

Dubrovnik– 7/10 I had very mixed feelings about this hostel. The beds were comfy and had individual plugs and lights, which is always appreciated. Small lockers for valuables in the room. Guest kitchen and common room were available for use. BUT the staff were sorta of rude and the staff wake you up every morning. The shower always flooded the entire bathroom, which is gross. The kitchen was quite small so only one person could really be cooking at one time. It wasn’t as social as I would have liked. I would not stay here again.

Plitvice Lakes National Park– 10/10 This hostel was GREAT. I was in a 10 person room and there were large locker under the bed (my favorite type because it’s so easy to just grab what you need!) Nice guest kitchen and plenty of bathrooms/showers. There was a common room with plenty of seating. My favorite part of this hostel was all the board games they had!! Tom, Sam and I played Settlers of Catan on our table while others at the hostel played other games, and others still were playing guitar and singing. Such a fun scene. Would absolutely stay here again!

Split– 5/10 While the facilities were for the most part adequate as there was a guest kitchen, nice sized lockers, and a common room, but my experience here was ruined by the staff. They were unavailable, rude, and seemed annoyed to help me whenever I had questions. Also there were not enough showers/bathrooms. The beds were also super squeaky so whenever someone turned over the whole room could hear it. Also, security was sorely lacking, as a girl turned up around midnight, somehow got into the hostel and crashed in the bed above me, without having a reservation. There was no staff around to stop this so I think she just left in the morning and the staff were none the wiser… Would not stay here again. Would definitely not stay here again. However, if they got better staff I would consider it.

Zagreb– 7.5/10 This was a larger hostel with two separate bars that were filled with both locals and guests staying at the hostel. It also had a common room attached to the guest kitchen, which was just for guests. I did find it a little hard to meet people but that is to be expected at a larger hostel with a bar in the building. The beds were comfy and the lockers were big enough to hold my backpack. I will say that the staff were spectacular! I was sick and asked for extra blankets and they were happy to help me. They also made sure the heater was working. I just felt they consistently went above and beyond! Might stay here again if I couldn’t find a more homey hostel.

Czech Republic

Prague– 9/10 Great hostel, very social. I don’t think there was a kitchen but Prague is so cheap that eating out wasn’t a big deal! There was a bar downstairs where I met a lot of people. Lockers were under the bed and spacious. Generally I found the hostel clean. The only annoying part of the hostel was its location. It felt a bit far from the city center and you have to take public transit to get there. Despite that, I would absolutely stay here again.

Denmark

Copenhagen– 10/10 WOW Cannot say enough good things about this hostel. Had really great beds and storage lockers underneath. Great location. It was easy to walk to anything you would want to see. There was not a bathroom/shower in the room, but there was a sink. There was a guest kitchen and free dinner each night if you were there early enough to grab a coveted seat. The absolute best part about the hostel was the common area/bar. The vibe was so friendly and everyone mingled with everyone. It was so easy to make friends and socialize. One of the nights I was there, there was a live guitar player who took requests, which was super fun. There was a happy hour where you could get two ciders for the price of one. One of my favorite hostels and I absolutely look forward to going back.

Estonia

Tallinn– 8/10 Great location as it was right outside the walled in Old City. It was a perfect location and was easy to get to from the bus I took from the Tallinn Airport. The rooms itself were fairly basic but had everything you needed. The only issue I really had was that the lockers provided in the rooms were too small to fit my bag so I had to remove my valuables from my bag instead of just being able to put all my stuff securely away. I tend to find that people don’t go through your stuff though so I wasn’t too worried about people stealing my clothes. The hostel had coed bathrooms but this wasn’t an issue for me. The hostel also had a kitchen so I prepared most of my meals there. There was a bar attached to the hostel which had some activities most nights. Overall the hostel was fairly empty, meaning it wasn’t very social which is tough on solo travelers. But I don’t think this is the hostels fault, it was more a by-product of it being January in Estonia. Not exactly prime time for travel in Estonia!

Finland

Helsinki– 6/10 The room was fairly basic and the bathrooms were TINY, but not really an issue for me. There was a kitchen so I was able to save money by buying groceries and cooking for myself because Finland is SO expensive. Because I was there in winter there weren’t many guests and there wasn’t much social interaction at the hostel, but I bet it would be better in summer. There were lockers. Good location. I possibly would stay here again but I would have to look at the other options before I decided.

