The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music

Since I’ve been updating you about my three week adventure – I haven’t had time to tell you about what’s been going on since I got back!

My Half Marathon in Salzburg, Dinner with the Mayor of Graz, the Erasmus Styrian Wine Road Trip and some other fun things that I’ve been up to since it is May and halfway through my stay in Austria!

As some of you know, I had signed up to do my very first Half Marathon in Salzburg on May 4^th! We got back from Santorini on Thursday (May 1^st) and then I had two nights in my own bed before Calvin and I headed to Salzburg for the marathon where we met up with Justin! Calvin had been training so well on our Balkan Tour and I just didn’t really keep up. I think I ran two times while we were traveling. I just didn’t feel comfortable running alone in a city I didn’t know, or I was tired, or I was doing something more fun. Whatever the reason, I was just not very well prepared. The boys were joking that I would barely make under 3 hours since I had planned on walking!

            It was such a rainy and cold day the morning of the race! Since it was Justin, Calvin and I running it and nobody else came to watch us we couldn’t bring coats or anything to keep us warm before. I looked like such a joke in my race day shirt that nobody else was wearing :p and I didn’t have a jacket to stay warm! It was so exciting though– the entire town was shut down for this race and the starting line was right in the middle of the historic district on the cobble stoned streets. It was pretty legitimate J I started running with my music blaring – and I didn’t stop once during the 21.097 kilometer-long course! I was so proud of myself!! It was one of the coolest experiences of my life. The course was pretty flat (maximum vertical drop of 10 meters) and we ran with the marathon-participants who did two laps. The course brilliantly combined the atmosphere of the city of Salzburg along with the rural areas of nature around the city. The last 10k were pretty awful and I couldn’t feel my legs but once I crossed that finish line at 2 hours and 18 minutes it was all worth it! So epic. Special thanks to Pitbull, Beyonce, and JLo for getting me through those last few miles. The boys and free beer was waiting for me on the other side of the finish line! So Austro. We hung out for a while and then decided to head back after a few hours after the marathon was over – a 6 hour train ride back to Graz! We were dead and it was nice to do some homework and sit!

            To say I was physically and emotionally exhausted after three weeks traveling and then a half marathon would be an understatement! The first week back to school was pretty rough for me and it was hard to stay motivated when all I wanted to do was just chill out.

            Tuesday (May 6^th) the Mayor of Graz asked all the Erasmus students to the Town Hall for a little speech followed by dinner and drinks provided. Everyone was excited to go – maybe more for the free meal J The Mayor’s name is Siegfried Nagl and he has been the mayor of Graz since 2003 and is a member of OVP, the Austrian People’s Party. He gave a very nice speech and we all felt very welcome and appreciated. A fellow Erasmus student also gave a speech. It was just a great gathering because it was our first time being with everyone since we all had been gone for three weeks. We had fun – well, at least I did!

            The rest of the week I just met up with friends who I hadn’t seen over break and it was nice to relax and not have too much going on.

Saturday (May 10^th) was so much fun! I had signed up to participate in an Erasmus event to go on a Styrian wine road trip for just 35 euro! A lot of people thought this was expensive and not worth it, but after reading two books on Austria before coming here – I knew this was a must and honestly the 35 euro was a steal for how much fun it was! Styria is the name of the province that Graz is the capital of. The Sudseirische Weinstrasse (South Styrian Wine Road), located in the southern part of Styria about one hour south of Graz, is often compared to Italy’s Tuscany. The Wine Road is 44 miles long and has hiking trails that run beside vineyards and maybe even some of the Van Trapp family singing through the rolling hills. This wine route is the oldest and most famous because of the length and because of the number or wine makers who live here. This part of Styria is known for exquisite wines, wine taverns, crazy amazing views, fine restaurants and idyllic hiking trails. It felt like a dream. We had our own greyhound bus meandering us through the hills of the Sound of Music while we made little stops throughout the day to just sip on wine and eat local food. Hard life! We even got to have a wine tasting in one of the oldest cellars in the area with little coins smooshed against the wall for good luck!

         The area is known for dry, crisp, fruity and aromatic white wines with varieties like Welschriesling, Gelber Muskateller or Sauvignon Blanc. “Morillion” is the Styrian name for Chardonnay and it goes perfect with the famous Styrian pumpkinseed oil! We tried smoked bacon, fruit seed oils, honey, chocolate and hundreds of wine J Styria is also known for Buchenschanks – which literally translates as “taverns” or “wine restaurants”. These are family owned restaurants where they produce all their own food and wine in their own backyard and sell the surplus in a restaurant. It is all local, fresh and delicious! We had dinner at one with a lovely family and a perfect view of the sunset mingling between the grape leaves and laugher of the 47 exchange students on this trip. I didn’t want to leave! It was also the only sunny afternoon the entire week and weekend which were terribly wet and gloomy for the second weekend in May. We finally got lucky with the rain! Beautiful day spent making new friends while frolicking the countryside with a glass of wine in my hand!

