I hadn't realized how long it has been since I last posted pictures from this trip. Since I last posted photos I've been to Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, Germany, China, Nepal, and now have just arrived in India. I'll be posting pictures of Nepal in a future post, but before we get to the photo montage of those other countries, let me give you a summary of my time in those countries.
Turkey
While I dipped my toe for a second time in a few countries during my trip in 2012, this current trip has had me revisiting countries with more regularity. I've wanted to show Sara some of the places I loved the first time around, and in general, I have enjoyed myself just as much the second time around. Turkey was one of those stops. When I first visited Istanbul, I stuck mainly to the tourist places in Sultanhamet (Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque, etc). For some reason, I thought that the areas across the bridge weren't part of Istanbul, so I didn't bother to explore them. Couldn't have been more wrong. Taksim Square, Dolmabahce Palace, and other small sections of Istanbul along the Bosporus were lovely. Walking along the waterfront, admiring the expensive yachts, and just soaking in the sun provided a nice respite from the tourist crowds of Sultanhamet. We did a sunset cruise along the Bosporus which terminated in the Black Sea. While not spectacular, it was still enjoyable. We did a cooking class, an escape room, explored underground caves, and found a restaurant which served delicious Turkish ravioli (manti) of which we couldn't get enough. Escape rooms, by the way, are an experience found throughout Europe, where you are locked in a room and then have an hour to solve a bunch of clues and riddles in order to escape. You can also get hints from the person who runs the room to improve your odds of escape. You are eventually let out of the room when time expires even if you didn't solve all of the puzzles. We then went to Cappadocia, saw the fairy chimneys and did the standard tourist stuff, but we added an additional tour which included a scenic walk in a canyon and exploration of additional cave dwellings. We also soaked in the mineral baths of Pamukkale and admired the ruins of Ephesus. All in all, I was much more impressed with Istanbul than I was after my first visit, and still enjoyed the other regions of the country the second time around. Provided ISIS doesn't have other plans, Turkey still remains a country I highly recommend to anyone looking to take a vacation.
Bulgaria
Skip it. I'm sure there are beautiful parts, as there are in just about any country, but there weren't any real 'WOW' moments like we've had in so many other countries, aside from the meals we had at DiWine in Varna. Some of the best meals I've ever eaten. Everything we had on the menu was delicious including the sauteed chicken hearts, and especially their desserts. We also visited Plovdiv, which has a quaint Old Town with hilly cobblestone streets, and a fun retro photo establishment, but on the whole, it wasn't spectacular.
Romania
Loved it and highly recommend it. It doesn't have sights which will blow you away, but most everything was above average, moderately priced, and not so crowded that you felt smothered by tourists. Bucharest is slightly better than your average city, with communist history and the fall of Nicolae Ceausescu lurking on nearly every street. There is a lovely park near their version of the Arc de Triumphe and getting around is a breeze. We did another escape room adventure during our time there as well. The real gem of Romania is when you get into the Carpathian mountain region, with Brasov being the home base for just about any desired activity. Brasov has a quaint little old town and is also home to Bran Castle, or Dracula's Castle. A bit too touristy for my blood, but only a short train ride away was Peles Castle, which was stunning. While we enjoyed the colorful town of Sighisoara, another of the many Unesco sites we've visited this year, the best part of our time in Brasov was a stay at the mountain hostel of Villa Park. Located at the family home of a man named Joseph, it had stunning views of the Carpathians and is what you come to expect when envisioning Romania. Quaint, rustic homes, plunging green valleys, talkative animals, and unlimited beautiful vistas. A hint of fall in the air only added to the experience. If you ever find yourself in Eastern Europe, you could definitely construct a trip to include Budapest, Hungary along with a handful of days in Romania, and go home with wonderful memories.
Italy
Another repeat and another strong recommendation for everyone to visit. There's just so much to see and do in Italy. You have the Forum and Colosseum in Rome. You have two of the greatest churches in the world in Vatican City and Venice, not to mention the canals of Venice. The hill towns and the wines of Tuscany are not to be missed. That's a full vacation in and of itself and I haven't even mentioned the Cinque Terre, the Dolomites mountain range, Lake Como, Mt. Vesuvius, Sicily, and the list goes on and on. Did I mention gelato, Florentine steak, pasta, or pizza? We visited Rome, Florence, Pisa, and Venice on this trip, which included a welcome stay with my friend Shannon and her family. I've now known Shannon for just about 25 years. Time flies. Meeting up with friends is always a highlight when I travel. So much of traveling is meeting new people and working to forge new friendships that when I actually get to spend time with people whom I'm already comfortable, it's a welcome respite from the grind that prolonged travel can often be. In any case, visit Italy.
