Adventure in Europe!

Munich, Germany! 

We only spent one night in Munich.  We wanted to see it, but were more excited about getting to Prague.  I never regretted spending only one night in various locations.  The alternative would usually have been to not see them at all, and to travel longer between stops.

This is the Marienplatz and is the center square of Munich.  It was a hub of activity but our tour guide made sure to point out that it wasn’t just visitors, locals like the area for shopping and don’t mind the crowds.

One of the main reasons for stopping in Munich was to watch one of the stranger spectacles in all of Europe.  The surfing in the city center, on the edge of Englischer Garten.  Years ago, the river that ran through the town was buried because of it’s connection with pollution and disease.  The river still runs below the city and pops out here at the edge of the park where you will find a natural wave.  On the weekends there will be as many as 50 surfers waiting their turn to surf in the city.

 Innsbruck, Austria! 

We were very excited to escape the heat of Italy and get back into the mountains.  The train ride to Innsbruck was a beautiful one.  We traveled through some lush, gorgeous valleys with mountains on either side.  This is really our only experience with the Alps since we decided to cut Switzerland from out itinerary.  We have both loved the mountains and are coming back soon.

Innsbruck has a great viewing area at the top of the mall in the center of town.   It gave you a 360 degree view and even had a telescope that pointed out various mountains and landmarks.

This was our Airbnb for our stay for two nights.  It was right on a glacial river with a bike path running alongside.  We walked from our place to the mountains beyond.  We could definitely see ourselves living in a place like this.  The weather was a bit more chilly and rainy than we had thought, but it was unseasonable. The mountains had been clear of snow just a week before we arrived.

I could wake up to this view every morning! 

The mountains make a an appearance in almost every picture I took. We wandered through shops on this main shopping area. We even went to the flagship Swarovski- everything glittered!

It was nice to wear a coat after sweating so much in Italy!

We went to a little place around the corner which had the best schnitzel and spaetzle that we had on the trip.  It was very reasonably priced too! 

We really enjoyed Innsbruck, it was a great mix of the mountains, great food, and a very active lifestyle. We said this is a place we could live.

  Venice, Italy! 

From Naples we took the 5 hour train all the way to the top of Italy.  We were only staying in Venice for one night, because we wanted to stay on the island and it’s pretty expensive.  We were also excited to get to Austria where it would be much cooler.  One night ended up being perfect for our trip.  We stayed up late wandering through the streets once most of the day tourists had left.

I was very surprised at how much I liked Venice.  We knew going in that it was going to be crawling with tourists but once you turned the corner off the main drag, you were by yourself.  It was impossible not to get lost.  There are winds and turns throughout the entire island- sometimes just forcing us into a dead end. 

St. Mark’s Basilica is right on the main square, but we did not tour the inside. Lots and lots of hot, sweaty tourists were waiting in line though! A little fun fact though- there are enough mosiacs to cover 1.5 football fields (85,000 feet), and they were done with mostly gold tiles! 

This is walking into Saint Mark’s square, where most of the tourists can be found. 

We sat off a smaller canal for an hour or so to watch the gondolas float by. Unfortunately it seemed the gondoliers have decided they wanted another job because none of them were singing- or the least bit enthused!   

As the sun sets, it gives you all sorts of interesting shots like this.

This is the Grand Canal.  It was impossible to take a bad picture of it.  I have seen pictures of Venice a million times so it was a surreal experience to see it in person.  We sat here for an hour, watching the sun go down and looking at all of the intricate buildings “floating” above the water.

The Grand Canal is the main thoroughfare through the island.  It is filled with classy water taxi’s, pleasure boats, tour boats, ferries, and gondola’s ripping off their customers for 80 euros for 30 minutes! We also decided against that budget buster! 

A storm passed north of Venice and gave a great lightening show in Saint Mark’s square. Unfortunately for the drought stricken city, the storm didn't produce a single drop of rain. But it was beautiful for us to watch! We stood on the main bridge over the canal and watched the sunset and the pretty lightning storm pass before making our towards the square for some prime symphony night life!

Venice has some really fun tourists traps to avoid if your on a $100/ day budget like us. In the evenings at St Mark’s square, there are lots of fancy restaurants with live performing five-piece symphony, jazz, and classical bands. We thought it was very romantic, so we had a seat at one of these outside restaurants- just for a drink. Well, we took a glance at the menu and lo and behold- it was 15 euros to sit and listen and just a coca-cola was 10 euros. So we decided we could stand and listen to music, which is exactly what we did. It was free and the ambiance was perfect!

The next morning, we went for a stroll on the north side of the island. There are less canals and more residents in this area. We sat in a funny little park, watched some crazy expensive boats float by, and enjoyed the morning before hopping back on the train in the early afternoon.

This is the only floating veggie market we have seen!  He had a great selection of fresh, tasty produce. We spoke with a sweet family on the train en route to Innsbruck about grocery shopping in Venice.  They said it is a “full-time” job buying groceries because you need to go to each respective store for every item of the meal- bakery, butchery, fish market, and fresh produce etc. Also there are no cars in Venice, so you walk to all the different markets to get ingredients for dinner!

Naples, Italy! 

Pizza Pizza Pizza!  I convinced Liz that we should take the 2 hour train ride down to Naples for the night to eat as much pizza as we could!  Neapolitan style pizza has been my favorite for a while so I wanted to go to the birthplace of the perfect pie.  