      Last Thursday (May 15^th) one of Gina’s friends was in town from America and it was so fun to meet her and grab Indian food at this great restaurant in town. We stopped in for a beer at our favorite pub here (The Office Pub) and totally forgot they have trivia night on Tuesday and Thursdays. So, we pulled up a chair at a table and talked about if we were actually going to play and then a group of random people ask to sit with us and we agreed. Next thing you know, we are playing with them in the trivia game and we win! We won the entire trivia game (which is actually very competitive and hard) and 100 euro to spend at the bar! It was so crazy. Gina totally won it for us with a question that nobody in the entire place knew – to say we were excited would be an understatement. From my second day in Graz playing the trivia game at the Office Pub to now being halfway through my time here and winning was pretty awesome J

            A lot of my friends went to Prague this weekend and I decided not to go. I have been feeling slightly overwhelmed with classes and so I decided to do some catching up! Very studious of me, right?! I have actually already been to Prague and plan to go with my mom when she comes so that helped make my decision also! So, this weekend wasn’t too eventful with a spring fest party in the main university building on Friday and just doing homework all Saturday and Sunday. It was a good relaxing weekend J

Finally, my faithful followers, you are all caught up on my crazy life over here! Talk soon!

Balkan Spring Break - PART III, the finale

Euro Spring Break PART III

And welcome to the third and final installment of my Balkan Tour J

Once again … for those of you just checking in with this weird blog thing you keep get notifications for, I went on a three week through the Balkans on my Easter vacation. Started in Bosnia and Herzegovina and made it all the way to Santorini! This is Part III of the three installments of the journey...!

Let the adventure continue on from Montenegro and Macedonia!

A whole blog dedicated to Greece J

Greece -- April 25- May 2

      The trek from Skopje to Athens seemed to be pretty easy, and it was, but it was a 12 hour trek. We took a lovely bus in the evening to Thessaloniki, in north Greece, and arrived later at night at that bus/train station. Keep in mind at this point it is just the three of us – Calvin, Ashley, and I. We had about two hours in this bus/train station until our train came to take us to Athens. We haven’t had the opportunity to use a lot of trains in our past Balkan countries so we were all a little ready to use some trains, since one generally thinks of a better travel experience on a European train. This was not the case on this train! This train was full to the brim with people in the night to arrive in Athens very early – we were almost not one of them when the desk lady told us we would be standing the whole time! Thankfully she was able to spare 3 seats for 3 tired travelers but I wouldn’t even call these seats! We didn’t think that people would actually follow their seat numbers, but they did and we had to change out sitting with all our bags about 5 different times! Ha! We ended up in a very uncomfortable 6 person car with a man with his shoes off, a judgmental woman who laughed at us being American, and a young man blaring gospel music from his ear buds. We didn’t get any sleep!!

            We finally rolled into Athens around 5am and got a bit lost finding our hostel but when it was found we enjoyed a nice nap. The hostel we stayed at was the perfect location and it was actually the first hostel established in Athens – so that was cool (Students and Travellers Inn). I’m sure everyone knows a bit about Athens but for the sake of routine I’ll tell you more about it and why we had to make a stop here. Athens is the capital and largest city of Greece and has a recorded history of around 3,400 years! This city is referred to as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy from its cultural and political achievements. Athens is of course home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Acropolis of Athens and the medieval Daphni Monastery – with dozens of other very well-known landmarks to keep the average tourist busy for weeks! Today, Athens is a huge and modern city as the centrum for a lot - from everything to the cultural and economics of the country. With my Belgian high school, we took our senior spring break trip to Crete – the largest Greek island, known for its Mycenaean civilization ruins. So, on some level I had known what to expect and having heard many friends tell stories of their adventures in Athens. I had heard everything from it’s a tourist trap, it’s just like Rome with ruins everywhere, to it being the best city to ever visit! I was intrigued to experience the city for myself J