Germany
My recommendation for Italy also rings true for Germany. Berlin is a great city, as is Munich, which is where we spent our time enjoying Oktoberfest. It was my second trip to Munich and Oktoberfest, and it was so worth the cold sleepless nights in a tent at a party campground. Due to the expensive lodging during the time of Oktoberfest, we ended booking a trip with PP Travel. They are sort of a mobile party campground that go all over Europe to fun festivals throughout the year. Prices were reasonable, they provided a daily warm breakfast, ran day trips to Dachau concentration camp, Andechs Monastery/brewery, and Austria. It is a very well run organization, and while we would have rather stayed somewhere with more comfortable beds and showers not operated by coins, we really found the campground to be a reasonably priced, passable alternative. Oktoberfest was a blast, and I made sure to spend a few days there this go around. We visited all of the beer tents, found Hacker Pschorr to have the tastiest Oktoberfest brew, rode some rides, ate our fair share of chicken and pretzels, and enjoyed spending time with friends of ours we met while in Romania. A young married couple similar to us in so many ways, it was nice to spend a few days with them to forge what will hopefully be a lasting friendship. There is so much to see and do in Germany, and because it borders so many other European countries, with generally reliable and punctual public transportation, it would be easy to combine Germany and just about anywhere else in mainland Europe into a 1-2 week vacation.
China
Ahh China. What do I really think about you? Are you ultimately worth the time and effort it takes getting a visa prior to leaving the States? Are you worth countless cities filling my lungs with pollution, staining my retinas with visions of crappy squat toilets, soap-less wash rooms, poorly designed showers, internet censorship, and unruly crowds of loogie hockers? Yes, but just barely. If you catch Beijing on a sunny day, it can be quite beautiful. The Great Wall of China gives China street cred and I absolutely love that wall. I also enjoyed Guilin and the Longji rice terraces back in 2012. My wife swears by Shanghai if you love cities. I could ultimately do without Xian, Pingyao, and Xinning, but I loved Tibet. Some of the most beautiful scenery anywhere in the world. Pound for pound, I think the Canadian Rockies are probably the best the world has to offer, but Tibet wouldn't have any problem standing toe to toe with those Rockies. The food in China also makes it worth a visit. I don't think there was ever anything on any menu that you'd find on a Chinese take-out menu at home in the States. Perhaps in other regions of China there could have been some overlap, but not where we visited. China definitely has some must-see sights, but you'll probably need to be a dedicated traveler to tolerate the negatives in such a way that you can still appreciate the beauty.
Nepal
Nepal gets an incomplete grade from me because we didn't really do Nepal in a way that does it justice. We didn't do any sightseeing but for a sunrise flight around Mt. Everest. The views were nice, but the windows on our tiny plane were appalling. At least we all got to look out of the cockpit mid flight to get a clearer view of the Himalayas and Everest. We also did a cooking class for 2 evenings and learned how to make some pretty tasty Nepalese food. There are endless trekking possibilities, the food was good, the people even nicer, and it's really really cheap. Put it all together, and I know I'd like to visit Nepal again. It's also a good hop-off point for trips to Bhutan and India.
So now we're in India for the next 3 weeks and never have I wanted to visit a country less while still having the desire to see it. It kind of feels like I am embarking on a backpackers right of passage. Most of our time here will be spent with a tour group, which might lessen the crazy, but I'm not holding my breath and I still fully expect to be exhausted by the time we move on to Sri Lanka. And now for the montage.
Hope you enjoyed the montage. I will try to do a better job keeping up as we continue our travels going forward. We'll be in India for the next 3 weeks, followed by a 1 week trekking trip in Sri Lanka. We will then arrive in Ireland in mid-November and spend the rest of the year traveling through all of the British Isles. We'll be with friends in England for Christmas/New Years and then are hoping to still have enough money left to take a trip to Australia to visit some friends before finally returning to the States. Cheers.
