As 2022 came to an end and 2023 began, we had the opportunity to travel to the Holy Lands to experience a trip filled with history, religion and culture.  After much debate over the prudence of the decision to travel to an area that is often portrayed in the media as ripe with strife and war, we hired a travel company and jetted off to Amman, Jordan.

As we arrived very late at night, we didn’t have much time in Amman, but we did have a nice view of the city from our hotel.

Day 1

Bright and early the morning after arriving, we began the culinary portion of our journey with a Jordanian breakfast of hummus, baba ghanoush, moutabel (baba ghanoush with yogurt mixed in) and muhammara (roasted walnut and red pepper spread) with pita bread as well as mujaddal (very salty stringy cheese), labneh (a cheese spread), manakish (like a pizza with herbs/seasonings only), mo’ajjanat (bread stuffed with cheese), potatoes and fruit pastry.

After what was much more food than I have eaten for breakfast in a long time, we were taken out of the city to Mt. Nebo which is the mountain where Moses died after only being allowed to look into the Holy Lands.

The views from the mountain were nice and most of the points in the Holy Lands are only a few miles away.  Though the weather was a bit hazy, we were still able to see the Dead Sea and areas like Jerusalem.

The mountain features an iron serpent and cross monument to commemorate the story of Moses putting a snake on a pole as God directed.

There was also a small church on the spot with some mosaic floors.

After this, we made our way to St. George’s Monastery where we got to see the large mosaic floor depicting the map of the Holy Lands from the 6^th century.  This is actually the oldest known map of the Holy Lands.  They had many beautiful mosaics in the church.

After leaving the church, we drove quite a while through small cities and the desert to get to Karak Castle which is the remains of a fortress from ancient people that was used extensively by the Crusaders.

There were many interesting rooms where the residents made olive oil and bread.  There was also a prison.

We had a buffet lunch at the castle grounds which included tabbouleh, Arabic salad, hummus and several yogurt-based dips.  There was also vegetable sambosa (a triangular dough stuffed with vegetables), stewed tomatoes and vegetables with rice and kibbeh in a yogurt sauce (kibbeh is a breaded minced meat ball that is fried, and if you were at our wedding years ago, you might have had it there as it is eaten in Brasil).  For a drink, we tried a limonana which is a lemon and mint concoction.  Dessert was hareeseh or haresih.  It was a nice cake.

After that lunch, we fell asleep on the long drive through the desert to reach Petra, but I woke a few times to see some of the tent villages and sheep herders on the way.

We made a quick stop to see one of the springs that was created when Moses hit his staff on the rock as described in the Bible.

Then, on to our hotel where they welcomed us with some Bedouin tea and Jordanian dates.

There wasn’t much time until dinner where we had a really nice meal of lentil soup, falafel, galayet (stewed tomato dish), muffarak batata (eggs and potato hash), strips of pita style bread dipped in olive oil and za’atar spice, taboon bread (seriously delicious!), musakan (chicken on a bed of seasoned rice and crispy onions) and mansaf (the national dish of Jordan) which is lamb meat cooked in a sauce of fermented dried yogurt served on rice and with a yogurt sauce.  We tried some Jordanian wine and beer with it and finished the meal with kanafeh (a type of pastry with cream or cheese topped with a spun pastry and a syrup-kind of hard to describe).  The one that we had was cream.  Everything was very good!

As we were leaving the restaurant, we got to watch a local artisan making sand art using the stones found in the area near Petra.  He had learned the trade from generations of his family.  It was really incredible to watch the sand transform into a picture.

Day 2

We spent our second day in the Petra area which was once the home to the Nabateans.  We walked for 3 hours with our guide looking at the sites of Petra.  We saw a lot of tombs including the famous Treasury, the Dijn Blocks and the Street of Facades with 4 large tombs called the Royal Tombs.

We also saw the theater, the great temple used by the Romans and the temple of Pharoh’s daughter.

We learned a lot of history about the place and about the people that lived there and took in the architectural feats including the water system and the sculpted designs (I especially liked the remains of a sculpture featuring camels and herders).

After our walk with the guide, we grabbed some falafel sandwiches and some limonana before climbing a lot of steps past a lot of Bedouin stalls to reach the monastery which was a Nabatean tomb that Jesus supposedly stayed in when traveling through the area.

Then, we walked to an old church site that had a lot of mosaic floors before making our way up close and into the Royal Tombs.

After the tombs, it was time to make our way back through the siq (the opening in the rocks that leads to the large tombs) to head to another area called Little Petra.  This area is where the caravans used to stay away from the main “city” of Petra.  We saw the openings in the rocks that were the rooms they would stay in and the sinks that they would use to clean up in.

It was a long but interesting day, so when we got back to the hotel, we had a snack of arrays (like a quesadilla with lamb meat that was very good) and cheese.  After resting for a while, we had a smaller dinner with fattet salad (salad with pieces of pita in it), various olives, Jordanian wine and some ashta (a cream topped with rose and orange blossom water) for dessert.

Day 3

Today, we began with an early morning drive to the crossing point between Jordan and Israel.  As we left the Petra area, we saw the monument marking the place where Aaron, Moses’s brother, died.  We also made a stop along the way to enjoy the views of the Dead Sea and to see the pillar that is reported to be the remains of Lot’s wife.

The border crossing itself was a bit chaotic, but luckily, our guide stuck with us until we got in the van to be driven across the border line.  On the Israeli side, we got stuck in a line waiting first for security (we were behind a teenage girl who couldn’t figure out why the machine was going off as she pulled first two pieces of fruit, then a toilet paper roll and finally her air pods out of her pockets) and then for the passport check.  But, we made it through and met our new guide.

As soon as we left the crossing point, the Biblical locations and history immediately jumped to life as we drove by the city of Jericho on our way to the point where it is believed that Jesus was baptized on the Jordan River (for many years this location was closed, and an alternate location was used but it has recently been reopened).

After dipping our hands in the water, we drove to the Qumran caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.  We watched a film about the Essenes who were a mystic Jewish sect that lived in the caves and were the ones that wrote the scrolls and hid them in the caves before being driven out by the Romans.  In fact, it is believed that John the Baptist may have been a member of the sect.  At the site, we could see not only the caves where the scrolls were found but also the remains of the Essene commune.

From here we went to a beach point on the Dead Sea and changed into our bathing suits in order to do a little floating.  The salt content in the water is about 34% (normal saltwater is about 3.5%) so there are signs reminding you not to put your face in or splash so that you avoid burning in your eyes.  While it was a little chilly in the water, the float was fun for a little bit and the views around the sea (though it is actually a large lake) were nice.

After cleaning up, we drove through the Judean mountains to Jerusalem.  We drove up Mount Scopus and then to the Mount of Olives where we could overlook the whole city.

Our guide pointed out a lot of sites and shared a lot of history.  Probably the most important place in Jerusalem is the Dome of the Rock (golden domed building).  This is said to be the location on which the Earth began, where Abraham prepared to sacrifice Isaac, where the Holy of Holies (the Temple) was erected and where Mohammed from the Muslim faith ascended.  Other locations that he pointed out were the site of the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane and the spot of the crucifixion.

After hearing all of this information, we made our way down the mountain to the Garden of Gethsemane and the Lord’s Agony Church constructed around the site where Jesus prayed in the garden.  The olive trees there are 2000 years old, so they are the trees from Jesus’s time.  Inside the church, there were some beautiful mosaics and the stone on which Jesus prayed (of course, with all of the sites, the said spots are not confirmed exact locations but are the general area).

After this, we made our way to our hotel where we had afternoon tea which was a fun experience.  For dinner, our guide suggested a focaccia restaurant that was actually pretty good.  We tried something called sabich which is essentially an eggplant dish (there is a sandwich version, but this was just the filling to be eaten on focaccia).  We also had our first Israeli wine and beer.

Day 4

After breakfast where we tried Shashuka (essentially a tomato and pepper-based sauce with poached eggs on top), olives, cheeses, persimmon and some Challah bread, we ventured into the old city of Jerusalem.

The first stop was just outside the city at the site of King David’s tomb and the Last Supper.  The building itself is not the one from that time, but it is built on the site.  The tomb is on the first floor and the Last Supper room is on the second floor.  The room was very simple but pretty.

We also saw the church that is built on the spot where Mary ascended to Heaven.

We walked into the Old City through the Zion Gate and saw the bullet holes left there from the 1948 war for independence.

In the city, we walked by the remains of the old main street called the Cardo.

We walked into the Jewish Quarter (the city has 4 quarters) and to the Western Wall (this is considered a holy place because it is all that remains of the retaining wall of the Temple).  Men and women have separate sides of the wall, so we separated to go up to it and touch it.  The boys also got to see the old archways that are only accessible from the men’s side.

After the wall, we went to the Muslim Quarter and walked through the streets that have a bazaar style atmosphere to St. Anne’s Church which is reportedly the site where Mary was born.

We then began the walk along the Via Dolorosa (the path Jesus walked to the crucifixion point).  The first point on the path was the site where Pontus Pilot condemned Jesus.  There are two churches on this site.  They were both nice, but one had some very interesting 3-dimensional artwork as well as the original flooring.

We continued the path past the Ecco Homo arch and the various spots where Jesus fell or was helped by others.  Then, we arrived at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

We saw the spot marking where Jesus was undressed and the spot where he was crucified (there is an alter there, and you can get under it to touch the rock of the spot).

There was also the rock that is reportedly the one on which his body was laid and prepared for the tomb.

We saw the site of the tomb rock but there was a huge line to go in, so we didn’t do that.

After walking back through the Muslim bazaar and to the Jaffa Gate, we got some lunch of falafel and shawarma wraps.

Our next stop was going to Bethlehem, but it is under Palestinian control so Israeli citizens can’t enter.  As a result, we had to meet a driver outside the border line and be driven in to meet a Palestinian guide.  The Church of the Nativity was chaos.  You have to go down into a cave where you, again, can touch the rock of the site where Jesus was born.  They also have a manger display set up in the cave.  We had to wait in a line to be able to enter because different religious groups bless the cave multiple times each day, and no one can go in during the blessings.  It was pretty packed in the cave, but we touched the rock and made our way back out.

We went into a Catholic church on the site where we saw a statue monument to Mary, and then we stood in a courtyard where our guide said the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic which was Jesus’s native language.  That was kind of cool.

After this, we got transferred back to our Israeli guide across the Palestinian border and went to have a snack of Jerusalem bagel and sambusak (small breads stuffed with mushroom, potato or cheese-and, as I’m sure you guys could guess, we tried all three types!).

Later, we had freekeh risotto (this is a type of wheat) and sheikh al mahshi (zucchini stuffed with lamb).  We tried Taybeh, a Palestinian beer, and had some babka, several types of rugelach and some jam cookies for dessert.

Day 5

Today began in a sobering way with a trip to the newer part of Jerusalem to the Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial.  It was a very symbolic memorial with pathways lined with trees honoring those that helped people during the Holocaust.  We went into the children’s memorial which was an interesting visual depiction of the children who died.  We also went through the museum which had a lot of personal video testimonies and pictures.  After a while, it just became too much, and you really felt like you couldn’t take in any more of the atrocities.  One of the few places that we took any pictures there was in the building depicting the names of all of the concentration camps.

After this stop, we went to Ein Karem, a small village in the city, where John the Baptist was born.  We first saw the Church of the Visitation which is on the site where Mary visited Elizabeth when they were both pregnant.

Inside the church is a well said to be from the spring that erupted when the women greeted each other.  There is also a rock in the church said to be the one that hid John the Baptist as a baby when Herod had all of the Jewish babies killed.  Outside the church is a wall with the blessing that Mary gave Elizabeth in many languages.

