You should go to Skye. As soon as you can. Stay in a cabin. Hike the hills. Swim in the sea. Wrap yourself in a wool blanket and drink whiskey by the fire as a cold rain provides steady percussion on the tin roof. Revel in the natural beauty that surrounds you.
Sarandë, Shqipëri (Saranda, Albania)
It’s not the easiest place to get to, even from one of the busiest airports in the world. But the Albanian coastal city of Sarandë is truly a unique and special place. Sarandë takes some of the best bits of Italy, Greece, and the Balkans and marries them together. The result is a spectacular contrast of ideals and cultures that can only be described as… Albania.
Growing up, I played soccer (football) and made friends with an Albanian family so visiting their home country had been a long time goal of mine for quite awhile. I got the chance when I read about how you can take a quick ferry ride from the popular Greek holiday island of Corfu. So I added Corfu to the summer holiday itinerary with the sole purpose of visiting Albania for a few days. In fact, we took a taxi straight from the Corfu airport to the Corfu Town Port. Thirty-five minutes later, we stepped foot in the home country of my old soccer pals.
As I mentioned before, Albania is a land of contrasts. The ferry ride over to Sarandë (high speed ferry service on Finikas Lines) was a perfect introduction to this concept. Surrounded by crystal waters of the Ionian while inhaling intense diesel fumes was something of an experience. Being forcibly befriended by a local who apparently knew every single person at both Finikas Lines and the Albanian border security was also fun, if a not a little overwhelming. “For €10 you can have a great night on the town in Albania,” he told me as he handed me three of the six beers he grabbed directly from behind the small counter that only crew were supposed to go behind. “For €100 you can live like a king.” Well, Gëzuar to that.
Turns out my new friend was pretty spot on. A large apartment a few steps from downtown was under €50 for the night. An amazing dinner at a family run restaurant right on the water was under €20 including (several) cocktails and bottled water was something like €0.25. I think this even beats out Budapest as far as bang for your buck goes. We were even treated to a beautiful sunset and a near-full moonrise. Albania’s beauty is astounding. Later that night we sat on the balcony drinking Albanian beer (€0.60/pint) reflecting on the wonderful people we had met and watching the party boat circle the bay. We were already in love with this city.
The next day it was time for some adventuring. If the southern coast of Albania is famous for anything, it is for the beautiful beaches that line the crystal blue waters of the Ionian Sea. Naturally, there are big boats that will take you on day trips to visit several of them. And naturally they leave relatively early in the morning so you have plenty of time to visit them all. And naturally I didn’t really think about this beforehand and we woke up and headed to the harbor well after they had all already gone for the day. Fortunately, we were in Albania.
After unsuccessfully enquiring at a few tourist offices, we came across a local trying to get off of her boat. The boat couldn’t get any closer to the dock and the end of the gangplank was still a short distance away and rocking quite a bit, so we reached and helped steady the boat as she jumped off. This turned out to be a fortunate meeting because here friends had a small boat and were happy to let us charter it for the day. I guess we ended up breaking the “King for €100” rule, but it was easily worth €150 to charter a private boat with snacks and drinks for 5-6 hours. Of course it was a little sketchy at first. Here we were, heading off into the wild blue sea with two strangers with somewhat surly demeanors and who immediately started steering the boat to a less-than-welcoming cove at the outskirts of town, surrounded by abandoned bunkers. Oh yeah, the bunkers. Have I mentioned the bunkers yet?
Albania is covered in some 173,000 bunkers. That’s one bunker for every sixteen people. That’s sixteen bunkers every square mile (or six every square kilometer for my non-USA readers). There’s a playground in downtown Sarandë with a bunker in the middle of it. There’s also a somewhat terrifying statue of Hillary Clinton’s head and guess what’s right beside it? Bunker. Remember the contrast thing I mentioned earlier? Flat grey bunkers on the edge of the sparkling blue sea are a perfect demonstration of that concept.
