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Europe 2015

August - September 2015
A 24-day adventure by Edward Read more
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  • Edward SmallEurope 2015
    Day 1

    1 week to go

    August 23, 2015 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    As I sit on Wellingtons ''s waterfront in New Zealand 1 week exactly before departing for Europe by myself, eating baklava, drinking gingerbread and indulging; I can't help but already miss the friends I will be leaving, the job I enjoy and the places with which I am familiar.
    Yes, I have been away for extended periods before, months even, but never with the trepidation and apprahension with which I am currently held with. The places I will go, the things I will see and the people I will meet are but a distant notch in my mind. I am excited yet scared, longing but wary, and a little bit wishing it wasn't so soon or for so long.    Read more

  • Edward SmallEurope 2015
    Day 7

    About to depart

    August 29, 2015 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Patience is already wearing thin with my oh so likely travelling companions.. yet I'm taking in the almost familiar world of the sights , sounds - and not to mention island kiosks of Heineken - that international travel has to offer. While I don't resent the fact that I am leaving I can't help but think how arduous the next 6 weeks could possibly be. There will be amazing experience and things to do and see.. I will try with all of my will power to enjoy it.
    Joy has just returned with chocolate bars and the valuable information that there is a place "just over there" (somewhere in the depths of the international lounge) that sells $7 sake. Next report will most likely be in Singapore. Out.    Read more

  • Edward SmallEurope 2015
    Day 8

    Singapore arrival!

    August 30, 2015 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Well after my first proper long haul flight we are in Singapore! I managed to sleep a little om the plane and the 10 hours wasn't as awful as it could have been. (Flying in over a Malaysian sunrise was also quite cool). The taxi ride from the airport to our Intercontinental hotel was interesting: streets lined with beautiful plants, flowers and garden arrangements; contrasting cultures, people, accents and buildings zooming past and the unbelivable sticky hot humid air that sems to be forever present in Singapore, like walking into a massive sauna. I was surprised by the contrast between the obviously affuent and bustling city and the poorer areas that still lines the streets on the way to the city, an ever present reminder that every country has its social issues, as was also outlined by our charming, loud, friendly and mildly xenophobic taxi driver.
    Our hotel is gorgeous and I have 2 double beds to myself separate from the rentals with a beautiful bathroom, massive TV and stunning views. The famous Bugis is connected to our hotel so I imagine that will be our first stop of many today. We have already been recommended a place to get amazing spices wholesale, and a place that does wonderful Sardine Murtabaks. That aside I'm sure we will eat well and sample a plethora of different cultures in our next 36 hours here. I am looking forward to walking along the river and taking in more of my first proper - although decidedly western - foreign city.
    My tablet and phone say it's 12:15 yet my bedroom clock says 8:15. Must be breakfast time... Intercontinental style.    Read more

  • Edward SmallEurope 2015
    Day 8

    Halfway through Singapore

    August 30, 2015 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    I feel as if I should be writing a food blog as well or instead as one as most of the things I note generally revolve around eating.
    But yesterday we went for a walk through to Raffles place and the waterfront. Was amazingly muggy and hot - although I fear today will be worse - through the afternoon and evening. Instead of walking down streets we tended to jump from airconditioned building to airconditioned building just to excape the heat!
    We got fantastic ice blocks full of real lychee and mango pulp and fibres, which were delicious, before continuing down past the Merlion and along the waterfront restaurants. We past tall skyscrapers and banks down town, before coming to a more formal Hawker market for lunch. We had fresh spring rolls, dumpling noodles, dim sum, siew Mae, bok choy and fresh fruit smoothies.
    Upon returning mid afternoon to our hotel room, we decided to go for another walk through the shops at the next door Bugis markets building. I bough mangosteins, salak fruit and rambutan which we quickly took home and devoured - all but the either awful, underripe or both salak fruit.

    After spending another hour or two relaxing at the hotel and skyping home we left for an evening in the treetop lights by the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, light shows in Marina Bay and dinner at a rediculously overpriced and very very average Thai streetside restaurant. The home for a well needed sleep!    Read more

  • Edward SmallEurope 2015
    Day 9

    Chinatown & predeparture from Singapore.