After this, we went to the church on the site where Zechariah and Elizabeth’s home was and where John was said to be born.  Here, you again could touch the stone of the birth site.

We drove through the city past the Parliament and the Supreme Court on our way to the Israeli Museum where we saw a really cool model depicting the layout of the entire city during about the 1^st century.

Then we went into the Shrine of the Book (the Dead Sea Scrolls and the vessels they were found in are housed here).

Next, we went to the Machne Yehuda market area.  We stopped first for lunch at a very local restaurant (all Israelis inside).  We had pitas with a selection of small salads, as they call them, which are really small dips and accoutrements.  They included things like hummus, tahini, eggplant, tomato onion sauce, and pickles as well as small sauces.  Some of us tried the mixed grill which is grilled meat but includes parts like heart and liver while others opted for the vegetarian version of mixed grill.  Both were actually very good.  They came with okra and mujaddara which is like lentils and rice with crispy onions on top.  We washed it all down with some Israeli beer.  It was really good!

After lunch, we walked through the market where they had tons of fruits, vegetables, spices, nuts, olives and baked goods.

We stopped at a stand selling halva (candy made from sesame seeds).  We saw the machine that presses the seeds to make the paste which is used for the candy.  They had so many different flavors of halva, but we tried the lemon version.

We also stopped at a bakery and bought some fresh chocolate rugelach.  It was so good!

After the market, our guide took as to the new Mamilla shopping center for a look around, and then, we rested for a while before going to dinner.  No one was too hungry, so we just had adas (red lentil soup) and some hummus with lamb on top with a local beer.

Day 6

Today, we moved on from Jerusalem and made our way south along the Dead Sea to Masada.

On the way, we stopped in a national park area and saw some ibex and hyrax (rock rabbit).  As we continued the drive, we saw some really cool natural “rock” formations.

At Masada, we took the cable car up the mountain to the site of one of King Herod’s palaces and fortresses which was later used by the Zealots, the last Jewish stronghold against the Romans.  At the site, we saw many old ritual baths, water cisterns, water diversion and collection methods, storage rooms, a dove cote and the bathhouse of the palace with its steam pipe system.

In addition, what may be the first ever synagogue from the 1^st century is located on the site.

We watched a movie about the area, specifically about the period when the Zealots were under siege by the Romans for a three-year period before committing suicide.  At the site, you can still see many of the boulders that the Romans shot at the Zealots, the ramp that they built to enter the city and the encampment areas and siege wall that they built.

After leaving the area, we began making our way north through part of the West Bank where the land became less arid and more fertile.

Upon crossing back into Israel, we stopped in a small town for a lunch of falafel wraps made with laffa bread and some really delicious fried eggplant.

We stopped at a Kibbutz to see an ancient synagogue with a mosaic floor and watched a movie about its construction.

Then we went to another Kibbutz that had a store selling all kinds of dates and date products which was interesting.

From here, we drove the rest of the way to the Sea of Galilee where we could see the Golan Heights mountains with the Syrian and Lebanese borders just beyond them.  We drove a bit through Tiberias and saw some of the town’s ancient ruins before checking into our hotel.

For our dinner, we walked to a restaurant where we had the salads again, this time with both regular and garlic pita breads.  We tried some local beer and ate way too much!  It was pouring rain when we left, so we got a bit wet.

Day 7

We began the day by going to a Kibbutz where they discovered a 2,000-year-old fisherman boat.  They had a very interesting movie about how they removed it from the mud and information on the restoration process.

After viewing the boat, we took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee (again it’s just a very large lake).  From the boat, we got a view of the path through the mountains that Jesus would have taken from Nazareth, the area where Mary Magdalene was from and where she began following Jesus, where Jesus walked on water, where he lived with Peter in Capernaum as well as the sites of the Sermon on the Mount and the multiplication of the fishes and loaves.

After the boat ride, we went to the Church of the Beatitudes (Sermon on the Mount).  It was a small and simple church with all the beatitudes displayed around it.

Then, we drove up the mountains to Safed which is where the Kabbalah movement was started.

We visited a 2^nd century synagogue there that had a really beautiful and colorful ark.  We also saw the chair that they use for circumcision ceremonies.

We walked through an artist corridor that had some really cool art pieces.  We learned some interesting things from our guide about the typical Jewish items used in the home, and we visited a candle shop making some very elaborate candles and candle displays.

Then, we went to a shop where weavers were making customized prayer blankets among other things.

Right outside this shop, there was a 100-year-old fig tree.

After leaving Safed, we had a quick lunch of sabich sandwich (eggplant and egg) and Israeli salad.

We visited the Church of the Multiplication which had some nice original mosaic floors.

Then it was on to Capernaum where we saw the ruins of the town including Peter’s house which is where Jesus likely lived and an old synagogue.

Our final stop of the day was the Golan Heights Winery where we took a small tour and tasted three of the wines.

In the evening, we sat outside on the Sea of Galilee for some dinner.  We had the hummus, tahini and tabbouleh with both pita and garlic pita.  We also tried the anise flavored aperitif Arak which I really liked.  Our main courses were a grilled eggplant and the St. Peter’s fish (whole tilapia) with some Goldstar beer.  For dessert, we had malabi (a kind of custard with rose water on top) and something they called Switzerland.  Both were really good.

Day 8

Today at breakfast, we had labneh balls (cheese spread), potato bourkas and some cheese.

After leaving the Sea of Galilee area, we drove through Cana where Jesus turned the water to wine on our way to Nazareth.

In Nazareth, we went to the Church of the Annunciation which was quite an unusual church on the site where Gabriel visited Mary.

The lower level of the church was quite barren with the ancient site.

The upper level featured a lot of mosaics donated from countries all over the world.

Also within the church site is a smaller church built on what is believed to be the remains of Joseph’s house and workshop in Nazareth.

The remains of the old city of Nazareth were visible as well.

On the way back to the car, we stopped in a spice shop where they were selling tons of spices and candies.  They had several old grinding machines as well.

From here, we traveled north to Akko and walked to the old Crusader city.  We watched a short film about the area before heading underground (the current city is built on top of the old crusader city).  We walked through a tunnel that used to run from the city to the port and several other buildings in the ancient city such as the hospital.

On the upper level, we saw some of the old city walls and an old jail from before Israeli independence (under British rule it was the site of the imprisonment and hanging of several Jewish underground fighters).

We made our way down to the port area and through the market bazaar.

We stopped in an area that used to be a Turkish Ottoman market with each door to the current shops being the former market stall doors.

We ate in a restaurant in one of the stalls where we had hummus with mushrooms and hummus with shawarma as well as falafel and pickled eggplant.  At the end of the meal, they gave us some Arabic coffee.

From here, we drove along the Mediterranean Sea to Caesarea which was built by King Herod.  We were able to see the Roman amphitheater, hippodrome, city ruins, pieces of columns and sarcophagi.  We also saw the site of Herod’s palace which had a large pool right on the sea.  We watched a nice movie about Herod and the building of Caesarea.  On our way out of the city, we stopped by a very large aqueduct.

Finally, we completed our drive to Tel Aviv and checked into our hotel where we enjoyed the happy hour which featured bageleh (kind of like a pretzel) and stuffed grape leaves.

After a while, we walked along the coast to the port of Tel Aviv where there are many shops and restaurants.  We took some time to look around and to have a dinner of mujaddara (rice and lentils with onions on top) and sahlab which is hot milk sprinkled with orchid flower powder causing it to make a pudding like drink.  It was pretty good.

Day 9

We started our day with a nice breakfast, the highlight of which was some really delicious babka bread.

We walked along the sea to the Carmel Market which had some nice vendors.  We bought some fresh squeezed pomegranate juice.

We walked to Jaffa where we saw the clock tower and other old buildings.  We also saw the old port and old Jaffa which is where the story of Jonah and the whale occurred.  We walked through a few of the streets of the Jaffa flea market and to St. Peter’s Church.

We also saw an open square with a cute fountain that was built on the site of an old well.

After wandering through some streets of the old area, we grabbed a snack of sambusak from a bakery.  We got one potato and one cheese.

With our energy renewed, we walked to an old train depot that had been converted to a shopping space and into the shopping area of Neve Tzedeck.  We made our way back to the coastline to grab some lunch.  We had mushroom hummus, falafel and lemon mint slushies with some Maccabi and unfiltered Goldstar beer.  It was great until a downpour sent us inside at the end of the meal.

After the rain stopped, we walked back to our hotel along the coast.  It wasn’t long before the rain started again, so we decided to order our dinner in.  We bought something called jachnun which is a dense bread rolled up and served with a hard-boiled egg.  Apparently, it was introduced by Jewish Yemenites.  It was not bad but was a little greasy and heavy.

Day 10

For our last day, we grabbed some breakfast where we ate a few last olives and dates and tried one thing we hadn’t yet-kugel: basically, layered noodles with cottage cheese filling.  After breakfast, the weather was perfect, so we went to the beach for a while.  It was really nice to just sit and enjoy the weather as we knew we would be returning to cloudy skies at home!

We found a small place for lunch where we got falafel, shawarma, kubbeh and salad Fairuz (tomato and cucumbers on a bed of rice, lentils and onions).  We had a final beer and finished with a malabi (the custard with rose water dessert).

There was a bakery on our way back to the main road, and they were selling sufganiyot (a jelly filled donut that we thought we could only find at Hannukah time), so, of course, we got one to try.  It was pretty much just a jelly donut but not as heavy and sugary.

We walked along the beach promenade to a small shop specializing in kanfeh.  We had tried a version in Jordan, but this was quite different.  In Jordan, the dessert had a cream style filling; here it was cheese.  We got to watch it being made which was interesting, and it was good-not too sweet but not just savory.

With that, our time in Israel was basically done.  We took a stroll back along the coast trying to soak in the sun before making our way to the airport and flying back home.

Overall, we had a wonderful time in both Jordan and Israel.  It was really interesting and eye opening to see a place with so much history and such a convergence of religious beliefs.  Likewise, to get an inside perspective on the very complex situation surrounding these areas and their interactions with one another was enlightening.  But as our Palestinian guide said, it is not like the media portrays-everything was peaceful and felt completely safe.  For anyone that has the interest and means to take a trip there, we would definitely recommend it.  Another amazing experience in the books!  Thanks for coming along and bye bye for now.  We’ll see you on our next adventure!

This year, our fall break took us to England.  The first three days of our trip were spent sightseeing in London.  We walked all over the city from our apartment south of the Thames. The second half of the trip was spent venturing in a radius of a couple of hours outside of London.

On our first day, we arrived so early that our apartment wasn’t ready for us.  This meant that there was time for an English breakfast from a nearby restaurant.

After getting checked into our apartment we made a 45-minute walk along the Thames to the House of Lords and Big Ben (which we found out is actually the Elizabeth Tower; Big Ben is the bell inside).

Around the area is also Westminster and Scotland Yard as well as the Calvary Museum, all of which we took a brief look at.

We decided to walk farther north into Trafalger Square, the West End theater district and Picadilly Circus as well as some of the shopping streets and past the Ritz Carlton with its smartly dressed doorman before finding lunch at the Albert pub.

Now, at the Albert pub we had three things that we continued to enjoy several times on our trip.  Rather than detail them for you every time we ate them, I’m going to give you a collage of all of them now.  And the most eaten food in England award goes to: Fish and Chips, Sticky Toffee Pudding and beer.

 

After lunch we went to Westminster Cathedral (not to be confused with Westminster Abbey) and were quite impressed with its architecture and the pretty mosaics all over the walls and ceiling.

Then, we had a quick stop outside Buckingham Palace before making our way through Battersea Park to find dinner near our apartment at a nice little tapas restaurant.

As the start of our second day was a bit wet, we took a Hop On and Off bus around the city as we made our way to St. Paul’s Cathedral.

