One thing about having a child at school in another country means that you tend to visit there more than other places.  So, for our recent holiday, we were in Spain again.  A few of our days were spent in Madrid.  Having been to Madrid several times now, we didn’t see a lot of sights there, but we did go watch the annual running of the sheep (and goats) through the city center during Fiesta de la Trashumancia.  In truth, it was a lot of standing waiting for the sheep and the herders to arrive and a lot less watching them, but it was something different, so we figured we’d check it out.  

The rest of our time in Spain, we took day trips to two cities that we had never seen before: Segovia and Toledo.

Segovia is mostly known for its Roman aqueduct.

But there was a lot of nice architecture in the city.

And the views around the city weren’t too bad!

And while we were there, our son tried a Segovia specialty-cochinillo asado (roasted suckling pig) which is served by cracking it into pieces with a plate.

After roaming around the city, we went to a nearby area to check out a palace and its grounds including the Giant Sequoias brought from the US in the 1800’s.

Our second day trip was to Toledo which is well known as the origin city in the book, Don Quixote.  We found the statue of Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, as well as many shops focusing on the medieval theme with countless swords on display.

We toured many of the various houses of worship in the city including a synagogue and a former mosque. 

One of the churches also housed a famous painting by the Spanish artist El Greco, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz.

The small streets, bridges and city gates were also quite charming.

And of course, what would one of our trips be without food?  We tried a few local specialties for lunch: sopa castellana (soup), carcamusas (stew), manchego cheese, migas (fried and seasoned bread dish), and sangria.

For a sweet treat, we got some Toledo marzipan from a shop in which the treats are made by nuns and part of the purchase price goes back into supporting the abbey, as well as a kind of cookie.

Our day trips were an easy hop from Madrid, and we had a relaxing few days exploring more of Spain, eating well, and enjoying the sun and warmer temperatures. And getting to see our college student was a pretty nice perk as well!

 

After traveling to a handful of small cities in Brazil multiple times over the last nearly 30 years, we finally decided to stop in the much more tourist-centric, Rio de Janeiro.  Last week we spent about 3 days exploring some of the top destinations in the city.

Our first stop was the botanical gardens.  There were several interesting trees there and many cool animals. We spent a pleasurable half day roaming around the grounds.

This tree that looks like it is covered in cannonballs is a Brazil nut tree.  The nuts are in the balls.  There were also a lot of jackfruit trees.

We ran into a lot of these cute little guys.

There was an interesting area about the wasp and bee species in a particular area of Brazil.  They have some very interesting hives that they guard by blocking the entrances during the day and sealing it with wax at night.

There was a small lake with these huge lily pads.  Can you see the bird in the center of the lily pads?  There were a lot of large fish as well.

And even though we didn’t see this bird in Rio, I’m going to throw him in here because he was interesting.

On our second day, we visited Christ the Redeemer statue and the Sugarloaf (Pão de Açúcar).  We got a lot of really nice views of the city and the harbor.  The statue was so, so crowded, but the Sugarloaf was more spacious with lots of shops, attractions and restaurants all over the tops of the mountains (there were two in total that we accessed via cable car).  

 

 

We also got to see these guys at both locations.

Our apartment was on Copacabana beach, so after visiting the attractions, we went for a little beach time and some food at one of the restaurants.  Unlike some beach restaurants, the food at these were pretty good and not overpriced.  And, we enjoyed some really good caipirinhas for the equivalent of just a few dollars each.

On our last day, we visited the aquarium and Lage Park. The park was the site of an old mansion and sugar mill on the edge of the Tijuca National Park (a rainforest), so there were some fun animals (the rodent below is an agouti in English) and pretty landscape.

  

Having traveled to Brazil many times, there aren’t too many foods to still share about, but we did try a couple of things more common to Rio (Bolinhos de bacalhau-fried cod balls, Bobó de camarão-shrimp stew and some Açaí just for fun.  Everything was really good and not very expensive!

 

All in all, while most of our time in Brazil was spent with family, the quick excursion to Rio was definitely a fun new adventure.

It is once again summer and that means it’s time for vacation!  Our recent summer vacation travels took us back to Eastern Europe- this time to Romania.

