Europe – Dean and Danielle's European Adventure

Frankfurt: Day 2

deandanielle — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 16:08:43 +0000

A very lazy day today. Got up late and enjoyed a good breakfast. Our hostel offers free breakfast and also pasta for dinner as well which is a first for us but was pretty good.

We then decided to go for a walk along the river, which has about 8 different museums along the banks and some cool bridges.

We ended up back in the old town and had a look around all the little shops and also the main shopping street. We are now having a few drinks and playing some cards waiting for our pasta.

In Bruges

deandanielle — Sun, 07 Jul 2013 14:55:32 +0000

We are now in Bruges, which is northern Belgium. We arrived today after a chaotic train ride (we missed the first train because it was too full then jammed our way onto the next one and had to stand in the doorway the whole way). Luckily it was only an hour!

Bruges is a lot bigger than we expected but is a really nice city. Lots of old streets with old brick buildings and windmills surrounding the city. We walked around the area near our hostel where we found a local market with food, drink and live music…was an awesome experience.

Danielle is very happy as we have found the elusive fruit beer. She currently has peach flavour, raspberry is next. Tomorrow we hope to hire some bikes and cycle around the city and see all the sites.

Vienna

deandanielle — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 19:18:02 +0000

Another change of plans today. We were supposed to be catching the overnight train to Vienna tonight but couldn’t reserve tickets. So decided to jump on the 7am train to Vienna. We arrived at about 2pm. We found our hostel then headed out to meet up with Jess (a friend from Environment Southland).

We caught up with her at her hotel then headed out for some authentic Weiner Schnitzel. It was enormous!

We left the good weather in Croatia and now it is cold and rainy in Vienna which is quite a nice change to be honest.

Plan to look around the city tomorrow then head to Prague with Jess on Friday.

Plitvice Lakes National Park

deandanielle — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 17:25:35 +0000

Ok so change of plans today. We were originally going to catch the night train to Zagreb then make a day trip to Plitvice Lakes National Park. But we met some Canadians in the train station who were getting a rental car and heading straight to Plitvice then to Zagreb tomorrow. They asked us if we wanted to go with them and we thought it would be fun. So we are now in Plitvice staying in a choice little house. We are panning to do a 6 hour hike tomorrow around what is called the ‘World’s Top Destination’. It had been highly recommended to us by everyone so we thought we should check it out.

The river behind our house for the night

My pack is coming along nicely. I have a patch for every country. 5 more to go.

Hvar

deandanielle — Sun, 23 Jun 2013 15:51:32 +0000

A very relaxed day today in Hvar. Cruised around the small town that seems to have an endless supply of waterfront restaurants. When we had heated up enough in the scorching sun we headed straight to the beach for another swim in the crystal clear water which never seems that lose its appeal.

We are now relaxing on our balcony soaking in some more rays drinking some very strange Croatian fruit beers. They have grapefruit, current & lime, orange and lemon. Lemon is by far the best with current & lime being the worst. Very cheap though.

Last night in Hvar. We are catching the catamaran ferry to Split tomorrow where we will spend the day then catch an overnight train to Zagreb which is the capital of Croatia.

Dubrovnik: Day 2

deandanielle — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 17:30:42 +0000

Wow! What an absolutely amazing day! A low of 24 and a high of 33 so pretty much melting. We headed down to the old town for a sea kayaking adventure. It involved a 3 hour trip around a near by island stopping in caves then back to the old town giving us spectacular views of the city. Had a great time but both of us are very sunburnt now.

We then had a look around the old town which is full of restaurants and souvenir shops. Danielle even managed to find some cider a.k.a fruit wine for the first time since London. Then went straight to the beach for another swim.

Last night in Dubrovnik tonight. Heading to Sucuraj tomorrow. Going to miss Dubrovnik, especially the view from our room.

Dobar Dan Dubrovnik!

deandanielle — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:02:05 +0000

A crazy couple of days! We have arrived in Dubrovnik! Had a nightmare of a day yesterday getting to Bari and the ferry from Bari. First of all we had an hour delay on the train because of technical difficulties then we couldn’t find the ferry anywhere. Turns out the check in is 3 km from the actual ferry terminal so we walked 3km with our packs on in 33 degrees. Then we find out that there is a free shuttle and a place to store bags.

Apart from that though the ferry was good and Dubrovnik is amazing. The highlight of the trip so far. We dropped our bags off and headed straight for the beach. Went back the room for a siesta then straight back to the beach. Will check the old town tomorrow.

Bari by night

Bari

First sights of Croatia

From our room window

The beach

2 nights in Dubrovnik then heading to Sucuraj.

Naples and Pompei

deandanielle — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:01:10 +0000

A long day today as we got up nice and early and caught the train to Naples then changed train to go to Pompei. About an hour and a half all up. Once again the sun was beating down, 34 degrees worth.

Pompei was a very cool place to visit. A lot bigger than we thought so didn’t quite get time to explore it all in the hot sun but what we did see was amazing.

We stopped at Naples on the way back for a late lunch and absolutely hated it. The worst place we have visited yet. It was so dirty and full of beggars and groups of middle Eastern men leering at us. After about half an hour of walking to try and find a better neighbourhood we managed to find a pizza place and have a good pizza (was created in Naples) then we were back to Rome as fast as we could.

The only thing we saw worth a photo in Naples

Finally off to Croatia tomorrow where we can hopefully escape the heat by swimming in the Adriatic Sea.

Roaming Roma…

deandanielle — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 19:27:28 +0000

Well it seems Iike Rome heard us say that yesterday was too hot so it cranked it up another couple of degrees. 33 today so we were almost melting! We both agreed that given our limited trials prior to this trip this was the hottest we had ever experienced.

We headed out to explore the part of the city we hadn’t seen yet an were not disappointed by the endless supply of amazing buildings that Rome seems to have. We started off at the Piazza del Popolo then made our way to the Spanish steps, Piazza di Spagna.

Piazza del Popolo

We just kept wandering until we found the Piazza Navona which was an awesome square full artists with wicked paintings one of which which we ended up purchasing.

Piazza Navona

Next we found the Pantheon which is another old temple converted to a church. Was pretty cool as there is a hole in the top so the sun shines through on different features at certain times of the day.

the Pantheon

On our way to the Campidoglio we found some more ancient buildings that were worth seeing. Too much to see but not enough time. Still amazing though.

Cool old building #1

Cool old building #2

The Roman Forum on the way to Campidoglio

Campidoglio

Off to Naples tomorrow and will hopefully get to Pompei which will be great to see.

Vatican City

deandanielle — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:47:04 +0000

A huge day today. Up nice and early after a terrible sleep in a terrible hostel. Headed to the Vatican first thing to try and beat the crowds. It kind of worked as we had no line for St Peters Basilica but we should have gone to the Sistine Chapel first. Not to worry we saw it all.

St Peters was another level above all the other churches we have been to. It was magnificent. Very extravagant and so much detail.

We then paid to head up to the dome of the Basilica which was 560 steps in the sweltering heat but gave us a good view of the top of the Basilica.

St Peters

After we had enough we headed to the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel. The museums didn’t hold our attention for long but the Sistine Chapel was pretty spectacular. No photos allowed unfortunately. The guards were very angry about it.

On the way to the Sistine Chapel.

We are going to try and get to the Colosseum tomorrow which has I am really looking forward to.