We hadn’t even checked in to our Airbnb before we stopped at the first two pizzerias on our list.  This was our first stop, and we ate here while waiting for a seat at the most popular place across the street.  It was the perfect appetizer to….another pizza.

This is the most famous place in Naples (L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele) and was well worth the wait.  The whole crowd stands outside waiting to hear their number called in Italian.  We had a hard time understanding him, but luckily the crowd was in good spirits helping others find the right number.

We were right near the ovens.  The pizza’s are only in the oven for 90 seconds, thrown on a plate and then rushed to the customer.  The old guys in charge of service are fast and stern, but that’s how it’s done in Naples.

We probably didn’t need our own pizza’s, but it made great leftovers a couple hours later:)

We both had the pizza margherita’s (mozzarella+marinara+2 basil leaves), the only other choice is pizza marinara which doesn’t have any cheese, just sauce and dried herbs. You can see him making one of those here.

Naples is one of the more run down places we visited.  It is fondly called the “bad boy” of Italy, because it is known for crime and not so pristine environments, We ended up really enjoying walking around though.  There just seems to be more to see when a city isn’t in perfect order, the character shines through a little more.

This was our only view of Mount Vesuvius.  We were hoping to make it to Pompeii but it didn’t fit into our schedule for this trip.  We definitely want to come back to travel the Amalfi coast. We will miss out on the Eastern side of the Italian coastline, so it will be on the list.

This was our last pizza of the day (yes, we were only in Naples for one night).  Liz ended up getting a fried pizza, which is similar to a calzone with ricotta and sausage on the inside.  It was really good, but you can only eat so much fried dough.

This was the alley that we were staying down. It does seem to exude a bit more “character”!  

This was the door to our Airbnb.  We had to walk through a tiny door within the largest door we have ever seen. It was like a Alice in Wonderland door!

Rome, Italy

Rome in the middle of July, what could go wrong?  Some cities have taken some time to get used to, and Rome was one of those.  Liz and I like to walk wherever we go, and Rome is just too big to get around by walking, especially when it’s 95 degrees out.  We always have a hard time deciding whether we want to fight with the, often times confusing, public transport or just hoof it, but not this time. 

The first thing we did in Rome was wake up early and go to the Colosseum.  It’s a very tangible piece of history that is hard to replicate in pictures.  When you are inside, it’s much easier to imagine it the way it was 1,900 years ago. We downloaded a free audioguide tour by Rick Steve’s to get the more in-depth walking tour, and hey it’s free!

It’s mostly dilapidated now, but there is one section that they fixed up to it’s former glory.  After the Colosseum closed for good, people would come and take the stone and bricks for their other projects around town.

The Romans were an industrious people and somehow hauled numerous obolisques from Egypt to their city. We got a city map and made our way to all the “quintessential” sites around the city, it was a nice a steamy day! 

Most major sights in cities are pretty easy to find because they are either tall or they are surrounded by a lot of space.  The Pantheon is neither of those things.  It is however, a very cool building. I also appreciated that it was free to enter. The Pantheon was originally a house worship for every god, Pan-every Theon-divinity. It is now a Christian church, and the famous artist is buried within its’ circular walls. 

Most things in Rome look like they are slowly, slowly falling a part.  The colosseum doesn’t look very stable here but I am sure they aren’t going to let it fall down!

When in Rome….you eat pasta!  We ate at a few of the highest rated, but cheaper, restaurants around and weren’t very impressed. The pasta was very gloppy (if that is even a word in the dictionary).  We need to go back and eat at some nicer restaurants in the search for the best pasta.  I don’t mind the task though......

This is the Trastevere neighborhood.  It is the most popular neighborhood for 20 and 30 somethings to hang out and get dinner or a drink.  It was absolutely buzzing with people and there were quite a few impressive street performers, including a depressed magician!

We decided to walk past the Trevi Fountain again at night.  I am glad we did because it is very nicely lit and more impressive.  It just finished its’ 2.4 million restoration thanks to fashion house Fendi.  We were lucky we didn’t hit the 17 month reconstruction where the fountain was covered with scaffolding. 

Walking around Rome you see all of these random ruins.  This is one of the more impressive and well lit ones. Walking around at night is where Rome really shines.  Not only have the crowds gone home for the night but the temperature drops just a bit, too.  The city of Rome had to decide how to light the streets at night, and they decided to light it with the same yellow hue of a fire burning lantern. So you will not find fluorescent or “blue” LED lighting in Rome. It is a noticeable difference, you know to look for it! 

Since it was so hot, Liz and I walked around the city looking for shade and water.  Luckily they have tons of these nifty drinking fountains around on most street corners. Those darn industrious Romans have perfected accessible water, although there is no “off” switch. They spill water 24/7, which seems like a waste. 

We had a jumping contest on a Sunday morning in Vatican city, we will let you decide who won.... 

Look at that air! Brian is going for the full-on gymnast air splits! 

This is Bonci pizza behind the Vatican, made famous by Anthony Bourdain.  It was very tasty and personifies Roman pizza for me now. Here we have marinara with mozzarella, roasted eggplant, steak and spinach, and beef with roasted potatoes! 

