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Europe 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.

Eritrea-Djibouti trip 2024 Europe United Kingdom

London Layover: Mayfair Morning

I left Djibouti city late afternoon, had a short layover in Dubai, and then a seven-hour layover in London. Never one to miss a London layover, I caught the Heathrow express to Paddington and then walked Mayfair.

If you read my blog at all regularly, you might know that I always go into London if I have a layover of at least five hours. The longer the layover, the more I can do. (Check out this post for my best ever London layover.) Seven hours is a decent amount of time. It gives me an hour from wheels down to arriving at Paddington, and then I usually give myself three hours before my flight to head back to the airport (because i am paranoid about missing flights) so I only had about three hours in the city, but it was worth it.

Every time I go into the city, I tend to pick a different neighbourhood or activity, although often that activity involves cigar smoking. With not very much time, I decided that a little coffee crawl around Mayfair would be a good idea. My flight landed at 7:00 in the morning so it was a perfect time to hit up the cafes. The air felt cool and refreshing after having been in the scorching heat of Djibouti. I sauntered leisurely around the streets and hit up a few cafes.

I went first to Cardinals Café. Nothing too extraordinary, but I liked it, an Italian café tucked down a side street and busy with people off to work. I had a double espresso and small cigar outside on the patio where a man awkwardly told me that my backpack had caused my dress to ride up above my bottom. Is there a word in English for being both mortified and thankful? There should be.

I went to the charming and fancy H.R.Higgins, a tea and coffee merchant in business since 1942. There I got a little adventurous and I tried some concoction that was a mixture of orange juice and espresso. Honestly I didn’t really care for it, but I also I had a croissant before carrying on with my stroll.

*H.R. Higgins (I resisted the urge to make any Magnum PI references)*

I visited Everbean x BIBI’S for my third espresso of the day, a nice neighbourhood café. I sat outside and was feeling so relaxed and in the moment that I even forgot to take a photo.

From there I just meandered about before going to Selfridges to visit the James J. Fox cigar store at that location. Usually I go to the James J. Fox location on St. James’s St., which has an excellent cigar lounge upstairs. This is simply a small retail outlet inside the Selfridges, but I wanted to pay to visit. I went in and picked out a few nice cigars. I was feeling a little bit sheepish because I looked a little rough. After traveling around my clothes were a bit dirty and rumpled and I had the look of someone who had been on a red eye flight, and I was still wearing my backpack, but I still received a polite reception and the people were very friendly as I chatted with him and told him about some of my recent adventures. Cigar people are lovely people.

At this point, I didn’t have much time left, so I leisurely walked back to Paddington station, smoking a small cigar. Did I do any sightseeing? No. Was it still worth it heading to London for this short time? Yes. Thought that maybe the espressos talking.

It was a perfectly pleasant way to end my trip to Eritrea and Djibouti. Even with all the things that went wrong on this trip, it was my favourite trip of 2024.

(My next trip would be to Southern California for some Halloween fun.)

Andorra-Lithuania trip 2024 Asia Switzerland

Zürich Layover

My flight from Barcelona to Vancouver had a layover in Zürich about five and a half hours. This time could be easily spent at the airport given that you need time for boarding and whatnot, but that’s not really my thing. Anytime I have an opportunity to leave an area and visit or revisit a city, I am going to take it. I think this is the fourth time that I was in Zürich. I had been to Zürich on a proper vacation before, and since then I have been into the city of Zürich once or twice on layovers, so this was something I was familiar with. Before I knew it I was on the train heading into the city.

Zürich is one of those places that is excellent for a short layover because, with Swiss efficiency, the trains are quick and on time and they deliver you right from the airport right into the centre of one of Europe’s most pleasant cities. Even if all you have time for is to go in and have a short walk, I think it is worth it. My layover was rather short, so I didn’t even stop to check my backpack into a left luggage office, I just trained into the city and walked into the centre and decided to have a stroll and a coffee.

It was quite early when I arrived, and many things weren’t open yet so I just walked through the quiet streets taking in the fresh air and morning sunlight playing off of the charming buildings and streets.

I walked down to the river and to a hotel: the Storchen Zürich. The Storchen is located on the Limmat River and is a short walk from the train station. I’ve never stayed at the hotel, but I’m familiar with it because it has a lovely cigar lounge inside. It was far too early for the cigar lounge to be open, but the cafe was. I went to the cafe and I sat on the patio one of the tables ordered a coffee and a croissant and lit up a breakfast cigar. Notwithstanding that I looked a bit haggard from my near red eye flight, and I was walking around with a big backpack, I received a polite greeting; and when the well-dressed and waiter saw that I had lit a cigar, he immediately brought out a proper cigar ashtray to swap for the cigarette ashtray that had been on the table. I felt very welcome. At the next table a man and woman sat having a breakfast and they made a point of telling me how nice my cigar smelled. I never expect people to say that sort of thing to me and I understand that many people do not like the smell of cigars, but it just made me feel happy (and this was a nice contract to the rude tobacconist in Stockholm a couple days prior). I felt like I had found the right place.