    August 31, 2015 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Forgot to mention the High Tea we had at the Intercontinental yesterday afternoon. Was lovely! A 3 tiered platter of sweet and savoured started of with a truffle cottage pie. There were 2 different scones - both served with cream and jam - of fruit and lemon flavours; a bagette slice with smoked salmon, caramelised onion and hummus; bagette with sundries tomato, salami and olive; and a small pastry. The sweet tier consisted of a chocolate boat with berries in it; a raspberry cream pastry (mille feuallies? ?), a chocolate tiramisu square; a caramel slice and the most delicious macaron. All served with tea or coffee.

    Today after recovering from last night, our first stop was the buffet breakfast at the hotel. Fair to say I gorged myself severely and have been full ever since. There were - most of which I sampled - 3 different dumplings, a pork bun, braised spicy pork ribs, a meaty stew type thing like a Chinese ragout, congee, rice, an assortment of mise en plais for a diy Asian soup, a full table of a man doing eggs any way you like them to order (including omelettes) a table of roast tomatoes, sausages, baked beans, potato rosti, bacon; another table with a chef preparing to order noodle soups with another array of seafood, meat and vegetables mise en plais; a table full of pain au chocolate, berry Danish, croissant and 5 different breads with a toaster, and 3 different muffins. Another table had a pile of waffles with a pick your own of 3 different compote, honey, maple syrup and whipped cream, followed but 7 different fresh fruit cut up, cereals, muesli and milk. Phew. Also tea and coffee by table service to order.

    After the event that was breakfast we went opto China town. Caught the underground metro through the city and emerged on a bus sling street full of bolshy sales people, colours, trinkets, brands, perfumes, Taylors and food as far as the eye could see. Once through the first main street there was another and another and another. We settled on just some cold drinks after our breakfast and had lime juice and a mango pudding with frozen coconut ice. Very weird but very nice. Bought a few post cards and trinkets but nothing too exciting. Did however find a kind of sweet cured bbqed pork jerry. . Very weird but excellent. From Chinatown we came back to the city and our hotel to relax a little before our next outing: a sojern to a tapas bar that I pointed out on our arrival. Had wonderful food, really top notch: garlic oil sashimi with goats cheese, sumac veal pork balls in a potatoey puree, truffled parmesan fries; eggplant, dried tomato, basil and halloumi salad; fois gas parfait with brioche; alongside drinks: I had sangria yum yum yum. From Salt (the tapas bar) we crossed the road to the famous Raffles Hotel and the Long Bar where the Singapore sling was invented and peanuts are endless and available in shell in bags on the table and patrons are encouraged to through the shells on the floor: tradition, apparently.
    After all of that, interspersed with various underground rides and checking out of our hotel, we have returned to the Intercontinentals pool to soak up the sun and heat before leaving for our flight to Zurich later tonight.
    May post again from the airport but not sure. After Zurich is Athens, and a Island in Greece: our home for the next week.    Read more

  • Edward SmallEurope 2015
    Day 10

    Singapore to Athens via Zurich.

    September 1, 2015 in Bosnia and Herzegovina ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    So we departed Singapore late last night after an hour or two in the international lounge admiring more of Singapores aesthetic craziness and general interesting people and shops. Our Swiss Air flight departed on time and we spent the full flight in darkness as we crossed Asia, the middle east and Europe. Managed to sleep on the flight and watch Ghandi the movie to pass the time. Food was a decent beef stew with polenta and a mango mouse for dessert. Swiss beer was awful and coffee was OK.
    We landed in Zurich to a gorgeous Swiss morning. The airport was crisp and clean but not over the top. Food and drink was expensive even by airport standards - Switzerland is meant to be one of the most expensive countries and it's easy to see why!
    Zurich airport made for a nice change in interesting people and accents, definitely a distinct culture change from Singapore and after a croissant, coffee, juice and a few rounds of 500, we caught our plane to Athens.

    As I write this I am gazing at the stunning Swiss Alps with their towering sharp peaks and beautiful river laden valleys. Snow and small villages dot the mountainsides and they disappear beneath us.
    To my left at the moment is Austria and Hungary, soon to be Croatia, Bosnia and Albania; all viewable on this stunning morning. To my right lies Italy and the Mediterranean and ahead the Adriatic sea.

    Touchdown in Athens should be in an hour or so, should be interesting.    Read more

  • Edward SmallEurope 2015
    Day 12

    Athens Day one

    September 3, 2015 in Greece ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    I'm a little late in writing up this entry as a lot happened in the space of 1 day.