Florence, Italy....

and a wee bit of Pisa, Italy!  Post 1 of 2!

I promise this post is about Florence, but our train was making a stop in Pisa so we had to stop!  After laughing at all of the people taking the quintessential Pisa picture, we swallowed our pride and got some of our own!

On our first night in Florence, we walked up to Michelangelo’s square to watch the sunset.  It has the best free view of the city. We didn’t get there in time so I snapped this picture of the Ponte Vecchio and the river of Arno while we were walking.

Looking over the city, we noticed a big screen in the park! So we decided to leave the hill to go watch the Euro Cup game in the park. As these things go, the sky exploded with one of the most colorful sunsets I have ever seen. I wish I had still been at the top!

After Portugal put away the game, we walked back up the hill after the game to get some night shots.  We got plenty of exercise that evening! 

We have had gelato a few times so far on our trip, but Florence was the start of our obsession.  I read an article of how to spot a really good gelateria, which sparked our search for the best gelato in Florence!  Some things to look for are: metal containers, served with a paddle, not mounded up above the surface and realistic colors (no fluorescent lime!).  You can see that this place ticks all of the boxes.

Gelato stop #2, and our favorite in all of Europe so far.  We got mango and lemon at the last stop (our usual), so we went decadent on this one.  Chocolate fondant, marscapone and pistachio to top it off.  Real gelato is not very stable so you have to eat it like a mad man to not make a mess.  This one made a mess though, but a very worthwhile mess :)

The Duomo is to Florence what the Eiffle tower is to Paris.  You can usually get glimpses of it and orient yourself from there.  Florence is not very large so it was easy to walk around a corner and “bump” into it.

Liz had been to Florence before, but didn’t have a chance to hike up the Duomo, and the second time is the charm!  The dome was the largest in the world when finished in 1436, and is still one of the largest in the world.  When the architect, Brunelleschi, was chosen for the job, he didn’t even know how he was going to accomplish the feat! After all, he was a goldsmith with no formal architectural training! 

He landed on the dome within a dome design, which is still an amazing feat by today’s standards. Walking up to the top was crowded and extremely hot! 

I really tried to keep my eyes open for this one! Liz had the advantage of keeping her eyes closed until the last second.

Our ticket also gave us access to the bell tower, which was much easier to get up and had the added benefit of a front row seat for the Duomo.

Rolling hills spotted with beautiful houses and vineyards surround Florence.

Florence, Italy! 

Post 2 of 2! 

Florence has the best sandwich culture of anywhere we have been.  If you love a good ole’ fashioned sam-wich, Florence should be on your itinerary!  This little shop was right by the Duomo, which we are usually skeptical of (red flag for tourist traps), but it was supposed to be one of the best in the city.  Before you order you get a choice of 5 cheeses, 5 meats and 4 breads.  She told us the region (Tuscany) of origin for each of the products and then let us try them all!  We then told her our “perfect” combo.  The next step was going to the topping side and choosing what looked good!

I don’t remember exactly what we had but it was amazing! For only 4 euro’s I wish I could eat here all of the time.

A couple hours later we decided to stop by a tripe shop.  I had read that they were very popular around Florence so why not eat a cow’s stomach (literally the first 3 stomachs of a cow) !  The best one is tucked back in an alley with a little window where you order one type of sandwich, tripe or tripe. :) 

He pulls the tripe out of the broth and slices it up thinly.  He then tops it with an herb pesto and sprinkles it generously with dried chile flakes.  After assembly, he dips the edges of the sandwich back in the broth.  It is one of the best sandwiches I have ever had!  We went back the next day to get another before hopping on the train.

Insider tip time! If you want to beat the crowds, heat and see an amazing exhibits go to the Duomo museum.  It’s right next to the Duomo, free with your ticket you probably already all bought, and barely anyone goes there!  The museum was recently finished and is beautifully presented.  Everyone crowds outside in the heat to take pictures of the Gates of Paradise, but it’s only a replica.  The original is right here!  You can see it’s the busiest part of this room with maybe 6 people looking at it.  Outside there are probably a 100 people crowding around it in the heat.

The gates were created by Lorenzo Ghiberti and it took him 21 years to complete them.  After it was done people came from all around to marvel at his use of depth of space.  He pioneered the idea of 3D realism on a 2D space, and this masterpiece changed the industry.

Bonus insider tip, Michelangelo in a free museum?  Don’t mind if I do!  Michelangelo grew up with the Medici’s in Florence when it was the center of the Renaissance, which explains his influence in art history. 

The man holding Jesus in this statue is a self portrait of Michelangelo! Supposedly, he kept finding flaws in the marble during his carving and he actually destroyed this precious piece of artwork (after 8 years of hard work)! Years later, someone put all the pieces back together! It is truly an amazing sculpture, even though it was never finished. 

We had an apartment with a full kitchen, so we made a nice dinner.  I went around the corner to the Italian equivalent of an IGA and got fresh pasta, fresh mozzarella, ripe cherry tomatoes, arugula and pesto.  It is amazing what you find in run-of-the-mill Italian grocery stores! We had some extra eggs so I threw a poached egg on top for good measure!

We decided to go back up to Michelangelo’s square for the sunset.  We aren’t sure what we stumbled on, but it’s one of the more bizarre things we have seen in Europe.  There were probably 250 people in this spin class.  There was a live band rocking out and a woman was getting everyone psyched up.  They would have hopped off their bikes and followed her into war if she asked!

