After seven months of wandering around Europe, it's finally time to go...
AAAARRRGGHH - how is this happening??? How has it been 7 months???? Why can't it last forever???????
Now that I've got that out of the system...
Phil and I revisited some places we've been together (Munich, Hamburg, Berlin), we visited some places I haven't been to in ooh, almost 15 years - and where Phil had never been - (Budapest, Prague, Athens) and we went to a stack of new places (Rotterdam, Warsaw, Bratislava Sofia, Istanbul, Ljubljana). And we shared our travels with friends and family. Ahhhh... it's been an amazing trip.
Stunning cathedral in Sofia, Bulgaria
Prague at sunset
View from train, Greece
Nafplio, Greece - possibly heaven
We also didn't make it to a few spots that are still high up on my wish list, including Croatia, Romania, Scandanavia and the Baltic States. Phil is still longing to do a three day train trip from Istanbul to Tehran that I have to say looked pretty awesome but might be better in cooler months...
Ultimately, moving slowly and spending more time in each place brought the most rewards and I'm glad we didn't try to cram more in!! Plus, we met one of the key goals of the trip, which was to spend loads of time with family. We got to attend two family weddings, celebrate birthdays and go on a hiking trip!!
I still can't quite believe I hiked in the Alps!!
Europe herself has experienced a pretty tough year with the Greek debt crisis and the incredible refugee crisis with asylum seekers fleeing from Syria in droves.
Incidentally, it's been very moving watching the refugee footage - so many ordinary people coming out to offer help and then watching with tears in my eyes as the Hungarian police use water cannons on these desperate people. Is it a complicated issue? Of course? Is that an excuse for a lack of a humane and compassionate response? Hell, no. We stopped by Munich train station in our last days to see if we could offer our help, but the German police had the entry point all locked down with medical tests and shuttle buses at the ready...
Our timing in moving around Europe was eerily precise for avoiding some of the turmoil - we left Greece two days before the Greek banks closed, skirted around the huge influx of refugees in Greece and Slovenia and left Germany mere days before the borders were closed to stem the influx of refugees.
And while our banana republic currency (ahem... I mean, Australian dollar) was not at its best this year, it took an impressive dive in our final month, making our departure from the Euro zone just a little easier to take.
I wanted to list some highlights, but it's hard to narrow down after months of loving one experience and city after another. At this stage, standouts include my first ever skiing experience in Langrisse at the beginning of the trip, a super relaxed overnight train ride through Romania and Bulgaria and hiking in the Alps, spotting wild mountain goats - amazing!!
Budapest won us over with its energy and beautiful "ruin" pubs
Bit of the Berlin Wall behind us
Istanbul's magnificent Bosphorus river
A huge shout out to Phil's dad Klaus and Cornelia for making us so welcome for so long - we just had the best time in Germany!!! And to Niko and Chris and Carina for spending summer hanging with us.
Hanging at Lake Worthsee, Munich
Of all our stops, there is nowhere I wouldn't revisit - every city had its charms, although if you're looking for tips, I would make a serious effort to get to Budapest and Ljubljana. I was just blown away by how traveller friendly both cities were in every respect - affordable, easy to navigate, full of energy with heaps to do.
What's next
After a couple of acclimatising days in Jakarta, we're now in one of my favourite places - Bali. I'll let you know what we've been up to in the next instalment. Although, I have already discovered that the spa across the road has a 3 month old puppy AND today I had what I'm dubbing a "puppy pedi" which means having a pedi with a puppy on my lap... It's the world's best therapy for the bargain price of $6.50 an hour.
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