Budapest (Days 22-25)

Yay for the Budablog! 

We did our first 3 day excursion of the trip in Budapest! This will be how the remainder of the trip is structured so it was fun to get a feel for the format.

Getting there: 

Planes, trains, and automobiles was the theme of the journey. Aspen and I began our morning with a .5 mile walk to the train station, then a 4 hour train to somewhere in Hungary, a 30 minute bus ride to another train station in Hungary, a 1.5 hour train to Budapest, AND a 15 minute metro ride from the train station to our Airbnb. Cristina took a plane from Copenhagen to Budapest, a 30 minute bus ride from the airport, and a 20 minute metro ride from the bus station to our meeting point. Whew.

BUT THE MAIN POINT IS THAT WE ARE ALIVE, WELL, TRAVEL-PROS, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY TOGETHER!

Finally reunited, hanging out on our pub crawl (more details below)

Site Highlights:

So. Many. Sites. There was a lot to see and do so the sightseeing basically started the first night we arrived (after a traditional Hungarian dinner of course).

Castle Walk: We started our site seeing with a walk over the Chain Bridge, and a hike up the hill to see the castle. The Chain Bridge crosses the Danube and connects Buda with Pest and represents the unification of Budapest. It was destroyed by the Nazis during World War II but was quickly rebuilt. The castle was once the home of Hungarian royalty and now (in my opinion) is a touristy, bland building, that offers a decent view (emphasis on decent, not spectacular).

Chain bridge at night

View of Pest from the castle. Building on the left is Parliment, building on the far right is the Basillica.

Castle illuminated

St. Istvans Basillica: Budapest's largest church. We didn't go in, but we enjoyed looking at the outside.

At night....

....and during the day (taken with the help of my selfie stick)

Parliment: We really wanted to do a tour of this historical building but Parliment is in session on Mondays so we couldn't. There was also a protest going on outside which was very interesting to see.

I took some better photos on my real camera, so I can't post them :(

Great Market Hall: A giant market that is located on the pest side. Remind me of the market off the Ramblas in Barcelona. They sell both food and goods here, and we took the time to enjoy a Hungarian lunch in the hall (more info in food highlights)!

The market

Happy pickled veggies (located in the basement of the market)

Gallert Hill and the Citadella: A lengthy, completely uphill hike BUT TOTALLY WORTH THE VIEW. There aren't any museums up at the top, but we loved how picturesque Pest and the Danube looked.

The view

Just some Buda(B)pest(ies)

This is how Aspen and I feel about wind ever since Santorini....(it was windy, again)

Matthias Church and Fisherman's Bastion: Matthias church has the most incredible and intricate roof I've ever seen. Fisherman's Bastion is a a castle like structure that surrounds the church.

Church

Look at that roof!

Fisherman's Bastion

House of Terror: Our museum for the city! An incredibly eloquent and terrifying museum that highlights the struggles that Hungary has gone through. My summary: if you were Jewish you were persecuted, if you were rich you were persecuted, if you were Christian you were persecuted, if you were German you were persecuted (by the communists), if you were Slovakian you were persecuted, if you were young you were persecuted, if you had relations with people outside the country you were persecuted. Basically everyone was in a horrible position. The museum is located in the building where these tormenting governments were based and also where many were torchered. There are no photos allowed in the museum, but it definitely is worth a stop if you're ever in Budapest!

The exterior of the museum

Szechenyi Baths: Rick Steves' #1 attraction in Budapest (and also highly recommended by Ellen)! We spent our last afternoon relaxing in the baths like the Hungarians do (no chlorine included). 

The baths, note old men playing chess in the corner.

Cristina forgot her bathing suit, and Aspen forgot that we were leaving the country/just wanted to be super patriotic?

Pub Crawl: What is a trip to Budapest without a tour of its famous ruin pubs? We experienced it in full force, visiting 5 pubs. Our favorite was definitely Szimpla Kert...our final stop of the evening.

So many strange decorations and a live tree! We also made friends with some Norweigans/US people studying abroad/a girl from Ireland/a guy from Argentina and Quebec! #friendsaroundtheglobe

Food Highlights:

Hungarian food is....large portions, dense, inexpensive, meaty, hearty, homey. Those were the words we frequently used to describe the cuisine in Hungary. We were definitely never hungry in Hungary (I've always wanted to use that pun!!!!) I also may have found a new favorite dessert...

Dinner at Hungarikum Biztro the first night featured many traditional Hungaruan dishes. Sausage, paprika, and dumplings are highlighted in this photo.

My Langos lunch! VERY traditional, pizza like but I had mine sans cheese (plus veggies/prosciutto)

MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE STREET FOOD!!! I loved the plain vanilla one.

At first I was skeptical that such a hollow, crisp looking, bready thing could be delicious. I was very wrong.

Apologies for the SUPER long post. We covered a lot of ground and or amped to continue seeing the world!

