Tag Archives: Local food

Food Tasting in Lima, Peru

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FullSizeRenderAn early morning flight from Quito brought us to Lima mid-day. After settling into our hostel, Kokopelli, we attended to our laundry, visited a supermarket, and had an early night watching a movie from our portable library. We had a slow start the following morning while planning our stay in Lima and our upcoming month in Peru.

Hostel Emergency

Just as we were gathering our things for an afternoon walk, Will said that we had to go in a rushed tone. I looked towards him at the window and saw smoke billowing past. As we quickly gathered our valuables (passports and electronics), I opened the door to find hostel employees rushing through the halls with fire extinguishers. Continue reading →

Indulging in Brasov, Romania

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View from Tampa

Our train arrived in Bucharest after a five hour mid-day train from Veliko Tărnovo. We walked to our hotel, Villa Romana, and were surprised to find a locked door with only a phone number. Because we don’t have working phones (which is becoming very annoying) we had to find one to borrow. A salon next door was closing but luckily we were able to catch one of the employees. When I called, the receptionist asked why we didn’t coordinate a check-in time as requested on the booking confirmation. We were then instructed on how to enter with a hidden key and told which room to occupy. While waiting for the receptionist to arrive and collect our payment, I re-reviewed the email and saw the unusual request hidden amongst the regular jargon that booking.com sends. They obviously don’t make it easy to find because another couple had the same issue a few hours later (and we were able to help them by using google hangouts since we were then on wifi).

Also while waiting for the check-in process to complete, Sara looked at a lonely planet guidebook that was available in the room. We planned one night in Bucharest but otherwise had no idea what we wanted to do in Romania. The guide confirmed Continue reading →

Ancient Exploration in Athens, Greece

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North Slope of the Acropolis

Arriving at the Athens Central Station after a bus and train from Patras was underwhelming. Instead of a typical large majestic station like we’ve seen in other European cities, it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. There were only two tracks next to a tiny station building. At first, I thought we were in the wrong spot till I saw the faded station name hanging on a sign. Our place for the next three nights, Hotel Neos Olympos, was a short walk from the station in an aging Victoria’s style building.

After we got settled in our room, I was itching to explore the ancient ruins Continue reading →

Traveling in Circles near Kosice, Slovakia

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Our plan for the day was leave the High Tatras early and visit Spissky Hrad, one of the largest castles in Eastern Europe. After visiting the castle, we would take an evening train to Kosice where we would spend a night before making our way to Budapest. Unfortunately, the day didn’t go as planned.

We took the train to Spisske Vlachy which is the closest station to the castle. From there, we saw online that a bus runs every couple hours to Spisske Podhradie where we could walk to the castle. After hopping off the train, we realized that we were in the middle of nowhere and the station was minimal. The station attendant didn’t speak English, but after she pulled out an English-Slovak translation book I managed to communicate that we wanted to store our bags. She pointed to the back office Continue reading →