FranceProvence-Alpes-Côte d'AzurSaint-Paul-de-Vence43°41’51” N 7°7’17” E
September 11, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 82 °F
What we did:
- Started the day off with a touristy spot for crepes! The crepes were not anything to write home about, but scratched the itch. We then took a Bolt over to Cap Ferrat for a walk, or as Joe says “hike” around the cape. There is a massive harbor full of yachts and beautiful billion dollar homes that line the cape. It is opulence at its best! We strolled around the cape for about an hour and grabbed a lemonade before heading back to the Airbnb for a quick turnaround before our afternoon tour.
- Jenna had booked us a wine tasting and medieval town tour. The shuttle picked us and two other couples up (oddly one couple was from Chicago and the other from Kansas City - so it was a very midwestern shuttle)! We arrived at a small family owned winery for a tasting of 6 wines. All wines were delicious we tried a couple of whites, an orange, a rose, and a couple of red wines.
- Jenna and Steph bought a bottle of rose for the group to drink when we got back. We were then shuttled to a small medieval town call St. Paul De Vence. We walked around the old cobble street town and stopped in shops before grabbing a couple of sangrias outside the city walls with a view at Restaurant La Sierra. We were then shuttled back to the Airbnb.
- While everyone got ready for dinner we drank the Rose and played a couple rounds of Euchre. We then headed up the street to a local Lebanese restaurant. We were first sat outside at an edge table and for a good 30 mins had no waiter, before some drunk stumbled nearby and started violently puking and farting. Appalled, the group moved inside and requested a waiter. Joe subtly dropped that his Dad is from Lebanan and Bam! we immediately became first class diners with super attentive service. Joe picked up one of their pitas and based on the floppiness and weight instantly declared the restaurant legit and actually imported from Lebanon - as a pita stickler, this was a big win! Food was delicious.
- We then ran into the Chicago couple from our wine tour on the way back to the Airbnb. Both groups tried to unsuccessfully avoid eachother before saying quick hellos and goodbyes.
What we ate:
- Crepes at Creperie Suzette
- Quick salads from Healthy salad
- Lebanese food at Le Socrate. Lebanese wine, pita, lamb, and chicken brochettes, Taboule and other things that only Joe knows
Fun facts:
- There is a large Lebanese population in France, and therefore lots of Mediterranean, middle eastern, and Lebanese type restaurants! This was a must during our time with Jenna and Joe.
- The buildings in St. Paul date back to the 16th and 17th centuries.
- Orange wine is a new “trendy” wine. Wine enthusiasts don’t really know what to do with it because it doesn’t have a set profile to correctly categorize those wines other than the “orange” color. In other words, when you order an Orange wine it could have an entirely different flavor, acidic profile, and alcohol content than another orange wine and is therefore hard to say that it’s truly its own category, unlike a rose or red or white.Read more
September 12, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 79 °F
What we did:
- BOAT DAY!!! Woke up and grabbed bagels on our walk to meet our boat driver Cyrille. Had the boat from 10am - 6pm. Absolutely the best day of our time with Jenna and Joe with sunny 85 degree weather, good company and great drinks (shoutout Joe with the John Daly's).
- Captain Cyrille was super laid back and his boat was awesome. Turns out he lives on this boat during the summer while his wife and three year old daughter stay back at his house in Beaune. Wild lifestyle. He was going to a tradeshow the next day to try and trade his current boat in for a new one that was one meter bigger… his goal was to do that enough times to end up with a yacht
- The captain took us all along the French Riviera from Nice to near Monaco with two great swimming stops along the way. We stopped in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat harbour (the cape that we walked around the day before) and Villefranche. The Mediterranean water >>>. So clear and buoyant it was amazing floating around admiring the hilly coastline and stacks of super yachts in the harbor
- The captain had a paddle board for the group to enjoy, resulting in the chaos of us all trying to get on the board at the same time. Confirmed Trent has zero balance or athleticism as he made everyone crash into the water on each attempt. The captain also had masks for snorkeling through the schools of blue fish.
- After the boat, the group all showered and headed to the old town in Nice for dinner. We attempted to go to Chez Memer, a restaurant recommended by our wine tour guide, but it was closed. Steph found The Rossettisserie nearby which specialized in French countryside food. We spent a majority of the dinner trying to teach Trent how to say “Merci”. It appears Trent is unable to say it without a southern accent (see video). Jury is still out on whether or not he has it down at this point - I guess we will find out when we return to France in a month!