Budapest

Rating: 7/10 (Katie), 8.2501456/10 (Aspen), 8.5/10 (Cristina)

Likelihood of Returning: 50% (K), 60% (A), 72% (C)

Aspen: The diversity was great, which was a huge plus for me.

Cristina: I didn't have high expectations for this city, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Croatia (Days 20-22)

Croatia is the answer to the "Where are you headed next?" question. I'm really enjoying this much needed break away from everything. Yes, I check FB once every other dayish (still the main contact point for the girls living in my house next year...holla!). Yes, I do take snaps throughout some days when I'm doing cool/fun/interesting things. BUT I'm not being constantly bombarded or reminded of life. It's a lovely break, that has allowed me some much needed philosophical reflection (sorry Danielle).

We spent a little under 48 hours in Croatia and much of that time was dedicated to one specific site, Plitvice Lakes National Park (Recomended by my friends Mackenzie and Ben). So this will be another unconventional post.

Style note: Yes, I've worn my windbreaker/rain coat almost everyday. It has been soooooooo windy here!

Plitvice Lakes (Plit-veet-suh)

Plitvice (see pronunciation above) was the first national park founded in Croatia. It was created in 1949 and has been a favorite spot for Europeans ever since (and has remained mostly secret from Americans). The area surrounding Plitvice was entrenched in a major war from the 1970s-1990s so the park was mostly left alone and allowed to return to its natural beauty. 

We came to Croatia to specifically come to the park, so that's how we spent a little over 12 hours of our time here. For the remainder of this section I am leaving a bunch of photos with captions, since that's the best way to enjoy this beautiful park!

One of the first waterfalls we saw, located on the upper lakes

Waterfalls all around this upper lake! The upper lakes are known for their more exotic nature.

To see most of the park you have to walk on these plank like structures that easily get flooded out. Our question of the day was "How long do these planks actually last??" It was pretty evident that some were eroding and those were replaced by wooden ladder thingys.

This was one of my favorite points on the entire hike

Aspen and I at the biggest waterfall in the park (80m!!). We also walked to the top of the waterfall, which was a pretty strenuous, completely uphill/stair based, 10 minute hike

This pic highlights the strong current that keeps the waterfalls, in the 16ish connected lakes, flowing

Overlook of the last few falls on our exit out of the canyon 

Food Highlights:

We only ate two meals in Zagreb, and they both were outstanding (we choose our food carefully). First was Le Bistro Esplanade where we had a three course meal, wine, and coffee/tea for approximately $25! Croatia is super cheap. The next night we went to Plac, which was a more traditional Croatia restaurant (the waiter appeared to be one of the owners and didn't speak English). I really really really liked my beer.

Conclusion:

I really wish we could've spent more time in this amazing country. Zagreb was clean, safe, cheap, and beautiful and we really didn't even scratch the surface. The coast of Croatia is also supposed to be fantastic, so I think another trip to Croatia is in my future!

Zagreb

Rating: 8/10 (Katie), 8/10 (Aspen)

Likelihood of Returning: 80% (K), 60% (A)

Greek Islands: Naxos & Santorini (Days 17-19)

A little different style of post since we did 3 total days in the Greek islands. 1 day on Naxos, 1.5 days on Santorini, and .5 days traveling on the ferry to each island.

Naxos

We boarded our ferry at 7am to head to Naxos. The ferry was kind of like a mini-cruise ship and was pretty relaxing since I had spent most of the past week running around Rome and Athens.

A ferry a little smaller than ours that we passed heading to Naxos

It took a little over 4.5 hours to get from Athens to Naxos. We got stuck on the deck for the first 3 hours which made the journey a little miserable since it was chilly and windy. Once we arrived in Naxos we were picked up at the port by our hotel. After unpacking, we grabbed a traditional Greek lunch (gyros!) and headed out to do some site seeing.

Naxos is famous for its beaches and for Apollo's arch so we spent most of our time on the island at those two places. We also got crazy with our cuisine, trying some stingray and octopus!

Arch during the day

Arch at sunset

A view of the island, Naxos Town

Fresh octopus

Our stingray salad, actually pretty good

Review:

Aspen: 7.5, 50%

Katie: 7, 50%

Santorini

The weather ruined it for us. It was raining all day, the wind was howling, and there was no sunshine. Luckily, we decided to rent a car when we arrived which made the day a little more bearable.

Our smart car

Me and the car

On our first day we decided to drive to Oia (we were told to bring our cameras and be ready to take postcardesque pictures at every moment). Oia did not disappoint but we wish we would have gotten a little more sunshine.

I was also able to complete my trip goal of getting a "fish pedicure" in Oia! During a fish pedicure the fish "kiss" your feet, removing any dead skin that is on them. My feet felt exceptionally smooth and my circulation a little better after the treatment.

It tickles SO much, especially on the tops of my feet and between my toes.

For those wondering, Aspen did not partake

For dinner we ate at this incredible yet tiny restaurant called Melitini. I devoured baked vegetables with red sauce and yogurt.

