Bonjour-Mundo!

Hello to all, I hope this post finds you well. Alex and I have reunited with Emily at last, and the three of us have made it to Bangkok. But first, I have some more catching up to do…The end of our Hungary adventure can be found below…

After Budapest, Alex and I headed off to take a train about 2 hours north to the medium sized town of Eger. Not quite sure where to get off on the train, we did manage to find the stop, and were recruited by a cute old grandmother to stay at her home for our time there. Apparently the best and most popular way to see eger, or smaller towns in hungary for that matter, is to stay in private homes instead of hotels or hostels. We didnt quite know this at first, so didnt take the woman up on her offer right away, this led to her talking herself down in price, and even though this wasnt our orginal plan, it worked out pretty well for us. Cute place, lots of space, kitchen and everything.

After settling in, we wandered our way into the city through a lovely little park with a great fountain. We explored the churches, little square, and climbed our way up the mineret which looks out over the surrounding hills. A little scary for me, as the stairs to get up it are barely wide enough for one person, making things a litle claustrophobic. Theres also a castle/fortress that defended the city from the turks for an amazing 39 days…apparently because of the strength of the bulls blood wine, what the city is known for….more on that later.

Alex was also interested in seeing the university there, a small teachers college. Although I wasnt super excited about it, I tagged along, and we ended up finding the strangest of strange inventions, the camera obscura. They take you into this little dark room, and then the camera projects the images of the surrounding city onto a table. It works sort of like a perioscope. Its really weird to see however, as it looks like a normal picture, but then all the people and cars are moving, kind of like a newspaper in Harry Potter.

Back to the wine. Excellent. Alex and I definitely had our fair share, and had a great time doing it. The majority of people who come to Eger do so for the wine, and we intended to do exactly that. We spent one evening wandering through the tiny wine cellars in an area known as the Valley of the Beautiful Women. Although the weather was gross when we went, the surrounding hillsides were still really beautiful. The second night, we found ourselves at a little bodega in the town square. Sitting at a cute little table outside, the waitress brought us sample after sample until we had gotten through all ten varieties of the one of the local wineriers. Whites, Reds, and to my great surprise even the rose was fantastic.

Also while in Eger we took a daytrip to the Baracala (I think thats the name) Cave system close the Slovakian border.  Quoting Alex, it was magnificent. Truly incredible to see, and anadventure to get to as no one we encountered spoke english and our hungarian was basically nonexistent. This led to us getting off at the wrong bus stop, having to hike back up the mountain road, but led us to a different cave entrance, which actually had a longer and better tour then the one reccomended in our book. The staglagtites and mites were just awesome, many looked like they had inspired gaudi in his sagrada familia. Many of the formations were given fantasy names to describe what they looked like, the yawning crocodile, the santa claus, leaning tower of pisa, etc. The tour finished in this huge gallery autotorium type room with an extremely cheezy light and music show set to the chariots of fire theme. We got a good laugh.

Our last stop in Hungary was the little town of Szentendre. We just stopped there for a night, its about 45 minutes outside of budapest. Again we stayed in a private home, and it was great. We spent the day wandering the cobblestone streets and sitting by the river while alex played guitar (he actually managed to acquire a small audience of hungarian kids, very cute) and just relaxed. Szetendre was a little odd in that it was REALLY touristy, strange in that we had seen barely any tourists in budapest and pretty much none in Eger. But it was a great place to relax for an afternoon, and we finally tried Langos, the super delicious fried bread covered in cheese in sour creme. Greasy as can be, but super tasty, probably for the better we found them at the end of our time in hungary.

Ok, much to long for now, but I hope you all are well! 

PS. All the maps have been updated now, so you can see where we’ve been!

There’s really only a few things I have to say about Césky Krumlov, which was an overall great experience. First, on the way there, our bus driver had the controversial, though exciting, strategy of speeding up the bus all the way through turns. Now maybe on the open highway of the audobahn that’s a great idea, but on the backwoods country of the Czech republic I found my knuckles turning another shade of pale.

And the whole way we were passing some of the most beautiful and upspoiled countryside probably in Europe, when we come to four giant nuclear reactor smokestacks that looked like they came from Minus Morgul itself.