I sat there along the river looking out at rowers gliding through the water and listening to the church bells ringing out and I thought, what a wonderful city; so beautiful and calm and polite. How fortunate to be able to just zip in for a few hours and enjoy a bit of this lovely atmosphere before heading back to the airplane. But I did have to head back to the airplane because my flight home was drawing near, and I hate to be rushed.

It was a perfect end to a wonderful trip that took me through Barcelona, Andorra, Lithuania, Latvia, Stockholm, and finally a little snippet of Zürich. I was exhausted but satisfied.

My next trip would be to Memphis, Tennessee.

Andorra-Lithuania trip 2024 Asia Spain

Back in Barcelona, briefly

I arrived back in Barcelona from Stockholm mid-morning on Sunday. The journey home had begun. I would only be in Barcelona for a little less than 24 hours before flying to Vancouver via Zurich. I didn’t mind being back in Barcelona even if my impression the first time around was lukewarm. I decided to stay in a different neighbourhood than I did last time; rather than staying near the centre I stayed at the Generator Hostel which was in the Gràcia District. This neighbourhood felt less touristy than the central area, but I liked the hostel that I stayed at the first time better. The Generator Hostels have very nice facilities, but little to no extras. No towels, free coffee, or privacy curtains. I mean, seriously, if I’m going to stay in a dorm is it too much to ask to have a little curtain around my bunk so that I can have a modicum of privacy while sleeping, or wake up early without disturbing everyone? I don’t know the reason behind not having the curtains, but I think it sucks. (Actually, I’ve always assumed that the reason that some hostels don’t have these curtains is that they’re concerned about people having sex in the bunks. I understand that, but I think that if you are really committed to having sex in a public place the lack of a curtain is not going to be a factor.)

Generator hostel & bunk

One thing this hostel did have was a terrific rooftop patio with a view over the city, including of the Sagrada Família.

I liked the little neighbourhood that I stayed in because it felt more ordinary and it was nice to walk the streets and see little restaurants and cafes and people just going about their daily lives, but I was still drawn back to the centre, which was a very pleasant walk.

I didn’t have much of an agenda, but I did want to go to the Moco (modern and contemporary art museum, Barcelona). It was great. It has lots of art by the likes of Damien Hirst and Basquiat, and Kehinde Wiley.

I had a pleasant visit, and at that point I felt like I had nothing else I needed to do, so I just went for a pleasant walk and a long lunch and had a cigar. When the evening came, I decided to go back to the El Ravel and hit up a couple more appealing bars. I didn’t go back to the excellent Two Schmucks I had visited before but went to their brother bar Lucky Schmucks where they had a ridiculously cheap happy hour in a dive bar environment. I then walked over to a nearby bar that caught my eye called La Cobra. It had the most wonderful decor with dim lighting, red and black everything, and on display a menagerie of gothic satanic and creepy carnival artifacts. I felt quite at home. It looked like a place you go to have your fortune told. I had a drink and made a long walk back to my hostel.

Early the next morning (another hideous 6am flight, which seemed like a good idea when I booked it but not such a good idea when I woke up at 3am), I would fly back to Vancouver but not before having a pleasant morning in Zürich.

Andorra-Lithuania trip 2024 Asia Sweden

Solo in Stockholm Day 2

Day one in Stockholm had been success and I was excited for day two. The first day I did everything that I had wanted to do in my initial planning, but on the second day I did the things that weren’t on my A-List. I think I might have had it backwards, because everything I did on the second day was excellent.

Stockholm by Sea

I got up early and headed to the harbour. While everything in Stockholm is expensive, one of the best tourism things that you can do on a budget is take the commuter ferry. Sweden has an astonishing 267,570 islands and Stockholm sits on several islands in an archipelago. There is a network of commuter ferries set up to take people around Stockholm’s islands. I’m sure they’re all great, but I decided to take the ferry for line 80. It was such a good idea, I wish I left myself more time to see more of the stops along the way. Line 80 travels through and stops at many of the islands in the archipelago and would make for a great day trip in of itself. Better yet you can get a ticket for a single journey for 43 SEK (about $6 CDN). The boats are comfortable, but basic, but who cares because you’re looking at this spectacular Swedish coastline and heading off to stops on route.