After a quick look inside, we walked over the Thames to Tower Bridge.  We toured the museum inside the bridge including a sky walk over the Thames.  We viewed the engine room to learn how they raise and lower the bridge and then after leaving, we got to see the engines in action as the bridge was raised for two large boats.

After the bridge, we entered the Tower of London, which is one of the castles built by William the Conqueror in the 1000s.

The Tower houses a lot of history including the site of the beheading of Anne Boleyn, the Bloody Tower where Walter Raleigh was held captive and one of the young kings of England vanished and was thought to be murdered by his uncle, and the apartments of the former kings.  We also enjoyed going in to the one remaining original building from the 1000s holding the armory, the torture chamber and the chapel.

But the best part about the Tower of London has to be the Crown Jewels.  They are a symbol of opulence and a complete waste of riches that could be used in so many better ways, but nonetheless, they are beautiful and steeped in lots of history and tradition. You can’t photograph anything inside the Crown Jewel exhibit so the best I could do was a picture of the outside.

After the Tower, we went to the Globe Theater of Shakespeare fame.  It’s not the original theater as that burned down in the fire of London in the 1600s; however, it is very near the original site, and it is a very authentic replication.  We took a guided tour and learned a lot about the theater and the productions that occur there (which are also kept authentic).

After the theater, we were five minutes from getting on the bus when the sky opened, and a torrential downpour drenched us and the dozen other people waiting under an extremely skinny overhang at the bus stop.  Our dripping selves tried not to be too miserable as we rode the bus for a while to a location for dinner and then walked home.

On day three we grabbed some cheddar and chive scones and some pastries on our way to Westminster Abbey.

After waiting in a very long line, we made our way inside where we got to see the resting places of some very notable people such as Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and authors like C.S. Lewis, Charles Dickens and Lewis Caroll among others.

There were also a few monarchs buried there: perhaps you are familiar with Elizabeth I, her sister, Bloody Mary, and her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots.

It was also interesting to see the coronation alter and coronation chair, both of which will be used when Charles is crowned next year.

After the Abbey, we went by Buckingham Palace and caught the tail end of the changing of the guard.

From the palace, we walked through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens to Kensington Palace for a peek from the outside.

We had lunch in a pub in Kensington before going to the National Gallery which houses a lot of works by very famous artists.  My favorite might have been The Water Lily Pond by Monet.

After the gallery, we ventured into Hambly’s Toy Store-more of an emporium really with seven floors all boasting demonstrations of various toys and merchandise by employees. The pandemonium inside was a bit much, so we made our way out and on to dinner.

On the fourth day, we got out of the city on a day tour to Leeds Castle, Dover and Canterbury Cathedral.  Leeds Castle featured a movie about all of the lady owners of the castle which was sort of interesting.  The castle itself was not all that interesting on the inside, but the outside and the grounds were quite pretty.

After the castle, we made our way to the cliffs of Dover and Dover Castle for a quick stop.

Canterbury Cathedral was the final stop.  The Cathedral was nice, and we saw the site of the murder of Thomas Beckett which then inspired pilgrimages to the cathedral and ultimately the story The Canterbury Tales.

After viewing the cathedral, we stopped at a pub in town to have a Kent beer and a cask beer as well as a lentil potato Shepard’s pie and a goat cheese and sweet potato tart.  We also tried a caramel biscuit tart for dessert.

The highlight of the day though (and maybe for me, the whole trip) was after our return to London.  We got some last-minute tickets to see the Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theater, the site of its debut in 1986.  The show was so good!

Day five was another day tour-this time north to Stratford upon Avon, Shakespeare’s home.  Here we saw the home he was born in and where he lived before moving to London to work in the theater.

We also saw the building where he attended school as a boy.

We took a walking tour of the city with our guide which ended at the cathedral where Shakespeare is buried.

The next part of the tour was in the Cotswolds-a very picturesque area with rolling green fields and stone homes.  We drove through several small hamlets and stopped in a few for a look around.

We even saw a door to a cathedral that inspired Tolkien’s Gates of Mordor.

Finally, we made our way to Oxford for another walking tour which began after a quick stop at the pub where C.S. Lewis and Tolkien used to meet and where they formed a literary society.

The tour of Oxford included several of the colleges and the library as well as the site of one of Bloody Mary’s executions.

We stopped at a well-known student pub, the Turf Tavern, before heading back into London.

We got a few pictures on our nighttime walk back to our apartment.

We had one final day tour on our sixth day.  The first stop on this tour was Windsor castle.  We made our way through the State Apartments which were very opulent, and then we went to St. George’s Chapel.  This is the burial place of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour.  In addition, it is where Queen Elizabeth II was recently laid to rest next to Prince Philip, so we walked by her tomb.

After leaving the chapel, we watched the changing of the guard procession into Windsor.

We grabbed a quick cheese and onion pasty before returning to the bus and heading to Stonehenge.

Here, we walked around the monument and enjoyed it from all angles and observed the burial mounds.

The final stop of the day was Bath.  We opted not to go into the bathhouse but to walk around the city instead.  The city had some lovely spots, and we went into a cathedral which was nice.

With a little time to kill, we ventured into a small pub to have some English beer and some apple cider (the liquor kind!).

Back in London, we went to dinner in an incredibly busy pub, but the food was good.

On our final day, I walked with the kids to get some scones and coffee at a bakery while my husband had a work meeting.  After packing up and heading out of our apartment, we killed some time in a pub called the Victoria before taking the train to the airport.

All in all, we had a good time.  London is a nice city with lots of things to do including a ton of free museums, so it would definitely be a good place to head back again some time.  Until then, Cheerio!

After our Kenyan adventure, we returned home for one day before heading off to our next destination, which may seem like an adventure to many of you, but for us feels pretty normal-Brasil (and yes, this is the correct spelling).  Because of the family we have there, we have made this trek many times, but I have probably never shared too much about what it is like.  Since I detail all our travel these days, it seemed like a good time to share some about Brasil.

Let’s begin with an important note-Brasil is huge.  There are many different cities and many different regional areas which all do have their own typical dishes, traditions, and locations.  Having prefaced with that, we spend our time in the state of Minas Gerais which is in the central to the slightly southeastern part of the country (it is nowhere near the Amazon and 5 hours by car from Rio).  Our family lives in a small city of about 45,000 in Minas state.

Like most cities in Brasil, the city has a praça (square for gathering) in front of a church.

While most of our time is spent at my in-law’s house in the middle of the city, we also do go spend some time at the farm which is on family land.

The hills of coffee surrounding the farmhouse, which is now used for rental and events, once belonged to my husband’s grandfather.   The coffee is still farmed there; though, it has been sold to a distant cousin.  We often stop and see the coffee being processed from washing to drying and shelling.  Many years ago, I also got to see it being picked as well.

In addition to visiting family and friends and going to the farm, no visit would be complete without eating some of our favorite dishes.

Typically, breakfast consists of several types of breads (the most common being small french bread) and/or cake along with cheese, deli meat, and fruit.  We often eat the french bread with requeijão (a spreadable cheese).  The one we eat is made in the city where my in-laws live.

And our favorite thing at breakfast: pão de queijo

Below is a cheese from the region that was often out at breakfast but also goes well with doce de leite (similar to what many of you know as dulce de leche-it’s Spanish name).

Lunch is generally a much bigger meal than dinner and usually features rice and beans in addition to a meat dish and maybe some other vegetable or pasta of some sort (as we were feeding many people at lunch, there are quite a few dishes in this picture).  My husband’s family almost always has freshly made juice (pineapple, passion fruit, orange, etc.) with the meal.

There is always dessert at the end of lunch.  Here is one of them, canudo de doce de leite, which is a crunchy cone kind of like a fried wonton consistency, filled with doce de leite.

Some of the other desserts we had were passion fruit mousse, pudim (flan with a caramel sauce), and pé de moleque (a candy made from peanuts and unrefined cane sugar).

Another important meal in Brasil is lanche or afternoon snack also called cafe da tarde (afternoon coffee) which often occurs fairly late in the afternoon.  The following are some of our favorites (curau which is like a corn pudding and broa which is a bread made from cornmeal, pamonha which is kind of like a corn tamale -we like one with cheese inside, and pastel which is a fried dough with a filling inside-generally cheese or meat but we also like heart of palm which is called palmito).  Often though, lanche often features bread or a cake and coffee.

We also had a few fun snacks while we were there:

cajuzinho-a peanut sweet from the city famous for pé de moleque

and brigadeiro candies (several types at a birthday party):

Another important event for Brasilians is churrasco.  I say event because, while it means grilled meats and side dishes, it is not just a meal as it can be a several hours long affair including drinking, socializing, and often the card game, Truco.  The meat is placed on skewers and cooked on the grill (special type of grill).  The fire is kept going so skewers are placed on and meat is brought out throughout the time of the event.  The sides such as rice, maionese de batata (potato salad),  salpicão (a mayonaise-based dish with chicken, olives, carrots, peppers and apple covered with shoestring potatoes) are left out the whole time.  There is also often garlic bread, vinagrete (tomato, onion, oil, vinegar, and seasonings), and farofa (ground mandioca flour).

On this visit, we also had the opportunity to experience a cultural event referred to as Festa Junina.  While this normally takes place in the month of June, Covid in the area caused the festivities to be delayed until July this year.  Festa Junina is basically a celebration of the harvest that originated in Portugal in the 16^th century.  Children dress up in traditional “farmer” outfits and put on dances that are somewhat akin to square dances.  The parties and dances usually occur at school.  We went to a party at our nephew’s school and our family put a small one on at the house so that we could eat the traditional foods.

The food of Festa Junina features quite a bit of corn, so for our party, we had popcorn, corn cake, and canjiquinha (a corn soup) as well as canjica (a corn dessert). We also had caldo de feijão (a bean soup) and caldo verde (a vegetable soup).

Aside from the parties and family time, we saw a few other fun things during this trip.  We saw several toucans in trees, tons of parrots (several of which were Yellow Headed Amazon parrots), canaries and zebu (a type of cow that can be found often in Brasil).  Sadly, on this trip, we didn’t get to see any capybaras as we have before.

All in all, we had a nice time with our family and while our trip was fairly low key this time around, we have a lot of experience with Brasil so if anyone ever has any questions or would like to know more, you can always let us know.  But for now, tchau!

This year is shaping up to be a year of adventure with our travels.  To kick it off, we just returned from a weeklong safari in Africa; Kenya to be exact.  We spent time in two different camps in the Maasai Mara National Park (for those that are not familiar with this park, it is the same area as the Serengeti but that is the Tanzanian side while the Maasai Mara is the Kenyan side).  Our first camp was located in the government-run area of the Mara while the second camp was in the North Conservancy which is land owned by the Maasai people.  It was an incredible trip in which we saw so many animals and learned a lot about them as well as the Maasai culture.  

After arriving in Nairobi, we stayed in a hotel before leaving the next morning to the Mara via a very small plane.  The plane could seat 12 people plus the pilot and second officer (though our flight only had 11 people) and the size of everyone’s baggage was restricted.  The plane takes off and lands at several stops along its path.  We were the final (and third) stop so we took off and landed three times (by our final takeoff there were only six passengers on board).  After the initial airport in Nairobi, the airstrips consisted of a small building and a dirt runway (one runway was surrounded by wildebeests).  It was a bit nerve-racking at first, but after the first stop, it wasn’t so bad.  The great thing was; because it stopped so many times, it never got very high, and, from the plane, we were able to see a ton of animals like elephant herds with babies, a huge bull elephant, wildebeests, ostriches, gazelles, and lions.  

Once we arrived, we were met at the airstrip by our guide who drove us out into the bush for a drink before taking us to the camp.