    We flew in over the sea and many Greek Islands before approaching Athens over Aegina, the island 30 miles off the coast where we will be spending most of our time in Greece. It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky even from 36000 feet up and a crystal blue water without the fainted ripple on it's surface. The city of Athens stretched out like a blanket over the Greek countryside encompassing all but the highest mountains and most sparse plains with beautiful terraced white houses as far as the eye could see.
    Navigating the airport was quick and simple; customs was as much a joke as it was non existant .. same with Singpore: not even a security guard to be seen.

    The taxi ride was long through the city and to our hotel, including stopping for "gazolini", but we weaved our way through the tight compact little Greek streets with no trouble. Checking into our hotel was easy and our rooms are lovely: top floor looking over the pool area and - although at a stretch on the balcony - the Acropolis and Parthenon. We also have long view across Athens with houses piled one behind the other seemingly endlessly. We were greeted with iced water and plesent air conditioning, which we quite some relief from the 35 - 40 degree heat.

    We left our hotel to wander around the markets and find a bite to eat. After a long peruse over many shoe, clothing, spice, souvenir, incense and bead shops we found ourselves in a large Greek taverna. We ordered food, a simple moussaka and some stuffed vine leaves, and proceeded to have a near hour long raised and heated argument about how much money we were spending and how everyone was contributing.. it ended very badly and I nearly walked out, packed my bags and booked the first flight home no matter the cost. It was awful. Everyone was left with a sour taste and a foul mood afterwards. It was hard to admire the stunning Byzantine churches that we explored and the bustling city afterwards whilst everyone was fuming and forcing bitter conversation.
    The obvious answer to this of course was to find the most expensive and beautiful bar in the most expensive and beautiful hotel looking over the whole of Athens from the highest vantage point, excepting the Acropolis, and order the strongest and most expensive cocktails I've had in my life. The mood after that - coupled with jetlag - made everyone just have to go straight home and to bed but after half an our or so of stewing in my room, I decided to leave the hotel and have an evening to myself.

    I wandered down the road and found the first taverna I could, immediately went through the menu, ordered food and beer and indulged. It was glorious. Just myself with lovely service, lovely food in a lovely place.
    I had deep fried squash balls, filled with flavour and aromatic herbs, beautifully seasoned with a generous portion of tzatziki on the side, followed by a prawn dish (which I cannot recall but with try and locate) in a kind of thin stew with capsicum and tomatoes, garnished with delicious feta and with a perfect Greek feel to it. This was accompanied by delicious complimentary bread, and finished off with a free palate cleansing plate of watermelon. BELLISIMO (or the Greek equivalent). The food as excellent, just what I had imagined and desired the food to be: nothing tacky, nothing over or under done, nothing just to appeal to tourists and nothing over priced. Less than 13 euros for a very filling and delicious meal with drinks was perfect. I could live here very happily.
    From there the night ended, I returned to my room and slept, waiting for a new - and hopefully better - day.    Read more

  • Edward SmallEurope 2015
    Day 13

    Exploring Athens

    September 4, 2015 in Greece ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    Our second day dawned bright, hot and cloudless as the day before, yet with a heightened anticipation of fun and exploring. We left our lodgings after a quick shower and plan and headed down the road to find the closest coffee and breakfast we could. We came across a small roadside cafe where Dmitri brew up 3 of the finest, shortest espressos we are sure to have all trip. As we sipped our coffee we chatted with the locals and firmed up our plan for the coming few days.
    We moved on to breakfast which turned out to be just a few minutes up the road and another few away from the Acropolis. Through a mixture of pointing and sign language we managed to order 3 servings of cheese and spinach crepes and 3 orange juices. The juice was freshly squeezed and delicious while the crepes we gentle, filling and lightly flavoured; rustic and satisfying. It was thoroughly enjoyable just watching Greece go past, with basil bushes lining the roads, trucks and bicycles zooming by and friendly people muttering "calimera" (good morning) on their way past.

