This Guy - King of Mykonos Edition

This guy is some kind of celebrity DJ/MC in Mykonos at Tropicana Paradise Beach - which is considered the best beach bar in the world (maybe a bit of a stretch).  Check out that bathing suit!  There were some guys from Abu Dhabi at the club and he shouted Abu Dhabi every 3.5 minutes into his mic.  Good times.

This Guy - Mykonos All-star Edition

 I don't know who this guy is, or where he came from, but for the better part of an hour, Kristin and I fixed our gaze upon him.  He had the moves of a nimble sex-crazed ogre.

Fleeing Central Europe for Mykonos

The winter came to Vienna, and we fled.  We boarded a plane early on a cold morning with what appeared to be flurries hovering in the sky and flew straight for Greece, where the temp doubled, and we traded clouds for sun.  All around, it felt like the right thing to do.

The horse who loved me - Lipizzaners in Slovenia

We visited an area of Slovenia known for their Lipizzaner horses.  The horses are just incredibly beautiful and the breed began in the Karst region of Slovenia in the 1500's.  The horses are typically used for dressage, which is pretty boring to watch, but once you get into it, it is nearly impossible to think of anything else.  Or so I am told.  The horses are rare and expensive.

Anyways, we were passing this small farm, and for whatever reason, this horse saw me, got incredibly excited, and sprinted over to say Hello.  It was as if he had waited all of his life for me to arrive at his gate. He looked that excited.

Furmonsters of the day - Showdown edition

What you lookin at punk

Exploring the tiny town of Rovinj, Croatia

Rovinj is a small fishing port in northenr Croatia that has been a part of just about everything from the Byzantine Empire to Venice, Austria, and Italy.  As such it is a colorful outpost, surrounded by the sea with an old church tower as the centerpiece and narrow lanes for getting lost.

The goodness of Demel

Demel makes the best sweets in the world.  We stopped by and ate a few things, and it did not disappoint.  Earlier in the trip I promised an older Austrian man that I would visit Vienna for a year, but I had to also promise that I would never look at a bathroom scale.  Now I know why he said that.  The desserts here are exquisite.

Le Cru Champagne Shop in Vienna

This is a cool little shop in Vienna that only sells champagne.  That's it.  They specialize in single grape small-batch "microbrews" from estates in France.  We were a little intimidated to enter in our rain suits, but we found warm service and were even offered free tastings, even though we insisted that we were leaving Vienna to soon to drink any champagne.

Figlmüller's perfect schnitzel in Vienna

On the recommendation of numerous people, including my grandparents and an Austrian man with a perfectly curled grey mustache and a penchant for British racing, we decided to try Figlmuller during our visit to Vienna for a heavy lunch. 

After riding the subway all over Vienna for free, we saddled up next to these meaty disks the size of generous pizzas.  The schniztzel was served simply with a lemon.  The schnitzel has been served here for over 100 years and every serving is violently pounded to a thickness of 30mm.  The Austrian emperor roll is used for the bread crumb breading and is perfectly crispy and light.

Furmonster of the day - Crap my pants Rovinj edition

This Black Russian Terrier looked really sweet and cool, so Kristin and I approached the owner and dog. That is when the dog left out a growl and we realized it was possible a death eater.  "He no like people."  Indeed, indeed. 

Greatest travel guide store ever - freytag & berndt

We stumbled upon this store in Vienna.  It was all travel guides, travel books, and maps.  It was like some kind of mecca for Kristin and I.  We did not even know such places existed.  At one point a sales associate came up to me and asked, "Can I help you?"  I just stared off into space and replied, "No."

Budapest at Night

Cruising the Danube with my grandparents and Kristin was an incredible experience.  As the lights fade, Budapest transforms from a city to a city bathed in gold.  Above is the Parliament building looking as if it is covered in 22kt gold leaf.

The photography of Budapest

After spending 3 days in Budapest and eating goulash and paprika chicken way too much, I have decided that it is a great place.  The Magyar language is difficult, so much so that I am convinced paying my parking ticket will be harder than getting a phd.  Aside from the odd waiter who gets thrills out of withholding bread, the Hungarians are incredibly nice and helpful.  The wide boulevards and immaculate architecture exceeded expectations so much that upon arriving in Vienna I was disappointed.

We left Hungary for 5 days in beautiful Slovenia, but before we start sharing, here is a bunch of Hungary.  Tomorrow, I will share my night photography of Budapest, which I believe is some of the best stuff I have ever done.

This guy

Being Blue/Cute

Dancing Street Lamps in Budapest

Every now and then, I take a picture, look down at my camera, and just smile.  This is one of those pictures.  From the pink paint brush like strokes in the sky to the couple who you can barely make out on a bench to the to street lamps that appear to be dancing with each other.  I just love this picture. 