At the camp, we were greeted by the staff beating drums and singing a Hakuna Matata song (not the Disney one).  It was a fun welcome. 

The camp was a smallish camp in the bush with 8 luxury tents and a common space for meals/relaxation and a small spa.  It was a self-sustaining camp, so all the energy was generated from solar power, the water was filtered and reused and the vehicles were electric vehicles running on solar power as well. They also recycled and upcycled a bunch of products such as empty wine bottles that were turned into drinking glasses.   

In addition, the meals at the camp were generated from locally grown items with a focus on non-meat dishes.  And they were really delicious.  Every day we had breakfast at 9am, lunch at 1pm, and dinner at 8:30pm (dinner was preceded by drinks around a fire while chatting with staff and other guests). Breakfast and lunch were served outside at tables placed around the trees, overlooking the river.   Dinner was served inside the common space which was lit with candles and always had a bat flying around.  

Lunch on the first day featured Kenyan beer, a Kenyan mango vegetable salad, plantains, Kenyan lentils, and a version of tiramisu for dessert.  It was so good.

Dinner was leek and carrot soup, a Kenyan bread and polenta with vegetable stew and creamed spinach.  Dessert was a banana fritter and a green coconut-type bar dessert.  We also had some Kenyan wine and a Masaai mule.  Another outstanding meal.

On our second day, we had an avocado and pineapple salad and vegetarian lasagna with an ice cream pie for dessert. 

Dinner was butternut squash steaks with a sauce, fried zucchini fritters, and a nut butter and jam ball for dessert.  We also tried some Kenyan gin called Procera.  

Our breakfasts were different breads, pancakes, eggs to order, watermelon juice, fruit, baked beans, and fried potatoes.  Also, one of the days, they brought some zucchini with fried insects in it (maybe cricket)-we didn’t eat it.

At this camp, a free 30-minute massage per room was included, so my husband and I each got one.  The spa was an open room overlooking the river.  The massage table had a mirror underneath angled so that you could look at the river while receiving the massage.  It was fun to have a little pampering!  We also had some time to play some games in the common space with the kids which was fun.  

After two nights at the camp, we moved to the second camp in the conservancy.  When we left, the staff again sang a song and played the drums.  They had all been so nice (one of them even played chess with our children and spent time chatting with them) that it felt like leaving friends.

The second camp was much larger with 22 tents and a larger common space for dinner.  At this camp, breakfast and lunch were also served outside overlooking the river.  The difference was that at this river, there were resident hippos that were always there and giraffes, elephants, monkeys, and impalas that visited often.  There were a couple crocodiles too.

The food at the second camp that we stayed at paled in comparison and was nothing worth writing about.  The dinners and lunches were mainly pasta or Indian food.  The breakfasts were similar to the first camp with made-to-order eggs with beans and potatoes, fruit, and various breads.  The difference was that instead of watermelon juice, they served tree tomato juice.

At both camps, beer, wine, gin, and soft drinks were included as well as coffee, tea and hot chocolate.

But now, to the real purpose of the trip-the safari drives.  Each day we had two drives (with a couple of exceptions).  The morning drive would begin at around 6:30am each day after a quick drink of hot chocolate or coffee (around the campfire at the first camp).  We would be back by around 9am.  The afternoon drive would begin around 4:30pm and we would return by 6:30-7pm.  The afternoon drive always included a brief stop for drinks and a snack in the car.  

To give you an idea of where we were driving and what is common there, here are some signs from the two camps:

They have lists of the top 5 for various animals.  

The big five overall is: lions, leopards, buffalo, rhinoceros and wildebeests.

The ugly five is: hyenas, warthogs, wildebeests, vultures and marabou stork.

We saw all of them!

So, without further ado, here are pictures of the many animals we saw.  It was surreal to see them and really hard at times to remember that they were in their natural environment, roaming free without caretaking from humans, and not in a drive-through safari park.

We’ll start with the mammals:

How about some baby mammals?  We saw so many!  In fact, we saw the baby of a majority of the mammals that we saw (though we couldn’t get good photos of them all), and they were all so cute.  Some of the babies were very young.  According to our guide, the baby gazelle we saw was just hours old and a baby buffalo was born the night before.  We also saw a week-old giraffe and others that were just three weeks and a month-old elephant.  

Now the birds (there were so many- more than we have pictured here- and most were very interesting and beautiful):

Finally, even the reptiles and insects made their appearances:

 

And while the animals were the highlight, the landscape itself was also impressive.

 

We also did a couple of excursions during our visit.  The first was to a Maasai village where we were shown inside one of the typical Maasai homes (a mud-walled home with a roof made from sticks and dung).  The house we were in belonged to the chief. It seemed very small, but it had three bedrooms and the kitchen/common space.  We were also invited to join in a dance and they showed us how they make fire.  In addition to this visit, throughout the week, we learned a lot about the people and how they live from our guides.  We also saw the Maasai shepherds taking care of the cows, which they value greatly, throughout the bush.  

Our second excursion was a night drive.  As it got dark, we saw the huge herds of zebra, gazelle, impala, and topi coming down the mountain in lines to gather together and head closer to the villages for the night.  After dark, our driver took us with a red light to try to find nocturnal animals.  We didn’t see many new animals, but we did see a hare, a kangaroo hare, white-tailed mongoose, and jackals.  We also drove up to a group of 12 lionesses with cubs.  One was chewing on a bone.  It was a bit scary to be so close to them in the dark (we couldn’t have been more than 6-7 feet).  It was especially nerve-racking when they got up and left, and we were driving along, and, when the driver shined his light in that direction, they were walking not too far from the car, and we couldn’t even see them without light!  But, aside from the animals, the night sky was amazing-so many stars!

Our third excursion was a hot air balloon ride over the Mara.  I’ve been wanting to do this for some time, so we were pretty excited.  We had to get up at 4am to drive to the location, be checked in and briefed, and to watch the balloons be inflated.  The basket we were in held 16 people plus the driver.  I’m not going to lie, we got a little nervous when they told us that on landing we might topple over and we had to buckle ourselves in, grab some handles, sit all the way back and keep our “neck strong.”  Luckily, the conditions were favorable, and we stayed upright (they said it was the first upright landing in a month and an hour later, the conditions were back to unfavorable).  The views from the balloon were awesome, and it was fun to see the area from a different vantage point.  We got to see several animals from the balloon including one we had not seen yet-a serval cat.  I think we interrupted it hunting because, as we came over, it looked up and a few feet away a hare ran off.  After the hour-long balloon ride, we were driven to a location for a bush breakfast.  The location was apparently the area where they filmed scenes from the film “Out of Africa”.  They greeted us at the breakfast with champagne and orange juice, and the breakfast itself was huge and very good.

After our breakfast, we spent the day with our guide in the Mara Triangle, another area of the park.  He drove us to the border with Tanzania (we crossed into Tanzania for a while, and thus, we were also in the Serengeti).  In this area, we saw several of the crossing points for the wildebeests during the Great Migration.  We even got lucky and, though it was a week or two before the migrating wildebeests would arrive, some resident wildebeests decided to cross. It was funny watching them head toward the crossing, slow down, head back away and repeat this over and over before deciding to actually go.    

A couple of interesting experiences:

1. On our first night sleeping in the tents, we had all the sides open so that it was just the screen sides.  The boys slept in one tent, the girls in the other.  During the night we could hear so many noises-hyenas repeatedly, a lion growling a few times.  At about 4 in the morning, we were awoken by sounds of the nightwatch guards talking and flashing their flashlights around.  Strange, but we didn’t really know if that was normal or not as it was our first night.  In the morning when we joined the boys, we found out that they had been awoken during the night by loud sounds right outside their tent.  They weren’t sure what to do but were quite afraid of what it was.  They also heard the nightwatch, but didn’t find out until the morning that a hippo had come up from the river into camp, and its path was right next to the tent.  The guards had been using their lights and talking to it to get it to head back to the river.  
2. On one of our drives, as we were going along the path, a large growling noise suddenly occurred right next to my side of the car.  The car was pretty low to the ground, so, for a split second, I was sure we were getting attacked, but when I turned my head I saw three warthogs jumping out of a hole in the ground.  Even our driver said that was scary.
3. We were driving from the Maasai village and got stuck in some mud.  Our driver floored it to get out, and mud sprayed everywhere next to the car and on the inside back flaps of the car.  Then our son turned around from looking at the tires spinning, and his face was covered with splattered mud!
4. We saw lions eating many of their kills-hippo, baby buffalo, warthog, baby zebra.
5. We saw some hyenas go after a baby gazelle.  The mother gazelle tried desperately to stop them; she even chased them for some minutes after they caught the baby, but it was too late.  This was a bit difficult to watch, especially for the kids, but we tried to remind ourselves that this is part of life in the wild.
6. We watched an impala with its baby not notice a cheetah.  The driver kept saying, “that impala needs to get out of here; she’s risking her baby”.  The cheetah noticed and was watching for quite a while.  Suddenly, when the cheetah was not looking, the impala and the baby dashed off.  We were a bit relieved not to have to see another killing.
7. While having dinner one night, there was a sudden screeching in one of the trees.  A bush baby was running through the branches.  We didn’t think we would get to see one, so that was fun!
8. The people were so friendly.  When we would drive by the villages or people walking, they would always wave, especially the children.  Our son loved waving to them.
9. We saw some disgusting stuff like hippos that live in a pool of their own feces.  Hippos also apparently use their tail like a fan while they are defecating which causes it to spray everywhere.  We saw one hippo doing this while another was right behind it with its mouth open.
10. We also got a front-row seat to more hippos being created at the river viewing area at our camp.
11. The only way we were able to see the rhinos was by driving into a “sanctuary” where the only two white rhinos in the Mara live.  In this sanctuary, they are still free to roam and take care of themselves as they would in the wild, but they are followed 24/7 by armed rangers who protect them from poachers.  That is very sad.  The rangers told us that they are now mature, so they hope they will produce offspring soon.  We never saw a black rhino because there are less than 20 of them left in the Mara due to poaching.

Finally, after our six days in the bush, we took our little plane back to Nairobi.  We arrived at the dirt path airstrip where we just waited until some guys sitting around told us that it was our plane.  As the plane came in for landing, one of the guys drove off on his dirtbike to shoo all the animals away from the landing strip.  Once back in Nairobi, we had a driver to take us to dinner and the airport.  He shared information about Nairobi and Kenya which was nice.  

Overall, I think we all had a great time.  It’s not an experience for everyone I’m sure, but we really loved it.  Seeing all of the nature was amazing and learning about life there was enlightening.  The people were seriously some of the friendliest and most welcoming people I have ever seen.  They told us that we need to come back, and, while I don’t know if that will ever happen or when, I would definitely be willing to go.  What an exciting start to our travels in our fifth year abroad!  See you all soon as more adventures await!

 

This past week we took a quick jaunt to Ireland to enjoy a long weekend on the Emerald Isle.

Our journey began with a three-hour vacation in the airport thanks to staff shortages and a busy travel weekend.  After making it through the almost 2-hour line for security (really when you stand in a line that long there needs to be a very fun ride at the other end and the cramped Ryanair flight really didn’t fit the bill!), we were able to board our flight (which was shorter than the line) to arrive in Dublin.  By the time we made it out of the airport and to our apartment, there was only enough time for a quick snack and bed.

Our day in Dublin began the next morning with a trip to the Glasnevin Cemetery.  It was a nice cemetery with a lot of Celtic crosses and a large tower, but the wind was strong and cold so we didn’t stay for more than about 30 minutes before making our way toward the city center.

Our first stop in the center was Trinity College.  We didn’t go into any buildings but took a quick look around the grounds before moving on to the Molly Malone statue.