I went to Nacka Strand and got off the boat there and went for a bit of a walk. It was very early and so the businesses that were there that might have been nice to stop and have a coffee at were closed. But I loved the walk. The views were gorgeous and there were little miniature sculptures built into the rocks along the path.

*me and some miniature art at Nacka Strand*

As I said, I wish I could have seen more stops en route, but I had other things that I wanted to do. One of the things I didn’t even know I wanted to do until I was on the boat, which was visiting Stockholm’s amusement park.

Rollercoasters Actual

Gröna Lund is Sweden’s oldest amusement park, dating back to about 1883. Of course the rides are new, but it has old world charm. It is a small amusement park set on Djurgården Island. I love an amusement park, and there was no way I was going to miss this one. I didn’t have a lot of time, but I wanted to at least experience it. I bought a wristband and headed in. I don’t even know what it cost but it was worth it. I went on a couple of roller coasters which were excellent and into a haunted house. There’s something about going to an amusement park as a grown up by yourself that is a little bit odd. Standing in line for the haunted house I was the only adult who wasn’t there with small children, and I was slightly worried that people thought I was a pervert or weirdo. Oh well. The haunted house was good fun and towards the end something in the seat poked me in the back and I shrieked and then started laughing like a maniac. Good fun.

The Vasa

From the amusement park I walked in the direction of a couple of more museums. I know that there is an ABBA museum in Stockholm and I hear it is quite popular. I like ABBA as much as the next person, but I wasn’t that excited about seeing an entire museum about them. I decided instead to go to the Vasa Museum, which was one of the best decisions that I made.

The Vasa is a Swedish warship that was built in the early 1600s and sank on its first journey in 1628. It lay at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Sweden until 1961 when it was salvaged. Remarkably, the ship is intact and you can go visit it at the museum bearing its name in Stockholm. It is astonishing. One of the best museums I’ve ever been to. I know that may sound hard to believe, because what’s so exciting about seeing a ship? Even I was a bit skeptical before going to it. But there i something so haunting and beautiful about it. The ship is enormous and adorned with carvings and decoration. It is fascinating to take in it’s spectacle. The haunting part is that you were staring at a ship that is almost 400 years old and looks almost as it did the day it sank. The museum is filled with all kinds of information about the ship how it was built, how it was salvaged and, most interestingly, it includes information about many of the people who were on board the ship. It is just a fascinating link to a historical time.

Rollercoasters Emotional (and where to smoke cigars in Stockholm)

After visiting the Vasa, I walked back more towards central Stockholm and decided to visit some of the cigar stores in the city. Stockholm is a terrible place for cigar smoking. Smoking indoors is banned, as are cigar lounges unless they are truly private cigar lounges. I did find a private cigar lounge but was unable to bribe my way in. Smoking on patios is banned as well. It is still a little bit less restrictive than Vancouver, as you can smoke in parks and squares. Anyway, I was excited to check out some of the stores.

Highest on my list, was to visit Broberg’s, an historic cigar and accessories store in Stockholm dating back to 1881. I found the store, snapped a little photo before I went inside, and walked inside and greeted the people working there as I walked into the humidor. I’m not going to get into the specifics of what happened because I don’t think it would make for a very interesting story, but I’ll just suffice it to say that the fellow working there was quite rude to me. He seemed to think that maybe I was a thief or something the way he treated me, and I really tried to remain calm, but I think that a week of travelling and having only about four hours of sleep at night had left me a little emotionally vulnerable. I started to cry. The stoic Swede appeared a bit taken aback. I told the man defiantly through my tears that I had been looking forward to visiting his store and buying cigars there, and he was so rude to me that it had just ruined the entire experience and my day. I still bought a cigar, because I wanted him to know that I wasn’t a thief or a fraud. And I walked away.

But the thing is, I couldn’t stop crying. I was just walking down the street in Stockholm sobbing. I tried to get it together as I approached another cigar store, but I got there just as it was closing, just as well because I was still in. tears. I kept walking down the same street and went to Cigarrummet. At this point I had stopped crying. I walked into the store, and it was beautiful. It had an impressively well-stocked humidor and the man working there was very friendly. I walked towards the humidor and the man asked me how I was. And I started sobbing again. This man was also taken aback, understandably so. I tried to explain to him that I had just had an unfortunate experience at the other cigar store but also that I was fine. An assurance that I don’t think he took much stock in since I said it through tears. Again, I managed to pull myself together and I bought a nice assortment of cigars. I walked away from the store feeling embarrassed and went and sat in a little square across the way.