- We enjoyed a nightcap of wine and Euchre at the apartment with another Jenna/Joe win. Jenna/Joe - 2 and Steph/Trent 0.
What we ate:
- Bagels at Steinglold bagels
- Delicious Homemade sandwiches with fresh French bread, pesto, tomatoes, avocados, and assorted deli meats
- Dinner at The Rossettisserie. Trent got the mixed grilled meat plate with mashed potatoes (potatoes on Steph’s request), Steph got the beef plate with ratatouille, Joe got the lamb plate with ratatouille, Jenna got the vegetarian plate with potatoes and ratatouille.
Fun facts:
- Trent and Joe decided they don’t want, but in fact need, to be rich as the superyachts and super villas are just so enticing. Business plan to be released winter of 2023. Stay tuned folks, angel investors will be welcome.
- The houses on Saint Jean Cap Ferrat are 90,000 Euros per square foot! Paul Allen and soccer legend Zlatan live there. The coast is full of celeb homes including Brad Pitt, Elton John, Bono, Tina Turner, and many many more.
- The world’s third most expensive home is in Villefranche. The Villa Leopolda in Villefranche is valued at $750M. Built for a prior king of Belgium it’s now owned by the banker Edmond Sofra.
- One of the super yachts we saw had a second massive boat that is the “toy boat” to hold all of the super yacht's playthings. Very casual...
- 300 days of sunshine on the French Riviera a year. Feels like Chicago has 300 days of clouds.Read more
MonacoCommune de MonacoLa CondamineRocher de Monaco43°43’53” N 7°25’23” E
September 13, 2023 in Monaco ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F
What we did:
- Last day in Nice with Jenna and Joe! We wanted to explore some of the other towns along the coast so we got up at what we thought was a good time, but ended up running to make our train. The train was PACKED! Each time we’ve taken the train through the south of France it has been super crowded with tourists. Took the train a few stops to Èze where we were planning to hike up to the medieval town. However, it was very hot that morning and upon seeing people lining up for a bus to get up to town, we tried to get a Bolt to the top. All Bolts cancelled on us and any other busses weren’t going to come for another hour or so, so we pulled an audible and hopped back onto the train to Monaco.
- Steph and Jen got in a little tiff this morning, largely due to the fact that Steph was promised coffee and food and received none - Yay for sisterly bonding! Easily brushed aside once we arrived to Monaco. Monaco is small but beautiful! It also makes you feel incredibly poor. We walked through gardens, scenic viewpoints, flashy cars, and of course the Casino! After about an hour and a half of walking around, it seemed we had seen everything so we stopped for a drink at Horizon rooftop bar. We ran into the couple that we did wine tasting with (this was the second time we ran into them) and we determined that they were both failed bachelor/bachelorette applicants. We then continued to walk around until lunch at Cafe Milano right on the harbor to view all of the yachts that Trent wants to buy.
- We then hopped a train to Cap Martin and took a couple mile walk around the cape to view Monte Carlo from afar and see some of the gorgeous estates. We took a Bolt up to the Maybourne Riviera for happy hour drinks. The most insane views of Cap Martin and Monaco with some great drinks! We then continued our heavy transit day by hopping in another Bolt to circle our way back to the medieval town of Èze.
- This was an awesome town full of picturesque shops, Ivy covered stone, and towering barrier walls. It started to rain so we made our way back down to the bus stop. Jenna and Joe proved they were more “stable” than Steph and Trent after both of us almost took a tumble down the damp stone stairs. We took a bus and subway back to our Airbnb in Nice and did a quick turn around before stopping at Taverne Masséna for some French delicacies!
- Rounded out the night with some wine and Euchre back at the Airbnb.
What we ate:
- No breakfast due to our inability to get it in Éze, but great drinks and snacks at the rooftop bar at Horizon!
- Lunch at Cafe Milano. We got a starter of calamari and fried zucchini strings which were delicious. Steph, Trent, and Jenna got different types of pizzas (Diavola, Ham & Burrata & Pistachio, and Caprese). Joe got the gnocchi.
