Author: Benjamin Trotter

Vienna’s magnificent charm

Taking the train from Budapest was very easy, and comfortable. I got a seat which was great, because there were many reserved, and only a few open, where people feverishly went up and down the aisles looking for a seat with their backpacks. Finally some settled for seats that showed the person would get on in Vienna and continue on to Switzerland, but others weren’t so lucky and sat in the food car hallway.

When I arrived, I got into a taxi and driven to the hotel nearby. Upon checkin, I got situated in my room and was excited to have a nice clean hotel room for a change. The balcony was great, and let me have fresh air in the room with CNN going with the Gaza saga, as well as internet. It was a good pause in my trip to get caught up on some things.

That evening, I headed out and checked out the grounds nearby of the Schönbrunn Castle, which was huge and expansive. Walking up to the top of the hill gave amazing views of the city below, along with the palace. I then went on to the bus parking lot to see if I could get on the hop on hop off bus tour and squeeze out an extra day by getting down to the center to explore tonight.

On my way to the bus, I did find that the palace was doing a concert that night that I could attend. After saying no, no to the price of $60 or so, I passed by a couple other times, and the price went lower, down to $35 :) Not being able to pass up a good deal like that, I decided to check out the orchestra production of famous songs performed by the symphony. Before the show, I went around and found dinner nearby and had a filling heavy meal.

After a relaxing dinner, I went back to the concert hall and enjoyed beautiful music played in a hall that was the site of Mozart’s last performance. It was amazing to be in this musically historic place, and I was excited to see what more Vienna had in store.

The next morning, I went on the bus tour that brought me down town so I could explore. I found the spot where the walking tours began, and explored a little before the walking tour. Finally, a group began to form around this little old feeble looking woman that was to be our tour guide.

As the tour began, she made me laugh because she had this attitude of wanting to tell us some interesting things, as if Mozart and Bach were her friends/peers, but also having that ‘I don’t give a damn’ mentality when crossing the busy streets with a gaggle of tourists feverishly trying to keep up with her.

Along the tour, I met up with another few Americans, and they were actually from Austin too! It was very random, so we chatted a bit and continued along the tour weaving us through Vienna’s streets where famous composers, and musicians all lived, worked, and played.

That evening, I went on another tour at the amazing Opera house. This was one of the best tours I’d ever been on, the woman doing the tour was amazingly fluid, knowledgeable, engaging, and brought us all around the opera house giving us insider information about the beautiful historical building. She was fluent in four languages, and gave her tours everyday in each.

That night I had a hankering for some sushi, so I found a nice Japanese restaurant and had a good meal–and it was all run by Japanese, so I got to speak too! That evening, I went for the Haus of music tour to learn more about the musicians who lived in Vienna, and it was a really great interactive museum. As I had an extremely busy day, I headed back to the hotel for a relaxing evening.

The next day, I got to now do the full bus tour, and see some other sites of the city, and I explored some places that seemed interesting. I went into a beautiful old library that was stunningly perfect in its awe inspiring beauty of sweeping spiraling staircases, globes, rolling ladders, and the spines of books being hit by the light that came in from various windows above. I got some great photos of this.

That afternoon, I continued through some other museums like the Esperanto museum and the Papyrus museum, and enjoyed my day wandering the streets of Vienna. I had a wonderful visit to this beautiful city of history, and will definitely be coming back one day :)

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Beautiful Budapest

Budapest is absolutely stunning. I was not looking forward to the trip, as the previous group I’d been hanging with at Plitvice said that the trip was abysmal, with bad trains, something about buses involved, and a long journey.

My luck, however, was the complete opposite, where I had a comfortable train, and had my reserved seat facing in the direction of movement, and enjoyed a direct journey to Budapest. During the trip, I talked to the UK guy next to me, which then his 2 other friends joined, and chatting with them about their travels and such made the trip go by fast.

Once I arrived, I had organized an Airbnb apartment, and was picked up at the train station by the host. Amazingly, within minutes of arriving, I had found the host and got driven to my new apartment. While being set up with everything in this gorgeous, spacious apartment, I asked about check out on the 1st. Well, I had booked incorrectly, and apparently only booked until the 31st, so needed to find another place for just one night.