It was another great sunset, and we stayed up top for the whole thing this time:)

The rolling hills of Florence. Exactly as it should be! 

Next food stop-porchetta! You may ask what is porchetta? Well, wiki tells it best- the body of the pig is gutted, deboned, arranged carefully with layers of stuffing, meat, fat, and skin, then rolled, spitted, and roasted, traditionally over wood. So yes, it’s a whole darn pig! This is by far the best porchetta I have ever had!  You can see how large it is next to the guys right hand.

We weren’t the only ones who knew about this place, it’s known as the best porchetta in the city. Everyone sitting on the street has a porchetta sandwich, too!  They have two locations right across the road from each other. They are always running across the road to bring more ciabatta bread to the other shop.

Cinque Terre, Italy! 

We made a pit stop in Genoa, Italy for a night on the way to the Cinque Terre. The trains have been an amazing way to get around the coastline. Brian was brave enough to get a pic of the outside action of the train. The views from the train are amazing!

Genoa is right on the coast, although we did not have time for a beach. Even though we didn’t accomplish the beach, we did find some pretty amazing pizza! Our first day in Italy and we are already eating some pizza.

Welcome to the Cinque Terre! It was incredible.  The steep hills fall right into the sea, and all the towns we hiked to are situated right on the cliffs. This area is a World Heritage site, or UNESCO site. This area might be more difficult to get to in the future because tourism has taken its’ “destructive grip” on the region. It might become a lottery scenario to see and hike in these mountains.

There are 5 cities in the Cinque Terre. We stayed in the middle and smallest town of Corniglia. We really enjoyed staying here because after 5 pm most of the tourists are gone to spend the evening in the bigger cities on the coastline.

Corniglia is also on the highest situated town (300 ft), so you have to climb the ‘Lardarina', a long brick flight of steps composed of 33 flights with 382 steps from the train station to the town. This is our hike to the rocky beach below.

This is our “beach,” no sand in sight, just rocky outcroppings. We did some cliff jumping off the rocks and swam around after our train ride. We are gearing up for the hike tomorrow! We are going to see the other 4 towns in a day!

The sunset on our balcony. We got some amazing food at the market and put together a picnic to watch the sun descend! Sun dried tomatoes are our new favorite way to spice up a sandwich or just as a snack!

We got an early start to beat the heat! It sort of worked, although it was still nice and humid! The town of Corniglia is over Brian’s shoulder. We headed north on the trail at 8 in the morning. The trail is falling apart in places, but we saw a few work crews improving the rocky and steep staircases. The maintenance of the trails are sort of a controversy because the farmers are getting the bill for the upkeep of the trails even though it is a National Park.

Vernazza! We were drenched with sweat by this point and we were very excited about jumping in the water. Which is exactly what we did, we swam right in the cove! This is a very photogenic place, and I’m pretty sure you can’t take a bad picture!

Now we are onto Monterosso! We were ready for a swim! That is the best part of hiking between the towns. Every few miles, you just jump in to cool off!  This was the largest and our least favorite of the towns.  We only walked around for 45 minutes before deciding to hop on the train to the farthest most town and continue our hike north.

We were ready for some lunch, and squid sounded amazing! So we found a great, cheap little take away fried seafood restaurant in Riomaggiore. We even found a perfect little squid!  Grabbing takeout food and eating on the water is usually the way to go.

We decided to take the train to the most southern town, Riomaggiore, and then make our way to Corniglia through Manarola. Brian did some amazing cliff jumping here, he is getting geared up to do some higher ones later in our trip!

The perfect dinner picnic up on our balcony! Fresh bread, pesto, burrata, prosciutto, and sun dried tomatoes! I already want to go back :) 

Mercantour National Park!

We were very fortunate to couch surf with an awesome guy who loves hiking just as much as us! He volunteered to take us to Mercantour National Park, which was an hour and half drive from Cannes! We had an amazing day of hiking in the Alps. We never can get enough of the mountains, and it was a wonderful change of scenery. I will let the pictures speak for themselves, as it was absolutely stunning.

There were lots and lots of lakes scattered throughout our hike. If we did not have Damian, we would have been lost as the trail is only marked by cairns (stacked rocks) and sometimes we didn’t have a trail at all and just walked in the right direction.  It is more important knowing the natural trail landmarks and the direction you are hoping to go. 

We were even high enough to get some snowy terrain! We even went “skiing!”

This picture was the highest we went, 2800 m! On the right of the picture is Italy, and on the left is France! We were literally hiking in-between two countries!

And when one is seeing something amazing, you jump! At least that is always my philosophy! 

We were fortunate to have the alpine wildflowers still in bloom during our hike. 

With the higher elevation, the mountain decided its’ own weather pattern. We hit a rain storm on the way to the hut. We stayed in the hut while the storm passed, we were soaked thru, so it was nice to dry off just a bit before heading back out.

These huts are scattered along the Alps as a respite for overnight hikers. We stopped for a drink and some regional blueberry cake as a storm passed! Many hikers will go from hut to hut to have dinner and sleep before heading to the next hut. It would be a great way to hike and meet people along the way.

We saw lots of marmots and heard lots of pika! We even were lucky enough to see a few chamois (little alpine deer)! 

