After much anticipation and an 8 hour bus ride from Seville, we arrived in the beautiful city of Lisbon. The bus trip itself was uneventful, however should you ever decide to make this trek by bus, be aware that there are no toilets on the bus. To be fair, the bus was cheap, about $40, so you gets what you pay for. Needless to say, we ate and drank sparingly for fear of having to use facilities that were non-existent. Luckily, our driver scheduled a few much needed bathroom breaks along the way. The scenery along the drive was quite beautiful consisting of terraced hills, sheep, and some of the most exotic looking trees I’ve seen.
The bus dropped us off at the Oriente metro station in Lisbon, another beautiful structure designed by Santiago Calatrava. From there it was an easy and quick trip to our accommodations in Lisbon. Our GORGEOUS apartment was located in the central Intendente neighbourhood. We had booked the place through airbnb and it was STUNNING! Andrew, Emma’s boyfriend, was joining us in Lisbon and for the rest of our trip so we needed a comfortable and spacious place and this apartment delivered. We had two bedrooms and two bathrooms, a kitchen, and living/dining room. The place was beautifully decorated with no detail missed. I loved this place and I knew immediately that it would be difficult to leave at the end of our stay.
That evening, after Andrew arrived after almost 24 hours of traveling, we caught up over some wine while planning our activities for the following day.
Alfama from a distance
Next morning, our first order of business was booking a walking tour of the city. We chose the Sandeman New Europe tour which was meant to be 3 hours. This tour, which did not include the famed Alfama neighbourhood, started in the Barrio Alto neighbourhood and wound its way through many of the cities cobblestone streets as our tour guide shared stories of the city’s heroes, history, food and monuments. Our guide was wonderful at telling stories and we certainly learned a lot, however the tour ran quite late at almost 4 hours! By the end of it we were exhausted and starving. Don’t get me wrong, we enjoyed the tour, but it could have easily been shortened and would have still been quite useful and informative. We could not help but feel as though our guide really enjoyed listening to the sound of his own voice and his seemingly endless remarks about needing tips to cover his rent along and his requests for us to book additional paid tours during our break instead of online following the tour (he gets a commission for the tours you book that day) got a bit old. All that being said, the tour was quite good.
Following the tour, we were thirsty and what better way to quench your thirst then to enjoy some sangria on a patio. We found a nice little resto on a side street and settled in for our first official sangria pitcher in Portugal.
Dinner was actually not too bad, considering we ended up at a small, family run, restaurant where they served both Portuguese and Indian fare. A little weird, but we were so hungry we didn’t care. We ordered lamb and fish dishes which were surprisingly delicious given that this place was a bit of a hole in the wall, the desserts however, were the stars of the show. We had creme brule, a flan and, a traditional Portuguese cake that consisted of layers of cookies interspersed with a coffee flavoured cream that was so tasty I’m still thinking about it. After polishing off our desserts, our server offered us a complimentary ‘whiskey’. I should point out that this ‘whiskey’ was home made and clear in colour. Honestly, it smelled like pure alcohol and tasted like gasoline. I barely chocked it down. Andrew loved it and actually complimented the server on it. His reward? He was happily given a second shot of this Portuguese fire water to gulp down. Why anyone would voluntarily submit themselves to that kind of punishment is beyond me. That stuff was disgusting.
The next morning we signed up for a tour of Alfama which started at 3pm later that day. We spent the morning walking through Lisbon taking in the sights then made our way to the meeting spot for our 3 pm tour. The tour was short and sweet and our guide, who was clearly new at this, was engaging and informative. We walked through Alfama’s winding streets while being regaled with stories of life in Alfama, it’s traditions and people. We were even treated to a shot of homemade Gingha (a delicious cherry flavoured liqueur) served from the window of a lovely lady’s home as we walked by on our tour. I couldn’t help but notice that several enterprising locals were selling shots of Gingha from their windows and stoops to the very thirsty tourists exploring their neighbourhood.
Walking through Alfama
If you visit Lisbon you must treat yourselves to a Fado performance. Fado is a traditional form of music the origins of which can be traced to the 1820s and it’s cultural importance is as significant to Portugal as Flamenco is to Spain. There are no words that can accurately describe Fado music, suffice it to say that it is both beautiful and mournful. We were lucky enough to enjoy an evening of Fado while enjoying a delicious traditional Portuguese meal in the historical Alfama neighbourhood later that evening following our tour.
Fado singing during dinner in Alfama
The following day was pretty busy as we made our way out to Belem to visit the Torre de Belem, enjoyed a delicious lunch of grilled chicken, explored the park after a nice self-catered picnic – made friends with some ducklings and a few peacocks – ate our weight in Pasteis de Belem‘s WORLD FAMOUS Portuguese custard tarts and finally making our way back to our neighbourhood in time to see the sunset from the Miradouro da Senhora do Monte.
Torre Belem
The bustle is non-stop at Pasteis de Belem
Let me tell you, climbing that hill to see the sunset was a killer. However, once we arrived at the top of the hill we were lucky enough to witness one of the most beautiful city sunsets ever. There was something truly magical about this place. We arrived at the top of the hill, sweating, out of breath, cursing every bloody stair we had to climb to make it there, yet somehow all of that didn’t matter. It also didn’t seem to matter to the other thirty or so other people who had also made the ascent. As the sunset over Lisbon, the crowd snapped pictures while toasting each other with wine and beer (which we in our haste forgot to bring. At some point a small band began serenading the crowd with some old standards and as the sunlight faded and the sky began to shift from orange, to pink, and finally red, the jazz trumpet played the sun out of the sky, I couldn’t help but smile. It was a perfect end to a wonderful day.
Sunset over Lisbon
In total, we were in Lisbon for 6 days and we could have easily stayed longer and not run out of things to do or see. We loved the city, its people and its food and I cannot wait to return some day.
After the busy and frenetic pace of Lisbon, we were happy to arrive in Porto. I couldn’t help but notice almost immediately that Porto seemed to be much more quieter and laid back then Lisbon. We arrived by train after a relatively short trip, about 3 hours. Our apartment, again an airbnb rental, was centrally located, about a 10 minute walk from the Sao Bento train station. Fun Fact: the train station was named after a 16th century Benectine monastery which was at one time located on the site, but was destroyed by fire in the late 18th century. It was rebuilt but fell into a state of disrepair. In the early 1900s King Carlos I decided to expand the Portuguese train system and engaged a famous architect, Jose Marques de Silva to redesign the defunct monastery for it to be used as the main train station in Porto
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One of the two azulejo panels at the Sao Bento station in Porto.
Currently, the train station acts as a main hub for Porto’s suburban train lines. The architecture is stunning, however, the real star attraction of the station are the two azulejo painted tile panels by Jorge Colaco – who was considered to be the most important azulejo painter at the time. The two panels depict landscapes and historical events and are located in the main vestibule of the station.
We arrived at our apartment which was located in a circa 1960’s three story walk-up. Let me tell you that walking into that apartment was like taking a step back in time. The apartment, which used to be owned by an architect, had been magnificently restored to its original design, complete with wood paneled walls, post modern lighting and the most amazing divider wall come bookcase I have ever seen. However, the decor itself paled in comparison to the current owner’s extensive collection of jazz and fado CDs! I was over the moon at discovering these magnificent musical gems and the best part? The owner also left us a delicious bottle of Porto for us to sip on while we enjoyed her sensational jazz collection.
Enjoying some of Porto’s finest at the historical Majestic Cafe.
The following morning we set off to explore the city. Sadly Porto’s only walking tour was not being offered during the days we would be in the city, so we did a bit of research online and made a list of some attractions to seek out while walking around Lisbon. One of the first places we checked out was Porto’s historical Majestic Cafe. There was a bitof a line up but we didn’t mind, since we knew that something delicious was waiting for us inside. We each ordered a dessert and port pairing from their recommended pairings menu, and no surprise, the pairings were perfect.
Luckily for us, we just happened to arrive in Porto while a number of great outdoor events and festivals were taking place, including the one day Em D’Bandada music festival. This music festival is unlike most music festivals in that the bands perform in some very interesting locations such as a streetcar, or in a grocery store, or marching down the sidewalk. Em D’Bandada begins early morning and continues well into the pre-dawn hours. We were fortunate enough to see some great performances as we walked through the city that day. Unfortunately, I got sick that evening but Emma and Andrew were able to check out some of the performances, including a street party featuring a DJ spinning from inside the basket of a cherry picker 5 meters above the street until 4am.
On our first morning walk through the city, we happened upon an outdoor market selling everything from homemade cookies, compotes and macaroons…just to name a few. I, of course, took full advantage and picked up a small bag of cookies along with a delicious port, apricot and raspberry jam. All were made by small local producers who were all very enthusiastic about their products and rightfully so. All that traveling had made me quite hungry.
Outdoor market in Porto
Porto is also home to a very large outdoor book fair as well as a festival that pays homage to Porto’s official dish, the Francesinha. This dish can best be described as a franken-sandwich stuffed with cured ham, sausage, and beef wrapped in melted cheese then drowned in a beer and tomato sauce. It’s sometimes topped with an egg and served with french fries. It’s not an attractive looking dish, but I was assured by both Emma and Andrew that it was delicious. I wasn’t feeling well, and upon seeing this monstrosity of a sandwich, I was grateful for not being able to stomach food, because there was no way I was putting any of it in my mouth, as I assure you it looked disgusting.
The famous Francesinha…at 2500 calories each, this thing packs a punch
The forecast for the next few days was not very promising with nothing but torrential downpours in the forecast. We decided that the best way to beat the weather was to visit one of the many port lodges across the Douro and hole up there for an afternoon of porto tasting. I mean, what choice did we have?
We attended a really nice tasting at the Taylor’s port lodge. Our tasting included a guided tour and three glasses of port. The tour and tasted lasted about an hour and a half in total and we paired our ports with a very nice artisanal cheese and some handcrafted chocolate truffles. It was pure bliss and by far the best way to combat the dismal weather outside.
Taylor’s port tasting…best way to escape the rain.
