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Moldova Romania-Moldova Trip 2024

More Moldova

I was back from Transnistria and on my second day exploring Chișinău. I think the capital city of Chișinău could reasonably be explored in one day, but I was happy to have two. I was able to move in a bit of a leisurely pace and go on long walks. And that’s really what I did on the second day.

*a large Gulliver’s Travels-inspired mural*

I walked over to the Ciuflea Monastery, which had three buildings, each of them beautiful, I had seen them from the bus when I went into the city, and they were noticeable because they were blue, topped with gold domes. Stunning.

On the way I enjoyed walking through the city, I always say that walking is the best way to see a city and that was certainly true for Chișinău.

I saw the big Soviet-era apartment blocks and oddly placed Soviet style artwork. On the street, sturdy women bundled up in winter coats sold bunches of flowers which were readily purchased by women passing by.

On my way back from the monastery I went to a big market: the Chișinău Central Market. It was great. Exactly what I expected and wanted. Partly indoors and partly outdoors people were selling all sorts of fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, and household items. It was a pleasure to walk around and, most importantly, I found people selling piroshkis. They are such a basic thing, but I don’t find them very often outside of places like Russia and Ukraine. My grandmother used to make potato ones and that’s always what I’m keeping an eye out for. So I got a couple from a woman selling them from a little kiosk and I was in heaven.

I went to the National Art Museum of Moldova, which was surprisingly good. The building dated from the 1930s and had a sizeable, but not overwhelming, number of artworks, paintings and sculptures, to visit. I particularly liked some of the busts and the whimsical paintings of men and women with cabbages for heads. The thing that I found incredibly awkward about visiting the art gallery was that I was the only person there when I visited and, in every room, there was an attendant observing. This made me incredibly uncomfortable. I felt like I had to linger over each work of art lest I offend them if I walked past something. And I felt like I had to nod and smile at everyone. It was a bit of an odd experience, but I enjoyed the art.

I stopped and had coffee at a few stylish cafés and continued to wander around taking pictures of the odd bit of street art or other notable sites. As much as I hate the “I heart anything” signs, but I felt like I had to take one in front of the Chișinău one.

Finally, I had heard that there was one more Lenin statue that I hadn’t seen, and it was quite a long walk through Valea Morilor Park, along a lake before following a dead-end road. It was a long and pleasant walk in the cool air. I eventually found the monument, but it wasn’t just Lenin, it was Lenin and Karl Marx and Georgi Dimitrov (the leader of the Bulgarian Communist party). What a find! It was worth the walk.

Even better, it was right outside the fenced off grounds of what appeared to be a small amusement park for children. It was closed, but some of the animatronics were still running. Is there anything creepier than a slightly disused amusement park? Maybe not. It was daytime so this wasn’t too bad, but it definitely had horror movie vibes.

*these eyes were opening and closing and moving side to side*

I rounded out the evening with dinner and a cigar on a chilly patio and a bit of work before going to bed. I had a great time in Chișinău (and in Transnistria). I don’t know that I’d make a point of revisiting the city, but I wouldn’t rule out revisiting Moldova.

Early the next morning I would fly back to Bucharest for one more day in the night before heading home.

Moldova Romania-Moldova Trip 2024

Transporting to Transnistria

On my second day in Moldova I left Chișinău and took a tour to Transnistria.

The Unrecognized Country

One of the coolest things about visiting Moldova is that it gives you the opportunity to visit the territory most commonly known as Transnistria. When the Soviet Union broke up in 1990 and Moldova became its own country, Transnistria declared itself an independent state and it has remained that way, although it is technically part of Moldova it is not recognized as a sovereign country. So for those of us that are counting UN countries, we can’t include it in our country count, but it’s certainly a place worth visiting and is a bit of a political and geographic curiosity.

Throughout this post I’m going to refer to it as ‘Transnistria’ although its full name is the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic or PMR. About two months before I visited it became illegal to refer to it as Transnistria and the requirement is to refer to it by its full name or as Pridnestrovie, but It is still commonly known as Transnistria so that’s the name I’m going to use. (Although I do really enjoy pronouncing Pridnestrovie with a Russian-sounding accent.)

Getting There

You can absolutely visit on your own from Chișinău driving or on a bus, but I had only one day and I wanted to learn about the region, so I hired a guide for the day. I booked for a company called PMR Tours, and I would highly recommend them. They have a vast array of tours of Transnistria ranging from half a day to multiple days and the tours can focus on micro topics like mosaics or beer or Jewish history. I picked two half day tours and combined them. I did a general history tour and a Soviet tour.

I was picked up at my hostel by a driver, Zhenya, big and stern-looking (but nice) who spoke no English, and we drove across the border into Transnistria. You need to bring your passport with you to cross into Transnistria and they will stamp a piece of paper and put it in your passport. It feels a little bit intimidating crossing the border, as there are armed Russian soldiers and proper checkpoints, but I get the feeling that it’s just for show more than anything. The drive took about an hour and a half, maybe a little less.

Bender

We drove to a city called Bender, where I was joined by my English-speaking guide Valiery. Bender is an old town dating back to at least the beginning of the 15th century and was a great place to start our tour as it is a place of a lot of historical significance. It is home to the medieval fort called Tighina Fortress, which we toured, and I learned a lot of history about the region.

Also enjoyable was that the fort had a small museum of instruments of torture. While I will seldom pay anymore to go into a torture museum, I’m always happy when I get to look at the instruments of torture. I just can’t get over how cruel we are and the lengths to which we spent time and energy coming up with new and innovative ways to be cruel. It’s so awful that I can only find it amusing. There was one other fellow who was there as a tourist, and we were both in the torture museum at the same time. We hadn’t spoken to each other, so finally I just blurted out to him, “So, what’s your favorite form of medieval torture” And it turned out to be a great conversation starter. Since then, I have used it at two separate business networking events to start conversations with strangers when I was bored. Give it a try. People will think that you are a weirdo, but it really does get the conversation going.

*instruments of torture – and conversation starters*

From the fort we drove a little more into the city and made stops to visit tanks and monuments and memorials to battles, fallen soldiers, and Holocaust victims.

sights of Bender

Outside the Cities

The owner of PMR Tours (I think), Andrey, joined us and we drove through Bender to visit some churches outside of the city. On the way we passed and stopped at some excellent Soviet era monuments and a couple of mosaics. I love that in the Soviet times they would do these elaborate mosaics not just for government buildings or art galleries, but to commemorate industry. That was the case on this company that made electrical cables, and still does.