Maybe not coincidentally, Nicki ended up seeing a cow with two tails and a fish with three eyes in Céesky Krumlov, though if you ask her she’ll deny having seen any such thing. Apparently the Soviets still have some power here in the former Eastren Bloc countryside . . .

Now I think I am almost caught up with my blogging. As I said before, we are now in budapest…although we are leaving right after I finish this blog. We have had about three days to explore, and I will say, it is very different from the quaint little prague and cesky krumlov we came from.

Budapest has some grit and grime behind it. It is not a cute little town, but after awhile, I liked what it had to present, there is a lot of determination behind it. The buda palace has been completely destroyed three times, yet it still sits now rebuilt again towering above the city, stunning as ever. The synagouge have been destroyed as well, and again, although closed for 6 years are now open and beautiful. It seems as though budapest has a slightly darker side then its little cousin prague.

On our trip, alex and walked all over castle hill, the collection of churches and the palace that tower high above the rushing danube river to begin the buda side of the city. They were really impressive to see, but even more so when we returned to see them lit up at night. Alex also loved seeing the parliament building, modeled on the british one, its also a great piece of architechture.

Budapest, like prague, was also a city hit hard by the halocaust, and we explored some of its jewish heritage as well. Behind the main synagouge (third largest in the world) there is a cementary, smaller but somewhat simliar to the one in prague, and a beautiful memorial to those families who were lost. A huge steel weeping willow sculpture with the names of the perished engraved on each leaf. In addition, although we didnt know what it was at first, 60 some pairs of bronzed shoes are laid out next to the river bank, the stand for the jews who were shot into the river during the end of the war. We also visited the house of terror, which was just that. Terrifying. I felt like I was entering a haunted house, except this one was real. They had the music and lights and everything down. As you enter a lifesize tank sits in a shallow pool with oil oozing over the sides. Above it tower the photos of all the jews whose lives were lost. The house is a building on a main boulavard budapest that was taken over by the nazis during the war and eventually used to keep prisoners hidden away in its basement, many never to be seen again. The fact that this was so present in the city, it wasnt hidden away in the countryside was especially haunting to me. The house has now been transformed into a museum so that those events will not be forgotten.

On a more pleaseant note, we also had a chance to take a dip in the hungarian baths in city park. The park is super pleasant to explore, and the baths were even better. Three huge outdoor pools of varying temps, and then many indoor pools as well. It was great to relax away the afternoon. You can sit in the sauna, and then dive into the cold water, and the progress your way on up to warmer and warmer pools, then repeat. It was great.

We also found some wonderful cafes and restaurants. Budapest seemed to have more trendy swank places then I have seen in quite some time. We found a great place for dinner one night. Awesome food, great atmostphere, less the half of what it would be in the states. We also stumbled upon a cute blues bar…it ended up being spanish music, french cafes, jewish birthday party by a catholic cathedral…in hungary. Great times.

At first, Budpest seemed a big city to me with not a lot to offer, and it was cold and windy and rainy on our first day as well, making me not the happiest of travellers. But I will agree with em, after a few days, it has grown on me. It is not my favorite city of the trip, but Im glad Ive had the chance to come.

Dobry dén! 

A few other thoughts on Prague before I forget them forever with these crazy new sights in Hungary (or Magyaraszág, as the locals keep trying to tell us.  We keep telling them that it was the Huns that conquered you, so it shouldn’t be named after the Magyar people). 

First off despite our hostel’s convenient location in the Cabaret/Red Light district in Prague, it still managed to be a safe and pleasant neighborhood.  After Spain, the rest of Prague was a change for all five senses as follows:

Sight: I would say Prague as an overall city looked like a Goth loving teenager who had recently realized that he enjoys getting a tan.  All of the stone work was covered in a black, grimey soot looking material, but then had all these bronze and gold accents that gave it an interesting Damascene feel. 

Sound: Every day at our hostel we woke up to the delightful tunes of Czech rap, which, though better than French rap, still doesn’t quite work for me.

