This blog chapter features two new characters. Kristin’s good friend Sarah and her husband Scott. Sarah and Scott (aka S-cubed) have been living in Birmingham, England for the last year and a half on a 2-year work transfer assignment. We were luckily they were able to get time off and join us for a 5-day trip through Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia.

After Mali Ston, we bused to Dubrovnik, Croatia where we spent a night before S-cubed arrived. Dubrovnik is a gorgeous walled city in the far south of Croatia. You have seen it many times, as Dubrovnik is the shooting location for King’s Landing in the show Game of Thrones. We even found ourselves walking up a big limestone staircase before reaching the top; we realized this was the staircase Cersei disgracefully climbed naked in the final episode of last season. Very fun. Although we did not take one of the popular Game of Thrones walking tours where they show you many of the shooting locations within the city.

On our second morning in Dubrovnik, S-cubed arrived and our tour began. That afternoon, we rented kayaks and paddled around the old city walls and to a secluded beach. That night we all went into town for a big meal of grilled fish and squid.

The next morning we arose early to go rent a car and begin driving to Kotor, Montenegro. Montenegro is a small country, just a couple hours drive from Dubrovnik. We were only here for a day, and night. Kotor is famous for its walled fortress and connected mountain top castle.

After a great day hiking the Kotor fortress and an awesome rooftop dinner at Hippocampus. We set off in the morning for a beautiful drive around the bay of Kotor, headed to the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Our first stop in Bosnia was Mostar. Capital of the southern half of the country, the Herzegovina half , Mostar is a thriving city, with a storied, and tragic history. Mostar is most famous for its bridge. The largest stone bridge in the world. It was built by the Ottomans in the 1557, and spans a river, up to 60 feet up. Locals and tourists will jump off this bridge, and Red Bull recently hosted a professional cliff diving event here.

The tragic, side of history was that the bridge was almost completely destroyed during the Bosnian war, I wrote a short history below. It was rebuilt only a few years ago, but they rebuilt it only using methods available during the original construction. Meaning every stone, and lead anchor was cut, cast and pinned by hand. On one side of the bridge was a museum of war time photos, its chilling to see that most of the city was completely leveled by shelling.

Unlike most history we’ve seen so far, this was a war we remembered, a war that ended not even 20 years ago. Everyone person you meet in Bosnia lived through this experience. We couldn’t imagine continuing to live in a place after living through a war like this one. On our final day, we headed to Sarajevo, where S-cubed would leave us for our flight to Turkey. We enjoyed a tour of the old city, seeing the bridge where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, starting WWI. We then had lunch at the awesome Sarajevo Brewery, who thanks to an underground spring, kept cranking out brews even while the city was under enemy fire for almost 4 years.

The history, the Bosnian War that we think of was really a civil war in the former country of Yugoslavia. The end result was that Yugoslavia broke apart into 6 (7 if you include Kosovo) separate countries. There were 3 main ethnic groups in Yugoslavia, the Serbs in the East, the Croats in the West and Bosnaks caught in the middle. In 1991, the Croats seceded reasonably peacefully into 2 countries, Croatia and Slovenia. In 1992 the Muslim Bosnaks prepared to secede and create Bosnia, taking a substantial number of ethnically Serbian people who lived in Bosnia with them. The Serbs fought back, launching a brutal military campaign against them. It’s a very complicated story with fault on all 3 sides, but basically the country of Bosnia was ravaged and torn apart. As with any civil war, neighbors fought neighbors and horrific things happened. America ended the war soon after we stepped in, by bombing Belgrade, Serbia. The Serbian President Slobodan Miloševićk knew we’d level the city, and quickly ended the serb campaign. Country boarders were drawn. When the dust settled, thousands of Bosnaks were ethnically cleansed, Sarajevo was under siege for almost 4 years, Mostar was completed leveled and war crimes tribunals are still in progress. Not much was settled. Ethnic divisions are still very strong, but all the countries are stable, and economies are growing and people’s lives across the region are improving.

Croatia has islands for days, 1,500 to give you an idea and only 50 of these are inhabited. We wanted to make sure to experience island life while traveling in Croatia so we decided to visit Korcula which is an island off of the mainland of Croatia and about 2 hours from Dubrovnik. Korcula is one of the smaller islands but known for its wineries, olive oil, and some of the only sandy beaches in Croatia (most of the beaches are small smooth pebble beaches). Korcula looks similar to Dubrovnik with a stone wall surrounding the city and windy medieval streets filled with shops and restaurants. We only had a few days in Korcula and those were spent swimming in the crystal clear water, enjoying the al fresco dining, and visiting the local wineries.