We visited a massive monument to the two World Wars, which also gave a wonderful view of the countryside, misty and green.

We stopped to visit another building, and I can’t recall what the significance of the building was historically, but it had an enormous Lenin head out front, and as some well-preserved Soviet paintings inside.

During the drive and all the stops, I got to ask lots of questions about Transnistria today. Transnistria in most ways does function like a sovereign territory. It has its own border controls and currency. It has its own police and soldiers and ambulances and government. It’s just that it’s under the umbrella of Moldova.

Tiraspol

We got to a river, with a car ferry. It was a very simple operation. We drove onto the ferry which crossed the river using some sort of chain under the surface. A man, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth used a large lever and winch to pull us across the river. He had a friendly dog as his companion.

A short drive later and we were into Tiraspol, the capital of Transnistria. The history continued, but much of the visit to Tiraspol was focused on taking me to Soviet era buildings and statues of Lenin. I thought Minsk had the most statues of Lenin, but Transnistria is a contender for the most Lenins I’ve seen in one country.

Tiraspol is a nice city. It had a beautiful park, lots of public statues, and the sort of broad streets and big buildings that you would expect from the Soviet Union. The public statues were particularly impressive, not only of Lenin, but of people who fought in the wars, of the celebrated cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin who died at 34 in a MIG crash, and of…Harry Potter. Yes, there is a statue of Harry Potter just outside of the local university. The reason for it, allegedly, is that Harry Potter stood up against the prevailing forces and was brave and fought for justice and freedom. I suppose this resonates with the people of Transnistria as they have been oppressed and fought for independence from the Soviet Union and from Moldova and that fight carries on. In 2024 this seems a little bizarre, but I can imagine that 50 or 100 years from now Harry Potter will just be a historical literary figure, and it will be less bizarre that he is depicted in marble.

A lot of accounts of Transnistria describe it as quirky or bizarre, and I think the Harry Potter statue is one example that could warrant that description, but I didn’t find Transnistria to be weird. It is just a small territory striving for independence with a strong connection to its history. There is a lot of pride there and I think it’s a bit demeaning to write it off as just a quirky roadside attraction.

*a monuments to students and faculty who fought in WWII*

We wrapped up the tour with lunch at a local restaurant, and I chatted with my two guides. This was one of my favorite things about the trip because unexpectedly, the conversation took a turn from the history and contemporary politics of Transnistria into semi-professional arm wrestling.

One of my guides is incredibly passionate about arm wrestling. I think it came up because I told him that I was from Canada and there was some arm wrestler from Canada, but I can’t quite recall the origins. But once he started telling me that he was involved in arm wrestling I could not stop asking questions. At first I thought it was just a group of guys that got together to arm wrestle in someone’s garage once a week, but he explained that it’s much more organized than that and that they have arm wrestling equipment and specific exercises, and they have matches, and it’s a whole community of people that are passionate about this activity. I’m not a documentary filmmaker, but I would like someone out there who is to make a documentary about the men of Transnistria and their experiences around semi-professional arm wrestling, because it sounds like a fascinating tale of masculinity, competition, and personal identity in state struggling for recognition. Seriously, somebody please make this movie.

I rejoined with my original driver and was taken back to Chișinău, Moldova. It was such a wonderful day. I really wish that I had spent or could have spent more time there, and I would absolutely consider going back to spend a few days in one of the villages of the countryside.

That evening, I went out for dinner at a surprisingly good Italian restaurant (Little Napoli) for pizza and a glass of local wine and then back to my new favourite Moldovan cocktail lounge, Marlene, and had another cigar and cocktail, shivering in the night air. It had been a great day.

I still had one more day in Moldova before I would return home. On to the next day…

Moldova Romania-Moldova Trip 2024

Chișinău, Moldova

After my initial two and a half days in Bucharest, Romania, I took a short flight to Chișinău, Moldova. If I had had more time I would have preferred to have taken the train, but the flight was quick and convenient. I was excited to visit Moldova for a couple of reasons. Reason one was that it was my final country in Europe and there was something satisfying about getting to colour in all the countries on my map of that continent. Reason two is that I had heard that Moldova, perhaps along with Belarus, was one of the more Soviet-feeling countries that were formerly in the Soviet Union. Immediately upon landing I realized that I was going to like it.

I took a bus into the city centre which was cheap and convenient. On the way in we passed by huge Soviet or post-Soviet apartment blocks and signs and churches off which made it very clear that this was a country with its with its 20th century roots in the Soviet Union. I was delighted.

I was staying at the Hostel Amazing Ionika Center City, a cozy little hostel downtown. I booked a private room. The hostel had a lot of men from Ukraine living there, presumably having left because of the war, who went off to work each day, but there were also other travelers.

I don’t think that I had even given Moldova any thought until I was in Uzbekistan in 2011 staying at a hostel where no one spoke English but the proprietor insisted that he share some of his cognac with me and he told me with great pride as he held up the glass of burgundy liquid, “Moldova,” he said nodding his head like ‘this is some good stuff.’ Moldova has Been making wine for over 7000 years. It’s not that famous outside of its region but I think it’s actually pretty good, from the little I have tried.

For many years after Uzbekistan, I had been reading about Moldova, but it seemed off limits. For a long time, it was considered to be the most difficult country to visit in Europe because it had prohibitive and seldom-issued tourist visas, but things had changed. I no longer needed a visa to enter the country, and Moldova was on the track to enter the EU. Even more modern accounts of people visiting Moldova described it as poor and unfriendly and uninteresting. I can’t debate the poor element, but I found it quite to my liking. There is something about many of the Eastern European countries where I understand that the people are described as unfriendly. This is not my experience. I find that the people are a bit stern, and they lack in unnecessary or unwarranted smiles and polite chitchat, but all of this suits my temperament perfectly, as I am also chronically immune to superfluous smiling and I have been accused of being unfriendly myself. Maybe it’s the Eastern European ancestry on my mother’s side. Anyway, I felt quite at home in Chișinău.

Also, the weather was perfect. It was cold, single digits for the most part, but it was sunny, and I had a winter coat, and I just thought it was delightful weather for walking around. Plus, in a city like this I kind of want to visit when it’s cold. It seems like a slightly poor former Soviet city should be cold. Always. Just to give you a little feeling of the hardship that was so pervasive in its history.