I got settled in, and got out for some dinner at a restaurant nearby. I had a great meal, with great service, and then went for a walk around the town near the apartment. I then headed back to relax and figure out what I would do for the next day.

Over the next few days, I went through Budapest as a true tourist, hopping on one of those hop on hop off buses, free walking tours, river cruise down the Danube, walking all over the city exploring and wandering amongst some of the most impressively beautiful buildings all clumped together in one place. It was really incredible.

Taking the tour of the Parliament was really fun as well, and after my few days in Budapest, felt like I had a good grasp of how the city was laid out, the main buildings/palaces/bridges, and really enjoyed it.

My last day, I tried to go to the baths, but apparently some systematic error happened for the wristbands and in true Balkan fashion, they forced everyone to wait until the machines were fixed.  When I arrived and tried to get my ticket, they were very willing to sell me a ticket, but when I saw everyone standing in line, I asked what was going on. This entry machine allows people to buzz in or out. These poor people paid, and they were willing to wait–some have been waiting for over an hour and a half–to get into these stupid baths. I just couldn’t comprehend the pathetic nature of the bath to not just ‘manually’ allow these patrons in, but alas, this is the cultural difference. The fact that people were just standing there was appalling to me, and I simply left.

The next morning, I got to my train for Vienna and headed on a very comfortable ride (and a short one at that), and met a couple of people, an Italian and a Hungarian girl, and we chatted for most of the trip. To the seat to my left, was a little buddy of about 5 years old who was quietly playing with his video game device. He was so well behaved while his mom and little sister were in front of us. Reminded me of my niece and nephew.

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Plitvice lakes

Today, I joined a tour to go visit the plitvice lakes, a stunning marvel of natural beauty. These waterfalls cascade from tier to tier making really beautiful formations of waterfalls.

I met up with a Japanese girl at the hostel and we walked to the meeting point and joined the 30 others on the bus.

We met a girl from New Zealand and then boarded the bus where Miho, our tour guide entertained us with information about Zagreb, Croatia’s capital city, as well as some history.

After our drive, we got our stuff and were a little concerned about the weather as everything told us that we’d be in rain and thunderstorms during our visit. Amazingly, we had beautiful weather, perfect temperatures, with sun peaking through every so often. It was great.

In line, we met a guy from the uk and back up with the kiwi and formed a group of four to do the hike. We enjoyed walking around viewing the beautiful waterfalls and enjoyed the soothing sounds of falling water all around. Half way through was lunch time and we were pleasantly surprised by a rotisserie chicken lunch available for a normal price. We had a great lunch and then continued on our trip which included one of the slowest boat rides ever across the lake to The other side.

We had a great time together and laughed so much throughout everyone’s stories. As we boarded the bus back to zagreb, the rain started to com down as a dark cloud swept above us. We had amazing luck!

Split, Hvar and Brač, Croatia

Arriving in split after another bus ride, I was immediately thankful for not doing many more bus rides across the country. The roads winding Around the coast made for quite strenuous and exhausting rides.

Once out of the bus, I looked and quickly found the hostel I’d booked was literally across the way from the bus station. It’s exactly what I wanted to see.

I got settled and headed out to explore the old town and find some dinner. split was really lively and had a great vibe about it–not one that would make me stay longer but one that made me see why people do enjoy to come here.

The next day I decided to take a day trip to hvar island, and got the ferry in the morning. The weather turned bad and started to pour down rain literally as I stepped off the boat.

Overlooking hvar city is a fortress that you can hike up to to take amazing vantage points if the surrounding islands below. I was glad I’d bought the umbrella in Sarajevo, but even more happy about the forethought of bringing it with on my day trip.

After wandering around a but the rain started pouring harder and I went to seek cover in a cafe and have lunch. I had one of the worst burgers ever and left about half of it on my plate.