            After our nap we set out on the town! Calvin only was spending one night in Athens (while Ash and I were going to spend 2 nights) since he was flying back to Graz - so our first day was extra jammed packed so he could see as much as he could! The first bit of the day was spent wandering around and just embracing cheap euro coffees and soaking in some sun – finally! We hiked up the Acropolis and it was pretty freaking awesome. (The city of Athens also is so great in that all these exhibits are free if you are a student within the EU – we got in everywhere for free! It was heaven!) Acropolis is the ancient citadel located on a high rocky outcrop above the city and has several ancient buildings of architectural and historic significance – I knew this by everyone taking pictures of these buildings! The most famous would be the Parthenon. I studied these all in class but this is about all the knowledge I have on them – because let’s be real, just saying you hiked up the Acropolis of Athens is cool in itself and just standing there embracing it all was pretty much all you can do. I even met the women’s head basketball coach at St Louis University from Madison, Wisconsin at the top! The world is seriously so small when you travel. I love it. We played the “do you know” game, talked about Arkansas’s new head coach, Bilema, from Wisconsin, and then talked about how great St. Louis was. Loved it!

After this, we climbed down and went to the first Olympic Stadium – Panathenaic Stadium is the special name for it where it hosted the first Olympic Games in 1896 where every male runner ran nude! It’s the only major stadium in the world built entirely of white marble and is one of the oldest in the world (duh, it’s Greece). After this we enjoyed gyros, the Old Bazaar, more cheap coffee, unknowingly walked through the National Botanical Gardens, saw tons more ruins and well-known classical landmarks. It was pretty awesome. Something really came over me after this day at how old it all was and definitely put things in perspective for me – more than Rome was ever able to do. I think I preferred this city to Rome by far. I would much rather roam the streets of Athens and be amazed at how a whole city is left in ruins for millions of years and yet a new, modern city has almost been built around it and still calling back to the greatness of one civilization to ignite their own. I loved the paradox of Athens and was happy to have another day to spend with her.

            The next day was without Calvin and it was kind of weird for Ashley and me to not have the boys! At one point, we almost were like, “We should walk back down, I’m sure the boys are getting annoyed with how long we are taking.” It was weird! We missed them! We had no schedule or anything we really wanted to do so it was spent just meandering around. We were exhausted as well at this point. We did make it to the National Archaeological Museum of Athens which houses some of the most important artifacts from many different time periods and around Greece. It was in a different part of Athens than where we had been in yesterday so it was nice to see the more industrial, big-city part of Athens. It was all a lot for Ash and I though, and unfortunately we didn’t spend too much time there but did appreciate what we did see!

The afternoon was spent making friends in the hostel, nap taking, and more wandering. At sunset we took a hike up Mount Lycabettus. This is a Cretaceous limestone hill and the highest point in the city that surrounds it. Pine trees cover the base and at the top there is a beautiful Chapel, modern theater, and a pricey restaurant. Funny story : being that Ash and I have hiked some mountains in Austria that the Austrians call hills and it takes us twice as long to get up them as the average Austrian, when the Greeks were looking at us concerned before we went up and telling us to take the cable car we were very scared! Apparently, we had been learning how to efficiently climb hills/mountains from Austrians because it only took us about 15 minutes to get up! We were proud and laughed at the different perceptions each country had. Right when we get to the top, with a half hour before the sun sets, it starts pouring!! Thankfully, it cleared up and we had a beautiful sunset to watch.

After this downpour, we showered and then met up with one of my friends I made while I studied in Belgium, Constantin! He is half Belge and half Greek and he attends the University of Athens. I hadn’t seen him in 3 years and I was so happy to meet up with him, even if just for drinks J I brought Ashley along and he brought his friend along and we rode the metro to the base of the Acropolis and then took an elevator all the way to the top of this building to an outside bar. It was heaven. Every rooftop was full of people drinking and being merry with the Acropolis lit up in the background to go perfectly with our 9 euro cocktails and talk from the good times spent in Belgium. I couldn’t have asked for a better night out with good friends new and old all together in one place for a split second in time. Even splurging on the 9 euro cocktails were worth it!

The next morning we woke up super early to catch the first metro – along with a cute older couple - to get on our ferry to Santorini! This ferry was amazing. I’m talking, you would think you were on a mini cruise ship it was so nice. It had movie theaters, decks, fast food restaurants, real restaurants, cafes, etc. Ash and I were so happy! Unfortunately, I thought it would be smart to take a Benadryl to help me sleep the day away at 7am and I was a zombie the entire time. It was raining also so the view could have been better for Grecian standards – but we were completely happy with the pictures we took and the many islands we passed by! 8 hours later – we finally arrived in Santorini and met up with Gina and Lisa J It was so nice to be back with them and to be just girls! The boys were great – but it was time for some girl’s time in Santorini!

