Split

December 31, 2015

It was all about the food in Split. Like Dubrovnik, Split sits right on the coast, so seafood is a big deal. It's much less touristy than Dubrovnik though, so you get a much better sense of how the locals live and eat. I felt very comfortable there. On my morning runs, it was fun to watch the fishermen cleaning their catch while sipping beers. Just some fresh fish and cold beer... They seemed like the happiest people on earth. The seafood market was a lot of fun too. Everything was incredibly fresh. And thanks to a very good exchange rate, we had a lot of memorable meals.

Pictured below: fresh catches of the day seen at the local seafood market (including two really mean looking dudes -- bottom row), various seafood preparations, and a delicious pumpkin soup that totally changed my opinion about pumpkin soups.

We were fortunate to find a cheap airbnb within the walls of Diocletian's Palace. Every morning, we heard a guitarist outside our window performing old-school American songs like "You Were Always on My Mind" and "Can't Help Falling in Love," our first-dance song at our wedding. He sang the songs with a perfectly thick Croatian accent.

On our first day, we took a tour of Diocletian's Palace with our guide, Darko. It's quite a big retirement home for one person. We were there at the end of the tourist season, so it was just the three of us on the tour that day. The tour was great, but the only thing I can remember is Darko's description of the extravagant meals had by Diocletian and his friends. Apparently, it was customary for them to force themselves to throw up in the middle of their meals to make room to eat more. Dinner parties aren't what they used to be...

After the tour, Darko was nice enough to treat us to some wine and small bites. The weather was nice, the wine was delicious, and the homemade bread had ham in it! It all made for a great afternoon.

Other highlights during our visit: hiking around the local national park, visiting Ivan Mestrovic's sculpture gallery, and partying at a hostel bar with a yacht crew who worked for a secret bijillionaire (on our last night, there may have been a contest for who had the most chest hair between me and the yacht engineer and one of the deckhands, and I may have gotten second place).

We had a really great time hanging out with Bill in Croatia... It'll be a part of our Europe trip that we'll always remember.

Dubrovnik

December 31, 2015

Dubrovnik seemed like one monstrous, mysterious castle when we arrived late at night. The walls seemed to tower over everything, blocking any light and shadows. What was inside? We were excited to find out.

Entering through the intimidating gate entrance, I remember it was very brightly lit, and everything was stone. The streets, buildings, and super tall and narrow stairs. We were definitely huffing and puffing by the time we got to our airbnb. But wow, what a beautiful city.

We hadn't eaten dinner yet that night, so we decided to venture out for a late-night snack. We came across a nice little wine bar serving some small bites. The wines and food were great, but the best part was our waiter, who was one of the most gregarious guys I've ever met. Balding and sporting thin spectacles, he took every every opportunity to check on his customers and dance to the background music. To every request, "Yeah Okayyyyyyy... No problem!!"

In the morning, we met up with Alexandra's dad, Bill, who arranged to travel with us in Croatia.

On our first day, the weather was gorgeous. We made plans to go on a city tour the next day, so we had the day to explore the city on our own. After a nice lunch at a restaurant off the main square, we decided to take the cable car up to Mt. Srđ, where we enjoyed the views and met a friend, Mario the agnostic praying mantis. We also checked out the museum at Fort Imperial, which proudly showcases how the Croatians stood their ground and successfully protected Dubrovnik from Yugoslav forces in the Croatian War of Independence in the 90s.

After checking out the sunset at one of the "hole in the wall bars" at the rocky edge of the city, we had dinner at a small restaurant that specializes in seafood. Bill was hungry, so he ordered a seafood platter. For two. His insistence on ordering it downright shocked our waiter. No doubt, the platter was pretty epic -- not too far off from an episode of Man vs. Food -- but Bill took it down like a champ! Our waiter's reaction? Priceless.

The highlights of our second and third days were the walking tours of the city with our animated guide, Marco. On both tours, Bill had the most correct answers to Marco's history questions. As Marco described multiple times as he pretended to shoot jump shots a la NBA JAM, Bill was "Onnn Fire!!"

Istanbul

November 29, 2015

When Alexandra and I began planning our trip, the first place that came to my mind was Istanbul. It seemed so distant, geographically and in terms of how little I knew about it, and I wanted to get out of my comfort zone a bit.

When we arrived, we were out of our comfort zone. Everything seemed so foreign. The people, the prayers...