So anyway, we were being taken to our doom by complete strangers, or so it seemed at first. Turns out the sketchy cove at the edge of town is actually the boat gas station. Once we had filled up, we cruised along the beautiful coastline. Eventually, our co-captains dropped anchor a few meters off the shoreline of Krorëza Beach and reached for a little herbal relaxation as we dove into the sea and headed for shore. We spent the next several hours exploring different beaches along the coast, our once-stoic guides becoming much more friendly as the day wore on. The boat returned to port that evening, just in time for dinner. Delicious pizza dinner. A drink or two. Sleep.
The following day we went inland. I thought I was more prepared this time. What I thought was a day-long bus tour turned out to be our own private tour by car. An all-day private tour for about €50. Kings for a Day. We visited the hilltop castle Kalaja e Lëkurësit, and Albania’s famous Blue Hole. Or Blue Eye rather. Either way, it is a beautiful blue spring in the middle of a lush forest valley and surrounded by arid hill tops. And finally the ancient city ruins of Butrint, which has an acropolis older than THE Acropolis. Take that, Athena. We had very pleasant and amazing journey all day until some local traffic cops attempted to shake down our tour guide. I had the American embassy phone number pulled up on speed dial while loud arguments and wild gesticulations occurred outside the car. It was certainly exciting to say the least. But in the end we made it back safely, and in time for the return ferry to Corfu no less. It was a beautiful Albanian adventure full of contrasts, where we lived like kings and haggled like hustlers. I can’t wait to return.
Recommendations! Basically all the stuff I mentioned. But TL;DR Below:
Butrint, for sure. Worth the whole trip.
Kalaja e Lëkurësit (The castle on the hill)
Krorëza Beach
Honestly the group boat looked fun, if you can get up in time to go. They had a foam party on the deck. And the boat looks like a pirate ship.
Bar Restaurant Limani. Delicious breakfasts with giant portions. Try the Greek.
Shemo Beach Bar & Restaurant. Amazing food, family run, beautiful view. Ridiculously low prices and such a good value.
I hope you enjoyed the stories. If you have any questions or comments, let me know below! Thanks for reading!
Oktoberfest München, Deutschland (Germany)
Clearly the best time to visit Munich is during Oktoberfest…
The train from Utrecht takes about seven hours, with just one change. That may sound like a long time, but when you consider getting to the airport early, checking bags if you have them, and waiting in security lines, turns out I’d much rather just take the train. Plus we were staying at a Marriott property right beside Munich’s central station which is much closer to the action than Munich’s airport (about a 1 hour commute by train). On top of that, there were large groups of Dutchies already dressed in their Lederhosen and pounding beers on the train
The first night was classic Oktoberfest. We dressed in our typical classic German attire, went to the festival grounds and met some friends, ate sausages and half-meter long hotdogs, and planted ourselves at an outdoor table on the Hofbräu terrace. Liters and liters of beer were drank. Strangers were met. Songs were sung. Stumbling occurred. A perfect Oktoberfest night.
The next day was time for recovery and exploring. The typical city wandering occurred. I ate delicious schnitzel and spätzle at several different restaurants. Restaurant Deutsche Eiche in particular had an amazing slab of roast turkey breast with a turkey gravy that cured all of my ailments instantly.
The last night of our adventure was spent in a triumphant return to the Hofbräu tent. This time we found some folks with a half-empty table and they let us join them, right in the middle of the room beside the bandstand. A few liters and many toasts later we headed back to the hotel, a wonderful and slightly impromptu trip to Munich completed. Will definitely be returning next year!
Recommends:
Hofbräu tent. Definitely the best of the tents.
Restaurant Deutsche Eiche (mmmm turkey)
Roomers Munich, Autograph Collection - A Marriott property with a phenomenal breakfast and a pool/hot tub/grotto in the basement. So fancy. Thank you Marriott points!
Going up the Frauenkirche tower. Not the best tower I’ve been in but there’s an elevator and plenty of signboards to tell you what you’re looking at.
Questions? Comments? Let me know below!