France

Paris– 6/10 This was a large, chain type hostel, which I don’t like as we know. Very hard to meet people as it’s impersonal and this type of hostel tends to attracts groups. Location is horrible as it’s far from everything. Definitely would not stay here again.

Paris– 4/10 This was one of those huge chain hostels that feel very impersonal and is very hard to meet people. This hostel did have a free breakfast if you book directly through their website. The beds were comfy and had a curtain for privacy in addition to personal plug and light. However, I was here with my sister and when we showed up to our 10 person room, we were the only girls. Usually this wouldn’t be an issue but 3 of the guys were very creepy towards us and spoke very little english, however what we could understand was that they were all from Paris. BUT why are you staying in a hostel in Paris if you are from Paris?! Anyway Ellie and I barely slept and did not have a good time here. Would definitely not stay here again.

Paris– Airbnb 10/10 This was the cutest, little apartment in Paris in the 3rd Arrondissement, which is a great neighborhood. I will reiterate that it was small… but it had everything you needed and it was cozy. Very modern and white. There were two full beds (futons) but only separated by a curtain for privacy so only stay here with people you are very comfortable with! Absolutely would stay here again! Loved everything about this cute little apartment!

Paris– Airbnb 10/10 I stayed here with my parents and absolutely loved its Parisian charm. Up-to-date without losing its historic nature. Great location near Notre Dame and the 6th Arrondissement. Tons of great restaurants nearby. Overall would absolutely stay here again.

St. Malo– Airbnb 7/10 This Airbnb was super cute and within the walled in part of St. Malo, which is exactly where you want to be. Had everything you needed, although the bed was a full so not exactly great for sharing with someone you don’t know as well. I was with my sister so this wasn’t a problem. The only issue we had was the wifi was horrible and at times altogether stopped working. When I emailed our host he took hours to respond. Normally this wouldn’t be such a huge deal (I can live without wifi for a couple of days guys…) but I had scheduled an interview and needed access to reliable wifi to be able to skype. Unfortunately this meant I missed my interview. But other than the wifi issue this place was a great find!

Germany

Berlin– 5/10 This was a large, chain hostel, which I don’t like. Very hard to meet people as it’s impersonal and this type of hostel tends to attracts friends traveling in a group. There is a communal kitchen. Good location. Beds were comfy. I would not stay here again.

Greece

Mykonos -10/10 I stayed Orpheas Rooms hotel and it was GREAT. It was reasonably priced and we had two separate bedrooms as I was with a friend. The location was perfect and close to everything. The shower was AMAZING, we both had never seen anything like it. It had like 4 different water spouts and was piping hot. We also had a little patio with a table and chairs where we spent hours playing cards and drinking wine. Definitely recommend a stay here!

Santorini– Airbnb 10/10 We stayed at an airbnb that was literally carved into the cliffs. It was accurately described as a cocoon. It was on the small side but had everything you needed. The best part of the airbnb was the incredible patio that offered chaise lounges to view the incredible sunsets every night. The bathroom was spacious and there was a tiny kitchenette. The bed was comfy and there was also a table with two chairs. Really enjoyed this special airbnb.

Hungary

Budapest– 10/10 Stay here if you end up in Budapest!! Smaller hostel which meant everyone all hung out together, and you sort of became like a family by the end of your stay. I met so many people at this specific hostel that I am still touch with today; someone of whom I have met up with when I visited their home town! Guest kitchen and the hostel also had cheap group dinners. Every night there is a planned activity such as a pub crawl or karaoke night. This hostel is part of a family of 5 hostels so each of the night activities is open to all five hostels so you end up meeting a bunch of other people from the larger sister hostels but when you want to go home and sleep you get to go home to your quiet room. Would love to stay here again!

Iceland

Reykjavik– 7/10 This hostel did not have a super social vibe, but I was here with a friend so it mattered less. There were a lot of older couples and school groups that stayed at the hostel while I was there. Good location close to downtown Reykjavik. Clean facilities and guest kitchen. There was an expensive buffet breakfast, which I would recommend skipping and finding a cute cafe instead.