Turkey
While I dipped my toe for a second time in a few countries during my trip in 2012, this current trip has had me revisiting countries with more regularity. I've wanted to show Sara some of the places I loved the first time around, and in general, I have enjoyed myself just as much the second time around. Turkey was one of those stops. When I first visited Istanbul, I stuck mainly to the tourist places in Sultanhamet (Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque, etc). For some reason, I thought that the areas across the bridge weren't part of Istanbul, so I didn't bother to explore them. Couldn't have been more wrong. Taksim Square, Dolmabahce Palace, and other small sections of Istanbul along the Bosporus were lovely. Walking along the waterfront, admiring the expensive yachts, and just soaking in the sun provided a nice respite from the tourist crowds of Sultanhamet. We did a sunset cruise along the Bosporus which terminated in the Black Sea. While not spectacular, it was still enjoyable. We did a cooking class, an escape room, explored underground caves, and found a restaurant which served delicious Turkish ravioli (manti) of which we couldn't get enough. Escape rooms, by the way, are an experience found throughout Europe, where you are locked in a room and then have an hour to solve a bunch of clues and riddles in order to escape. You can also get hints from the person who runs the room to improve your odds of escape. You are eventually let out of the room when time expires even if you didn't solve all of the puzzles. We then went to Cappadocia, saw the fairy chimneys and did the standard tourist stuff, but we added an additional tour which included a scenic walk in a canyon and exploration of additional cave dwellings. We also soaked in the mineral baths of Pamukkale and admired the ruins of Ephesus. All in all, I was much more impressed with Istanbul than I was after my first visit, and still enjoyed the other regions of the country the second time around. Provided ISIS doesn't have other plans, Turkey still remains a country I highly recommend to anyone looking to take a vacation.
Bulgaria
Skip it. I'm sure there are beautiful parts, as there are in just about any country, but there weren't any real 'WOW' moments like we've had in so many other countries, aside from the meals we had at DiWine in Varna. Some of the best meals I've ever eaten. Everything we had on the menu was delicious including the sauteed chicken hearts, and especially their desserts. We also visited Plovdiv, which has a quaint Old Town with hilly cobblestone streets, and a fun retro photo establishment, but on the whole, it wasn't spectacular.
Romania
Loved it and highly recommend it. It doesn't have sights which will blow you away, but most everything was above average, moderately priced, and not so crowded that you felt smothered by tourists. Bucharest is slightly better than your average city, with communist history and the fall of Nicolae Ceausescu lurking on nearly every street. There is a lovely park near their version of the Arc de Triumphe and getting around is a breeze. We did another escape room adventure during our time there as well. The real gem of Romania is when you get into the Carpathian mountain region, with Brasov being the home base for just about any desired activity. Brasov has a quaint little old town and is also home to Bran Castle, or Dracula's Castle. A bit too touristy for my blood, but only a short train ride away was Peles Castle, which was stunning. While we enjoyed the colorful town of Sighisoara, another of the many Unesco sites we've visited this year, the best part of our time in Brasov was a stay at the mountain hostel of Villa Park. Located at the family home of a man named Joseph, it had stunning views of the Carpathians and is what you come to expect when envisioning Romania. Quaint, rustic homes, plunging green valleys, talkative animals, and unlimited beautiful vistas. A hint of fall in the air only added to the experience. If you ever find yourself in Eastern Europe, you could definitely construct a trip to include Budapest, Hungary along with a handful of days in Romania, and go home with wonderful memories.
Italy
Another repeat and another strong recommendation for everyone to visit. There's just so much to see and do in Italy. You have the Forum and Colosseum in Rome. You have two of the greatest churches in the world in Vatican City and Venice, not to mention the canals of Venice. The hill towns and the wines of Tuscany are not to be missed. That's a full vacation in and of itself and I haven't even mentioned the Cinque Terre, the Dolomites mountain range, Lake Como, Mt. Vesuvius, Sicily, and the list goes on and on. Did I mention gelato, Florentine steak, pasta, or pizza? We visited Rome, Florence, Pisa, and Venice on this trip, which included a welcome stay with my friend Shannon and her family. I've now known Shannon for just about 25 years. Time flies. Meeting up with friends is always a highlight when I travel. So much of traveling is meeting new people and working to forge new friendships that when I actually get to spend time with people whom I'm already comfortable, it's a welcome respite from the grind that prolonged travel can often be. In any case, visit Italy.
