Europe on Hot Sauce and Coffee

Madrid

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 12:00:00 +0000

Spain’s capital city, Madrid, sits at an elevation of 2,188 feet. Compared with Barcelona’s near sea-level, it makes for quite a difference especially when considering weather and temperature in December. We left Barcelona in the mid 60s (F) and arrived to an average of ten degrees cooler in Madrid. During the daytime, the weather was cool but tolerable but once the sun set, the wind picked up and the winter chill crept in.

Barcelona

Sat, 02 May 2020 13:00:00 +0000

May I suggest one of my favorite books: “The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. This is an enchanting book I read years ago, taking place in none other than Barcelona. It takes place in 1945; the protagonist is a young man named Daniel who takes you on a thrilling adventure throughout the city on his quest to solve a mystery. The author’s descriptions of the city were so intoxicating that I couldn’t wait to visit someday. I always imagined it would be much sooner but alas, I did make it eventually.

Southern Spain

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Ryan and I left lovely Porto and headed for southern Spain. Luckily for this portion of our trip my brother, Grant, and his girlfriend, Lili, came to visit! We met in Malaga, rented a car, and drove to Granada.

Granada

Granada is a small city located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range (not to be confused with the Sierra Nevada in California) which has been heavily influenced by the Moors, and is home to the famous Alhambra.

Porto

Sun, 08 Mar 2020 08:00:00 +0000

Porto was a mere three hour train ride north of Lisbon, but the much colder weather we encountered felt more Baltic than Mediterranean. It was smaller and gave us a cozier vibe. Just like Lisbon, we had no problem communicating in English here and quickly established a favorite coffee shop that wasn’t far from our Airbnb.

On the first day of good weather, we utilized our time by exploring Porto’s namesake port tasting- more specifically, at Vasques De Carvalho. Because we’re both novices with regards to port, we opted for the “Starters” tasting, which included four different wines for €15. The wines were: Reserve White Port, Late Bottled Vintage Port 2013, Reserve Tawny Port, and 10 years-old Tawny Port. We selected Vasques De Carvalho because it was highly rated on Google and a much smaller company than others in the area. We were the only people tasting at the time and thus got a lot of attention from staff. 10/10 would recommend again 😁

Lisbon and Sintra

Sun, 26 Jan 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Rather than risking another unpleasant night train all the way from France to Portugal, we opted to take a cheap RyanAir flight from Marseilles to Lisbon. After grabbing a bite to eat and settling in at our Airbnb, we busted out the Rick Steves Europe app, and began the audio tour for Lisbon. It began at the enormous Praça do Comércio...

...and continued along a scenic pedestrian path through the middle of the city. It was love at first sight! We admired the beautiful black and white paving stones set up in unique patterns and colorful tiles covering many buildings.

We also came upon the memorial to the victims of the Inquisition that sadly did not appear to be well maintained. Unfortunately I didn't take the best picture of it, but you can see there are three burns on the memorial. We were also shocked that a tour guide next to us kept resting her foot on the memorial as she explained the Inquisition to her group. On a separate note, it felt strange as Jews to be in a city with such a violent anti-Jewish history and almost all traces of its Jewish history erased.

The Rick Steves tour also brought us to the Rossio subway station built with an eye-catching architectural style that we learned is referred to as Neo-Manueline. The empty space between the doors was for a 126 year-old statue that was destroyed by a student who climbed up to take a picture with it in 2016.

There is almost no evidence of the earthquake in 1755 that destroyed the city, except at the Convento do Carmo. Here they didn’t rebuild but rather left the convent nearly untouched.

Today it’s possible to enter with a small fee, but the destruction is notable even from the outside. This earthquake had a magnitude of 8.5-9.0 and occurred the morning of All Saints Day. Those that survived the earthquake were then left to contend with horrific fires caused by the plethora of holy day candles knocked about as the earth shook. While dealing with said fires, the city was then hit by a 20-foot tsunami caused by the earthquake. I read somewhere that the survivors fled the city thinking that the world had ended. Due to this tragedy, Lisbon had the unique opportunity to rebuild from scratch, in contrast to many other large, aged European cities that have been forced to retrofit in order to stay modern over the centuries.

We were able to find several great vistas of the city to enjoy the view. Later on we visited the 11th century Moorish Castle of San Jorge, which was surprisingly accessible- There were very few guard rails or even railings for stairs. As Americans, we are always surprised to find a lack of safety/accessibility equipment installed abroad.

