And the rest of the trip....

Sorry for the long delay between posts! I have approximately 12 minutes on this computer to make a post, so we can see how I do... The last time we wrote we were in Athens. After that we commenced on a 10 day sailing trip through the Greece islands....well, at least that was what it was supposed to be. To make a long story short, the trip did not go as planned, including a sailing trip which only stopped on 2 islands, and a very rude captain which led us to abandon ship on Day 8 of our trip. Yep, we had a bit of a disagreement at dinner, and Danielle and I went down, packed our bags, got off the boat, and caught a bus to Athens (yes, a bus, because we were on the mainland of course...). Many stories to follow when I have more than 12 minutes (now 10) to tell you all of them. After this, we went to Santorini for 3 days. Santorini is out of this world beautiful. We had a beautiful place to stay right on the rim of the caldera where we enjoyed cooking and eating our dinner and drinking wine on our balcony while watching the sunsets. It was just what the doctor ordered following our chaotic sailing adventure. Danielle was involved in a donkey stampede while in Santorini, but came away with only minor cuts and bruises, and perhaps some shit-stained clothing... :) You will have to ask her about the stampede...it is another great story. After Santorini, we caught a flight to crazy Istanbul. What a mix of cultures!! As a Westerner, we were definitely the outsiders, even as tourists since most of their tourists came from Eastern countries. The mosques were absolutely breathtaking. I wish I had time to upload some pictures of them... We also found out in Istanbul that Danielle and I DEFINITELY look like a couple that is in the market for a carpet. For any of you that were expecting a carpet for a souvenier from us, they were just too heavy for us to consider! Our travels then took us to Salzburg, where we did a Sound of Music tour (since it was filmed here), and explored a beautiful city. The only damper on Salzburg was that it rained while we were there - the whole time. We then went to Innsbruck and I fell in love with it. It is a beautiful mountain town with skiing and biking right out your doorstep. It reminded me alot of Boulder but with the old-Europe charm that we do not have in the states. It was a great feel. And, even better to meet up with my cousin, Rachel, who is doing a study abroad there for 6 weeks. So nice to see her! We then left for Munich which is where we are now. Today we visited the Neuschweinstein Castle which was simply amazing. We also are staying in the same hostel in which we met, which is pretty cool. Munich is very cold right now. It is rainy and gets down to about 45 degrees at night and 55 degrees in the day. Feels like November! Ok, 2 minutes left on the computer so I have to shut this down. Will post more once we are back stateside!

Hvar, Dubrovnik, and riots in Athens

After Split, we hopped on a ferry to Hvar, Croatia. We stayed for 3 days in Hvar and just loved it. We stayed in Hvar Town - it's a very cute village right on the sea with some nice beaches and a big fort overlooking the city. It just has a great relaxed feeling to it and is wonderful to walk around. I guess it is becoming known for attracting the "big-money" crowd (I wonder if they found our awesome hostel we stayed in...), but we can both see why. It was hard for us to peel off of the beach and leave. After Hvar, we went to Dubrovnik, which is on the southern tip of Croatia, and is known as the "Pearl of the Adriatic". Dubrovnik, by itself, is a fantastic village. It's origins are over 900 years old. It's located on a kind of peninsula and is completely walled off with these massive city walls (think 60-70 feet high and 6-12 feet thick). Very impressive, and you can see how the city would be impervious to attack. It's a joy to walk the walls and take in the city. Dubrovnik actually suffered quite a bit of damage in the recent breakup of Yugoslavia back in the 90's. The Serbs and Montenegrans launched an attack on the city doing substantial damage and killing dozens of civilians. However, they have recuperated very well from and the town is completely rebuilt from the attack. The downside to Dubrovnik is that it is extremely touristy. You can't walk past a restaurant without someone trying to shove you into a chair, put food in front of you, and charging you for it. For this reason, we were ready to leave when it was time. One cool thing about Dubrovnik is that we stayed in a traditional Croatian house in the old town. The lady that owned the house was SO nice, and she said her family has lived in Dubrovnik for over 5 centuries!! Can you trace your family tree back that far? I found that very impressive. After Dubrovnik we caught a flight to Athens, and arrived yesterday. We spent today doing laundry and then going to the Acropolis and seeing some very old ruins. Tomorrow we are leaving for our sailing trip. 10 days through the northern Cyclades and Peloponesse islands. We are going to be on a 55 ft. yacht with the captain and four other people that we don't know. Hopefully they are cool... :) Oh yes, one funny story about the riots in Athens. We had directions from the airport to the place we are staying, which we followed when we got into town. We had to get off on a metro stop, which happened to be the place where all the riots and protests were going on! We had read several weeks ago that there was some unrest in Greece but hadn't paid attention to the news lately. So we were pretty stunned to come out on the square and see thousands of people there with signs and chanting, and lots of tents. It was pretty docile when we were there, but we did see a kiosk that had been burned. We quickly departed the square without incident and upon advice of our host haven't returned.

