Blog

Rome is one of those world cities that I’ve always wanted to visit. Boasting more than 2,000 years of history, the ‘Eternal City’ has been inspiring playwrights, composers, artists, and novelists for centuries. The ancient metropolis is habitually portrayed with … Read More

After a joyful reunion in Florence, our clan of eight piled into two vehicles and headed southwest for a week in Tuscany. My brother’s friend had found an amazing four-bedroom home outside of Asciano, and we were so thankful to … Read More

After some beautiful hiking in the Dolomites, we headed south, to the heart of Italy, where a special surprise awaited us in Florence. Like many others, Italy has always topped the list of places my brother wanted to visit and, … Read More

In researching our trip to the Dolomites, we chose Ortisei (St. Ulrich) as our base for a few days of hiking. Since we were not going to have a vehicle, we needed to stay somewhere with good accessibility to the … Read More

Back in 2009, when Jenn and I were on a cruise around the Galápagos Islands, we met a German couple named Margot and Martin and quickly became friends. We chatted about a little bit of everything, spending a lot of … Read More

WHAT WE DID: Traveled for 23 days around four Balkan countries. Stayed primarily in rooms (self-contained unit) booked through AirBnB, with the exception of a 3-night guesthouse in Plitvicka Jereza, Croatia. Our basic itinerary: Transit – train (Mav-Start) from Budapest … Read More

The penny continued its European tour across the Balkan Peninsula, enjoying beautiful places and friendly faces in Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia. In Belgrade, the diminutive coin was dwarfed by the grand structures of St. Sava’s Church and … Read More

One of the most well-known towns in Slovenia (a relative measure, for sure), Bled is a lively community whose self-named lake sits at the center of it all. We decided to strike out early from Triglav National Park and take … Read More

Just a couple hours northwest of Ljubljana, tucked along the mountainous borders with Austria and Italy, sits Slovenia’s sole national park. First established as a protected area in 1924, Triglav National Park is actually one of Europe’s oldest reserves. Home … Read More

Rarely have we felt so quickly at-ease with a city as we did after arriving in Ljubljana. It was certainly helped by our beautiful, sunny apartment, and by the impeccable blue skies and mid-70s temperatures, but there was something else … Read More

We only planned a brief stay in Zagreb – a day and a half to wander the city and see the sights before heading to Slovenia. Though we didn’t spend a ton of time there, it seemed like an agreeable … Read More

Both Jenn and I were extremely excited to see Plitvice Lakes National Park, a place that many don’t know by name, but often recognize from photos in travel articles that frequently start with the words, “Top 10 Most Beautiful…” The … Read More

A thriving port on the Dalmatian Coast, Split is a modern city built amongst the ruins of an old one. The Old Town is a maze of narrow corridors that seem equally likely to suddenly dead-end at a brick wall … Read More

One European city that I have always wanted to visit is Sarajevo. Growing up, the earliest major world event for which I can recall having at least a rudimentary awareness was the Gulf War – perhaps, in part, because my … Read More

Its name meaning “white city,” Belgrade is one of Europe’s oldest cities. The first settlements date back to around 4800 B.C., and it became Serbia’s capital in 1405. One of our first stops in Belgrade was the Nikola Tesla museum. … Read More