After snapping an obligatory picture, we walked toward the Stag’s Head where we had our lunch.  It was a cozy pub-style restaurant, so we got comfortable and ordered some Smithwick’s Red Ale while we ate our Seafood Chowder, Irish Stew and Seafood Pie accompanied with truffle fries.

Everything was very good and after eating our fill, we made our way to Dublin Castle, Christ Church Cathedral and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

We decided to only go inside St. Patrick’s.  It wasn’t the most beautiful cathedral we have ever seen, but there were some nice historical ties to the author of Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift.

After the cathedral, we made our way to St. Stephen’s Green, the large park in the city.

The weather was pleasant, so we strolled through the park a bit before heading to look for some souvenirs in a shopping area.  We made our way to a sidewalk cafe for some coffee and tea before entering the Temple Bar area where we looked around at some interesting art installations and some information about the famous writers from Ireland.  Before going to dinner, we took a peek at Ha’ Penny Bridge and O’Connell Bridge.

Then, it was on to a favorite restaurant of ours from past times in Dublin, Gallagher’s Boxty House.  We enjoyed the Traditional Corned Beef, Corned Beef Boxty and Irish Stew along with some Murphy’s Red before trying some Brown Bread Ice Cream for dessert.

The next day, we took a bus tour to Northern Ireland which is actually a part of the UK, not the Republic of Ireland.  After boarding our bus, we drove an hour and a half into Belfast to pick up a few other passengers.  We got a quick look at the city from the bus before moving on to the Dark Hedges (never having watched Game of Thrones, this wasn’t familiar to me, but I’m told that those of you that watched the show will recognize this location).

We had a brief stop to walk around the area before heading further north to Dunluce Castle whose kitchen, along with all the servants working in it, fell into the sea many years ago.  The views of the castle and the sea were very pretty.

Then it was back on to the bus to go to the Giant’s Causeway.  This is an area along the coast that is made up of many hexagonal rocks formed from volcanic activity.  Of course, the Irish have their own legend about a giant using them to cross the sea.  Nonetheless, the area is very interesting, and (as the luck of the Irish was with us) we had very nice weather which allowed us to see Scotland from the shore.  The views were great, and, walking through the rock formations, we were able to see many “tide pool” areas with various forms of life from fish to anemones which we all enjoyed.

We were taken to lunch near the area.  We once again had some Irish Stew and Seafood Chowder, but the real highlight was the bread that came with it- really good.  We also had some Guinness with our lunch.

Then, it was back on the bus to the Carrick a Rede bridge.  Tourist buses are no longer allowed to go to the bridge over the sea, but we could see it along with some really beautiful views before heading back to Belfast.

As we drove through the city, our driver pointed out the shipyard where the Titanic was built, the largest Celtic cross in the world, a leaning clock tower (due to the sand that the city is built on), the most bombed hotel in the world, the Europa, some monuments to Titanic and other ships built in Belfast, a memorial for the Titanic victims and various other buildings.

The buildings in the city were pretty interesting looking, and the City Hall Building was very nice.  There was a street fair going on in front of it, so there was a festive atmosphere.

We walked around for a bit and walked some side streets to Belfast Cathedral (St. Anne’s), but as there was a service for the Queen’s jubilee happening inside, we couldn’t go in.

After an hour in the city, we reboarded the bus and headed back to Dublin.  We stopped for our final Irish dinner where we had fish and chips with Guinness and Smithwick’s before ending with some cheesecake and Bailey’s coffee.

Our final day, we were once again treated to a lengthy airport stay, but we made it home feeling like our weekend was a success thanks to some nice sites, good food and friendly people.

We have recently returned from spending 9 days traveling all over Italy.  This trip, which we lovingly refer to as our Italian Sampler, was both exhausting and really enjoyable and included beautiful sites, delicious food and lots of walking and driving.  This is going to be a long one guys so strap on your helmet, jump on your Vespa and away we go.

Day 1

Our first day was really mostly about driving.  We had to head through Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Switzerland before entering Italy.  We had snow in Belgium, France and Switzerland.  Driving through the Alps, the snow was actually coming down and some roads were closed due to the amount of snow.  Not exactly how you want your vacation in mid-April to begin.

Luckily, by the time we entered Italy, while the temperatures were chilly at our destination of Menaggio in the Lake Como region, it was sunny and snow-free.  When we arrived, we took a ferry from Menaggio to Bellagio.  It was really windy and the ferry had some decent waves to traverse, but the ride was quick and the views were quite lovely.

In Bellagio, we walked, or rather climbed, the streets past shops up to a main square with a church.

We continued walking around for a bit before catching the ferry back to Menaggio where we decided to get some dinner.  We began the meal with a local fried cheese with polenta and jam paired with a red house wine.  For the main meal, we had gnocchi with gorgonzola cheese sauce, ravioli with vegetables and a braised beef with polenta.  It was all very good.

Feeling quite tired and cold, we headed to our Air BnB.  We had to drive up a lot of winding roads in the dark and walk with our luggage through very narrow steep streets to get there, but when we arrived it was a very charming place with a rustic kitchen and cozy living room as well as many bedrooms.

Day 2

We woke very early for our drive to the next region and found that where we were staying was actually a very small old village which was very interesting.  And as we walked down to the car, we were treated to some terrific views of the sunrise over Lake Como while the church bells were ringing.

It was time to head on to Cinque Terre, more specifically, Manarola.  Upon arriving, we had to park at a lot and then walk the rest of the way into the town.  We began by walking the narrow streets on the side of the cliff to Billy’s Trattoria for a lunch overlooking the water.  The food was terrific.  We tried a local white wine with Caprese salad.  Then, we moved on to a local pesto dish made with trofie pasta which had potato and green beans in it.  To finish the meal, we had tiramisu along with biscotti which you dipped into Sciacchetra, a local sweet wine.  We also tried two digestifs- limoncello and grappa (the grappa we were not fans of).

After the amazing lunch, we walked down a few of the streets past some amazing views to catch the train to Riomaggiore.

There, we walked some of the streets (and by walked I once again mean climbed) to a church and castle.  The views were terrific, but we did meet a strange old man who ended up calling us ridiculous (always good to have a weird story from your travels)!

We made our way back to Manarola via the train and climbed up through the cliffside vineyard, stopped in a church and climbed back up the 10 minutes to the parking lot to retrieve our bag before heading to dinner.

While dinner was quite cold because it was out on a balcony overlooking the town and a bit of the sea, the atmosphere was nice.  All of the dishes were served on hand-painted plates, and they had some fun music playing including one of our son’s current favorite songs, Mambo Italiano.  We ordered an appetizer of black rice and veggies in a pea sauce-different but good and a gin with local herbs (really nice).  For the main course, we had a pizza with a local-style pesto and cheese, Margherita pizza and a pizza with buffalo mozzarella.  The pizzas were good, but the one pasta dish that was ordered with prawns was not, as the prawns were raw.  We had a local wine with the dinner, and we enjoyed the dessert of lemon cake and tiramisu along with limoncello.  After dinner, it was time to settle in for the night.

Day 3

It was a very early morning climb back up to the parking lot before leaving Cinque Terre behind for what we hoped would be the flatter Tuscany region.  On our way there, we breakfasted on some focaccia that we had purchased at a bakery (plain and with green olives).

Our first stop was in Pisa to see that famous leaning tower.  We only stayed about an hour but it was long enough to see the tower and the Campo dei Miracoli complex, Piazza dei Cavalieri (Knight’s Square) and Santa Maria della Spina along the river.

After our Pisa visit, we moved on to Florence.  Once we found a place to park, we walked into the center of the city to Santa Maria del Fioro (Duomo).  It was completely packed with tourists with a line snaking around the building, so we opted not to go in.

Likewise, the Basilica di San Lorenzo and the Capelle Medicee were also packed, so we just looked from the outside.

From there, we moved on to Palazzo Vecchio where we decided to sit in an outside café and have a cappuccino, hot chocolate and cannolis.   It was a nice moment to just watch the people and horse-drawn carriages around the square (and enjoy the sun).

There was a museum on the square which allowed you to walk into a couple of courtyards for free, so we took a quick look before passing by the Basilica Santa Croce.

We crossed the river and walked along it to Ponte Vecchio which was an interesting bridge with houses built onto it, but the bridge itself was packed with people looking at the many jewelry stores on the bridge.

We decided to go back to Palazzo Vecchio for lunch.  We sat outside across from a replica statue of David where we enjoyed a lunch of Pecorino Tuscano (Tuscan Pecorino cheeses including wine flavored, plain and spicy) with pears and honey, Ribolita (a soup made hearty with the bread mixed into it) and a pasta with pappardelle pasta, mushrooms, truffles and a cheese cream.  All very good.

Having had enough of the tourist-packed city, we left Florence behind and made our way to Siena which was a very cute city.  There was climbing involved, but at the top of the city, we went into a really wonderful cathedral which featured a lot of artwork on the walls and ceiling and a library with books that had been hand-painted by monks in the 14^th and 15^th centuries.

After the cathedral, we made our way to the main square which was very large and tons of people were sitting out on the cement sunning themselves and enjoying the fountain.

Next, we stopped at an Abby for a quick look before making our way back down to the original water supply fountain for the city.

We drove a bit further south to Val d’Orcia.  Along the way, we stopped at some viewpoints of the Tuscan landscape as well as at a small chapel before arriving at our destination of Montichello.

This was another very small village overlooking the Tuscan countryside.  It was really lovely.

We found a small place for dinner that felt like eating inside a cellar but cozier.  Our dinner began with a complimentary tomato, basil and cheese appetizer along with bread and a local olive oil (it must have been like liquid gold because they seriously gave each of us about ¼ teaspoon worth, if that).  Our first course was a mushroom and chestnut soup which we shared before enjoying our pastas of tagliatelle with artichoke and bottarga (fish roe) and pici cacio en pepe (this was a really nice pasta noodle with a pecorino cheese sauce and pepper).  We also had a local red wine and ended the meal with Crème Brulee and limoncello.  This was probably one of our favorite meals.

Day 4

We began our fourth day with a short drive into Montepulciano, a really cool old city.  Because we were there so early, it was very quiet as we hiked up the streets to the piazza and church, and we were treated to some amazing views of the clouds over the Tuscan landscape.

We stopped in a bakery and grabbed some pastries for the car (something like a small pistachio cannoli, a chocolate tart and a cream-filled croissant) before beginning our drive into Rome.

After arriving in Rome and dropping our bags, we walked to the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain before finding a streetside restaurant for lunch.

We had some lasagna, carbonara and cacio en pepe along with an Aperol Spritz and Italian beer.  It was not spectacular, but it wasn’t too bad.  We also tried a little pastry for dessert that was a kind of jam tart.

Our next stop was the Colosseum, but we walked by Campidoglio (designed by Michelangelo) and the Foro Romano on the way there.

At the Colosseum, we had tickets to go inside to the arena which provided some nice views but was quite busy.

After leaving the Colosseum, we entered the Foro Romano to have a look at the ancient ruins before stopping in several churches on our way to the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona.

Here, we selected another streetside restaurant to have Caprese, Carciofi alla Giudia (fried artichoke) and Carciofi alla Romana (an artichoke in a lemon sauce).  Our main meal consisted of a nice red wine with carbonara, gnocchi in a four-cheese sauce, mushroom fettucine and an oil with garlic and peppers pasta.  The dinner was fine, but the tiramisu for dessert was delicious as was the torta della Nonna (custard-style dessert) with limoncello.

After dinner, we decided to walk to Castel St. Angelo and back to the Foro Romano and Colosseum.  They were much quieter, and it was nice to see them by night as well.

As an added bonus, we saw a hedgehog walking around on a grassy hill.

