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Paris Olympics + more Europe
  • Kadi Kaljuste
  • Brad Ciccarelli
  • Kadi Kaljuste
  • Brad Ciccarelli

Paris Olympics + more Europe

Paris, Vienna, Budapest, Slovenia and an organized tour of the Balkans もっと詳しく
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  • Paris Olympics + more Europe
    Promenade beside the river
    Alexander the Great statue though he has no connection to North MacedoniaThe statues are hugeMany statues are fountains4So. Many. Statues.2The bazaar

    Skopje, North Macedonia

    2024年8月18日, 北マケドニア ⋅ ☁️ 35 °C

    We left Bulgaria this morning to travel to the North Macedonia’s capital, Skopje. The border crossing in this case was far more routine and didn’t take us three hours like the last crossing. It was another hot day, but that didn’t stop us. It’s a modern city juxtaposed to an ancient bazaar, where Turkish influences persist.

    What’s astounding about Skopje is the seemingly endless number of statues in the city. They’re everywhere. Frankly, there are so many it’s kitschy. This article gives an explanation:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/19/world/europe…

    Once we were done our tour we checked into our hotel and quickly went out again to explore the bazaar area on our own. We then went back to the hotel to relax before dinner.

    Getting to dinner was a bit of an adventure. Seven of us got stuck in the hotel elevator!
    None of us had noticed the four people maximum sign before it was too late. It was just like in the movies where the elevator made a peculiar sound and a bit of a lurch. We knew something was quite wrong. Sure enough, Brad, and another of our group, Tony, managed to wedge the door open and determine that we were in fact between floors. After about 15 or 20 minutes, the hotel staff managed to get us out by having us hop down through the opening. Such excitement!    もっと詳しく

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  • Paris Olympics + more Europe
    Lake Ohrid area for lunch
    Struga, North MacedoniaTiranaA nuclear bunker from communist timesThe clock towerColourful buildingsResurrection churchInside the church

    Lake Ohrid and Tirana, Albania

    2024年8月19日, 北マケドニア ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Today we left Skopje and travelled to Lake Ohrid for lunch on our way to Tirana, Albania. Lake Ohrid straddles the mountainous border between the southwestern part of North Macedonia and eastern Albania. It’s one of Europe's deepest and oldest lakes. It’s a popular vacation destination.

    Crossing the border today was easy. But traffic in Albania was brutal. It took far longer to get to Tirana than we had expected. We’re learning that traffic problems in the Balkans are as bad or worse than any we experience in North America.

    Once we arrived in the city we had a walking tour. It’s a colourful, growing city that has advanced quickly since its communist government fell in 1981. There’s a feeling of optimism and momentum here that has me wishing we were here for another day.    もっと詳しく

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  • Paris Olympics + more Europe
    The Adriatic Sea
    2Entering Kotor old townThe cliffsClock tower1Brad, Stephen and moiChurchKotor Bay

    Montenegro

    2024年8月20日, モンテネグロ ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Montenegro is a small, mountainous country with a population of about 600,000 on the Adriatic Sea. The landscape is spectacular.

    We visited Kotor and its Old Town which is medieval and beside a beautiful bay near limestone cliffs. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can learn more about Kotor here:
    https://www.britannica.com/place/Kotor

    After enjoying Kotor, we got on the road again and headed to the border to enter Croatia and ultimately check into our hotel in Dubrovnik. Getting over the border was once again an ordeal and took us about 90 minutes. Can’t wait to explore Dubrovnik tomorrow.    もっと詳しく

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  • Paris Olympics + more Europe
    If you're a Game of Thrones fan, this may look familiar
    At the entrance1Entering the old townNarrow streetsBeautifulNotice the fill in between the posts so men couldn't see women's anklesLovelyRestaurants and cafes everywhere

    Dubrovnik - Day 1, daytime

    2024年8月21日, クロアチア ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Oh my! What a spectacular city! (We’re not Game of Thrones fans but we understand that this is a big deal place for fans of the series.)

    Starting with our hotel room, we have a balcony with a lovely view. The city has excellent public transportation and is soooo walkable. Two thumbs way up in our books.

    But it’s the history and architecture that captivates. It’s a place where you can’t stop taking pictures. You turn a corner and there’s another beautiful shot.

