Behind the Iron Curtain

First, a note: we did end up going into the Museo Del Prado before we left madrid, and Leeor was very impressed with the Goyas.

Our short trip to Spain was over and a new journey began to a place I've never been. We landed in Budapest late at night and took a minibus to our "four star" hotel by the castle. We got a nice glimpse of the Danube at night, lined with lighted castles, on our way to the hotel. While not four stars by our standards, the room was much cleaner than dusty old Maktub, which made up for its dinginess with its character. We were pleased, however, to have a shower not being shared by aforementioned dirty backpackers. This was especially good for Leeor, as this Europe trip has brought us to the realization that Leeor refuses to use communal showers. This has been an interesting revelation and quite problematic as European hostiles are nearly devoid of private bathrooms.

The next day, we indulged ourselves and enjoyed one of Budapest's many baths. We steamed and roasted and boiled in therapeutic waters and even got a massage! It was fabulous and delightfully inexpensive. Although this was much bigger, I still prefer the Russian Turkish baths in Miami. The rest of our Hungary experience went like this: We walked around town, around the castle (where I saw my first FALCON(!!!). The enormous bird was perched by a fountain with his owner, who was dressed in what I think is a jousting outfit or a regular dark ages outfit, and the giant bird who is capable of eating children was wearing a medieval leather cap which Leeor said blinded him so that he would not actually eat the children innocently frolicking around the fountain) and along the Danube, and ate some yummy goulash soup. My favorite thing about Budapest was definitely the art nouveau style present in a lot of the architecture and interior design. 

A massive building in Budapest. 

Really cool gate.

Nothing more interesting happened except we got a five star room that was more like a beautiful apartment for our second night for about 60 euro. We went out to the sitting outside in the street area and had some disappointing local beer. The next day, we took the quick as lightening Budapest metro to the train station and hopped on a six hour train to Zagreb, Croatia.

After we finally found nice seats in the old soviet train with cramped little compartments packed with Hungarians and luggage, we were told that we had to move to first class to go to Zagreb. The ride was uneventful except for a couple of fun moments. The first was only fun because it was the first border crossing of the trip. We were checked first by Croatian border control and then Slovenian. 

The station at the border.

Border Patrol

Second, I'm not sure how this happened, but we lost our tickets during that transition. We were fine until a few stop away when we were asked for our tickets. At that point we were sharing our compartment with a dark, skinny, and exuberantly talkative man with an eastern european mullet. I remember him as the guy from The Full Monty. He began explaining to us excitedly in Croatian or possible a different language and using elaborate hand gestures how his phone is dying and that he needs to find an outlet somewhere. Next to him was a light, pudgy, quiet - overall more German looking man. They may have been companions but I really couldn't tell. If they were, they made a very odd couple. We all laughed together/ looked concerned about the skinny man's dilemma. Anyway, while the Slavic ticket checking man left me to look for my ticket, I explained to the skinny man using gestures that it may have fallen on the part of the train that did not make it to Zagreb. When the ticket man came back he repeated my gesture of the trains separating so perhaps he explained for me. Ticket man left again and I decided that these men would be my advocates so I gave them some chocolate to firm up the alliance. They said danke and I said bitte and we smiled together. Ticket man came back, skinny excited man talked to him, I showed him my receipt from Hungary, pointed to the amount paid and said "Look! A lot of money!" and made a sorry face and we were allowed to remain on the train! Ticket man gave us a dirty look made a "the hell with you" gesture at us, but then he laughed with the skinny man, maybe about how stupid we are, so I assumed we wouldn't be arrested.

We got off the train and went to the station to find a map, which did not exist obviously. We joined about five other backpackers in the search for a city map. I finally managed to get something that could work and we shared it with two other travelers who were going to a hostel close to ours. We walked together and found out that Katie and Chase were American (not the Canadian kind) and just finished undergrad in engineering, aeronautical and computer, respectively (so they have jobs). They told us that their plan was to go to Plitvice Lakes, a really famously beautiful national park a couple hours bus ride away. We decided to join them the next morning. We walked around a bit to get a feel for the city, which is incredibly charming and surprisingly lively. Its actually a really great little place. Young people were out and about  smoking, drinking, and talking. We had a beer and a mediocre Italian meal (they have a lot of meh Italian food in Croatia) together and went to our hostels. The next morning at 7 am we bought some impossibly perfect strawberries and cherries at the beautiful open air fruit and vegetable market, and got some bread, amazing ham, and cheese at a little store. I also bought some carrots because I was already feeling deprived of fresh vegetables at this point (everyone made fun of me but we all ended up eating them). We found our bus and were on our way to Plitvice.

It was really one of the most beautiful parks we have ever seen. Dozens of waterfalls and pools of perfectly clear, bright green waters. The walkways are built so that you often walk right over the waterfalls, which was really nice. I think the walkways, just simple raw-ish slabs of wood nailed down, actually added to the beauty. We stopped and ate the best lunch right by a waterfall ("slap" in Croatian). Together with Chase and Katie, we hiked through the falls and around the pristine lakes surrounded with dark green, forested hills, occasionally sticking our feet in the impossibly clear, cold cold water until the late afternoon. 

Not an exciting photo. We took all of the photos with the real camera. But you can see the color and clarity of the water.