Germany
My recommendation for Italy also rings true for Germany. Berlin is a great city, as is Munich, which is where we spent our time enjoying Oktoberfest. It was my second trip to Munich and Oktoberfest, and it was so worth the cold sleepless nights in a tent at a party campground. Due to the expensive lodging during the time of Oktoberfest, we ended booking a trip with PP Travel. They are sort of a mobile party campground that go all over Europe to fun festivals throughout the year. Prices were reasonable, they provided a daily warm breakfast, ran day trips to Dachau concentration camp, Andechs Monastery/brewery, and Austria. It is a very well run organization, and while we would have rather stayed somewhere with more comfortable beds and showers not operated by coins, we really found the campground to be a reasonably priced, passable alternative. Oktoberfest was a blast, and I made sure to spend a few days there this go around. We visited all of the beer tents, found Hacker Pschorr to have the tastiest Oktoberfest brew, rode some rides, ate our fair share of chicken and pretzels, and enjoyed spending time with friends of ours we met while in Romania. A young married couple similar to us in so many ways, it was nice to spend a few days with them to forge what will hopefully be a lasting friendship. There is so much to see and do in Germany, and because it borders so many other European countries, with generally reliable and punctual public transportation, it would be easy to combine Germany and just about anywhere else in mainland Europe into a 1-2 week vacation.
China
Ahh China. What do I really think about you? Are you ultimately worth the time and effort it takes getting a visa prior to leaving the States? Are you worth countless cities filling my lungs with pollution, staining my retinas with visions of crappy squat toilets, soap-less wash rooms, poorly designed showers, internet censorship, and unruly crowds of loogie hockers? Yes, but just barely. If you catch Beijing on a sunny day, it can be quite beautiful. The Great Wall of China gives China street cred and I absolutely love that wall. I also enjoyed Guilin and the Longji rice terraces back in 2012. My wife swears by Shanghai if you love cities. I could ultimately do without Xian, Pingyao, and Xinning, but I loved Tibet. Some of the most beautiful scenery anywhere in the world. Pound for pound, I think the Canadian Rockies are probably the best the world has to offer, but Tibet wouldn't have any problem standing toe to toe with those Rockies. The food in China also makes it worth a visit. I don't think there was ever anything on any menu that you'd find on a Chinese take-out menu at home in the States. Perhaps in other regions of China there could have been some overlap, but not where we visited. China definitely has some must-see sights, but you'll probably need to be a dedicated traveler to tolerate the negatives in such a way that you can still appreciate the beauty.
Nepal
Nepal gets an incomplete grade from me because we didn't really do Nepal in a way that does it justice. We didn't do any sightseeing but for a sunrise flight around Mt. Everest. The views were nice, but the windows on our tiny plane were appalling. At least we all got to look out of the cockpit mid flight to get a clearer view of the Himalayas and Everest. We also did a cooking class for 2 evenings and learned how to make some pretty tasty Nepalese food. There are endless trekking possibilities, the food was good, the people even nicer, and it's really really cheap. Put it all together, and I know I'd like to visit Nepal again. It's also a good hop-off point for trips to Bhutan and India.
So now we're in India for the next 3 weeks and never have I wanted to visit a country less while still having the desire to see it. It kind of feels like I am embarking on a backpackers right of passage. Most of our time here will be spent with a tour group, which might lessen the crazy, but I'm not holding my breath and I still fully expect to be exhausted by the time we move on to Sri Lanka. And now for the montage.