On that first day after arriving early in the morning, that’s what I did, I walked around, I got the lay of the land, and visited a few churches and cafés. The city feels poor – it’s not grand or impressive like a Kyiv or a Minsk – but it has a nice feeling, with leafy squares and beautiful Orthodox churches. There are a couple of museums that I would visit in the coming days.

I had missed breakfast but I went for a lunch at a quirky and cozy little restaurant called Eli Pili and had pierogies and borscht.

Later in the day, I wanted to go smoke a cigar. Unfortunately, Moldova has some pretty strict anti-smoking laws. No smoking inside and most of the places didn’t seem to allow smoking on their patios, but even so, most of the patios were closed because of the cold weather. There is a cigar lounge there called Churchill’s, and I went to it but there was an incredibly high cover fee to go inside and you had to buy one of their cigars, but their selection was dismal and pricey. I would have been happy paying the cover if I could have smoked one of my own cigars, or I would have been happy not paying a cover and buying one of their crappy cigars, but I wasn’t going to spend money on both.

I did a little bit of detective work, and I found a restaurant called Mojo. This restaurant has a no-smoking section and a smoking section, however, in the smoking section they will only let you smoke cigarettes and shisha. They wouldn’t let me smoke a cigar. No problem, so I had a light dinner and some shisha. It was a really lovely restaurant; not cheap, but cheaper than it should be for how fancy it felt. I asked the waiter how it was that they got away with smoking inside when it was banned. He said, “It is better that you do not ask.” Fair enough.

I walked back in the direction of my hostel. Chișinău felt perfectly safe to me at night. I notice that along one street was a stretch of kiosks selling fresh flowers that were open very late. Even past 10:00pm. The next day I asked about it and apparently the flower shops stay open late so that men who stay out too late drinking can buy flowers to bring them home to their wives.

And later in the evening I went to an excellent cocktail bar called Marlene. No smoking was allowed inside which is a shame because the inside basically felt like someone’s house and it was very cozy although quite crowded. I chose to sit outside on the back patio. It was freezing cold, but they provided blankets and given that almost everyone smoked there were other people out there. I had two excellent cocktails and two cigars, which was a wonderful way to end and my first day in this new country.

The next day I had a guided tour planned to visit the semi-autonomous region that is officially no longer called Transnistria. This obviously merits its own post, so read on here. I would return to Moldova for a full day and two nights after that trip, so my Chișinău experiences would continue.

Romania Romania-Moldova Trip 2024

On the Dracula Trail in Romania

There was no question that I was going to do a day trip to visit Bran Castle (popularly known as ‘Dracula’s Castle”) from Bucharest. The question was how best to get there.

Setting Out

It is possible to get there by public transportation, but it seemed like a bit of a tight journey to do in a day. It would have involved taking a train and then a bus or taxi and it would have been a little bit too much to do in one day. So, I found a small tour where they take you to the castle for the day and back again; however, the night before I received an email from the small tour company saying they didn’t have enough people to run the tour, so they had moved me onto one of those big bus tours. I was disappointed. I didn’t want to be in one of those big buses, led around by a person with an umbrella, but at this late hour, I didn’t have a choice. So the next morning I got up early, grabbed a coffee, and went to the bus stop.

It was one of those big buses crammed full of people. I wanted to feel like I was too cool for that sort of tourist transportation, and maybe I am, but it actually turned out to be okay. This tour was little more than transportation. They shuttled us from stop to stop and as we approached they told us a few things about the place we were visiting and then they set us free to wander on our own. So it was fine.

*a couple of pictures i took from the bus window*

Magical Peleș Castle

The first stop was at Peleș Castle, just outside of Sinaia. The castle is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, so we would just be making a stop outside to wander around the grounds. The castle was built in the late 1800s by the then King of Romania, Carol I, in a neo Renaissance Gothic-Revival style. It is beautiful. It has the look of a castle that you might draw when you were a little kid, with tall, pointed turrets in a relatively small footprint but rising high in the mountains. It is surrounded by forests just outside of the town. What made the stop at the castle my favourite thing that I did in Romania though, was that it was snowing. This was in November, so it was chilly, but everywhere else on my trip the temperature stayed above zero and usually closer to 10°. But as we were a little higher in the mountains, the temperature dropped, and the snow began to fall. Even as we reached the town and castle, the trees were dusted with snow and flakes were falling. I was giddy. I love snow. As we walked around the castle, the snow was falling heavily and everything looked magical. I can’t imagine a prettier setting.

Bran Castle

From there we drove to Bran Castle. Dracula’s castle. Bran Castle is about 25 kilometres outside of Brașov, in the town of Bran. This castle was built from the late 1300s by the Saxons, so it has a more medieval kind of look to it. It is dramatic. it’s situated on top of a rocky hill looming over the town. It is famous for its association with Dracula and Vlad the Impaler, although the basis for these connections is tenuous at best. Bram Stoker never visited this castle and there’s nothing to suggest that he even based the castle in Dracula on Bran Castle. Vlad the Impaler is believed to have stayed there occasionally or at least once, but it was never his residence. The whole Dracula thing is largely just myth and marketing – but that doesn’t mean it isn’t cool.

Bran Castle is imposing and impressive, and Vlad the Impaler was a bloody and malicious ruler so, Dracula or not, it’s still a great place to visit. There are lots of Dracula representations around the castle, from the souvenirs sold in the town to the depictions of Dracula and Romanian spooky folklore figures like werewolves and ghosts in the castle. It’s a little bit cheesy, but I loved it I love anything monster and horror related so this was right up my alley. Plus, Vlad the Impaler? What a monster. What a badass. Impaling your enemies on stakes and a warning to others. That’s an impressive level of cruelty and drama.

I walked through the castle and then took a couple of moody selfies wearing my most goth sunglasses next to a gravestone at the bottom of the castle. Maybe I listened to a little Bauhaus on my headphones. I had a goth moment and high school me was proud. Who am I kidding? 48-year-old me was delighted.

Dale Raven North, elder Goth

I had a coffee and a pastry and we were back on the bus headed to Brașov.

Brașov

Brașov is a historical city with its own dark history. The pretty town square was once used to burn witches. Really.

We had an hour or two in Brașov. It was getting dark, and it was cold as a little snowy. I visited the Black Church (paid entrance; it was only ok), enjoyed a coffee at a cute café, wandered around. My favorite things (apart from the witch history) were the narrow alley way that was covered in graffiti and the town’s emblem, which was a crown with the roots of an oak tree.