Santorini is one of Greek’s island’s in the southern Aegean Sea about 120 miles from the mainland – and seems even farther when you take a slow moving ferry! It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago and it forms the southernmost member of the Cyclades group of islands. Santorini is a result of repeated sequences of shield volcano construction. When one thinks of Santorini, the view of the water is normally from very high up and far away since the inner coast around the caldera is more than a 300 meter drop at its highest and has many layers of solidified lava. The main towns of Santorini are built on the crests for their amazing views. Other islands in the area might have more beaches while Santorini only really has a few and the sand is black from the volcanoes.

We spent a night in Perissa where Gina and Lisa has been staying earlier that week. Perissa is the port town of Santorini and known for its amazing black sand beaches. After one night, we went to another part that was called Fira. Fira is the modern capital of Santorini and is the stereotypical city of white-washed houses build on the edge of the coast with hints of blue from churches and the water making you realize you might be in heaven. Y’all – the “hostel” we stayed at that cost 8 euro a night was EPIC. Anyone going to Santorini must stay at Villa Manos and become best friends with Poppy and all her excellence. It was a private four bedroom with a bathroom and wonderful balcony. Oh, and an incredible pool! We were so happy we ended our adventure here because if we started here we would have been very critical of all the other places we stayed at that were less nice or more money!

The Santorini Ladies spent the days wandering the lovely island, exploring Fira, eating the finest Greek cuisine, drinking fancy drinks, riding mules up sides of mountains, getting fish pedicures, making friends with locals, sunset gazing at Oia and some small swimming in the Adriatic J It was a wonderful, relaxing stay in Santorini and I can’t wait to return one day!

The return flight home, thankfully was directly to Vienna from Santorini and Ashley and I were happy to be in our own beds Thursday night the 2^nd of May J

It was a wonderful three weeks spent with friends and traveling our hearts out at a reduced price! I wouldn’t have changed anything and hope to return to those cities that made me smile and laugh with appreciation. Thank you my faithful followers for sticking it out until now and those who just tuned in!

To more adventures to come!

Euro Styled Easter Break - PART II

Quickest Part II?! I think so J

~ for those of you just checking in with this weird blog thing you keep getting notifications for, I went on a three week tour through the Balkans on my Easter vacation. Started in Bosnia and Herzegovina and made it all the way to Santorini! This is Part II of the three installments of the journey… ~

So, where were we on our nice little tour of the Balkans…?

Montenegro – April 17-20

The journey from Croatia to Montenegro wasn’t as smooth as our last country switch. Not only was this a night bus but when this bus pulled up we laughed at how that couldn’t possibly be our bus because it was a van, a full van. It was against every major fire code in a hilarious concerning way. We barely had room for our baggage and not everyone waiting could even get on! I’m in this like makeshift seat in front of the sliding door – where my seat wasn’t even attached to anything. To make this situation worse – I start to get nauseous. We are in the pitch dark zooming along the coast in a very sketch van and I just can’t hang. I have a bag in my hand and I’m freaking out that I’m going to be that one girl vomiting! It was horrid. We make it to the border pretty quickly and I beg the driver for me to get out to go vomit through incorrect sign language. Getting out of the vehicle is not allowed when crossing the border, everyone must pass over their passports to a man who then takes them all to the box and they all get stamped and given back. It’s extremely sketch, but that is what we did every time. So, I think he has given me the pass to get out when the door opens and I hop out and run. Yep, I start frantically running at the border of Croatia and Montenegro with my hand over my mouth. I can’t tell you why I decided this would be a good time to train for that half marathon but yaaaa…. I was followed by the police yelling Croatian at me super confused as I’m doubled over behind the security building. They not so kindly redirected me to the bathroom and I felt a little better in there with my safety and health. This was one of the most hilarious dysfunctional things that has ever happened to me. The ride was then continued with more ridiculous behavior by the driver who seemed to make a lot of stops to give his friends… packages at random places along the road. To say we were happy to arrive in Budva would be an understatement!

Oh, Budva J (I was calling it “Buddha Buddha Buddha” the whole trip as well) Budva is a coastal town in Montenegro and is pretty small. The coastal area around Budva is called the Budvanska rivijera and it is the main center of tourism in Montenegro since it is famous for its sandy beaches (rare in this part) and unique Mediterranean architecture. Budva is also one of the oldest settlements along the Adriatic Sea coast! We pull into this town super late but it was all worth it once we got to the Old Town with Ashley and I’s carry-on bags rolling along the cobble stoned streets – letting everyone know the American girls who over packed were in town!