Taste: Maybe the biggest difference from Spain, the beer in Prague is amazing.  I had this dark beer called Kozol one night only, because everywhere else we went it was always sold out. But their other beers are terrific too, and cheap.  A half liter was about a 1.10 dollars, and was amazing.  We also found a bottle of Spanish wine for 29 korunas, or about a 1.50, which was also very good, and cheaper than the wine we found in Spain.

Feel: It was generally colder than Spain (next to the Alps, landlocked, and much further north–who woulda thought?), and apparently always rainy.  The street vendors had rain gear to cover up their stuff in a moments notice, though the showers didn’t last too long.

Smell: Great.  A class act, all the way

In conclusion, Prague was a city of contrasts.  The end

Alex out.

After Prague, Alex and I made our way about 3.5 hours south to the little sleepy village of Cesky Krumlov. This town was one of my absolute favorite thus far in the trip. The guidebook says the hardest thing about it is leaving, and I would have to agree. Although we only got a few days there, I felt attatched to the place.

Cesky Krumlov was just what we needed after our time in the city. Its extremely relaxing, surrounded by beautiful hillsides, a rushing river curving through it, and has only one sight to see. We basically had lots of time just to relax and enjoy the slower pace of life.

Our hostel, although up many flights of steps, was so cute, we had it basically to ourselves, it opened up into a wonderful stone patio and a yard with views of the countryside. We spent quite a bit of time just enjoying being outside in the fresh air, it reminded me of the tranquility of my grandmothers on Lake Santa Fe. We spent the rest of our time wandering the little streets dining on terraces, finding a great english bookstore!, horseback riding, and exploring the castle…Now, before I go any further. The guidebook describes the castle here as towering above the city. It made it seem like the hogwarts castle, but more awesome. The krumlov castle is neither big nor towering. In fact its kind of nestled within the city. The church tower I think is taller, so we are still a little bewildered by that. But in anycase, it was still beautiful, still had real life bears guarding the entrance in a moat, and still had a great tower for us to climb.

As I mentined before, we also got the chance to go horseback riding which was great. The countryside around krumlov is rolling hills and forests, and we got to explore areas we never would have made it to on foot which was awesome.

This city along with puerta vallarta, capri, and a few others has made my list of little places I would someday retire and open a guest house.

So, at the current moment I am Budapest, and have some blog catching up to do…however, some of the keys, specifically the z and y are switched up, so if I make some typos, apologies in advance.

Ill start things off with prague…Alex and I stared our brief eastern europe tour as I think I mentioned in the last blog in Prague…absolutely awesome city! We both loved it. It did manage to warm up a bit, and the city was just so pleasant to walk around. The architechture of the buildings is beautiful, the streets are cobblestone and colorful, and everyone seems to have a very positive outlook. The only downside I would say is that prague is VERY touristy. If you can get off the main streets its great, but main town squares and bridges are packed with tourists.

But, we managed to make the best of the crowds and had a great time. We walked a TON, and therefore saw quite a bit in the time we were there. We climbed up all the towers and hills we could for great views of the city, explored the grounds of the prague castle, a beautiful hill of flowering trees, made a wish on the five star cross on charles bridge, and even walked through a house of mirrors. The inside of the cathedral in prague castle was absolutely breathtaking, the most amazing stained glass Ive ever seen, period. The city is full of amazing sculpture, and it seems like everything is accented with gold in some way or another…hence the title.

We also made our way through the jewish quarter, which turned out to be really interesting. There is a spanish synogouge, modeled on the alambra, the moorish palace in granada…just gorgeous. All gold and amazing patterns on the ceiling and and covered in moorish arches. After that we went to another synagouge, something pinko (I dont recall the name). This one was much more powerful in its statement. It was a memorial to the many thousands of czech jews killed in the halocaust. The walls of the building were done in a vietnam memorial fashion, covered ceiling to floor in verz small print with all the names of the 80,000 jews killed in the world war II atrocities. It was extremely powerful. The names seemed to blend together and just go on forever.
At the top floor of the synagogue was a collection of childrens drawings done by children living in the czech jewish ghetto of terezin during the war. Apparently a teacher at the time had discovered a coping strategy of some sort that encouraged children to express themselves and the despair thez felt through art. Although she eventually was sent to one of the concentration camps, she left behind two suitcases with over 4000 drawings from the children of the ghetto. Many of these were what we saw. Its amazing how a simple childrens sketch can truly express so much.
After that synagouge we also visited the jewish cemetary, which was really incredible to see. Apparently its 12 layers deep, they had run out space. The grave stone are in a complete random state looking as though theyve fallen out of the sky…although some are pushing there way up through the ground. They are piled up against each other, leaning this way and that, many areas resemebled to me a crooked mouth of teeth. I wished I had taken photos, but I felt like it would have been disrespectful as photos werent allowed in any of the other places.