Back on the bus, we headed back to Bucharest. I had a small cigar and headed back to my hostel for the night. I had an early flight to a new destination: Moldova.

Romania Romania-Moldova Trip 2024

Bucharest Beginnings

For my November trip of 2024, I had planned to go somewhere a little more exotic than Romania, but after my excellent but slightly stressful trip to Eritrea and Djibouti, I felt that I needed something a little more basic. There were two countries left in Europe that I hadn’t visited: Romania and Moldova, and this seemed like the perfect time to go. And that’s how I found myself arriving at the airport in Bucharest on 11 November 2024.

I’ll say right now: this will not be my only trip to Romania. I think that Romania has so much to offer in terms of small towns and beautiful countryside, that I am definitely coming back. But on this trip, I would primarily be seeing Bucharest and a couple of nearby sites.

The First Night

I took a taxi to my hostel. I was a little underwhelmed by the hostel offerings in Bucharest, so I booked a hostel in the Old Town called the Antique Hostel. I booked a little late, and the room that was available was this massive room on the top floor with a small balcony overlooking the river. It’s not as nice as it sounds. The location was excellent, in that it was walking distance to the metro and to basically everything in the city, but it was fairly shabby and although my room was gigantic, it was mostly just empty space. No mirrors, no hooks, no hangers, no chairs. It was basically a bed and a sofa in a massive room of what at one time was probably a fancy apartment. The staff there were very friendly, and it had a grungy-looking but serviceable kitchen in the basement. I shared a bathroom on the floor with the other occupants. At all times of the day and night, there seemed to be men hanging around in the stairwell smoking cigarettes. And each night, someone tried the door to my room multiple times. So would I recommend it? No, but I would stay there again.

I arrived in Bucharest in the mid-afternoon, and it wasn’t too long before sunset by the time I got to my hostel. It was November, after all, and the days were short. It was also cloudy, cold, and pouring rain. Not ideal. I went for a walk around the Old Town. It has some charm for sure, but it is also very touristy and a little bit seedy. I think it would have made a better first impression if it hadn’t been such miserable weather. I wandered around a little and took in some of the churches and old buildings before settling at a Middle Eastern restaurant on their patio for a bite to eat, a drink, and a cigar.

The rain was coming down, and it was cold, but they turned on the outside heaters for me, and I sat under an awning and enjoyed some hummus and a cigar. Multiple local cats came and joined me on the warm benches and out of the rain.

On my way back to my hostel for bed, I stopped in at the bookstore. Bucharest has one of these bookstores that you’ll regularly see in lists of the world’s great bookstores: the Cărturești Carusel Bookstore. It was built in 1903 by a family of bankers. It was used for a time and then confiscated by the communists and used for a store and various other things before it was left abandoned. After many years of legal battles to regain the title to the building, the original family took ownership again and renovated it and turned it into this fabulous bookstore. It’s bright white and elegant; every view is exquisite. And of course, it has a little coffee shop upstairs. I went in for a browse and a cup of tea. I wanted to buy something, but honestly, I didn’t want more to carry around. It’s certainly one of the loveliest sites in the old centre of Bucharest.

The Next Day

The next morning, I got up early and went for a walk. It was still grey and raining. I strolled around the streets, which were mostly quiet. I noticed in the morning light how many lovely little churches there were. I popped into a few of them. The best was this one: when I went inside, it was lit only by candles, and there were four nuns gathered around a floor-standing candelabra singing the most beautiful hymns. I felt like I wasn’t supposed to be there, and I certainly felt like I shouldn’t be taking any photos, so I didn’t, but it was a special moment.

I went for breakfast at the Van Gogh Café. The Van Gogh Café is super touristy, and I would have skipped it except that it was raining, so sitting outside wasn’t an option, and the cafe just looked so nice and appealing. You can make reservations, and if you don’t, you’ll probably end up standing in a queue forever, but one of the nice things about being a solo traveler is that usually there’s a place in a restaurant or cafe for one person. They found a table for me upstairs, and I had some yogurt and fruit and coffee. It is a very nice cafe; I couldn’t resist taking a few pictures.

I continued my wander, seeking out some street art murals, which led me through some derelict neighbourhoods of the city. Bucharest is a city of contrasts. There are beautiful and well-maintained buildings and then areas of just boarded-up old buildings covered with graffiti and junk. It is, of course, a city that’s been through a lot.

I visited the Davidoff store and bought a few cigars. Great prices. I also took the subway to a different area of the city to visit a cigar lounge: the El Unico Deluxe Cigar Lounge on Boulevard Primaverii, a short walk from the Aviatorilor subway station. (There are other locations as well.)

Bucharest, surprisingly, is not great for smoking. Smoking indoors is completely banned, including cigar lounges, and if any of the patios have walls on them, such as plastic sheeting to protect from the cold and rain, then smoking is not allowed there either. I did, however, find a cigar lounge to visit. They had an excellent humidor with great prices and a beautiful interior with leather chairs and ashtrays, but sadly, smoking was not allowed inside there either. The owner ushered me outside onto the well-heated patio, which did have a cover and plastic sheeting to protect from the cold. I asked how they were allowed to smoke there, and he explained that he wasn’t. He said smoking was banned everywhere but that many politicians enjoy visiting his store, and so he’s allowed to remain open unofficially. I sat there cozily and had a couple of cigars. Delightful. A few men in dark suits came in and had cigars and espressos, and I couldn’t help but wonder if they were amongst the corrupt politicians.

I found a vegetarian restaurant for dinner, which was good.

I enjoyed this day and a half exploring Bucharest, but at this point, I was feeling a little underwhelmed. It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t great. I’m pleased to report, though, that my final verdict on Bucharest is positive. The next day I would go on a day trip out of the city, and then after that, I would have another day and a night in Bucharest, and overall I think it’s a good place and worth visiting; it probably needs at least two and maybe three days to explore properly. It’s not the most beautiful of cities nor is it the most exciting, but it does have a certain charm that is best revealed through deeper exploration than I was able to do on that first day.

But my next day would be my favourite of my short trip to Romania. Into the countryside … read on here.

Andorra-Lithuania trip 2024 Sweden

Solo in Stockholm Day 1

I arrived in Stockholm from Riga. My second visit to Sweden. My first time had been half a day in Malmö when I took the train over from Copenhagen. It counted, but barely. I was excited to see the capital. One of those perfect Scandinavian cities where everyone is beautiful and the quality of life is high. Of course, all that perfection comes at a price. I had heard that Sweden was very expensive, and I’ve already written in my first post from this trip about how I paid approximately $250 per night for a basic dorm bed in a central hostel in Stockholm. It was the weekend of a trio of Taylor Swift concerts and accommodations were expensive than usual.

