As some of you probably know, I went to Iceland a few weeks back. Well, it’s finally time for me to share my photos with you! Emma has literally been bugging me about this since before we even landed back in Seattle, so I’m happy to get this posted and her off my back. Only…
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Bulgaria is a fascinating country with thousands of years of history and so much to see and do. If you’re looking for an off the beaten path destination, Bulgaria fits the bill to a T. It may not be the first place to come to mind when most people think “European vacation” but in my…
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After our quick jaunt to Istanbul, we return to Bulgaria and Varna to spend more time with Maggie’s grandma and other extended family. I think they find me very odd. To say thank you for letting me stay with them, I cook dinner one night and choose chili as a sort of American meal –…
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Nessebar might be the most adorable town in Bulgaria. To me, it’s the Cape Cod of the Black Sea. It has a ton of charm, lots of cute little shops and is infinitely photographable. As such, this post is heavy on the pictures, light on the words. The town of Nessebar is over 3000 years…
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Reunited and it feels so good! After spending the day visiting the ruins of Perperikon, I hop back on the bus to continue my journey to Varna. Maggie and her mom are waiting for me at the bus station, and it’s nice to be able to easily speak to people again. As an introvert, I…
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The ancient ruins of Perperikon may not be well known, but if you have the time in your Bulgarian itinerary, they are worth half a day to see. Located on top of a hill in the Rhodopes Mountains, they are easily accessible by car from the town of Kardzhali, so I decide to take a…
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I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Plovdiv just might be the highlight of Bulgaria (Maggie would disagree and say it’s Varna, I’m sure, but she’s biased). It ends up being my favorite city in the country, and my second favorite city in all of eastern Europe (after the city where I…
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The Rila Monastery is located about 70 miles south of Sofia, in the Rila Mountains. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get there on my own easily, so I join a tour leaving from the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral early in the morning. I can’t resist one more picture of the cathedral in…
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After a fun weekend at Oktoberfest in Munich, it’s time for Maggie and I to fly to her homeland. I’m really excited to see where she grew up, meet her grandma’s and some of her childhood friends. As the largest city and capitol of Bulgaria, our first stop is Sofia. Our friend Todor (who I…
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You may (or may not) have noticed my lack of posts lately. As you probably know, my hard drive crashed a few weeks ago, and I sent it in to a clean room to extract the data. Well, unfortunately, that didn’t work. The disk is scratched and they were unable to retrieve my pictures. I’m completely…
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One of the best decisions I’ve ever made was to study abroad while I was in college. The summer after my junior year, my program had an opportunity to go to Hungary for an International Business course, and one other course of our choosing. Up until this point, I had only ever been to England…
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Going to Oktoberfest in Munich where it all began, is one of the funnest things I’ve ever done while traveling. I’m fortunate enough that my friend Meike who I met in India, lives there and let us stay with her. She was able to give us insider tips on how to do Wiesn like a local, right…
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