The French Riviera!

This blog post will be a culmination of all the cities we visited along the French coastline! 

Marseille, Cannes, Antibes, Nice, and Monaco! 

We were able to Couchsurf along the French Rivera, and it was an amazing experience! Our host, Damian, lived outside Cannes, France so that was our home base for day trips around the area. We visited quite a bit of the Rivera as we took trains down the coastline. We mostly relaxed by the Mediterranean Sea, wandered through really old streets, and ate some great sweets! The color of the water is a literally aquamarine, and sometimes even a perfect light teal blue. The water was the perfect temperature, hovering at the 75 degree mark.

We rented a few bikes and meandered our way through traffic along the coast.

We started in Marseille for a few nights on our trek through some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. The beaches are really rocky, not a speck of sand in sight on some of them. We both decided we love the rounded rocky beaches because you never have to worry about sand everywhere. It’s like the pool, but way better!

We were really enjoying our stroll through the town, so we decided to go to one of the most visited sites in Marseille, the Notre Dame de la Garde. Little did we know, the cathedral was on top of the highest mountain overlooking the city of Marseille! We biked practically vertically to the tip top. We got some giggles from the locals, and even a few of them cheered us on to victory. Exhausting, sweaty, and crazy- but just a part of the adventure. 

This is the selfie at the top, and the view was worth all the sweat!

We have been trying to make meals when we have a kitchen but it is always a scavenger hunt to find utensils and pans to make a complete meal. We have been eating out a lot, and when we come home it will be time to eat straight from the garden for a month! Tonight was salmon, shrimp tortellini, and steamed broccoli, with a side of juice of course!

This is Antibes, France! It is a gorgeous town with two different faces, one is a very old side and the other is more modern. We went to a farmers market and picked up fresh squid, french bread, goat cheese, olives, and sun dried tomatoes and had an incredible gourmet lunch sitting under these pine trees with this view. We stayed here for the afternoon and rested, read the kindle, and swam in the crystal blue sea. 

Our sweet treats we got at the farmers market for breakfast. One is a pseudo-doughnut with creme filling and the other is flan!

We happened to see this crazy looking yacht/ submarine while we were in Antibes. You are looking at a 350 million dollar boat. It is owned by a Russian billionaire and he is looking to sell if you are interested!  He is currently building the largest sailing yacht in the world.  We looked up the yacht online and it is one of a kind, and it has been in lots of magazines. It has every luxury you can imagine, and maybe just a bit of excess. One room is wallpapered with the hides of stingrays! The boat was in Antibes because he also has a massive estate there. I don’t blame him honestly, Antibes is gorgeous.

We are on to Nice, France! Brian and I are enamored with this town. It is so beautiful. We liked it more than Cannes (which I just realized we don’t really have any pictures of Cannes)! The water is the most beautiful color of opaque blue. It saddens us to no end to see this same walkway devastated during an hour of horror on Bastille day this year. We walked along this path just weeks before the terrorist attack, and you can’t quite put it into words how incredibly sad it is to have walked in that exact area.

Fenocchi’s is a famous gelato place in Nice. They had every flavor imaginable, and it was very good. We are priming our tastebuds for Italy where we will be going hog-wild on gelato and pizza!

Barcelona, Spain 

As we travel around Europe, we have been narrowing down the perfect city for us.  Barcelona ticks a lot of those boxes.  It has the sea, an old town, great food, it’s reasonably cheap and good public transit.  The main disadvantage for us would be its’ size.  We don’t enjoy public transit and much prefer walking.  Barcelona is a city that requires the use of public transit.  Eventually you get tired of walking in zig zags because of how the roads are designed.

A trip to Barcelona is incomplete without seeing the Sagrada Familia.  We walked the 20 minutes from our hostel to see it at night even though we would be there in the morning.

The outside is more complex and chaotic than any architecture we have seen. You could spend literally all day looking at each section and still not grasp the symbolism in every nook and cranny.

Gaudí (the mastermind) wanted the inside of the cathedral to feel like you were in the forest.  The main supports are tree trunks with the canopy above with the different shades of daylight streaming through the “trees.”

As you can tell, it is still not finished, even though construction began in 1882.  I felt a little better about our steep admission fee because it goes directly to the building costs.  Nevertheless, it is getting closer to completion.  The last phase is a huge center spire which will represent Jesus Christ.  It will probably be competed well after 100 years after Antoni Gaudi died. Hopeful completion is 2026, but I’m thinking that is an optimistic thought.

The back of the cathedral is completely different; and definitely supports the fact that another architect has the reigns of the project.  The “ribs” are the newest addition and you can tell by the brighter white color, they represent the body of Christ being broken.  Below that are the straining and stretched muscles surrounding the crucifixion of Christ.  It’s much easier to follow the story on this side of the building, for better or worse. It was also very interesting to see modern sculpture. We have seen lots of statues from antiquity, but to see a new spin on the art form was actually quite eye opening.

I have read the only Olympics to turn a profit was Los Angeles because they already had all of the facilities. I have to imagine that the 1992 Olympics were even more important to Barcelona. This beautiful park, promenade, arch, and art deco street lights were all thanks to the Olympics. Barcelona was a dirty, dangerous, and beach-less city before their bid to host the world’s elite athletes. The maze of old shipping docks were torn down and new man-made beaches replaced them.  Now it’s the tourist capitol of Spain!  The waterfront is a mixture of artificial beaches, yacht clubs, parks and high price condos.