But it didn't take long before we both fell in love with the city. I've never been anywhere like it. It's a place where you see breathtaking mashups of Eastern and Western influences. A land of Sultans and their immaculate palaces, elaborate architecture, bountiful spices, layers and layers of religions and rich history. So many beautiful designs, textures and styles.

The people aren't so different than anywhere else, generally quite kind and friendly, working hard to support their families. The prayers are mysteriously beautiful. Over the days that we were there, they became comforting to hear.

And the food... it was great to taste Asian flavors for the first time in a long time. The grilled meats, roasted seafood, light and airy pita bread, perfect tea. Everything was deliciously spiced, everything was so good.

I finally realized the genius of döner kebap, where meat is on a vertical rotisserie, so that the meat is always sliced against the grain. I always thought that the towers of meat were a bit odd -- I was just naive and didn't get it. Spiced grilled meats cut with cool yogurt was never on my radar of foods that I craved, but I find myself craving it a lot ever since I left Istanbul.

We want to go back. There's so much more beauty to take in, so much more history and culture to learn about and experience. Shown below are some of our favorite pictures from our first visit to Istanbul.

First up, Alexandra buying ice cream (she and I disagree on this, but I think this was the best ice cream we had on the entire trip. Yes, even better than gelato in Italy!)...

Hagia Sophia on a gorgeous day.  On our first day, we took the funicular to the metro to the Grand Bizarre, then walked back across the Galata Bridge to our apartment in the Beyoğlu neighborhood. — Hagia Sophia on a gorgeous day. On our first day, we took the funicular to the metro to the Grand Bizarre, then walked back across the Galata Bridge to our apartment in the Beyoğlu neighborhood.

A view across the water from the Old City.  Galata Tower, well, towers over the other buildings. — A view across the water from the Old City. Galata Tower, well, towers over the other buildings.

A typical window in the Sultan's Palace.  All gold, no big deal. — A typical window in the Sultan's Palace. All gold, no big deal.

Amazing tilework inside the Blue Mosque.

A view of the Old City from Galata Tower.

And some other cool sights we saw and things we ate and drank...

Coming Home!

November 13, 2015

Ok, so maintaining a travel blog is way more difficult than I imagined, especially while moving at the fast pace of our trip. There are so many new sights and experiences everyday, it's hard to find time and be alert enough to do any blogging. Under the circumstances, and with recurring wi-fi issues, we had to give up a bit on the blog.

Plan B: over the next several weeks, as we settle in back home, we'll recount some our favorite experiences from the second half of our trip, and make additions to what we've posted so far. I'd like to try and remember some experiences that required some thought and reflection that weren't accessible at the time.

It's been a great trip filled with memorable experiences, but we're ready to go home and see our family and friends.

I'm also excited to get started on my food project. Over the past year or so it's become a priority of mine to chronicle my parents' recipes and experiences with food. Not only from their decades in the restaurant business, but also food at home (e.g. typical dinners, simple lunch-box food, what we eat on special occasions such as Chinese New Year, etc.). It will be completely new territory for me to get into the story-telling (sometimes tearful) and video-editing (never boring) that I'm envisioning, but that's all part of the excitement.

Looking forward to coming home!

Greece

November 06, 2015

After saying goodbye to our tour group, the next morning Michael and I wanted to explore a little bit of Frankfurt before hopping on our flight to Athens. We walked along the waterfront and a neighboring square, and thankfully had some beautiful weather that day:

After that, it was off to Greece!

Athens

Athens is such a cool city! I have been wanting to visit ever since I was a little kid and my sister and I would geek out over Greek mythology books together. Michael and I only had a couple of days here, which people had told us would be plenty of time, but we both agreed that we could have stayed longer. I think from the outset, it can be easy to quickly judge this city - it's very crowded and somewhat polluted, a lot of the buildings seem dilapidated, and you see graffiti on almost all of the streets. Even in the NYT "36 Hours in Athens" video, a local admits that "Athens is not a pretty city by any means". But I just found it amazing to be able to walk around in a city that is more than 3,400 years old, and it seems like there are bits and pieces of history everywhere you go. I guess we'll just have to go back! In the meantime, here's a sampling of the cool places we saw on a walking tour of the city:

The temple with the Acropolis in the background

After the walking tour, we just wandered around exploring. Our AirBnb host had told us that there are fantastic views of the city from Filopoppas Hill, and after going on a little trek, we made it to the top just in time to catch an amazing sunset:

So beautiful how the Acropolis lights up at night.

