Category: Europe

Categories
Europe France

Nice is Nice

Once I had finished exploring Monaco, I headed back to Nice to celebrate the New Year! I didn’t have any particular plans – I headed into town to figure out dinner and drink some champagne, and then I went down to the beach, where there was a crowd of people gathered for a countdown and some fireworks. I’m usually with friends for New Year’s Eve, not out in public, but there was something really special about celebrating with a bunch of strangers. And then after it was over and I was walking back to my hotel, everyone was cheering and wishing each other “bonne année” in the streets. I loved the experience.

The next morning, I went on my own unofficial walking tour around Nice! I started with breakfast near the famous rocky beaches.

Nice is beautiful. It was a really nice city to just walk around in. I imagine it was a bit quieter than normal, given that it was both New Years Day, and the winter season more generally. I would absolutely return in a different season and spend more time across Southern France.

When I was looking up places to explore, I did find an unusual place in Nice. Welcome to the Cathédrale Saint-Nicolas de Nice, which is a Russian Orthodox cathedral! It was built with in 1912 and mostly paid for by Tsar Nicholas II. They named the street where it was built after him and had a plaque honoring his contribution. They also honored one of the Romanov children who died in Nice and built a statue of him near the church. The church is officially owned by the Russian government after a long legal battle in the French court system.

Once I’d explored the cathedral, I made my way to the metro so I could visit the other side of the city. This is the area with the marina, as well as a short hike to a viewpoint.

I loved the views of Nice from above! It was pretty windy but absolutely worth it. The park up at the top of this hill was cool, too. There were Odyssey-themed mosaics on the stairs and near many of the lookout areas.

Once I had gotten back down to street level, it was time for a late lunch and a quick stop at my hotel to pick up my backpack. And then I was off to the next part of my journey!

I loved Nice. Within Southern France, I’ve spent time in Nice, Monaco, and Marseille, and I would definitely say Nice was my favorite of those three. I would love to go back and base myself there and explore more of the region, because it seems like there are so many beautiful places nearby. But no time for that now – it was time to board my train for Marseille so that I could fly out to Algiers the next morning!

Categories
Europe France Monaco

The Principality of Monaco

I booked a trip to Algeria shortly after the New Year, and when I was looking at my flight options, Marseille was one of the best places to catch a flight to Algiers. So I headed to Southern France to visit one of the European microstates I haven’t been to yet: Monaco!

Originally, I was going to stay in Monaco, but as it turns out, you can’t just book a last minute hotel in Monaco for New Year’s Eve unless you want to spend a medium fortune. So instead, I based myself in Nice and took the train over to Monaco to do some exploring. It was an easy 30 minute train ride. If I’d had more time, I would have liked to visit some of the other towns along the coast – I’ve heard great things about Èze, but I also hadn’t been to Nice before this trip and I opted to spend some time exploring that city instead. (More about Nice next week!)

For me, part of the excitement of visiting Monaco was the Formula 1 connection! While today, the cars are so wide that it is undoubtedly the most boring race on the calendar, it has been so important to the history of the sport, and the race through the streets of Monaco has created some of the most iconic images of Formula 1. I was excited to see the marina in real life, and find the famous hairpin turn, and see the Prince’s famous car collection.

It was also so fun to be there during the holidays. The area near the marina had become a Christmas market! European Christmas markets are one of my favorite things in the world, so it was nice to get a chance to go to one while I was there. There were still plenty of decorations up all over Monaco.

Beyond Formula 1, the main things that Monaco is known for are the Monte Carlo Casino, and more generally, being wealthy. It was particularly interesting to visit within a year of when I had visited Las Vegas, as these are both sort of the cities that gambling built. The house always wins, as they say.

I didn’t end up going beyond the entryway of the Monte Carlo. Frankly, I didn’t want to pay $20 to go gambling. I’ve been to casinos before and it’s not really for me. But it was an interesting people-watching experience. There were so many people trying to put on an illusion of wealth, photographing themselves with the fancy cars parked outside the casino or walking down the street in beautiful dresses. It felt so fake to me, in a way that I didn’t feel in Vegas. Vegas, for better and for worse, is authentically what it is, and most of the people I saw were living in the moment instead of trying to create content there. Maybe it’s Vegas’s reputation – “Sin City” and “What Happens In Vegas Stays In Vegas” are part of their core tenets. Vegas is also a more accessible kind of wealth. The kind of new money that Americans can dream of, whereas Monaco exudes exclusivity and old money. There’s more of an incentive to try to make it look like one belongs there.