Almost every city we visit has their own triumphant arch.  Liz rarely stays on the ground when taking pictures.

You can find Gaudí everywhere you go in Barcelona.  His style is unmistakable whether you like it or not.  He also has a famous park (Guell) and a hospital that he designed.

Time for some food!  These little guys are grilled cuttlefish with an herb sauce.

Combination plates are an easy way to try lots of different tapas.  This whole plate of food was 15 euros at the nicest tapas restaurant in town.

We decided to venture from the downtown area up to the battalion on a hill overlooking Barcelona.  We spent half of our time lost, confused or at a dead end.  It was worth it for the view but someone should sell water up there!  This picture is taken on a long abandoned staircase that probably hasn’t been used in 10 years.

We only spent a few minutes before heading down to find some water!  You can see the Sagrada Famailia right above Liz.

We really enjoyed Barcelona but we definitely needed more than two nights.  We missed out on the Picasso museum and I would have enjoyed seeing the Barcelona Pavilion by Mies Van Der Rohe. I guess we will be going back sometime soon!

Valencia, Spain! 

We made a pit stop in Valencia for a few nights, as it was quite a bit cheaper for lodging than Barcelona on the weekend. We waited out the weekend enjoying a “smaller” town of Spain (it’s the 3rd largest city). Valencia oranges have a reputation for sweetness, and the Valencia oranges in the US were named after this city after it was hybridized in the 1820’s. Motifs of orange trees were everywhere you turned, and real orange trees are planted throughout the city. We took some of these “mini” oranges and ate them whole- they were the flavor of a whole orange in just one bite. Which means, it will rock your socks off with tartness and then sweetness. 

The Spanish culture is a really fun one, the young and the old stay up late and just meander on the streets soaking in the city. We went out late and happened into an open air concert of the Valencia Orchestra on the main square. They had an amazing playlist of songs, some were from antiquity, others modern, and lots of Disney songs. We had a great time people watching, and also trying to rack our minds on which Disney song went to which movie. They were playing right into the next day! Seriously, they were playing until after midnight.

We stayed in an airbnb in Valencia, and this was the view we had from our bedroom and patio. It had a nicer exterior and then the courtyard looks a bit more third world. I would crave some natural environments if I lived here, just a bit too much concrete!

This is an open air market in the city center. We were in the pursuit of Horchata! Which is a famous Spanish drink made with tiger nuts, water, and sugar.

Luckily, the first stall of the market was a horchata stall, so we made a beeline for it!

Everyone loves a good ole’ cup of fresh orange juice, but Brian worships the liquid. He is on the constant lookout for the golden juice. Europe seems to care about their orange juice too, because everywhere we go, orange juice is usually freshly squeezed. The milky white drink is the horchata, and the fartons are behind. Fartons are a sweet bread you traditionally dip in the horchata.

Valencia is close to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and the seafood is evidence of that because it looked freshly plucked from the ocean that morning. The fish, octopus, and oysters were tempting us to make an extravagant meal, but unfortunately we had a hot day ahead of sightseeing.

The Valencia train station! See if you can spot the orange motifs on the façade of the building! Unfortunately, the high speed train (2.5 hours) to Barcelona was completely booked for the day we were leaving, so we had to take the slower train (5 hours), but we are headed to Barcelona regardless!

This was a really modern area of Valencia that’s called the City of Arts and Sciences. It felt like we were walking into the future on some distant planet. There is a planetarium, aquarium, science museum (which looks like the skeleton of a whale), and an oceanographic park. Unfortunately, the projects have heavily indebted the city. But, it was quite a site to walk around!

Tour de’ Food, Madrid Style! 

This is the tour de Madrid- food style! Usually our goals for travel are  as follows: learn the history, meander the city, eat amazing food and take great pictures. So the history part is done, and now it’s time to make you hungry!

Freshly fried calamari sandwiches and fried potatoes! It was quite an establishment of great sandwiches because we were being filmed while eating there!

Spain is known for their ham, specifically cured ham. There are many specialties of ham, but one of the most sought after is ibérico. These are a specific breed, black Iberian little piggies, that are fattened up with barley and corn and then allowed to pasture. Some of the most expensive hams are only given acorns or olives until they are slaughtered! Some producers cure the hams for 48 months! This is a plate of potatoes, ibérico ham, and eggs. This really is our first “actual” American-ish breakfast (I’m still looking for pancakes). On the other side, it’s toast with fresh shrimp and creamy mushrooms!  

Even though we aren’t in Italy, we got some pizza! I would say this pizza style is more like a deep dish pizza. We are looking forward to the “Napoli” style crust. We plan on gorging ourselves with thin, soupy and saucy pizza!

Madrid, Spain 

We traveled from Lisbon to Madrid on another night train! This time we booked “couchette’s” and we were able to sleep in bunks. It was glorious compared to our last trip on a night train. It was a great experience even though the train was delayed by 2 hours, which is ironic since we hopped in a cab to rush to the train station!

This is a park that recently reopened to the public. It was a garden of the upper class citizens of Madrid, but now lots of people stroll and enjoy nature in the middle of a big city. It was a smoking hot day, so we found some shady spots and relaxed. We were in search of the ocean, but we are completely land locked! 

