Our Five Favorite International Trips

While on the train back from Triberg, Greg and I thought about our five favorite trips we've taken together in the last two years. We have wonderful memories and great stories from all of our trips, but here are the most special ones:

Croatia

Island of Cres

If I could talk about Croatia every day to everyone I see, I would. But then I would be one of the "crazies" so I withhold from doing so. The parts of this country we saw were absolutely beautiful and fairly untouched by tourism, unlike Italy and Greece. Although the language is a problem, I envy the people who live there.

The coastline and Plitvices park were so gorgeous, and there are tons of great old cities to explore as well. My mouth still waters when I think about the grapes, tomatoes and cucumbers I ate there - it felt like someone had just picked them off the plant and handed them to me. I still sometimes say to myself if I eat an average grape in Germany, "it's just not like Croatia."

If you're looking for a sunny holiday off the beaten path, go to Croatia!

Budapest

If you've seen quite a bit of Europe - as we have over the years - old buildings and churches start to look the same, or you've already seen what you consider the most beautiful church and none of the others can compare. The reason I'm saying this is because I think this was our mindframe when we arrived in Budapest. We had just left Vienna, which is a beautiful classic European city, and Budapest hit us with a solid dose of reality.

It may not be a city for everyone, but we loved it. The atmosphere, the resourcefulness of the people, the kindness of people in helping us find our way around... it just felt so different from Western Europe. Or indeed, any other country we'd been to.

Istanbul

Talking about something different from Western Europe, Istanbul was it, for sure! We went here for our first anniversary (our second was in Lindau, which is in Germany - that list is coming soon). I wish we had time to explore other areas of Turkey because it sounds like each part is very different. I especially hope to get to the ruins in the East at some point in my life.

Having been to a Muslim country when I was small (and Greg had never been to one before), we were struck by the beautiful minerats and mosques everywhere. There must have been at least 30 on the hills around our quaint little hotel. Parts of the city were crumbling, but the palace grounds and the museums were still very much there. And I won't go on again on how much the Islamic designs inspire me with their beauty. I'm sure you all had about enough of that already.

Prague

Prague seems to be everyone's favorite and for good reason. The city is so lovely whatever the season. Even when we went in winter, the snow on the ground gave Prague this mystery and warmth. Greg went with his parents in the summer and they seemed to all like it for the nice cafes along the river and easy walking distances. Another of our friends went in the spring and meet great new friends randomly. Everyone seems to find something that they enjoy in the city.

Salzburg
Last on our list is Salzburg, but not because we liked it the least. It's only 2 hours from Munich so we went there a lot the first year. The city is touristy, but in a way, I never minded it. The walk up to the castle gives one such a great overlook as to why people go there. The beautiful little old town stretches out below you and you may even make out the palace grounds to your left.

Last time we went there, I visited the art museum on the hill and I think the walks along the cliffs were more fun for me then than checking out the art. And of course, who can forget the Sound of Music tour?

 We'll also be doing a post about our top five favorite trips just in Germany so stay tuned!

Nature's Waterpark

After a suggestion from a friend of a friend, we decided that going to Plitvice National Park in central Croatia was a must see of our one-week trip. We left Zadar and took a 2-and-1/2 hour bus ride away from the coast and into the mountains. Like many other stops on our trip, we took a blind traveler's leap based on one sentence from the guidebook on how to get to and from this living art work of the Earth. Blind because our travel book only said that buses run to the park - without any listed stops. I only had a rough plan of what to do if we got dropped off many miles from our hotel.

The pictures speak for themselves, yet even then, it's difficult capturing the true depth of the blues and greens in this "land before time." I kept waiting for a dinosaur to walk out from behind a tree or swoop through the sky. So sit back for a moment, imagine the smell of a fresh spring air and the sound of rushing water around every turn as you hike on boardwalks over lakes and waterfalls through Plitvice.



If these few photos do not satisfy your hunger for more, check out our full collection. You will not be disappointed!

Croatia: Ferry and Zadar

We took the car ferry to Zadar and let me tell you, was that a fun way to travel! I'm being completely serious, too. I remember car ferries that we took back in Wisconsin to get to Michigan. Naturally I associated ferries with incessant rocking, cold and discomfort. This one was surprisingly nicer - steady throughout; frequent stops at quaint little islands along the way; and warm bathrooms with soap (my mom would be so happy). Plus, we got to see the sunset...