The next day we went on a drive around the island stopping at the red beach, Kamari beach, Ancient Thira, and a winery! So much stuff, but we were done by 3 because the weather was AWFUL (we were pelted by hail, sand, and some of us by 6x6 boards of plywood) and we were drenched and unable to enjoy anything outside.

Boutari winery tasting

Kamari beach

The road up to ancient Thera. Yes. It was very steep and windy. Not a fun drive in the weather.

Review:

Aspen: 6, 75%

Katie: 7, 75%

Closing Thoughts:

1. Make sure to travel to the islands in the summertime, when there is warmth and sunshine

2. Stay in Fira or Oia. Oia because it's beautiful, Fira because it's central

3. Don't hesitate to rent a car. If I can drive here, you can to

Also, I've officially booked my flight home. Returning to the US on May 5th and probably to Evanston on the 16th or 17th depending on how long it takes me to see all my friends from home/spend time with my family. I'll be spending my last ten days in Europe exploring Northern Europe (Copenhagen, Malmö, Lillehammer, and Oslo)! Yay traveling and seeing the world :)

Athens (Days 15-16)

And we're off the Athens!

Soaked. At the metro station. Thought: it's going to be a long night.

My parents have left, and now it's just Aspen and I (soon to be joined by Cristina!). Greece was the first place we decided to go (partially due to proximity) and there were a couple super cheap flights on RyanAir. We selected the one that left at 6:15 in the morning. Yay. This meant that we got to the airport around 10PM the night before our flight and spent the night on the floor of the airport with about 60 other people leaving early the next morning. My thought: Great minds think alike. Aspen's thought: I'd rather sleep on a bed of nails than on the floor of the airport again. Direct quote. Luckily, we shouldn't have to do that again for the rest of the trip.

I want to preface this post with two things. 1. Everything is pretty cheap in Greece (see food section) 2. I understand 0 Greek, actually I think negative Greek is where I'm at.

Site Highlights:

Acropolis (and Museum): the Acropolis is basically a giant hill in the middle of Athens that the ancient Greeks built their temples on. The main temple is the Parthenon (which is currently undergoing restoration). It is HUGE! It measures 8•17 pillars and there actually is a life size model of it on the third floor of the Acropolis museum. There are additional temples on the Acropolis that pay tribute to other gods, however the main Goddess of Athens is Athena. You cannot take photos in the museum, so you'll just have to trust me when I say it was the best museum I've ever gotten in to for three euro.

Us at the Acropolis...it was very very very windy

Parthenon

Another temple

One of the theaters on the Acropolis

Temple of Zeus/Agora: Basically just another temple that's been pretty well preserved and the gathering place of the Ancients. They are on opposite sides of the Acropolis but I'm putting them in the same site because once you walk to them there really isn't that much more to see.

Temple of Zeus

One of the temples in the agora. This is actually the most well mainted ancient building in Athens and was used as a church for various religions until the 1830s.

Mount Lycabettus: A lengthy and completely uphill walk but totally worth the incredible view of the entire city.  At the top there is a church and a cafe where we stopped. I had a Greek version of proseco (I'm now a wine connoisseur) and Aspen had a beer (his goal: a beer in every country he visits).

This is what the mountain looks like from the Acropolis.

Food Highlights:

So much good food! I'm a little shocked at how much I've enjoyed the Greek cuisine, but lucky for me I have a couple more days to enjoy it.

Gyros: Traditional Greek gyros have lettuce, tomato, French fry like potatoes, meat, and some sort of sauce. Here are some pics of us enjoying our first gyros in Athens at Souvlaki!

Greek name of the place we had our first gyros at

MahnMahn: Recomended by the lady who owned the apartment we stayed at, it was a little fancier but cost us only 42 euros for two main meals, bread, water, dessert, and two glasses of wine. Would definitely go here again!

Toni: We found this place after scouring TripAdvisor for food recommendations near our housing. This was the closest top rated choice, so we decided to give it a try! It was amazing, and cost us 22 euros for 5 small plates, bread, water, a glass of wine, and a beer. Definitely make a reservation because we got stuck on the smoking side.

Coffee Joint: Recomended by the lady who showed us our apartment as a place to get a good breakfast, little did I know how good it would be. The fruit and yogurt parfait was INCREDIBLE. Never have I had such delicious Greek yogurt, strawberries, and pears. 

Fage in Greek, literal Greek yogurt

 

Food was good, sites were entertaining, I'm glad I got to spend a couple days in this beautiful city.

From here on out I'm going to end each post with my rating of the city on a scale of 1-10, and my likelihood of returning.

Athens:

Rating: 7.5/10 (Katie), 8/10 (Aspen)

Likelihood of Returning: 60% (K), 50% (A)

Thoughts behind: I really liked how clean and walkable Athens was, however I don't know if I could spend more time there since there are a limited number of sights and they all give off the same kind of vibe. I would like to see the 2004 Olympic stadium if I ever return to the city.