Puerta de Alcalá! This is a neoclassical arch built by King Charles III to spruce up the drab city in 1774. He liked both the plans from his two architects, so he decided to build both! There are 6 differences between the two sides of the arch. We took a walking tour through the city from our hostel. We learned a few things about the city, but mostly how upset the Spaniards are with the Spanish government. This seems to be a theme throughout most of Europe. We have spoken to lots of locals along the way, who first and foremost, want to know about Trump, but also discuss pertinent “hot” topics of their own country. 

Plaza Mayor! It has been really fun to see some of the sights I have walked through years ago. I remember being in Spain and Italy, but when you travel as an adult it just seems more vibrant and beautiful. I have a terrible memory about most things, but I distinctly remember the details of this square! 

There were some pretty interesting street performers in the Plaza Mayor, this one in particular was our favorite. It was a sparkling goat who would shake his “coat” around in a frenzy when you dropped a coin in his cup. We giggled for quite some time about this one. Luckily we got a video.

The San Miguel market is really close to the Plaza Mayor, but we got lost wandering the streets, so it took a bit longer to find it. This was a pretty market that was built in 1916. That’s a brand new piece of architecture in my book! (We are getting used to seeing really old, old buildings). We stopped for a bit and had some lunch and smoothies. The fresh fruit has been really amazing in Europe! We did not do a lot of “touristy” things in Madrid. We mostly just wandered around the city.

Lisbon, Portugal! 

Originally, we did not plan to make the trek to Lisbon, as we would have to cut across all of Spain. Lots of other travelers we met along the way said, emphatically, that Lisbon was their favorite. So, we decided to take the time and head to the western most side of Europe. We took a night train from San Sebastián to Lisbon in a 2nd class, non reclining seat to save money on reservation fees (we also refer to this time as purgatory). We did not sleep but an hour or so because everyone was extremely loud, rude, and rambunctious throughout the night! The whole spectrum of ages were awake and lively! At 4:30 am, the backside of Brian’s seat tray fell down, and instead of the man quietly putting the tray up, he instead started banging the back of Brian’s chair with his fist waking us both up. So, in conclusion, we will never be taking a 2nd class, non-reclining night train ever again. But nonetheless, we woke up in Lisbon!   

We loved Lisbon! We have been trying to keep a ranking system of our favorite cities, and Lisbon has topped the list every time. Each city and country has its’ own flair, but Portugal has a lively culture, amazing food, cheaper cost of living, and really fun, kind people.

We walked to the top of a tower overlooking a few of the main squares of Lisbon. There was a major earthquake in 1755 that completely destroyed most of the city, but the Alfama district, or “old” town was spared complete destruction. The more modern area of Lisbon is in a grid-like pattern of streets which were all constructed post 1755. Whereas, the Alfama district has windy streets leading to nowhere.

The Alfama district, on the opposing hill, was the city’s rough area. The earthquake happened on All Saint’s Day in the morning when most people were at mass. It lasted for 10 minutes with a magnitude of 8.5-9.0! The earthquake created a tsunami and multiple fires in the city. All the Cathedrals, including their worshippers inside, perished. The death toll is thought be as much as 100,000, making it the deadliest earthquakes in history. After the calamity had been subdued and the fires burned out, many people questioned why this happened to God’s people while none of the criminals, brothels, or the unsavory characters were even hurt.

Frangasqueira Nacional! This was our favorite restaurant of the trip so far! It was owned by the chef and his wife, and it was carry out only restaurant. They grill some of the most amazing food we have ever tasted! It was also cheap, only 16 euros for a whole bucket of goodness. The owners were very kind, and the food was so delicious that we went back two nights in a row.

We bought our take away cuisine and headed for a park where there was live music and lots of dancing, even though it was 11:30 pm on a Sunday night! 

Our hostel was close to a free open air exposition on street art. Artists can do some amazing work with spray paint cans! As you can see, Lisbon is built on hills, and trolleys can take you up and down these steep hill sides all throughout the city. We found the best mode of transport was scooting ourselves up these steep, slippery streets (more on this later)!

This cathedral, Igreja de São Domingos, broke out in fire in 1959. This was the center of worship for the city of Lisbon, so they repaired the interior in a very short period of time. The restoration team left the soot and mark of the flames, and simply rebuilt the roof and restored the alter. It was a very eery, but unique cathedral. 

An amazing little restaurant in the Alfama district. Amazing octopus and squid salad, fresh sardines, and fresh rice pudding! They are very well known for their creamy rice pudding! The owner said she makes it fresh every morning and boils the rice in fresh orange and lemon juice, then adds milk. It is a labor of love that is absolutely delicious- one we are hoping to replicate when we get home.

Lisbon is also known for beautiful and ornate tile work. It was partially out of necessity, as they erected buildings very quickly after the earthquake in 1755. The artisans did not have time to make ornate statues or reliefs in the stonework of the façade, so they opted for colorful and vibrant tiles to adorn the outside of the buildings.

San Sebastián, Spain! 

San Sebastián is just over the border of France into Spain, but it is also in the Basque country, which comes with its’ own language! We loved this area because it is on the Atlantic Ocean with lots of great surfing waves, wonderful food (pintxos), and it’s also right next to beautiful mountains. It is the perfect combination of different outdoor activities!

