Friday, May 05, 2006







Welcome to the Post Travel Interview! I thought that it would be fun to share some of our experiences. For more details, you can read about each place we visited in the archives.

Which Cities were your Favorite?
Zurich, Switzerland
Budapest, Hungary
Athens, Greece
London, UK


Which towns were your favorite?
Nafplio, Greece
Salzburg, Austria
Sintra, Portugal


Which small towns were your favorite?
Oia, Santorini, Greece
San Guzme, Italy
Radda in Chianti, Italy

Which City was your least favorite?
Milan, Italy.. but not because it was bad, just the least interesting, and we couldn’t afford any of the nice clothes!

Which Countrys do you most want to return to?
Greece(Northern and the islands, again)
Hungary(Brataslava and the Country)
Italy (the lesser known areas..Marche, Emilia Romangna)
Portugal (the Alejento)
Croatia and Slovenia (because I missed them this time around)

What were some of your most memorable meals?
Warm Fava bean dip in Santorini
Goulash Stew with iced pickles and egg noodles in Budapest
Fagiole en’Olio and Pomodori in Tuscany
Grilled Panini with Prosciutto, Arugula, Tomato and Truffle Oil in Venice
Assorted flatbreads(focaccia, piadina) with assorted meats: mortadella, salami and prosciutto with melty local cheese in Bologna
Olma Brats in St Gallen
Eating in the dark in Zurich
Tuna Sandwich on Volkhorn Bread in Berlin
Bruschetta with shaved Black Truffles, salt and Olive Oil in Chianti
Chicken Piri Piri in the Algarve, Portugal


Where was your most memorable Caprihana?
In a Mexican Place in Amsterdam, where after a few( too many), T took to muddling his own limes in the glass, and it shattered. (this did get us a couple on the house!)

Where was your best coffee?
Greece and Italy, of course…Anything that wasn’t Nescafe!

What was the best sweet?
Baklava and Halva in Greece
Swiss Chocolate
Nutella filled croissant in Siena(this was breakfast, but could have sufficed for dessert)
“Panna Cotta” flavored Gelato in Venice (basically caramel, oozing caramel, oozing caramel)
Cream Cake in Budapest
Torrone in Venice
‘Pasteis de Nata’ and Palmiers sandwiched with Custard in Lisbon
French Macaroons in Zurich
Arroz con Leche in Madrid

What was your favorite Museum?
In Zurich, I loved a Special Exhibit that the Kuntsmuseum had, called Feast of Color. In Venice, I enjoyed the Peggy Guggenheim collection
In Madrid, the Reina Sofia Modern

Did you have a favorite site visited? Like a Castle or Church?
I loved seeing the fortresses. In Nafplio, it is perched on a cliff, overlooking the ocean. In Salzburg, it overlooks the town and river. In Sintra, it was buried deep in the woods..I also enjoyed the Epidavros ruins, more to see there than just the ancient theater. Of Course, the Acropolis was pretty amazing as well. The Duomo in Milan. I will never forget how it took my breath away when I first saw it and The whimsical and colorful Palacio de Pena in Sintra

Where did you find the most pleasant people?
Greece and Tuscany(Florence, Chianti)
Portugal..they spoke the most English

At what point during the travels were you the most stressed out or frustrated?
When we were trying to figure out how to get to our hotel in Athens from the airport and the woman behind the glass at the train ticket counter was yelling at us.
When we were lost in Athens trying to find our hotel and walked around for 2 hours using the wrong ‘Acropolis’ as our beacon!
In Torino, trying to get to the Olympic venues.

Where was your favorite train ride? Least?
Least was a night train where our sleeper compartment was literally above the wheel well, it was so loud, we couldn’t sleep, even with ear plugs.
And the train to Zermatt when we were sitting next to some annoying people..
Visually, the Swiss trains all went through some beautiful areas, and the most beautiful was going from Switzerland to Italy through the mountains and the lakes to Milan.


Was there a place that you went which surprised you? This could be a place in which you were not expecting much and were very pleasantly surprised, or vise versa.
Athens. We were told not to waste time there, and it was a great experience.
Siena. I expected something more quaint and quiet and was very surprised at the number of tourists and students crammed into this small town.
The Albufeira area. We had read and heard that the town was horrendous, which it was, but luckily, we were staying just outside the town on the most beautiful and quiet beach. It was a great surprise, especially after seeing the horrors that lay in town..

Where were the most annoying crowds?
Venice and Siena!

Where was the most romantic place?
Salzburg, Venice, Oia, Chianti

2 comments:

Me said...

Wow. What a site you have. So much information. This could prove to be helpful to me... as I am contemplating taking the big jump and doing some travelling. I have never left Canada and feel that it is something that I should do - before I forget about seeing the world. Thanks for this, I will be back.

Sara said...

Thanks for the comment! This trip and living abroad, albeit briefly, was one of my life's greatest experiences, so far. I highly recommend traveling. It changes how you see the world and impacts how you live your life. Once you travel, you will catch that bug...
I hope that this blog will inspire you to get out and see new places..