At this point the sunset was fast approaching along with wind and rain clouds, so we headed back to the Airbnb to regroup.

The next day we took a train to Sintra, a hilltop town home to several castles, gardens, and palaces. This area was where the Portugese royal family spent time outside of Lisbon, and therefore attracted wealthy families who were (or wanted to be) close to royalty. We only had time to spend one day here, so we chose to visit the Pena Palace. The vibrant, contrasting colors helped to brighten up our otherwise cloudy/rainy day.

The level of detail was astounding and we loved seeing the different styles of the exterior. We wished we had more time to explore this area, as it was full of nature parks and other interesting sites. We caught a glimpse of the Sintra National Palace as we descended the hill back to the train.

On our last day in Lisbon, we walked to the area called Belem, about 45 minutes west of central Lisbon. The walk took us past the Ponte 25 de Abril (which to us seemed to be the Portugese equivalent of the Golden Gate Bridge) and the Museum of Art, Architecture, and Technology- also known as MAAT. Walking by MAAT was an interesting experience as the building is designed to echo the sound of the river, so that as you go by you can hear the waves in stereo above you. It was a really cool effect that we stumbled upon by chance.

Continuing on our walk, we found the gigantic Monument of Discoveries. This is a beautiful, highly symbolic tribute to Portugal’s Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Last but not least, we finished our walk at Belem Tower. The Belem Tower was a military fortification built in the early 1500s. It is possible to enter, with a fee, but we opted to just enjoy it from the outside.

After a long day of walking, we caught a taxi back to the city. We made it just in time to catch the sunset over Lisbon (you can see the San Jorge Castle on the far hill).

Lisbon surprised us. We honestly didn’t think we would enjoy it as much as we did. The city was interesting and reminded us a bit of San Francisco; having a history of devestating earthquakes, built upon steep hills, with still-functioning historic street cars.

Trading One Riviera for Another

Sat, 18 Jan 2020 16:00:00 +0000

After spending over a month in Italy, it was finally time to go. We boarded the train from Genoa and started making our way along the coast into France- specifically the French Riviera.

Nice

We arrived in Nice in the late afternoon and checked into our new Airbnb a block away from the train station. Unfortunately it was raining as we arrived, and continued to do so for the remainder of the day. We opted to brave the rain and headed to a grocery store to pick up some food and necessities before heading back and calling it a day.

The next morning the weather had cleared up and we took advantage by heading to the boardwalk. We spent much of the day walking along the beach in sunny but brisk weather- the ocean was still churning heavily as a result of the previous night’s storm.

As we walked along the Promenade des Anglais, we noticed the abundance of bollards lining the walkway. It was a stark reminder of the terrorist attack that killed over 80 people using a truck to murder people as they were celebrating Bastille Day on the boardwalk in 2016. Eventually we made it to Jardin de la Légion d’Honneur where there’s a memorial for the victims of the attack. It was a sobering experience, and reminded us of the difficulties France (and much of Europe) are facing regarding the looming threat of radical Islamic terrorism.

We continued walking along the promenade for awhile and eventually we finally built up an appretite. We found a small cafe/bakery that specialized in cookies, but also offered sandwiches thankfully- as we were quite hungry (though we still enjoyed some cookies of course). After eating we spent a bit more time exploring the city, then headed back for me to be able to do some work.

The Colors of Liguria

Wed, 08 Jan 2020 16:00:00 +0000

Leaving Amalfi

The day prior to us leaving the Amalfi Coast was the final day the ferry to Salerno would be operating earlier than 10:00 AM. This was very unfortunate for us because it meant we’d have to take a bus to Salerno in order to catch our 10:00 AM train.

Up to this point, we had managed to avoid taking the bus during our time in Amalfi, save one reasonably unpleasant experience. We were hoping to avoid taking another bus at all costs- all the winding up and down the hillsides, through hairpin turns and narrow lanes between buildings, and of course the inevitable reversing back up the road to allow for another bus to get by… all while you may or may not have a seat on the bus due to the large crowds.

The Amalfi Coast

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 06:00:00 +0000

We took our second (and mercifully last) night train from Siracusa to Salerno- ending up with not much more sleep than our first time, but thankfully there was running water and electricity this time around.

Once in Salerno, we boarded the ferry to Amalfi. We spent the better part of the day exploring the town of Amalfi, with a brief visit to Atrani- a much smaller and more relaxed version of Amalfi.