Day 1

After arriving the night before, we were able to sleep in a bit before heading out into Bucharest to check out the city.  Just a few streets away from our apartment was the Church of Stavropoleos.  It was an interesting looking, albeit small, church that was very dark inside.  There was a little courtyard to the side of the church that was quite pretty.

We made our way around the corner to a small shop where we got a breakfast of Placinta cu urde (cheese pie), Alivenci (butter pie), a very strong-tasting pumpkin pastry and Poale n Brau (sweet pastry).

Then, we wandered inside a souvenir shop next door.  We walked through an interesting passageway called the Macca-Vila Crosse which seemed like a fun area and then through another, Pasajul Victoria, with umbrellas hanging overhead.

After this, we continued on to the Memorial of Rebirth which honors the victims of the 1989 revolution in Bucharest.  Next to this was an interesting looking Orthodox church.

We made a quick stop at the Athenaeum (concert hall).  The doors were locked, but we could see a bit of the interior through the windows.  Outside, there were a lot of people taking wedding photos.

We headed into Cismigiu Park which was a nice city park with a small lake and a circular river for boating.  We stopped to have a local beer and some water while doing some people watching and enjoying the shade.

Our last stop in the city was the Palace of Parliament.  We just wandered around the outside for some views of the large palace before deciding to get some lunch at a nearby restaurant.

The restaurant was a large open courtyard enclosed by hedges.  There was a violinist playing and lots of tables with large family groups.  We started the meal with Salate de vinete (an eggplant spread), Zacusca (eggplant and pepper spread) and a bean spread.  We also tried the fried cheese (Cascaval pane).  Everything was good but we decide our favorite was the Salate de vinete.

The main dishes consisted of Mamaliga (polenta with a fried egg, sour cream and cheese), mitti or mici sausage (skinless sausage), Plescoi (mutton) sausage, Sarmale (cabbage rolls) and Ciulama (mushroom chicken stew with polenta).

We finished the meal with Papanasi, a fried ball of dough covered in sour cream and a berry jam as well as Visinata (a really nice sour cherry liquor) and Tuica (plum brandy).

We played some cards in our apartment in the afternoon, and then in the evening, we walked about 15 minutes or so to get to dinner where we had veggie ciorba (soup), Tochitura (pork, polenta, egg and cheese dish) and a mushroom stew with polenta along with some local white wine.  Strange choices honestly, considering the heat, but you’ve got to try the traditional dishes!  We finished our meal with Clatitie chocolate, a Romanian crepe.

Day 2

We had a very early morning to get on the road to the Danube Delta which is about 4.5 hours east of Bucharest.  Along the way, we drove through a lot of tiny villages where all the homes had a bench outside their front gate, and the residents were just sitting there chatting with friends or watching cars go by.  As we drove along, we snacked on some Cozonac bread that we had bought the day before.  It was okay but not our favorite.  It was unusual though with pieces of Turkish delight in it.

Once we arrived at the Delta, we boarded a boat and began making our way on the Danube and through the canals, lakes and tiny passages of reeds and lily pads to Caraorman.

Once on the island, we took a safari through the ancient oak forest and saw some 600–700-year-old oaks.  As we were driving, we got to see some bee eater birds which are such a pretty blue color.

They made a meal for us on the island of catfish soup with bread and garlic aioli, local wine, fried catfish and carp with polenta and some fried donuts for dessert.  It was good.

Then, it was back to the boat to make our way back to our starting point.  Throughout the day, we saw water snakes, frogs, grey herron, night herron, swans, coots running on lily pads which was funny, comorants, glossy ibis, bittern, great egret, little egret, gulls, terns and tons of pelicans.  We also got to see a white tail eagle which was cool.

Another long drive back, but we got to see so many storks-some on the ground but most in nests on light poles.  And, most of the nests had babies.

Day 3

Back in Bucharest, we started with a breakfast of Alivenci and a cherry bread before loading up the car and making our way to Brasov with a stop in Sinaia for lunch.

The town was very cute.

The lunch was on the mountainside and consisted of Jumari cu ceapa which was fatty bacon pieces that were only very lightly fried and then served cold along with onions (it was gross), Balmos (polenta with sausage, bacon, egg and cheese) and Ciorba Radauteana (chicken soup).

After finishing, we decided to do a hike in the mountain.