Later that evening, we enjoyed a lovely dinner at Grade A, a family run restaurant near the waterfront. The food was simply prepared and absolutely delicious. We were offered a delicious and delicate octopus salad and a plate of lightly battered and deep fried sardines drizzled in oil as appetizers which we devoured almost immediately. I then ordered the prawns in lemon butter and paprika served with lemon wedges, while Emma ordered the pan seared lamb and Andrew had the oven roasted kid. Dessert was a dream, we each ordered something different and shared, as you do! I had a slice of key lime pie – divine! Andrew ordered another version of the layered mocha cream cake he’d had in Lisbon and Emma ordered an oven roasted apple with cinnamon – YUM!
We managed to sign up for the Taste Porto Food tour, which quite frankly I cannot recommend enough. The tour lasted about 3 1/2 hours and was pretty amazing. Our guide Andre, was very knowledgeable and he offered us an experience that took us off the beaten path. The beauty of this tour is that Andre and his team will not take you to the typical touristy food places, his food tour gives you the opportunity to taste the Porto that the locals enjoy. He works closely with local vendors and suppliers to curate a truly authentic Porto food experience. During this tour we visited 6 stops including the Mercado Bolhao, Flor dos Congregados (the oldest restaurant in Porto, a third generation family run resto that has been operating for 152 years – and counting), an incredible bakery famous for its eclairs, another bakery specializing in an incredibly flaky pastry stuffed with both savoury and sweet fillings, an historic coffee house and a taberno specializing in curating the best wines, cheeses and sausages from small local producers. This tour was an absolute highlight and Andre was an absolute wealth of information on the food scene in Porto offering us suggestions on where to eat and which wine bars to visit. Just incredible. One of the best things about this particular tour were the other foodies who also signed up. We met some pretty amazing people including including a journalist from the U.K. who was living in Poland with his wife (we met up with them later that day for pint at a local craft beer pub) another couple from Australia who were living in London, another couple from just outside Toronto who were last minute additions to the tour, and a fantastic woman named Nanna, from Reykjavik, who also happened to be a well known cook book author.
I discovered so much while visiting this amazing city and I’m not just talking about the food and the port. We visited many wonderful spots including the Livraria Lello, an incredible library dating back to 1869 which served as J.K. Rowling’s inspiration for Hogwarts while writing Harry Potter.
Inside Livreria Lello
On another day, we wandered into the incredible HATS & C.A.T.S. where I had the pleasure of trying on some of the most beautiful hats I’ve laid eyes upon. These hats were not just hats, they were pure artistry.
Finally, on our last day in Porto we took the historic Tram 1 to Passeio Alegre and walked along the sea wall to watch the waves crashed against the light house as the sun set on the horizon, a scene so wondrously beautiful it made my heart sing. I just couldn’t believe how lucky I was to be there to witness something so amazing.
Malaga has long been one of my absolute favourite destinations, if not for its beautiful old city centre than most definitely for its rich history and breathtaking views from atop the Gibralfaro.
Rose garden in Malaga, beautiful spot along the waterfront
We arrived in Malaga mid afternoon after a scenic train ride through the country side. Upon arrival we checked into our room – booked through airbnb – located in the heart of the old city centre. The room was located in an airy third floor walk up with tall ceilings, an adorable kitchen and spacious living room with large windowed doors opening up to two balconies overlooking the cobblestone streets below. Our room was adorably decorated in whitewashed finish with a large cupboard for our clothes and the most comfortable beds ever – and lets not forget, real, actual pillows…like actual foam pillows. If I’d had room in my backpack, they may have accidentally made their way into my luggage. Mornings were an absolute delight at this place, we enjoyed our breakfasts in the company of other guests and sharing travel stories with them…loved this place.
Freshly caught and deep fried whitebaits with sangria
After checking in we made our way to Confederation Square located in the heart of Malaga, one of my favourite spots to people watch. We promptly sat down at a table on one of the restaurant terraces overlooking the square and ordered a pitcher of sangria and plate of battered and fried whitebaits…absolutely scrumptious! We lingered there for most of the afternoon musing about our adventure so far and what we should explore while staying in Malaga.
We had initially planned a day trip to Morocco from Malaga, but soon discovered that we wouldn’t have enough time to do so. Luckily for us, this would give us time to explore the Alcazaba and the Castillo de Gibralfaro instead. The Alcazaba is a former palace-fortress dating back to 1057 and was occupied by the Muslim governors during their time in Spain. Easily walkable and bargain as you can visit both sites for less than 3 euros – if you are willing to wait until later in the afternoon to make the climb to the Castillo de Gibralfaro as entrance is free after 2pm. We decided to explore both the following day.
One of many beautiful gardens for you to enjoy as you stroll through Malaga
That evening, we decided to check out the tapas scene in Malaga and made our way to El Tapy, a local tapas bar which was highly rated on Yelp because of it’s varied menu and cheap eats. What. A. Shit. Show. The place was crowded and our server ushered us to a tiny table in the back room, crammed up against another table. It was so crammed that the guy at the next table kept hitting me in the back with his elbow every time he took a drink from his wine glass and he and his friend had just ordered another full bottle of wine! We ordered two beers which were brought to us fairly quickly, they were ice cold and accompanied by, quite possibly, the most gag inducing plate of paella I’ve ever had the misfortune of putting in my mouth. I’m afraid it was time to call time on El Tapy. We downed our beers and spent the next 20 minutes trying to flag down our server in order to get our bill. Emma literally, no joke, had to tackle another server in order to finally get our bill. We made haste out of there and off to a quaint little tapas placed we had walked by earlier in the evening, Vineria Cervantes.
Disgusting El Tapy paella, to be avoided at all costs
It was brilliant! We were seated at a small table outside (perfect for people watching) and given a menu. Now the challenges was in choosing something since every plate that passed by our table looked mouth watering and every dish described on the menu sounded delicious. We finally decided on the battered prawns with treacle and a coriander mayonnaise and the Argentine steak with tomatoes and roasted potatoes, paired with a Rioja tinto – Biga ‘crianza’. Their wine list was quite impressive, with many wines available by the glass, so choosing a wine was a bit of an effort, but our server was extremely knowledgeable and quite helpful in helping us choose the right wine.
Vineria Cervantes’ Prawns with treacle and cilantro aoli, not to be missed.
The prawns were incredibly tasty with the sweetness of the treacle playing off nicely against the tang of the coriander mayo. The steak was cooked to perfection and though the tomatoes and roast potatoes were nice, the star of the dish was the spicy chimichurri sauce served alongside, it was heaven. The entire meal brought a tear to my eye, it was so freakin’ good, with the Rioja capping off an absolutely wonderful meal in Malaga.
It’s worth a mention that we ordered the half plates and we did not leave hungry.
Our first step the following day was the Picasso Museum, a permanent Picasso exhibit on display in the artist’s childhood home. Picasso lived in Malaga as a child, left to pursue his art and returned to Malaga only once at the age of 19. The family home was restored and now houses approximately 250 of his oeuvres, generously donated by his family trust. The price is 7 euros and includes the audioguide, which was very informative and offered a great deal of insight into his personal life, his creative process and his progression as an artist. Touring the museum takes about an hour to 90 minutes and not only includes his paintings, but also features a few of his sculptures and a large collection of his pottery which was donated to the museum by his widow. The pottery was quite interesting, but the room in which it is housed was the showstopper, as they feature beautiful murals and gilded ceilings. Absolutely stunning. Of note, the museum also features some pretty interesting temporary exhibits from time to time. Last time I was there, the Dennis Hopper photography exhibit was on offer, and this time they were featuring Louise Bourgeois’ I’ve Been to Hell and Back .
The museum also houses an archaeological dig in the basement, discovered while the home was being restored, displaying remains from the Roman wall which at one time surrounded the city. Though the display itself is quite small, it’s well worth a visit.
Our next stop was the Alcazaba, a palace cum fortress constructed in the early 11th century to house the Muslim emperors who ruled the region at that time. If you plan on visiting this place, be sure to set aside at least a couple of hours and make the hike up the hillside to the Castillo de Gibralfaro as well for some stunning views of the city. Both are amazing examples of Moorish architecture and an absolute must. We also took advantage of the small cafe on site and took a much deserved sangria break under the shade of the trees and overlooking the city below. Delightful!
After a full day of sightseeing, what better way to cap of the day then drinks on the roof of the Marriott hotel followed by dinner at one of the oldest restaurants in the city. Our hosts had recommended the rooftop at the Marriott and it did not disappoint. We were treated to 360 degree sweeping views of the city below while we sipped our sangrias and watched dusk turn into night.
Views from atop the AC Marriott in Malaga, simply breathtaking
Later, we made our way to El Chinitas, one of the oldest restaurants in Malaga. The restaurant specializes in seafood and has an extensive wine list. Prices are what you would expect to pay in the touristy part of the city, but the food was good and we were treated to a delicious meal on the terrace. We shared a mixed tapas appetizer plate featuring fish, meat, beans and sausages and each had a fish plate. I ordered the sole meuniere and Emma ordered their deep fried seafood platter. I wish I could say the food was amazing, but sadly it was not. My fish was average at best and the appetizer selection was less than stellar, though Emma appeared to enjoy her seafood plate.
Sole a la meuniere – El ChinitasFried fish platter, a must try in Malaga
Following dinner, we walked through its cobblestone streets, exploring the many bars and terraces where locals and tourists alike commiserate over sangria and the music from the clubs spills out into the streets. The perfect end to our last day in this beautiful place.
This beautiful 2000 year old city was definitely one of the many highlights of this trip. Once considered to be a major fishing and much desired trade hub, Sevilla was conquered by both the Cartagenas and the Romans, colonized and named by Julius Caesar, then Muslim occupied for more than 500 years. As expected this rich and storied past has influenced its architecture, traditions, food, culture and its people.
Seville at night, there is no place more beautiful.
We arrived in Seville by train in the early afternoon and quickly made our way to Pension Vergara, a former convent now converted into a two story pension, and our home for the next few days. The pension was located on the most famous neighbourhoods of Seville – though we didn’t know it at the time. More on that later.
After checking in to our room, we unloaded our bags and made quick work of finding a nearby restaurant for a bite to eat and a glass of wine, of course. Let me say that this did not prove to be very difficult as the winding cobblestone streets outside our pension were lined with restaurants, tabernas, terraces and bodegas. We had hit pay dirt!
Our first food stop on this leg of the trip was Cerverceria Giraldi, A small restaurant with a stunning sidewalk view of the cathedral. We ordered small tapas plates of Iberico ham, grilled lamb chops, grilled mushrooms, and manchego cheese along with a crisp bottle of perfectly chilled vinho verde.