Recharging

My mood improved as I sat in this beautiful small square surrounded by pink blossoms and had a cigar. Cigars serve many purposes for me; sometimes they are meditative, sometimes they are social, and sometimes they are calming.

I always like to say that the gruelling schedules that I make for myself on trips with very little sleep and endless walking do not have any effect on me, but clearly they can, because while the guy at the first cigar store was a real jerk, normal me wouldn’t have cried. I think that reaction was exhaustion. I’m sharing this story because I think it’s important to document the travel experiences that aren’t great. Not everything is happiness and bliss. Sometimes things kind of suck. But then they’re better again.

And while I sat there in this square on this bench, I noticed something amazing. Or at least it was amazing to me. The bench had a little insignia on it that looked like a phone charging symbol. I examined the bench a little closer and then noticed that along the front edge of the seat there was a little button, and if you push the little button, a tiny little piece pops out with charging ports in it. It was a solar powered phone charging station built into the bench and cleverly hidden away to protect it from the elements. I was so impressed by this, not only because my phone desperately needed a charge, but because this is the sort of practical, clever design that I expect from Scandinavia and that should be ubiquitous. This discovery, along with the cigar, completely washed away the bitterness and humiliation of the unfortunate Broberg’s experience.

Winding up Stockholm

From there I went on a long aimless walk through the city. It was a beautiful sunny day turning into evening, and everyone seemed to be out. I was so impressed with Stockholm, but it also had enough of the outdoors, so when I saw a sign to an underground tiki bar (Tiki Room), I had to pay a visit. I descended into the depths and enjoyed a fruity, sugary, boozy concoction while listening to kitschy music. Content.

I wandered slowly back to my hostel, getting there a bit late and went to sleep. It would be another short slumber, as I had a hideously early flight to Barcelona, where I would have a day and a night before returning to Vancouver.

I was very happy with having two days in Stockholm, but I easily could have filled more days. There is so much more to do. I would be happy to return, but also with Stockholm prices, maybe a short visit is for the best. [Next Post: Back to Barcelona]

Andorra-Lithuania trip 2024 Asia 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 Asia Latvia

Return to Riga

I had arrived in Riga by land coming from Vilnius, Lithuania. I think it was about 3:00pm when I arrived and I checked into my hotel. I had booked a bed at a hostel but something got screwed up with my reservation so at the last minute I ended up booking a room at a hotel in the centre. This was my second time in Riga, and I would only be there a short time, leaving very early the next morning. But I was delighted to have a bit of time to revisit the city.

It had been exactly two years since I was there last when I came for a four day long weekend in May. It was just as lovely as I remembered. I don’t really have much to say about Riga this time, because I said most of my impressions when I arrived the first time, so if you’re interested in going to Riga or knowing what it’s like, go back and read the two posts that I made in 2022. This time I’ll just say that it is terrific city. I think it’s one of my favourite cities in Europe. It’s very pretty and pleasant, with wonderful architecture, an interesting history, and a nice vibe.

I already had a sense of my way around, so I walked around the historic centre and took in some of the lovely streets and buildings that I had seen before, before going to a cigar lounge (The Oak Lounge) to sit and have a cigar of course. I wandered over to Albert(a) Street past the famous art nouveau buildings, which truly are exquisite.

I grabbed a bite to eat somewhere unremarkable. And I made plans to meet up with a friend. When I had been to Riga in 2022 I had booked a private historical walking tour of the city with a fellow and we got along quite well. At the end of the tour we went for drinks with some of his friends and it was the highlight of my trip. So I let him know that I was coming to town and we met up exactly two years later at exactly the same bar with a couple of the same friends and a couple of new ones. Again, it was my favourite thing about the trip. It’s just a good group of guys at a cool neighbourhood bar that I would have never found on my own. I like the bar so much that I’m not even going to say what it’s called or where it is because I don’t want to encourage too many people to go there and ruin its authentic feel. (But I will post a couple of pictures and if you can figure it out, good for you.) They have a little leafy courtyard where people drank and nobody minded if you smoked. I spent a couple of hours there, leaving after dark and walking back to my hotel.