Ireland

Dublin– 6/10 It was a big hostel so that sometimes made it feel more like a hotel. Great location (Close to Temple Bar, on the river, and close to bus stations). Free breakfast of cereal and toast. The hostel had a kitchen that was open for guests to use. There were showers and toilets in the room. The most frustrating thing about this hostel was that the rooms had no security lockers in them, even though the website said they did have them. Instead, the hostel offered security lockers in the lobby but they cost money. I had to spend 14 euros to store my electronics the four days I spent in Dublin. Would not stay here again.

Galway– 10/10 Overall a great hostel. Close to restaurants, bars, and shopping. The hostel was clean and had a kitchen that was open for guests to use. Free breakfast of cereal and toast. Security lockers in the room. Keycard access to room. Wifi was good. Very easy to meet people. There was an organized dinner at a restaurant close to the hostel. Would stay here again.

Tralee– 2/10 Did not like this hostel. The room was a little dirty and there was only one shower and toilet (which were in the same room) for 9 of us. This meant anytime someone was taking a shower, no one could use the restroom. From the start the staff was rude and unhelpful. When I booked hostels I made sure they mentioned having security lockers and this hostel basically didn’t. What they offered was a tiny locker that barely fit my computer in a hallway downstairs from the where the rooms were. Very inconvenient. I asked the staff to help me print my boarding pass, they stared at me blankly and said they didn’t have a printer. When I asked what other travelers had done in the past, they said they didn’t know because they were both new. Would never stay here again!

Italy

Florence– 10/10 So I say this is Florence, and the hostel is listed under Florence hostels.. but in reality it’s pretty far outside of Florence. It’s about a 30 min bus ride to the center. BUT, this place was a gem. Felt like you were living in an Italian Villa, complete with an olive and fig orchard. You were allowed to literally pull the figs off the trees and eat them… SO yummy. This place was great. The Place had free breakfast. Met some nice other travelers. I think I remember it used to be a hospital but not 100% sure. No lockers, but felt fairly safe. Definitely recommend this place if you don’t mind be a little in the Tuscan countryside 🙂

Florence– Airbnb 10/10 Stayed here with my dad and we felt like Italian aristocrats. The owner’s nephew manages this place and told us it has been in the family for something like 5 generations. So cool. Definitely not modern or up to date amenities, but it would be a shame to remodel this place. We loved all of its charm. Also the location was out of the touristy areas and rather in a more local area of town. Great restaurants and bars, but still walking distance to all the touristy stuff you would want to see. It’s also very spacious and can sleep up to 8 people I think. Would absolutely stay here again.

Ischia– Airbnb 8/10 This Airbnb operated more as a B&B so there were other guests at this  B&B. The room was large and beautifully decorated. I really liked the location as it was in a small town and about a 5 min walk to the beach. Free breakfast in the mornings. There was a small pool, but I can’t imagine why anyone would use it when the Mediterranean is 5 min away. Would definitely stay here again.

Naples– Airbnb 1/10 AVOID THIS AIRBNB LIKE THE PLAGUE because I got bed bugs here and have read other reviews on airbnb that they also got bed bugs… This airbnb was super sketchy and my friend and I only booked it because it was last-minute and cheap. It felt like there were 10 other people at this airbnb, which is probably illegal, and like I said sketchy. Skip this airbnb!

Rome– 6/10 I stayed at Hostel Alessandro Downtown and it was not my favorite, but only because it was very big, which means it is difficult to meet people. The kitchen was only available after breakfast. The common room was too big so people ended up sitting alone at different tables instead of all close together. The rooms were big, but the lockers were a little janky. Some worked and some did so I was a little paranoid that it would be easy to break the locks (luckily no one did). Anyway, I wouldn’t stay here again.

San Gimignano– 9/10 This was such a cute place in a such a cute town. This was definitely not a hostel… more of a B&B but no breakfast. Very quaint and old. Felt like you were living in another era… even down to the beds which felt like they are from the 1800’s. Despite the hard beds, this place was great!

