Above the Cloud Cover on a Portion of the Volta Malhada Trail. June 2024.
Madeira (Portugal)
If you happen to be an early morning riser, Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport can provide some excellent opportunities for budget traveling. Many of the cheaper European airlines offer early morning (5am - 8am) flights for great prices if you book them six weeks or so in advance. There are also direct flights to many places that you can’t fly directly to otherwise. You also have the added benefit of having almost the entire day remaining once you’ve arrive at your destination. Just remember that trains from the Amsterdam city center and the surrounding cities generally only run once an hour until they pick up more regular intervals around 5am. You may want to pay a few extra euro to book a cab in advance, especially if you are traveling with other people.
A View From Miradouros do Paredão. June 2024.
Now, I’m not the best morning person in the world but I’ve taken advantage of these flights several times, most recently with a Transavia flight to Madeira, Portugal. Madeira is the name of the island archipelago that is an autonomous region of Portugal and is also the name of the biggest island in the archipelago. The islands are off the western coast of Morocco, almost a straight shot west from Marrakesh. and as you can see, they are absolutely breathtaking.
A View From Miradouro de São Lourenço. June 2024.
FOOD BREAK! Being an island, Madeira is known for it’s excellent seafood. They also grow their own wheat and make a delicious flatbread called a bolo de caco. It looks like a giant English muffin but it is so much better. These can be served simply with a ton of garlic butter or made into sandwiches, the best of which is called the prego especial. These blew me away. I had at least five of them during the trip. Lettuce, tomatoes, aged ham, thinly sliced beef, cheese, and lots of garlic butter as a sauce. Incredible.
We also had some amazing octopus and fresh caught fish that seemed to have just hopped off the boat. And being that Madeira is still technically part of Portugal I had myself a Francesinha, an ungodly colossus of meat, cheese, bread, and beer gravy. Yes please.
We stayed in Funchal, the capital and largest city on the island. From the airport it is a quick 20 minute drive that gets really exciting when you turn off the highway and dive straight down the mountainside into the heart of the city. Driving in Madeira is definitely a wild and adrenaline-filled experience. Some of the inclines are at least 45 degrees, and driving through the clouds that ring the mountain tops only adds to the fun.
Along the ER101 Coastal Road at Sao Vicente. June 2024.
We generally split the days in Madeira wandering around Funchal and taking day-long road trips across the island (and once on the sea on a replica of the Santa Maria). This seemed to strike a nice balance and allowed us to freely see many of the viewpoints and small towns. Next time I’d really like to stay overnight in at least one of those small towns to get away from the “crowds” and enjoy the remoteness of the island. Places like Seixal and Porto Moniz would make excellent getaways from busy city life. But Funchal was a great base of operations, especially for a first-time visitor.
Ilheus da Ribeira and Janela from a beach between Sexial and Porto Moniz. June 2024.
TECH BREAK! Here are some photos taken with the Samsung Galaxy S24 instead of my usual Sony A7C full frame camera. I think you can tell that while mobile photography has come a long way, the photos are still nowhere close to those that come from a proper camera. And my experience has been that the Galaxy S24 cameras are especially terrible (see below). I will definitely be going back to the Pixel Pro now that they have a reasonably sized version. The 5X camera on the Pixel Pros are simply amazing.
I know it’s comparing Food Lion apples to hand-picked Pacific Rose apples from New Zealand’s best orchards, but I’ve heard a few phone reviewers say that “traditional” photography is dead and that clearly isn’t true. Have a look at these and see if you can spot which was shot with the Sony A7C and which was shot with the Galaxy S24:
Ok, enough of that. Back to the good camera.
Visiting Madeira for the first time was an amazing experience. So much so that we’ve already booked a return trip during an EasyJet sale last month (Direct flights with 2 carry on bags in extra legroom seats for €120. Thanks EasyJet Plus :-D If you’re in the US, you can get direct flights from New York City too! Between the food, the friendly people, and the amazing natural beauty of the island, I’d highly recommend this wonder-filled island to anyone.
The Tail of Madeira. June 2024.
Highlights:
O Leque, Funchal. Best of the best Prego Especial. Great view of the square.
Revolucion Cocktail Bar, Funchal. Great cocktails and wonderful owner/operators
Santa Maria de Colombo, Funchal. Boat Tour on the replica of the Santa Maria. We didn’t see whales but it was great fun anyway.
Miradouros do Paredão. Great views for a short walk and almost completely void of other people.
Bar Praia da Laje, Seixal. Amazing bolo soaked in garlic butter. Great views. Food barbequed right in front of you. Amazing mussels.
Restaurante Baía do Bago, Porto da Cruz. Probably the best seafood from the trip. Also on the beach, also amazing views.