We returned to Zagreb sleepy but made our way to a Croatian restaurant and ate delicious goulash and a delicate lamb soup. 

We decided to continue to travel with Katie and chase and agreed to go together to Ljubljana, the capital city of Slovenia the next day.  

Next stop, Ljubljana!

Granada

To my many loyal followers, apologies for the long wait. Everything will make it on here eventually.

As you may or may not have heard,

we abandoned western Europe and decided to head east. After toying with the idea of saying forget Europe and spending a couple weeks in Thailand, we came to our senses and decided on eastern Europe. We chose to start in Budapest because the plane ticket was the cheapest on "Wizz Air" (great reason to choose a city) and we could go from there to Croatia and Slovenia and possibly Serbia etc. At this point it seems most realistic that we will be sticking around Slovenia and Croatia and then head to Greece before Israel. 

Before we left spain, however, we took a train to Granada. 

Leeor on his first of many Euro train rides.

I wanted to take Leeor there because I loved it when I went with Michelle back in 2005. We found a cute little hostel in the Moroccan area called Maktub. There was a nice group of young people working at the hostel for room - several Brits, an Irishman, a couple of Americans, and of course, an Israeli girl, who we made instant friends with. The group spent their time drinking wine in the common room, listening to music, and talking. Not a bad way to travel cheap... If you don't mind living in a room with six other dirty backpackers and sharing icky bathrooms.

After comparing travel plans with the dreadlocked hostel workers for a little while, we decided to hike up to Alhambra. We definitely chose a nice time to see Europe since every flower was in bloom. So many roses in the gardens! Anyway, the views of Granada from the Alhambra were beautiful.

The walk to Alhambra.

The view.

We returned to a rainy evening. We spent more time with the other travelers, chatting and listening to music, and went to get some dinner - 2 Euro Rioja and free tapas. You can basically spend no money on Granada if you are ok with mediocre tapas. We were totally ok with it. 

The next day Leeor found us a 5 hour hike that started in Beas de Granada (if I recall correctly) and ended right back in Granada. Apparently people create extremely detailed PDFs of hikes and put them online for travelers to use! We took a  regular bus up to Beas, a cute little hilltop town and followed the directions, which led us out to a lovely hike along the top of the hills at the base of the Sierra Nevada. To the left were peaks and to the right were valets. All around us were olive trees,  almond trees, red poppies, and purple and yellow wild flowers that I don't know the names of. The smell was sweet and though it was a bit chilly we warmed up as we hiked. The coolest thing about this hike was that it ended with us walking right by the Alhambra and straight into Granada. It was a long hike but beautiful and definitely worth it.

We went for some more cheap and delicious Rioja before the flamenco show. When Michelle and I were in Granada we went to a tiny little flamenco show in a small dark room that was like an underground wine cellar. 

Yes it is a tourist attraction, but I think a pretty legit one. When Michelle and I were there is 05 there were old men singing. This time there was a young man who was not as good, but it was still a great show. The flamenco dancer and the guitar player were pretty outstanding. After some more wine and free tapas, including a delicious gazpacho, we went to bed (sort of... we were forced to "go out" with the hostel dwellers to dance- which was really us walking from closed bar to closed bar, singing songs, and giving up and taking a taxi back to Maktub since we had gone so far). We returned to Madrid the next morning to await our flight to Budapest.

Next stop, Budapest, Zagreb, Ljuljana, and Bled! 

Madrid

Currently: there's a storm brewing 

Madrid is even more beautiful under a dark cloud. We are taking an extended siesta due to the storm. As we are not yet over the time difference, and since this town stays up all night, nothing's lost.

Leeor is currently letting me know that this trip in not challenging enough for him. I cannot say that I am the least bit surprised. Our nice little Intro to Europe trip - Spain, Italy, Greece - is quickly changing to "let's go to Romania and Croatia! Screw Italy, I'm bored." And I couldn't be more fine with that. I will keep you posted as to where we actually go next. The world is ours.

Don't get me wrong. Madrid is a lovely city. Picture perfect during the day and pleasantly rowdy at night. The Jamon Iberico is delightful. 

This man is slicing chunks off of this poor pig's leg for us to enjoy. 

So far, we have walked the charming streets, gone on a tapas crawl until two in the morning, which is super early for this town (for you older folks that means we went from bar to bar tasting tapas and drinking beer and sangria), found a free concert (classical) by the palace, walked through the idyllic gardens, and had a local chocolate drink with churros (tasty, but not chocolately enough in my expert opinion) at a touristy establishment where accordion players found their victims. The whole time we kept saying "wow this place is so beautiful!" which I knew meant "please let's leave." 

To be honest, I didn't want to do Europe that badly. Not because I have been here, but because to me it's not my kind of traveling unless it is challenging and a tinge dangerous. I like cheap, slightly sketchy lodging and cheap, slightly sketchy food. I don't want to speak a word of the language. I only agreed to come because Leeor has never been and everyone should go once at least. And I knew it would still be lovely, which it is. Just not exhilarating.  I still want him to see Italy, but I think Italy will have to wait until we are old and less able.

Just to prove that we are happy and enjoying ourselves nonetheless, here is a photo of Leeor smiling in front of the Museo Del Prado, which we walked to but did not enter because we are low brow.

Ok time to go for some more tapas tasting. Talk to you all soon!