Sestri Levante– 10/10 This was a literal castle… I think that makes me a queen. Stayed here with my dad and it was awesome!! It’s been completely renovated and retrofitted into a hotel. Right on the coast near the Cinque Terre, Portofino, and Santa Margherita. Amazing views overlooking the Mediterranean. Can’t recommend this place enough… although don’t know when I’ll be able to afford to come back.

Luxembourg

Luxembourg– Airbnb 8/10 My sister and I stayed in this Airbnb, which was just a room in someone’s apartment. Because we were only there for one night and had to leave at 6am the next morning we didn’t even see anyone at the apartment. Very basic and reasonable for an expensive city. There are probably better spots than this in Luxembourg, but this fit our needs quite well.

Montenegro

Kotor– 3/10 I stayed at Montenegro Hostel 4U and had very mixed feelings about this place. On the one hand, the facilities were great- Big rooms, big lockers, nice bathrooms, and good kitchen/common area. There were kayaks and bikes available to rent and it was right on the water. HOWEVER, this hostel had the most aggressive organized drinking I had ever seen. I mean it’s one thing for the staff to encourage people to socialize and drink, but it’s another to pressure a kid into drinking so much that he had to go to the hospital. I found the staff to be sexist and too involved with getting people to drink. When I would say that I was fine drinking water, they seemed to be upset and continually asked me to drink alcohol instead. Despite the aggressive staff, I did meet some awesome people here! I would not stay here again.

Ulcinj– 9/10 I stayed at Hostel Pirate and it couldn’t have been more opposite to my hostel in Kotor. It was so relaxing and because Ulcinj is not very big, there wasn’t much to do at night so all the guests would drink beer and just hang at the hostel. I had a great time meeting new people and playing cards. The rooms were nice and the lockers were big enough for valuables. A large guest kitchen and common room were available for use. Also the staff were super awesome, helpful, & generous. ALSO as a bonus there was a Belgian Shepard and the house cat had just had kittens!!!! I would absolutely stay here again.

Norway

Bergen– 7/10 The facilities were sufficient but there was nothing special about this hostel. I did not really meet anyone at this hostel and there was not much of a social atmosphere. There was a guest kitchen. The location was great and super close to everything. Ensuite bathroom. Bergen is small though so I am not sure how many other hostels there are to choose from. Would stay here again, but mostly because the lack of other options. I might look into airbnb if I were to ever be back in Bergen.

Oslo– 7/10 This was a hotel that had rooms with bunk beds, so it definitely didn’t feel too much like a hostel. Not too social. Nonetheless, I still met a lot of people in my room and at the free breakfast in the mornings. There were security lockers, but you needed a padlock. The rooms were clean and filled with a lot of light. There was not a bathroom/shower in the room, but there was a sink.

Poland

Krakow– 10/10 Great sized lockers. Guest kitchen. Free breakfast and free dinner. Free laundry. Great location. Every night there were organized social activities and it was super easy to meet people. Nothing to complain about! I HIGHLY recommend this hostel

Portugal

Porto– 10/10 Another great hostel! The beds were comfy, free breakfast, and great location! Super social, even when I was there in October. Good seating in a communal area to meet people. I went on a great pub crawl there. Would definitely stay here again!

Slovenia

Bled– 10/10 I would highly recommend staying here if you ever get to Lake Bled. It was 5 minutes from the lake and 1 minute to the bus station. The hostel itself has a great communal kitchen and common room. There are big lockers in the room, but you needed your own padlock because sometimes they run out. The only annoying thing was that sometimes all the bathrooms were full (right before bed + in the morning) but overall wasn’t that big of a deal. It was super, super easy to meet some amazing people, and the staff were very helpful. Would absolutely stay here again!

Ljubljana–  8.5/10 At first, when I arrived I feared it would not be that social, but I found some awesome people at this hostel! There was a good kitchen/ common room and plenty of bathrooms and showers. It was about a 15 minute walk to the center of town, but it’s a lovely walk along the river. The lockers were good-sized and the beds had personal sockets for charging devices. I would stay here again.

Spain

Alicante– 7/10 Cute hostel and very cheap. Storage lockers available and there was a breakfast available for 3 euros. Great location. I was only here for a night so I can’t remember whether there was a guest kitchen. There seemed to be a friendly vibe, but like I said, I was only here for a night and didn’t get to experience the whole hostel for everything it had to offer. There were good-sized lockers. Would stay here again.