We lingered over our tapas and wine planning out our last few days in Spain while watching tourists and locals alike going about their business in the shadow of the cathedral and later that evening we walked through the city snapping pictures and taking in the beauty of this wonderful place. Sevilla at night is absolutely stunning. I must have taken over a thousand pictures while visiting this city alone. Just incredible. After a few hours of taking in the magnificence of this place at night, and witnessing quite possibly, one of the most beautiful city sunsets I’ve ever seen, we headed back to our pension for a solid night’s rest. There was a lot to see here and we didn’t want to miss a second of it!
The following morning we headed to the meeting spot for the free walking tour. Our guide Lupee was born in Seville and has a degree in Art History, so she was the perfect person to lead our tour through this historic city. Our tour focused on the the many monuments of Seville, as well as the area near the cathedral, the India Archives and the Real Alcazar. The tour lasted about 3 hours with stops at the oldest bullfighting ring in Sevilla, the Gold Tower, the Royal Tobacco Factory, now converted into a public university, the grounds of the Ibero-American Exposition World’s Fair which took place in Seville in 1929, and the Plaza de Espana . While we saw many things on this tour, my favourite stop was by far, the Plaza de Espanya, also built as part of the Ibero-American Export to highlight Spain’s industry and technology exhibits. Currently it houses Seville’s City Hall along with various government departments. Fun Fact: the building was also used in the filming of Lawrence of Arabia.
Plaza de Espanya
While on our walking tour, our guide mentioned a Flamenco evening event which was also offered by the same tour company. We signed up on the spot and we certainly did not regret it. For 28 euros, we were treated to a brief, one-hour history lesson on Flamenco in Sevilla from the rooftop of the Hotel Dona Maria in Old Sevilla. The views and wine alone were worth the price of the tour. As the sun set over the cathedral and we sipped our wine, Lupee provided us with a detailed overview of the various branches of the art, its costumes, and its folklore. Once the sun had set the history lesson was complete and it was time to make our way to the famed Casa de la Guitarra for the Flamenco show. The venue was quite small, with a maximum seating of probably 50 people. The lines of the small room are lined with the largest collection of Spanish Flamenco guitars in the world. The privately owned collection is said to be one of the most important in Spain with guitars dating back to the 16th century.
Now, it is said that the art of Flamenco should be enjoyed in a small, intimate space where you can see the sweat on the dancer’s brow and feel the music of the guitar and the vibrato of the singer’s voice and the stomping of the performers’ feet. The venue delivered on all fronts. We were seated very close to the front, second row, and thoroughly enjoyed the performance. It was an absolute treat and the highlight of our time in Seville. As our tour guide said it best “you don’t go the opera for steak”, so why would you sign up for a flamenco dinner show in a large theatre. She was right. This is the only way to enjoy the art of Flamenco. I cannot recommend this show enough.
The food in Seville is beyond compare, we enjoyed many delicious meals in this city and we even found a favourite hangout, the Bodega Santa Cruz. We had heard a lot about the Santa Cruz neighbourhood and how it was an absolutely must while in Seville. On our final day in Seville, we decided to look up some restaurants in that neighbourhood and make our way there for dinner. Well, we didn’t have to go very far, as it turned out that after 4 days of talking about how we must visit this neighbourhood, the restaurant we were planning to go to was literally outside the front door of our pensione. We had been in the bloody neighbourhood for our entire trip and didn’t even realize it! You would think that the bodega we visited every night, the Bodega Santa Cruz, would have tipped us off? Idiots! Highly embarrassing! Needless to say we loved Santa Cruz, it’s winding cobblestone streets, historic sights and delicious food!
Metropol Parasol, The Second Room and their ridiculously potent dry martinis.
We stopped into the Second Room after visiting the Metropol Parasol, a wooden structure designed by noted German architect Jurgen Mayer-Hermann. The admission for entrance is 3 euros and it includes a free cocktail at one of 3 restaurants located at the base of the structure. We, of course, took full advantage of this incredible freebie and enjoyed a chilled glass of vinho verde under the Parasol.
This glass of vinho verde was followed by an order of deep fried calamari and onions with hot chili peppers and a bottle of wine – they were offering a promotion on wine after all – who can say no to that? Well, certainly not Emma and I. So, we ate the calamari and polished off the bottle of wine. As we made our way back to our hotel, we happened to notice a sign outside the Second Room, a popular cocktail bar, promoting their dry martini. It was ridiculously priced at 14 euros, but how could we say no to the only decent martini we’d seen on a menu in over a month. We sat down and ordered the martini, as you do – ‘Very dry with 3 olives, please and thank you!’ It was delicious! It was so delicious in fact, that we ordered a second martini…with 5 olives this time! Let me just say in our defence, that we had already consumed a half bottle of wine each and a martini, so we clearly were not thinking straight. Fast forward to the next afternoon when we woke up in our beds at the pension, fully clothed – I was still wearing my sandals – with absolutely no recollection of when or how we got there. After checking our bags to make sure we still had our wallets and cash, we checked our cameras to see if we had taken any photos following our martini throw down. The last photo on my phone was a picture of the 5 olive martini, it was time stamped 6:57PM. It was now past noon! Yikes! Thus, I would recommend that you do try the martini, but for the love of all that is holy, don’t be an idiot. Don’t drink a bottle of wine before hand and no matter what you do…do not, under any circumstances, order a second one!
The Second Room’s DEADLY DRY MARTINI – stop at one if you know what’s good for you!
On our last full day in Seville and we couldn’t possibly leave the city without visiting the famous Real Alcazar. To be completely honest, it’s the one thing I absolutely had to visit, especially knowing that episodes of Game of Thrones have been filmed there. The grounds and palace defy description and the photos alone do not do it justice. Suffice it to say that it was well worth the price of admission and the 2 hours we spent there were not nearly enough. The surrounding gardens are equally beautiful and one could spend 2 hours alone enjoying the quiet sanctuary they offer.
Real Alcazar, SevillaInside the Real Alcazar, Sevilla
Though tourists now flock to this marvelous city in droves, it’s currently ranked 11th on the list of most visited cities in the world (according to Forbes), this was not always the case. It is also currently the 5th most visited city in Europe (according to Conde Nast Readers’ Choice Award for 2014). The city was not really viewed as a destination until after it hosted the Olympics in 1992. Prior to the ’92 Olympics Barcelona was very different from what it is now. For one thing, there were no beaches in Barcelona, however, once they secured the games, they began working in earnest to transform their city from a mostly industrial backwater into the sun, sand and sangria destination it is today. The city spent over $11 billion dollars to not only construct the many sporting venues, stadiums, and accommodations for the athletes, but to add much needed infrastructure and green spaces and beaches. They demolished the industrial waterfront, added a modern marina and imported enough sand from Egypt to create a 2 mile long beach (they continue to import sand from Egypt every year in order to maintain the beaches). Interestingly enough, the sand was not the only thing they imported. We discovered on our tour of the city that even their palm trees were imported, since palm trees are not native to the area, and that the bulk of their palm trees were imported from as far away as Miami.
You can bet that I was stoked to be in this fabulous place and despite feeling like death warmed over, I couldn’t wait to get out and explore.
We arrived at our hostel, Holidaysbcn Hostel around 11am. Since I had been ill the entire morning, all I wanted to do was get some sleep and recover as soon as possible. After a very long nap, I was feeling well enough to venture out and grab a small meal of paella and sangria. Before leaving our hostel, we had checked out nearby restaurants on Yelp and though there weren’t really any near us, we did notice that Yelp was hosting an event that evening and that all were invited. We made our way to the event, and it just so happened that we arrived in Barcelona during their Dias De Gracias street festival and the Yelp event we attended was in conjunction with the festival.
Scenes from Dias de Gracias 2015 – Barcelona
This festival is something else. As we meandered through the small streets of the neighbourhood we couldn’t help but marvel at the impressive decorations and installations throughout. Each installation was based on a specific theme and the themes were as varied as they were vibrant; The 4 Seasons, Moulin Rouge, Japanese Garden and Amusement Park to name a few. We saw belly dancers, musical performances and a whole lot more. There were countless food stands selling mouthwatering dishes. As we sat down by one of the fountains sipping our 1€ draft beers eating porchetta sandwiches we could hardly believe our luck at happening upon this wonderful festival. Our first night in Barcelona and we were in food and drink heaven. After drinking our fill of beer and gorging on food we made our way through the crowds and back to our hostel for the night.
The next morning, we were up bright and early’ish – okay we rolled out of bed at 10am – we’re on vacation, don’t judge us! We made our way to the Gothic Quarter for the free walking tour. There are several companies offering walking tours, including Sandeman, however, we chose the tour offered by Travel Bar because they were rated number one on TripAdvisor. Our guide, Chrissy, a transplant from Athens who visited Barcelona 4 years ago who fell in love with the city and never looked back, would walk us through the Gothic quarter for the next 2 1/2 hours. We learned quite a bit about Barcelona’s history, legends and lore. Once the tour was over she even sat with us for a drink and gave us some pointers on additional things to see and do during our stay.
A few pics from the Barrio Gothic, Barcelona
One of the tours she mentioned was the Paella cooking experience, an evening tour lead by a trained chef who would guide us through the famous Boqueria Merkat St. Josef where we would purchase all things required for a traditional Spanish meal of pinxtos, paella and sangria. Did someone say Sangria? I’m in!!
Fernando, our chef kicked off the tour by taking us to the Merkat St. Josef to select some of the ingredients (fresh seafood) required for our cooking class later that evening. The tour of the market was brief, but informative as he provided us with tips on selecting the best seafood for making paella.We then made our way to the cooking school where we would be making that evening’s dinner. Once we arrived at the school, we were greeted by the staff and immediately fed plates of iberico ham and cheeses and all of the ingredients needed to assemble some tasty pinxtos, which Fernando instructed us on. Did I mention the Sangria? So much Sangria and it was delicious.
Pinxtos, Paella and Sangria cooking experience
Touring the Boqueria St. Josef in advance of our cooking experience
After eating some pinxtos and drinking Sangria we were then brought to the kitchen area and walked through the process of cleaning the various seafoods, prepping the vegetables and cooking the paella…more Sangria was served, while we were all taught how to make Sangria…hell ya!