- Drinks at Shilo Bar (see fun fact)! Trent got an old fashion (shocker), Steph got a glass of Pinot noir (very original), Jenna got a glass of Sauvignon Blanc (also typical), and joe got a dirty martini to go with our bowl of olives.
- Dinner at Taverne Massena for classic French fare! Shared a giant pot of Moules Frites and a side of escargot. Trent got the duck, Steph got French onion soup, Jenna and Joe split a salad and a pizza.
Fun facts:
- The hotel bar at The Maybourne Riviera Joe has nicknamed “Shiloh Bar”. This is the bar that Joe’s sister and her husband had the restaurant bake a cake to reveal the gender of their first baby, which a few months later ended up being baby girl Shiloh! We referred to the bar as “Shiloh bar” for the entirety of the trip.
- Steph still doesn’t like escargot. Shoutout Jackie for forcing Steph and Trent to eat escargot at a French bistro one night in Chicago when they were plastered. Steph hasn’t recovered since the escargot made a “return trip” that same evening.
- Èze was built 400m above sea level and provides great views of the riviera. The buildings in the village date back to the 14th century.
- At dinner they gave us chili oil for the pizza. Trent wanted to “try” the oil, so he proceeded to give himself a giant spoonful. Needless to say Trent was crying for the next 5 to 10 minutes. Needless to say Steph was smug about the consequences of Trent’s actions.Read more
CroatiaDubrovnikUvala Modra Spila42°38’54” N 18°5’8” E September 14, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F
What we did:
- Early wake up to catch our flights from Nice to Frankfurt to Dubrovnik. Took a 30 minute bus from the airport to our place in the walled city of old-town Dubrovnik to arrive around 2pm. Such a cool old looking town!
- We showered and headed out to wander the city a bit. Grabbed delicious Croatian tapas for a snack and then of course stumbled into a bar. Buza bar was built across the layered edge of a cliff with entry through a hole in the city wall. Top notch vibes in the packed bar as we drank croatian beers, listened to the Frank Sinatra music, watched swimmers cliff jump and enjoyed watching the sunset. Couple hours well spent!
- We wandered around some more, grabbed a great dinner in the alleyway and then called it an early night for some much needed sleep. This city is incredible when lit up at night and under the calm of no cruise ship passengers.
- Slept in until 10am (man that felt good) and grabbed a Croatian breakfast before doing a 2 hour walking tour of the city. The history of this place is fascinating (can’t even begin to summarize in the fun facts) and we loved our guide. There were three obnoxious girls that we pegged were from Jersey but were actually from Chicago and really made us question ever going home…
- Grabbed some refreshing drinks at a calm viewpoint outside of the old town walls. Nice and relaxing after the chaos of Old Town midday overtourism.
- Our eating/drinking tour continued with sushi/oyster lunch and then our favorite gelato place yet. We then took an our hour long sunset cruise around the coast and islands. With a mix of clouds and insane coloring we voted this our best ocean sunset together!
- Capped the day with dinner in this vibey courtyard with high old walls, well done greenery, cool lighting and live music. The stark difference in waiters between France (rude, aloof, SLOW) and the Croatians (smiling, friendly, super-attentive) was so noticeable. We loved Dubrovnik - the locals were great, food delicious and overall such a unique city!
Where we ate: (use a ton of generous adjectives but seriously the food was amazing here)
- Tapas bar Alamaka for Croatian tapas including smoked salmon, local sausages and cheeses and the best spicy stuffed peppers we’ve ever had
- Ozujko beers at Buza bar
- Mediterranean Asian fusion dinner at Azur was 🔥🔥🔥. Delicious thai curry, spicy chicken tacos and porky belly Donburri paired with Croatian white wine
- Breakfast at Cafe Festival. Cappacinos, great Croatian omelettes (salmon, bacon, sausage and veggies) and croissants with apricot jam. Despite that wild mix of food the omelets were so gooood.
- Drinks at Fratellos Prosecco bar called a Fratellos Hego (basically a mojito Spritz). Highly recommend!
- Bota Sare Oyster and Sushi bar. Incredibly fresh oysters from the renowned Ston region, local Tuna sushi and delicious local Amberjack whitefish Ceviche.
- Best creamy gelato of the trip at Peppinos. Trent had chocolate and hazelnut while Steph did toffee and creme brulee.