After leaving the cafe I found another one that I got more food at and had another snack. The rain finally let up and I continued walking around the island and enjoying the fresh sun and smell of rain water evaporating from the hearing cement.

It was soon time to board my ferry back home. That night, I went to a great restaurant thy had been recommended by a girl I met in Greece, it was great. Fresh ingredients, prepared in front of you, and small and intimate kitchen like setting.

After dinner I wandered around the old city more and got a good nights sleep.

The next day I got my stuff ready to leave and spent the day enjoying the beach. I met a nice German couple who had a shirt that had a company name with ‘knoxville Tennessee’ written on it.

I went to the water which was just knew high, a little chilly but nice, and watched everyone enjoying playing games in the water. I went a but further out to swim and then headed back to dry and go back to get my boat over to brač.

After a nice ride to the island I figured out where the taxi stand was and went to get checked into my hotel. I found it online and the deal was really cheap as a last minute special, but after riding a good 20 minutes away from civilization, I saw why.

As we pulled up to the runoff on the side of the road, it looked like an abandoned place except for a couple of cars out front. I walked in and saw a girl who was very cute, and quirky and shy. She and I spoke for a bit and she showed me to the room which was a maze of disorientation in this compound. The room was huge, no windows but a great big door that could be shut with shutters to make a cave. Here I could hibernate and recoup for the next part of my trip.

So that I did. The next morning I met a Belgian couple at breakfast and they were going down to the town for the day, so I joined with our equally handsome son of the manager, Ivo. The two seemed like brother and sister, but made it clear they were not.

Ivo graciously drove us down to the town and there we went our separate ways, and I found myself wandering towards the beaches of zlatni rat, an incredible horn shaped protrusion from the island that apparently changes shape during the seasons, truly showing the power of tides.

I spent the day swimming, sunning, relaxing and then went to lunch a different beach nearby. During my walk I found a hilariously fun obstacle course in the water that looked like one of those American gladiator things. So after lunch, I bought my ticket and joined all the kids (big and little) through the obstacle course laughing as people fell on their faces, slipped of to the water, and so on.

That evening, I came back and say by the pool. There were 5 Croatians sitting drinking smoking and partying and they asked me to come sit with them. After their second attempt I agreed and sat and was given a drink which I had to drink due to peer pressure :)

We talked a while and they graciously invited me to join them to go party in Bol, but I stayed back and had dinner and watched cnn.

The next day I went to the north part of the island to supetar, again with the Belgians. They were leaving today and I joined them to their boat. I explored this part of the island a bit, had lunch, and made my way back home for dinner.

The next day I hung out at the pool until the afternoon and chatted with maya the cook. It was fun to be there a whole to get to know them and I enjoyed the chats.

Ivo was there to drop me off at the airport. The airport was tiny and on top of the mountain. Another prop plane, and I thought well, this is the last one of this trip (I think!).

Leaving brač, we got beautiful views of the islands hvar and brač before heading inland towards Zagreb.

Dubrovnik and Lokrum island

Taking the bus from Mostar to Dubrovnik is supposed to be quite easy. However today posed some challenging traveling issues that reminded me I’m not as interested in the ‘quirks’ of various places as I used to be.

At the bus station, communicating was a huge problem and it’s so frustrating that people will not even acknowledge you or respond. They speak English because you hear their answers to other questions but a simple, please look at me, will not even get acknowledgement. The bus I was trying to get on apparently was full. So I waited there until the bus came before surrendering to the fact that it was full.

I waited patiently and no one would tell me if yes the bus is completely full or not despite me sitting with my hand of money out ready to board. Finally I have up and started walking away. That got their attention. They let me on the bus after I paid for a ticket. Why they wouldn’t just say wait and well see or anything when I’m asking ‘is it full’ was really trying.

Anyhow, amazingly I got into the bus and all was fine. When we tries to cross the border into Croatia however, traffic came to a complete stop and people were standing outside their cars because none were moving.