 It was taken from the Danube river at sunset in Budapest.

Budapest Opera House

Seeing a symphony at Budapest's old Opera House felt like transcending time and arriving back in some old world Budapest.  We were delighted by Wagner and other composers and the maestro finished the night with one of his own pieces, which led to what seemed like 30 minutes of clapping.

Old Jaguar in Budapest

 Old Jag in an old city in near perfect condition

The Jaguar

Szentendre shopping

Szentendre is a small quaint town just north of Budapest known for shopping and historic buildings.  Since my grandparents came to visit Kristin and I, and my grandmother loves to shop, we decided to just go straight in to the belly of the beast and go to this tourist shopping mecca on our first full day in Hungary.

Moose Wine!

Moose Wine!

The best thing I never ate

I don't even know what these things are, but good god, why did I not eat them?  The funny thing about going through pictures at the end of each day is that I see stuff that I totally missed out on.  Like these breads topped with heavenly goodness.

Kantin Budapest - Hungarian cuisine

Before hitting up the Opera house in Budapest, we dropped into this simple restaurant called Kantin.  They offered a brilliant 3 course menu with a bunch of great Hungarian options.  We really enjoyed it.

A strange antique shop in Szentendre, Hungary

We stumbled into this great shop in Szentendre, Hungary that had very old things.  Furniture from 1700's France, ornamental ivory swords, strange religious paintings from other worlds, and some kind of tusk from an arctic marine mammal from 1860 (Narwhal?).  It made me appreciate commerce. My favorite stores are the ones where I have no idea what I am going to get.  This place was as weird as it gets.

Arriving in Budapest

HDR - From Buda, looking out at Pest

We finally arrived in Budapest after an uneventful drive from Slovakia.  Truth be told, I do not even remember it.  We scooped up my grandparents at the airport and headed for our hotel in Pest - Hotel Palazzo Zichy.

Exploring the great Bratislava

We landed in Vienna and picked up our wheels at Sixt. Blazing across Austria at 95mph while listening to Old Dirty Bastard, we approached Bratislava.  What is Bratislava?  I really had not thought about it much before.

It ended up being one of the coolest cities we have ever visited.  It is a very quirky place with bizarre statues and people dressed in odd costumes amidst an old town center that fells perfectly preserved.  Several partiers lined the streets of old town.  The town was well stocked in  bachelor parties, bachelorette parties, and drunk goons watching Dortmund-Bayern square off in the Champions League final - on fact, it was as though all of old town was one big party.

This Guy - Slovak edition

I was trying to take a picture of this weird old modern thing, and this guy waked into the frame, slipped a hand into his pocket, and smirked a great Slovak smirk - great photobomb buddy!  He even winked at me afterwards.

Bratislava castle and the best chicken ever

The gates

These guys - Bratislava

Passed out in the park after a rough night

The old Slovakian mining town of Banská Štiavnica

The past whispers of grandeur have faded on the streets of Banska Stiavnica.  Heavily mined since the 3rd century BC, the Slovakian town of was once a hotbed for innovation and mineral wealth.  A massive source of gold and silver for Europe in the middle ages, the mining town was home to  a number of firsts.  It was the first mine to use gunpowder and the town housed the first technical school in the world.  Today, the old town is mined out and exists simply as a perfectly preserved medieval town, left as it was in its heyday.

Granted Unesco status in the early 90's, the old city square surrounds a gigantic plague column that looks like a strange art deco version of the eye of Sauron.  So what to do in such a place?  Wander.  Aimlessly.

We loved exploring this strange town and its surroundings, and, we had some bad pizza while watching 30 seconds to Mars videos in a little pastry/pizza shop.

Cumil the watcher, the missing paparazzi, and other weird statues in Bratislava

Bratislava has a number of strange statues.  There is this guy peeking out a manhole.  Another is a French soldier resembling Napoleon on a park bench.  There is also a guy tipping his hat commemorating an old Bratislava resident.  One of the most famous statues - The Paparazzi - was missing when we visited.  After looking for about an hour, we found some evidence of where he once stood, but we never figured out where he went.

The path to Njegos Mausoleum atop Mt. Lovcen

The road was too wet, the winds too strong, and the rains too hard.  As we ascended Mt. Lovcen in a beat down Skoda with our great driver "John" aka Cizmovik aka Clutchmaster Supreme, we decided to head back down, failing to reach our summit where the old prince bishop of Montenegro was put to rest - Petar II Petrovic-Njegos aka the Shakespeare of Montenegro.  We gave up halfway up the mountain.