Not wanting our night in Athens to end, we decided to check out some of the nightlife. While I was in the restroom, Michael overheard the bartender say "pineapple" and "champagne" and looked over and saw him pouring a drink into this pineapple glass… — Not wanting our night in Athens to end, we decided to check out some of the nightlife. While I was in the restroom, Michael overheard the bartender say "pineapple" and "champagne" and looked over and saw him pouring a drink into this pineapple glass. He knew that all those things were right up my alley, so he ordered one for me. What a good hubby.

The next day before catching our flight to Santorini, we visited the National Archaeological Museum, which houses a lot of pretty amazing artifacts:

Freso of young boys boxing, from about 16th cent BC.

The Spring fresco, also from about 16th cent BC.

Santorini

Wow. Just...wow. I've been lucky enough to do a fair bit of traveling and see some pretty beautiful sites, but Santorini has to be one of the most breathtaking places I've ever visited. We stayed in Imerovigli, which compared to the other towns of Oia and Fira, is one of the quietest places on the caldera with some of the most stunning views. We lucked out and had a beautiful room with a lovely terrace. (How you ask? A combination of: the tourist season is technically over and room rates had dropped dramatically + we stayed during the week as opposed to the weekend + we may have fibbed a smidge and said we were on our honeymoon so we got upgraded to the honeymoon suite). After the hustle and bustle of the tour, it was so nice to slow down a bit, and have time to relax and take in the amazing views without having any particular agenda. We both loved Santorini and it was hard to imagine that we would have to leave in a few days:

We arrived at our hotel in Imerovigli late at night, and all we saw was the caldera illuminated by the lights on the hill and some cruise ships on the water. We were so excited and couldn't wait to see it during the day. It was a pretty cool moment … — We arrived at our hotel in Imerovigli late at night, and all we saw was the caldera illuminated by the lights on the hill and some cruise ships on the water. We were so excited and couldn't wait to see it during the day. It was a pretty cool moment to wake up the next morning, open our balcony doors, and see this:

During our walk from Imerovigli to Fira.

We had planned the trip so that we could be in Santorini to relax and celebrate for my birthday (woohoo!), and Michael thoughtfully arranged for us to go on a sunset cruise that day. The weather was perfect. It's going be hard to top this birthday!

For dinner, the boat stuff whipped up some delicious BBQ. We may have gone back for seconds....okay, thirds.

The next day we did a 5.5 mile hike from Imerovigli to Oia, which was gorgeous. It had some fairly strenuous parts (one part was quite steep and slippery, and happened to be right next to a steep cliff!), but it was so worth it to see some great views:

After about 3 hours, we made it to Oia!

Later that night, we enjoyed our last Santorini sunset:

This random Asian guy photobombed my awesome panorama shot.

And the next morning, we reluctantly said goodbye with our last Santorini selfie:

Mykonos

I wasn't really sure what to expect from Mykonos. Our friends who had been there before told us that it's seen as being primarily a party island, and 1-2 days there would be plenty. In retrospect, Mykonos wasn't my favorite place that we visited - it seems that the party reputation is pretty accurate, and is was considerably more expensive than Athens and Santorini - but it was still beautiful and I'm glad that we had the chance to visit!

There are no street signs in the old town, so we navigated by remembering little shops or other landmarks. Thank goodness the hubs is a human GPS!

The Mykonos windmills...apparently they're pretty famous?

Little Venice, where most of the more popular bars and restaurants are located. We had some drinks at one place but it was really pricey (18 euros for a glass of champagne - really?!).

The next day we wanted to go check out some of the beaches that Mykonos is famous for, and the closest beach town to us that hadn't closed down yet for the winter break was Ornos. We had the option to take the bus, but it was such a nice day that we decided to walk instead:

We made it to Ornos! Normally beach chairs cost between 7-10 euros each to rent, but because it's low season we got them for free and just had to buy at least one beverage. Done and done! It was pretty relaxing to sit here all afternoon with a drink… — We made it to Ornos! Normally beach chairs cost between 7-10 euros each to rent, but because it's low season we got them for free and just had to buy at least one beverage. Done and done! It was pretty relaxing to sit here all afternoon with a drink and my book....

Up next, Istanbul!