- Dinner at Rudjer. Great meal of squid ink cuttlefish risotto and dish of beef cheeks with mixed veggies.
Fun facts:
- City of pigeons and cats! These community cats are legit everywhere, with little houses built throughout and hundreds of them just roaming the streets and restaurants. They are all descendants of cats introduced in the 14th century to catch and kill the rats responsible for the bubonic plague, so are super well respected and revered.
- The history of Dubrovnik is fascinating and could fill paragraphs on all the information. It was historically one of the top three wealthiest cities in ancient times and has had so many historical events since. Once it’s own democratic state (a feat at the time), it was involved with the Ottoman and Venetian empires, Napolean, and in and out of Croatian/Yugoslavian politics. It was heavily damaged during the 1990’s wars against Serbia (people were pissed they bombed a UNESCO site). It has land borders on all sides by Bosnia and Montengro so it isn’t actually connected to the rest of Croatia.
- Dubrovnik has been determined to be the most over crowded tourist city in Europe (tourists per square area) and at this point is not doing anything to curb this. Other areas in the world are charging fees or limiting cruise ship disembarkments to fight the overtourism, but the money is so far too enticing. Our sunset cruise guide said he grew up playing soccer at any hour of the day in the main roads of old town, which now is legit packed wall to wall tourists and unfathomable to ever play soccer in. He said extensive advertising of the city in the early 2010’s, coupled with tv/movies filmed here (see below) has transformed this place in the last 15 years. He said September is the much calmer season and besides the throngs of cruise ship tours during the day, we really didn’t have any issues.
- This is the location for Kings Landing in Game of Thrones, with many tour’s dedicated to the show. We enjoyed noticing all the iconic shots on our own. Robinhood, Star Wars, Captain America, the upcoming James Bond, and others also have been shot here.Read more
CroatiaSplitsko-Dalmatinska ŽupanijaHvarOtočić Pokonji Del43°10’4” N 16°26’58” E
September 16, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ 🌩️ 79 °F
What we did:
- Early wake up to catch our 6am - 10:30am ferry from Dubrovnik to Hvar Island.
- Super impressed and excited once we got there! Hvar downtown is a unique looking town nestled in the hills with stunning views of the greenish/blue water around it, and exceptionally clean. Caribbean vibes but much nicer!
- Hung at the Hvar Beach Club on our oceanfront lounge chairs from 11 - 6. Great relaxing day alternating between reading, jumping in the water, drinking croatian beers and just relaxing. This is the good life! Felt like an all-inclusive minus the all-inclusive $$ part. Another instance of the fantastic Croatian service we have been receiving since arriving in the country.
- Enjoyed the sunset on our Airbnb patio and then wandered around the lit up Saturday night party town (even in offseason) before enjoying dinner in a quaint alleyways
- Slept in and then met our captain for our 10:30 - 6pm speed boat. We just can’t get enough of being on the water; boats >>>. Incredibly relaxing and fun day bouncing around the islands and different beaches with 8 total swim stops. Also pulled up to a picturesque cabana lunch spot midday for fresh caught seafood. Favorite stop included a very small sandy beach since most of the beaches on the coast are rocky. All in all great day!
- Debriefed on the day over a dinner of burgers at a cool bar bumping nostalgic 2000’s rap. Trent was greedily formulating plots to convince his friends to come here for his bachelor party
Where we ate:
- 1st day Lunch oceanside at our Hvar Beach Club. Tough commute from our lounge chairs over to the gazebo to enjoy our Croatian/asian fusion burrito and chicken satay. Broke down and had a lounge chair snack of fries (so much for our goal of limited drinking and no fries on this trip)
- 1st day Dinner at Fig Hvar. Alleyway tables serving Mexican style burritos for both of us. So good and a much needed palette refresh of new spices after so much seafood (such a first world problem and a bit blasphemous to even say)
- Eggs and coffee at the apartment for both breakfasts
- 2nd day lunch at Bacchus (only accessible by boat) for caprese salad, fresh caught red snapper and seafood pasta. Needed a last taste of oceanside seafood!
- 2nd day dinner at Lola Bar for good burgers and fries! Needed something lighter after gorging at lunch
Fun facts:
- We saw dolphins AND flying dish during our boat day. Truly magical!
