Elena and Richard's European Adventure
In and around Europe
We've quit our jobs here in Sydney and are heading off on our first trip to Europe!
Elena is going via Dubai and London, while Richard is going via Japan - where we will both catch up with friends for a week or so. First stop on our European adventure will be Portugal, followed by Spain, France, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia and Hungary. After that, we will base ourselves in London where we have working holiday visas, and hope to see the rest of Europe and the UK between jobs.
We'll be updating this blog at each stop... enjoy!
Route taken and entries by Real Traveler Elena and Richard
-
1
I have arrived! Day 1 in Dubai
Well after a 14 and a 1/2 hour flight I arrived in Dubai. The flight was packed, but I managed to sleep on the plane which is rare for me, so I was... Continue reading »
-
2
High Tea at the Burj Al Arab
My second day in Dubai was lots of fun. It started with another drive through Dubai. This time Ursh and I wanted to check out some of the souks (ma... Continue reading »
-
3
Dune bashing in the desert
On my final full day in Dubai Ursh and I went on a desert safari. We got picked up in the afternoon in a 4 wheel drive by a company called Desert R... Continue reading »
-
4
Easter in London
Firstly, sorry for being so slack in posting a blog! There hasn't been much spare time here, and I also had an unfortunate incident with a keb... Continue reading »
-
5
Getting to know London
Well unfortunately I still wasn't feeling 100% after the kebab incident, but was determined to do some sightseeing of London.
Ursula, Elysia... Continue reading »
-
6
Last days in London
We managed to do quite a few things on our last days in London before I met up with Richard and Ursula went back to Dubai.
On Friday morning,... Continue reading »
-
7
Ola from Porto, Portugal
Well I successfully met with Richard in London and we flew into Porto on Sunday afternoon. Our hotel was fantastic, only 20 euros a night but... Continue reading »
-
8
3 nights in hilly Lisbon
Our first experience of staying in a hostel happened in Lisbon. We stayed at a place called the Oasis Backpackers Resort, situated in Barrio Alto,... Continue reading »
-
9
Beach break in Lagos
We had heard from people we had met in Lisbon that Lagos was amazing and once you get there you don´t want to leave, so we decided to change our pl... Continue reading »
-
10
Bullfighting, flamenco and feria in Seville
Seville was our first stop in Spain, and we arrived in the middle of Feria de Abril, a big annual fair involving daily bullfights, flamenco dancing... Continue reading »
-
11
Next stop Madrid
Our next stop in Spain was Madrid, where we spent 3 nights. We stayed in a hostel called Cats Hostel, which was located in a historical Spanish bui... Continue reading »
-
12
Rainy days in San Sebastian
Next we headed north to San Sebastian, a beach town right near the border of France. It was lucky that we made it here though, because of a slight... Continue reading »
-
13
Discovering Gaudi's Barcelona
We had a great time in Barcelona. It would definitely have to be one of our favourite cities in Spain for both of us. We had a very rushed 2 d... Continue reading »
-
14
Is Niiiiice!
The Barcelona to Nice train sucks.
The train takes 10 hours — including a 2 hour stop over at Montpellier, where machine gun armed guard... Continue reading »
-
15
Wine tasting in Bordeaux
Sorry we haven't blogged in a while!
Next stop for us was Bordeaux, famous for its wines. We spent 2 days here, but ended up not actually doi... Continue reading »
-
16
Chateaux in the Loire Valley
We used Tours as a base for 5 days, to explore the chateaux (castles) of the Loire Valley. Tours is about 1/2 hour to 1 hour from most of... Continue reading »
-
17
5 days in Paris
I loved Paris! I couldn't believe I was actually there after wanting to go for so long, and spent the first of our 5 days there in a bit of a daze... Continue reading »
-
18
Lets go for un bike ride in Strasbourg, ya?
Here we are in beautiful Strasbourg, France. Yeap, France. Not Germany. For some reason this city is classified as France, despite the fact that it... Continue reading »
-
19
Lyon, our last stop in France
This is going to be a very short entry, as I just completed the entire blog and then lost it all. Grrrr!!