The water here is unreal! You can see to the bottom and it is an amazing teal color that changes how deep the water gets. We spent two days while in Korcula at the rocky beach near the city snorkeling and enjoying the water.

The main town of Korcula is really small so we decided to rent a scooter and explore the nearby towns. We went to a sandy beach and then went to a winery. There are two types of grapes grown on Korcula GRK and Plavic Mali. Apparently the GRK grape can only grow with other grapes nearby so that is why you will normally see GRK and Plavic Mali grown together. The GRK was really good and tasted like a more fruity chardonnay and the Plavic Mali was a little too dry for our taste. We also rented a scooter so we could have a ride to a restaurant about 3km from town on top of the island, Konobo Belin, that had great reviews on trip advisor. This restaurant was totally worth it! Wine by the liter, home made pasta, grilled fish, and grilled lamb. It was bomb.

There is a ton of al fresco dining in Korcula along the wall that wraps around the city. There is also a really cool bar on top of one the towers where we saw the sunset. Getting to the bar is an experience because you have to climb up a 20 foot ladder and through a hatch door to get to the roof but the views were definitely worth it.

After Korcula we took kept heading south to Mali Ston. Mali Ston is on the mainland of Croatia and is known for its oyster and mussel cultivation. The larger town about a 20 minute walk is Ston which is known for its salt fields and the 2^nd longest wall in the world (after the great wall of China). We took it pretty easy in Mali Ston since there wasn’t too much to do. We did end up walking the wall, seeing the salt flats, and gorging ourselves on mussels and oysters.

The Ston wall runs from Ston to Mali ston and is 4.3 miles long. A fun fact is there is a marathon in Ston every year up and over the wall. Walking the wall was a serious workout and left Dan and me sweating pretty hard by the end of the stairclimb from hell. We couldn’t believe that people run a marathon on this wall with it being so narrow and sketchy.

Since we wanted to make sure we experienced the two sites in Ston and Mali Ston we took the tour of the salt flats. This was the worst tour we have ever had and by tour I mean it is really just entrance into the salt flats that you can see through the fence on the road. The only of the tour that you can’t experience from outside the walls is a really well done (I’m being sarcastic) slideshow of pictures of the flats with music set to it. If for some reason you are even in Ston skip the tour and just buy some of the salt.

Now to the reason we decided to head to Mali Ston in the first place. The oysters and mussels! We ate so many that we were sick of them by the time we left. There was a shack near the water where we sat basically every day, ordered oysters, drank their homemade white wine, and chatted with the locals. These will be the freshest oysters we will ever have. They literally grab them out of the water and serve them to you. They also have different sizes of oysters available and the sizes are based on how old they are. The smallest are 4 years old and the largest are 10. We had no idea that oysters were so old when you ate them. No wonder they are so pricey. We also ended up buying 1.5 kilos of mussels from this stand and making our own steamed white wine, garlic, and onion mussels. Yummy!

Now off to the last stop in our tour of Croatia, Dubrovnik!

Parma, Italy where so many delicious things come from! Because Dan and I are fatties this is the place in Italy we chose so we could really immerse ourselves in the Italian culture away from the tourists and gorge ourselves on delicious Italian pasta, pizza, parmesan, and prosciutto. Parma is a really small sleepy town and was even quieter because a lot of the businesses were closed for summer vacation. During our stay here our only goals were to visit producers of Prosciutto di Parma, Parmigiano Reggiano, and Balsamic Vinegar (in Modena) and eat delicious Italian food.

Instead of opting for a Parma food tour through one of the tour companies we decided to rent a car and arrange our own tours. We ended up getting in touch with a small prosciutto producer – Rosa Dell’Angelo who not only produces prosciutto they raise black pigs (similar to the Spanish Iberico hams) and make prosciutto with those also along with the traditional prosciutto di parma. In order to be called prosciutto di parma the pigs have to be fed a certain percentage of whey and grain, be a specific type of pig, and then once they are slaughtered and you have the thigh they have to be aged for a certain number of months and can only be rubbed with salt. After all of this they will be certified and stamped with the Parma crown. During our tour we really got to see from farm to table how prosciutto di parma is made.