Day 5

After some much-needed rest, we got up more slowly and sat at a street café to have some pastries and a latte macchiato and cappuccino.  We had croissants and a cream-filled pastry as well as some special pastries called sfogliatelle (a little shell-shaped pastry with a custard-like cream inside) and Babu con rum (a spongy pastry in a rum sauce).

After breakfast, it was time to head across the street to Bascillica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore.  It didn’t look much like a church from the outside, more like a government building.  Inside, it was full of gold and ornately decorated side rooms-very pretty.

From here, we made our way to the Capuchin Museum and Ossuary.  The first part of the museum was just artifacts and information about the Capuchin monks but the ossuary was really interesting.  We have been to ossuaries before, but this was really different in that the bones had been disassembled and, along with some full skeletons dressed as monks, used to make art communicating various messages.  I really wish I could have taken a picture, but it was not allowed.  I will say that if you have the chance to visit this spot in Rome, I would definitely recommend it as it’s a quick activity, costs little and is really unique.

After the ossuary, we made our way toward the Vatican and had lunch at a street restaurant near there.  We ordered some Italian beer and had the fried artichoke again, and this one was really good.  We also tried fiori di zucca fritti which is fried squash blossoms.  They were so good as they were also stuffed with a little cheese.  Our main plate was cacio en pepe, risotto with burrata cheese, pizza and bucatini (like spaghetti with a hole in the center) with a tomato sauce.  It was all really good, and the beautiful weather outside added to the enjoyment.

After lunch, we stopped for some seasalt caramel gelato on our way to the Vatican.

The Vatican was packed- I think my exact comment was that it was worse than Disneyland.  We made our way through the extensive and elaborate museum rooms filled with paintings and sculptures to the Sistine Chapel (sadly, no pictures allowed of the chapel).

After taking some time to view the chapel, we made our way back out of the complex and to St. Peter’s Basilica.  The line was seriously massive to get inside, so we opted to enjoy the view from the outside only.

Near the basilica, we stopped in a small shop for suppli and arancini (rice ball snack).  They were a bit too oily for us.

Hoping to leave the crowds of the Vatican behind, we walked (past Castel St. Angelo) back toward Trevi Fountain which was equally crowded.

We found a restaurant on a quiet side street and had a beer and some olives and puffed corn snack to kill some time until dinner.  We found a small restaurant that could seat us inside, and it was a good thing we found it when we did because, shortly after we arrived, a line formed outside and the inside was full.  And probably for good reason-the food was really nice.  We decided to start with the fried artichoke and squash blossoms again as well as Caprese salad.  To accompany everything, we had some Chianti.  The main dishes were black truffle pasta, carbonara, tomato gnocchi and a really delicious arancia (orange) ravioli.

After finishing, we walked back to Trevi Fountain to see it illuminated and stopped for gelato (this time I tried tiramisu flavor and arancia (orange) dark chocolate which I highly recommend).

Day 6

On our sixth day, we munched on some black olive and tomato focaccia on our early morning drive to Pompeii.

Pompeii is really cool (I had been before, but this was the first time for my husband and children).  The sheer size is overwhelming, and the level of preservation is amazing when you think about how old it is.

This time, we found our way to the brothel, and I have to say, I really enjoyed the well-preserved naughty pictures illustrating what probably took place there as well as the stone beds.  Let’s just say that some things stand the test of time (both figuratively and literally).

After several hours in Pompeii, we drove up the mountain to the Amalfi Coast area.  We arrived in the area too late for lunch which was a shame since we were all hungry.  We decided to begin the Path of the Gods, but, with nothing in our stomachs, we just couldn’t make it very far.  We decided to stop at a small café built on what must be someone’s house overlooking the sea.  The owner was selling lemon ice from local lemons, and it was really delicious.

After the quick stop, we decided to head back on the path to our car.  The path itself was enjoyable with lots of nice views and tons of lizards and some goats.

At this point, the need for actual food was too great and no dinner restaurants would open for hours, so we drove into a very small town square near the entry point for the path.  One of the restaurants on the square had some bread and pastries, so we grabbed some as well as a beer and an Aperol Spritz and sat for a bit.

Luckily, they also provided some olives and cracker snacks because we devoured them.  We walked around a tiny bit before finding a dinner place overlooking the water.  The dinner began with much promise as we had a local wine, Caprese and an assortment of cheeses which were all good.  Sadly, it went downhill from there as our carbonara, spaghetti with tomato and oil and lemon ravioli were not so great.  The fritto misto di fruit di mare (assortment of fried seafood) was ok as were the fried zucchini flowers.  The views were nice though, and the desserts of tiramisu and a lemon sponge cake were good.  We especially enjoyed the limoncello and the amaro del capo.

Our apartment was overlooking the coast but was very remote, so after dinner, we had to drive some dark winding roads to get there and then climb up some dark stairs to walk through a tiny path with plants growing over it.  Not the best, but the views over the water were really great, and it felt very secluded.

Day 7

We woke up to sit on our balcony overlooking the water and eat some Colomba (a special Italian Easter bread which was kind of orangey in taste and covered in chocolate).

After hiking back through the plant path to our car, we headed off for Arezzo.  Once we arrived, we began the afternoon by looking at the ruins of a Roman theater, walking around the old city and seeing things like churches, shops and the main square.

We decided to grab some gelato (the lemon flavor was quite nice) before heading up to the main cathedral, which was really nice, the palace and through a park to the remains of an old fortress.

After the park, we went to the main square and had a beer and Campari Spritz before heading to our apartment which was outside of the city on a farm.

We found a nearby restaurant for dinner where we had a house wine with some really good mushroom bruschetta and a pecorino bruschetta.  We tried mushroom and asparagus risotto, mushroom ravioli, gnocchi in a cheese sauce and a mixed seafood platter.  It was all pretty good as was the tiramisu, limoncello and amaro del capo.

At this point, exhaustion was really starting to set in, so we made our way back to our apartment and got to bed.

Day 8

Exhaustion being merely a way of existence now, we got up early and drove to Venice.  Upon arriving, things were pretty quiet, and we enjoyed walking through the small streets and canals.

We hired a gondola and spent some time on the small canals and a small piece of the Grand Canal.  We saw the Rialto Bridge as well as many historic homes before embarking on foot to St. Mark’s Square.

Along the way, we stopped in a few different squares with very interesting buildings.

St. Mark’s Square was packed- I thought the Vatican was bad, but this was insane.  We viewed the Basilica from the outside only as we were told the line to get in was an hour at least.

We did go into the Doge’s Palace where we viewed many state and judicial rooms as well as the armory and the prisons.

The rooms were very gaudy with lots of paintings, gold trim and heavy, dark wood.

The prison path took us past the Bridge of Sighs which we also viewed from the outside.

We took a few minutes to view the Grand Canal which was bustling.

We did a quick stop in the Correr Museum which had some nice ancient pieces, particularly sculptures, and some really cool old lampposts.

After leaving the museum, we stopped at a place for lunch where we had chichetti (different fried appetizers/small dishes).  We had the zucchini flowers, artichoke and mozzarella with anchovies on toast.  I also tried a Venetian Spritz which was nice.  Our main meal consisted of a tomato pasta, a seafood pasta, a pasta with artichokes and a local sausage and nero di seppia (cuttlefish ink pasta).

After lunch, we walked back out of the city, and the crowds were ridiculous.  It was a far cry from the quiet of the morning, so we were ready to head to Verona and some quieter areas.  That was a joke- if I thought that the Vatican was bad and St. Mark’s Square was worse, then I have no words for Verona.  It was a madhouse and completely chaotic, which was unfortunate because there were some really neat old buildings and architectural elements- you just couldn’t really see them.

While in Verona, we walked past the old amphitheater to Juliet’s house (being that Juliet was a fictional character, it’s not really her house but rather the house of a family that once did feud with another family in Verona).  Nonetheless, the line to get in was unbelievable and made the street even more packed.

Next, we headed to the main square which had an open-air market, many statues and a fountain and was lined with old buildings.

To escape the hoards, we walked down a side street to a tower and some very interesting raised tombs belonging to an old royal family of the city.

Down another side street was the former home of the other feuding family of the city, dubbed Romeo’s house.

We began walking back to our car at this point and had to walk down a street with wall-to-wall people.  Coming out of Covid era, this felt really weird.  After making it back to our car, we left Verona behind for Bergamo.

Luckily, it was much quieter.  We stopped at a place for dinner and since it was our last meal in Italy we decided to go all out with a local wine, bruschetta and fried polenta sticks.  For the main meal, we had cacio en pepe risotto, homemade pasta with Genoese pesto and a homemade pasta with tomatoes.  It was all very good.  The desserts were a bit of a disappointment, but, nonetheless, we had some tiramisu, tiramisu ice cream and a cannoli with linomcello and amaro del capo.

After dinner, we took the funicular up to the old city where we walked through the little streets to the old square with its tower and cathedral.

We happened upon an Easter service at the cathedral.  The priests were standing outside reciting some things and singing while the people in the church were in complete darkness.  Then the priests lit a huge candle and entered the church where other priests lit the candles of the churchgoers.  At the altar, some other large candles were lit and the whole church was illuminated.

The service continued, but as it was in Italian, we decided to leave and continue exploring the old city.  We saw some really nice artwork and architecture on the baptistery building next to the cathedral.

Then, we walked down to the old city gate where we had some great views of the city below.

The ride down was packed on the funicular- we were standing packed like sardines and at one point our daughter thought she might end up on the lap of the guy sitting next to her.  Definitely a weird and uncomfortable feeling after two years of avoiding being in close contact with others.

Day 9

As it was time to say arrivederci to Italy, this was a day full of driving.  The best part of the day was probably eating the sticky nut pastry and the traditional polenta pastry from Bergamo that we had purchased the night before.  It was a polenta cake outside with chocolate cream inside and an orange layer over the top.

Our drive was long crossing back through the Alps in Switzerland, crisscrossing from Germany to France, back into Luxembourg and Belgium before finally making it back to the Netherlands.  And just like that, the Italian Sampler was over.  While it was a tiring trip, and we covered a lot of ground and saw so many churches that I literally cannot tell them apart, it was really a good trip.  It was great to experience so many things together as a family and to explore many different regions.  I think everyone would be happy to go back to Italy, though, other than a weekend trip to see some museums that we wanted to see in Florence that were closed, I don’t think it will happen in the next few years.  But, for now, everyone is happy to have finally taken this trip that had been planned for two years ago.  And, if you made it this far, I hope that you enjoyed this whirlwind tour of Italy.  Until next time, ciao!

After having to make arrangements for a winter holiday trip to include our dogs because the boarder couldn’t take them and then having to change our plans due to Covid restrictions, we scrambled to find a location we could travel to with the dogs and finally settled on spending five days in Poland.  Then, about a week before the trip, war broke out in neighboring Ukraine (Krakow is about 2 and a half hours from the Ukrainian border).  After closely watching the news and checking with people we know from Poland, we decided it was safe to still go, so we headed off on the twelve hour drive with a car full of people and dogs.

Day 1

We drove through a lot of forested areas and open land to arrive in Krakow.  As we had been driving all day, our first mission was to get some dinner.  We settled on a small restaurant close to our apartment.  It didn’t look like much, but the food was really good.  We kicked the holiday off right with some Polish beer (both wheat and stout), compote which is a fruit punch type drink, mushroom soup (zupa grzybowa), fried Halloumi cheese, sausage and 3 types of  Pierogi (dumplings) which were filled with mushroom and cabbage, spinach, and potato and cheese.

While eating, a demonstration of support for Ukraine marched past the windows of the restaurant.  This seemed like enough excitement since we were tired from driving all day, so we called it a night.