We arrived late on our first day so... Continue reading »
-
20
Einstein lived here, it must be good.
Switzerland. Land of cheese, chocolate, mountains, and braces. And so far, land of the not-too-shabby weather with sun all day, everyday.
Swi... Continue reading »
-
21
A chocoholic in Zurich
I guess by now you've noticed that I spend a lot of time writing about food in my blogs. I'm not usually so obsessed with food, but there's just so... Continue reading »
-
22
Extreme sports + snow = chess and chocolate
Interlaken, meaning between lakes, is situated between Continue reading »
-
23
Yodelling, horn blowing and broom dancing in Lucerne
Lucerne was a last minute addition to our itinerary in Switzerland, but I'm really glad we went.
I was really disappointed that we didn't get... Continue reading »
-
24
Milan, Italy
Milan was our first stop in our one-month tour of Italy, and we spent 3 nights here.
The first thing we did was get some authentic Italian pi... Continue reading »
-
25
Venice: home of gondolas, glass blowing, and Jon Lovitz
Venice. There's a lot of water and no roads. And for the next four days there was us, too.
Venice is a beautiful city that is built a heap of... Continue reading »
-
26
Cinque Terre
The rather aptly named Cinque Terre (Five Lands) refers to the five cities of Monterosso, Vernazza,
Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore on th... Continue reading » -
27
Bologna: time to try some Spaghetti Bolog... al Ragu?
Bologna is the home of Spaghetti al Ragù (what us plebs call Spaghetti Bolognese) as well as Lasagne. Needless to say, I have been looking forward... Continue reading »
-
28
The Leaning Tower of Pisa
We stopped off in Pisa for a few hours on our way to Florence, mainly to see the famous Leaning Tower.
After leaving our backpacks in the tra... Continue reading »
-
29
Camping in Florence
I'd have to say that Florence is one of my favourite cities so far. It is a beautiful Tuscan town, surrounded by hills and countryside.
Continue reading » -
30
Under the Tuscan sun in Siena
We spent two days in Siena in an old (500 years) fort run by a kind old woman. As the fort was just outside Siena, the view of the Tuscan hillsides... Continue reading »
-
31
Food, food and more food in Perugia
We spent 2 days in Perugia, in the Umbria region, staying in an old farmhouse in the countryside - complete with geese, a horse, goats and 2 cats!... Continue reading »
-
32
When in Rome...
Next stop was Rome, where we spent 5 (very busy) days. We stayed at a hostel called Casa Olmata, which had really good little touches like free bot... Continue reading »
-
33
Naples, Pompeii and Capri
Let me get this out of the way: Naples is the filthiest city I've ever visited. It may as well be classified as a garbage dump rather than a city.... Continue reading »
-
34
Ljubljana: Great place to stay, not to say.
Ljubljana (don't freak out, the j's are pronounced as y's) is the capital of Slovenia and also our first stop in the Country. And I'd just gotten u... Continue reading »
-
35
Emerald River Adventure in Bled
Our next (and last) stop in Slovenia was Bled, a scenic town in the Julian Alps.
Our hostel in Ljubljana offered an 'express bus' service str... Continue reading »
-
36
Zagreb and Plitvice Lakes
Our first stop in Croatia was the capital city of Zagreb.
The hostel we stayed in was pretty painful. We had actually booked for an 8 bed do... Continue reading »
-
37
Quick visit to Pula
Next stop in Croatia was Pula, on the Istrian Coast. Istria was actually part of Italy for about 30 years in the first half of the 20th century, so... Continue reading »
-
38
Sun baking in Split
Split officially started our holiday from our holiday. After 3 months of traveling, it was time to relax at the beach for a while. And relax we did... Continue reading »
-
39
Hvar me hearties
Continuing our holiday from our holiday, our next stop was Hvar island, about 2 hours by catamaran from Split.