    This morning, our group went on a tour of the old town and learned a great deal about the history of Dubrovnik as well as Croatia in the larger context. Once that was over, Brad and I did some wandering on our own and had lunch at one of the many restaurants in the old town. It was hot but we decided we’d walk back to the hotel which took about an hour.    もっと詳しく

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  • Paris Olympics + more Europe
    Old town in the background
    City walls2Busy as in the dayInspired by the Spanish Steps, this staircase was the walk of shame in GofT1

    Dubrovnik - Day 1, evening

    2024年8月21日, クロアチア ⋅ 🌙 27 °C

    We met our friend Stephen for dinner before the three of us returned to the old town for an evening walking tour. The old town was just as busy as in the day and quite lively. It was beautiful to see it in the evening.もっと詳しく

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  • Paris Olympics + more Europe

    Dubrovnik - Day 2, Wall Walk

    2024年8月22日, クロアチア ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    The old town of Dubrovnik is surrounded by a wall and completing the Wall Walk is one of the highlights of a visit here. It’s a ticketed site and costs €30 per person. Fortunately, we were aware of the Dubrovnik Pass which cost €35 and includes access to a number of museums as well as public bus rides. Brad, Stephen and I had bought our tickets yesterday so we were ready to set out early in order to avoid the heat later in the day. So glad we did!

    It takes about 90 minutes to complete the two kilometre circuit allowing for plenty of photography stops. At times the walls are as thick as 6 metres (20 ft) and, in certain sections, reach heights of up to 25 meters (80 ft). It’s a LOT of climbing up and down stairs. We found ourselves getting quite hot and we started our walk at 8:15 a.m. Can’t imagine what it would feel like to do it later in the day.

    The views are spectacular.    もっと詳しく

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  • Paris Olympics + more Europe
    Museum
    1One of the oldest continuously operating pharmacies in the world dating from 1317Climbing up to the fort1Still climbingThe view from the summit2Mimicking a young woman we saw posing, likely for InstagramView with the wall we walked earlier

    Dubrovnik - Day 2, museums and fort

    2024年8月22日, クロアチア ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Following the Wall Walk, we took a refreshment break, visited a couple of museums and then the fort - Fort Lovrijenac - that’s famous with Game of Thrones fans (including Stephen 😉). By now, it was 31 degrees Celsius and the climb up to the fort was a lot but worth it. The views from there were even more spectacular than those from the Wall Walk.

    It was midday now and simply too hot to continue being outdoors so we grabbed the bus back to our hotel. As luck would have it, we missed our stop and ended up having to do a 15 minute walk, which exhausted us further. 🥵 We found an air conditioned restaurant and had a leisurely lunch before heading back to our rooms to rest before heading out to dinner this evening.    もっと詳しく

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  • Paris Olympics + more Europe
    The alleys to the bridge are stone and give quite a foot massage
    It was busyCrowds crossing the bridgeView of Mostar from the bridgeMore crowds1Bridge in the backgroundIt's a coffee country1The bridge1Scenic drive to Sarajevo

    Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

    2024年8月23日, ボスニア・ヘルツェゴビナ ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    We left Dubrovnik this morning and crossed the border into Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our first stop was in Mostar, a city in the south straddling the Neretva River. It’s known for the iconic Stari Most (Old Bridge), a reconstructed medieval arched bridge. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can read more about it here:
    https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/946/

    We were welcomed by a local guide who led us through Mostar’s alleys full of shops and market stalls as well as over the famous bridge. Brad, Stephen and I had a casual lunch and were happy to return to the coach. The temperature had climbed to 38 degrees Celsius!

    We followed the scenic route to Sarajevo between mountains and through numerous tunnels. The scenery is spectacular.    もっと詳しく

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  • Paris Olympics + more Europe
    The building
    View from the living room windowThe mother in law serves chicken soup. Her son in the backgroundThe soupThe spreadBaklava dessertBosnian coffeeZara playing on a mobile phone. Universal😉2The family

    Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

    2024年8月23日, ボスニア・ヘルツェゴビナ ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    After checking into our hotel in Sarajevo, we had a bit of relaxation time before going to a Sarajevan family’s home for dinner. We were split into groups of seven and went to a Tito era high rise to meet our host families. We were matched with a woman named Selena and her seven-year-old daughter Zara.