After waiting for almost 30 minutes the bus chose to take the other lane of oncoming traffic and speed Ahead. And we arrived at border control. The driver took all our passports and had everyone checked for the next 20 minutes. We then had a Croatian officer come on board and selectively pick out passports after viewing. It seems as though all Bosnian passports were being taken and the rest of us were just visually checked.

We then got back on our way but quickly stopped again for a rest stop. It was actually good timing because I was hungry at this point and was able to get a sandwich. Here I talked with another American Israeli and we chatted for the rest of the trip.

When we arrived I organized getting money and my next bus ticket out and it started to drizzle. I waited at the bus stop and after boarding the rain started coming down. Bad luck! My hand carry luggage of goods is in a paper bag with plastic inside so amazingly i was able to cover it enough when jumping out of the bus and running for cover.

Luckily I had bought an umbrella in Sarajevo but it was challenging with two back packs carry luggage a bottle of water and umbrella. I managed however and quickly found my apartment conveniently located just in front if the buža gate in the old city of Dubrovnik. The owner, Nike, welcomed me and sent me to my room which was at the top if a spiral staircase that I climbed up to my room. It was a beautiful room and just perfect. It felt amazing to drop everything, rinse off in the shower and relax.

I then decided to head out to dinner after having a nice stroll throughout the old city. I happened upon a Mexican restaurant. Extremely expensive –ie tacos for $20, but after seeing the guacamole, I couldn’t resist. I sat down and had a delicious nachos com carne meal and the flavors were amazingly good.

I then continued all around the old city looking at the roads buildings and people watching ending up sitting and peacefully enjoying the beautiful scenery.

The next day, I headed for Lokrum island for the day. On the boat ride over, I met some English people as well as Japanese people on the boat and enjoyed chatting. The English couple, lewis and Bianca, and myself all walked around the island before finding a spot to check out to swim. Peacocks inhabited the island and were everywhere. Including baby ones. I’d not seen a baby one before and not surprisingly, they look like little ducklings.

The afternoon was spent chatting walking, sunning, swimming and we finally split up during their lunch as I’d already eaten. I found another great place for swimming and relaxing and I pulled out the iPod and relaxed in the sun while looking out at the beauty of Dubrovnik in front.

That evening I went out for a sushi meal and it was pretty good. I hadn’t eaten sushi for a long while, so it was good to have something light. The evening I walked around some and headed back for some tv and rest.

The next morning, nike greeted me and we settled my room and she graciously took me to the bus station for my ride to split. She was an interesting character. A translator, guide, she had the err of an eclectic artist. She would have made a great gifted teacher as her energy was bright and engaging and she was thrilled to speak to me about anything and everything. Wouldn’t it be nice if more people were like this?

Mostar

Mostar is a famous stop when traveling through Bosnia because it’s a midway point to Dubrovnik. This afternoon I headed for the bus station from the hostel to catch an afternoon bus down to Mostar.

The ride was pretty straight forward, and when I got off the bus, I started walking to my hostel. Asking people along the way for the specific address in this really really small town, I was amazed at how people had no clue to where the hostel was, nor to the street. After using Google maps to help me out, I arrived in literally the center of the little town near the mosque absolutely stupefied that this little street seemed to be in plain view, and how none of the citizens seem to know its existence.

When I rang the buzzer, a little girl came down the stairs, her hair wet from just having showered. She had me come inside, as if to inside her home. We walked up the stairs and she opened the door to the first bedroom, a  huge room with a huge bed that faced the mosque out front. She showed me the bathroom and told me where to eat. She then disappeared upstairs and I found myself starving after getting my bags put down, so I went upstairs to find her. Upstairs is where they lived apparently, and it was this disheveled teenager type room with a mess and a pallet made on the couch as a bed. Looks like they’ve made their home into a hostel :)

That night I headed for the old town and walked around seeing the magnificent bridge was well lit. I walked along the cobblestones which were so round that they were hurting my feet as the shapes pushed through the soles of my shoes making my feet curve around each one. I made my way to a restaurant along the river which faced the bridge and enjoyed a meal at night relaxing after my journey.

