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📸 Photo Essays: Make-up Edition
A little bit of housekeeping this week: I realized I forgot to post my photo essays from our Danube River cruise trip. Well, that’s not completely true. I posted my Turkey, Hungary, and Croatia photo essays, but then I got sidetracked with life, and forgot to post Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania. In putting together my…
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Balkan Wine: The Jan Brady of the Wine World
If I’m thinking about wine, the Balkans isn’t the first region that comes to mind. Heck, it’s not even the 33rd. And yet – Balkan winemaking has roots stretching back more than 6,000 years. Older than Bordeaux. Older than Burgundy. Older than most of the national borders we recognize today. And still, Balkan wine remains…
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🌍 River Cruise Wrap-up, Part II: The Challenges and Rewards of Traveling in Eastern Europe
Last year we traveled through nine Eastern European countries – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in the spring, followed by Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania on our recent Danube River cruise. And the one thing that unites all of them is a chapter that Western Europe simply doesn’t have: the Soviet Occupation Chapter. But…
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🇧🇬 Ruse: The Little Vienna (?) of Bulgaria
Good morning from Ruse, Bulgaria – about 75 kilometers south of Bucharest, Romania. Viking had the herd buses lined up and ready this morning. One was going to a monastery made out of rocks. Maybe interesting, but also a 2 hour bus ride. Pass. The other bus was a shuttle into town. Kind of a…
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🇧🇬 Vidin, Bulgaria: Tracksuits, Roses, and an Underground Communist Toilet
Good morning from Vidin, in the extreme northwestern part of Bulgaria, on the border with Romania. What to say about Vidin? If someone were to design a travel brochure for Bulgaria, Vidin isn’t going to make the cover. Hell, I’m not sure Vidin would make page six. Vidin is one of Bulgaria’s oldest cities –…
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📚 Destination Bookshelf: What I’m Reading Before Our Danube River Cruise
Before we take a trip, I always try to come up with a reading list that connects with our upcoming destination(s). I usually gravitate toward my favorite genre – historical fiction. I find historical fiction helps make history more accessible and relatable. My husband is more of a non-fiction guy, but I don’t have the…