We also arranged a tour and got to see how Parmigiano Reggiano is made at Giansanti. We were so surprised at how simple the process is compared to how amazing the cheese tastes. Here is the process simplified: 1)take milk from cow, 2)cook and had rennin to milk, 3)remove curd and place into plastic cylinder,4)leave for a day, 5)press pamigiano reggiano label into sides of cheese, 6)let dry for a few more days, 7)place into salt water for 25 days turning daily, 8)remove to room and allow dry for at least a year and up to 5 years. That is it! Such a simple process for a great product. Parmigiano Reggiano follows a similar type of rules on how the cheese needs to be made in order for it to be certified Parmigiano Reggiano. We were able to taste 12 month, 24 month, and 48 month and you can definitely taste the difference the sweetness of the cheese leaves and the saltiness appears. Apparently after 36 months the lactose has crystallized and is no longer a problem for people who are lactards (yea me!!)

Because we couldn’t get enough of tours and learning how delicious things are made we arranged a tour at a balsamic vinegar producer, Leonardi, in Modena. This producer made the balsamic vinegar that Kate and Prince William had at their wedding so you know that they are legit. We also learned on this tour that balsamic vinegar is also easy to make you just need 10-30 years of patience. In case you were wondering or wanted to get educated here is how it works (again in simple person tours) 1)juice grapes from harvest, 2)cook grape juice), 3)add grape juice to really old barrels with a hole open to the atmosphere, 4) wait one year, 5)take out top half of aged juice and move to different old barrel, and 6)continue for 10-100 years. So the secret to making balsamic is the wood of the barrels that you use and which barrel you use each year that you are aging. You can use juniper, oak, cherry, ash, and other types of oak to create your flavor/recipe of balsamic. We were able to taste different balsamic vinegars made from just oak barrels, cherry barrels, or juniper barrels. It was amazing how different the taste was depending on the oak. We ended up buying a few to ship home since finding awesome balsamic for a decent price is so hard in the states.

Other things that come from Modena that we didn’t realize before we go there are Ferrari’s! The Ferrari factory is in Maranello which is 30 minutes outside of Modena. We ended up going to the Enzo Ferrari museum which was super cool. They had a ton of sweet Ferrari’s and you got to get up close and personal with them. They also had a fun movie that they should that paired Ferrari’s with opera sung by Luciano Pavarotti, who is also from Modena.

The last goal of being in Parma was eating delicious Italian food and we definitely succeeded at that. We got a recommendation to eat at Sorelle Picchi and it was amazing we ended up going back again. Some highlights were the Truffle Pasta and Truffle Guinea Fowl not just because they were extremely delicious but because when the waiter brought you your dish he also brought over a fresh black truffle and then proceeded to shave it over your plate like it was parmesan. So tasty. We also had this amazing prosciutto, asparagus, mushroom risotto which was unreal. We also went to another delish restaurant called Panino d’artista and Dan ending up getting a horse sandwich. Yup you heard me horse meat. It actually tasted like a roast beef so not bad.

We had a really good time chillaxing in Parma but now off to Croatia for some fun in the sun (and maybe less food and more exercise)!

Our Switzerland trip was a quick one, and thankfully so because this place is pricey! Peter and the Moiron crew were headed to Geneva to pick up a few more friends and we decided to tag along.

The first day, we headed to the countryside to visit Gruyere castle and Maison Caille chocolate factory. Built in 1270 Gruyere castle was built to protect a valley that would go on to become famous for a cheese of the same name.

After visiting the castle we stopped for the quintessential Swiss Fondue lunch, okay so we knew this was a tourist trap, but they actually have some of the best fondue around. Fondue, a glass of wine and a small meat platter for 2, $100, ouch.

Maison Caille bills itself as the first chocolate factory. Before they got in the business, people only drank chocolate. They were the first to combine it with milk and sugar, creating the chocolate bar we know today. During the great depression, times got tough for Maison Caille and they were forced to merge with another upstart local company called Nestle, the candy giant was born.

Day two of our Swiss adventure took us swimming in Lake Geneva and wine tasting on the surrounding hills. Lake Geneva is one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen. Like Lake Tahoe but surrounded by vineyards, it is stunning.

We started our wine adventure by taking the wine train. This picture is nice but overall the wine train was pretty stupid. We wouldn’t recommend. Luckily, Peter knew somebody and we were able to get an invite to a patio of a local vineyard owner and producer who doesn’t usually give tours.

The vineyard owner came down to meet us with a huge smile on his face and his shirt unbuttoned about 3 notches. We got the feeling this guy didn’t make a ton of money, but he has the greatest views we had ever seen.

In Switzerland, not a lot of money probably means his property is worth $10 million he still makes way more than you. Cheap Swiss wines go for $30 a bottle.

That night we headed into Geneva for a night on the town, $25 hamburgers and $12 beers. Luckily, Peter spotted Kristin for a ride on this spinning contraption at the local carnival. “It was only 80 feet up” he said. Actual height over 200 feet.