Once the paella was ready, we all received a very healthy serving – enough for seconds if you wanted it, along with more pinxtos and, of course, Sangria.
Following dinner, the staff collected our plates and served us more…Sangria!
Overall, a great night. We learned to cook a traditional Spanish meal complete with pinxtos, ate some delicious food all while sipping Sangria and making new friends.
Also, I should mention the price, it was 28 euros and well worth it. We’ve spent double that on meals with one pitcher of sangria! Cannot recommend this activity enough, Fernando and his team were amazing!
The next day, we joined another free walking tour, this one focusing on photography. To be completely honest, I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it was. Our guide Andre spoke to us about the history of photography and taught us some of the basics of photo composition, lighting, and searching for the story in your photos. He showed us some easy ways to raise our picture taking to another level, beyond the usual ‘snapshot’ if you will. The tour lasted a little over 2 hours and it was excellent.
Practicing using my new photography skills during the photography tour in Barcelona…I think I’m getting better 🙂
The thing I loved most about Barcelona, and there were many, trust me, was pinxtos. I am obsessed with food so walking into a pinxtos and tapas bar was absolute heaven for me. The endless options, the interesting flavour combinations and all the bite sized portions you can shake a stick at had me grinning from ear to ear every single time we were out and about. A couple of my personal favourites spots to grab pinxtos and tapas were Orio and Lia d’en Vicius. They were lovely spots, with delicious offerings at reasonable prices.
Orio’s pinxtos selection, hundreds of delicious bite sized delights.
Lia d’en Vicius’ sangria and pinxtos offerings…one of our favourite meals in Barcelona.
Barcelona has so many wonderful things going for it, the nightlife, the wines, the food, the beautiful public spaces, Gaudi’s influences everywhere, its beaches, its cobblestone streets and most of all its people – all of which make me want to come back and explore many times over. I will be back, you can count on it!
We begrudgingly crawled out of bed on our final morning in Barcelona and made our way to the train station. Next stop, Valencia.
While in Valencia, we stayed at an airbnb property. The apartment itself was spacious and well appointed. We had our own rooms, a large bathroom with a normal sized shower and a modern kitchen. Yay!
You’d think we’d died and gone to heaven, however a couple of hours into our stay and the apartment started to smell like something had literally died in there! Ground zero for the smell seemed to be an old, rather imposing cabinet in the dining room. The smell can best be described as roach bomb meets garbage truck. So, though our surroundings were beautiful and appeared luxurious, the noxious smell rendered us blind to all of it. The smell became all consuming robbing us of our appetites and even our sleep. We tried everything to get rid of the stench from room deodorizers to bowls of vinegar. NOTHING WORKED.
When Emma contacted the owner to let her know about the order the owner’s response was ‘it smells bad, but it’s not offensive.’ Um…Dude, we think this cabinet is literally killing us, that’s how bad the smell is! Emma dared open one of the drawers to this thing and released an odour so foul it could have only come from the 7th circle of hell. This malodorous buffet was in fact a portal to satan’s realm. I imagined that this is what demon farts must smell like. That stench will haunt my dreams.
Needless to say, we spent as little time there as possible. Returning only to sleep in the evenings.
The city itself is beautiful, with many lush parks and green spaces. Also very walkable.
We didn’t bother with the free walking tour in Valencia, since the free walking tour is only offered on certain days of the week, none of which coincided with our visit.
We knew we wanted to check out the Central Market and Oceanografic – the Santiago Calatrava designed Aquarium.
Valencia’s Central Market is absolutely beautiful!
The central market did not disappoint, I actually preferred it to Barcelona’s Bocario St. Josef. The building that houses the Central Market is massive while its high ceilings and stained glass panes give it an airy feel. There were many people visiting the market, but it never felt crowded because of the way the place is laid out. We tried many cheese and jamon samples that day my friend.
One of the unexpected surprises of Valencia was its many colourful murals. The street art in this city is spectacular, vibrant and highly imaginative. We wandered through many tiny streets discovering some stunning works along the way.
A sampling of some of the amazing and imaginative street art in Valencia
Oceanografic is a must when in Seville. Not just because it’s a fantastic aquarium and extremely well designed, but because it’s part of the larger Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias complex, designed by Santiago Calatrava. This place is stunning. We marvelled at the buildings for a good hour before even setting foot in any of them. The views, the angles, the creativity – all breathtaking. This place was designed by an artist and a dreamer.
Absolutely stunning architecture by Santiago Calatrava
After two days of kicking around Valencia it was up bright and early for the bus ride to Bunol for La Tomatina! What is La Tomatina? Well, it’s only the world’s largest food fight! For 70 years people have been making the yearly pilgrimage to this tiny town in the hills of Spain to throw over 140 tons of tomatoes at anyone crazy enough to take part!
Now, in case you’re wondering, yes there are actual rules to a tomato fight. You have to squash the tomato before launching it at someone so that the blows ‘don’t hurt as much’. You are allowed to throw tomatoes at anyone who is looking at you, not looking at you, standing, sitting, lying down or just within throwing distance. The fight starts as soon as someone retrieves a large ham from the top of a greased pole in the town square at which time the cannon is fired announcing the start of the fight. Once the cannon has been fired the tomatoes begin flying in earnest. The fight ends when the second cannon sounds an hour later.
There were 20,000 of us crammed into this tiny street stomping and throwing tomatoes, ankle deep in tomato guts. The streets running red with a soupy, smelly tomato mess. There was no escape. It was amazing and so much fun! We emerged an hour later exhausted from the fight, bits of tomato in places we’d never imagined. Our hair and clothes caked in this layer of pulp and seeds. It took no less than 4 street showers (basically hosed down by the locals who line the sidewalks) and 2 litres each of sangria before we felt half way human again.
Emma and I at La Tomatina! Photo credit Emma Peachey
Once we got back to our apartment in Valencia we showered again, this time finally able to wash the rest of that stinky red pulp off. The clothes we wore however, were not salvageable. It was two days later and I was still finding tomato bits in my ear!
While La Tomatina had provided us an unforgettable life experience, it also gave us something else completely unexpected – a rash! We woke up the next morning covered in hives, apparently from the acid of the tomatoes – a slight allergic reaction and completely normal apparently. Nothing a little Claritin couldn’t fix.
You will notice that I haven’t really mentioned anything about the food in Valencia, other than our trip to the market and sadly that’s because we didn’t really find the food scene in Valencia to be all that amazing. If I’m being completely honest, it was more than a bit disappointing. The meals we had were ‘meh’ and certainly not on par with our other food experiences in Barcelona and meals I’d enjoyed while visiting Madrid on a previous trip.
On our final day in Valencia, we headed to the beach to recuperate from our tomato battle and work on our tans. The beach was outside of the city and quite beautiful. We lay in the sun that afternoon sipping beer and reminiscing on our food fight to end all food fights.
We arrived late in the day and checked into our hostel (City Westend Hostel). We were given a large private room on the third floor with a large window overlooking the street below. Normally, having a large window overlooking the street below is a huge benefit, however, on one particular night, as we sat by the window watching people trying to seek refuge from a torrential downpour – highly entertaining I must say – our neighbour from across the way began waving at us to get our attention. We thought ‘how nice, the locals are so friendly’. Then he tried to entice us to come over by showing us his extra chairs and bottles of wine. We politely indicated a ‘thanks, but no thanks’ to him. Well, he didn’t give up that easily and continue to try and convince us to come over. Again, we declined. We continue to watch the people below as we sipped wine and snacked on the cheeses and sausage we picked up at the local market. When we happened to glance back at the window across the way where our neighbour sat, we couldn’t help but notice that he was staring directly at us – super creepy – AND THAT HE HAD REMOVED HIS CLOTHES. Sadly, that kinda put an end to our people watching as we turned down our lights, drew the curtains and began playing cards, leaving Creepy McCreeperson across the street to play by himself. Thanks for ruining our fun pervert!
Gigantic sink hole caused by the torrential rains.Watching people try to escape the rain is fun…until some perve ruins it all.
The room itself was clean and the bathroom and showers were located directly across the hall from us. No A/C and it was hot, but it was just a crash pad so who cares.
We were only in Budapest for 4 days and there was a tremendous amount of things to see and an unbelievable amount of foods to try. So, let’s get started shall we.
Upon arrival at the airport we purchased the Budapest Card. For 9,900 forints we were given all access to the metro system – which is extremely reliable. Just keep in mind that the escalators in the metro are ridiculous – and countless museums for 72 hours. The card also included 2 free walking tours (one for the Buda and one for the Pest side) as well as free admission to the St. Lukas Thermal Baths, which in itself was worth the entire cost of the card.
Unbelievable escalator
At night along the Danube in Budapest
On our first night in the city, we set off in search for, what else, traditional Hungarian food! We had done a bit of research and had a list of traditional Hungarian restaurants that also had the added bonus of being inexpensive. We made our way to Lef Etteram near the basilica. The menus had a long list of options, all traditional and all sounding delicious. We both settled on schnitzel. Emma had the pork and I had the chicken. The plates arrived at our table loaded with a very large schnitzel and some potato salad. I wish I could say that we ate like the ladies we are, but hell no! We wolfed down those plates of food in no time, polishing it all off with a local Hungarian beer – as you do.
The city:
This thousand year old city is comprised of two sides, one being Buda (meaning brother – so named after the brother of Ghenghis Khan) and the other Pest (meaning oven – so named due to the fact that ovens were used to keep the homes warm during the cold winters). The Buda side is comprised of hills, while Pest is a great deal larger and completely flat, which made it easier for it to be settled and as such is more densely populated. Whereas Buda was settled much later due to its hilly terrain. Both cities were separate until their unification in 1873 after which the city became known as Budapest.
Streets of Budapest
Since we were staying on the Pest side, we did the Pest tour first. Now, I realize that the tour was free, but it was a bit of a joke. The places we visited were stunning, and I am certain rich with history, but our guide was absolute shit. I’m not sure if it was a language barrier (the tour was meant to be in English) or just a lack of knowledge, but the descriptions and history provided for the majority of the stops along the walking tour were very short, difficult to understand, and at times made no sense at all. Also, if you happened to have a question for our guide, the answer was usually, ‘I don’t know’.