- WE DON’T WANT THIS TRIP TO EVER END. Sorry family and friends, once StephSnaps goes viral we are retiring to a nomad travel lifestyle and will live off the social media clout. Brains are permanently on “out of office” and we couldn’t even do accounting or tech consulting if we tried right now.
- Hvar is one of the central stops for the now world renowned “Croatian yacht week” where thousands of 20 year olds drop $7-$10k on renting beds in a caravan of 50+ yachts. You basically sign up and the company assigns everyone to boats and you just party for 7 straight days. Most of the time is actually spent docked vs sailing.
- The bar Carpe Diem is open from 1am to 5am every night and is only accessible by a 10 minute water taxi from Hvar town.Read more
CroatiaSplitsko-Dalmatinska ŽupanijaGrad SplitVranjicVisoke Širine43°30’44” N 16°27’40” E
September 18, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ ☁️ 82 °F
What we did:
- Morning workouts to sweat out the boat beers and then caught 10-11am ferry into Split.
- Walked through town to check into our hotel in the heart of a college campus, navigating through pods of 20yr old girls gunning cigarettes. It ended up being such a nice boutique hotel! We contemplated just spending the day in it
- We did venture out and grab some fresh salads for lunch and then walked for two - three hours around the harbor, oceanside parks and beaches. Steph relived memories of her and the Buda crew roadtripping over here junior year and cliff jumping into the ocean. This time around we read books on an ocean front bench for an hour… we’re still hip and fun we promise!
- Grabbed some big Croatian beers and Aperol Spritz’s (see we’re still hip and fun) at a harbour front cafe for a while and watched P Diddy’s massive yacht pull in (you can lease it from him for $400k a week). Good to finally see where all our summer paychecks spent on Ciroc ended up
- Jenna and Joe landed around 5 from their bus-train-plane trek from Lake Como so we showered and met them on their apartment rooftop for pre-dinner wine. Still can’t believe we happened to be in Split on the same day!
- Had an awesome time at dinner catching up on our four days apart and reliving the good times in Nice!
- The group debated calling it early given activities the next day, but psh life’s short and when are we going to be in Croatia together again. To another bar we went until midnight-ish for more big Croatian beers and you guessed it - Euchre. Steph and Trent finally got a win! Such a great itinerary surprise to see them again!
What we ate:
- Coffee and chocolate croissants on the ferry
- Salads at Restaurant “Feel Green Healthy Food” - could not be a more literal interpretation of the consumption our bodies needed at this point. Thank you Croatian-english
- Bokeria Kitchen and Wine for dinner. Couple bottles of wine, Bombolini and Burrata apps with melt off the bone lamb skewers and risotto dinner.
Fun facts:
- We saw many bars across Croatia with “fun” included in them as a very literal translation to nab tourists. Names such as “Charlies - Fun and BBQ pub”gave us a chuckle every time
- Our first lodging mix-up…we knew it would happen at some point during our 3 month trip (fingers crossed it’s the first and last time)! Had it booked for the wrong week, but luckily we were only staying one night and Trent was able to find a much better hotel for a cheaper price! Yay for same-day booking!
- This marks the end of our month on the Mediterranean and Adriatic coasts. Goodbye ocean, sun, Aperol spritz, and warm weather! Hello autumn, sweaters, red wine, and BIG beers!Read more
CroatiaLičko-Senjska ŽupanijaMukinjeCrni Vrh44°52’7” N 15°36’17” E
September 19, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F
What we did
⁃ Woke up at 7am feeling alive after our big Euchre victory, despite the 5 hours of sleep and pounding hangovers trying to convince us otherwise. Easily our most comfortable bed so will say peeling ourselves out was not easy.
⁃ Took a Bolt ride to the airport to pick up our rental for the next 8 days - upgraded to a nice Jaguar SUV! The boujieness continues
⁃ In classic "us" style, we were trying to overcommit and hit both KRKA and Plitvice national parks today. Also, in classic "us" style we ended up behind schedule and decided to just do Plitvice. The two are supposed to be very similar, with KRKA being a little smaller and more crowded.