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| Istanbul, Turkey |
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| Whirling Dervishes |
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| A skilled artisan with a well insulated body. |
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| Cappadocia |
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| I guess women don't always want to wear flattering clothes. Sometimes they just wanna wear puke colored garbage bags. |
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| Family photo |
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| Sunrise balloon flights are the thing to do in Cappadocia. The sky is littered with balloons every morning. I've been there twice and am yet to do this, but if I ever get back again, I'll be sure to splurge. |
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| The Library at Ephesus |
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| Sunrise at the calcified cliffs of Pamukkale |
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| Varna, Bulgaria |
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| Quirky Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Recently rated by Lonely Planet as 1 of 10 cities which should be on everyone's travel list for 2015. I respectfully disagree. |
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| This is a statue of a man who everyone loved in Plovdiv, except the husband of the woman with whom he was sleeping behind his back. |
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| It translates in all languages, even Cyrillic. |
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| The graffiti game in Bulgaria was on point. |
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| Bucharest, Romania |
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| Vlad the Impaler |
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| Street performers |
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| A naked man hold a statue of a dog with a snake protruding from it's head. Proving yet again, that absolutely anything can be considered art. |
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| Our mountain home in Brasov, Romania. |
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| One of the many bears at Li'bear'ty Sanctuary. It is a safe haven for bears who have been abused. |
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| Dracula's Castle or Bran Castle |
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| Heavy emphasis on the word, "Probably." |
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| Overlooking Brasov |
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| Town seal of Brasov |
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| Peles Castle. Stunning on the outside and even more so on the inside. |
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| The colorful city of Sighisoara, Romania |
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| Inside the Colosseum of Rome, Italy |
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| The Forum |
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| Inside the Vatican Museum |
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| The view from high atop St. Peter's Basilica |
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| Inside the Pantheon |
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| Small mountain town in Tuscany |
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| "I see you too." |
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| One of the many vineyards which litter the Tuscan landscape |
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| Still leaning after all of these years |
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| The Duomo of Florence, Italy. |
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| St. Marks Square in Venice, Italy |
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| It really must be true that once married you start to dress like your spouse. |
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| Some of the worst hair you'll ever see. It's like a reverse mullet: Party in the front, classy in the back. |
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| Murano (an island of Venice) glass |
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| Burano (another island of Venice) lace umbrellas |
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| The colorful residences of Burano |
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| Lightning strike over the Colosseum |
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| Dachau concentration camp in Munich, Germany |
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| Not an oven in which you want to find yourself |
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| Andechs Monastery. Those monks make some really good beer. |
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| The view from atop the monastery |
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| The lake just outside our Oktoberfest campground in Thalkirchen |
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| More Munich |
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| Hofbrau House |
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| The iconic ferris wheel on the Oktoberfest grounds |
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| Wang family courtyard just outside Pingyao, China |
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| These dogs couldn't seem to detach from each other. Perhaps this a new move dogs in China are unveiling to the world, or maybe this is normal dog behavior. Beats me. |
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| The courtyard of our hotel in Pingyao |
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| Pingyao |
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| Lhasa, Tibet |
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| Prayer mat. I have never been anywhere as religious as Tibet. All day long, these people would go down on their knees and stomach and pray to their Buddhas. They tie their legs together to keep their clothes from shifting. Even if their prayers aren't answered, at the very least, they maintain some good joint flexibility. |
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| Overlooking Lhasa from atop Jokhang Temple |
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| Jokhang Temple |
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| Potala Palace at night |
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| Full moon |
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| Potala Palace during the day |
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| Looking down upon liberation square from high atop Potala Palace |
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| Typical sight. People would constantly spin their prayer wheels in a clockwise direction. The wheels contain religious texts, and the clockwise direction is also of significance in the Buddhist religion. When walking inside the temples they would walk in clockwise directions as well. |
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| A debating courtyard for the monks at Sera Monastery. Once a day, all the monks in the monastery gather to talk about their studies regarding religious texts. |
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| Look up Tibetan Mastiff on the interweb. Those things are more bear than they are dog. That animal is what sits atop that table. |
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| Yamdrok Lake |
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| Kerala Glacier |
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| This is water at a dam. It almost looks fake. |
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| Largest stupa in Tibet |
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| No sooner had I taken picture of this sign, that a man walked out of a temple and hocked a big one. |
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| Our sunset view of Mt. Everest. Our trip to base camp eventually ended in a snow storm and we were forced to leave before being able to spend the night. We eventually did get our sunrise view of Everest, but during a plane fly by in Nepal. |
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| Prayer flags provided even more color to the already colorful landscape. |
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| Namsto Lake |
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| Namaste rocks. They get their name for looking like two hands coming together as if to say, "Namaste." |
Hope you enjoyed the montage. I will try to do a better job keeping up as we continue our travels going forward. We'll be in India for the next 3 weeks, followed by a 1 week trekking trip in Sri Lanka. We will then arrive in Ireland in mid-November and spend the rest of the year traveling through all of the British Isles. We'll be with friends in England for Christmas/New Years and then are hoping to still have enough money left to take a trip to Australia to visit some friends before finally returning to the States. Cheers.
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