I would have two days and two nights there, which is normally enough, but honestly I could have done with the third day. There’s a lot to see.

I got started early. I took the Arlanda Express train in from the airport, which was super easy and took only 18 minutes – but you pay for that ease and efficiency. It was about $48 CDN each way.

I arrived at my hostel, a Generator Hostel in the centre, which I recommend because it was very well located and quite a bit cheaper than any other central option, but as far as hostels go it was only OK. For the price, it didn’t include many extras; all I really wanting a hostel dorm is a privacy curtain on my bunk, and this did not have that luxury. Every single person staying at the hostel other than me seemed to be going to the concert and the place was buzzing with excitement of a thousand Swifties on concert day. I went out to see the city.

I spent the majority of that first day just walking around and soaking up the atmosphere. Stockholm is a gorgeous city with lots of greenery and waterways. I live in Vancouver, another city with lots of greenery and waterways, but that’s about all Vancouver has. Stockholm also has gorgeous historical architecture an abundance of arts and culture and cinnamon buns. So many cinnamon buns.

The most picturesque neighbourhood in Stockholm is Gamla Stan. This is the historic centre, set on a small island. This neighbourhood dates back to about 1300. The buildings are old, colourful, and full of character. This is the area of the city that feels the most touristy, but it’s worth every moment because it’s ridiculously picturesque.

*Stortorget: the* *Square in Gamla Stan*

I walked around taking pictures of the buildings and narrow foot paths and stopping for a cinnamon bun and coffee. Fika. The Swedish practice of taking a coffee break from the day with a sweet treat; usually a cinnamon bun. When in Stockholm…

Sweden, like its neighbours has charming words to describe relaxing and cozy practices. Denmark has hygge, Sweden has lagom, a concept meaning moderation; not too much or too little of anything. They also have mys, which is a word for coziness and comfort. These are appealing concepts. I could imagine how nice it would be to be in Stockholm in the winter when it is dark most of the day, cozying up with a warm beverage in a cinnamon bun. But I was there in May, and it was hot and sunny and perfect for exploring.

Generally a fan of historical churches, I wanted to visit Storkyrkan, the oldest church in Stockholm. It was consecrated in 1306 and, aside from its age, it is famous for having a notable statue of Saint George and the dragon inside, which was apparently unmissable. I found the church and hesitated before I went in because it was 120 Swedish kroner to go inside. That’s about $17 CDN. I don’t want paying to go into a church but $17.00 just to have a look around seemed quite steep. But I couldn’t walk away not having seen it because what if it was the most amazing statue or church interior ever? So I reluctantly paid my money and went inside. I’m only mentioning this because if you’re on the fence about going into this church and you happen to be reading my blog post, I’m here to tell you to skip it. The interior of the church is unremarkable if you’ve seen other churches from that period. And the statue? Yeah it’s nice, but I would have been OK not seeing it as well.

$17.00 later, I continued my visit of Stockholm.

I walked over to the modern art museum Moderna Museet, which was free that day (normally it is 150 SEK), and was excellent. It had some really weird art with social commentary and I loved it. There also happened to be some sort of cocktail reception when I was there and so it felt like I had stumbled across a really happening spot.

I also visited the National Museum, which was also excellent. Beautiful paintings and some examples of wonderful Swedish design. 160 SEK for admission and well worth it.

National Museum

I wandered outside to a bench near the water and had a cigar. Nearby, a lovely patio of a hotel was filled with people drinking Aperol spritzes and looking gorgeous. An older couple came and asked if they could sit with me and I obliged, a bit surprised because often people don’t want to sit near cigar smokers. They were a local couple out for a stroll and we ended up talking for the better part of an hour. They had lived in various places around the world but Stockholm was their favourite. And in that moment sitting there surrounded by beautiful buildings and beautiful people and looking out at the sparkling water, I could see why.

I spent most of the evening wandering aimlessly and looking for the perfect place to eat, which didn’t exist but I ended up going for Indian food near my hostel. And I went to bed at a reasonable hour. I had another full day in Stockholm and I had plans that included taking a boat ride, visiting an amusement park, checking out a sunken ship, and hitting up some of the local cigar stores. [Read Day 2 in Stockholm…]

Andorra-Lithuania trip 2024 Lithuania

Vilnius: It’s Pretty Amazing

I left Barcelona the day after my trip to Andorra and flew to Vilnius. A direct flight. My first time to Lithuania. There were really only two things that I wanted to do in Lithuania: see Vilnius and visit the Hill of Crosses. Vilnius was first on the list.

Lithuania is a Baltic state, which shares borders with Poland, Latvia, and Belarus, and has a coast along the Baltic Sea. It was a former member of the Soviet Union. Vilnius is Its capital. Lithuania doesn’t get a lot of attention from a tourism perspective, which led the government in about 2018 to come out with a tourism slogan comparing Vilnius to the g-spot: “Nobody knows where it is, but when you find it – it’s amazing“. Terrific.

Arrival in Vilnius

Since this was kind of a last-minute trip, I didn’t have my pick of places to stay. If there were excellent hostels in Vilnius, they were booked up by the time I went there, so I ended up staying at a proper hotel (a Conti Hotel), a little more than I wanted to spend but still within my budget and walking distance to the centre of the city. It was a nice hotel with a swanky lobby in a comfortable room.

My flight landed in the evening and by the time I got to my hotel (via taxi) it was about 8:30pm and the sun was low in the sky. I threw my bag down and walked into the city centre. I was immediately so happy. Barcelona is a good city, but it wasn’t my cup of tea. And Andorra was really just checking a box and I wasn’t that thrilled with what I saw. Vilnius was a welcome sight. I’ve said repeatedly that I’d love former Soviet countries; I have yet to visit one that I didn’t love. And Vilnius just felt so comfortable. I saw the orthodox churches, the charming buildings, and the cobblestone streets, felt the cool air and saw and the relatively stony faces of the people that I passed and I felt at home.

Unfortunately, shortly after landing I got a text message from work and it kind of derailed what should have been a perfectly pleasant evening, but aside from work drama that kept me up until the wee hours of the morning, I did enjoy my walk around the city and I had an excellent dinner on a patio over Georgian restaurant (Khinkalnya Vilnius), was persuaded to drink a couple of shots of chacha by the owner, and had a Cuban cigar on the patio. It was a great introduction to the city, and I couldn’t wait to wake up an explore. (I only got to sleep for about three hours, so I didn’t have to wait long.)