As we went around the mountain, our driver stewed, feeling more guilty with each km.  He wanted us to see the top sight in Montenegro, so he made another run at the mountain from the other side.  He assured us that we would not miss our flight later that day and tossed the taxi meter out the window.

Budva, Montenegro from above

 Budva held like a cup by the Montenegros

Climbing the mountains behind Kotor

 After waiting small eternities for the skies to clear so we could climb the fortifications behind teh ancient city of Kotor, we found a few hour window to make the climb amidst cloudy skies and a tough beginning to the day.  While I did my morning routine just fine, Kristin was really dragging.  She managed to spill Cheerios all over our sink and accidentally put her pants on backwards.  I remember thinking, "yup, that's my climbing partner."

Of course, it was more of a pace up a few thousand steps than a true climb.  The weather was less than ideal, but the views were dizzying.

Kotor at Night

 The Kotor waterfront with the black mountains behind it - the black walls mark the sea gate wall

Dining at Galion in Montenegro

Galion is the best restaurant in Kotor, so we had to eat there.  The main dining room is built over the bay of Kotor surrounded by Mediterranean fjords (above).  It is dramatic and the food is absolutely perfect.   The meal blew our minds.

We liked it so much that we asked for a reservation the following night, and they declined us because we were dressed like slobs.  Our server was gracious the entire night, but we were dressed like we had been exploring in the rain all day, which we had been.  He said in broken English, tomorrow is very busy., maybe not come. 

That said, I would eat there again - it was that good.

 Rolls the size of donut holes

 menu 

 Fresh catch 

 Salad 

 The best, I mean the best, risotto ever 

 Montenegro steak

 The Saint Pierre fish in truffle with polenta and pesto = heaven

Dessert

The greatest sandwich ever

Tarifa, Spain 2008.  I ate the best sandwich ever much to the ire of my brother.  It had traveled to two continents prior to being consumed.  It was a foot long and about 1 inch wide.  It was a weird little sub, long on flavor and perfect in its simplicity.  I think it was filled with egg and cheese, but who really knows for sure.

I don't even remember.  I trudged back to my time capsule of a myspace page to read the old blog about this sandwich.  Information is scarce and I could only find a few lines.  How good was that sandwich?  I may never know again.  If I ever invent a time machine, then I will investigate this before I tell my old self to stay in college for a few more years.  Oh wait, I already did that.

Rain in Kotor, Montenegro

Some places you can just look at on a map, and by some combination of location and name, you know they will probably be really cool.  Such is the case with Kotor.  Cradled by the black mountain fjords of Montenegro and sitting at the end of a long and dramatic Mediterranean bay, it is a place of fiction come alive.  It is also a place of rain.  Of our 4 days in Kotor, it rained for 4 days.  During our visit, Kotor had the highest rainfall in Europe. Yay.

Still, we loved our time with this strange old city.

The story of Sveti Stefan

Beginning as a Muslim fishing village in the 15th century known as Divic, Sveti Stefan has undergone a series of peculiar makeovers in the last 500 years.  It was built to defend against invaders, similar to Dubrovnik.  It housed Adriatic pirates for a number of years, while also protecting against them.

Budva - The Russian Riviera of Montenegro

Heading south along the coast of Montenegro, we came upon the strange city of Budva.  For some reason, wealthy Russians have built Budva into a home away from home, and it is a strange and in parts beautiful place.  We saw totally chrome Audis, Lambo Aventadors, and all manner of other luxury brands - most driven by Russian looking men.  

The harbor is filled with yachts.  There is no shortage of upscale restaurants. But, the place is sort of this weird dicothomy of run down 80's Yugoslavia and nouveau riche Russia shipped in morsels into Budva.  So while some buildings decay, others are built up unchecked.  It is a weird place, especially around the beach outskirts.

Stormy Perast in Montenegro

Too often we travel by plane.  It is fast, but we miss the transitions that connect one place to another.  The ride from Dubrovnik to Montenegro was all about transition.  We began in decent weather and passed into storms as we drove through "no mans land" - and area spanning the border between Croatia and Montenegro.

The coast line changes in Montenegro to the largest Mediterranean fjords in the world.  The black mountains rise out of the dark emerald waters, and small villages and roads delicately hug the coastline.  It is incredible that this is coastline at all.  With the storms and lack of open water, it is an easy point to forget.

Leaving Dubrovnik, Croatia

Leaving Dubrovnik was like leaving a friend's house too early.  But at least we were able to leave.  Croatia's national airline was on strike, stranding many in town.  We left by car, hugging the cliffs, piloted by Olga heading south for Montenegro - Black Mountains.

We left behind Croatia and its 4m Croatians, 1200 islands, and perfect water for a country we knew little about.  Here are some final pictures of Croatia.