Not sure what this is, but I know it was important because our tour guide made us look at it.Again, don’t know what this is, but it was stop on our walking tour of Pest.Okay, this building I do know…it’s the Budapest Opera HouseImportant bridge statue symbolic of something relating to moving away from communism and toward independence.Scenes from the area surrounding the parliament buildings in BudapestParliament buildings.Shoes on the Danube bank memorial
That being said, we toured a large part of the city, including the Parliament buildings along the shore of the Danube, several squares and monuments of historical significance. There’s plenty of opportunity to take some amazing photos. We returned to the parliament buildings and the Danube later that evening to capture the same images at night, as our guide recommended that we do so. I didn’t think it was possible, but it was even more beautiful at night time!!
Chain Bridge, Budapest Hungary
On our second day in Budapest, we did the walking tour on the Buda side and it was worlds better. At first we were a little worried since she started the tour by saying that this was her first ever guided tour. However, after the first 2 minutes we could easily tell that we were dealing with someone who actually had a passion for what she was doing. This tour would be different, and it was. She was fantastic. She regaled us with stories of Buda and Beethoven’s rumoured mistresses from the region. She read us Hungarian poems and even had one of the men in our tour read aloud the love letter that Beethoven wrote to his rumoured lover. During our break she spoke with us about Hungarian pop culture and other interesting things.
Buda Castle districtView of the parliament buildings from the Buda sideOne of the towers from Buda Castle districtOh…hi!Quite street in Buda…they’re all quiet actually.
Around the castle
At the end of the walking tour we spotted the famed Ruszwurm Cafe made famous by its many wonderful pastries, notably the Ruszwurm Kremes, a delicious vanilla custard cream layers between two cookie crust like pastry layers. Needless to say, we made a beeline for this place the second the tour was over.
Rumzwurm KremeChocolate Rumzwurm torta
Naturally, having now devoured a very large piece of cake, it was time to make our way to the St. Lukas Thermal Baths. Notice how we always follow any eating activities with an activity requiring us to don our bikinis?! Seriously, what is wrong with us! Amirite?!
The thermal baths were incredible and definitely worth a visit when in Hungary. Our visit was included with the purchase of our Budapest card, but I would happily pay to revisit these baths again. The St. Lukas baths have 2 very large swimming pools, of varying degrees, large thermal bath with shoulder massage stations and a whirpool, sauna and ice cold immersion pool. We spent over 2 hours there and could have spent the entire day. I wanted to go back the minute we walked out the door, that’s how awesome it was!
Entrance to one of Budapest’s thermal baths – they take this seriously
We visited so many places in Budapest but there are two final places that I must recommend if you’re ever there. The first being the Central Market not only because I’m a foodie and love markets, but rather because this place is beautiful. The building itself is massive with 2 levels. Lower level houses the fruit and vegetable vendors along with a number of butcheries, delis, bakeries and speciality food shops whereas the upper level houses the trinket and souvenir shops along with the hot food concessions (or self serve restaurants) where you can buy a very large meal at a ridiculously low cost. Oh, and they also sell beer.
Central Market, Budapest
Central Market, BudapestCentral Market, Budapest
The second place you must visit is the New York Cafe. The cafe was first built in 1894, and it’s Italian Renaissance inspired design is indeed something to behold. Please note that it’s not inexpensive, however, we stopped by for a glass of wine and lingered, snapping a ton of photos in the process. Stepping into this cafe is like traveling back in time.
New York CafeCafe New York, Budapest
The food:
We ate so much food in Budapest, way too many dishes to list out here, so I’ll just give you the highlights:
Chicken Paprikash with noodles
Stuffed cabbage, stuff paprika and potatoes layered with sausage
Longos with kolbaz on a bun
Kolbacz sausage
The nightlife:
Budapest’s nightlife offers something for every taste, whether it’s an Irish Pub, a Hungarian Tavern, a massive dance club, or one of their famous ruin pubs. There is something for everyone. If, however, you would prefer to be one with nature while you sip on your beer or wine, you can always make your way to one of the cities parks and join the locals. We couldn’t believe the amount of people who gathered in the parks at night to drink. Who knew city parks could be so much fun.
On our last night in Budapest, following our nightly Hungarian wine opening ceremony (ie. pushing the cork downwards into the bottle), and probably after consuming a couple of bottles of wine, Emma suggested we visit a ruin pub. Now, it was already late and our flight was leaving at 6am, which meant being in a taxi on the way to airport by 4am. However, we’d been told, or possibly read somewhere that one could not possibly visit Budapest and NOT VISIT A RUIN PUB. Conveniently enough, there happened to be one located just around the corner from our place. What could possibly go wrong? Or rather, what could go right?
We did our very best to limit our consumption to no more than 2 drinks at the pub and not stay beyond that, and we managed to do just that. The problem however was the two bottles of wine we drank earlier and the fact that we had to be up at 3:30am and ready for our 4am airport pickup. What can I say, we made a mistake!
Instant ruin pub
When the alarm sounded at 3:30 we got up out of bed, still drunk, got dressed and then waited for our car. Luckily we had been smart enough to pack our bags before heading to the pub. Small mercies.
All week long we had been diligent about not drinking the tap water and had only been drinking bottled water. Until that morning, when I, dehydrated and badly in need of water, filled my water bottle from the tap – a decision I would soon regret. What can I say, the haze of alcohol still clouded my brain and impaired my judgment.
The drive to the airport was uneventful and I had the window open gulping at the fresh air.
Can I just add that as we drove through the city at 4am we couldn’t help but notice how fresh and put together every one looked. Whilst we sat in the back of our cab, barely resembling anything near human, these folks looked liked they were just stepping out instead of just now making their way home. What the what?
So, we arrived at the airport and just as we were about to go through security I decided to gulp down the bottle of tap water I had brought with me. Once through security we made our way to our gate and all was good.
I was so looking forward to catching up on some badly needed sleep. Sadly, that was not to be. Before take off even, I started to not feel so good. You know queasy, warm, clammy, sweaty, and the worse one of all nauseous. Before we even taxied to the runway, I was out of my seat barfing in the airplane lavatory. And that my friends is where I spent 70% of the 2 hour flight. There would be no sleep for me, just an airplane toilet and a cold metal sink on which to rest my head between the unending and merciless vomitus contractions of my stomach, praying that death would take me.
‘Let’s go to a ruin pub’ she said. ‘It’ll be fun’ she said.
The next morning we were up early to catch the ferry to Ios, the ‘party island’. The port in Ios was bustling. Tourists scanning the crowd for someone holding their hotel’s sign, letting them know that their shuttle was there to pick them up. Emma and I found our guy rather quickly and were soon making our way up the hillside to Chora, our home for the next 3 days. Our host, Yannis gave us the low down on buses, beaches and bars. The bars don’t open their doors until rather late and some nightclubs even later (2:30am). If you’re looking to party ’til the sun comes up, this is the place for you! If you like beaches, this is the place for you! If you like buses, well nobody likes buses, but they’re cheap and they run often.
Our hotel, The Village Twins, is located right in the heart of everything. It doesn’t have a pool, but we honestly didn’t need it, the beaches of Ios are fabulous and plentiful. Our room was super cute with a good sized terrace at the back. The room and bathroom were very clean and the A/C worked beautifully. The owners were very friendly and gave us great tips on places to visit while in Chora. They offer a small and inexpensive menu – cold 1/2L beer is only 2€! Cheapest beer on the island and cheap tastes better – always!
Village Twins, Chora
Our first night in Chora, we checked out The Nest for some traditional and local Greek cuisine. Yannis, the owner of Village Twins had recommended it and it did not disappoint. The serving sizes were enormous and the price was reasonsable. Emma had the moussaka and I had the eggplant stuffed with meat. Both were really tasty and quite filling. After that feast, we needed to walk, like a lot, as I said, the meal portions were enormous and we were in beach country now. So, climbed to the highest point of the town to snap photos of, what else? The sunset, and it was GLORIOUS!
Portion sizes at The Nest were huge…and delicious
Manganari Beach
We then explored the tiny streets of Chora, checking out the various bars, lounges and shops.
Our second day in Chora was a beach day, as was our third. We visited the main beach, Mylopotas. There are regular buses that run every 10 minutes which will ferry you to the beach for a mere 1.80€ and the view from the tops of the hills along the way are well worth it. The beach itself was pretty quiet earlier in the day, as most of the partiers were likely still sleeping off the remnants of the night before. It started to pick up later in the afternoon, but it never felt overly crowded. The beach loungers could be rented for 7€/day, but the sand was beautiful and we opted to lie on our beach blankets instead. The water was very clear and the fish swam up to us while we waded in the crystal waters. Cool thing about this beach is the sand actually glitters. When we got back to our hotel, our feet looked as though they’d been bathed in glitter! FYI: Emma HATES glitter, and yet strangely enough, she didn’t seem to mind having sparkling toes.
Mylopotas Beach, Chora
That night, we “pre-dank” a litre and a half of white wine, and left our room promptly at midnight in search of some of this famous Ios nightlife. It did not disappoint. So many bars vying for your dollars with plenty of deals to be had on drinks (if binge drinking is your thing). For 25€ you could get 7 shots and a singlet to commemorate a night that after 7 shots you likely wouldn’t remember anyway, so the singlet is useful in that you at least know which establishment to thank for your hangover and beer goggles mishaps. Emma and I opted to have drinks at a series of spots so we could sample the nightlife. I’m a bit of a commitment phone so settling on one spot when there were so many to visit suited me just fine. We visited a few places and ended the night on a very crowded street sipping cold beers and people watching. We had a beach day planned for the following day (quelle surprise) so we called it an early night and were back at our hotel by 3:30am.
Martinis in Chora
The next morning, a little hungover, and definitely in need of a low key day, we hopped on the bus to Manganari beach. The bus is 7.50€ return and the views along the way are themselves worth the fare. The beach is 11km from Chora but the ride there takes about 45 minutes. The road is all steep inclines and switchbacks with the most breathtaking views of Ios. The landscape of this island is truly surreal. Everything looks photoshopped, it’s THAT stunning.
Manganari Beach
Manganari Beach
Manganari beach is isolated, small and very quiet. We settled into our loungers and pretty much stayed there until we either got hungry, thirsty, or needed to take a dip to cool off. The loungers were free and Christo’s Tavern in the beach serves up the coldest beer on the island and the freshest good. I had the Greek salad and Emma ordered the grilled calamari. Again, serving sizes were enormous and the food delicious. After lunch, Emma lounged in the sun for a bit and I wandered off to snap a few photos. It was another perfect afternoon on Ios.
