We have a lot of good memories from our month in the Russafa neighborhood. Just about anything we could possibly need could be found within a few blocks, including two large grocery stores and...
Blog posts from European Spring 2024
Europe Spring 2024: Valencia gardens
Valencia has as a lot of different gardens, some simply between streets, others as large formal gardens. Jardín del Turia The famous former Turia riverbed is now a large, winding park for the city....
Europe Spring 2024: La Semana Santa Marinera de València
One of the memorable moments from our 2022 visit to Valencia was stumbling across the Our Lady Of The Forsaken Festival while trying to go for a drink (never made it to that bar...). Our 2024 stay...
Europe Spring 2024: Valencia apartment
Finding an apartment for a month in Valencia wasn't difficult, but narrowing the choices down definitely took us some time. We started with neighborhoods of interest - on our 2022 trip we had stayed...
Europe Spring 2024: introduction + flights
We have long wanted to try an extended stay in Europe, but previously stuck to 1-2 week long trips due to our dogs. Finding ourselves dog-free for the first time in 15 years we decided to finally...
Europe Spring 2024: Istria restaurants
Pazin Peperone - Located just a few blocks from our apartment, we stopped in and made a reservation for dinner on our first night. It's a good thing we did, as a group of ~20 French folks had...
Europe Spring 2024: Istria wineries
Istria has a really interesting wine industry with a mix of international grapes (cabernet sauvignon, merlot) and locally unique varieties (teran, malajvasia). In addition, some spots have a...
Europe Spring 2024: Istria waterfalls
Pazinski krov / Pazin Roof waterfall - lightly muddy, but not too bad. Great water flow due to recent rains and I continued upstream for views of additional cascades. Zarečki Krov Waterfall - just...
Europe Spring 2024: Istria coastal towns
As a peninsula, you are never that far away from the Adriatic on Istria, and we stopped to explore three coastal towns during our visit. Rovinj One of the better known towns on the west coast,...
Europe Spring 2024: Istria hilltop towns
Istria has a lot of hills, and quite a few feature a town with a tower poking up from the middle. Over our long weekend we managed to stop by a handful. Pazin Our homebase in Istria, featuring a...
Europe Spring 2024: Plitvice food & drink
As it was a 15 minute drive on a rural road into Rakovica, we limited our trips, but still managed to try three places. Bistro Old Shatterhand - We had made a reservation for 8pm, but it was not...
Europe Spring 2024: Plitvice Lakes National Park
Plitvice Lakes National Park was an absolute must-do on this trip, and it did not disappoint. After a quick breakfast, we grabbed our backpack and were out the door before 8:30am. Our hotel was just...
Europe Spring 2024: Driving to Plitvice, Istria, and Zagreb
On this trip we focused on northern Croatia, spending the majority of our time near Plitvice and in Istria. That necessitated a car, and all together, we drove about 800km across small country roads...
Europe Spring 2024: 18 hours in Zagreb
We had less than a day in Zagreb, but we tried to get a feel for the city nonetheless. Our drive from the airport to a downtown parking garage was relatively straightforward, followed by dropping...
Europe Spring 2024: Croatia intro & where we stayed
Following our time in Valencia, we wanted to take the opportunity to check out a new part of Europe. After making a list of direct flight options from Madrid, then cross-referencing which ones were...
European Spring 2024: Madrid Open tennis
Our one full day in Madrid was all about tennis! The morning security line was long, but moved relatively quickly. Staff was very strict on no water bottles and we saw a growing pile of fancy...
European Spring 2024: Madrid, pt 2
Our train ride back to Madrid from Valencia was uneventful, but the Chamartin station was quite busy on Sunday, so topping up our Madrid metro card with a 10-ride pass took longer than expected...
Europe Spring 2024: Palma sights
We spent all three days of our trip to Mallorca in Palma, and with the exception of the airport bus, we explored on foot. Right across the street from our hotel was a lovely view of the the Torrent...
Our Itinerary
2024 Trips
San Diego, CA (Jan)
Sarasota, FL (Feb)
Madrid, Spain (Mar)
Valencia, Spain (Mar+Apr)
Palma, Mallorca (Apr)
Croatia (May)
Long Island, NY (July)
Faroe Islands (Aug)
London, UK (Sept)
Puglia, Italy (Sept)
Matera, Italy (Oct)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Mosel Valley, Germany (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)
London, UK (Dec)
Manchester, UK (Dec)
2023 Trips
San Diego (Jan)
Orlando (Feb)
Richmond, VA (Apr)
Northern Italy (Apr)
NC Mountains (May)
Long Island (Jul)
Wisconsin (Aug)
Chicago (Aug)
Oak Island, NC (Sept)
Brooklyn, NY (Sept)
Bordeaux + Rugby World Cup (Sep)
Castilla y León (Sep)
Seychelles (Nov)
Willamette Valley (Dec)
2022 Trips
Florida (Feb)
NC Mountains (Apr)
Washington DC (Apr)
Valencia, Spain (May)
Hilton Head, SC (May)
Pacific NW (Jun)
Long Island (Jul)
Florida (Sept)
Chicago (Sept)
Poland (Sept)
NC Mountains (Nov)
Euro Xmas Markets (Dec)