Oh my Marrakech. This city is craziness especially compared to the developed major cities in Europe that we had been traveling to. Coming to Marrakech was a good change and so much different than where we had been that it definitely made for an adventure. To get a real Moroccan experience we decided to stay at a Riad which is basically like staying at someone’s home except fancier. Staying at Riad Tammarakech was great, the owners were so helpful in giving directions (which you need because there are no street signs and the Medina, the old city, is full of windy streets so you have no idea where they lead to), giving tips on how to not get hassled or ripped off, booking tours, and they made a great breakfast. You also got to stay in a really cool Moroccan decorated room.

We got into Marrakech in the afternoon and getting off the airplane we got the immediate shock of seeing a fully loaded 747 from Saudi Arabia unloading it’s passengers onto the runway. You immediately knew you were in a new place because you saw women wearing the traditional burka and hijabs and men wearing long tunics and turbans. They were all coming from Saudi Arabia because it was the end of Ramadan and they were most likely spending the holiday in Mecca. I was worried about how I was supposed to dress as a women in a Muslim country and opted to make sure I wore shirts that covered my shoulders and pants or dresses to cover me knees. You do see a wide variety of dress in Marrakech and the tourists will wear whatever they want but I decided to try and be respectful of their traditions and I didn’t want to be stared at by the men so I took the more conservative route. Once we got to the Riad our host recommended that we try to find the main square, Jemma-el Fnaa, in the daylight because it will look totally different at night and people will try and get you to go the wrong way or take you to the tannery and get suckered into buying something else or paying them for being a guide. Once we made it to the square without getting run over by one of the many motor bikes, scooters, or donkey carts flying past us you run into tons of stores, restaurants, orange juice vendors, snake charmers, and monkey wranglers. Yea you heard me there are cobra snake charmers in the square and a bunch of guys that have monkeys on leashes.

That night we decided to venture back to the main square, Jemma-el Fnaa, and it had completely changed. There were a ton a new stands that had been set up with street food and it was packed with locals and tourists.  The stalls aren’t named they are only numbered and from some of our research we knew a few numbered stalls we wanted to try. Dan the adventurous eater that he is decided to try a bowl of snails in broth which he said were pretty tasty (also he didn’t end of getting sick so I guess they were good). This was one of the few stands where locals were eating. Apparently Moroccan’s don’t eat out very often so this is one of the few times you will find them out to dinner. So most stalls here are catering to tourists with kebabs, tagine, etc. and really try to hassle you to come into their stall. We didn’t really want to be at a stall that only had a bunch of tourists eating at it so we settled for number 31 that had a ton of Moroccan’s eating and a line. Everyone here was eating a plate of lamb sausages about 3 inches long that was served with a plate of basically blended tomato and a pita. These weiners were delish! I would definitely recommend eating at stall 31.  After weiners I wanted some mint tea. Which is awesome is Morocco! It is only mint steeped in water and sugar is added. This stuff is my favorite. Once we were stuffed with street food we ventured into the center of the square where there were a ton of street performers, games, and henna artists. I got conned into a henna tattoo by a women who grabbed my hand, told me I had nice hands and then proceeded to give me a hand henna tat. I tried to resist but she kept saying “it is for free, for good luck” (we all know this was not for free).  Once she finished and we tried to walk away we were of course guilted into paying her. I wanted a henna while in Morocco so I guess it all worked out.

The next day we set out to see the northern part of the old city which included the Ben Youssef Medersa and the Photography Museum. The Ben Youssef Medersa (10 diram/person) was one of the first schools in Marrakech and is a place where you can see some traditional Moorish architecture. If you have extra time in Marrakech then I would recommend seeing this but leave it off your list because there are better places to see Moorish architecture in Marrakech like the Palace Bahia. After the Ben Youssef Medersa we headed to the Photography Museum (40 diram/person) which was really great. It had photos of Marrakech from the 1920’s and then a lot of photos and a documentary of the Berber people. This museum was a good mix of interesting photography and the history of Morocco. Also the photography museum has a great terrace where you can have some mint tea and look over the medina.

That night we were on the hunt for some good food because we had gotten some mediocre touristy food while in Marrakech. We came across a modern Moroccan restaurant called Nomad and we were so glad we did we ended up coming back a second night. The restaurant has outdoor seating on the terrace and excellent service. They even sell alcohol which his rare in Marrakech. (We didn’t partake because we wanted to do as the locals do and also needed a break from the booze from being in Spain and Portugal) Some standout dishes from both of our visits were the feta croquettes, hummus platter, nomad lamb burger, and saffron and argan oil ice cream. Another good restaurant shout out is the Souk Café which had great Moroccan food including an amazing appetizer that included 8 or so small dishes like peppers, tapenade, and eggplant.

