Ljubljana

Slovenia would have been an easy country to skip over. I could have just gone straight to Budapest from Zagreb but I'm incredibly happy that I decided to check it out for a few days. It's only a two and a half hour train ride from Zagreb and cost me all of 10 euros to get there. I had heard from tons of travelers not to sleep on Slovenia and to make sure I get to the countryside.

My initial reaction to Slovenia was "holy crap this place is gorgeous". I had no clue the country was so green and hilly. I was also incredibly impressed with the amount of public benches and places to sit around urban spaces. This is a rarity in cities and I appreciated the fact that I could just sit and people watch for while.

My second reaction to Slovenia and Ljubjana in particular is that there are more bikers than pedestrians. The bike lanes are everywhere and I managed to piss of more than one rider because I didn't see the red path painted in the side walk. I wanted to yell back to them, "I'm on your side, man, I just need some time to get used to all these bikes!"

My one excursion was visiting the caves just outside of Ljubljana. It's one of the biggest tourist attractions in Europe and they've had over 30 million visitors! The caves were super cold (about 45 degrees) and although I was inappropriately dressed, I still really liked the place! Check out some of the pictures:

Slovenia was, without a doubt, a great choice for stops on my trip. I will definitely visit again and hopefully get the change to see some more of the countryside. Next stop: BUDAPEST!

Croatia!

About 5 years ago I was researching buying a plane ticket to Paris and searching different travel agencies in New York to get me the best deal. One day I went into STA travel and while waiting in line to talk to someone I checked out all the different brochures. The pamphlet on Croatia, and Dubrovnik in particular, immediately grabbed my attention. I took it home and even though I was planning my trip to Paris and travel afterward I could not stop thinking about how much I wanted to go there.

I would actually say that the simple tiny brochure was one of the main motivators to get me saving for this trip . . . finally. Well, in all fairness, I didn't start saving until a couple years later but it definitely spearheaded the extensive research aspect of my trip. For some odd reason Dubrovnik would not escape my mind. Whenever I was doubting the possibility of the trip I would think of Dubrovnik, the Adriatic Sea and those red roofs and it would get my butt back in gear and saving.

When I was talking to my friend Ethan about this the other day he asked me if I was worried it wouldn't live up to my expectations and that it would be a big disappointment. It happens in traveling all the time - someone tells you about a must see spot and you get there and don't get all the hype. (My example would be Bali, as some of you have read in my post. I just didn't understand why people loved the place). Dubrovnik, however, was one of the coolest places I've been to on the entire trip. It was incredibly impressive and lived up to all my expectations.

The icing on the cake? I stayed in a great hostel and met great people. Sometimes, it just all works out. Not only was Dubrovnik great but I thought Zagreb was an interesting little city! It doesn't get much love but it was a fun place to stay for a couple nights and I met some Croatians there who introduced me to Croatian Master Chef.

Here are some pictures of Dubrovnik and the old city:

Most of my time in Dubrovnik was spent roaming around the city and enjoying the ridiculously good weather. For all you who don't know, Dubrovnik gets just about 250 sunny days a year!

Next stop: Beautiful Slovenia

12ish Days in Istanbul

After a weekend or so in Istanbul I was ready to see a bit more of Turkey and hit the road. My plan was to go to Cappadocia - what I had heard was a unreal experience. Turns out it wasn't in the cards for me. On the way to the train station I had a very strong feeling that I shouldn't head back into Asia and that moving West was the right choice. Since the last instinct about moving places was not to get on a boat in Thailand, I thought it was best to stay put in Istanbul. Plus, once I got to the train station it was completely full. Ha, decision made.

I had quite a week in Istanbul hanging out with Ethan's flatmates and managed to see a ton in the city. It was great to explore with other people since I found it really difficult to get around Istanbul by myself without getting stared at all the time. Not that being with other people stopped them, even when I was with another guy friend on the tram I still got my butt grabbed a few times. Oh well. Anyway, it would be impossible to sum it all up so I decided I'd just post some pictures.

Visit to the Dolmabahce Palace 

Cool castles!! 

A day trip to Prices Islands where we rode bikes to the top!

Me and Ethan post brunch therefore happy. That is the Black Sea behind us where we saw dolphins!

Ethan about to make a huge mistake by attempting to eat 14 of those burgers. I won the bet and got my money back pretty quick. He only made it to 7.

Miniaturk! Here lies Turkey, but mini. It was not a bad attraction so if you ever head to Istanbul check it out.

A view of the city from Galata Tower

So that is about it for my trip to Istanbul. Big shout out to my buddy Ethan who housed me for my time there he is one nice dude who dealt with me for far too long. My next stop is Croatia. Finally!