Barcelona– 10/10 This is my favorite hostel in the world. Seriously. It was also the first hostel I ever stayed in! I have stayed here 4 separate times and each time has been awesome! I have met some of my favorite people here and had some of my favorite memories. I don’t know how but the hostel has created such a social, friendly vibe that only seems to draw in good, interesting people. Theres a communal kitchen as well as 4 euro hostel dinners. There are fun pub crawls every night with the sister hostels. The staff is super friendly. The rooms are really dark, which is great after a late night of drinking. The lockers are large and activated by your key card that gets you into the hostel and your room. Anyway STAY HERE if you are going to Barcelona.

Granada– 8/10 I only stayed here one night and was with a friend so we didn’t get the full social experience here but did end up meeting a group of girls that we went out for dinner with. The beds were comfy and the lockers were big enough to store both my friend’s stuff and mine in the same locker (but this was a weekend trip from Barcelona so we both only had a small bag with us). Not sure if there were kitchen facilities as we didn’t use them. No free breakfast. Would stay here again.

Madrid– 8/10 This was a great, social hostel which is perfect for solo travelers. I met a lot of people at the hostel and we spent the days exploring the city and the nights going out with the whole hostel on the organized pub crawls. Guest kitchen. Cheap group dinners at the hostel, which was great for meeting people. Lockers were on the smaller side, but when I was there I just had a small backpack, which fit. Great common area attached to the kitchen.

Valencia– 7/10 Nothing really stood out at the hostel but I was traveling with a friend so we mostly stuck to ourselves and we only stayed for one night and left early the next morning. There were good-sized lockers. No free breakfast. Bed was comfy and there was a guest kitchen. Would stay here again.

Sweden

Stockholm– 7/10 Cool hostel. Only spent a day here but it was good. There was a guest kitchen and breakfast was served in the morning although not free. There was a bar next door with a shared patio with the hostel. There was a reasonably priced bike tour put on by the hostel. It felt very modern and sleek. Needed a padlock for the in room security lockers. The room was very dark though because it was in the basement. The bathroom/shower was far from the room. One odd/interesting thing about this hostel was that you were not allowed to wear shoes inside so you had to take them off before going to the room.

Stockholm Archipelago– Airbnb 10/10 What a great find this was. On an island in the archipelago, we stayed in a one-room structure in the backyard of an adorable Swedish couple. The structure had bunk beds, a little kitchenette, a breakfast table, and a dresser. Also, outside there was a table with four chairs. There were two bikes that we were free to use. We did have to go into the house to use the bathroom or shower, but this was not an issue. The house was about a 5 minute walk to a small beach and about a 15 minute walk to a larger beach. Just stunning. Would definitely stay here again!

The Netherlands

Amsterdam– 8.5/10 Really liked this hostel! Close to restaurants, bars, canals, the train station, and shopping. The hostel was clean and had a kitchen that was open for guests to use. Free breakfast of cereal and toast. Security lockers in the room, but you need your own padlock. Keycard access to room. Ensuite bathroom. Wifi was good. The only downside was I happened to stay in the room right above the hostel bar, which would play loud, bass heavy music until 2 am. With earplugs, it was manageable though. Because I was with a friend, I did not really test out the social scene within the bar so I am not sure how easy it was to meet people. We did meet some lovely people in our room. Would stay here again.

United Kingdom

Bath– 8/10 I really enjoyed my stay here. There seemed to be a lot of people staying here long-term (as it is cheaper to stay in a hostel than renting an apartment, especially for those only working in Bath during the week), but everyone I met was super nice and friendly! Great guest kitchen and there was common room with sofas, tables for eating, and a tv. The lockers were small so I couldn’t store my whole bag in the locker, which is always a bummer. But I was able to just put my valuables in the locker and lock it with my padlock. The staff was all super nice. Absolutely would stay here again.

Cardiff– 7/10 More social atmosphere, with a great outdoor seating area. The hostel had a kitchen that was open for guests to use. There were security lockers in the room but the guy at the front desk said that they didn’t have the keys for them………. so that was unhelpful. Luckily he found a key to a locker in the lobby area that I could use. Not a great solution, but at least my electronics and passport were safe. The location was a bit far from the city center and I would not have wanted to walk back alone at night. The one night I went out I had to take a 5 pound taxi ride home. Would stay here again.