Wandering Vilnius

The next morning, as always, I got up early as it was my only day in the city and I had a lot to see. Vilnius doesn’t have a lot of specific touristic sites; the main thing is just to walk around and enjoy the atmosphere, all of the churches and charming cafes, public art, the pedestrianized streets with restaurants and cute shops.

I don’t know what it’s like to visit at other times of the year, but I think that spring was lovely. It was a little bit cool in the evening which I liked, and it was warm enough during the day to sit outside comfortably. The lilac bushes were in full bloom and everything was green.

There is a ridiculous number of orthodox churches in the city and there it’s worth ducking into all of them. Some of them had beautiful singing happening, and all of them had the glittering excess of Russian orthodox churches, which I love.

For me, one of the key things that I wanted to visit was an abandoned building just outside of the city centre. It was a pleasant walk across a bridge, aside from when an American man who was there standing on the street and proselytizing about Jesus told me I was ongoing to hell when I didn’t take one of his brochures. Oh well. The building is a spectacular abandoned stadium that was opened in 1971 as the Vilnius Palace of Concerts and Sports. It is a massive, brutalist-style concrete structure built in an unusual sort of wave pattern. At some point it was converted into a sort of mall and then it was closed completely in about 2004. It is now covered in graffiti. It is excellent and just a little creepy.

It is also located just near a Jewish cemetery which is also pleasant for a bit of a wander.

Užupis

The other place that I really wanted to visit in Vilnius is the semi-autonomous area of Užupis, which means “beyond the river.” It’s just a short walk from the Old Town, across the river (obviously). In 1997, a group of artists declared it the Republic of Užupis. It’s not really its own state, but it was set up that way. There is a border crossing and it has its own flag and constitution, which is on display in the street and includes such mandates as everyone has a right to be happy, man has the right to individuality, and everyone has the right to appreciate their unimportance. I dig it.

The motto of Užupis is “Don’t Fight”, “Don’t Win”, “Don’t Surrender”.

Part of the idea behind the creation of Užupis is a belief founded in the Aristotelian thought that people should live in small communities where everyone knows one another, which will result in people being more honest and happy. The area is a terrific place to visit. While it was once kind of a derelict ghetto, now it just feels like a proper part of the city but with lots of public art on display and at a lot of small independent businesses and artisan shops. In a way, it’s like Freetown Christiania in Copenhagen except without the focus on drugs.

*The Užupis Cat, which comes with a little poem. Worth finding.*

Back across the River…

I visited the MO Museum (Museum of Modern Art), which is relatively small but definitely worth a visit.

I thought Vilnius was delightful.

Smoking Cigars in Vilnius

Before dinner, I sought out one of Vilnius’ cigar lounges. For a former Soviet country, Vilnius is kind of difficult to smoke in. Indoor smoking wasn’t allowed, and it seemed to be banned on all of the patios. The Georgian restaurant that I ate at the night before let me smoke outside but only because I was the only person on the patio due to the cold weather. Fortunately, there are several hidden smoking rooms in the basements or backrooms of restaurants and a few proper cigar lounges.

I visited one cigar lounge in the old city, Cigarų namai, which was excellent. It had everything you’d want in a cigar lounge, an excellent selection of cigars, beverages for purchase and a calming room full of soft leather furniture. The only downside was they were playing the worst smooth jazz music that I’ve ever heard. It seemed like they only had one CD and it was on repeat. I was there for about two hours, and I heard the CD at least twice. I wanted to kill myself. At some point I just put in my headphones and listen to a podcast while I enjoyed my cigars. Music aside, it was a lovely interlude.

There is another cigar lounge called Cigarų kambarys (Cigar Room) located at Vilniaus g. 29 but upstairs with no obvious signage. I went there as well but it was empty.

I had dinner on a leafy patio and wandered the streets until it was dark. I was very happy in Vilnius, but I was also excited for the next day when I would travel by car to Latvia, stopping at the Hill of Crosses along the way.

Andorra-Lithuania trip 2024 Spain

Barcelona Beginnings

(What was I doing in Barcelona in May 2024? Start here.)

This was not my first trip to Spain. In 2009 my mother and I had done a two and a half week backpacking trip in Portugal, which led us to the north of that country, from where we walked across a bridge into Spain and visited a town called Tui. So technically I had been to Spain, but it always felt like something that had a little asterisk next to it in the sense that I really hadn’t seen much of the country at all. So when I found a reasonably priced flight to Barcelona this seemed like a good opportunity. It was a good opportunity in two respects: one it allowed me to remove the asterisk next to my visit to Spain; and two, it also would allow me to visit the micro country of Andorra. More on that in another post. So even if I wasn’t excited about Barcelona, I was happy to be going there.

I arrived just before 7:00 PM and took a bus into the city centre. I was staying at St Christopher’s Inn hostel, which was just a block off of the Plaça de Catalunya and right near the Rambla and the metro station. Next in central. It was a good hostel. It didn’t have any frills, but the people at the front desk were wonderfully welcoming and the hostel itself was functional. It had all the things that require in a hostile: girl only dorms, privacy curtains, and lights and plugins in each bunk.

I ditched my stuff and went out to explore.

I just wandered around that first night without much of an agenda. I got the lay of the land, had a dinner of hummus and eggplants, and smoked a cigar. I was also fortunate to happen across some kind of a outdoor free concert happening in a courtyard, so I watched part of that, which was quite fun.

Some cities that I go to make a great first impression on me and others do not. Barcelona was in the latter category. That’s not to say that I disliked it. I didn’t dislike it, it just didn’t impress or excite or fascinate me. And this initial impression stayed true for the rest of my time there.

It’s a perfectly nice city. It has all the things that you would want in a European city: big beautiful churches, old buildings, winding streets, inviting squares, live music, and a good art scene. But something was lacking for me. It might have been just the sheer volume of tourists that put me off a bit. They choked the Rambla and created off-putting congestion around any site of note; That said, if you got away from those touristy bits the city felt more like a regular city. I was, of course, aware that Barcelona was one of those European cities that is overly touristy to the point where they’re trying to deter tourists from going there, but I kinda don’t get it. I understand why tourists want to go to Paris or Amsterdam or Venice, but I don’t really see the appeal of Barcelona more than any number of other European cities. Still, it’s worth seeing and I did have a nice time.