We only got about 20 minutes up the mountain before it started pouring and hailing.  We took shelter under a tree which happened to be next to a muddy hole where two frogs were procreating, so we had an interesting science lesson.

Once there was a break in the rain, we started back down the mountain, and it promptly started pouring again.  We got saturated.  We made it back to the car and drove on to Brasov which was a nice area.

After checking into our apartment, we walked through the old town to dinner.  It was a cute area that did seem to cater to tourists.  We made it to the large main square where we found tons of people celebrating Romania’s soccer win with a big dance and music show.

We found a restaurant in the square and sat down to enjoy the festivities.  It was hot, so we got some flavored lemonades-elderflower, blueberry and orange as well as some local beer.

We again tried the bean spread and Salate de vinete dip.

For our main course, we had Iahine (beans with ham hock in a bread bowl), Mici sausage, Bulz (polenta with sour cream and cheese) and mushroom placinte (pie).

We ended the meal with Galuste cu prune which was okay but not spectacular.

We walked down the shopping street after dinner past tons of shops and restaurants.  There were lots of cute buildings.  Our final stop of the evening was walking by Catherine’s Gate on our way back to the apartment.

Day 4

In a rare moment alone, my husband and I walked into the old town in the morning to have some coffee and pastries while the kids got ready.

Then, we picked them up and went to an Orthodox church and the site of the first school in Romania.  It was small but nice.  The interior was very dark.

We made our way onto a pathway running under a couple of old towers.  The path led us out onto Council Square where we went into a church.  The church had a façade on the street, but when you entered the doorway, you were in a courtyard where the church was actually located.  It was a very small church.

The next stop was the Black Church which was pretty simple inside but had a lot of old tapestries on the walls and a large organ.

After site seeing, we went to lunch where we had Bulz, pork Tocana, and placinte but this time stuffed with potato and cheese.  My husband also wanted to have another Visinata.

After eating, we walked further down the street to a bakery to try some Savarina cake which was a cake soaked in a syrup and topped with a very stiff and dense whipped cream.

We went back to our apartment and played cards for a few hours before going to dinner where we had some beer, eggplant salad, Cascaval pane, and Transylvania potato soup.  At the end of the meal, we tried a hot peppered Visinata and Papanasi.

Day 5

After grabbing a pastry breakfast, we made our way to Bran Castle better known as Dracula’s castle.

In actuality, the castle has nothing to do with Dracula other than bearing some resemblance to the castle described in the book and being located near where the real-life inspiration for Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, lived.  There wasn’t much to the castle, but there was some interesting information about how the Dracula legend is linked to Vlad the Impaler and the old legends of the undead (vampires) and werewolves in Romania.

After touring the castle, we went to lunch at a resort type place with tons of activities for kids.  We ordered some local beer that was not great and also some polenta balls stuffed with cheese and seared.  It was okay, but by this point, we were quite sick of polenta.

After lunch, we drove to Rasnov where we did a three-hour hike in the forest to some valley views.  It was a nice, quiet hike but kind of hot.

After our hike, we drove through Rasnov which was pretty, and we saw a citadel on the mountain.

Back in Brasov, we went to dinner and had bean soup, bean spread, pickles, pickled green tomatoes and pickled mushrooms which were really good.  We finished the meal with Papanasi and ice cream.

Day 6

We began the day early with a long drive to Corvin’s Castle which was pretty cool.

We enjoyed a bit of the castle’s history such as the well which some prisoners were forced to dig in exchange for freedom.  Unfortunately, the prisoners were lied to and sealed in the well where they made an inscription in the stones which survives on the side of the castle today.

After the castle, we went to the torture museum which was pretty gross.

We drove a couple of hours to arrive at Sibiu-an old Germanic settlement form the Middle Ages.  Here we saw several points of interest including the Great Square, the Little Square, Huet Square, the student stairs and the Bridge of Lies to the Lower Town as well as some churches.

The coolest thing about this town was the way that the openings in the roof of most houses gave the impression that there were eyes looking at you- kind of weird and creepy looking.

Our drives were once again characterized by many storks in nests and even some haystacks like you would see in a cartoon, even one with a pitchfork in it.  We also saw a cool church on the drive.

Back in Brasov, we had some coltunasi (potato dough dumplings), beet salad and mushroom and potato placinte for dinner.