Istanbul, Turkey

Initially, Istanbul was not in the plan. I hadn't imaged being able to do it on my tight schedule but after a lot of thinking and strategizing I decided I could pull it off. I would just need to make decisions later on down the road on where to go and what stops are totally necessary.

Plus, my friend Ethan who is on his own crazy traveling journey was taking a course in Istanbul for 5 weeks and I really wanted to see him. I remember 3 years ago chatting with Ethan online and him telling me about his trip that would bring him all through Asia and Europe without taking one single flight (Impressed? Check out his blog v-w-x.blogspot.com) and thinking we could perhaps cross paths. Turns out we did! I've been crashing at his apartment for about a week and exploring Istanbul all day while the poor dude goes to class for 12 hours.

I hit the ground running in Istanbul as far as sight seeing goes. In the first day I knocked 4 attractions off my list. I know this may not seem impressive, but after traveling for this long and sightseeing being my full time job it gets hard to be so motivated to see everything a city has to offer. One great thing I found about Istanbul is that the major top 5 sights are within 5 minutes of each other making checking them all out a breeze.

Check out some of shots of beautiful Istanbul:

The Blue Mosque - amazingly impressive and free admission!

Ayasofya - one of my favorite attractions in Istanbul. I spent nearly 3 hours walking around and admiring the lighting and coloring of the building.

Those are just some of the highlights of Istanbul and the first couple of days of sight seeing. Next post will detail more sights, my failure to return back to Asia and a Istanbul debrief. 

Paros and Santorini, Greece

It's hard to imagine Paros and Santorini being enjoyable during the high tourist season. The streets are insanely tiny and painted all white (supposedly to confuse the pirates) so wandering around was very fun but unimaginable with more people around.

In Paros we spent a lot of time working out what we wanted to eat and where we'd go. My cousin Melissa gave us tons of tips of places to try. Thanks to her great advice we ate, and ate, and ate. As I've mentioned on the blog before, I'm not much of a foodie but Greece was a rare find and I couldn't seem to stop! I even tried squid and although I probably won't do it again, which wasn't half bad. 

After a couple nights in Paros we were off to Santorini. (Sidenote: thanks to all the friends who held back and didn't mention sisterhood of the traveling pants while we were on the islands). I was shocked when the boat docked and there wasn't a building or town in sight. Just massive cliffs and ocean. A short drive lead us to the Thira and then the landscape started to look familiar and what I'd recognize in movies. 

After Santorini we took a quick flight back to Athens and relaxed in the hotel for an afternoon. It's so nice to be able to stay in fancy hotels, go for a run on the treadmill and swim in an indoor pool. Much different from what I'm used to . . .

My mom's trip was awesome. I'm so happy she could come and see a new place and spend time with me and see some of my crazy travel lifestyle. I'm also incredibly proud of her for taking the long trip by herself. Now she has the full on travel bug!!

Next stop: Istanbul with my friend Ethan

With Mom in Mykonos!

Mom and I were excited to leave Athens and head toward the sunshine of Mykonos. We woke up crazy early to catch a four hour ferry ride to the island and the weather didn't seem to get any better. The worst part of the trip was that I finally gave into the fact that I was really sick. After being in denial for a few days I came to realize my sore throat was definitely strep and I needed to see a doctor pronto. I made it almost 6 months without a serious sickness but it was time and my body was finally giving up on being healthy. The good news? I was with my mom! At least I wasn't stuck in some cruddy hostel miserable and by myself. My mom took me to the emergency room and made me pose in front. I wasn't into the idea of posing, clearly:

The day was rainy and miserable anyways so I didn't ruin too much of the vacation. We still got to see a bunch in Mykonos despite the weather and my sickness.

Staying in a real hotel! No more crowded gross hostels, well, at least for a week. 

Mom waiting at our bus stop into Mykonos Town:

Mykonos was really really beautiful and mom and I were actually thankful that it was off season because the island seemed quiet. There were no crowds and it was easy to walk around and shop, eat, etc.

Next island: Paros!

Old Stuff in Athens with Mom!

Athens has a bunch of really really old stuff. After a while it doesn't even seem to make sense. When was this built again? I'm not sure if my brain can even comprehend something that was made in 447 BC? Anyway mom and I hit the tourist circuit in Athens and it was surprisingly fun and not so crowded! It could have been the cold weather but we didn't care.

Check out some pictures of the Acropolis and other cool old stuff:

Already I like Greece a lot. The food is amazing and there always seems to be something I can actually eat! (Usually I'm too picky and it's a pain to find something). The Greek people aren't as forthcoming with information but don't seem to mind when I ask them a trillion questions about how to get somewhere. Be prepared to ask tons of questions if you ever go to Greece, there are no signs here - not even in super touristy spots.

After a couple of cold and rainy days in Athens, Mom and I headed to the islands! First stop: Mykonos.