Cardiff– 6/10 Location was great. Right on the river and close to the city center, but at night it was not all that safe to walk back along the river. It was very difficult to meet people, but I’m not sure whether it was the vibe of the hostel or whether it was just the people who happened to be staying at the hostel at the time. Free breakfast of toast and cereal. Oddly, there were only 2 security lockers in a room for 6 people. Luckily I was the first person to arrive so I picked one of them, however, if there had not been one available when I arrived I would have been pissed. The hostel did not feel that clean. The shower and bathroom were on a different floor which was inconvenient. Room was accessed by key card, and my locker was accessed by a key. Would not stay here again.

Edinburgh– 10/10 Loved this hostel! Really central location. Close to the Royal Mile and it’s literally next to the Grassmarket area, which has tons of restaurants and fun bars. The hostel has restaurant and bar inside it, which is convenient and cheap. It also makes it fairly easy to make friends. Wifi was good. No free breakfast, but a cheap breakfast was available to purchase from the restaurant. There was a kitchen for guests to use. Keycard access to room, but needed your own padlock for the security lockers. Fairly clean hostel. Staff was super friendly and helpful. There was toilets and showers right outside the room. Would definitely stay here again.

Edinburgh– Airbnb 10/10 Once again stayed here with my family so this is not the normal budget traveler’s digs. This place was right on the Royal Mile and was beautiful. Super cozy for our stay in the cold winter. Great kitchen and super comfy beds. This place is definitely 1st class. Would definitely stay here again if it was in my budget!

London– 5/10 Felt like a hotel rather than a hostel. Very difficult to meet people. The only common area was in the bar, which was dark and created a tough atmosphere to meet other travelers. Close to a tube station. No free breakfast. The hostel had a kitchen that was open for guests to use. Security lockers and room accessed by same key card. Would not stay here again.

London– 9/10 My sister stayed here and recommended it to me! Overall great hostel. Beds were comfortable (although the pillows were not very good) and the lockers were big enough to fit my bag. Small guest kitchen. There’s a bar downstairs that locals seem to frequent as well. I only stayed here one night and wish I could have stayed longer. The bathrooms weren’t the cleanest I have ever seen but it wasn’t that big of a deal for me. You need your own padlock here or you can buy one. Definitely would stay here again.

London– 8/10 I stayed at Astor Hyde Park while in London for the final time. I booked super late so there weren’t many options left, but I ended up getting one of the last beds at this hostel. This place had large under the bed lockers and an en suite bathroom. There’s a large guest kitchen and two great common areas for socializing. Also the hostel is right next to Hyde Park!! Definitely recommend a stay here.

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

Estonia + Finland

2 Comments

Wow! It’s been a while since I’ve posted! Sorry about that….After arriving in Barcelona to study Spanish for 4 months I got immersed with my day-to-day life and decided to stop posting on here. But I’M BACK! I’m also going to try a different posting style to see if I like it better.

City: Tallinn, Estonia

How long: 3 days

Accommodation:

I stayed in Red Emperor Bar&Hostel, which was right outside the walled in Old City. It was a perfect location and was easy to get to from the bus I took from the Tallinn Airport. The rooms itself were fairly basic but had everything you needed. The only issue I really had was that the lockers provided in the rooms were too small to fit my bag so I had to remove my valuables from my bag instead of just being able to put all my stuff securely away. I tend to find that people don’t go through your stuff though so I wasn’t too worried about people stealing my clothes. The hostel had coed bathrooms but this wasn’t an issue for me. The hostel also had a kitchen so I prepared most of my meals there. There was a bar attached to the hostel which had some activities most nights. I only went for one of the activities which was a trivia night. I was lucky to find a pair of girls (British + German) who let me join their team. We didn’t win but the British girl, Katharine, and I hit it off so we planned to meet for dinner one of the other nights I was there. She also gave me some recommendations for places to go which was great! Overall the hostel was fairly empty, meaning it wasn’t very social which is tough on solo travelers. But I don’t think this is the hostels fault, it was more a by-product of it being January in Estonia. Not exactly prime time for travel in Estonia!