 The Old Town really reminded me of Venice which makes sense because the Roman Empire took over the town and really influenced the architecture in this area. Everything had such detail to it from the doors, hinges, windows, balconies – everything had this hint of a Venetian touch which was almost like a hidden gem that not the average tourist got to appreciate. I loved it.

Our hostel was in a great location but was interesting… it was not the best but it might also be because it followed such an amazing hostel in Dubrovnik and just couldn’t compete. It had nice facilities but just was not run by the nicest or most professional of people. Besides this we spent our days roaming around the city, seeing the three main churches in the old town, climbing the fortress, walking the coast boardwalk, along with lunching with our toes in the sand and wine in our hands. It was a lovely town. When planning, this was going to be more of our relaxing town for beach time but that didn’t quite work out with the rainfall really hitting us in Montenegro! But we were very resourceful and I don’t think it kept anyone down long. I did get sick – again, ugh – one day here as well. Thankfully, it was a rainier day so as the group went exploring on a hike I was able to recover a bit from the stomach flu.

We all took a day trip to a neighboring city called Kotor, just 30 minutes away. Kotor is also a coastal town in Montenegro but it is located in a secluded part of a bay off the Adriatic. It doesn’t have any beaches but it has one of the most beautiful and unique landscapes we had seen on our journey so far. This bay is called sometimes the southern-most fjord in Europe but it is a ria – a submerged river canyon. If that isn’t cool, this place also had overhanging limestone cliffs mixed into their medieval city walls and it was epic. Kotor has one of the best preserved medieval Old Towns in the Adriatic and is a UNESCO world heritage site. We meandered our way through the Venetian styled ambiance here as well and found the ancient city walls tucked in an alley way and we climbed all the way to the top! It’s about 3 miles long and directly above the city! When we got off the bus and that was one of the first things we saw and obviously had to do – since climbing walls was becoming quite the Balkan Tour theme! We enjoyed some local cheese and wine at the top of our climb and just enjoyed the view. We also decided to have lunch at this crazy local little butchery and the owner loved that we would try anything so he served us everything he had (legit everything!) on this huge platter and we feasted on local meats, breads, roasted peppers, eggplant, potatoes, and more! The thought of that lunch makes me drool! One of the best ideas to stop in there by chance – shout out to Calvin. Loved Kotor and I’ll never forget just sitting on the dock and realizing how lucky I am to have experienced this little city hidden away in the Balkans.

Headed back to Budva late that day. About halfway through our stay here Ash and I realized we messed up one of our connecting buses. It actually left on Sunday instead of Saturday so we made the decision to stay another night in Budva and then leave for Ohrid (Macedonia) a day later and stay a longer than intended in Ohrid, which led to us canceling one night in Skopje to just one night in order to not mess up our schedule for Greece! Did that make sense? In the end, it all worked out but we ended up spending Easter in Budva instead of in Ohrid as we had imagined.

Our hostel was very ill at making this holiday nice for us. We had to be checked out by 11 on Sunday and we didn’t take the bus until 8pm that night. Unfortunately, our Easter was spent getting kicked out of the hostel and spent in the most rainy day we had experienced on our trip. Everything was closed as well! We decided to go to the bakery next doors that we had been to maybe 10 times within 4 days and the lovely man working gave us the sweetest hard boiled eggs! Ash and I were so happy for hours it seemed with how kind this man was and it made up for our hostel’s behavior earlier in the day. Overall it was a happy Easter spent with Justin taking a dip in the Adriatic, wine sipping, rain dodging and café Wi-Fi mooching at its finest! It was a beautiful stay in Montenegro and I would love to return and bask in the glory of all it again J

Next stop Macedonia -- April 21-24

            We took another night bus to get to Ohrid, Macedonia! For those unaware of the geography in this area, Macedonia is inland and not on the coast and one must go through other countries to get to it and one of these countries is Albania. It seemed that every hostel we ran into somebody who was going to Albania or just got back and they all were saying wonderful things about the country. For whatever reason, we did not plan a stop there on our Balkan Tour and looking back we should have! It is a very beautiful country with a great coast and capital city. We should have gone there with our extra night instead of staying longer in Budva, but this didn’t even cross our mind. I will return one day to Albania and apologize for not thinking of going!! Promise J Even when we were crossing the border of Albania we had 3 different Albanian police officers come on the bus just to question why we were not stopping in Albania but just driving through! We had no excuse and I felt bad! Besides this, the ride was crazy and in the middle of the night through back roads that weren’t even paved!! We legitimately were falling out of our seats from the bumpiness and when looking at the GPS as we went (we did this a lot!) we weren’t even on a main road. It was funny to be knocked all around but I am actually surprised we didn’t pop a tire on the rural back roads of Albania.