⁃ We did a three hour drive and then couple hour hike of Plitvice which was incredible! Consistently surprised with how pretty each new location is. Glad we haven’t gotten desensitized to the amazing views yet. The wooden pathway trail weaves through and across a series of greenish blue lakes and forest waterfalls. Such a cool walk! Will let the pictures do it justice.
⁃ Very happy that its shoulder season as this place would have been absolutely chaotic with tourists. As it was, we had to bob and weave around 7 busloads of Asian tourists taking pictures of every leaf and squirrel along the way
⁃ We had a couple hour drive into the seaside town Rijeka to crash. First and last time we’ll let ourselves drive these roads in the dark but we made it! Nothing bad happened at all, just tough navigating croatian road signs and one-ways at night.
⁃ Picked up some Thai food to eat in the room (very nice room!) while we tossed on some Netflix and crashed real early.
Where we ate
⁃ Hungover Trent ate a bag of chips for breakfast before getting out out of bed. Grabbed some bars and fruit for the road trip breakfast along the way
⁃ The night before we picked up sandwiches from “Sandhich bar Rizzo” in Split
⁃ Dinner of takeout thai from Sabai - Pad Thai, cashew chicken and suuuuper spicy thai curry. Most spice we’ve had all trip and loved it! Feeling alive again
Fun facts
⁃ On our drive we felt like in the span of two hours we went from Florida to Wisconsin. Our Mediterranean/Adriatic days are over! Welcome to fall and changing foliage
⁃ BAC while driving is 0% if under 25 and only .05 if above it!Read more
SloveniaObčina BledMlinoLake Bled46°22’15” N 14°6’18” E
September 20, 2023 in Slovenia ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F
What we did:
- Woke up at 8:30 and walked to grab breakfast down by the harbour to savor our last snippet of ocean. Rijeka in the light is a cool very liveable town!
- Aaaaand after that things went downhill a bit. We were due for a day where we botched and here we had it. The plan was to drive 3 hours to Triglav national park in Slovenia and do a gorgeous 4-5 hr hike.
- Breakfast ran long then we got an urgent notification on our car to increase the “AdBlue” which they use to reduce the emissions on our diesel car and obviously required frantic googling and a gas station stop with help from a fortunately very nice Croatian man. Turns out it’s not harder than refilling windshield wiper solution. We then had to stop for a special Slovenia toll pass and then hit 1-2 hours of parked traffic around the capital.
- All in all we didn’t make it to Lake Bled until 2ish and had to settle with not doing the big hike. Definitely bummed but hey we were due. Sleeping in was our choice
- We checked into our hostel and probably safe to say Slovenia has nicer jail facilities. But hey with clean sheets and only small spiders it was still better than Daniel’s place in Interlaken 🖕
- We did a small hike of “Vintgar Gorge” (a top hike to do) that was nice! Good little salvage of the day as we walked the canyon trail of blue water. A bit overhyped but good to get moving after the long drive
- Walked over to the beautiful Lake Bled and called Sally to catchup! Great views of the famous island while we watched the sun set and planned for our upcoming trip! Definitely starting to feel like fall here!
- Capped the night with a traditional Slovenian restaurant. Trent was so pumped to order his 1st steak of the trip….which came out almost blue.. the waiter never came back and Trent was too nervous about being rude in their culture to say anything. A bit of an awkward billpay when the nice waiter saw the uneaten steak. Trent grabbed a burger next door and we passed out early - not our day but still better than a day at home working!
Where we ate:
- Breakfast at “GRAD Eat drink and mingle”. Trent had a Salmon poached egg sammy and Steph had an omelet.
- Lunch sandwiches from a market by Lake Bled
- Classic Slovenian dinner on the patio at Osterija Bobi Zob. Delicious local red wine, Steph had lamb/dumpling stew and Trent ordered the aforementioned uncooked steak. Good layered cake for desert. Trent grabbed an amazing burger at “Mega Burger Bled” so didn’t go to sleep hungry
Fun facts:
- We went on our first date 5 years ago from today! Beers at corridor brewery - fond memories of being the last people in the bar and the workers having to ask us to leave. Now as we know Trent didn’t ask Steph to officially be “boyfriend and girlfriend” for another 7 months as he didn’t realize a formal convo was needed. So we sort of have two anniversaries now
- Triglav national park is 4% of Slovenia as it’s the only national park in the countryRead more
ItalyVenetoCortina d'Ampezzo46°32’24” N 12°8’11” E
September 22, 2023 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 52 °F
What we did:
- We were looking at some dicey rainy days for our next few days in Cortina, so got up early from Lake Bled and road-tripped about 3 hours to capitalize on some better weather that day. Drove directly to our first hike in the Italian Dolomites, and one of the most popular hikes, Tre Cime di Lavaredo. It was a mostly sunny day and the drive was very pretty through small Italian ski towns and the Dolomiti National park. We stopped at a small Italian hotel for a hot meal before taking off on our hike.