Day 7

Today, we drove through valleys and some forested mountains to Sighisoara which was the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler (the inspiration for Dracula).

The town looked pretty neat as we drove up, but there wasn’t really much to it.  Our first stop was Holy Trinity Orthodox Church which had some really interesting paintings inside and was really cool.

We walked across the river to see the old clock tower which was a bit dilapidated and creepy looking.

We made our way through Citadel Square where we saw the house that Vlad the Impaler was born in.

We walked up the street with several historic homes to the covered stairs which was cool looking but really long.

Once we made it to the top, we went to the Church on the Hill where we saw some old frescoes that were interesting and the crypt which had a decomposing corpse that was slightly visible.

We came back down the hill to see one of the old towers, Tailors Tower.  Without much else to do, we grabbed a cold snack and headed back to Brasov.

There was a cool old fortress on the drive back.

Dinner was not too special, but we did enjoy walking around a craft market in the main square.

Day 8

On our final day, we had a pastry breakfast in the town square before driving to Peles Castle.  There was a long wait to get into the castle and it was crowded inside, but the interior was really pretty.  There was a lot of heavy wood everywhere.

We had lunch near the castle.  It was hot, so we had some local beer and polenta (again!), but this time it was topped with dry salty cheese and sour cream which I liked better than the other versions.

We also had fried cheese and bean soup.  We finished with Papanasi for dessert.

As we made our way down the hill from where the castle was located, we got an alert on our phone that a bear was spotted a six-minute car drive away.  That was not something that happens every day!

We drove to Bucharest to stay at an apartment close to the airport.  We found a place that served vegan Iahine (beans), vegan Sarmale (cabbage rolls) and some Romanian wine.

We went into a nearby grocery store and wandered around which was kind of fun before closing out the trip.

Overall, we had a good time but didn’t think there was a lot to do.  In addition, we were really surprised at the amount of smoking everywhere.  But if you like old, quaint cities and nature, then Romania is definitely worth checking out.

With our daughter leaving for university next year, we decided to take our most recent trip to a place that she has been interested in traveling to for quite some time- India. 

Day 1

After an overnight flight with an arrival at four in the morning, we napped at our hotel for several hours before heading out.  Our first stop was the restaurant at our hotel where we ordered the vegetarian biryani, Dal Makhani and butter paneer with some garlic naan.  And, of course, we couldn’t pass up the Gulab Jamun for dessert!

Our driver picked us up and took us to Qutub Minar and the remains of Old Delhi City where we saw some interesting structures.  

The strangest moment of the afternoon was when several people asked us if they could take pictures with us and pointed us out to their kids.  Apparently, many Indians take pride in having met Caucasian people.

After Qutub Minar, we went to Chhatarpur Mandir temple.  We had to take our shoes off a distance from the temple and walk around the whole complex, which was large, barefoot.  We also had to walk down a street barefoot to another part of the complex.  Inside the complex, we found many decorated deity statues everywhere, flowers and food, and tons of people.  It was quite busy!  We went into one room with two deity shrines and a man said a prayer and put a bindi, the colored dot, on our foreheads.  

After visiting this temple, we went to the Lotus Temple and walked around the garden area surrounding it.  

Our driver took us to a shopping center where the rugmakers showed us a demonstration of how they make knotted rugs.  They were a bit pushy about wanting us to buy something, but the demonstration was enough for us.  

After returning to our hotel, we wandered around the adjoining mall complex which was huge.  It even had an outdoor market and festival area which was fun.  We went to a restaurant in the mall where we had Chai Masala tea, lassi, Sev Makhana and  Nadru chaat, Aloo tikki chaat, onion and potato stuffed Kulcha, Makki di roti with Sarson ka Saag and vegetarian kofta.  Some more Gulab Jamun and Kulfi for dessert was a good end to the day.

 

 

Day 2

Our day started with an Indian breakfast buffet in the hotel. 

After eating a ton, our first stop of the day was Humayun’s Tomb.  We walked into the tomb building, which was a precursor to the Taj Mahal, and several other buildings in the complex. 

Then we went to the India Gate where more people wanted to take pictures with us.  There was also a guy there selling ear cleanings.  He had Q-Tips and a cloth-so weird!  Along the drive through the city, we also saw men getting shaves and haircuts in barber chairs on the side of the road.