Hvar is a beautiful place with... Continue reading »
-
40
A week in Dubrovnik
We planned to spend 4 nights in Dubrovnik, but ended up staying for 7 as I got sick and ended up in hospital for 4 days. I had some sort of stomach... Continue reading »
-
41
Bari and the journey to Greece
Looking at a map of Europe, one would assume that getting from Croatia to Greece would be a simple train trip. Sadly, that assumption is ridiculous... Continue reading »
-
42
Heatwave in Nafplio
Upon our arrival at the ferry port in Patra, Greece, we were hit by extremely hot weather... as luck would have it, we had arrived during a heatwav... Continue reading »
-
43
Mykonos, first stop in the Greek Islands
It was nice to get to Mykonos, where we would be spending 4 nights, and out of the heat. We got a Hellenic Seaways fast ferry from Athens to the is... Continue reading »
-
44
Quad bikes and beaches in Paros
For some reason we chose to go to Paros next, despite the fact that we had to pass Naxos (our next stop) on the way.
Like Mykonos, our time h... Continue reading »
-
45
Next stop Naxos
The third Greek island we decided to visit was Naxos, the largest and supposedly greenest island.
As the ferry was pulling in to the port, we... Continue reading »
-
46
Stunning Santorini
Santorini was by far my favourite Greek island. We spent 4 nights there and I could have spent a lot more time on the island.
We were st... Continue reading »
-
47
Ancient wonders in Athens
Athens is the home of some of the oldest human structures still around and it's definitely not a place we wanted to pass up. We had heard... Continue reading »
-
48
Sofia and the Rila Monastery
Sofia is the capital city of Bulgaria and is our first stop in our 6 day tour of the country.
Bulgaria also represents an entirely new alpha... Continue reading »
-
49
Roman ruins in Plovdiv
Plovdiv was our next stop in Bulgaria, for 2 nights. We stayed at Hikers Hostel, right in the centre of the Old Town. The first thing we did... Continue reading »
-
50
Veliko Turnovo
Our final stop in Bulgaria was the smaller town of Veliko Turnovo, where we stayed for 2 nights. Although its smaller than Sofia, Veliko Turnovo wa... Continue reading »
-
51
Bucharest: Gypsies and garbage and dogs (oh my!)
Our first stop in Romania was the capital, Bucharest. We had heard a few things about Romania - mainly to do with gypsies, garbage and dogs - and t... Continue reading »
-
52
Exploring Dracula's territory in Brasov
Next stop was Brasov in Transylvania, a city we were using as a base to explore the nearby towns of Bran - famous for being the location of 'Dracul... Continue reading »
-
53
Sighisoara
Our last real stop in Romania was in Sighisoara, fortified citadel and birthplace of Vlad Tepes (aka Vlad the Impaler; primary origin of the legend... Continue reading »
-
54
Russia All The Way tour... first stop Moscow
We decided to do a guided tour of Russia, as we weren't sure how safe it would be for us to visit by ourselves. We chose to do a 2 week tour called... Continue reading »
-
55
Russian banya experience in Pskov
Pskov was our next stop, for one night.
The overnight train trip was an experience. We were staying in cabins of 4 people, with 2 bunk beds i... Continue reading »
-
56
St Petersburg
We spent 6 days in St Petersburg, and could have easily spent more time - there is so much to see. On our first evening, I went to the ballet with... Continue reading »
-
57
Suzdal
Our overnight train arrived at 4:50am in Vladimir, so we were all feeling pretty tired when we got to the hotel. Luckily, we were able to get a few... Continue reading »
-
58
Seeing Hungary from Budapest
After a long trip we finally arrived in our last country, Hungary. As I have a Hungarian background, it was a country I was looking forward to seei... Continue reading »
-
59
Eger and the Valley of the Beautiful Woman
Our final day of our trip was spent in Eger in the North East of Hungary. Eger is well known for its wines and we were keen to sample them.
A... Continue reading »
Would you like to comment or ask a question?