The second day in Marrakech was to see the southern part of the old city and Yves Saint Laurent’s Jardin Majorelle in the new city. The Jardin Majorelle was pretty pricey for what you got ($7) but was neat to see. They have some beautiful buildings painting an amazing blue color called Majorelle which I’m definitely bringing back to the states. It’s a quiet and clean place to escape the craziness of the medina. We also went to see the Tombs Saadian (10 diram) and Palace Bahia (10 diram). I would recommend seeing the Palace Bahia over the Ben Youssef Medersa because it is bigger and is a better example of the gorgeous Moorish architecture and amazing painting ceilings.

During our adventure Dan decided he was going to get his hair cut while in Marrakech and as we were walking through one of the streets an older man asked Dan if he needed a haircut and Dan thought it was fate. As we were walking into the “salon” another guy who just got his haircut was leaving and told us that “the guy was a little crazy but it was alright” although we were a little skeptical with this interesting warning Dan went for it any way. As Dan sat down in the barber chair and the man started cutting his hair we realized that the older gentlemen was a little more than crazy. He started cutting Dan’s hair but his hands were shaking so bad that the clipper guards kept falling off and Dan just ended up getting an uneven buzz cut. After this ordeal the barber ended up asking Dan if he wanted a straight razor shave which he declined immediately.  The whole encounter was quite interesting and I only had to fix a few places from the uneven cut.

The last day in Marrakech was supposed to be a scorcher, like 110 F, so we opted to go on an excursion to these big waterfalls, Ouzoud Cascades, in the Atlas mountains about 2.5 hours outside of Marrakech. This excursion was really fun and there were a ton of local Moroccan’s there who come to camp and escape the heat. We got to swim in the river and then took a hilarious paddle boat to right under the falls which was refreshing from the heat. We even got to take a selfie with some monkies!

Overall we are really glad to see Marrakech and get to Africa. Dan and my biggest complaint about Marrakech was feeling like the locals were trying to scam you. From them telling us outrageous prices for things (you have to barter for everything and they start with more than double what you should pay), trying to tell us we were going the wrong the direction (they are constantly telling you that the tannery is the other direction and it’s the last day the Berber’s are there), and getting harassed to eat at their restaurant, buy their goods, or go on a tour you had the overall feeling of getting hassled constantly. Other than that if you are near Marrakech its worth a couple days to see a different kind of place!

Top 5 Things to Do in Marrakech:

1. Stay at a Riad
2. Eat dinner in the stands at the Night Market, Jemma-el Fnaa
3. Visit the Palace de Bahia and Photography Museum
4. Go shopping in the Souks
5. Take a day trip away from the city. Ouzoud Cascades or Essaouira.

Lisbon is the city of 7 hills and you definitely know that by the time you leave. There are hills and steps everywhere. Lisbon even has put in public elevators so you don’t have to schlep yourself up 4-10 flights of stairs when you need to get somewhere. Let’s just say I got a max glute workout while we were here. One benefit of being a city of 7 hills is that there are amazing views of the city all over so there are a lot of opportunities to sit on a terrace and take in the scenery. So lots of hills and tiny windy streets is one reason why this city reminds me of San Fran other reasons include it is on the water, has a giant red suspension bridge, there are trolleys, you can eat killer seafood, and it is surrounded by port/wine country (Yummy Vinho Verde!). So basically it is awesome and we are so sad that we only got to spend 3 days in the city. This city and country is definitely on the return to sometime soon travel list.  I’m not sure how this compares to San Fran but Portugal is famous for its pastry called a Pastel de Nata which is an egg custard tart and is so bomb. Dan’s plan was to eat 10 during our time in Lisbon.

The first day we spent in Lisbon was filled with wandering the streets of the neighborhood Alfama, finding a great view of the city, venturing to Cascais, and gorging ourselves on seafood. We got to see the Gypsy Market, Feira da Ladra, (held on Tuesdays and Saturdays) and I had a real life gypsy (not really it was just an artist) paint me a postcard for my collection. Cascais is a little fishing town west of Lisbon on the beach. You can take the train from Lisbon to this city and there are multiple stops on the way where you can see other beaches. We didn’t have the time to swim but there were a ton of tourists and locals enjoying the water. P.S the water is cold. This isn’t your nice luke warm Mediterranean water so be prepared.