In any case, this blog is getting quite long, so Ill end it there. I hope you all are well! I sent a bunch of postcards from prague, but I dont know if the lady gave me the right postage, so hopefullz they will make it!

Our trip to Spain has finally come to an end and all finished up well. The last day in Toledo was just Alex and I, and we had a nice time just wandering the city. We spent a good amount of time searching for a clock for Alex’s dad, and did manage to get rained on as well. We also found ourselves a really nice painting in this cute little shop that we thought was a great deal. This might have been cancelled out however by our having to ship it home, but oh well.

After our time in Toledo, we trucked north a few hours to the town of Salamanca. Alex was really interested in the University there, and I was up for anything. It turned out to be a great choice for us as we could see most of comfortably in a day or so, and it was a lovely city. Quaint streets, gorgeous cathedral (new and old), interesting old university, a house decorated in conch shells, an old roman bridge, really nice square, and perhaps best of all (at least for a hungry boy named Alex’s stomach) an all you can eat chinese buffet for under 6 euro. 🙂 The only bad part was that the streets for some reason acted like wind tunnels at Moose Towers, and it got pretty chilly at night.

We departed Salamanca in the afternoon the following day and headed back to Madrid for our last night in Spain. All in all a successful trip.

This morning we took off for Prague and so far have had an awesome time. It’s such a pleasant city, really nice to walk around. All the people we’ve met have been incredibly sweet, and so far all seem to speak English, which is a bonus for our severe lack of Czech. Everyone really seems happy for the most part, and the atmosphere of the city is great. The city has banners hanging from the light posts that declare “Life’s Good.” I’d have to agree.

So far we just spent our first day meandering through the cobblestone streets taking in all the sights. Old bridges, row boats on the river, towering clock spires, an incredible old castle, and super green countryside. We had a great time enjoying delicious czech beer (even though Alex got the last dark one, boo) for a little more then a dollar for a .5 liter glass, and had a hearty dinner of goulash (a beef stew of sorts) and dumplings, very tasty.

The only downfall is it’s COLD. I was thankful I had my mittens walking back from dinner tonight. Hopefully it’ll warm up a bit tomorrow. 

We have finally made it back to Alex and my “hometown” so to speak…and it´s great. Everything just as I remember, just a little extra construction here and there. We made it in yesterday late afternoon after lots of bus rides from the north of spain. After finding our hostel, we headed straight for Bar La Boveda, one of my favorite places when I used to study here. It´s a little family owned hole in the wall, but has the best sangria and hamburgers in all of spain, as far as I´m concerned.

After a healthy amount of wonderful sangria on the patio, we wandered all over to work off our meal. The weather here is beautiful, it´s great just to enjoy the sun and some warmth. After losing some calories, we went up to the fundacíon, where Alex and I used to study. It´s same as always, although there is a fancy new computer lab on the top floor. We managed to catch the sunset from the top tower, which made for some wonderful photos. Then we headed to Enebros, for my all time Toledo favorite, free tapas with every $1.30 drink purchase. A great way to finish off the night.

Today we took the Zocotren, a cheezy tourist train, but a great way to see all of the city. We also explored the cathedral, one of the most beautiful in all of europe. Lots of stain glass and incredible architechture. After a nice siesta, we also managed to hike the bluffs around the city and get a beautiful view of all of Toledo.

Oh! And before I forget, our time in Cangas finished up well also. Canyoning was awesome, I think it was even a longer course then what I did in switzerland. Lots of rappelling, jumping into pools, sliding down waterfalls, and climbing through the rocks and streams. Alex had the best time of all cannonballing from the highest jump. We all looked extremely good in our head to toe wetsuits as well. 😉

Emily and I will be parting ways after this for a bit, as she heads with her mom on a tour of budpest, croatia, and other parts of eastern europe. Alex and I are off to Prague on the 30th, and will reunite with em in mid may in vienna.  