Which is not to say that I didn’t enjoy my experience of walking around Monaco. It is a beautiful place. It was really cool to see the areas of Monaco where the Formula 1 race takes place, and it’s been on my list to visit for a long time. It’s a good inclusion on an itinerary in Southern France!

My visit to Monaco was a great way to end 2025! And the start to 2026 was pretty fun too – more on that in the next few posts.

Categories
Europe Malta

A Party in Malta

Just as the beginning of my trip was a celebration, so was the end! My parents and I headed back to the airport in Rome, and they headed home while I headed off to Malta. I was going there to celebrate a friend’s travel milestone. Alvaro, who runs Wander Expeditions, was about to visit every country in the world twice! He threw a big party in Malta. It also functioned as a sort of reunion for all the travel friends I’d met on trips with Wander, where I got to see people I’d met in PNG, West Africa, and my various other trips. It was so fun to catch up with everyone and meet some of the other travelers who I had heard stories about!

Our first full day, we did a boat tour. It was a bit of a rough start for me since I was hungover from the gala and bar hopping the night before, but once we were out on the water and I had rehydrated a bit, I had a great time! Malta is so beautiful. Fun fact, Valletta was originally used as King’s Landing in Game of Thrones during the first season, until the film crew didn’t take enough care and they were banned for future seasons. It was very cool to see the city and the coastline from the water, which is one of my favorite ways to see any place.

Every night, we would have a big dinner and then go out to the bars and clubs. As it turns out, Malta has some pretty fun nightlife!

The second full day started with a travel competition that Alvaro calls Wander Games. I was on a competitive team and we made it through all the team rounds, and then when the individual competition started, I was up against someone who had been living in Malta for a month, so she smoked me in the scavenger hunt. Still, it was a great way to see the city of Valletta as we rushed around following the clues.

After a hectic morning, I spent a chill afternoon at the pool before our last big night out.

All in all, it was an intense two and a half days. I did manage to see a lot of Malta, but more importantly, I got the chance to catch up with so many of the friends I’ve made in the last two years of traveling. It was a really fun experience. I definitely wouldn’t mind returning to Malta!

Categories
Europe Italy

Food and F1 in Emilia-Romagna

From San Marino, we headed up north! I had found a nice bed and breakfast, Sotto i Sassi, and we were staying there for a few days. It had looked nice online but it turned out to be even better than I expected – it was run by a man who had inherited the place from his grandfather, and turned it into a series of apartments and a bistro. It was clear from our dinner that first night that it was a labor of love! He came over and explained all the dishes to us, including what was available as a daily special, and the food was incredible. The bistro wasn’t available during the week, but we did eat there both times it was open during our stay, which was a dinner and a lunch.

One of the other cool aspects of the bed and breakfast was that it was located in a national park, so the scenery was gorgeous and the area around us was so peaceful. We didn’t have a very ambitious itinerary for this region. I had a chance to do laundry, and we had some time to really relax.

But we didn’t stay at the bed and breakfast the whole time! Our first outing was quick. We went to the grocery store, which is one of my favorite things to do abroad.

I also had signed us up for a tour of Imola! It’s one of two Formula 1 tracks in Italy, although it has been historically associated with San Marino to get around a previous rule that no country could have more than one race on the schedule. Interestingly, Imola was not on the calendar for 2025 and might not be in the foreseeable future depending on how the contracts work out with Monza and the new Barcelona track. Still, even if we don’t get to see another race around Imola, it’s got a lot of history and was really cool to see in person.

In the history of Formula 1, one of the most significant moments was one that happened at Imola: the death of Ayrton Senna. Senna remains one of the most famous drivers to ever be in the sport, and his death at the age of 31 in a high speed crash was a really dark moment for Formula 1. Imola has been the site of three deadly crashes, and one of the other two was the same weekend as Senna’s, which sent shockwaves through the sport. At Imola, there’s a whole section that is a memorial to him, with a statue and flags and notes from fans all over the world.