The next morning, I walked around taking pictures and wandering around the old town. Crossing the bridge, I saw a couple of guys who were getting ready to jump off the bridge to the bottom. It looked like it was about 60 feet above the water, so they were doing it for money. As they teased the onlookers with diving off, I positioned myself at the bottom so I could watch the fall (and not be hassled for money). I took my pictures and headed to a place for lunch.

After lunch, I continued around for a bit and made my way to a Muslim Monastery a bit away from Mostar by car. This was a beautiful little monastery nestled against the caves and water. You couldn’t go in, but you could walk all around and enjoy the scenery.

That night I had a good Italian dinner and had a nice evening again relaxing and getting ready for my move down to Dubrovnik the next day.

Sarajevo Roses

Arriving in Sarajevo by plane was really easy from Belgrade. Though it was a prop jet, we arrived safely and quickly into Sarajevo. Seeing the red roofs of the blocky houses below, I had no idea what I was going to experience here.

I made my way into the city and immediately was surprised at how big it was, since everyone had told me it was so small. Well there’s New Sarajevo and Old Sarajevo, and Old Sarajevo is quite small afterall. Luckily, my hostel was located right next to Merkale Market, a huge square with a covered roof with stalls and stalls of fresh product being sold. I got settled and headed out for a quick bite to eat for dinner and to read up and orient myself to what the city had to offer.

The next morning, I got some breakfast from one of the many bakeries around town and came back to the hostel to eat it for some strange reason. While I was eating, the manager said if I wanted to go on a walking tour of Sarajevo, I could join two others from the hostel as they were going to meet the tour guide then. I grabbed my breakfast and was on my way to join a free tour of Old Sarajevo.

Our tour guide named Neno, not Nemo, was really engaging and told us a brief history as to the story of Sarajevo. While pointing out a lot of landmarks such as mosques, churches, and the synagogue, we found that Sarajevo was living quite peacefully for centuries with people of different religions—proof that it can be done. We then started having other points of interest pointed out such as the Merkale Marketplace, the beautiful colorful market which turned red with blood back in the 90’s when a missile landed and created a massacre of people trying to go about their daily business during the siege of Sarajevo. The names of the killed are placed on the wall, and the crater created by the evil is filled with red resin which creates a splatter mark to remind everyone of those killed by that spot. These Sarajevo roses, over 100 in the city, serve as a constant reminder to the people and visitors of Sarajevo as to the atrocities that occurred just 20 years ago during the aggression of the Serbian army by Chetniks.

The tour continue educating me and giving me a background of this city which I was completely ignorant about. I remember the name of Sarajevo and it having ‘fights’, but I had no idea to the extent at which this city was aggressively besieged by an army encompassing the people of Sarajevo and cutting off the gas, electricity, and water.

After the tour, I made a couple of new friends that I went to lunch with, and continued onto a photography exhibition of the fall of Srbenica. Again, the exhibition told so much about the various wars that were going on throughout Bosnia’s pull for independence away from Yugoslavia that it is incredible anyone survived.

That evening, we went to another tour called the Siege of Sarajevo Tour (SST). While the website said specifically they do not work on Tuesdays, I encouraged us to give a call just to see. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. And get we did with the most incredible, engaging, moving tour I’ve ever been on.

Created by 23 year old in his own home, the set of a bunker is created out of real wood which creates the scene of the entire tour. Walking up to his house, I didn’t know what to expect as there were foot prints leading up to his front door, you could tell he was passionate about educating about the siege.

He had us sit in the bunker to understand what it was like for the Bosnian forces that held the line against the Chetniks (Serbians who wanted to take over Sarajevo to expand the Serbian territory). After a bit, he left the room and said now sit back and experience what it was like.

In surround sound, we heard shelling and bullets flying all around us. All of a sudden, the phone rings, and we sit there not knowing if we are supposed to pick it up or not. He jumps in completely in an army vest, and says something in Bosnian. It sounded like he was receiving bad news, and then he interacted with us in a very foreign accent asking if we want to learn more about the Siege.