Day 2

After reminding ourselves why we would never want to live on the top floor of an apartment building with dogs, we got them all settled in the apartment and headed out to see Krakow.  We first walked to St. Florian Church passing some old remains of a fort or castle (not sure) and a large monument with many interesting statues.

There was a service going on in the church, so we just took a quick look, but it was very gold inside.

After leaving the church, we walked under St. Florian’s Gate, the old city gate leading to Lost Soul’s Alley or the Royal Way which was the path of coronation of kings in centuries past.  The path led past many shops (and many pretzel stands so we grabbed a few) to the main square (Rynek Glowny) of the Old Town.

In the main square was the Cloth Hall, this building from the 1500s sits on the location of the market since the 1200s, and St. Mary’s Basilica.  This church is home to the largest Gothic Alter in the world.  Unfortunately, no pictures of the inside were allowed, but it was very gaudy and there was a lot of blue and red coloration.  Outside again, the clock struck the hour and played a trumpet call type of song.

Our walk continued past Saints Peter and Paul Church

to Wawel Castle, which was the seat of the throne (Krakow used to be the capital of Poland), and Wawel Cathedral.  We didn’t go inside either, but it was a large complex and quite pretty.

From here, we headed through the old Jewish district, the Kazimierz, where much of Schindler’s list was filmed.  We made our way across the river where we saw this interesting bridge with sculptures hanging in its suspension lines.

As we made our way through the residential streets, we saw a plaque commemorating the location of the former Jewish orphanage which the Nazis invaded, immediately killing the children under 3 and taking the older children and the caregivers who refused to leave them to concentration camps where they were murdered.  We made our way to Schindler’s Factory for a quick look and then headed back through the city to get some lunch at a great restaurant called Starka.

The meal began with “cottage cheese” with chives spread (more like cream cheese) on bread followed by Pierogi of potato and cottage cheese.  The waitress also recommended the apple cinnamon and blueberry vodkas so we gave it a go-apple cinnamon was terrific.  For the main meal, we had Borsch beet soup, sour rye soup and pork loin.  We ended the meal with the traditional cheesecake with a poppy seed cake bottom-so good.  Then they brought us a free dogwood berry flavored vodka.  Also good, but the apple cinnamon was still the best.

As we made our way back up the Royal Road, we ran directly into a large demonstration in support of Ukraine and condemnation of Putin.  It was really surreal to feel like we were in the midst of history happening and not just watching it unfold on TV.

We got past the crowd and grabbed a few filled donuts (black currant, salted caramel and strawberry with cheese) to snack on in the car as we left Krakow and made our way to Warsaw.

While Warsaw was a much bigger city than Krakow, we were staying in an apartment on the edge of the old town so we walked into that area for dinner.  It was another really good meal in a small restaurant with a cool vibe.  This time we had Bigos (hunter’s stew with meat and cabbage), fried Camembert, bread, fried Pierogis, ribs and cabbage rolls.  To finish off the meal, I had an old style Polish coffee and we all shared a traditional apple pie (kind of like an apple crumble cake texture).  They once again gave us a free shot of vodka-this time cranberry.

After finishing, we walked for a bit in the old town area where we found that they still had the Christmas market with ice skating rink set up.  There were actually quite a few lit up Christmas decorations and some Christmas trees still.  It was pretty, but very cold so we headed in for the night.

Day 3

We began our day in Warsaw with a walk through the old town to the old city wall.  The important thing to remember about Warsaw is that it was almost completely destroyed during the war, but the citizens rebuilt it in an exact replica of what it looked like before.

From the city wall, we walked to Market Place and on to a cathedral.

After a quick look inside, we made our way to Castle Square which was very pretty and has been the site of many important events in Warsaw’s history.

From here, we began down the Royal Road (Krakowscie Przdemiescie).  We walked by the Presidential Palace which is where the Warsaw Pact was signed and past Chopin’s former residence.  All along the path, there are benches that play Chopin’s music when you push a button on them.

From here we stopped at Holy Cross Church where Chopin had his heart encased in a pillar after his death.

Just past the church is a statue of Copernicus, who went to college in Krakow, which was taken for melting during the war but was recovered before it was melted.

From here, we left the Royal Road and the Old Town to venture into the city.  From a distance, we could see the Palace of Science and Culture which is a skyscraper that was a gift from the Russians under Stalin.

Then we stopped by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier where they had just completed the changing of the guard.

From here, we walked all the way through the modern downtown area to the Uprising Museum.  The museum was a bit confusing, but it had a lot of information and items from the uprising which was when the residents of Warsaw attempted to fightback against the German occupation.  While they did not succeed in retaking the city, it was an interesting look into the spirit of the people and their unwillingness to accept their situation.  It was also a bit disturbing to observe some similarities in the situation occurring in our present world when we tend to think of these things as being in the past and are unwilling to believe that they could occur again.

We walked to the Jewish Cemetery of Warsaw where members of the Jewish community have been being buried for hundreds of years.  The oldest tombs we saw were from the early 1800s, but the cemetery was kind of unkempt looking and spooky.

We didn’t stay for long before making our way back to our apartment.  Our path took us through a park with an old palace on its edge.  Across from the palace was the Polish Supreme Court.

At dinnertime, we stopped at St. Anne’s Church.  It was pretty dark inside, but we weren’t sure if that was because the sun was setting, or if it is always like that.

We had dinner in a small restaurant where we tried cheese croquettes with a cranberry sauce along with a flight of vodkas including a regular, a premium brand called Bison Grassfed, a lemon flavored and a Tabasco.  For our meal, we had assorted Pierogis, potato pancake with mushroom sauce, pork knuckle and Kartacze which was kind of like a very large cheese stuffed dumpling with a mushroom sauce.  It was all very good.

Day 4

After an unsuccessful attempt to see Wilanow Palace and Lazienki Palace in the morning, we began our drive to Gdansk.  After arriving and once again getting the dogs situated, we took a walk around the old city to St. Catherine’s Church.

Along the way we saw another cathedral and an old building with an open market in front of it.

After stopping in the cathedral, we saw a lot of cool historic buildings as we made our way to the Golden Gate which was right in front of the old prison tower.

Then, we walked under the Upper Gate onto the Royal Road or Long Street.

There were a lot of old homes and buildings on this street that were very colorful with ornate stonework and artwork.

We stopped in a few bakeries along the way and then took a minute to admire the Town Hall building with its clock tower and Neptune Fountain before heading to dinner at Mandu Periogarnia.

The restaurant is known for its wide variety of Pierogis.  We decided on a potato and cheese version and a vegan version with cabbage and meat substitute.  The food was okay, but we had some truly awful beer.

After that, we were ready to go to the apartment and try some of the pastries we had purchased earlier.  We had a cheesecake type dessert, Kremowka which was a layer of light cream between two thin sheets of pastry, an apple pastry and Makowiec which was a poppy seed cake with fruit and a glaze.  Everything was pretty good though the cheesecake seemed to be everyone’s favorite.

Day 5

On our last full day in Poland, we began with some Polish pastries filled with cream and berries.

We walked to St. Mary’s Cathedral which was quite open and empty seeming when we first walked in, but, on closer inspection, it actually housed a lot of interesting artwork and ornamental sculptures.

From here, we walked to Long Street to look at the Town Hall again as well as Neptune Fountain.

We also saw the Golden House which was a home built for the mayor in the 17^th century and the courthouse referred to as King Arthur’s Court.

From here, we walked the rest of the way down Long Street to the Green Gate.

After passing under the gate, we came out on the river and walked along Dluge Pobrzeze which is the old dock area.  We also saw the Gdansk crane which is the old machinery used for loading goods from boats to the dock.

We went down Ulika Mariace (St. Mary’s Street) off of the dock area.  It was very cute and had a lot of shops selling amber which Poland is well known for.

We walked down some side streets past the armory

on our way to do one of the craziest culinary things we have ever done while traveling- we ate Mexican food in Poland!  It was actually toted as a Tex-Mex place and since we really struggle to find Mexican like that in the Netherlands and we had already had a lot of Polish food, we did it.  It was not really Tex-Mex as we are used to, but it wasn’t terrible.

At dinner, we decided to redeem ourselves a bit by going to a Ukrainian restaurant.   We tried some Ukrainian beer and a liquor with honey and pepper along with a plate of pickled vegetables and a pickled plum-interesting.  We also got a traditional Borsch soup with bread, Ukrainian potato dumplings, potato pancakes with mushroom and sour cream and some ribs.

After dinner, we strolled down the Long Street after dark before making our way to our apartment to eat our final pastry which was a white and dark chocolate Kremowka cake which was pretty good.

The last day of our trip was spent driving the twelve hours back home.  While not an exciting day at all, we did see a convoy of Red Cross vans and cars carrying what appeared to be refugees as they were filled with women and children.  We aren’t sure if they were Ukrainian or Belarusian refugees, but it was a strange feeling to see nonetheless.

And with that, our Polish vacation was over.  We really weren’t sure what to expect with this last minute trip, but we actually really liked Poland.  The food was very good, it was inexpensive, and it was really quite pretty (albeit a bit cold).  We are definitely glad that we made the decision to visit Poland.

This past week we were finally able to complete one of the trips that we had to cancel due to Covid.  After wanting to go for so long, we finally spent a wonderful week in Greece.

Day 1

Our trip began very early in the morning (actually the middle of the night) with a flight to Athens.  After arriving, we headed straight into the city to see the Acropolis.  Upon entering the area, we were first met with the ancient theater-Epidaurus Theater.  We climbed further up through the old gate, Beule Gate, to the Parthenon.  Next to the Parthenon, stood the Athena temple.  After wandering at the top for a while, we ventured down the slopes to the Socrates Prison.  There is no actual proof that Socrates was actually imprisoned there; it is likely legend.

After walking for a bit, we experienced our first real highlight of the trip-lunch!  We had a local beer, Fix, Greek Salad, Saganaki (fried cheese), Feta me Meli (feta in Phyllo with honey), Dolma (stuffed grape leaves), tomato fritters and Souvlaki (chicken skewer).  It was all so good.

After refueling, we walked to Ancient Agora where we saw the Temple of Hephaestus as well as an ancient church and a reconstructed forum filled with statues.

We walked back through the city to the Acropolis Museum.  They had a really nice collection of things that were recovered from the Acropolis slopes such as statues, wall pieces, pottery, coins, etc.  They also had an archeological site that revealed a collection of ancient homes.

We rounded out our day in the city with a stop at Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Zeus.

Then it was off to a bakery and dinner where we tried another local beer, Alpha, a fried cheese from Crete, kolokithokeftedes (zucchini balls), more tomato fritters, fava (smashed split peas), fried cheese cubes and black eyed peas.

Day 2

We explored more ancients today with a drive to Delphi.  Our drive took us through the rocky, hilly landscape past Thebes.  Thebes is the city that the character from Greek mythology, Oedipus, hailed from.  We stopped for an amazing view next to Mt. Parnassus overlooking tons of olive trees before heading on to Delphi where there were also many Cyprus trees.

At Delphi, we saw the Temple of Athena, the location (really just a rock) where the oracle gave prophecies, Apollo’s Temple, many treasury ruins, a theater and a stadium.

We walked through the Delphi Museum which had many interesting pieces-mostly statues and wall pieces but also some tiny carved figures and gold adornments.

Then it was on to lunch in Delphi at a restaurant overlooking the sea where we had fried sheep and goat cheese, leek pie, fennel pie, olives, grass pea balls with onion chutney, moussaka and wine.  It was all so good and then they gave us some baklava style dessert to finish the meal.

After lunch, we went to Arachova where we walked around some small streets, stopped for a Greek coffee, Gelaktomboureko (custard in a puff pastry) and Kataifi (a honey and nut baklava made with “spaghetti”).