San Gimignano, Italia
A two-night adventure just a short train/bus ride from Firenze…
Right, so one of the ways I “plan” weekend vacations is by searching Google Flights across a general area. I have the luxury of being a short thirty minute train ride from one of the busiest airports in all of Europe, and said trains run every fifteen minutes or so (man I love Utrecht so much). So this means I can set my departure airport to Amsterdam Schiphol, and my destination to something like “Western Europe” or “Spain” or “Italy”. Then change the filter to Direct Flights Only and see where I can go for a cheap weekend getaway. I have found this method yield some really cool results.
I can never argue against going to Firenze, but having been several times in the past few years, I wanted to find something a little different. Not inconsequentially I had also just completed a playthrough of one of the best games of all time, Assassin’s Creed II which takes you climbing and leaping and stabbing your way across Renaissance-era Tuscany with Leonardo Da’Vinci in tow. In ACII you not only get to leap and climb around a beautifully modelled late 15th-century Firenze, but you also get to scale each and every tower in il Comune di Belle Torri,
The City of Fine Towers, San Gimignano.
San Gimignano happens to be a pretty popular day trip down from Florence and boy is it worth the trip. Even better if you are going to stay overnight because, like in Cinque Terre, you get to stick around and enjoy the peaceful evenings after the day crowds have all dissipated.
Oh! And not only can you enjoy the town, walk down the streets, visit shops, drink and eat local fare, but you can also rent a tower to stay in overnight! Whattt??? Yes! That is right! Said tower may even have its own scary and very tiny elevator that takes you all the way up to the roof! Then you can wake up slightly earlier than most people in the town, grab a nice extra large coffee from the café nearby and ride the terrifying elevator up to watch the sun rise and slowly clear the morning fog from the hillside valleys (see images above). Or you can relax with some assorted boar meat antipasti and local wine and watch the city lights come on as the sun sets behind the Tuscan hills (see images below).
I would highly recommend this town if you are looking for a quiet getaway from some of the busier Tuscan cities while still being able to enjoy phenomenal food and drink. Plus the once-in-a-lifetime experience of staying in a medieval tower. With a table and chairs on top to enjoy the view. And a secret room behind a bookcase. And a history of a family rivalry. Scandalous.
Anywho, here are some tips and recommendations for San Gimignano:
Renting a car is probably far more convenient (there are large parking lots outside of the city walls so you’ll still need to do some hill walking) but taking the train/bus combo from Firenze is cheap and not difficult. Especially if you are already familiar with the Italian public transit system, or European public travel in general.
Actually scratch that, you wouldn’t have to walk hills if you don’t want to. There is a tiny bus that drives up and down the main street of the city, but I never used it.
The Piazza del Duomo and Piazza della Cisterna are basically the center of the city, so stay somewhere really close to there. Then you are a short walk to most of the cafes, restaurants, and bars. Remember, this is a relaxing trip so no need for extra stress.
REMEMBER THE EATING SCHEDULE! Especially during the week and offseason, many places close between lunch and dinner. So don’t expect to find the best food in town at 17:30 on a Tuesday. You’re going to have to wait until at least 19:30.
Bar Ristorante Boboli - Inexpensive and delicious, and just down the street from the main squares. Lots of menu items to choose from!
Vinaio di San Gimignano - Right on the Piazza della Cisterna. Great wines and all kinds of sandwiches with fun new sliced deli meats to try. Including the local Soppressata Toscana, which I was told is made from “pig’s head”.
La Bottega San Gimignano - Towards the northern gate, this place was open later than most and had great drinks and really nice owner/operator staff. I can’t speak to the food, but the sevice was far better than the larger place across the street that barely gave us the time of day. Go here instead :)
La Cisterna - Right on the main piazza and definitely touristy, but the focaccia sandwiches are tasty and so is the coffee.
For things to do between meals and drinks, check out the Palazzo del Pópolo and the Torre Grossa (the Fat Tower!) The former is a nice museum and you can climb to the top of the latter if you didn’t happen to book a place that had its own tower.
Walk the city streets! I know, this is my tip for every place I visit, but San Gimignano has some beautiful views of the surrounding landscapes, awesome little side shops and alleys, and torture museums.
That’s it for now, please click the heart below and leave a comet if you liked it!