He then said more details about how that phone worked, and how the lighting was, and how the bunker was setup with men who had to sit there day in and day out in horrible conditions. He then explained how the tour would work, which would be a video that played in front of us asking the main questions about the siege, then answering them with video footage, demonstrations, and explanations.

The way he explained what was happening was never condescending, but simplified to the point of letting us understand exactly who the players were, why people were doing what they were doing, and how the break apart of Yugoslavia went. It was absolutely fascinating.

Before we knew it, it was already 9 oclock, 3 hours after the tour began, and I’d been completely captivated by the footage, the interactivity of the demonstrations from setting off landmines, to seeing a model of how the bunkers were placed near one another, to feeling and holding make shift guns that people made. We also saw the rations that were provided by the UN per every 15 days, hardly enough to keep a mouse alive, and apparently so disgusting that the dogs wouldn’t even eat it. But it’s what kept Sarajevo citizens alive during this 4 year long siege.

Needlesstosay, it was a really moving informative tour, and I was drained by the end. That night I went to dinner with my new friends and recounted our tour for the couple that didn’t go, and reflected upon what I’d learned all day, trying hard not to feel a sense of guilt for what I was doing on the other side of the world, and how big my problems seemed at the time, to know what kids my age were dealing with on this side. It is amazingly lucky to have this life.

The next day, I walked to the top of the viewpoint to look out at the lush green mountains that overlooked beautiful Sarajevo. This time, noticing the shrapnel marks that pocked all the buildings facades, I had a new view of what this city was like. I couldn’t help but imagine what it was like running on these streets dodging snipers and trying to retrieve water to enable survival for the next few days. Everything was a risk, yet the Sarajevo people didn’t let the siege break their spirit, and they kept pressing on trying to keep life normal by still having children attend classes and such.

The day of strolling around and then lunch with my Swedish friend and a new Finnish one, we were able to enjoy a beautiful day in Sarajevo. I then went to get my things and head for the bus station to make my way down to my next Bosnian stop, Mostar.

Belgrade, Serbia

After the trip back from Hydra to Athens, we headed for the airport by the metro and got checked in for the flight. Robert was heading for Rome, and I was headed for Belgrade. After a quick flight, I landed in Belgrade and got sorted and out of the airport. I was stunned by a breeze of cold/cool air and misty gray in this damp soviet looking place. Cyrillic was seen scattered throughout as the written language, but also roman letters which was interesting. Apparently they learn both simultaneously and it is remnant of the main divide of the culture clashes that happened in Yugoslavia in the past.

I’d rented an Airbnb place and took the directions that were listed and took the local bus #72 into the city. The ride from the airport was interesting as we drove through the surburban outskirts of Belgrade and into the city center almost 40 minutes later. Coming over the bridge crossing over the Sava river was really pretty as there’s a main church steeple that is very beautiful that looks out over the area. Whether it’s a symbol of the city or not, in my mind it will be.

I made my long way with my backpack to the house and met the man who was there waiting for me. He set me up in the apartment and I got settled in. It’s a cute little studio that’s modern, comfortable with great wifi, so it was a great rest stop in my journey. I got to get caught up on downloading photos and organizing my blog :)

I went out that night for a quick dinner, and poor Serbia, along with so many other countries I’ve come across, still cannot see the dangers of smoking and second hand smoke, and I was forced to take my food to go as there was just way too many smokers inside. I’ve been stunned at how smoking is still an issue in so many countries with how much information everyone has access to about its horrible effects. Disgusting!

The food was surprisingly bland, yet well made which was odd. Homa is one of their top restaurants, and while I appreciated the quality of the food, it was lacking in flavor :( I found that to be the case the next day for lunch as well, that my risotto with seafood lacked a sort of flavor that made it a bit boring to eat.

The next day I spent walking all around the city to see its sights. Starting at the main fortress, I learned about Belgrade’s strategic position and why it was sought after in history. It sits next to the Sava river which meets the Danube literally just at the corner of the city. From here you can travel easily and in history, Belgrade used to be a rest stop between Austria and farther south.