- This hike is a circuit around 3 high peaks of the Dolomites. It felt like there was some elevation but we determined we likely weren’t higher than 8,000 feet. The clouds really came in at this point and so we didn’t get too many views of the peaks, but we did get a lot of wind and some rain! The hike was about 4 hours and of moderate difficulty, so it was great to get the legs moving again! Our first experience with Italian Refugio’s, there is one about every 1-2 miles in the Italian alps due to the many different trails you can take. This was a pleasant surprise for us compared to the Chilean Refugio’s in Patagonia which were every 7-8 miles (also very nice for bathroom and beer breaks 😊) - safe to say Italy wins the Refugio game.
- Made it back to the car and drove to our hotel. Great to be in hotel again after our prison cell of a hostel in Lake Bled. Found a nice Italian spot for dinner, split a bottle of wine that sent us to an early bed time!
- Got up the next day to a lot of rain which was expected. Had breakfast and tried to figure out how to maneuver our hikes to fit with the best weather. We ended up driving an hour away to an alpine lake with a short hike. Lake Braies is pegged as one of the most beautiful lakes in Europe! Turquoise blue lake surrounded by pines and mountains. We think that the cloudy day made the lake look even more blue than normal! We did the hour hike around the lake in some drizzly rain and then found a really great Tyrolean restaurant close by where we warmed up with some Italian/German food and wine!
- Headed back to the hotel and called Brian for his birthday - the big 60! Caught up with Helen and Brian and wished them well on their fun IU weekend. Headed down to the hotel restaurant for one of our best meals in the Italian alps!
- We got an early start for another popular hike in the area Croda Da Lago. No rain on the forecast today and the sun was trying to peak through so it was a great start! This hike wasn’t as populated as some of our others, so it became a quick highlight of the trip! Hiked 2 hours to the Croda Da Lago Refugio, grabbed lunch and some drinks before heading down the way we came. The sun came entirely out at this point and we were able to see all the surrounding peaks and the whole town of Cortina D’Ampezzo. We then set off for our next Italian Alps town - Ortisei in Val Gardena!
What we ate:
- Grocery store pastries and coffee in Lake Bled.
- Hotel Restaurant lunch near Tre Cime: Trents discovery of the Tyrolean speciality - Speck and Eggs! Essentially potatoes, prosciutto, and eggs. This will be the first of many times this dish is ordered (for all three meals of the day). Steph got spicy garlic pasta, also a huge hit for Trent to Steph’s delight!
- Il Vizietto di a Cortina - Rustic Italian restaurant with wine bottles everywhere, sat right next to the window of the kitchen to watch them make homemade pasta! Split a burrata salad, Trent got a pasta with speck (speck is EVERYWHERE in South Tyrol), and Steph got a risotto with speck. Split a bottle of wine from the local region - a Trentino red.
- Breakfast at the hotel both mornings - hard boiled eggs, pastries, fruit, yogurt, coffee
- Lunch near Lake Braies at Trattoria Mosslhof Alto Adige. Trent got (you guessed it!) speck and eggs! Steph got pasta with speck. Starting to see a trend here? Yeah me neither…
- Dinner at hotel restaurant, Dolom’eats all’Aquila. The most amazing charcuterie we’ve had in this region. Great meat and cheese, hard pass on the fried reindeer meat. Trent discovered a new meat that he was absolutely loved until he found out it was just lard. We split a steak and salad - both great! The wine was a big hit with Steph. They had a Coravin that allowed for cheaper glasses of wine from very nice bottles. Trent and Steph each tried a different local red - both were fantastic! We couldn’t decide which we liked better.
- Lunch at Croda Di Lago Refugio. Speck and cheese board with a side of fresh apricot pie! Trent got a beer and Steph got a red wine.