That night we went to the most amazing seafood place ever, Cervejeria Romiro. This place has over 2,500 5 star reviews on TripAdvisor, was featured on Anthony Bourdain, and it totally worth the hype. You knew the seafood was fresh and the restaurant was great because we waited in a 45 minute line at 10pm just to get in. The line wasn’t bad at all because we got some beers from the little market next store and ended up chatting with a couple traveling from Sweden during the wait. This restaurant doesn’t have any sides so Dan was happy because there wasn’t any “filler” only buttered bread to accompany your seafood.  This restaurant is unique also because you order and pay by the kilogram for your seafood and you can see what you are about to eat because the animals are just hanging out in tanks next to your table. They even bring the live lobsters over to show you what you are going to get before they serve them to you. So we ordered oysters, barnacles, garlic shrimp, edible crab, and giant tiger prawn. Barnacles were a new seafood experience for both Dan and I and they were pretty good. They taste like an oyster but have the texture of a shrimp. We didn’t know how to eat these so we had to have our hilarious old man waiter show us the ropes.  Then after you have eaten all this delicious seafood, drank a bottle of wine (the wine is like $13), you need to have dessert right? Well dessert here is the most delicious garlic steak sandwich you have ever had. The table next to us liked it so much they ordered 2. We would definitely recommend getting the sandwich at the end.  Total Pastel de Nata for Dan: 3

The next day in Lisbon we decided to venture to a town near Lisbon called Sintra. This little city is gorgeous and most of the homes/castles/palaces here are UNESCO world heritage sites. Apparently rich people, princes, kings etc. over the years have been coming to this place and building huge homes. The most famous is the Pena Palace which is a huge multi colored palace that resembles Disneyland. This palace also has a large garden which is really like a forest that surrounds it where you are able to explore. We ended up taking the hop on hop off bus tour in Sintra and were able to see a winery, the most western point in Europe, and Pena Palace. The winery was adorable. We were literally the only people there so we had the place to ourselves. The wine was pretty good and unique since the grapes are grown in sandy soils and close to the ocean so the wine gets a unique mineral salty taste. We bought a bottle and proceeded to consume it during the rest of our Sintra adventure (yea we are classy like that). As part of the tour you are taken to the western most portion of Europe which is giant cliff with a light house that is super windy and from here you could potentially see America. After that windy ride we stopped at the Pena Palace which is 7 euros to enter the garden and another 7 euros to enter the palace. We opted to just see the gardens which give you amazing views of the Palace if you take the hike to the highest point. We got some great pictures here. Once we got back to the main town we saw a really cute bar and did a port tasting! Yea we finally got some port in our lives. (Thanks Aunt Becky & Uncle Jason for the wedding gift!) Sintra is a definitely must see when in Lisbon. It is only a one hour train ride from the city (I think the cost was about 2 Euros/person) and is such a quiet town with a lot to see. You will definitely feel like you are in a fairy tale here.  Total Pastel de Nata for Dan: 5

On our last day in Lisbon we decided we had to see the Castle Sao George since we were staying within the castle walls. This castle was built during Moorish rule in the 700’s but was a settlement way before that. The castle also provides sweeping views of Lisbon and has a neat museum where you can see the artifacts discovered on the site. For lunch we stopped by at this super cute Mercado da Ribeira near the train station which was half Market and half gourmet food court. I wish we had discovered this market earlier on our trip! All of the restaurants looked amazing. Dan also got to try a 1965 port that was bottled in 2014 so it was in the barrel for 49 years! After the museum we took the electric tram to Belem which is an area of Lisbon and is home to the most famous Pastel de Nata bakery in Lisbon, Pasteis de Belem. This place has a line out the door and make 20,000 Pastel de Nata’s per day. We ordered 6 Pastel de Nata’s and coffees and watched as tons of people filed in to get served or get take away Pastel’s. These things were so good that we had to get 2 more to go. There are a lot of other things to see in Belem, including Tower of Belem, Jeronimos Monastery, and few museums. We only had time to see Padrão dos Descobrimentos which is a tribute to the Portuguese explorers. Everyone forgets (and maybe not everyone maybe just me) that Portugal was a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries and discovered a ton of new lands. After Belem we grabbed dinner at Cervejeria Baleal, which was a seafood restaurant similar to the Cervejeria Romiro where you order the seafood by the kilogram. The seafood was great but after we had finished the guy next to us got his meal which came out in a copper sphere and was a seafood stew. He saw us ogling his dinner and allowed us to have some. This stew was bomb! If anyone is in Lisbon and decides to go to this restaurant order the fish stew! We will definitely if we get to come back. Total Pastel de Nata for Dan: 11

We were sad to say goodbye to Lisbon and hope to see Portugal again sometime soon! (P.S. Dan ate 2 Pastel de Nata’s at the airport beating his goal at 13 Total!) (P.S.S. Dan is a fatty)

Kristin & Dan’s Top 5 things to do in Lisbon:

1. Eat amazing seafood and steak sandwiches at Cevejeria Romiro.
2. Find a scenic overlook and take in the beautiful landscape.
3. Take the train to Sintra and see the palaces and western most point in Europe.
4. Go to Pasteis de Belem and gorge yourself on Pastel de Nata’s.
5. Eat lunch or dinner at Mercado da Ribeira and buy a bottle of port from the wine store.