After our stop at the memorial, we took a bus ride around the circuit. What surprised me the most was how much elevation change there was in the 3 mile track. They talk about that on TV when you watch the race, but it was different to experience it, even if we were going at a much slower pace!

Once we had gotten back to the starting line, they took us through one of the garages and into the Control Room, which was super cool. It was fun to see all of the screens and imagine what it would be like during the race, when the FIA has to adjudicate various incidents and assign the penalties. They also took us to the podium and let us stand and take pictures on it!

Afterwards, we headed into Bologna to meet a friend of mine for drinks! I don’t have great pictures of the city because it was pouring rain, and we didn’t spend too much time there outside of when we met my friend. We did almost get trapped in a parking lot because we couldn’t figure out how to pay, and then by the time we did learn the process, the ticket had gotten soaked.

The next day, not content with the amount of Formula 1 activity we had already had, we headed to Maranello! Maranello is where the Ferrari factory is, and they have a beautiful museum about the history of Ferrari, both as a car brand and as a Formula 1 team. I’m not specifically a Ferrari fan, I tend to root for specific drivers over teams, but I of course was not going to admit that here!

We also had a chance to walk around Maranello a bit (partially because parking was crazy and we had to park quite a ways away from the museum). We had lunch there as well. The restaurant had exclusively Ferrari and Formula 1 themed decor, of course. There, we all had the chance to try various forms of tortellini, which is from the Emilia-Romagna region. My dad tried tortellini en brodo, which is a particular specialty of the area. It was amazing!

And of course, there was a Formula 1 race on the weekend while we were there, so we watched it on my laptop while we drank wine that we’d bought at the grocery store – no one can accuse us of not being true fans!

Emilia-Romagna was amazing. The food was so good, and outside of a few specific touristy activities where we were surrounded by Formula 1 fans on a similar pilgrimage as us, it felt as though we were outside of the traditional tourist trail. I would love to return to the region some day – I think there’s plenty still to see, and more importantly, to taste!

Categories
Europe Italy San Marino

The Microstate of San Marino

I find the microstates of Europe to be such a strange thing. The Vatican is one thing, but it’s so strange to me to see places like Monaco and Andorra and Liechtenstein and San Marino hold the small territory that they carved out through wars and border shifts over centuries. San Marino considers itself to be the oldest surviving sovereign state and the oldest constitutional republic, which is a pretty impressive feat!

We arrived and parked at the bottom of the hill, and then from there you can take a cable car up to the top where the city of San Marino is. Once we were up there, we had a chance to explore the city a bit. We also had lunch at one of the spots that has a great view of the surrounding area. It was probably the worst meal I had on this trip, but the views made up for the weaker food experience. It is so beautiful to look out over the landscapes of San Marino and Italy!

San Marino had an interesting experience in the 20th century. They declared themselves neutral in WW1, which put them at odds with Italy and led to some tension. They developed their own fascist party to try to keep themselves in Mussolini’s grace, but maintained that same neutrality during WW2 as well. They were bombed in 1944 because the Allied forces incorrectly believed that they had been occupied by Germany.

They also had the world’s first democratically elected communist government, which was in power between 1945 and 1957. These microstates seem to have these really fascinating parts of their history – no one is paying that much attention to them on the world stage, so they can kind of do whatever they want.

San Marino was a good detour if you’re in the region, but isn’t a place I would necessarily say you need to go too far out of your way to see. It does have some beautiful views of the surrounding area, though! It made for a nice stop on our way up to Emilia-Romagna.

Categories
Europe Italy

A Road Trip Through Umbria

After Warsaw, I headed to Italy to meet my parents! We met up in the airport in Rome and drove straight out into the countryside. I’ve been to Italy once before, with my cousin Megan, and the two of us did a very on-the-beaten path itinerary – Rome, Florence, Venice, Cinque Terre, Pompeii, Pisa. It was such a cool trip, and it was all of the places in Italy I’d always heard about. So this time, I took advantage of the fact that I’d already gone to the well-known areas and I planned an itinerary that was away from all the crowds. We were focused on one thing: finding good food.