  So, once again, we were very happy to roll into Ohrid very early in the morning with our carry-ons waking up the town to our arrival along the cobble stoned streets. This was probably the one place when we were planning that I said I would be upset if we didn’t go to. I had heard wonderful things about it and I had to go! To say that I was excited to arrive was an understatement J Ohrid sits along Lake Ohrid which is between the mountainous border of southwestern Macedonia and eastern Albania. It is one of Europe’s deepest and oldest lakes which hosts a unique aquatic ecosystem. Apparently, Ohrid once had 365 churches (one for each day of the year) and has been called the “Jerusalem” of the Balkans. I didn’t see that many churches though! Ohrid was further emphasized in 1979 as being accepted as Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites by UNESCO – this city is actually only 1 of the 28 sites in the world that have both Cultural and Natural sites. I did my research and knew this was an amazing place and I couldn’t wait to start exploring!

            Our hostel was epic – Sunny Lake Hostel. The man running it was this young guy who listened to 90’s hip hop and called me Mallo – obviously I was a fan! The hostel was packed with cool kids, an awesome kitchen, and a beautiful view of the lake from the patio while it was all nestled into the Old Town. Our first day, after a nap, was spent hiking to the fortress walls, visiting the crazy cool mosaic St Panteleimon monastery and now a mosque (believed to be the site where the first students of the Glagolitic alphabet, used to translate the Bible into Slavonic, were taught), having coffee looking out at the lake, visiting the ruins of the old ancient theater of Ohrid, and the famous St. John Church at Kaneo. This is a Macedonian Orthodox church situated on a cliff over the Kaneo Beach overlooking Lake Ohrid and the city – pretty much one of the prettiest things I’ve ever witnessed. The date the church was built is unknown but they think before the 1450’s and they believe it was constructed before the rise of the Ottoman Empire in the 13^th century. It’s in an odd shape, apparently called a cruciform with a rectangular base. It was beautiful and there was places to wander around on the property with the sun shining down on us all as we got lost in the view of the lake with the mountains in the background. I didn’t want to leave. We finally climbed down the mountain to reach the water and enjoyed a boardwalk built all along the water’s edge and found weeping willow filled grotto’s with huge cats roaming the streets with us. It was perfection and once again I felt like I had found another wonderful gem hidden away in the Balkans.

            Made lots of friends in the hostel and we enjoyed late nights playing cards and drinking the local beer. We finally were able to put our swimsuits on too! It was a beautiful second day spent lying next to the water and finally having our beach day we had imagined the trip to mostly be – it was perfect. It was slightly funny that while we were all in swimsuits in this type of park by the water, the locals were in boots and parkas! Our idea of a lovely day was still an early spring day to the Macedonians. That night was spent sitting on the water having a beautiful meal and drinks while the sun set over the lake – for an equivalent of maybe 5 euros each! Macedonia was a traveling student’s dream when it came to money J Loved Ohrid too much and I hope to return one day again to one of my favorite cities I’ve ever experienced.

            Next stop in Macedonia was Skopje and with one less person in our group! Justin left for Brussels and for our visits in Skopje and Athens it was just Ash, Calvin and I.

Skopje is the largest city in Macedonia, capital and only 3 hours from Ohrid. I think calling this city’s architecture rather odd wouldn’t be offensive.

Skopje definitely has a rather loose town planning, perhaps a result of an earthquake that destroyed 80% of the city in 1963, post Yogoslavia break-up social planning, or from the “Skopje 2014” project that aims to give the city a more monumental appearance. Whatever the reason, this city has some unusual buildings and statues! The center consists of two municipalities separated by the Vardar River and the Old Town is also located along this river as well. I wouldn’t call Skopje a “theme park” but it did remind me of Las Vegas at times with its huge statues dedicated to Alexander the Great with giant lion statues spitting water in a fountain. It was very impressive, just a lot! We counted something like 14 giant statues in one of the main squares along the river. The Old Town was quite impressive – it was climbing a hill so you would see so many shops and restaurants with vibrant colors and the sun shining in every direction to make me just smile. Unfortunately, Ash and I were wearing shorts (because of it being a wonderful day) and we were met with a lot of nasty looks, points, and laughs. I don’t want to say this was the most unwelcome I’ve ever felt in a city but I was in a hurry to get back to the wonderful hostel. Have I spoken about our hostel?! The owner at this one was best friends with the guy running the one in Ohrid – so, obviously it was amazing and great (Shanti Hostel). He pointed us to this amazing place to have dinner our first night where we ate traditional Macedonian food and sipped on traditional sweet red wine that Macedonia boasts as the best – which it totally was. We actually ran into a friend we made in Sarajevo sharing a bunk with Calvin! It was such a small world J

            

Ah! I think I did worse this time in cutting my words down! So sorry this was so long! We got through a lot of days though spent in two countries and four cities!