After this stop, we went to Shri Laxmi Narayan Temple where we were barefoot again.  The temple was pretty quiet, and we were able to walk around looking at various deity statues.  The kids pointed out how strange it was to see swastikas on many walls.  They were actually a religious symbol that was taken by Hitler and used in his purposes.  

We had lunch at a really nice restaurant where we had Dahi kebab, Tandoori Aloo and Mushroom Galoueti kebab as well as Shahi paneer and Gulab Jamun.  It was all really good!

After lunch, we went to Gurudwara Sri Bangla Sahib which is a Sikh temple that is the nucleus of Sikhism.  We were barefoot again, but this time we had to walk through a foot bath.  We sat and listened to a sung prayer and some instrumental music in a lavish room with a large chandelier called Darbar Hall where the guru is.  As we left that area, we walked by a booth where they were giving out a mushy, oily food to eat.  They just put it in your hands with theirs.  Then our driver, who went in with us, took us back into the kitchens where the temple serves food to those who need/want it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as part of their religious practices.  While we walked through, they were making naan and curry.  We talked briefly with a representative of the religion.  

For dinner, we had Palak Patta ki chaat (fried spinach leaves), paneer tikka Lababdar and Tiffin paneer with paratha.  It was good.  For dessert we decided to try paan which was a spice mixture stuffed into some leaves.  It was certainly an interesting flavor experience.

Day 3

Our day began with another buffet breakfast before we headed to Old Delhi where we took a bicycle rickshaw around the area.  It was definitely dirtier, messier and more chaotic than what we had seen so far.  Our rickshaw driver pointed out several sites along the way such as a Ghandi monument and a temple before stopping at the spice area.  Before going into the spice building, we saw some monkeys walking along the building facade.  

 

We walked up the stairs of the spice building and immediately began coughing and choking form the chili powder floating in the air.  Upstairs, there were many stalls and people moving around spices.  Interestingly, there was also a bunch of men showering out in the open (with underwear) and men lying on beds in the stalls along the walls.  There were also more monkeys.  As we were walking around, we were thinking about how easily Covid had probably spread in that environment.  We went down to the street and into a spice and tea shop, a jewelry shop and a pashmina shop.

We stopped down a small street to look at some colorful doorways where a noble family had lived.

Next, we went to Jama Masjid, a large mosque.  There were so many people there asking us to take pictures with them.  

After some crazy traffic of cars and rickshaws everywhere, we made our way to the Red Fort where we were asked for more pictures, and when we started taking one, two more families joined the group.  One woman even gave her baby to our daughter to hold in the photo.  

We were driven to Rajghat, a garden where Ghandi was cremated, but it was closed for a VIP so we couldn’t go in.  Then, it was off to lunch where we had pea Palou rice, kofta and Pinda Channa with butter naan and a chicken curry.  We couldn’t resist some more Gulab Jamun and Kulfi for dessert.  They also gave us some paan before leaving.  

 

Our last stop of the day was Akshardham Temple which was huge.  It was a really pretty building that was surrounded by a whole complex.  Inside the temple there were many marble carvings and around the whole perimeter there was an elephant plinth which was really pretty.  Unfortunately, cameras and phones were not allowed in the complex at all.

We decided to have dinner at the hotel buffet.  We had lots of paneer and an interesting sugary dessert called Angoori Petha.

We had a nice day, but a couple of not so nice things did stand out- we saw toddlers being taught how to beg for money by some men at the mosque; we saw a small baby climbing a fence; we saw an eight- to nine-month-old baby sitting on the side of the road without any pants and all muddy.  There are definitely people living in India in very low economic situations.  

Day 4

Today for breakfast we tried Chole Bature, idly, poori, a breakfast sandwich and kulcha.  We sat is a huge traffic jam on our way to Lodhi Garden.  Everyone was knotted up in the jam, and our driver actually hit another car.  

At the garden, we enjoyed walking around and seeing several old tombs, lots of plants and several animals.  We really enjoyed the Indian palm squirrels which we had seen at many places, the kites (birds) which fly around everywhere there, and the Indian small mongoose.

After the garden, we went to Purana Quila which are the remains of a fort type complex with several buildings belonging to Humayun including a mosque where he fell down the stairs and later died.  