    Onwards we went up to the Acropolis, baking our way up the few hundred metres to the summit where the Parthenon and other temples, ruins and ancient artifacts reside. It was HOT, and with no shade and nowhere to rest there were many complaints from my traveling companions. I tried to block it out and take in and admire the incredible history of what I was looking at, and the incredible views over the whole of Athens, Pireaus and out to sea.
    From the Acropolis we had lunch at it's accompanying museum just down the hill and viewed more historical artifacts and reconstructions of the ancient Parthenon - all of course within the safety of air conditioning. It was both interesting and enjoyable, while lunch was another authentic and odd experiece. I had wonderful little pikelet pancakes with thyme honey, tahini and grape molasses, Joy had a sesame bagel type bread roll with cheese, and Vernon had strange donuts covered in honey and pistachios: nice but cleaner frying oil and some contrasting fruit wouldn't have gone amiss. Afterwards we descended the streets into normal Athens and took the tube again back to our hotel.

     (Unfortunately my phone died up the acropolis so the centre part of this day I failed to document. However I may steal some pics from v and j and upload them later)

    Next stop on our day was the markets, which are deserving of their own entry in this blog, but which took up the majority of the afternoon and ended us up back at Syntagma Square (Parliament in Athens) and at yesterday's hotel for another cocktail. This one was not nearly as strong and harsh, but a floral and beautifully scented Lychee Martini, one of the nicest things I have ever drunk.
    From Syntagma we again took the tube home and went out to dinnner: my choice as I so highly recommended the small taverna I visited the night before. We were not let down and consumed the following: cheese, bread, fava bean dip, bread, prawn saganaki, meatballs, sausage with red beer stew, mustard chicken, bread, beer, sangria and some strange deep fried salty chocolate covered pancakes. Weird but excellent.
    From dinner we went to our hotel again for a final nightcap of hot chocolate whilst looking up at the illuminated Parthenon from the hotel's garden roof top restaurant and went onto bed. A decidedly better day than the one before.    Read more

  • Edward SmallEurope 2015
    Day 14

    Athens to Aegina

    September 5, 2015 in Greece ⋅ 🌙 27 °C

    Another day of travel and sorting out began again hot and dry. We descended the streets down to Dmitris for a coffee and some more friendly discussion, mostly political, with one of our friends from the previous day.
    From Dmitris, a quick tube ride with and interchange followed by another tube ride arrived us at Pireaus, the port town of Athens. Pireaus is a bustling port full of cargo, passenger and fast ships and ferries. We stopped for a cold drink as the temperature rose and I explored the various maritime shops that lined the streets. I managed to pick up a small folding knife both because it's handy to carry one round and also because one cannot have too many knives!
    From our coffees we went in search of the ferry office; a 15 minute walk left us sitting in the shade with homeless immigrants - we assume recently arrived from North Africa - begging around us. The first real sign of the huge social issues surrounding Greece and the immigrant problems of Europe.

    We boarded the ferry to take us to Aegina: a hydrofoiling high speed "flying dolphin" which was a fun, if a little bumpy, quick ride to the island. We disembarked and waited in whatever shade we could find for George to drop our hire care off to us. George was friendly and certainly perked up once learning that we were not from the UK but rather New Zealand "ahh good place!". George had seen much of NZ from his time as an engineer on big ocean going cargo ships.
    We drove (on the right) along the coastline to our little apartment motel in Perdika, a small town on the Western end of Island full of restaurants and fishing boats. We lunched on the waterfront in a small taverna. We had excellent baked mushrooms, baked peppers, stuffed peppers and tomatoes, souvalaki, and fried little fish. The baked mushrooms and peppers were roasted in a dish with heaps of different cheese, both halloumi and melty delicious stringy tangy cheese. The stuffed toms and peppers looked good but I didn't taste them, with the souvalaki nice and highlighted with an excellent garlicy tzatziki. My little fried fish were just what the menu said: fried little fish. To be eaten heads and all, slightly crispy and fried with just a dusting of flour, very nice. All washed down with beer, Coke and Fanta.
    From our restaurant we meandered along the waterfront gazing at the water, rocks, distant islands, churches and general passers by. I got once again more and more frustrated at the argumentative, put downy, arrogant manner in which conversation is often had these days so I decided to walk ahead of the others and sit on the waterfront by our car for 10 minutes while I waited for them to catch up. We went from there to a supermarket to quickly pick up some general groceries and returned home. The night was spent relaxing, eating melon and drinking pomegranate juice in my room. Another grumpy and not all together happy end to what should've been a lovely day.    Read more

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