Next stop in the Balkan Tour is Greece – Athens and Santorini meeting every screensaver expectation you’ve ever set on your computer J Can’t wait to share! Stay tuned!

with love

European Style Easter Break - PART I

          HELLLOOO ALL - 

Uni Graz is crazy and gave everyone 3 weeks off for Easter break so the next few blogs are dedicated to the awesome traveling experiences I had that I’m sure my words won’t even come close to capturing – but maybe my pictures will! Normal Austrian students spent the break studying or going back to their homes to chill after 5 weeks of school – but not this girl J I hit up 5 countries and around 10 amazing cities that I’ve had the crazy wonderful opportunity to meet! After experiencing the classic Western European cities in all their glory (and priceyness!), it was time for me to see another side of the beautiful European continent.

Sit back y’all the Balkan Tour has begun…

Did majority of the traveling with Ashley, Calvin, and Justin and we also met up with friends, Gina and Lisa, in Croatia and Santorini! All exchange student friends made here in Graz from all over the US and Canada. The weather was mainly rainy, since it was April, but I don’t think that held anyone back from anything.

Bosnia and Herzegovina -- April 11-14

         When my good friend, Ashely, and decided to do this trip we wanted to for sure go to Croatia and Greece but the trek from Austria to Croatia was so long we decided to make a stop before Dubrovnik – which turned out to be Sarajevo. I had known some of the background of Sarajevo when we started looking seriously into staying there and everyone that we were telling we might go there was giving us “the are you serious?” look. I’ll have to say – of all the places I have traveled, hitting my 25^th country on this trip – this was one of the cities I was the most inspired and surprised by. It was amazing. Granted, it did look like a war zone driving in the taxi to our hostel at 6am in the morning, this city was beautiful in such a different way than anything I've ever experienced. I had a constant feeling as if I had been there all before while I was there for 3 nights… very eerie feeling.

           Sarajevo is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina and with a population of 370,000. It is surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and Balkans. A perfect first stop of the trip J The first thing you notice, or at least I did, was the traditional culture and religious diversity of the city with Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism and Catholicism all coexisting there for centuries. The city boasts of being the only major European city to have a mosque, Catholic Church, Orthodox Church and synagogue within the same neighborhood. This was probably one of the most beautiful things to me. You could hear the calls for prayer ringing through the streets along with the bells from the Catholic Church. It made me have goose bumps. The city is packed with history ranging from the site of the assassination of the Archduke of Austria which sparked World War I in 1914, hosting the 1984 Winter Olympics, and during 1992-1996 the city suffered the longest siege of a city in the history of modern warfare during the Bosnian War for independence (1,425 days long). The city has been through a lot in the past and you can definitely see this as you wander the streets and see bullet holes and buildings abandoned from bombings – but there was something beautiful in the strength of the city and the fight to be more than this.

        Our hostel we stayed at was the perfect location, right next to the Ottoman Old Town where the typical cobbled streets packed with vendors are (our hostel was called Travellers Home Hostel). The owner was there to greet us and tell us all the things to do – along with the history! Amazing detail. He also gave us some traditional Rakia (spelling varies) our first night there. Rakia is a popular alcoholic drink in Southeast Europe from the distillation of fermented fruit and normally the alcohol content is 40% - higher if home brewed. It is the national drink in every country we went to except Greece, because Ouzo is the way to go in Greece.

We accomplished a lot with the help of our hostel tour guide J Hit the town by going to the Sarajevo Tunnel (served as a link while the city was under siege to the neutral zone of the airport for supplies), did a free walking tour of the city, went to the city museum that focused on the city’s commitment to justice and peace, witnessed the mutant bear dogs that travel in pacts all over Sarajevo, shopped in the crazy cool Bazaar/Old Town, climbed the city walls with an amazing view of the city and surrounding area.