After 3 days in Seville, we understand why this magical city has captivated the hearts and stories of people for over 100 years. This city has been the set and inspiration of many famous stories and plays including Shakespeare’s The Barber of Seville and Bizet’s Carmen. Seville has been conquered and reconquered many times over its history, with every culture leaving the best of their recipes and techniques behind. Seville is also the capital of the agriculturally productive Andalusia region. These two factors combine to make wonderful tapas, many think the best in Spain. One of the main attractions in Seville Cathedral and the Giralda Tower. We were able to see these at night sitting on a hotel rooftop bar near the square which gave awesome views.

There is a huge park in the city, Maria Luisa Park, which is great for wandering through the gardens and seeing the Plaza de Espana. The Plaza de Espana was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929.  The Plaza is still to this day the home of many government offices. The neat thing to do at the Plaza is to see the many tiled alcoves that each represent a different province of Spain. We made sure to take a picture by the Valencia alcove. The park is pretty big so you can either spend 45 Euros (45 minutes) to take a horse drawn carriage tour or rent a bike for 10 Euros (30 minutes) and peddle around the park. We are living the budget lifestyle so we opted for the bike.

Visiting Seville, no trip is complete without a tapas bar crawl. As the locals do it, you hop from bar to bar sampling a drink and small plate of food, or two, at each one. Our crawl featured six locations and everything from smoked cod on toast to $100 a pound jamon and chicharrones. We won’t recount all of the stories so here is the list of some of the haunts we visited, one has been serving Tapas for almost 350 years (El Rinconcillo). Other locations we visited: Bodeguita Antonio Romero, Casa Morales, Taberna Coloniales, and La Fresquita.

For one of our days in Seville, we visited the Real Alcazar of Seville located right in the current heart of the city, this palace was originally but by the Muslim Moors, who ruled the city from 712. Then in 1248 the city was captured by the Catholic Spanish and the Royal Alcazar was converted into the part time home of the Spanish Royal family.

There are two pieces to the palace. The indoor palace and the outdoor gardens. The indoors are spectacular. Every inch of the impressive structure is covered in hand laid tiles. These tiles are beautifully put together with ever evolving intricate patterns and it makes quite the impression. We really enjoyed strolling the halls of the palace, and escaping the oppressive heat of the midday Spanish sun. Seriously, it was 104 outside, and 96 degrees in the shade (as Third World put it.)

The gardens of the Royal Alcazar are beautiful if only slightly less impressive than the palace itself. Built mostly by Christians, the gardens have a distinctly Arab feel with water at the heart of every area of the garden. Evolving over the 1000 years, the palace and the gardens have hosted countless dignitaries. We couldn’t help think that we were walking on the same grounds as Christopher Columbus when he returned to the King’s palace for the first time after discovering the New World.

One of the other crazy sites in Seville is the parasol which is a huge piece of modern art in the center of the city. The people of seville are not super thrilled by this artwork and now refer to it as the mushroom. This is a good place to see the sunset in Seville and snap a few pictures. Its 3 Euros/Person but it includes a drink at a nearby participating bar.

Here are the top things to do in Seville:

1. Go on a tapas bar crawl. There are so many tapas spots so just do a little research and wing the rest!
2. Have a drink at a hotel rooftop bar at night looking over the Giralda Tower
3. Visit the Real Alcazar of Seville
4. Take a bike ride or carriage ride in the Maria Luisa gardens and see the Plaza de Espana.