My first full day was Sunday, an I endeavoured to visit the key sites, which included visiting a couple of famous Gaudí buildings and the Basílica de la Sagrada Família. I walked to the Casa Batlló and La Pedrera – Casa Milà. I didn’t go inside either one, but they were extremely impressive to view from the outside. It’s not my style of architecture, but I appreciated them for being beautiful and being different.

*Casa Batlló and La Pedrera – Casa Milà*

I hopped on the metro to the Sagrada Família. I was eager to see the inside of this famous church, but by the time I booked this trip all of the tickets to view the inside were sold out. This isn’t a church that you can just show up and saunter into. The only way that I could have gotten inside with this little notice was to book a guided tour lasting an hour and a half and costing approximately $150.00. While I have heard that the inside is gorgeous. I was not willing to spend that much money or that much time on this building, so I decided to just take it in from the outside. And here’s my controversial opinion. I think it’s kind of ugly. While I thought the other two Gaudí buildings that I saw were beautiful the Sagrada Família just looks like a mess to me. It is interesting, with unusual flourishes and bits of fruit sitting on top of turrets, but the overall building just looks like a mass of melted wax. Some buildings look better when you see them in person. In my opinion, this was not one of them.

I made my way over to the MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, it was a much better experience. Not too big art gallery containing intriguing and occasionally beautiful contemporary in modern art pieces. Just as enjoyable as the art gallery itself was the neighbourhood that it was set in. I returned several times to the square just outside the art gallery in the evening as it had lots of street art, outdoor eateries, and a constant stream of skateboarders trying out different tricks. It was very lively I loved it.

I had a bite to eat and then rambled over to the Palau de la Música Catalana, a beautiful concert hall built in the early 1900s. I did pay for a ticket to go inside this buildings and it was well worth it, even at €18. I opted not to do a guided tour but just to wander around in my own, as I felt a little pressed for time. It is one of the most beautiful theatres that I’ve ever seen and even if it’s just to stop in for 10 or 15 minutes to look around, I think it’s one of the best sites if you enjoy that sort of thing.

It was getting to be evening time and so I geared up for a night of bar and restaurant hopping. I try not to drink much when I travel (if at all) because of trouble, but I think a trip to Barcelona would be a bit wasted if a person didn’t have at least a few drinks on your night out in the town. My favourite thing about Barcelona was the night. All of the restaurants had haphazard seating on the squares and into the streets where people sat around having cocktails and glasses of wine and little plates of tapas period music would spill out and everything looked so inviting. Best of all, I could smoke on any patio without any trouble.

I don’t like the idea of tapas. This is mainly because I do not like sharing food. I won’t get into the why; I just don’t like it. But tapas for one is great. It meant that I could go to a little restaurant have a tiny plate of appetizers, a drink, and a cigar and move on to another place, taking in different atmospheres along the way. It was great.

There are also countless appealing ‘hole in the wall’ bars and I had to visit at least a few of them. The best one was called Two Schmucks. And I don’t think it’s exactly a secret; while it is a small dive bar, it has been ranked one of the best bars in the world. I can see why. I loved it immediately; it had great music, it was dark, and the walls were covered with a mishmash of horror movie posters. They had regular cocktails but also a list of highly inventive ones. I ordered a tzatziki martini. I didn’t know what to expect. But I like a martini and I like to see key so why not give it a shot. The martini came and it wasn’t white or milky looking, but perfectly clear. I gingerly took a sip and was astonished. Somehow it tasted like a martini in the sense that it tasted like clean clear alcohol, but it had hints of garlic and dill and was so delicately delicious. Best of all, halfway through the martini they took my remaining martini liquid and poured it into a new frozen glass. No one has ever done this before or since in my entire life and I think it is the best martini service I’ve ever had.

The other thing that was great about sitting at this bar, was I ended up chatting with the guy sitting next to me who worked as a flight attendant from one of the major airlines. And he had no problem answering all my stupid questions. Everything from, “has anyone ever died on one of your flights,” to “do people really have sex in the washrooms,” to “how does one successfully give a small gift to the flight attendants without seeming like a creep?” It was fun and he was good-natured.

I stayed out late, and had a cigar in a late night appetizer on my way back to the hostel. It was a fun day.

This was my second of three nights in Barcelona, and I would come back to the city for a full day and night at the end of my trip, but this was really the end of my Barcelona exploration at the beginning of the trip, as the next day it was headed for my day trip to Andorra.

Nicaragua

Two Days in Colourful Granada

Leaving Estelí for Granada

I left Estelí, Nicaragua early on Friday morning. I left the way I came, in a private care instead of on the bus. Friday was a working day for me, and I couldn’t afford to spend half of it in transit, so I hired a driver. The trip took about 2.5 hours. Not a bargain, price-wise, but worth it

Arriving in Granada, I was immediately charmed. This was the colourful city I’d seen in pictures, and it was the city in which I had planned to spend my entire week, before the lure of cigars and tobacco farms took me to Estelí. We arrived in Granada at about 8:00 AM. I would leave two days later. Two days was enough time in Granada.

*main square as seen from my hostel window*

The Poshest of Hostels

I was staying at the Selina Hostel (since changed its name to Socialtel Granada); it was an absolute delight. It’s one of those fancy hostels that feels more like a hotel than than it does just a regular hostel (a poshtel). It is pricier, but you can’t argue with the quality. I had booked a private room, and it was gorgeous. The common areas were full of people hanging out, drinking smoothies and beer, planning day trips to volcanoes, and chit chatting in aesthetically appealing surroundings. As a side note, I did plan to do a day trip to a volcano but it just wasn’t happening while I was there due to volcano activity so I just hung out in the town.

I spent Friday morning sitting on the patio in front of the hostel having a cigar and working on my laptop. With work done, I went out to explore for the weekend.

Wandering Granada

Grenada is one of those places that doesn’t really have tourist attractions per se, it’s really that the city itself is the attraction. It is a gorgeous Spanish colonial town with the oldest architecture dating back nearly 500 years. The buildings are brightly painted, and the streets are cobblestoned. In the centre is a leafy square presided over by a tall bright yellow church.

I know, it’s a lot of photos, but its is just so pretty

It has an active street life, with markets, people playing dominoes, food and drink vendors, add a selection of horses and donkeys.

The central market was an explosion of colours, smells, and fruity goodness.

It is an ideal place for wandering with no destination.