       One story must be told before I move on from this city and all her excellence. So, our hostel tour guide knew we wanted to do some hikes since the city was in such a beautiful region of the Balkans. He told us about this crazy awesome waterfall that was only a 3km hike from a bus stop. We were all game to do this hike and see this crazy waterfall – well I was a little apprehensive since Bosnia still has some active landmines from the war in rural areas – so we left early in the morning after a quick breakfast and headed out. We were about an hour into the hike and were confused why we still weren’t at the waterfall and we kept asking people when we saw them how much farther the waterfall was – we kept hearing, “oh probably another 4km” every time! I was freaking out and concerned about these damn landmines while we are hiking through, albeit a well-traveled path, in the woods! FIVE hours later we finally make it to the amazing waterfall gushing from miles above our heads. It was pretty epic and I was so glad I kept my anxiety together long enough to see it. We also enjoyed some beers at the top as well and it was one of the best views I’ve had a beer at. We hiked back down eating leaves that locals gave us and finally made it back to our hostel 7 hours from when we left. We find the hostel man and he is like, “Well if I told you it was 16km you wouldn’t have gone!” Classic. Loved Sarajevo.

       Our next stop on our way to Croatia, was in a small city call Mostar in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Mostar is situated on the Neretva River and the 5^th largest city in the country but what really makes the city is this famous bridge – which actually the city is named after! Mostar means “bridge keepers” that guarded the bridge during the medieval times. The bridge was built by the Ottomans in the 16^th century and one of Bosnia’s most recognizable landmarks and is considered one of the best examples of Islamic architecture in the Balkans! The city was a cobble stoned street of perfection and I’m so glad the hostel tour guide influenced us in going. It was a must and it was perfect that a train went right to the city from Sarajevo and a bus could easily take us to Dubrovnik after a few hours in Mostar. Unfortunately, the one day we had to have our bags with us all day was the day my pink, carry-on nugget of a bag decided to break and had to be carried all over by Justin in the hot sun. Thankful for boys with us!

Next stop Croatia -- April 14-16

      Probably one of the most beautiful bus rides I’ve been on was the one from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Croatia. We were all so excited to be heading to Croatia because we were going to meet up with our two friends staying at the same hostel as us! It had all worked out perfectly and after 4 nights with each other, I think we were all ready to have some new faces in the mix, at least I was!

For those of you unfamiliar with Dubrovnik, it is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia and is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean. In 1979, the city joined the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites and this is very evident when you enter the old town of cobble stone streets and buildings with orange tiled roofs all nestled together with high stone walls guarding the city since the 15^th and 16^th centuries – among the 10 best medieval walled cities in the world. After the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, it was besieged for seven months and significant damage occurred. As of 2014, I can say that I really saw none of the damage and only was gasping at amazing views and the epic-ness of the entire city. This is one of the places I would 100% return to on a romantic getaway or even my honeymoon (in 10 years HAA). Croatia is a really beautiful country and very reasonably priced.

      This hostel was the best hostel I have ever stayed in – Old Town Hostel – run by an ex-stock market exchange guy from New York who took a chance and just opened this hostel up with his brother in the middle of the Old Town. He was amazing and greeted us with not Rakia but a corky character, maps and a general good time whenever he came in the room with us. He made me want to open my own hostel one day. Maybe I will J Blog to follow this endeavor of course!!

          So this town, had beautiful crazy old things everywhere but you can pretty much see it all in a day and a half. We walked the fortress walls, roamed the cobbled streets to where they would just stop when they hit water, watched the sunset, visited the churches, and museums. The fortress was probably the best fortress I’ve climbed on – and that is saying a lot since every city we went to we climbed the fortress walls soaking in the scenery. We met a cute older couple doing a 3 month trip together and they were all decked out in Detroit gear so we felt it appropriate to ask them to take our picture following it with a comment about the Lions. They were amazing. We stood and talked with them for 30 minutes about how they were so happy we got to see the world at a young age instead of going when we were 70, like them. It was inspiring and I could have sat with them forever trading stories. I’ll forever remember them and I hope their trip is going well J

A majority of the trip was spent eating, drinking and laughing having a big group of Austro exchange students all in one place. It was a great two nights and I wish we could have stayed longer but Montenegro was calling our names!

I think I shall leave you all with this anticipation because it already so long with only 3 cities that we went to! Eeek – need to get better about this, I just have so much to share J

Wonderful experiences in both countries and stay tuned for Montenegro, Macedonia, and Greece! I’ve only gotten to the first week out of three!

Živjeli (cheers in Slavic)

Sounds like zeevagelee?