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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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🇷🇸 Golubac, Serbia: A Demanding Hike & Scenic Sailing. PLUS: A Poll
We’ve got white caps on the Danube today. Everyone is seasick. Kidding. Well, I overheard one lady say she was seasick. Not sure how. Being on a river boat is like sailing on glass. I think she might be confusing seasickness with some sketchy goulash. Viking’s Demanding Hike Early this morning, Ken went on what…
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🇷🇸 Belgrade: Three Weddings and a lot of Gray
We are docked in Belgrade, Serbia today. And we can walk into town from the port – no herd bus. Huzzah! If nothing else, I’ve learned a lot more about Eastern European / Balkan geography on this trip. Belgrade is located at the meeting point of the Danube and Sava Rivers. The Danube connects Belgrade…
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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…