Sunset sometime between Cres and Zadar

I especially loved the sea breeze in my hair, the impressionistic colors of the water, the rocky shores passing slowly on the right, and the foaming waves spritzing from below. We arrived in Zadar late and hurried through the old city to our hotel before it closed for the night. As soon as we dropped off our bags, we went out because seriously, everyone and their brother were out for the night. Little bars and cafes lined the narrow old city marbled streets and everywhere people were walking around with ice cream cones. The streets were bustling even past midnight on that warm night.

The next day we went to see the sea organ that produced music from the waves and did a lot of people watching at local cafes. Then we caught a bus to Plitvice National Park, which Greg has promised to write a post about soon so I won't go into details besides saying get excited for the awesomeness of the place.  Anyway, we returned to Zadar where Greg had one short afternoon at the beach before it started raining. Sadly, it rained for the last day and a half in Zadar, but we found diversions involving pizza, bureks, really cheap movie tickets, reading, cards and making buddies with the pizza guy who spoke four languages well.

Croatia: Cres

Cres, pronounced quite unexpectedly as Sa-ress or Tsa-ress depending on who you're listening to, was our first island stop during our trip through Northern Croatia.

Marina on our first night in Cres

I should give you some background on our strategy in Cres, mainly to do with housing. Basically, we had no idea if there would be anything available for us and Greg kept hoping that we'd be sleeping on the beach that night. I was more optimistic because I didn't want to hyperventilate at the thought of freezing all night. You see, in Croatia, they have sobes where local people rent homes or rooms to travelers. To find one, you either look for the blue signs advertising vacancies or you go to a travel agency.

In Cres, we headed to the travel agencies once we got off our bus at 8:30 pm, close to closing time for some of them. The first place we went to had no rooms left - my heart sank. But the second place had one room left! She called the owner, Greta, who came to pick us up a half hour later. As we walked to her place, Greta told us in pretty good English all about her life living in Cres for the last 25 years and how much she loved island life. Our room turned out to be an attic room (with a private bathroom) atop her house - comfy and surprisingly close to the clock tower that rung 4 times an hour every hour. By the second night, we were used to it though. It was fun to be a little adventurous and get to know a local at the same time!

Flowers at the middle of our hike on Cres island

Hike back towards Cres along the coast

Cres was just beautiful and the perfect island town - colorful flowers overflowing; fresh daily fruit and vegetable stands lining the marina square; sweet-smelling bakery just down the street; private rocky beach coves waiting to be discovered; boats floating happily in the marine; and olive tree plantations lining the hikes through the countryside (Greta said that she received a plot of olive trees with her house - she sometimes collect the olives and sends them to someone else to press them for her into olive oil). Cres was so relaxing because the only things we had to worry about were where to wander to and what to eat next.

Clouds rolled in and out on our last night in Cres

Photos from Croatia

For those who aren't yet on Facebook daily, here's a link to an abbreviated version of our photos there:

Croatia and Slovenia Trip Photos

Enjoy!

Back from Croatia

Croatia's current tourist slogan is "the Mediterranean as it was." And that is so true. It reminded Greg and I a lot of the Mediterranean-esque places we've been to - Israel, Italy - and pictures of other places - California, Greece. However, it has a unique vibe all its own - not really picture perfect, but very much real with all the good and bad that goes into being real.

For example, Zadar was our last stop. A beautiful city with old, twisting marble pedestrian streets lined with cafe tables and chairs. People sitting out at all times of the day and night chatting over kava (coffee) and pivo (beer). Spotless? Not exactly. Well-preserved buildings? Mostly not, due to wars (WWII and 1990s conflicts). Variety in food? Not enough for vegetarians, but the cheese burek, pastries, pizzas, and fresh fruits and veggies were delicious. Safe? Definitely. It also didn't hurt that the city was steps from the sea shore. 

That example best depicts our time during our slow trip south - we traveled by train, bus and boat from Munich to Ljubljana, Slovenia, to the islands of Cres and Mali Losinj to Plitvice National Park to Zadar all in one week (and then took an hour and a half flight back to Munich ;-). There is still a lot more to see in that region, but it was a fantastic week-long trip.