We hiked through the mountains along the ocean. This area gets lots of rain, and it reminded us of the forest in the Pacific Northwest. It was lush, green, and smelled divine. We were so happy to be in the mountains again after moving from city to city for almost a month. It was literally a breath of fresh air!

We were lucky on this part of our trip to couch surf with an awesome guy, Fedé! We hiked into the hills with him on a lovely, rainy day and learned all about the Basque country, Spain in WWII, and the differences in our cultures. Brian was really hoping to catch some waves in San Sebastián, as the surfing is supposed to be great, but with the weather being cold and rainy he decided against it. One more reason to come back, not that we need any encouragement!

San Sebastián is the Spanish name of the town, but in the Basque language it is Donostia. Which is very confusing when you are trying to figure out trains! But, in order to preserve this very old language, the primary language used is the Basque language. The origin of the language is unknown, it is one of the few surviving languages of prehistoric Europe! During Franco’s rule in Spain, the use of the language was discouraged, but after the dictator died there was a rebirth of Basque, and it is now taught in school as the first language with Spanish being the second. It sounds completely bazaar and nothing like Spanish.

We hiked around the mountains for a few hours to some amazing lookouts and then headed down to the valley to another town, Pasaia. As you can see, the water is a gorgeous turquoise green. We wandered through the city and then took a bus back to San Sebastián.

Churros and chocolate! Unfortunately these have been our only churros and chocolate on this trip! But, hey, it’s another reason to come back! Churros and chocolate tour next time!

In Spain, they like to eat late, drink wine or beer, and share small plates. You can go to a restaurant and get a full plate of food, but many Spaniards like to eat a variety of different places in one night. It sort of becomes a tour of the town at night when you go from restaurant to restaurant. It is a fun way of eating dinner!  Pinchos (Spanish) or Pintxos (Basque) are the perfect socializing food. We went to a few different Pintxo bars while we were in the Basque country, as these small plates are their regional specialty. They are slightly different from tapas, because the food usually comes on a toothpick or a spike.

This is the gourmet version of a Pintxo bar! All of the food was amazing, but the fresh smoked cod was the most delicious! You actually allow the fish to smoke on the grate and then you put it on the bread and voila!

St. Émilion, France

We are in prime-time red wine country! Bordeaux wine has some serious standards for their wine making, and it was really fun to soak up all the wine knowledge! Our Airbnb host used to work in the wine industry, so he taught us all sorts of things before we even got there. The city of Saint Émilion is very old and the Romans were the first to plant vineyards in this region in the 2nd century! 

It was a cloudy, rainy, 65 degree day when we biked through the hilly vineyards of the wine country. We found it slightly inconvenient, but still had a great time exploring the countryside. The landscape is a beautiful one- very lush, hilly, and lined with hundreds of vineyards.

This is a canelé, a French pastry, very specific to the region we were staying in. It is only made from egg yolks, sugar, milk, flour, and/or rum and vanilla. Egg whites are used in the wine making process to remove the tannin particles (harsh taste) which makes the wine more round and sippable. With all the excess yolks, they decided to make this amazing treat!

We went to the tourist office to see which wineries were open for visitors. They gave us 3 different names of wineries that were varying distances from the town. We went to the first place, and no one seemed to be there for the tour. So after biking through the rain we happened upon this beautiful cháteau. It was not on the list of open wineries, but we went in regardless to get a break from the rain. Since we are lucky sometimes, they had a tour in English within a half hour! We biked into St. Émilion and had a an awesome panini sandwich with frites! Then biked back to this winery for some knowledge of the age-old art of wine making! 

The wine will be in these barrels for a few years before it is bottled. Every winery is different in how long they store the wine in the barrels, ranging from 2-3 years. The barrels need to be new, straight from the cooperage (that’s the barrel making place). French oak is the better choice as it imparts less taste into the wine, whereas American oak has a more distinct flavor. They also make barrels from 800 year old trees from the oldest forest in France, but those barrels are $2000! The regular, old run of the mill barrels are $800. Of course, the wine is going to be way more expensive from the older growth trees.

This is a tasting table, it is backlit to see the color of the wine. In this region of France, red wine is the specialty. In order to taste all the components of the wine, you usually swirl, smell, then sip and you can spit the hourglass containers if you are driving!

This is the “foot” of a grape vine. As you can see the main trunk is much larger than the actual shoot of the plant, this is called grafting. The previous vine was well established in the soil, and can sometimes be as deep as 10 m (30 ft), therefore they take a new growth shoot of a new variety of grape and place it in the “foot”. The new grapevine is as old as the original “foot”. Within a few years, the vine will produce grapes for wine!

A newer vine is considered second rate wine, but a more matured vine is first wine (which is about 20 years old). They have a life expectancy too, and it’s close to 120 years… so a really long time of producing grapes! But, all of these stipulations are from the Bordeaux vines. This is not how all wines are classified, but probably why Bordeaux has such a good reputation in the wine world. 

We got out of the countryside of St Émilion and into the town of Bordeaux! This is the Place de la Bourse, or the Royal Palace. In the front of the palace, there was a mirror water feature that turns into a cloud of mist every hour or so. It was a nice way to relax and do some people watching (it’s our favorite pastime)!