After the fortress, I headed to St. Michaels Cathedral, the symbol of the city. When I went inside, a wedding was taking place so it was great to witness this for a bit. After the cathedral, I went through to see the Republic Square, Hotel Moscow,  the National Assembly/Parliament buildings, as well as the St. Mark’s Church. I also stopped by the presidential palace and watched the guards until being shewed away for being too close for pictures.

I then went back home to rest from the full day of walking and got my flight for Sarajevo sorted as well as a place to stay. I then went out to get a traditional dinner at a place called Walter’s which was recommended by my Airbnb host. It was ok, and seemed like a take on the Greek Pita Kebabs. Needlesstosay, I’ve been a little disappointed at the food here :(

The next day, I went down to the water’s edge and found a place to rent a bike and headed along the Sava river for the day. It felt great to be a on a bike, with the nice sunny weather. I went over the bridge to the other side of the city and went to the main shopping center to check it out, and had a quick lunch. Back on the bike, I went back across the bridge and along the river for a good hour or so until turning around and coming back to turn my bike in.

After another full day of checking out Belgrade, I felt I’d seen the main places of the city and am content heading out tomorrow and glad I’ve had a bit of down time to work on planning the last part of my trip.

The enchanting island of Hydra

Hydra was fantastic. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to go, but after a little bit of research as to what to do after Athens, I thought it would be fun to see a quiet town, especially it being an island with no cars, and see this quaint place. Arriving by a hydrofoil from Athens in just an hour and half, it was an easy trip and pulling into the marina, you are greeted by rose colored roof tops of tile, beautiful water, sail masts bobbing up and down like fishing lines, and of course, all the other buildings that create this beautiful picturesque town.

We had booked a hostel near the marina, and quickly made our way there to drop off our items. They didn’t have the room ready yet, so we just left our bags and headed out for a little walk. We walked around the marina up the hill to the first look out where there was a diving area complete with rocks creating perches to dive from into the clear blue waters below. The land near the water was rocky, but had ladders coming out of it and paved areas for leaving your towels and bags to lay out. It was really a well created place for fun in the sun. As we sat for a while to watch this, we ended up finding a place for lunch and enjoyed a lunch special next to the water looking out. I had a fresh fish with salad and lemon sorbet for dessert.

After this, we went back to the hostel to get our bathing suits on and ready to explore the island. Robert had researched a beach that was a little hike away, and it definitely was! We walked all along the edge of the island on a deserted road that left us wondering how far this beach was. After a good 40 minutes walk, we started curving around the island and saw the beautiful water below getting closer and closer.

The beach was not that nice, although the water was pretty, but the sand was an ugly brown, and the facilities weren’t all that great. However, the seats and lounges were great to relax while hanging out at the beach after our long walk. We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon here and then boarded a taxi boat back to the center of Hydra.

Once back, we were hungry so ready to go and find a restaurant I had looked up on Trip Advisor. Again, it was a little bit of a hike, and at this point, I started shaking I was so hungry. We thought we might be lost, because we were really weaving through the streets relying upon Google Maps to help us find the restaurant. All of a sudden, we happened upon Portafino, a beautiful little restaurant run by Theo, a Greek-Brit who comes back in the summers to Hydra to run the restaurant. According to Trip Advisor, we should definitely be trying his curry, so I opted for the lamb curry, and Robert, the chicken curry.

Enter one of the most magical dining experiences I’ve had. It was not luxurious by any means, not fine dining. But, the flavors, portions, overall atmosphere of this place—I surrendered wholly to the experience and enjoyed the most amazing dinner.

After dinner, we walked around as the sun set and took some pictures, and enjoyed our night walk back to the hostel. It was amazingly relaxing.

The next day, we had both changed our plans to stay an extra day because of how much we were loving it. And I’m so glad we did. We walked around more, and found some really great things to buy. I bought these two handmade bronze sculptures of Athena, goddess of wisdom, and Neptune, god of the sea and protector of travelers. I absolutely love them. I also found a necklace that I’d seen the first day, came back to check the next day and it was gone (or so I’d thought) only to find it once more at a different shop—still confused as to if it moved around. Anyhow, it was a piece that is a replica of an Art Deco piece that was featured in the Bernaki Museum in Athens, and with black and white sapphires.