So the second half of our stay in Valencia was full with making sure we saw all of the attractions we were interested in seeing and going back to any place we really loved. One of the main attractions in Valencia is the City of Arts and Sciences which is this crazy place where there are multiple buildings that look like spaceships or eyeballs or helmets which is super cool to look at but you can tell cost major bucks. They started building these things in 1996 and are still not finished and I don’t even want to know how much they cost but they house some pretty neat cultural activities like the largest aquarium in Europe, a 3D IMAX, and a museum that happened to have a special exhibit on 25 years of Pixar (I love me some animated movies). The aquarium, Oceanographic, was huge and had dedicated exhibits to multiple aquatic areas around the world and they have a dolphin show (basically a smaller SeaWorld). Some standouts were tons of sharks, beluga whales, sea horses, Japanese deep sea crabs, and shark eggs (you could see the tiny sharks moving inside!) and of course the dolphin show. The 3D IMAX, the Hemispheric, is probably my favorite building in the center you even get to hear the movies in English. We liked it so much we went back a second time and saw a movie about the Monarch Butterfly Migration. The first movie we saw was about the four sections of Jerusalem – Jewish, Catholic, Muslim, and Armenian and their religious celebrations and was really interesting.

The City of Arts and Sciences is located at the end of the Jardin de Rio Turia which is a huge park that runs through the center of the city. The park actually used to be the Turia River and when it flooded 100 years ago the city decided to re-route the river and turn it into a park. There are multiple jogging and bike paths, sports centers, outdoor workout equipment, ponds, and of course cafes with patios. But before I continue, I need to make a public service announcement about Spain. They love their patios! I’m so jealous of how much patio time they get, every restaurant in Valencia had a patio and it was packed at all hours of the day. So I’m bringing back more patio time in my life when we get back to the states. Okay enough about the patios…This park is where we were able to jog, took bike rides on the ValenciBiSi (Valencia has a city bike system like the Bcycle in Denver), and just wandered. It is pretty amazing to have a public park that runs through the city and you can tell by how many people use it that the inhabitants of Valencia love it too.

Since Valencia is the where paella originated we took a paella cooking class at the Escuela de Arroces y Paella and it was so cool. Probably one of the highlights of our time in Valencia. The class started with a tour of the Central Mercado where we bought ingredients for the paella. There are many variations of paella and the valencian version includes rabbit, chicken, snails, and four varieties of green beans. Dan put together a recipe section of the website that includes a video and instructions! So if you want to make your own authentic paella at home check it out. Valencian Paella

During our tour of the market we got the skinny on the Serrano and Iberico ham legs so now we are ham bosses.  So if you ever go to Spain here is the deal. The legs with white hooves are serrano hams and the legs with the black hooves are Iberico pigs. Then there are 5 grades of Iberico ham legs and the higher the grade the more acorns (bellota) the pigs eat and the more free range the pigs have. The levels are ranked on “J’s” so the first level is 1J and the best is 5J’s or called “Cinco Jotas” and the best are 100% acorn fed and free range. Also apparently there is a guarantee if you buy a 5J leg and if it is not as good as you want it to be you can take it back and get a new one.

Also during our adventures at the market (can you tell we were obsessed with this place??) we ventured into the seafood section and Dan found a guy that was selling awesome looking oysters, shrimp, squid, and lobsters. We were able to eat oysters shucked by him while standing in the fish section of the market and they were bomb! Dan also tried raw scallop and shrimp. Which he claims is the best raw shrimp he has ever had.

Near the central market in the city center is the Cathedral de Valencia which claims to have the holy grail. This cathedral is gorgeous and for only 5 Euros (that includes the audio tour) you can get a great tour of the cathedral and see the holy grail and two Goya paintings. The church was consecrated in 1238 and is definitely worth the visit. They also have a mummified arm of St. Vincent that you can see at the back of the church which is a little creepy but cool I guess?? Also an interesting fact about the cathedral is it is the meeting place of the Valencia Water Tribunal which is a group that decides the water rights in Valencia and has been meeting for the past 1000 years. This group is also the only non governmental group recognized by the Spanish Constitution.

We had one more day in Valencia and wanted to see what we could find in the old fisherman’s area of Valencia, El Cabanyal. We did some research and stumbled across a restaurant called Casa Montana which has been in business since 1876! It is an adorable restaurant where you sit and eat among the wine barrels. Our waiter was really attentive, spoke great English and the food was fantastic. Our favorites were tuna poached in olive oil for 24 hours, grilled calamari, pimento pepper stuffed with tuna and braised leek with balsamic vinegar. So that was most of our meal..you can really tell we liked it!

We are really sad to say goodbye to Valencia but off to the next adventure in Seville, Spain!

Here are Dan & Kristin’s Top 5 Things to Do in Valencia –

1. Shop at Central Mercado and eat tapas at Bar Mercado
2. Take a Paella Cooking Class
3. City Centre Arts – Hemispheric/Oceangraphic
4. People Watch while taking a bike ride or evening stroll Jardin de Turia
5. Grab Hortchata and Fartons at Mercado Colon