Given that the next morning we would be taking the ferry to Santorini, it was a relatively early night for us. If we’ve learned anything it’s to NOT have a big night before a travel day. Thank you Amsterdam for that lesson.
Santorini
Santorini, viewed from the caldera
We arrived in Santorini by ferry. I had visited Santorini 5 years ago, but was still awestruck by the cliffs of Fira as we arrived at the port. We immediately booked a shuttle to Stella Hotel, our home for the next two nights. As the shuttle van weaved its way through the switchbacks up the cliff side everyone in the van was oohing and ahhing at the scenery as the port below became smaller and smaller as we approached the top of the cliff. The vistas of the caldera and Nea Kemini from the top were absolutely breathtaking.
We drive through Fira and then onto Kamari where our hotel was located. Kamari is located on the opposite coast. It’s becoming more and more popular as a less expensive alternative for food, drink and accommodations for the budget minded traveler. The small town offers regular bus service to Fira where you can catch connecting buses to Oia. It’s also about 10 minutes from the airport.
Our room was lovely and the hotel offered free breakfast, which we took full advantage of, poolside of course.
Since we only had 2 days in Santorini we did not waste anytime and grabbed the bus to Fira as soon as we were settled at the hotel.
Let me tell you, it was bloody hot that day and the 10 minutes we waited by that bus stop, in pools of our own sweat did seem like an eternity, however we quickly discovered that the buses are air conditioned (thank heaven) so the miserable wait seemed worth it once aboard the bus.
Now, you should know that the public buses can get very crowded. We spent an entire bus ride from Oia standing – great core workout – but certainly not ideal.
We wandered around Santorini in a heat inflicted zombie state, snapping pictures along with everyone else in the tourist hoard then made our way to a taverna for some cold microbrews. With renewed energy we decided to make our way to Oia by bus to watch the sunset.
The famed blue domes of OiaYay!
Oia was ridiculous! The tourists had descended upon that town like a swarm of locusts. Everyone was filing through the tiny streets, lining up to snap photos of the iconic blue domes and that famous sunset over the Aegean Sea. We followed along, didn’t have much of a choice really. You do get swept up in the crowd. We took so many photos that both our iPhones and camera batteries died.
Sunset from Oia
Unable to take any additional pics, we had dinner at one of the tavernas then climbed aboard the bus to Fira in the middle of the post sunset mass exodus. It’s absolutely crazy how touristy this entire island is. The crowds are unrelenting and the businesses shameless in the fact they they subsist solely on the tourist dollars. I have to admit, it made the place feel a lot less special to me.
Our bus ride back from Oia was an adventure to say the least. Packed in the aisle like sardines, bus filled to capacity and standing room only as our driver navigated the steep hills and curves of the road atop the cliffs. This was not an enjoyable ride. Trying the stay standing through the twists and turns was challenging enough but add to it the being stepped on, or having some fellow super sweaty traveler brush up against you, the inescapable waft of body odour all around, bleck! I just wanted it to be over.
When we arrived safely in Fira I was thankful. Now all we had to do was get the connecting bus to Kamari. That was easy enough. However, we really didn’t know where we were going and ended up traveling the entire route until the last stop in Kamari. We had clearly missed our stop and then had to walk for about 30 minutes from where we had been dropped off to get back to our hotel. Just great! Upside? It was so dark as we made our way back that we had a wonderful view of the star. Downside? We were lost and wandered around for a bit befriending stray dogs along the way. We must have circled around our hotel for about 10 minutes, served us right for not making a point of knowing which stop was ours.
Next day we were super excited to get going. We booked an excursion to walk to the top of the volcano, swim in the hot springs, visit Thirassia and then watch the sunset over the caldera from the deck of the boat.
The boat ride to the Kea Kemini offered us some even more amazing views of the cliffs and the cities of Fira and Oia perched atop.
Views of Santorini from Kia Kameni
We arrived at the volcano (entry fee is 2€) and began our hike up to the top. The hike to the top takes about 40 minutes and it’s fairly steep in some places. The hike itself was not particularly challenging, however, combined with the high temps and humidity it felt like walking into the 7th circle of hell. The volcano is still active and we could feel the heat emanating from the ground beneath our feet – this just added to the inferno’esque feel of the climb.
The heat, the humidity and the inclines were all forgotten however as soon as you reached the top of the volcano. From there we had sweeping 360 degree views of the caldera and the sea. It was a clear day and we could actually see Ios in the distance. After a few minutes of photo snapping it was time to make our descent back to the boat.
The top of the volcano – phew! Worth the climb.A tiny bit tired from the hike, but that view though!
The hike down only took about 30 minutes and we were back on the bait making our way to the hot springs for an hour of swimming. I opted out and instead sat on the boat watching the others jump into the water while I enjoyed a very cold beer.
To be completely honest I have zero regrets about not swimming in the hot springs for 2 reasons
1) Everyone who exited the hot springs had iron stains on their swimsuits and towels
2) An elderly couple on the excursion also joined the group in the hot spring swim, unfortunately the woman was unaware of a trail of toilet paper stuck in the front of her bathing suit. It wasn’t like a couple of squares, it was a couple of feet of toilet paper trailing from her suit. Once she was in the water, the toilet paper started to come apart and float up into the water surrounding the other swimmers as they tried to avoid it. Just gross. She exited the water a bit later, joyful at having cooled off in the water and oblivious of the trail of wet toilet paper still clinging to the side of her leg. Good for her! Too bad for everyone else.
After the hot springs it was off to Thirassia, the small island across from Santorini’s main island. Thirassia is home to approximately 100 families. The families live at the top of the island during the winter months and down at the shore during the summer months when both the fishing and tourists are plentiful. The income they make over the summer months on fishing and tourism sustains them for the remainder of the year. Unlike Santorini, the homes and businesses at the top of the cliffs are all but abandoned during the summer months. I’d like to point out at this time that our tour guide did tell us this before we arrived at the Thirassia.
The climb to the top…we did that!?
When we arrived on Thirassia we walked along the shore and inspected the steep path up the cliff side debating whether or not to make the trek up. Common sense did not prevail in this case (when does it ever?) and we decided to hike up to the top.
They took the easy way!Channeled my inner donkey.
Oh. My. God. What the hell were we thinking?! The switchbacks were merciless, some sections of the path had to be at least 60 degrees or more, riddled with donkey shit – the smell! My eyes were watering and I was gagging. The gagging didn’t bother me, I was terrified of stepping in one of the countless steaming mounds of donkey poop covering the path. I was wearing flip flops, I had switched out of my Cons after the volcano hike.
Looking at the fishing village below.
Along the way up the mountain (it wasn’t a mountain, but it may as well have been) there were signs for ‘Different Restaurant’ promoting their free wifi and swimming pool! Yay! The promise of a swimming pool was all it took to motivate me. I channeled my inner pack mule (my new spirit animal) and pushed my way through the gagging, watery eyes and mounds of shit to get to the top of that mountain! Once we got to the top we took in the scenery and explores the abandoned village. We did see a few people but they easily outnumbered by cats and a few dogs. Hot, sweaty and thirsty, we followed the signs to ‘Different Restaurant’ which, it turned out, was closed. There would be no wifi, no beer and no swimming pool. Was ‘Different Restaurant’ offering a ‘different restaurant’ experience in that you could have a seat at any of the tables but you could not expect to be served.
The only residents we located at the top of Thirassia
Ugh! Snapped some pictures then hiked back down. The views were great, it was worth it…maybe. I’m still undecided on that one.
Fishing boats in Thirassia
We are at one of the restaurants along the shore and then back on the boat to watch the sunset over the water.
Now, the sunsets in Greece have been spectacular but nothing and I mean NO sunset I have seen so far will ever compare to the sunsets in Santorini! Words fail me, so here are about 400 pictures of the sunset we saw that night. (Ok, I have limited my post to 3 pics of that sunset, but I did snap about 400 that night.)
Sunset over the waters of the caldera
Really couldn’t get enough of this sunsetOkay, last sunset pic, I promise!
That sunset sail was the final curtain call on our trip to Santorini as we were flying out the next day. We spend the following morning lounging by the pool before our flight to Crete, as you do.
Crete
No visit to Greece would be complete without a visit to Crete. I know that every island in Greece has its own character, and Crete is distinctly different in terms of culture and cuisine. I love Greek food, but Cretan food, on my opinion blows then all away. Just don’t, whatever you do, drink the Raki. That Cretan firewater is the worst!!
We opted to fly to Crete as opposed to taking the ferry. The cost of the flight was almost the same as the ferry and was only 20 minutes versus and 2 1/2 hour ferry.
Our flight landed at around 9pm and we easily found the bus from the airport that would take us to our hotel. The bus costs anywhere from 1.50€-2.50€ depending on how many zones you travel through. Though we easily located our bus, figuring out which stop we had to get off at was a bit more challenging. First of all, the digital crawl sign at the front of the bus listing out the route stops as we made our way from the airport wasn’t working. Call me crazy, but would this not be an important feature to have working on a bus that ferries foreigners from the airport to the centre of the city? Secondly, ALL THE STREET SIGNS ARE IN GREEK, which made it a bit difficult to figure out where the hell we were. I started to worry that we might miss our stop so I walked up to the driver and asked him if he would please let us know when we got to our stop. He didn’t speak or understand English, but I was able to point out our stop on the map and he assured me that we hadn’t passed it yet. He indicated that he would.
Thankfully, Emma is a wiz at directions and reads trip advisor reviews religiously and she recognized a food market that had been mentioned in one of the reviews for our hotel, so she knew we were close and sure enough at the next stop there was a sign for our hotel! The bus stopped and though the driver didn’t say anything he left the bus parked and door open until we clued in that we were at our stop. From there we had a short walk to our hotel. Yay!!!
Just waiting for the bus in Heraklion
Park Hotel is where we would be staying for the next 3 nights. The room was okay with a balcony, A/C and a roomy bathroom (compared to most of the other bathrooms thus far). Now, the room was meant to have a kitchen, but instead the kitchen was a sink, an exhaust fan above a countertop, um, no stove or hot plate so we were unclear as to the purpose of the exhaust fan. Oh and no fridge. So basically, no kitchen. Anyway, we’d make do.