The next day, we spent around the harbor and went to the swimming area where we jumped off the cliffs, and I got to impress some people with my diving J I did a little GoPro video as well! After a full day of swimming and playing, we took a nap and then went to find dinner, only to be lead back to our beloved place again. Again, with the same meal J

The next day, we took the boat back to Athens and headed for the airport. I was heading to Belgrade and Robert heading to Rome.

Athens

Arriving in Athens after a long boat ride from Mykonos, I was happy to be there. I had been told by several others how dirty and ugly Athens is, and how ungodly hot it was. I found none to be true, but maybe that’s because I have been to REALLY HOT places or have been to REALLY UGLY places too lol. I will give Athens the award for the most tagged city ever, for every piece of wall, train car, building façade, etc was covered in graffiti.

I arrived at night and did per the directions of the hostel and rode the metro into the city center. When I emerged, there was a street of people strolling along next to a park. The street was dimly lit, and pedestrian use only, and vendors were all along the side selling who knows what.

I made my way to the Circus Hostel, which was a beautiful old building taken over and made into a new hip hostel. I got set up in my room, and Robert had just arrived as well. We met up after checkin, and found our way to a kebap place to have a late night snack.

The next morning, we went on the free guided tour of Athens. When we arrived, the guy was introducing everyone one by one, which became annoying because the longer he waited in that spot, the more people found us, and the introductions continued to linger. Finally after 15 minutes later, we were off on our free explanation tour of the surrounds.

It was really educational and engaging, but still left a bit of history and storytelling out, which overall left me with an impression of having not learned an amazing amount. We did hit many of the sites around the bottom of the Acropolis, which gave us a good orientation of where to return to on our own.

After our tour, we stopped for a bite to eat and walk around more. We looked at the shops and simply wandered around the city aimlessly. That evening, we made the long haul hike up the mountain to get stunning views of the Acropolis at sunset from across the city. It was really great, and I enjoyed being able to see the Acropolis from this vantage point and enjoyed the walk up, even though it was quite a hike.

After a while and speaking with some guys who were about to join an oil rig for 5 months shipping around the world, (as you do), we went back down the hill and had dinner for super cheap, along with dessert (as always.)

That night we enjoyed the rooftop of our hostel and looked at the Acropolis from an amazing viewpoint and it was so sparkling white and pristine at night.

The next morning, we headed out to check out the acropolis and Parthenon. We walked with a couple from my room and when we got to the base, Robert and I thought we got dumped–they decided to ‘go and get a hat’. Well, they left and we went on without them only to not see them again until I returned that night to my room. Apparently it was too hot for them, but for Robert and I, I guess we are just accustomed to the heat of Texas.

Walking up to the Acropolis is really amazing. The fact that these roads were traversed by so many people before, so many amazing thinkers, and history shapers, it was incredible to think the same stone pathways were also walked upon these people. The columns were absolutely incredible, and pictures cannot do such a grandiose place justice. The overall size of these columns I couldn’t stop looking at, and trying to imagine, how in the world were they able to build this, why did they think to make it fatter in the middle, did they do tests before, how did they fail, did they fail? All these questions kept swirling around, and made for a thoughtful afternoon as we continued walking thoroughly through each of the places we’d seen on the tour the previous day.

Finally, we ended our tour of Athens, and started to head to a museum to check out, but before that, I found a cool auction house that had an amazing old ship compass from the Netherlands. I thought it was such a cool piece. The cost however, was not so cool, and they wanted $1000USD for it. So I quickly googled, researched, and found the same model, size and everything, that was sold at auction for $350, with a value estimated at the same worth. Fortunately, this helped bring me back to earth and realize it wasn’t the right time to buy such a thing, but I loved it, so I will try to find my own auction and get one instead :)

We then enjoyed a museum for a while and went back to the hostel to be ready for our trip to Hydra the next day.