Cruising the Med part 2 – ports of call
We arrived into Barcelona on time at 9am via Ryanair after a very early start in Budapest and caught a taxi directly to the port for €28 – and back into the land of western prices. Although our cruise ship wasn’t scheduled to sail until 6pm, we could leave our bags and complete the check-in procedure then have a few hours in downtown Barcelona ahead of our official boarding time of 4pm. That done we caught another taxi to the southern end of Las Ramblas the pedestrian street, and walked up to the nearest Macdonalds to make use...
read moreDIPS cruises around the Med
After many long nights trawling the internet in Budapest and languishing over where to go next, we came to the conclusion that travel in Eastern Europe during winter was not going to be straight forward. Many of the low cost airlines simply don’t fly in this region during these months of year. Our departure date to Iceland from Berlin had already been fixed for the 8th of March, and we would also like to spend a couple of days in Paris catching up with our French friend, Lara. So, what to do? After many alternatives were considered, we...
read moreBunkering down in Budapest… Part 2 of Hungary
After the departure of the grandparents, and due to our busy schedule while they were with us, we still hadn’t made any arrangements for our onward travels. We were also seriously behind with the girls school work, so after a couple of quick email exchanges with our new best friend and favourite landlord (Patrick) a further two week stay in just the larger apartment (closing up the studio apartment) was arranged at a very reasonable $320 per week, especially considering this included all heating, electricity and in such a central spot in a...
read moreGetting homely in Hungary – part 1.
My parents decided that our time in Europe would make a good excuse for them to fly to Europe and visit us for a couple of weeks(together with some cajoling on our part). So after many hours on the internet exploring options of where to meet and spend time together, we settled on Budapest, Hungary. Our French friend Lara had earlier offered her family holiday house close to the Alps in Italy, but we decided that being in a city would provide more activities and options for an extended stay. Coincidently, (or fantastic organisation on...
read moreRecollections of Romania …
Our train rolled into the Bucharest train station on time and we prepared to part with the €10 taxi fare that has been fixed by all the taxi drivers leaving from the station. We knew from our research on the internet that it doesn’t matter if you are taking the taxi 1 km or 10 km, the fare is still be the same fixed amount. In our case, €10 is about 3 or 4 times what the fare should be if the driver used the meter. Now, we’ve had many arguments with taxi drivers over fares during our journey, and sometimes you just have to go...
read moreBansko to Bucharest via Rila Monastery and Sofia
We decided to use the services of a private driver for the move from Bansko to Sofia, not only for the convenience of a door to door transfer but also because we wanted to stop off and see the Rila Monastery which is a short detour midway between the two cities. We had spent the previous day packing and were ready for the 9am pickup on the morning of our departure. With our ever enlarging luggage, we were easily able to fill the Renault station wagon and roof mounted cargo pod. We bid a sad farewell to the apartment that had been our home for...
read moreSkiing, Eating, Christmas and New Year
Our first five days in Bansko were spent settling into our new apartment. Normally by this time at home the tree and decorations would have been up for some weeks, so we had some work to do to make our apartment ready and looking like Christmas inside to match the scene outside. I had romantic notions of getting a ‘real’ pine tree – knowing that Bansko is surrounded by pine forests. But alas, it was not to be – although there were plenty of real trees in the town covered in lights they were firmly in the ground and any trees inside...
read moreBamboozling Bulgaria
“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” James Michener There are a few things that we will remember about Bulgaria: the women are very fashion (and make-up) conscious, Bulgarians enjoy eating (almost anything – tripe and liver are especially popular) and they enjoy listening to ‘80’s music …preferably whilst they are eating… Sometimes our dinner outings felt like we had stepped back in time: Lionel Ritchie playing in the background, the women...
read moreOur Christmas message …
(previously posted as Minus nine is a little chilly) but as I have been going back adding posts so they appear in the right order (as to when we went there) it sounds like my previous posts have slipped by unread. You can go to the menu bar on the right side down the bottom and click on country by country and remember the newest is always at the top! Merry Christmas everyone ! We have arrived in Bulgaria and have made it up to Bansko, in the Pirin Mountains. Picture postcard Christmas scenes are everywhere. We went to the Sunday market to...
read moreПловдив до Банско…..Plovdiv to Bansko
We had planned to stay in Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second largest city, for two nights in order to do some grocery shopping, before heading to the ski village of Bansko by train early the following morning. However, after reading some brochures we learned there was a free afternoon walking tour (donations gladly accepted and given though) around the old city and Roman ruins. The tour is conducted by students who simultaneously share their love of the city’s history and get to practise their English skills. Therefore after a big morning grocery...
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