*bar door on arrival; bar courtyard; bar door on departure, a few drinks later*

That was it. Like I said, it was a short visit. My flight the next morning was at 8:20 AM heading to Stockholm. The flight was part of the reason that I decided to go back to Riga in the first place, because the flight from Riga to Stockholm was ridiculously cheap and while I had been to Sweden I had never been to Stockholm and it seemed like a great opportunity. The day of my flight to Stockholm was the 8th day of my trip and I must admit that all of these crazy early morning flights, days constantly on the go, and late nights out was starting to catch up with me a little bit but I was still excited to see what lay ahead. Read on for Stockholm…

Andorra-Lithuania trip 2024 Asia Latvia Lithuania

No Vampires at the Hill of Crosses

How to reach the Hill of Crosses from Vilnius

Apart from visiting Vilnius, the thing I most wanted to do was visit the Hill of Crosses. I had to figure out how to get there. The Hill is a couple hours from Vilnius, close to the border with Latvia, but close to little else. There are bus tours from both Riga and Vilnius, but they are long days and didn’t seem worth it, to go all the way there and back in a day. So what if I didn’t go back? I found a car & driver for hire that offered transportation from Vilnius to Riga, stopping at the Hill of Crosses and Rundāle Palace en route. Perfect. I had been to Riga before and loved it, so I was happy to return.

My driver picked me up early on the morning of May the 16^th. A young, skinny, rocker-looking dude who smoked cigarettes and didn’t have much to say. I enjoyed his company and appreciated that he answered any questions that I had about Lithuania.

The Hill of Crosses (Lithuania)

If you’ve seen pictures of the Hill of Crosses you’ll know it immediately by the name. It is a small hill in an open field covered in and surrounded by crosses of varying sizes. It’s unusual, even a bit eerie looking, and beautiful. I wanted to visit it as soon as I became aware of its existence.

The Hill of Crosses is not really a religious site; it is a site of protest. In the 1700s, Lithuania and Poland both became parts of the Russian Empire. On two occasions in the mid 1800’s there were wars of rebellion against the Russians by the Polish and Lithuanian people. The rebellions were put down, but the Hill of Crosses started as a response. Families of lost soldiers who did not have bodies to bury started putting crosses down in the middle of a field as a marker of their loss. During Soviet times, the Hill of Crosses became a place of protest, to assert Lithuanian independence against the Russians. From time to time the Russians would bulldoze the site, but the crosses returned – this, even though the Soviets declared placing crosses on the hill to be a crime punishable by imprisonment.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the hill of crosses has grown. It became a popular place for locals to put crosses to remember last soldiers or celebrate their national identity or hope for peace. And it has become a tourist site. The only rule about what sort of crosses may be placed there without a permit is that they must be less than three meters tall. Other than that, anyone can place a cross. And in walking around you will see crosses dedicated to certain soldiers, armies, or wars. But many have no such distinction and are just handcrafted, beautiful crosses of varying sizes.

It is a stunning sight. Even if there were no crosses there, the landscape is beautiful; fields of green, covered in yellow flowers, under the blue sky, and ringed with trees. The fact that these crosses are there in the middle of that landscape is a truly breathtaking sight. And it is a little creepy. Even in the light of day there’s something about eerie about walking in silence through these thousands of crosses. Because I’m an idiot who’s obsessed with horror movies, I started to imagine a horror movie in which vampires were attacking and the Hill of Crosses was the only place that people could find refuge from them. That’s a free idea if anyone wants it. Just give me a note in the credits.

The thing that I also found amazing, is that there is no business associated with this site. There is no entrance fee or guards and no people selling souvenirs. It is just there by the side of the road for anyone who wants to visit it. I’m so happy I made the journey.

Into Latvia

From the Hill of Crosses we drove across the border into Latvia. My second time there, but my first time visiting anything outside of the capital.

The next stop on the trip was visiting Rundāle Palace. Honestly, I wasn’t too interested in visiting the palace; I’ve seen palaces, and they are lovely but I don’t find that they vary too much from one to another. Nevertheless, I was happy to visit this one because it was effectively included in the trip. As it turned out, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Rundāle Palace. It was exceptionally beautiful and filled with period furnishings and surrounded by beautifully manicured gardens. There were only a few other people there at the time so I felt like I had the place to myself.

Rundāle Palace Was built in the Baroque style in the 1700s for Ernst Johann von Biron, the Duke of Courland, and who was also briefly the Regent of Russia in 1940. It’s not my style of decor, but it is undeniably impressive.

From Rundāle Palace, we drove further north and stopped briefly for a view of Bauska Castle, a castle built in the 1400s but mostly rebuilt in the 1800s after it was blown up during a war with the Russians in 1706. Another nice stop. If only just for a photo.

From there it was a short drive to Riga, on the shores of the Black Sea.

If you drove directly from Vilnius to Riga without stopping, it would be about a three and a half hour drive. With our stops it turned into more like a 7-hour day, but it was perfect. I got to Riga just in time to check into my hotel and enjoy the rest of the day.

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.

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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.