We went to lunch at a place that looked a bit questionable, but our driver assured us was fine.  The food was good.  We had mushroom masala, kofta, korma and yellow dal with vegetable Palou rice and butter naan.  

After lunch, our driver dropped us at a very busy street with the words-just watch out and be careful- in order for us to go to the mosque Dargah Nizamuddin Aulia.  The street was small and chaotic, and lots of people were yelling things at us, mostly trying to get us to pay them to watch our shoes (you have to take your shoes off to enter the mosque).  We walked through the maze of entry halls and into the main courtyard of the mosque which was also packed and chaotic.  It was just too much, so we came back out and were promptly accosted by beggars.  Overall, it was not a very pleasant experience.

After this, we decided to just go back to the hotel and walk around the mall a bit.  We went to the happy hour at the hotel where we had a few drinks including a very strange masala lemonade.  After this, it was time for dinner.  We tried several types of chaat and some kulcha along with some Indian drinks- lassi, Ganne ka Ras (sugarcane, ginger, mint and black salt) and Masala Kokum (chaat masala and mint).  They were pretty good.

Day 5

Today we were picked up early to make the three-hour drive to Agra.  There wasn’t a lot to see along the way- mustard green farming, huge (and I mean huge) apartment complexes outside of Delhi, and some monkeys on top of the toll booth.

In Agra, we found tiny, dirty looking streets and the chaos of people and vehicles everywhere.  But we made our way to the main attraction- the Taj Mahal.  It was really beautiful, but not exactly what we had expected.  First, it was inside large gates in the midst of the city.  Second, on one side was a mosque and, on the other side, a fake mosque to maintain symmetry.  Our guide insisted on taking all kinds of crazy photos of us which we refer to as our Indian photo shoot as taking these elaborate, staged photos seems to be a pastime of many Indian people.

Once we went inside, we were able to see the really cool stones inlaid in the marble carving on all the walls.  The building and all angles and placement have perfect symmetry which was pretty impressive for its time.  

After the Taj Mahal, we took a rickshaw to Agra Fort (I swear we almost died with all the other rickshaws and cars speeding around us as well as the kids trying to run alongside the rickshaw to ask us to buy things).  The fort was cool with its red sandstone buildings and white palace inside.  We saw the areas where visitors were received, where visitors were entertained, the queen’s bedroom, the king’s room and the pavilions for the daughters which had great views of the Taj Mahal.  We also saw the area where the king was placed on house arrest by his son.

 

Our final stop of the day was Baby Taj which was built before the Taj Mahal.  It had some cool artwork and ceiling designs.  And the fun part was that there were monkeys everywhere running around, hanging from trees, jumping on bushes and playing.  While we were taking some photos, we could feel them running behind us.   

We had lunch at a hotel buffet.  The food was alright, and they had some decent desserts like Churma and Rasgulla. 

After a three-and-a-half-hour drive back, we got some dinner of chaat, tikka paneer, paneer Makhani, dhal Makhani and Laccha paratha.  For dessert we tried the Rasmali.

Day 6

Our final day in India was a long drive to Jaipur (a little over four hours).  We first stopped at a stepwell and then went to Amer Fort where the Maharaja resided.  We saw the reception and proclamation area where the Maharaja made decisions.  We also saw the inner courtyard and an area with many tiny mirrors that they used as a heating system as well as other areas in the complex including the apartments for the many wives. 

After the fort, we stopped for a photo at the Water Palace, the Maharaja’s summer home. 

We had a lunch which sadly wasn’t very good and then onto the City Palace where we saw Jantar Mantar, the astronomical observatory. 

We walked around the City Palace looking at some of the buildings and a museum with clothing from the Maharaja.  We saw the reception area and the entertainment courtyard which had different doors for each season (for example, the peacock door is for autumn and the lotus is for summer).  

Our final stop was a quick one outside of the Wind Palace which was a pretty cool looking building.

We had a very long drive home with a lot of traffic in Delhi meaning we sat in the city for about two hours.  We grabbed a quick dinner at the hotel buffet and headed to bed as our flight was very early.