To work that off, we walked up a ton of steps to a cathedral which was so ornate on the inside with ceiling and wall paintings, massive chandeliers, mosaics, designed floors, metal sculptures and strange small stained glass.

Back in Athens, we enjoyed a small dinner on a rooftop overlooking the Acropolis. We tried Dakos (a tomato, feta and dried bread salad), Halloumi with grilled vegetables and Spanakopita (spinach and feta in Phyllo).  Once we made it back to our apartment, we had some baklava and a nut cake for dessert.

Day 3

On our final day in Athens, we took a long drive to Ancient Olympia.  Along the way, we stopped at the Corinth Canal to see the man made channel between the seas.

Then we drove through the mountains to Olympia.  Apparently, it was a significant day in Ancient Olympia as the Olympic Torch was being lit and sent on it’s way to 50 cities throughout Greece before heading to the location of the winter Olympics.  As we arrived at the area, the torch was passing by (sadly, it is not carried by a runner but driven in a car) which was pretty neat.  Once inside the “city,” we grabbed a quick lunch of Gyros and walked to the Ancient Olympia Museum.  The museum contained some very old artifacts (700 B.C.)-statues, vases, edifices, sculptures, helmets, etc.

Next, we entered the archeological site where we saw the ruins of many temples, the gymnasium where the athletes trained, monuments, treasuries and where the Olympic torch used to be lit.  We also walked (my youngest ran) the length of the original Olympic stadium-pretty cool!

At the Museum of the Olympic Games, there was some interesting memorabilia and information.  The old discus, descriptions of when various events were included in the games nd information about women in the games were unique.

Our final stop in Olympia was the Archimedes Museum where they had replicas and information about ancient inventions such as the robot server, a water activated alarm clock, an automated theater and automated temple doors (sadly, no pictures allowed).  On the way back to Athens, we stopped at Ancient Corinth where Paul addressed his letters in Corinthians.

Back in the city, we had dinner of fish roe dip, cheese croquettes, cheese pies, grilled Halloumi, spicy baked feta and tomato croquettes along with a flaming cider drink.

Day 4

We flew to Santorini early in the morning and drove to our rented cave house (traditional style home built into the cliffs).

In the afternoon, we walked into Fira (Thera) and strolled along the Caldera (the section of coastline overlooking the volcano in the middle of the sea).  Eventually, we made it to the highest point on the island, observing the water, white buildings and domed churches along the way.

We made our way back down to Firastefani for a lunch overlooking the sea.  We had some amazing fava beans, tomato fritters, cheese pie, mushrooms in lemon butter, Santorini salad, Slouvaki and Dakos. We finished the meal with a dessert of Macedonia nut ice cream and a “bread pudding” consisting of the spaghetti style baklava with a special clotted cream.  The restaurant gave us a free dessert wine as well.

After spending some time back at the cave house where the kids soaked in the pool, we walked up to a view of the Caldera for sunset and a dinner of fava beans, tomato fritters, Saganaski and white aubergine (eggplant) rolls stuffed with vegetables.  At the end of the meal, they gave us Ouzo-an anise flavored liqueur.  On the way to the cave house, we stopped in a bakery and bought some baklava type dessert with chocolate and nuts inside and some small orange, chocolate and coconut cakes. It was all very good.

Day 5

After a breakfast of assorted pastries and Koulouri (sesame seed covered bread ring), my daughter and husband went on three scuba dives, so my son and I made our way to a black sand beach where we saw wind surfers and some interesting formations of sand.  Our divers enjoyed their day and saw many fish and lava rock grottos.

Once we were all back together, we went to dinner where we had Pastitsio (a moussaka with noodles in it), mushroom pies, tomato fritters, fava beans and Halloumi with grilled vegetables.  We also tried the local Yellow Donkey beer.

Day 6

Today, we filled up on vegetable pie and Nutella and cream filled donuts before going to Perissa beach (black sand).  We laid out, the kids got in the water, and we collected pumice rocks-generally we just enjoyed the sun, blue skies and clear water.  Across the street, we enjoyed a lunch of fava balls, cheese balls and cashew garlic dip with pita bread as well as some mushroom gyros and falafel wraps.  All of that went well with some Alpha beer and a mojito After that tasty break, we sat on the beach for a while longer.

In the evening, we drove to Pyrgos where we climbed through the village streets to the top of the city and sat outside a church to watch the sun set while snacking on some cheese, olives, veggies and Tzatziki and eggplant dips.  We sat back, sipped on some Red Donkey beer and watched the sunset.

After dark, we went to Megalachori where we walked the main street which was pretty with the lights.

Day 7

After some cheese, vegetable and chocolate pastries, we drove to Oia.  Though it was incredibly pretty, it was very crowded so we headed to a less busy area to enjoy the views over the water.  We had a lovely lunch overlooking the sea.  We decided on Volkan beer, white eggplant, spinach pies, tomato risotto, baklava and Gelaktomboureko.

In the evening, we walked to a 100 year old restaurant, Aktaion.  We had a really amazing meal consisting of Retsina wine (a wine infused with pine resin), Loukoumades (fried cheese ball donuts), vegetable fritters, Dolma (stuffed grape leaves), fava bean and a traditional tomato pasta and mushroom and truffle oil pasta.  We finished it all off with a Greek yogurt and cream cheese dessert and a small shot of a digestif.

Day 8

On our final full day, we drove to Emporio and walked around a bit.  It was a very interesting little village with many small nooks and passageways and an abundance of cave homes built into the cliffs.

Then we spent some time at another black sand beach where the water was so nice that we all got in it a bit.

We stopped for a lunch at the dock where we had a dip platter (spicy feta, eggplant, fish roe and Tzatziki), Saganaski and tomato fritters.

We walked to the Red Beach and the archeological site at Akoriti.  The site was interesting as it was a preserved city (thanks to lava flow) from 2000 B.C.  Something that old is really hard to process.

We went to one final black beach before making our way to the lighthouse to watch the sunset.

We returned to the restaurant where we had lunch on our first day on the island and had many of the same dishes as well as grilled Halloumi, feta balls and mushroom risotto.  The restaurant gave us a free aperitif called Raki and we finished the day off with a Mythos beer.

And just when we thought our time on the island was done and all that was left was for us to travel home, we saw our first sunrise on the island while waiting on our plane.  It was truly amazing how the sun would appear and disappear at the horizon as if it was really the edge of the world.

We really had an awe inspiring (all the remains of the ancient civilizations) and relaxing (warm weather and nice beaches) week in Greece.  And hopefully all of our walking helped to burn some calories, or we may really be in trouble thanks to all the delicious food.  We are so thankful that we finally got to make this trip, and we will definitely carry the memories of the sun soaked vacation with us as we head into another Dutch winter.

This past weekend we went to visit some family friends in Hannover, Germany. They just returned to Hannover two months ago after a five year hiatus, and they were eager to show us this place that they will now call home again.

We took a tour of the city by bike which began in a huge forest area right near their house.  Before entering the forest though, we rode by their church.

We biked through the forest for a while finally emerging in a field area before entering city streets.  We biked along the street (carefully because there was a triathlon going on) for a bit before biking along the large man-made Maschsee Lake.  Our friends told us that this lake (which I regrettably have no pictures of myself) was dug by hand during the Third Reich to keep people busy and not thinking too much.  It is a really large lake so one can only imagine how intense the construction must have been.  It is a beautiful spot for boats and rowing and there is a swim beach and club to one end.  We stopped at a beer garden along the lake and had a drink which was very nice.

We then biked to the new city hall which is still very old by American standards.

We saw an old gate and wall of the city and then on to the old city hall, a church in the area and a walk around some of the streets in the old part of the city.

We had lunch near the old part of the city.  I didn’t take any pictures (not like me, I know) but it was really good.  One dish was a traditional German style potato pasta with mushrooms and cream and the other was mushrooms on rosti (hashbrown style potato).  Of course, we had a little more German beer as well.

After lunch, we biked through the more alternative or “punk,” as our friends called it, neighborhood which had a more artistic feel.

Then it was on to the formal gardens, Herrenhausen.  The gardens were built in Hannover because the House of Hannover has a tie to the British Monarchy.  The grounds were very large with many different garden alcoves and huge fountains.  There was also a grotto with a modern art interior.  There were so many women at the garden having pictures done in their wedding gowns that I lost track of the number we saw.

After the gardens, we biked through more park space in front of the university and then through the more modern parts of the city on our way back to their section of the city.  Near their home is a pedestrian area where no cars or bikes are allowed.  It is lined with shops and restaurants.  Children can lay out blankets along the path with used items for sale any day of the week all year long as a way to make a little money.  They even had a carousel and we were told that they have a really nice Christmas market there in December (might be worth a return visit!).

On Sunday, they took us to Marienburg Castle which was about 30 minutes drive from their house.  The castle was once a gift to a princess who was not happy with it as it did not have a heating system.  The castle was fairly large and very pretty.  We toured the inside and then walked around some crafter stalls and a children’s area as there was a summer festival going on.

Sadly, that was all we had time for on this weekend visit, but we would definitely consider going back as there seems to be a lot to do and see there (and of course we would love to spend more time with our friends).

This past week, after a year without travel outside the country, we finally drove across the border without restriction.  For this momentous occasion, we decided to head to Waterloo in Belgium, a mere two hours from our house.

Waterloo (and yes we were humming the song the entire time) is the site of the famous battle in which Napoleon attempted to rebuild his empire by reforming his Imperial Garde and taking Belgian and Dutch land, but instead met with a crushing defeat from a combined force of British, Dutch, Belgian and German soldiers led by Duke Wellington.  The battle was a particularly brutal one.  By the end of the day of fighting, 40,000 men and 10,000 horses lay dead or seriously injured on the field.

Using a historical walking route provided by the Boy Scouts of America in this region of Europe, our first stop was to see Le Caillou, the farmhouse that Napoleon used as his headquarters the night before the battle.

 

Next, we stopped at an observation point that Napoleon used when he returned to the battlefield in the late afternoon (apparently he spent the day at an inn further down the road due to an attack of colitis that was incredibly painful).  The Imperial Garde could see the battlefield from this location, but they never had a view of the full field until the battle was almost over, something which proved devastating to their efforts. 

 

Our walk took us past the L’Aigle Blesse statue erected to symbolize the fall of the Imperial Garde.  This particular spot was chosen because it was there that the Garde had their last defenses. 

From there, we began walking through the fields where the battle was fought toward Hougoumont Farm.  Here, the Garde spent many hours attempting to take the farm from the British, but even after heavy casualties and burning the chateau and chapel of the farm down, they were unable to succeed.

Next, we made our way through more of the fields to the path leading to the ridge that proved to be a key to the battle.  This ridge allowed the British forces to remain unseen by the Imperial Garde.  The Garde, believing that the British had been scattered and crippled, charged the area, discovering that the British were merely below the ridge after they were too close to allow for success. 

Today, what remained of the ridge is part of the earth used to build the Butte du Lion (lion monument) which commemorates the battle. 

Finally, we walked past La Haie Sainte, another farmhouse used by Duke Wellington.  This one was so close to the Duke’s battle line that is would have been devastating if the Garde took control, so a group of German soldiers were assigned to protect it.  Again, the Garde spent great effort attempting to take the farmhouse but the Germans, though very few survived, managed to defend it. 

The final point that we saw was La Belle Alliance, which in addition to being the inn where Napoleon spent much of the battle due to his colitis, is also where Duke Wellington and the Prince of Prussia (who provided late aide to the British troops on the battlefield) met to declare their victory after the battle was over. 

All in all, it was a nice day for a long walk and an interesting lesson in history.  And to make the trip really worthwhile, there was also a stop in Brussels for some Belgian waffles!

Hopefully this was the first of travel posts to come in the not too distant future.  Until then!