    The building looked like you’d expect a communist era building to look like: concrete Brutalist. Selena lead us into the building which had no lobby to speak of. When you walked in, it was into a hallway with rudimentary elevators. We then entered their unit which appeared to have three bedrooms and a combined living/dining room adjoined to the kitchen.

    The table was beautifully set for us and we learned that Selena and her mother-in-law had prepared our dinner. On the menu: chicken soup followed by meat and rice stuffed grape leaves (dolmades) meat and rice stuffed zucchini, onions stuffed with meatballs, mashed potatoes, a cabbage salad, and filo pastry filled with meat, called burek. Everything was delicious.

    Selena spoke fluent English and told us she had learned from watching English television and films. We learned that she had two other children - Sara, 18, (who we met briefly) who is studying travel and tourism and a son who is 17 and away at a private school because of his athletic ability in football. The apartment they live in is owned by the mother-in-law who bought it before the war. Selena said she was eight years old when the siege/war started and remembers every day of that period. She recounted her as well as her mother in law’s experiences. Their resilience, determination and optimism was inspiring.    もっと詳しく

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  • Paris Olympics + more Europe
    This family home was the gateway to the tunnelWhere mortar has killed more than 3 people, a "Sarajevo Rose" is painted 😢Our guide on the left travelled through the tunnelTunnel entrance todayThe tunnel has been "cleaned up" for tourists

    Tunnel of Hope, Sarajevo

    2024年8月24日, ボスニア・ヘルツェゴビナ ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Today we visited the Tunnel of Hope, a tunnel constructed between March and June 1993 during the Siege of Sarajevo in the midst of the Bosnian War. It was built by the Bosnian Army in order to link the city of Sarajevo, which was entirely cut off by the Serbian forces, to territory on the other side of the Sarajevo Airport, an area controlled by the United Nations.

    It was about 800 metres long, one metre wide and 1.60 meters in height. Small rails and wagons were set up in the tunnel for easier transport of goods and people. It was the only way in and out of Sarajevo during the war. Our guide travelled through the tunnel with her mother when she was nine. Can’t even imagine.

    “During the nearly four-year siege, 11,541 civilians, 1,601 of whom were children, were killed, while more than 50,000 were injured, records show. According to estimates, an average of 329 mortar shells were fired on Sarajevo every day, with more than 500,000 bombs dropped in total.”    もっと詳しく

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  • Paris Olympics + more Europe
    St. Sava Church
    1The interiorThe floorsBombed buildingKalemegdan FortressMilitary equipment display in the fort's moatThe FortAt the FortOn the promenadeThe promenadeMarina, our tour director and Nicolas, our driver, at the farewell dinner

    Belgrade, Serbia

    2024年8月26日, セルビア ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    We had a morning tour of Belgrade and visited St. Sava Church and the Kalemegdan Fortress, situated at the junction of the Sava and Danube rivers. Belgrade still exhibits signs of the NATO forces strikes back in 1999 with shells of bombed buildings in the city centre. There’s a lot of construction going on here as the city continues to rebuild after the war.

    Following the tour, Stephen, Brad and I wandered around the promenade and had a leisurely lunch. By afternoon, the temperature had climbed to 38 degrees Celsius and it was time to get back to our hotel to cool off, relax, and get ready for the farewell dinner marking the end of our Balkan adventure.

    This tour of the Balkans has been eye-opening. We didn’t know much about this part of the world and didn’t really know what to expect. What we discovered are countries with complicated histories, spectacular landscapes and architecture, and kind, friendly people.    もっと詳しく

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  • Paris Olympics + more Europe
    Final selfie at the airport

    Homeward bound

    2024年8月27日, セルビア ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Time to head home now after our more than month-long European adventure. It’s been amazing and will certainly take us some time to process all that we’ve seen and done since we left home on July 24..

    And just to make things interesting, Air Canada cancelled our flight last evening, but thanks to our rockstar travel advisor, she had us rerouted via Portugal through Lisbon in no time. We’ll still be home this evening.

    Our friend Stephen is continuing his travels for another couple of weeks and we had time to say goodbye to him at the Belgrade airport before he boarded his flight to Prague via Vienna.    もっと詳しく

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  • 旅行の終了
    2024年8月27日
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