Day 7

Today we were heading home, or so we thought.  Due to a very late departure from India, we missed our connecting flight in Istanbul by about 20 minutes.  We spent quite a while in various lines at the airport where no one really seemed to care about the large number of people needing assistance.  When we finally got things sorted, we had a one-hour drive from the airport to our hotel.  There wasn’t much to see for a long time, but as we approached the city, we could see a lot of buildings on water.  

We checked into the hotel and had a snack of a local beer and local cheese before deciding to make the most of our misfortune and heading out with a driver that the hotel had arranged in order to see some of the city.  While the driver spoke basically no English, we were assured that he understood where he was taking us, and it would be no problem.  The drive into the city took another hour, but we enjoyed looking at all the buildings and the parks along the water.  We could also see the old city wall that was built by Constantinople.  

This is where things started to get weird.  The driver took us to a shop where they said that they would send a teenage boy with us to the monuments, and then we would come back and see the rugs that they make.  We told them that we didn’t want to shop, and that we did not request a guide, but they assured us it was just part of the deal with the driver.  The boy did take us to Hagia Sophia which is a mosque built in 500 by Constantinople.  It was really pretty inside with old mosaics and ceiling decorations.  

 

Our next stop was the Blue Mosque which was also very pretty with its pastel-colored inside.  It was built in the 1600s.  The area around it on the outside was nice too with a park type feel.  

We walked back to the store where, true to their word, they wanted to show us rugs.  The carpets were pretty, but we told them we weren’t buying.  They gave us some different flavored teas (mango, apple, pomegranate and berry) as well as some really good Turkish delight.  

 

 

 

Then, the driver took us to see Grana tower and bridge and had us go down to the waterfront area.  There were some really nice views and an amazing moon.  The Blue Mosque all lit up was quite beautiful.  Our driver suggested we eat at a restaurant there, which I believe was just a scam.  The food was ridiculously expensive and not very good.  We basically ate vegetables, hummus and some bulgar and feta salad.  We also had some baklava and a really awful kunefe for dessert.  

We informed our driver that we wanted to go back to the hotel, but he started taking us the wrong direction.  He asked if we wanted to go somewhere else and when we said no, he wouldn’t listen.  We eventually had to contact the hotel and ask them to call him.  At first, they told us it was fine, and we could just go where he was taking us, but we insisted we wanted to come back, and finally it was sorted, and we turned around- a bit unnerving and frustrating.  

Ahead of us was a very short night of sleep before trying again to get home, and our impression of Istanbul was not so great, so we were just ready to get going.  While we decided that we probably wouldn’t come back to Turkey any time soon, we did enjoy the trip and getting to experience something very different.  More parts of the world seen; more memories made – it was a good time!

 

 

 

 

As the weather is starting to turn here in The Netherlands, we decided to take a quick trip to warmer Spain to explore Madrid and Valencia.

Upon arriving in Madrid, we hopped on the metro and made our way to Retiro Park which was a very large and pretty city park where many people were spending the warm afternoon.  There were lots of musicians in the park and renting a boat to row on the lake seemed to be a popular activity.

We decided to sit in a small outdoor restaurant to have some lunch.  We tried a bocadillo (sandwich) del calamari and had Spanish tortilla which is basically potatoes and eggs in a sort of puffed-up omelet.  We had some churros and chocolate for dessert, but no one thought it was very good.

After lunch and the stroll through the park, we walked through some of the different areas in the city such as the Bairro de las Letras.

For dinner, we went to a small place near our apartment where we had some tapas like patatas bravas, cheese and fried artichokes as well as huevos rotos (broken eggs) over fried potatoes.

The next morning, we headed out, grabbed some empanadas and little pastries, and walked toward Plaza de Espana which was a nice little area.  There was a Latin festival set up at one end of the plaza with lots of stalls selling foods and small crafts from various Latin countries.

Then, we moved on to the Palacio Real (Royal Palace).  We did not go in but walked around the area through some of the gardens and the front gate.

We did go into the Almudene Cathredral.  It had some really pretty ceilings.

After lunch, we walked by Mercado San Miguel on our way to Plaza Mayor where they were having a concert.  We made our way down a side street to Chocolateria san Gines which specializes in churros with chocolate.  We stopped for a quick snack.

After that, we went to Puerta del Sol, another large square, which lived up to its name as it was in fact very sunny.  We went to lunch at a restaurant specializing in croquetas.  We had one made of shitakes, one made of boletus and truffles and one of provolone with tomatoes.  We also tried the dessert versions- one with Oreo and one with crema Catalana.  The dessert versions were our favorite!