Sicilia

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 06:00:00 +0000

We left Arezzo by train at 8:30 AM to Rome, dropped off our bags, explored Rome all day (by walking over 18 miles), then hopped on the night train bound for Sicily at 11:00 PM. Yes, you read that right: you can take a train to the ISLAND of Sicily. There are no bridges from the mainland. The train gets taken apart, car by car, and loaded onto a ferry for a short 50 minute boat ride, to then be reassembled onto the other side. We honestly thought this was a joke when we first heard about it, but we can confirm, this is in fact how it works.

Walking through La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain

Thu, 28 Nov 2019 13:00:00 +0000

Ambling through the Alhambra in Granda, Spain

Fri, 22 Nov 2019 13:00:00 +0000

The Cable Car over Porto (Teleférico de Gaia)

Fri, 15 Nov 2019 13:00:00 +0000

Toscana for Twenty Sunrises

Tue, 12 Nov 2019 04:00:00 +0000

(This article was cowritten, so paragraphs beginning with “M” were written by Mollie and ones beginning with “R” were written by Ryan)

M - After our sprint through Scotland, France, and Switzerland, we knew we needed to land somewhere for a good long while. This fit into our plan of setting up a home base in Tuscany, as we had fallen in love with Italy when we visited two years prior.

Views from Bellanda Tower in Nice, France

Tue, 05 Nov 2019 14:00:00 +0000

Viewpoint in Corniglia, one of the towns of Cinque Terre, Italy

Tue, 29 Oct 2019 13:00:00 +0000

Hike from Ravello to Minori (Amalfi Coast, Italy)

Sun, 27 Oct 2019 13:00:00 +0000

Helicopter Medevac takeoff in Maiori (Amalfi Coast, Italy)

Sat, 26 Oct 2019 13:00:00 +0000

The bottom of Sentiero Pennina (at San Michele in Amalfi, Italy)

Fri, 25 Oct 2019 13:00:00 +0000

Path of the Gods (Sentiero degli Dei) - Amalfi Coast, Italy

Thu, 24 Oct 2019 13:00:00 +0000

The views of Amalfi, Italy along the path from Amalfi to Atrani

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 13:00:00 +0000

Hiking down from Taormina to the train station - Sicily (Italy)

Sun, 20 Oct 2019 15:00:00 +0000

Last day in Arezzo - Update #4

Wed, 16 Oct 2019 13:00:00 +0000

A Quick Dash Through Switzerland

Fri, 11 Oct 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Initially we wanted to spend a week or more in Switzerland, we’d heard amazing things. However, our plans quickly changed as we began looking into accommodations and the corresponding nightly rates. We started stripping down our trip, trying to maximize what we thought would be highlights, and trying to stay in places that wouldn’t damage our wallet too badly.

Ultimately, after a few days in Paris, we headed into Switzerland via Basel (the northwest corner of the country) and went directly to…

Paris, je t'aime

Fri, 11 Oct 2019 15:00:00 +0000

So I have to admit, I was terrified of going to France.

I had been there before- one week in high school, on an organized tour, and I LOVED it.

However, all you hear is how the French, especially Parisians, despise Americans and will pretend not to understand English. Since Ryan’s language skills only helps us in Spanish-speaking countries, I knew it was all on my high school French getting us by in France.

Passing Through York

Thu, 10 Oct 2019 15:00:00 +0000

For whatever reason, it was challenging to find a semi-affordable Airbnb in Paris. We had found a nice one and attempted to book it for four nights but the owner rejected our booking because he was "looking for someone to rent it for longer." _Have you ever heard of that before!?_ It was a bummer since we were no longer certain we'd have a place to go in Paris. Thankfully we eventually found another decent place, but it was only available starting the night after we left Stirling, meaning we had to find a place for the night in between. This is how we ended up in York.

York is a historic walled city, home to the well-known York Minster. The city walls are exceptionally well preserved and it’s popular to walk on them- in total about 2.5 miles. We did a self guided tour of most of it before we ran out of daylight.

The walls of York were initially built in 71CE by the Romans. What stands today has seen some modifications and upgrades since then, but it’s quite an ancient wall.