For the first day, I wanted us to get away from the airport and the city right away, so we headed to Bracciano. It’s about 45 minutes from the airport, in the direction we were going, and I thought it would be a good balance of easing into the driving but still going somewhere more interesting than the area around FCO!

Despite trying to ease into the driving, my parents were a little overwhelmed at first with the experience of the Italian roads. The drivers can be pretty aggressive, and the narrow streets in the towns can make it more challenging to drive than the US. Nonetheless, we made it, and we found a nice place in town to grab a light dinner.

We stayed at the Hotel Villa Clementina, which was so charming, and they cooked us a beautiful breakfast before we headed out the next morning into Umbria! When we finished up with breakfast, we headed out to our next stop, Oriveto.

Orvieto was beautiful. It’s at the top of a hill, so we parked and then took a series of escalators up to the old town. From there, there are so many twisty medieval streets to explore. We went in a lot of local shops and stopped for lunch. One of the things that I love about Italy is the al fresco dining – it can be hot there, especially in the summer, but in the shade and with a breeze, it’s so pleasant to eat outside for every meal. We also saw the outside of their famous cathedral, although we didn’t end up going in.

From there, it was on to the main event! My mom has always had a dream of staying in a castle somewhere in Europe, and this trip seemed like the perfect place to do it. I found one near Perugia, called Castello di Monterone, and we stayed there for a couple nights.

It felt pretty magical to stay at a castle! It’s the kind of thing that you imagine when you’re reading fantasy books or learning about the history of royals. It had beautiful grounds, including a garden and an courtyard where we sat and had some drinks and some snacks. That first night, we had dinner at the restaurant at the castle, which was delicious.

The next day, we headed off on a tour. This was something I was super excited about – we did a cooking class and wine tour! We started at someone’s home for the cooking class, which was pretty amazing. Megan and I had done one in Tuscany, as a day trip from Florence, so it was cool to get the chance to compare and contrast. Italy has so many different regional culinary traditions. I think you could take classes all across the major cities and get unique experiences each time. I made pasta in both classes, but the one in Tuscany was flour and egg-based and this one was semolina and water-based. After we learned how to cook the pasta, the woman teaching the class showed us all the different ways it could be shaped, which was incredible. She could take a spoon and make it into some sort of perfect corkscrew that I can’t imagine being dextrous enough to shape. We made eggplant and stuffed peppers and pasta with asparagus and chicken, and for dessert there was tiramisu. It was so good!

From there, we headed to a winery for a tasting. The woman at the winery was so knowledgeable, and taught us all about Umbrian wine and the different regions across Italy. We got to try a lot of different varieties, and even got some to drink back at the hotel! It was such a good day. And the next day, we headed off to our next adventure – a whole different country, San Marino!

Categories
Europe Poland

Exploring Warsaw

I’ve been to Poland once before, back in 2014. I went on a class trip that visited Krakow, which was a really fascinating experience. After that, I’ve wanted to return and explore more of Poland, and especially Warsaw. Because the Croatia birthday party and meeting my parents were both set dates, I found myself with a couple days in between to make my way from Split to Rome, and the flights worked out for me to stop over in Warsaw!

I find their “new” Old Town to be very interesting – their original Old Town and the castle were razed to the ground in WW2 and so they rebuilt it to replicate it exactly. What’s funny is that if you didn’t know this in advance, there’s nothing obvious about their Old Town that would indicate that it was redone in the 1950s. They did a spectacular job making it look just as it must have before WW2. It matches a lot of places that you would see in cities across Central Europe.

To be honest, I didn’t do much in the way of “tourist” things in Warsaw. I went to cafés and wandered around, and I ate pierogis as often as I could. They’re so good there!

I did also make sure I went to go see the Palace of Culture and Science, which is another one of the most fascinating parts of Warsaw in my opinion. When it was completed in 1955, it was the eighth tallest building in the world, and it is really impressive with its art deco vibes.