After lunch, we walked around a bit more, passing through the Gran Via, a large shopping street, before going to a large park in the city with many trails.  We walked to the lake in that park and then went to our apartment to rest for a while before dinner.

We went to a really nice tapas restaurant for dinner.  We had some Spanish red wine along with an assortment of tapas such as Padron de pimento, patatas bravas, mushrooms with pesto, fried eggplant with honey, croquetas and huevos rotos.

The next morning, we set out for the real reason we were in Madrid- to visit a university that our oldest is considering.  We walked to the school from our apartment and had a nice tour of the area.  Then, we walked to the area that the housing is located in.  After exploring the area a bit, we had a tour of the residence building.  After our tour, we got lunch at a nearby restaurant where we had Pisto Manchego (fried eggs over peppers), Spanish tortilla and fried artichokes.

After a rest at our apartment and a quick trip to a bakery to find breakfast for the next day, we went back out to see another potential residence building in a slightly different area.  We walked around the area a bit and made our way south toward dinner.  We came across an amazing city fitness park with walking and running tracks, fitness equipment, sport fields and a huge gym.

We decided to have dinner at a Brazilian restaurant where we found several of our favorite foods-coxinha, pao de queijo, kibe, mandioca, picanha and feijoada along with some Brazilian beer.  It was a fun deviation from the Spanish food.

The next morning, we took the metro to the train station where we boarded a train to Valencia.  In less than 2 hours, we stepped off the train and made our way into the old part of Valencia.  We walked by Estacio del Nord and the Plaza de Toros.

We walked by the Neo-Mudejar building and then through a huge square with the Placa de l’Ajuntament and a large fountain as well as many historic buildings.

We stopped and had some horchata (a drink made from Tiger nuts) and fartons (pastry).

Then, we stopped by the Central Market where we bought some candy called turron and some Valencia oranges.

Next, we made our way to Valencia Cathedral where we saw what is believed to be the Holy Grail.

We sat in the square outside the cathedral for a while before finding a restaurant for lunch.  It was another tapas bar where we had some nice beer along with Valencia mussels, esgarreat (peppers topped with shredded cod), pepito (fish and vegetables inside a bread) and patatas bravas.  For dessert, we tried the flan as well as a pumpkin dessert as pumpkin is apparently quite popular in Valencia.

After our lunch, we went to our apartment for a while before heading back out to a park.  We found a nice square with a church and fountain and many cool architectural features.

Near the park was an old gate to the city.

The park itself was not too exciting, but we enjoyed wandering around and sitting in a square for a while before settling on dinner in an open square in the old town.  The food was not too exciting, but we had a few tapas and tried the Agua de Valencia (drink made from orange juice, vodka, cava and gin) and Sangria.

On our final day in Valencia, we went to the Central Market to find some pastries for breakfast.  They were really good.  One was pumpkin in a pie crust type dough and the other was candied orange in a soft, sugar-coated dough.  We also tried some cream and chocolate filled fartons.

We got a taxi and made our way to the newer part of the city (the City of Arts and Sciences) to go to the aquarium, Oceanographic.  It was a really nice research based aquarium with all kinds of sea life including sea turtles, sharks, dolphins, beluga whales and seals/sea lions.  After spending the morning there, we ate lunch at a place specializing in paella.  We had a vegetable version along with some bread with tomato and aioli.  It was good.

From there, we took a taxi to the beach where we spent a couple of hours lounging and enjoying the view and people watching.

After making our way back to our apartment, we went to dinner where we had another version of the Agua de Valencia and Sangria as well as some croquetas and bread before trying some more paella.  This time we had a vegetable version as well as Paella Valencia which had chicken, rabbit and snails.  They were both really good.

After the meal, we decided to walk around the old town a bit to burn off some of the dinner.  Then, it was time to get to bed for our early train out the next morning.

After our early train, a quick metro ride and many hours in the airport, we made it back home.  All in all, it was a nice little getaway to much better weather than we returned to.  It was nice to take a trip that wasn’t jam packed with activities and to have the opportunity to consider what life might be like in Madrid for our oldest-perhaps we will be back soon!