The only downside to Grenada was that it was blisteringly hot and humid. It was hot in Estelí but in a comfortable sort of way. It was so hot when I was in Granada in February that at certain points I felt like I couldn’t see. No matter, the city had an ample assortment of charming cafes and breezy courtyards that I could sit in to take respite from the heat and drink a refreshing beverage or a coffee.

And that’s basically what I did in Granada: I wandered around, I looked at buildings, I took pictures, and I had and I had tasty (non-alcoholic) beverages.

*smoothies, coffee, and a virgin passion fruit colada*

One of the great things about being Granada was that there was a variety of food. It reminded me a lot of Antigua, Guatemala in the sense that it really does cater to tourists and so it has charming cafes with good assortments of vegetarian food. I was in heaven I was able to have vegetarian dishes and nice salads without getting sick. The downside of this was Granada is not particularly cheap. You’re going to pay almost Canadian prices for the pleasures of those lovely cafes. But I was fine with it.

Smoking Cigars in Granada

Of course I smoked cigars. There was one small cigar factory in Granada: Dona Elba. It’s tiny, as their main factory is in Estelí, but there were people in there rolling cigars and cigars were for sale. I made a point of going there and tried a couple of their locally rolled cigars, each of which was only OK. I sat in a rocking chair in their shop area and smoked this very unfortunately named cigar when I was joined by the tired wife of a cigar curious tourist who sat down to talk to me. It was one of those conversations that started normal but then took a turn when this woman, who was from America, began telling me about her COVID conspiracy theories and how Muslims are ruining Europe. Awkward. I obviously don’t agree with her theories and there’s just no point in debating some people. At that point I miss being in Estelí where almost no one spoke English.

*A nice little factory with unremarkable (and one unfortunately named) cigars*

One other note on cigars, don’t buy any here unless it is from a proper cigars store (and even then be careful); Granada was full of egregious fake cigars – not just fake Cubans, but fake non-Cubans, like Padron, Fuente. Nasty looking things, some with beetle holes.

In the evenings I sat outside enjoying the less hot air and smoking cigars, well the people from the nearby hostels marauded about in search of drinks.

It was all perfectly pleasant and was an excellent end to my time in Nicaragua.

Heading Home

I flew home via Mexico City where I had a ten-hour overnight layover. Normally, when flying through Mexico City I’ll go into the city, but I had no desire to go in the middle of the night sleep couple hours and come back to the airport, so I booked a ‘room’ at a little pod hostel just outside of the airport. (izZzleep.) Literally outside the door of the airport and up a flight of stairs. It was my first time staying in one of these little space age pods and I loved it. Great use of my time and money.

Nicaragua was a success I felt fulfilled and rejuvenated.

My next trip would keep me in the Americas: a short jaunt to southern California.

Algiers-Nice-Athens 2024 Greece

Athenian Odyssey – Day 1 of 3

I wasn’t that excited about going to Greece. I don’t know why. Everything I had heard about it was good but something about it just kept me away. But on my Athens, Nice, Monaco trip, it just seemed such an easy opportunity to hop over to Athens for a few days. Athens was the place in Greece that I most wanted to visit. The islands look beautiful but boring to me and I have no interest in spending time on a boat. Athens had a sort of appeal in that it looks kind of dirty and a little rough around the edges. That, mixed with all the antiquities, left me a bit intrigued.

I flew in from Nice via Paris, landing in the afternoon the airport in Athens. The train was a bit annoying. I was happy that there was a train into the city, but I had to wait over an hour for it to arrive. In hindsight I probably should have just taken a taxi, but train I did. I took it to Monastiraki station (it takes about 45 minutes) and walked to my hostel: the City Circus Hostel, located in the Psyrri neighbourhood, which is very close to Monastiraki. City Circus Hostel was a funky place in a heritage building. I liked the area immediately; it was mostly pedestrian streets lined with eateries and bars, with the occasional falling down building wallpapered in graffiti. Everyone was smoking. OK, this might not be too bad.

The hostel was great. I had decided to splurge on this little self-contained apartment on the roof with a private patio. It was a great bargain and gave me lots of privacy. I think I could have spent a month there looking out over the city. I even had my own view of the Parthenon.

But there was no time to rest, so I went out and walked around into the night. I had a cigar and a meal at a cute little cafe near my hostel and then just wandered around to get the lay of the land. The squares were full of people, mostly young, hanging around drinking, eating, yelling. It felt lively and not at all threatening. I visited a couple of churches, which stayed open late into the night and seemed to have an endless stream of religious attendees.

I don’t know what one is supposed to do in the evening in Athens, but I think I could have been happy just hopping from cafe to restaurant to bar all evening. Every place looked very appealing and had these and had wonderful patios that were cigar friendly and an excellent assortment of vegetarian food.

I wrapped up the evening on the patio of a bar called the Verve Music Café, which had a very appealing décor that would describe as ‘Rat Pack dive’ and played excellent jazz music.

I was excited for the next day when I would get up early and visit the Acropolis and Parthenon.

Those are my first impressions. Athens seemed pretty cool, easy going, cheap, tasty, an intriguing. It was certainly an easy place to visit. No special visas required for my passport, they use the Euro, many people spoke English, and no one seemed put out that I didn’t speak Greek. (I mean, there’s literally a saying “It’s Greek to me,” which suggests that it’s not easiest language to learn to speak.) And as I walked around that evening it really was dawning on me that I was in this very ancient city a place that invented or made significant contributions to, nearly everything? It looks like a perfectly normal city; you’re just walking around, looking for a place to get a coffee and the-BAM-you are face to face with a 2000-year-old ruins. And on the building around the corner is graffiti telling tourists to fuck off, and next to that is a church full of people praying at 9:00 PM, and people are selling bread circles and getting pickpocketed and getting drunk and aesthetically pleasing restaurant patios are brimming with diners being serenaded with live music while stray cats look for food to run off with… Athens made a good first impression.

I was only in Athens for three days, but I feel like I saw a lot – I certainly took a lot of pictures – and so I shall divide my Athens posts into thirds, one for each day. Read on for day two here.

Tag: church

The Unrecognized Country

Getting There

Bender

Outside the Cities

Tiraspol

Setting Out

Magical Peleș Castle

Bran Castle

Brașov

The First Night

The Next Day

Arrival in Vilnius

Wandering Vilnius

Užupis

Back across the River…

Smoking Cigars in Vilnius

Leaving Estelí for Granada

The Poshest of Hostels

Wandering Granada

Smoking Cigars in Granada

Heading Home