Our “kitchen” – not a kitchen
Our first day in Heraklion and decided to keep things pretty low key and explore the town centre. I much prefer Heraklion’s city centre to Athens. It was comparatively clean and we felt very safe. Everyone was very friendly and we easily found inexpensive food options – gyros the size of your head for 3€! The shopping is very good, each of us bought a dress, you know for ‘a night out in Barcelona’. Never mind that we both brought one piece of carry on, already busting at the seems. Something would have to be let behind in Crete. I’d already ‘left behind’ a pair of flip flops in Mykonos to make room for 2 new bikinis that I ‘absolutely needed’. Sacrifices needed to be made.
Gyros the size of your head!
After wandering through Heraklion centre for an entire day, we returned to our hotel for their spaghetti dinner. It was actually delicious with one of the best Greek salads we’ve had so far and only 8€ each!
We spent the rest of the evening playing cards and drinking cheap house wine.
Our last day in Crete and we wanted to check out the nearby beach. The path to the beach was just outside the entrance to our hotel, how convenient, so we walked over right after breakfast. Thank God we hadn’t made plans to have a beach day in Heraklion. If you love sandy beaches littered with everything from discarded cigarette packages, hair brushes, dirty socks, empty beer cans, cigarette butts, basically all manner of garbage then this is the beach for you my friend. The sole running shoe and striped underwear in the middle of the sandy path leading the beach should have tipped us off. ‘This is not the beach you are looking for.’ Just nasty! You may think I’m exaggerating here, but I assure you I am not. Check out the photos, if you dare. It’s not pretty.
Path to the beach…see how happy Emma is!
Random trash as we arrived at the beachThis is the beach sand…we played “Count the Ciggy butts”
After shaking off the horror of ‘Garbage Beach’ we made our way to Knossos, located about 5kms from the city centre, the largest Bronze Age archeological site on Crete and considered to be the oldest city in Europe (first settlement dates back to about 7000 BC). Knossos is believed to where the King of Knossos lived as well as the political centre of Minoan civilization. We spent about 2 hours exploring the site. The site itself is beautiful but it’s also surrounded by some stunning hillside views.
Knossos, the oldest city in Europe
Knossos
After visiting Knossos we made our way to the Venetian port for a late afternoon walk along the break wall. More history, more stunning scenery and more photo snapping.
Locals fishing along the breakwallShore along the Venetian Port
The port of Heraklion
After a day of walking and touring the city we made or way back to our hotel where we spent the rest of the evening sitting by the pool catching up on emails and finalizing some last minute travel details before heading to Istanbul the next day.
Thank you all so much for the great feedback and questions I’ve received on the Prague blog post.
In order to answer your questions I thought it might be a good idea add an additional blog post on Prague and cover everything.
Some of you were interested in whether or not food and accommodations were reasonably priced and the answer is an unequivocal YES!
Our tour guide, Callum gave us the low-down on where to eat and what we should expect to pay. He referred to it as ‘The Callum Index’ (TCI) and we followed it to the letter.
The average cost of a 0.5L of draught beer in Prague is anywhere between 25-60 CZK and $1CDN=~19CZK so between $1.25-$3 each. Now, this is an average and if you’re eating and drinking in the ‘touristy’ areas of Prague (anywhere near the Old Town Square, The Charles Bridge, or the Castle) the prices will be in the upper range of that average. Now, according to the TCI no self-respecting Czech will pay more than 35CZK for a beer, so if you’re drinking at a place that charges more than that you’re in a tourist trap my friend. Additionally, a plate of traditional Czech Gulash should not cost you more than 159-189CZK and if it’s priced higher than that – again, tourist trap.
Emma and I had budgeted approximately $65 dollars or ~1200CZK a day for food, drink, excursions and transportation and we always had money left over. We didn’t skip meals and ate and drank a LOT! You’re best to ask where the locals eat if you’re looking for authentic food and good value. Our favourite spot was Krcma, just on the cusp of the touristy area near the Old Town Square. We both had appetizer, entrees and beer and it only cost us about $15/each. The portions were enormous and the food was delicious.
As for our accommodations, we stayed in a pretty dodgy place, at a cost of about $19/night each but the city has many really nice and reasonably priced hotel rooms. We’re just cheap. For $100-$120/night you can expect to find a pretty decent room.
Prague is a photographer’s dream there are so many sights, interesting characters and super cool pockets of the city to discover. The city is very safe so I would encourage to grab your camera and explore. We wandered around the winding streets day and night and discovered so many interesting buildings, statues, art installations and people, all of which increased this city’s cool factor a hundredfold. I snapped more pics in Prague then anywhere else so far and I can’t wait to get home and print some of them!
Now, what would my post be without another little story about Prague. The Czechs appear to be huge fans of ‘defenestrations’ (throwing people or things out of windows). There were two defenestrations in Prague of huge historical significance and impact.
The first happened on July 30, 1419 when a group of radical Hussite followers killed 7 members of their city council by storming the town hall and throwing them out of a window. This eventually led the Hussite wars.
The second defenestration took place in 1618 and it led to the Thirty Years war.
There were many subsequent defenestrations in Prague including the 1948 defenestration of Jan Masaryk, then Minister of Foreign Affairs.
So be warned, if you get into an argument with someone while in Prague, make sure you’re on the ground floor!
Alrighty, best buckle up and settle in…this is gonna take a while, because Prague kinda blew our minds and I have a lot to share with you.
View of the city from the Royal Palace district
I’ve not visited a city with this much character, history and allure in quite a while. To be honest, I’ve never visited a city like this one – period. I absolutely loved everything about it. If you’re looking to visit a place with a rich and storied history, a crazy nightlife, an impressive arts and culture scene, and a place filled with more interesting characters than you can shake a stick at…then Prague is for you my friend!
One of many incredible art installations in Prague
We arrived in Prague in the early evening and took the bus from the airport into the town centre. Our bus stop was conveniently located near our accommodations, the ATS Hotel Jednota. While it at first appeared to be located in a pretty dodgy neighbourhood, this turned out to not be the case. It’s about a 10 minute walk to the Old Town Square and a 5 minute walk from the main train and metro station in Prague. Now, the park surrounding the metro station can be super skeezy, the dodgy looking individuals who ‘live’ there pretty much keep to themselves. It turns out that Prague is a very safe city and people generally don’t bother you. As our tour guide explained, the Czech people are not the type to quarrel in public or get into dust ups…the tourists do a good enough job of that on their own. If you do happen to witness a ‘fight’ in Prague, it’s likely to be a bunch of guys in the city for a stag do fighting with each other. However, they do have an issue with pickpockets, and money exchange scams on the streets in the Old Town Square, so just be wary. Emma and I never felt unsafe, even walking back to our hotel at 3am.
Speaking of our hotel, the building itself was completely lacking in any character, architecture, style, personality or any quality that would make it even remotely interesting. It can best be described as having the look and feel of an abandoned insane asylum, or even possibly a communism-era prison facility. Our room (or cell/hospital ward) was private, however we did have to use the communal showers and ‘kitchen’. The ‘kitchen’ had a sink, a stove, some cupboards and NO FRIDGE. It was also lacking in the one thing you would definitely need in a kitchen…cooking implements. There were no pots, pans, dishes, cutlery of any kind. So, even though it technically did have a ‘kitchen’, it most certainly wasn’t a useful one. Oh, and did I mention that the ‘kitchen’ was located in the communal showers? Our room was located directly across the hallway from the communal shower/washroom/kitchen so it does get a point for convenience, however it’s pretty much all downhill from there. The room did have high ceilings, and a large window that opened to the courtyard (not much of a courtyard, basically a view of the roofs below and the hotel’s guest terrace). We each had a twin bed (not really a bed, more of a deconstructed sofa type piece of furniture with a fabric covered piece of foam stapled to the base), a cupboard for our clothes and a desk. My bed was lopsided in that the frame had a 15 degree angle which caused the ‘mattress’ to tilt to one side, so every night when I lay in bed I felt like I had some strange case of vertigo, perpetually titled toward the floor. Just odd. In case you’re wondering – no A/C (normally not an issue in Prague, however, we did arrive in the midst of a heat wave where the temperatures hovered in the high 30s, and NO WIFI. They did advertise that they had wifi, but that was a lie, a bald faced, dirty lie! Sure, there was spotty wifi in the reception area, but if more than 2 people were logged on, forget about it.
After we checked into our room, we walked over to the Old Town Square, as we were quite anxious to check things out. We had done minimal research on Prague, but what research we did do let us know that we were in for a pretty good stay.
Odd group but good music, one of the many performances in Prague’s Old Town SquarePrague’s Old Town Square
The thing that strikes you immediately about Prague is just how beautiful, I mean stunning, this city is. Every view is a post card, the architecture, the food, the incredible history, the arts, the culture, and the BEER, you cannot forget the beer. All of which combined make it one of the most amazing cities I’ve ever visited.
Sunset at Prague Old Town Square
We explored the Old Town Square and it was quite the experience, everything from snake charmers, puppeteers, pianos players, human statues, singers, dancers, viking bands, bubble blowers and roving evangelists (the Czech Republic despite it’s innumerable churches, basilicas and cathedrals, is the most atheist country in the world – so these guys gots lotsa work to do), you don’t know where to look or what to look at. Everything is coming at you at once – the gaelic sounds of the viking musicians(???), the enthusiastic “JESUS!” chorus ringing in your ears and the hipster musicians screaming at you to give them money if you dare stop and listen to them, the beggars, the squeals of delighted children as they chase the giant bubbles through the square, while being chased by some dude in the mangiest shark costume I’ve ever seen, so much happening! So overwhelming, and yet LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT!
Astronomical Clock, Prague Old Town Square
Sitting in the middle of the Old Town Square is the world famous, centuries old, Astronomical Clock. The clock was built in 1410 and is the oldest working astronomical clock on the planet. The clock, though often listed in the top ten of the most disappointing tourist attractions in the world, is really pretty bloody amazing. Yeah, a show every hour where ‘Death’ rings a bell indicating to Greed, Vanity and the Turk that their time is up, as they shake their heads ‘No” is not much of a big deal to us now, but this was working over six hundred years ago, people were more easily amused back then and this was mind blowing. And let’s not forget the golden rooster who sits atop the clock shaking his wings while all this is happening – over 600 hundred years ago! And the clock still works to this day! That’s badass! If you think the clock is badass, wait until you hear about the guy who designed and built it.
