Tag: Eastern Europe

Dubrovnik

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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!

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Northern Croatia

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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 🙂

Warsaw + Krakow

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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 🙂

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Prague + Budapest

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I had never been to Eastern Europe before but after Prague and Budapest, I can’t wait to explore more of it. I started off in Prague where I was supposed to meet Sabrina, one of my best friends from home. BUT… she took the wrong bus in Rome and ended up at the wrong airport. Which meant she missed her flight. Which meant spending 24 hours in the airport waiting for the next flight to Prague. Luckily she met a couple of Aussies who were also stuck waiting for a flight so she had people to hang with. Meanwhile after arriving at my hostel, I spent my free day catching up on sleep (as I always seem to do) and going for a run. Finally Sabrina arrived in the afternoon. We went for a quick drink at the bar in the hostel and then walked to a fun restaurant for dinner. I had a yummy salmon dish, while Sabrina had a spicy, chicken dish. Because of the ordeal Sabrina had just gone through, we decided to make it an early night.

The next morning we went on a walking tour of Prague. Tons a cool architecture and fun shops. We also saw Europe’s oldest active synagogue. We also managed to make friends with four different Aussies during the tour, and we all decided to get lunch after the tour. After lunch, we walked around and got a tredlynik, a pastry filled with Nutella and vanilla ice cream. We meandered our way to the John Lennon wall, which was pretty cool. Our last stop was the Prague Castle. It offered awesome views over the city.

Walking around Prague

Oldest active synagogue in Europe

Trying to avoid getting lost with our Aussie friends

A close up of the tredlynik

John Lennon Wall

Views from Prague Castle

After getting back to the hostel, we took a quick power nap before heading down to the hostel bar to get some drinks. Sabrina hadn’t had cider before, and it became one of her new favorite drinks! We met some cool British girls and soon there were about 8 of us going out to find a club nearby… unfortunately we didn’t end up being able to find it so Sabrina and I bailed to head back to the hostel, while the rest of the group took cabs to another club. We found a falafel place and had a late night snack before passing out in our beds.

The crew before we left the hostel bar

After sleeping in, we took a tram to the downtown area where we walked around the Jewish quarter and old town. We went across the Charles Bridge and also caught the astronomical clock show, which while the show isn’t anything special, the actual clock itself is a technological feat. The clock was first installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest one still operating.

Charles Bridge

After the show, we hung around Old Town Square and read for a bit on a bench.

Reading in Old Town Square

With our stomachs grumbling, we grabbed some gelato and headed back to the hostel. We quickly changed for the night and went back to the restaurant we went the first night. After all it was so good and cheap. Dinner was about 7$ each. After dinner we decided once again to call it an early night because we were leaving for Budapest the next day.

Overall I think Sabrina and I really enjoyed Prague, but we wished we had been able to see more of the night life. Also I wished we had stayed in a hostel a bit closer to the downtown. Although our downtown was easily accessible by tram, I always like being able to get by with just walking.

 

As soon we arrived in Budapest I knew I would like it. The city seemed walkable (!) and the weather was nice. There were restaurants and shops everywhere and everyone was super friendly. Also, to top it off, our hostel was amazing!! If you ever go to Budapest, please stay there. The hostel had 4 sister hostels around the city and there were activities at them every night. One night was beer olympics, one night was Karaoke, one night was a pub crawl. There was always something to do! Also our hostel was small– about 22 people– but it made it super homey and you really got to know everyone staying there.

The first night I went out with some guys from the hostel to one of the sister hostel’s bar, while Sabrina took a nap. She eventually walked around the city with some girls who were in our room.

The next morning Sabrina and I walked around for a bit before meeting up with two girls in our room to go a thermal bath house, which are common in Budapest. We went to Gellert Baths, which is not the biggest, but it is one of the prettier bath houses. 70 million liters of 21-78 Celsius warm thermal water spring forth daily from its 118 natural thermal springs. Gellert Baths opened in 1918. We had a lovely, relaxing time moving from bath to bath.

Sabrina = Buddha

Elodie, Me, Claire, & Sabrina

Having fun with the gopro

Inside the baths

We spent about 2 hours at the baths before heading back to the hostel. Sabrina and I decided to buy food at the grocery store for the week to save money and also be able to eat a bit healthier, which meant as soon as we got back from the baths we got to work on dinner. After dinner, Elodie and Claire, the two Aussies we went to the baths with, and Louise (another Aussie in our room) went to Szimpla Kurt, which is an awesome, funky ruin bar. Highly recommend!

The next day Louise, Sabrina, and I went to get Thai massages because they are so goddamn cheap! It was about 17$ for 30 minutes. My only regret is not doing an hour. Funnily enough, after getting super relaxed, the three of us headed out to do something not so relaxing: Caving! With a guide, we were taken 150 feet below ground in 40 million year old caves!!! There were even sea shells stuck in the caves from 40 million years ago. It was definitely a highlight for I think both me and Sabrina.

Before caving

Getting safety instructions

In the caves

Sea shell preserved inside the caves

Sabrina

Happy faces post-caving

Despite an exhausting day, we had signed up to go on a boat party that evening with 400 other young travelers. Apparently it is the 3rd largest part boat in Europe. Essentially we paid 30$ and then there is unlimited free drinking for the first 2 hours of the boat trip. It was a really fun experience, but I am not sure I need to do it again (haha).

Views from the river

Parliament from the boat

The next day we decided to go to the biggest baths in Budapest because everyone recommended it. It’s called Szechenyi Baths and Pool. After bouncing around between all the pools, Sabrina and I, along with the 3 Scottish girls we came with, all sat out in the sun and read our books. Quite a relaxing afternoon.

Entrance to the baths

Sabrina and me with our Scottish friends

Szechenyi Baths and Pool

On the way back to the hostel, we tried Langos, which is a Hungarian food speciality consisting of fried bread and cheese with a few options for additional toppings. I decided to try it with everything on it, so it had cheese, ham, garlic, and sour cream. It was delicious, but quite heavy. I definitely didn’t need dinner after eating it!

Sabrina with her Langos

Katrin, Alice, and Carly with their langos

That night we didn’t go out because the previous night had taken it’s toll on us. We did however watch the season finale of the Bachelorette! 🙂

Our flight was around 9pm so we had most of the day to still explore Budapest. Sabrina and I took off walking around and she bought a new bag. After we headed to a famous panini restaurant started by two michelin star chefs! It’s called Bors GasztroBar. We had huge paninins for about 3$. It was unreal.

Lastly we hiked to what used to be a citadel on Gellért Hill. It had awesome views of Budapest and the river.

Views of Budapest

At the top of Gellért Hill

After getting back to the hostel we quickly showered and left for the airport. We are now on our way to Stuttgart, Germany!