Slovenia into Croatia

Slovenia is an amazing country that we both absolutely fell in love with. We were there a total of 5 days. We spent two days exploring the capital city, Ljubljana, which is just fantastic. It has a very quiet, quaint feeling from it and is lined with cafes with outdoor seating along the river that runs through the middle of town. We both loved it there. The other three days, we spent day-tripping. One day we went to Lake Bled - one of the most picturesque and idyllic settings I've ever seen. A beautiful lake surrounded by mountains with a cute church on an island in the center. We did a nice hike to get an overview of the place, and if I have time to post a picture before we have to leave, I will do so. The other day we day-tripped to some caves in the Karst region, we went to the Skocjan Caves to be exact. We hiked through the caves for two hours and there was an underground river crashing through. Very impressive. The guide turned out all the lights in the cave at one point...a bit scary!! Our final day we had rented a car and drove through the Julian Alps and the Soca River Valley. We were a little pressed on time to return the car, but it was still a beautiful drive. This is actually where Ernest Hemingway was an ambulance driver in WWI, and the setting for A Farewell to Arms. It is neat to see old rubble and guard towers from WWI dotted in the mountains. And crazy to think they were fighting a war on such harsh terrain. We then headed to Croatia, where we spent an evening in Zagreb, which we were actually not impressed with, and then on to Plitvice Lakes National Park. It is such a beautiful area consumed with waterfalls...again will post pics. After a night there in a hotel, we headed to Split, Croatia, which is where we are now. Split is interesting - we tried to hit the beach yesterday but were a bit disappointed with how dirty it was. Hopefully more remote beaches later in the trip won't disappoint. We have a ferry to catch to Hvar here in a few hours, so I will end the post with that. We apologize for the infrequent posting - we're just having too much fun exploring everything!

London-Krakow-Budapest

So...our original intention was to post some pics along with a few stories. However, I seemed to have forgotten the cord connecting the computer to the camera, so uploading pictures has thus far proved difficult. We will hopefully find this cord very soon, and pictures will accompany the text. We are currently in Budapest, and are planning on leaving for Ljubljana, Slovenia in a couple of hours. We have not purchased our train tickets yet, so hopefully it is not sold out! The trip so far has been fantastic. In London, we stayed at a very nice bed and breakfast run by a very nice couple. We hit most of the major sights - Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Parliament, etc., however the highlight for us was a very unexpected surprise on our last day in town, Saturday, June 11th. We had headed into town to take in the Churchill War Museums before leaving, and came upon very large crowds and what appeared to be the remnants of a parade. Unbeknowst to us, it was the queen's birthday and there was a large celebration! We found out there would be a flyover at Buckingham Palace and a possible appearance by the royal family. We scurried over there with the masses, and managed to get a fantastic spot. The flyover was amazing and had 4 sets of planes and helicopters. And, yes, the royal family made an appearance on the balcony of Buckingham including the newlyweds, Kate Middleton and Prince William. We got some fantastic photos which we hope to share soon.... Krakow was a whirlwind as we were only in town a day and a half. We had a great walking tour around Old Town. Krakow has the largest square in all of Europe - it truly is huge! We also managed a quick trip out to the salt mines. These mines were one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen - particularly the cathedral, which is carved completely out of salt, the altar, statues, etc...all underground. The salt mines are more than 700 years old. My brief description does not do them justice, however, pictures will help.... Budapest has been alot of fun for us. We spent a half day at the thermal baths and both felt completely relaxed afterwards. There is definitely something in the water.... We have really focused our time on understanding the communist times here and the transition to democracy in 1989. It truly is fascinating especially when thinking of everything the people here have been through when I see them walking on the streets. They have truly endured so much here... Budapest is a fantastic city, however, being one of my favorite I have been to. It is sad to be leaving. But, we must cut this short now as we are on a community computer, and I like to respect the etiquette... hopefully pictures next time!

EuroTrip 2011 Calendar

Welcome

Hi! If you've made it here, then welcome to David and Danielle's blog. We started this blog to document our travels this summer through Southeastern Europe. We are three days away from moving from Boulder for good. It feels very surreal - wish there was more time to contemplate this, but things are so rushed trying to get things packed for our move.  Will write more later!