The Palace of Culture and Science was a gift from the Soviet Union and was formally dedicated to Joseph Stalin. When I was reading the Wikipedia about it to make sure I didn’t miss any important points about it, I found a delightful anecdote on how they decided on the height of the building. They apparently decided that they needed to properly visualize it, so they sent a small airplane that was towing a balloon to fly over the city, and then the architects kept telling the plane to fly higher. It was finally set at 778 ft / 237 m high.

All in all, I had a very nice time in Warsaw! I think Poland is underrated – while it isn’t my top country in Europe, I think people often forget about it when they’re planning and it does have a lot to offer. I had a great experience in both Krakow and Warsaw and I look forward to eventually returning for the smaller cities and towns as well!

Categories
Croatia Europe

Celebration in Croatia

This summer, I got to spend a couple weeks in Europe! It was an amazing trip, and it started off with a great weekend in Split celebrating my friend’s birthday. While I had spent about two weeks in Croatia back in 2023, that was an area I didn’t spend much time in, so I was excited to have a chance to visit again.

Before that, though, I had another cool start to the trip – I got to fly Polaris! Polaris is United’s business class. Before the trip even begins, you get access to the Polaris lounge at the airport, which has all kinds of perks, including fancy cocktails, nap pods, showers, and even a fully functioning restaurant that you can sit down at for a complimentary three course meal.

From there, the experience on the plane is pretty nice too. It was fun to get a glass of champagne before we took off, and then the plane food is actually quite good. What Polaris is known for, though, is the ice cream cart, which is one of those things people like to talk about from flying back when airlines first started that made the experience so luxurious. After eating my ice cream, I got to try out the lie-flat seat, which was really a game changer.

I definitely won’t be able to do this consistently – it’s more of a game of whether or not I can use my miles and cash to get an upgrade that isn’t outrageously expensive, but it was a really nice way to travel. My priority, as you can probably tell, is traveling more often, not necessarily traveling in the fanciest manner, but nonetheless. If Polaris is in your budget and that’s where you want to splurge on a trip, it was pretty great!

I don’t have as many photos from the birthday celebration, because I was mostly busy having fun and meeting all of Harry’s friends from his normal life, since he and I met traveling in West Africa! But we had such a great time in Split. The first full day, we all hired a boat to take us around, which was beautiful.

We went swimming, ate good food, and drank good wine, which is really all you can ask for!

With our second full day, we got a bit of a late start after going out to the bars the night before. We wanted to do a beach day, but the beaches in Split were too crowded, so we ended up heading down to Podstrana. That ended up being the right move – it was so much more relaxed than Split, and we had food options where a larger group of people could actually sit and talk.

I love Croatia. It can be touristy, it is much more expensive than the regions that surround it, but everywhere I’ve been is so stunning. And you can still get off the beaten path if you try! I am sure I will return again some day in the future.

Categories
Albania Europe

South to Gjirokastër

On my last full day in Albania, before taking a flight that left at 6:55 am, I took a day trip from Tirana to Gjirokastër, a cool three hours away by car. Who needs rest, anyway? That’s not what my vacation days are for.

We started by driving west toward Durrës. Incidentally, if I hadn’t been there in March, I would have likely tried for a day trip there to go to the beach, since the Albanian Riviera is one of the next big destinations of Europe and looks spectacular. But, more importantly, a highlight of that drive is getting to pass the Amadeus Palace. This article is going to say it more eloquently than I can, but basically Albania got excited about tourism in 2011, whipped up some foreign investment, and built an insanely fancy hotel in the very outskirts of Tirana that never actually opened. It was a series of bizarre decisions and, if you’ve read this blog for any period of time, you will understand that I was beyond thrilled that we drove past it and I got to see it.

To find that linked article, by the way, I fully Googled “weird giant Albania hotel” and that was the first result, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

From there, we visited the Ardenica Monastery, which was a nice stop on the way to Gjirokastër. It was beautiful, with a good views of the landscape, which had vibes that were more similar to Tuscany than the mountainous ones I’d seen the two days prior. We got a quick coffee and hit the road again, continuing south.

We started out by walking around Old Town and grabbing lunch at a place that had a nice view over the city. Similar to Berat, Gjirokastër has distinct architecture and the overall effect of all the buildings is quite striking. Also like Berat, it is a UNESCO site.