Astronomical Clock, Prague Old Town Square
Legend has it that when Jan Hanus built the clock, Prague was a small merchant town, not the regal capital it is today. Soon after the clock was built, people came from all over Europe to see it. As the clock became famous and more people visited the town, the local merchants who fed and housed the visitors to the area began to see the clock as their bread and butter. Greed took over and they then began to fear that Jan would build another clock in another city and that people would then flock to see it instead. If that happened the tourists would dry up and the stream of money flowing through their coffers would along with it. As their fears grew the merchants met with the town councilmen met to discuss how they could solve this problem. They decided to invite Jan to a dinner at the palace to thank him for all he’d done for the town. Once he arrived at the dinner, did the merchants and councilmen offer to cut Jan in on a percentage of the profits in exchange for his loyatly? No, of course not! Instead, the food and wine flowed and when Jan was sufficiently drunk, they poked his eyes out with hot poker and cut out his tongue so that he could not build another clock or even tell someone how to build such a clock. A few days later, Jan, blinded and mute got his revenge on the council when he had his assistants walk him to the clock and up the tower, where he threw himself into the gears of the clock and rendered it useless until they were finally able to remove his mangled remains from the mechanism over a 100 years later. Badass!
Bone Chuch of Sedlec:
Anyone who knows my travel partner in crime Emma Peachey, knows that she loves, and I mean LOVES all things macabre so when our walking tour our guide mentioned the Bone Church in Sedlec, a small town located just outside Kutna Hora, she was all over that shit! And thus began our visit to quite possibly the creepiest place I’ve ever visited. Now, I say that it is creepy, and it is, however it is also beautiful.
Bone Chandelier, Bone Church of SedlecInside Bone Church, Sedlec
The Bone Church is located next to the Sedlec Ossuary. This small town is located near Kutna Hora, a UNESCO world heritage site – 1 of the 12 world heritage sites located in the Czech Republic. This gothic church was built around 1400 and the skeletal remains of approximately 40,000 to 70,000 people who were buried in the adjoining ossuary were used to decorate it when the church and ossuary were purchased by a wealthy family in the early 1700’s. I have to admit, that the place is stunning. We spent about an hour inside the chapel snapping pictures and marveling at the intricate details of the way the place is decorated. The bone chandelier, prominently featured at the center of the chapel is quite remarkable and it’s obvious that the artist who created it all had an intimate and detailed knowledge of human anatomy and was also one sick fuck.
Inside the Bone Church of Sedlec
After our walk through the bone church, we made our way to Kutna Hora. We didn’t spend much time there as it is rather small. However, what is there is there is worth a look. The town, located in the heart of what was then Bohemia, was settled in 1142 and grew quickly in both size and wealth due to a large silver deposit which was discovered by a local monk. Kutna Hora soon became the leading supplier of silver to Europe and the home of the royal mint. We visited the St. Barbara Church (patron saint of miners), the former Jesuit college, and the Italian courtyard where the royal mint was once located.
Italian courtyard and site of the former Royal Mint.
After walking around the town in near 40 degree heat, we stopped for lunch at local Czech tavern for a delicious meal with our fellow travelers…we also had beer – of course! The entire tour lasted about 7 hours from start to finish, 2 hours of that was spent on trains (horrible trains – do not, I repeat do not use the bathrooms on the train under any circumstances…hold it FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY) traveling to and from the town.
Prague Castle:
First of all it, it’s beautiful. The gardens are massive and you would need a full day to really explore it. We were too cheap to pay the entrance fee because we arrived late in the afternoon, however, we did use that money to enjoy a slice of cake and a glass of wine while overlooking the gardens…with just enough time to check our Facebook – free wifi. Although we didn’t explore inside the castle, we did have an opportunity to check out St. Vitus cathedral and the palace courtyards.
St. Vitus Cathedral, located in the Prague Castle complexInside St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague
Did not regret spending money on wine and cake instead as everything was so pretty. Of note, the view of Prague from the top of the hill on which the palace and cathedral are located is absolutely stunning and I would strongly recommend that you make your way up the winding stairs to take it all in, even if you don’t plan on visiting the castle.
The climb to Prague Castle beginsPrague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral, PragueSt. Vitus Cathedral, near Prague Royal CastleView of the city from the Royal Palace districtOur wine and cake break at Prague Castle – well worth it and free wifi
The Walking Tour
We decided to do the free Royal Prague Walking Tour and it was amazing. Our guide, Callum, an Aussie who now lives in Prague, was one of, if not the best, walk guides ever. He was extremely knowledgeable and quite funny (this guy’s comedic timing is bang on) which made the tour both informative and entertaining. We stopped in The Old Town Square and the Astronomical Clock, were provided with a brief history of Prague and learned about Jan Hus, the Hussite followers and their rebellion against the Catholic church.
Charles Street Bridge, PragueScene from Charles Bridge at dusk
He walked us to the base of the Charles Bridge, then onto the Rudolfinum (it was used as a headquarters for the Nazis during the German occupation of Prague), we then walked to the Josefov, formerly the Jewish ghetto of Prague – this neighbourhood is now the poshest neighbourhood in Prague with stunning architecture at every turn, though our guide informed us that it is now mostly occupied by rich wankers. We learned about Frank Kakfa and toured the New Town. The tour ended outside the Prague Estates Theatre, where Mozart himself conducted the world premiere of Don Giovanni – incidentally, it’s currently in production at this very theatre. Definitely recommend this tour and if you can get Callum as your guide, you’re in for a treat. He’s bloody hilarious.
Rudolfinum, Prague Home of the Prague Symphony Orchestra
Pivo (the Beer) – Naz’Dravi!
So, we had heard that the Czech Republic was a little into their beers and that if you happen to be a be a beer fan, you might want to try some out while you’re there. Coincidentally, Emma and I happen to be beer fans, and as it turns out the Czechs are currently making some of, if not the best beer in the world.
Trying out some Czech beers at the Lokal Beer Hall – popular with both locals and touristsBeer Museum stop, late night beer sampling
We tried many, many beers (strictly for research purposes) and not a single one disappointed. Many of the tour operators and local beer halls offer beer tours and tastings. We didn’t have time for a beer tour in the end, but we really didn’t need one, as our ‘beer tour’ was self-guided. We visited a few beer halls which were mostly frequented by locals and sampled as many brews as we could. Of all the beer halls, U’Medvidku was by far, our favourite. It’s a rather large hall – more like a series of large adjoining halls, it was formerly a medieval brewery and has done a very good job and maintaining that look and feel. They currently brew 11 beers which they offer on their menu along with several other beers. If you’re not comfortable making your own selections, they do offer a brewer’s tasting menu. They also brew the strongest beer in the world, X-33, with an alcohol content of 12.6% – drink with caution, it really sneaks up on you – so they say 🙂
Wild Boar and Venison sausages paired with a local Czech micro brew – typical outdoor market fare
Fun Fact: Czechs consume more beer per capita than any other country. The annual beer consumption per person in the Czech Republic is 150 litres, with Germany holding down second place with 100 litres. Canadians consume on average about 65 litres per person and Australians hover at 83 litres per person – just in case you’re wondering.
The Architecture
If you are an architecture buff or just enjoy taking photos of buildings you think are beautiful, Prague possesses an undeniable wealth in this area. I couldn’t stop taking pictures of the buildings and streetscapes – even when the buildings were of no historical significance or pedigree…they are just stunning! I took well over 250 pictures in Prague, mostly of buildings. I’m like that.
One of countless building photos I snapped…too many to count
Czech Food
We were super excited about trying Czech food and we ate traditional Czech food every chance we could.
Sausages and pivo, the perfect combo – Naz dravi!
Sausages – so many different types of sausages, all of which pair very well with Pivo (beer).
Syr Smazeny
Syr Smazeny – fried cheese
‘Drowned Men’ – marinated sausages
Utopenci (drowned men) – sausages marinated in vinegar and onions, served sliced with mini pickles – yum!
Gulash with dumplings
Gulash – not traditionally a Czech dish, but very popular
I know it doesn’t look good, but trust me, it tasted delicious.
Svickova na smetane – beef doused in a root vegetable gravy and served with whipped cream and cranberry sauce – weird, but totally tasty.
Svarky
Svarky – pork crackling mixed with pork lard and served with salty bread…it looked disgusting but tasted delicious and it goes very well with pivo (beer).
Schnitzel the size of your head.
Schnitzel – really doesn’t require an explanation, though I will say that the serving sizes are as big as your head. You will not starve.
Duck – the Czechs cook a mean duck, traditionally served with red cabbage and potato/stuffing balls.
On our last morning in Prague, on the recommendation of our tour guide Callum, we stopped by the historical Cafe Louvre…and it did not disappoint. The cafe was established in 1902 and has a very colourful history. Albert Einstein and Frank Kafka count among their many famous guests.
Cafe Louvre breakfast
After 5 days of eating and drinking our way through Prague we headed to the airport. You might be thinking this is the end of the Prague post, but not quite. Prague wasn’t done with us yet. We were scheduled to leave on a 10:55pm flight to Athens, which was delayed to 11:20pm…no big deal. Since the flight was so late we thought it might be a good idea to wash up and brush our teeth before boarding. Emma located a bathroom on the lower level, she made her way there an I watched our bags. When Emma returned, I then went down the escalator to the same bathroom. I had just finished washing my face and brushing my teeth when the lights went out. At first I thought the lights were on a motion sensor and that if I waved my arms about that they would come back on…this was not the case. I then tried to open the door, maybe the light switch was on the outside? Nope, I was locked in and the lights were off. For 10 minutes I pounded on the door, yelling, then screaming for help before someone arrived to help me. Apparently, they locked the bathroom for the night, turning off the lights in the process. No one thought to check to see if anyone was still inside. I had pounded on the door so hard that my hands were bleeding by the time I got help. They clearly felt badly for locking me in because once I was freed and back at the gate, the airport staff kept stopping by to check on me to see if I was ok and how my hands were. Note to self, do not use a washroom in the Prague airport after 10pm.
Despite the airport incident, Prague was lovely, mindblowing and somewhere I’d love to return to. If you ever have the opportunity to visit it, I strongly encourage you to do so!
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