So after a night in Oviedo, we moved on to the little town of Cangas de Onís…the sleepy mountain town that Alex had in mind when he thought he was in Oviedo. Its tiny with only a few streets, but full of siderías. Its also right in the mountains, bordering the Picos de Europa national park. Just what we were looking for.

Yesterday was the perfect sunny day for hiking, so that´s exactly what we did. After finding a hostel and some lunch, we took a short bus ride to a little place called Covadonga. Its up in the mountains and the scenary is spectacular. There´s a basilica way up on a legde and then a small chapel built right into the mountainside as a waterfall tumbles below. Really beautiful. After looking into both of those, we decided it was time for a hike, and followed the trail markers into the hills. Although we weren´t exactly sure where we were headed, it turned out to be a success. After hiking through some very challenging trail, we ended up in the most peaceful meadow with peaks on all sides and a rushing creek that had carved a cave into the mountain side. We took lots of pictures that will hopefully be up soon!

Today we are going canyoning later in the afternoon which I am super excited for. I am very curious to see if it will be at all like the experience I ahd canyoning in switzerland.

After Cangas we are finally heading down to Toledo, the city south of Spain where both Alex and I studied previously. So that should be great as well. I hope you all are doing well and look forward to your emails!

We are now in the far north of Spain, and it´s beautiful. Our time in Barcelona finished up wonderfully. It was very relaxing, involved a few steins, yes munich size steins of sangria, and lots more wonderful architechture. We departed Barcelona for one of my favorite towns in España, San Sebastion.

San Sebastion is a town located in the Basque region of north eastern spain. It´s pretty small in comparison to Barcelona, making it a nice change from the big cities weve been in. Although their separatist campaigns havent been as successful as those in Catalunya, there was still a good presence of the Basque language to be seen, lots of K´s and X´s, as well as the normal graffiti declaring to the tourist, “You are not in France, you are not in Spain, you are in Pais Vasco” (The Basque Country). The first day we got in was beautiful, lots of sun and warm enough for Alex to declare it shirtless weather on the beach. We wandered throughout the city and walked along the small but lovely cresent beach. The beach on either side is surrounded by huge green hills that look out into the ocean, really pretty sight. Luckily this time, unlike the last time I was here, there no was tar from previous oil spills.

After a nap, we decided we were going to partake in the Basque tapas (or pinxtos as it is in Basque) scene, which I didnt get to do last time I visited. It was a blast. Basically all the little bars are set up like tapas buffets. You get a plate and then wander along and pick any tapa you think looks appetizing. Pile them up, then go back for another bite or two or three if you like. Lots of little sandwiches and breads with spreads or fish. Yum. Chase everything down with swigs of txoili, the local fizzy white wine…which literally is poured into a big glass just enough for a swallow or two. We finished up stuffed to the brim and very happy.

The next day was unfortunately rainy and overcast, so our beach bumming plans were abandoned. Instead we hiked up the hills surrounding the beach and enjoyed the gorgeous views of the surrounding countryside.

Then it was off to what Alex described as a sleepy little town in the mountains…or so he thought. Turned out Alex´s memory was slightly off. Sleepy little town turned into city of 200,000…no mountains except for way in the distance. Opps. Apparently it wasn´t oviedo he had been to previously. But we enjoyed ourselves anyhow, finding a great restaurant that served huge plates of food for cheap, and even had cider sangria, which is about some of the best stuff ever.

Sidra! Our time in northern Spain would not be complete without it. It goes for about 2 euro a bottle and is fantastic. It doesnt quite taste like cider in the states, a little more bitter, maybe a bit more like wine. But its the show of pouring that makes it. The waiters uncork the bottles and then pour it from high over their heads into the glasses, enough for one big swallow. Quite a bit ending up on the floor or in the giant pouring buckets in the process. Great fun to watch. We have tried to do this ourselves, however, failing miserably…one sweet waitress gave us a sort of spout, that we have referred to as our training wheels, so we can pour it properly.