From there, we headed up to the castle! It was a much more extensive grounds and museum than I expected. There was a whole section where you could see the jail cells, and ancient art, and all kinds of weaponry from all different eras in Albanian history. Some of it might have taken more if I had known more about Albanian history to begin with, but it was still interesting to learn as much as I could as we went through the exhibits.

Also, there were great views from the top! After that, we headed to one more museum, which was more of a historical house that was maintained with how the wealthy would have lived in Albania before the communist era, in a more traditional way. That was super cool, although they limited what we could take photos of so I don’t have much from there. With our last bit of time in Gjirokastër, I got ice cream with a few of the other people on my tour and watched the sun set over the city.

This particular day trip might not be for everyone, because it is a long day, and a lot of time in the car. Ideally, if your timeframe in Albania allows, it would be nicer to spend at least a night or two in Gjirokastër, because I’m sure there’s more to see in southern Albania. That said, I felt like between this, Berat, and my hiking trip, I got to see a lot of Albania in a fairly short amount of time! I thought all three day trips were excellent and would recommend this same set if someone was going for a similar number of days as I did.

I had a great time in Albania, but it was time to head back home! Overall, between Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yemen, and Albania, it was a really great set of countries that I got to explore on this particular trip.

Categories
Albania Europe

Exploring Albania

For the rest of my time in Albania, I based myself in Tirana and took a series of day trips outside of the city. Part of this is just based on how much time I had, and part of it comes down to the time of year – if it hadn’t been March, I might have tried to go north and do more hiking, but it wasn’t a guarantee that the weather would be good enough for that, so I stuck more to the cultural sites. I did do a shorter hike on one of the days though!

Day 1: Berat

Of the day trip options, this is probably one of the most common – it’s a UNESCO site and it’s not too far from Tirana, at only about an hour and a half drive away. We started with a short stop for coffee at Belshi Lake, and then headed to Berat!

One thing to know about the driving in Albania – it was wild. Some of the most aggressive and crazy driving I’ve ever seen. One of my guides for the day trips was telling me that essentially, no one ever formally learned to drive. Cars were not as common during the communist era, and then suddenly, when everyone could afford one, they all took to the streets and taught themselves, so it can be fairly chaotic on the roads there.

We spent the morning exploring the castle and the surrounding area, including a beautiful old church and the fortress walls. One of the best parts of visiting the castle is how high up on the hill it is, and there were some really amazing views of the area around Berat!

Once we had finished at the castle, we headed down into the town of Berat! We had some free time to explore and get lunch. I found a place that overlooked the historic old town and ordered myself some pasta and a glass of wine, which was so good.

Berat is known as the Town of a Thousand Windows due to its unique architecture. If I’d had more time or wasn’t flying of Tirana a few days later, and was doing more of a itinerary that goes through the Balkans in this case, I would have loved to spend a night or more time in Berat. It had really nice vibes. But, as always, time is precious and the world is vast, so I got back in the car and my tour dropped me back off in Tirana for the night!

Day 2: Hiking

Again, this one felt a bit risky because I was worried it could be too cold in March (which, based on my experience in Serbia, was a valid worry) but I also didn’t want to go to Albania without at least trying for a hike! And as it happened, I got incredibly lucky with the weather, which was perfect for the entire time I was there. So I got picked up in the morning and we headed to Lake Bovilla for a hike up Gamti Mountain.

I had seen the photos, but I still couldn’t be prepared for spectacularly turquoise Lake Bovilla is. The drive there was pretty as well, as we started in the countryside and ended up winding through a canyon as we got closer and closer to the lake.

The hike itself was fairly short. The most stressful part was coming down the relatively steep hill at the beginning – otherwise, the majority was a series of stairs. If you have a fear of heights, you might struggle on these, as they are that metal kind that can look a bit rickety. A few of the other tourists there definitely were a little freaked out as they started making their way back down. The viewpoint was really pretty, though, and then I got lunch and a beer at the nearby restaurant.

All in all, it was a great day! It was great to get out into nature and see a little more of what Albania is known for.

My third day trip was all the way south to Gjirokastër, which I think deserves its own post – not least because it was a 3 hour drive each way. Stay tuned for that one!