Where to Eat:

As I said I mostly cooked my meals in the hostel to save money, but I did go to a pancake restaurant at the recommendation of Katharine. Kompressor was within the Old City and is definitely worth a visit. It was delicious! The pancakes were sort of thick crepes and there must have been 30 different types. I ended up with bacon, egg, and cheese–my favorite combo. Definitely recommend a stop here during a visit to Tallinn.

Another restaurant that was good was Must Puudel. I had a burger that was awesome and Katharine had the steak, which she raved about.

On the way to Must Puudel, Katharine had actually wanted to go to Popular but it was too full. The place looked super cute and trendy so this would be another spot to try.

What to do:

The first full day I was there I went on a free walking tour, which left from the tourism office within the Old City. It was about 2 hours long and took us through the history of Tallinn/Estonia, which is quite long as I found out! We walked all around the city and saw some great views and some very old buildings. During the tour I met an Aussie and we decided to get some hot chocolate after the tour because we both froze our butts off during the tour. Highly recommend approximately 16 layers of clothing if going on a walking tour during January in Estonia!

Overlooking the Old City

From a different view point

The next day I headed out on my own and just walked around the Old City, popping into shops and exploring some of the old walls and buildings. It’s so different from walking around cities in the US!

Overall thoughts:

I really liked Tallinn and would love to come back during the summer when it’s easier to spend time outside. I’m sure it would be beautiful. Also the hostel would probably be more social and fun during the summer. Definitely recommend a visit to Tallinn if you get the chance. Also Estonia is super cheap, which was great on my budget before heading to the EXPENSIVE Finland!

City: Helsinki, Finland

How long: 3 days

Accommodation:

I stayed at Hostel Diana Park, which was fairly centrally located. I took the ferry from Tallinn and was able to walk about 20 minutes from the port to the hostel. Easy when all you have is a backpack. When I arrived before check-in time, they were nice enough to let me into my room early because I was super tired. I took a quick nap and then a British guy showed up in the room so I ended up talking to him for a while. He was about to take a train from St. Petersburg all the way to China! That is practically halfway across the world! Then he heads to Australia, South America and eventually the States! It’s going to be a bout a 2 year trip he said. Pretty cool. The room was fairly basic and the bathrooms were TINY, but again not really an issue for me. There was a kitchen so I was able to save money by buying groceries and cooking for myself because Finland is SO expensive. Again, however, because it’s winter in Finland, there weren’t many guests and there wasn’t much social interaction at the hostel. I did run into the Aussie I had lunch with in Tallinn and he was actually staying in my room!! Coincidences like this happen a lot when traveling for a while I find.

Where to Eat:

Because it was so expensive to eat out in Finland I ended up cooking most of my meals, however, I did go to breakfast at Café Engel. It was good but nothing spectacular. Also, it was about 16$ for some eggs, toast, and an OJ so that ended my attempts at eating out.

What to do:

I walked around Helsinki for about 2 hours on my first full day and saw the Uspenki Cathedral which was quite beautiful. Also the Helsinki Cathedral, which is the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran cathedral, was stunning on the cloudy day I saw it.

Helsinki Cathedral

The highlight of my trip to Helsinki was actually not Helsinki itself. It was a town about 45 minutes away, which I went for a day trip on my last day there. The name of the town is Porvoo. It is one of the quaintest towns I have ever seen with all of its buildings painted in different colors. I REALLY enjoyed my time there.

The colorful houses!

Porvoo

Next to the church

Exploring the site where a medieval castle used to stand

Overall thoughts:

I didn’t love Helsinki, in fact I was supposed to stay longer but with the short days and lack of sun, I was starting to feel depressed so I decided to head to Barcelona a few days earlier than scheduled! I really regret not going to the northern part of Finland instead of Helsinki so that at least I would have been able to see the Northern Lights and maybe a reindeer or two, but it just means I have to come back! However, I really liked going to Porvoo, although it only requires a day so it wouldn’t make sense to stay overnight there. Also it was super cold in Finland, so again bring layers upon layers.

Now off to Spain because I can’t seem to stay away for too long 🙂