Micro-roasting coffee at Caffe River in Arezzo, Italy

Tue, 08 Oct 2019 15:00:00 +0000

Terror in the UK

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Mollie’s Take

Bravely (or foolishly) Ryan opted to rent a car for our Scottish adventure, and took full responsibility for driving it the entire time. It might have been easier, but to save money, he opted for a manual transmission… in the UK- where you both drive on the left hand side and change gears with your left hand. Oh, and the turn signal is also still on the left.. so good luck trying to signal while also changing gears.

The first day was tough, getting out of Edinburgh into Glasgow. The car was parked during our time in Glasgow (much to Ryan’s enjoyment), but it was needed again to go north for the rest of our trip. Driving was challenging for sure, but soon he got in the hang of it and it became slightly less terrifying. I think it would have been MUCH easier to have just sucked up the $200-$300 difference for an automatic transmission, but he wouldn’t hear of such a thing. Thank God, we survived, albeit with some honking directed at us. Oh well, it’s inevitable, c’est la vie.

The Scottish Highlands

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 15:00:00 +0000

Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,

The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth;

Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,

The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.

Robert Burns

(Map from [Lonely Planet](https://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/europe/scotland/))

The Highlands are the part of Scotland generally referring to the area North of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Our trip took us from Edinburg, to Glasgow, to Lull, to Oban, to Skye, to Inverness, and then to Stirling to finish it up.

Rolling into Poschiavo on the Bernina Express

Thu, 26 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +0000

Train wagon and views all to ourselves on the Bernina Express

Thu, 26 Sep 2019 17:00:00 +0000

Tunnels and views along the Bernina Express

Thu, 26 Sep 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Taking a look at the Landwasser Viaduct in Filisur, Switzerland

Wed, 25 Sep 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Hike from Wengen to Lauterbrunnen

Mon, 23 Sep 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Views from Wengen, Switzerland

Mon, 23 Sep 2019 15:00:00 +0000

Glasgow

Mon, 16 Sep 2019 15:00:00 +0000

I seem to have a problem- everywhere we go, I decide I could live there. This rule held up in Glasgow!

It is such a vibrant city, full of activity; and has such nice people. It was seriously quite amazing how open and friendly people were. We were taking a selfie outside of a restaurant and a security guard offered to take the picture for us. He then took multiple pictures, asked where we were visiting from, then gave us a bunch of information about the area and recommended going around the corner to Ashton Lane, where the picture above was taken.

The Fairy Glen on Isle of Skye

Sun, 15 Sep 2019 17:00:00 +0000

Edinburgh

Sun, 15 Sep 2019 15:00:00 +0000

I really wasn't expecting Edinburgh to be so beautiful! What a difference compared to Buenos Aires, where the style was all over the place in terms of architecture (younger city + no building codes + people wanting to copy Paris, London, and Madrid styles = no uniform look). Edinburgh's main flavor is sandstone. For us, the amount of tourists was kind of shocking (and rather off-putting). I think this mostly has to do with the fact that we didn't really come across any in Buenos Aires. However, as we've continued through Europe there have been just as many (if not more) tourists.

Things we did there:

Luss and Oban (Scotland)

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 07:00:00 +0000

To see the full quality images, click here

London, Edinburgh, and Glasgow

Tue, 10 Sep 2019 07:00:00 +0000

To see the full quality images, click here

Overnight in London

Thu, 05 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

It was about time that we left South America and continued onto our next adventure…Europe!

We found tickets on Norwegian Airlines direct from Buenos Aires to London Gatwick, leaving at 11:00 AM and arriving at 4:00 AM. For about $700 each we were in their “Premium Class” (business class doesn’t exist on budget airlines). It was well worth the price for a 12.5 hour flight. We had tons of leg room, two free meals, free alcohol (we didn’t partake, but it’s an option), and an entertainment tablet sitting in the arm rest. The seats also are larger and can recline further back than normal. The only problem we had was the timing of the flight itself. London is four hours ahead of Buenos Aires, so it was only midnight to us by the time we landed- meaning we could barely sleep on the plane. We couldn’t check into the Airbnb until around 2:00 PM, so we were stuck exploring London like zombies.

We didn’t arrive into the city until around 6:30-7:00 AM (Gatwick is a 40 minute train ride away). The first stop obviously was coffee: Formative Coffee. They use beans from (Ryan’s celeb crush) James Hoffman’s Square Mile Roasters, and it was FANTASTIC. No pour over options sadly, but very flavorful flat whites. They also had a cool option to order a flight of espresso, macchiato, and batch brew (this was our second coffee order 😂)