Fun facts:
- Cortina will be holding the 2026 Winter Olympics. On our way back from dinner the first night Trent saw a poster and said “wow they are really getting ahead for advertising the Olympics”. Steph looked at said poster and pointed out that it was an advertisement for Audi. Trent insisted it was an Olympics advertisement and googled the images only to be proven wrong. The advertisement was in fact for Audi and not the Olympics. Better luck next time, Pohlman.
- Italy reintroduced the brown bear to the Italian alps in 2000. There are now over 80 brown bears, mostly in the northeast region of the Italian alps. A brown bear had killed an alpine runner a few months earlier in that region which sparked a hot debate on the safety of both humans and brown bears. There is now a political push to relocate the brown bears to a different region that would be farther away from populated areas, a move which would be extremely costly for the Italian government.Read more
ItalyTrentino-Alto AdigeUrtijëi46°34’32” N 11°40’18” E
September 24, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 61 °F
What we did:
- Mid afternoon, after finishing up our Croda da lago hike, we started on our way to Ortisei. Super cool couple hour drive through the mountains in the Val Gardena region as we drove through valleys and quaint little ski towns. Absolutely pouring rain for the last 45 minutes though so tested that Jaguar 4WD. Steph may or may not have left a permanent handprint in the passenger seat armrest
- Showered and threw in some laundry while the rain let up. Then wandered the town and grabbed pizza at a local hotspot that Trent voted his most satisfying Italian pizza yet (jury’s out if that was due to hunger or truly superior redsauce)
- Slept in a bit the next day and then rode the “Seceda” mountain gondola from town for a 4ish hour beautiful hike. Weather ended up gorgeous as we traversed the top of the mountain, winding across valleys and rock fields with some of the most expansive views of the mountain ranges around us yet. Great refugio halfway through for you guessed it - more beers and food. Big success! Mountains are sick.
- Grabbed dinner at the same spot as the night before (2nd time we restaurant double dipped of the trip) and capped the night with some local wine at a vibey wine bar. Italian wine withdrawls are immement for Steph.
- Earlier wake up to hike “Alpe Di Suisi”, again taking a funicular from town to the top. 75 and sunny so could really see the surrounding mountains on our 4 hour loop trail. Felt like we were straight out of “Sound of Music” as we crossed the grassy alpine meadows, just a bit less frolicking and singing. Hit another refugio for food/drinks and vibes halfway through.
- Grabbed our car in town and headed to Austria!
Where we ate:
- Dinner round 1 at Mauriz Keller - two redsauce meat pizzas (Trent’s favorite pizza of the trip). Fresh off her Coravin success in Cortina, Steph ordered another and it was possibly the single worst wine ever produced - think overaged apple cider vinegar infused with syrup
- Refugio Firenze for lunch 1 - We split another dish of Speck, eggs and potatoes with Italian beers
- Dinner round 2 at Mauriz Keller - Trent got a mixed meat platter and Steph delicious pasta. This place rocks
- Refugio Rauchhutte for lunch 2 - Steph had “Kaiserschmann” which is a delicious cross between a funnel cake and Swedish pancake. Trent with delicious cheese and speck pasta
- Breakfasts were just breakfast bars and hotel coffee
Fun facts:
- Cortina and Val Gardena are rated the top two ski resorts in Italy
- Lots of life planning conversations and time for thinking on these hikes. Scary stuff but hey tranquil mountains are good for that. This trip had been the perfect reset for us!
⁃ 1. We decided that our apartment will be in either Bucktown or Lincoln Park and will be the long term apt we have until we go to the suburbs so need it to be nice (two bed, two bath, garage parking, in-unit, lots of windows). No more moving!
⁃ 2. We are going to lease a car (Jeep Compass or Honda passport) instead of buying because owning in the city will destroy the car and lets us both get new cars when we eventually move to the burbs
⁃ 3. We identified a wedding venue that we really want and almost justified putting $7k down sight unseen to guarantee a good date but decided that was reckless and we’ll visit at home…
⁃ 4. We decided our home lifestyle of always being in a hurry/stressed needs to get more controlled. Starts with waking up and working out before work (know our fam laughs at us waking up early) so we can study, cook and hang after work. We’re doing it!Read more