PR8 Vereda da Ponta de São Lourenço. Popular hiking area along the “tail” of Madeira. The views are amazing and you can go down to a pebble beach if you feel like swimming.
Esmeralda Holidays Apartments, Funchal. Nice rooms in a great location. Had a bad smell in the entrance hallway but they let us check in at 10am and they were very friendly so that more than made up for it.
Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions. I hope you enjoyed my photos!
Moonrise in Sarandë. July 2022.
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.
A valley between Sarandë’s coast and the inland mountain range. July 2022.
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?
Bunkers Along the Sea. July 2022.
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.
The Turquoisest Bluest Water I Have Ever Seen. July 2022.
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.
Sarandë From Above. July 2022.
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.
Crystal Waters From the Blue Eye. July 2022.
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!
Back in Corfu Town, Albania in the Distance. July 2022.
Mallorca, España (Spain)
Lone Palm by Catedral de Mallorca. May 2021.
Like most people living through the pandemic, by May of 2021 I really needed a vacation. There were still restrictions in place across Europe, but it was possible to fly to Spain with a negative Covid test. And as long as you wore a mask outside. And there was a 10pm curfew. But in my opinion, it was still well worth the trip for the food, sun and beaches.
A Suite in Casa Delmonte. 10/10 Recommend.
Palau Reial de l'Almudaina
Bridge Before the Royal Palace.
Castell de Bellver, May 2021
A Peaceful Cala. May 2021.
Always tip your live musicians if they don’t completely suck :)
Shout out to the incredible Casa Delmonte, where the rooms feel like staying in an actual museum.
If you’re searching for beaches in Mallorca, you’d better head for the Cales. They are the famous rock-shelf-lined waters that end in beautiful beaches.
Marina Port De Mallorca. May 2021.
Mallorca/Majorca is a popular summer destination for a very good reason. The food is amazing, the beaches are absolutely gorgeous, and it won’t break the bank. Actually, the best tacos I’ve had so far in Europe were in Mallorca. Not that they come close to touching a taco truck in San Diego County, but still quite good.
Here are some things I recommend in Mallorca:
Casa Delmonte - Clearly. It’s beautiful, posh, and there’s an amazing private garden with white wicker chairs and a fully stocked cigar and whiskey bar. I mean, c’mon.
TaqueroMucho - Those tacos I was talking about. Best I’ve had so far in Europe, and certainly the closest representation to their SoCal counterparts.
Bakeries - Any well respected bakery in Spain will have my favorite breakfast - Jamon Serrano con Queso Manchego. Best breakfast/ham and cheese sandwich ever, hands down. It feels sacrilegious to even label it a ham and cheese sandwich. The best versions have butter and/or a crushed tomato spread.
Cala - Any cala. These beaches are really amazing and they are scattered across the island.
Bocalto Tapas - Eat all of the things here.
San Lorenzo - Hotel I stayed the first time I was in Mallorca. Also a very very nice hotel with a beautiful pool and patio area. Great for photoshoots :-D
Questions? Comments? Criticisms? Hit like and make a comment below…
Equestrian Statue of Gyula Andrassy in Front of Hungarian Parliament Building. February 2022.
Budapest, Magyarország (Hungary)
Spotlights on the Parliament Building. February 2022.
Spent the evening walking along the banks of the Danube River in Budapest two nights ago. I wanted to try out some handheld night photography with the new Tamron f/2.8 28-75mm G2 lens. The riverside monuments are beautifully lit at night, making for some really neat shots. Also had fun trying different adjustments in the RAW files. Let me know if you have any questions or comments, and which is your favorite!
Moon above Szent István Bazilika. February 2022.
Danube River Walk, February 2022.
Buda Castle and Europa Boat. February 2022.
Szent István Bazilika, February 2022.
Definitely one of my favorite cities. More to come from Buda and Pest!
Hungarian Parliament Building, the Danube River, and Buda Castle. February 2022.
Half Moon Over Marseille Harbour. September 2021.
Marseille, France
Having just finished the 53 hour long audiobook version of “The Count of Monte Cristo” and after watching Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown “Marseille” episode for at least the fifth time, I decided it was high time to visit myself. Marseille happened to fit perfectly in my plan for a two week Mediterranean vacation that included southern France, central Italy, and Croatia. After spending a few days lying on a beach in Nice and paying a visit to Monaco, we drove down the beautiful Côte d'Azur and checked in to the beautiful Hôtel La Residence Du Vieux Port, right on the harbour. The evening view of the harbour lights was incredible.
Marseille Harbour, September 2021.
Driving into the city is an interesting experience in itself. This city is huge, especially when compared to some of the other coastal cities and towns I have visited. And as Bourdain says, it is definitely a little rough around the edges. If you walk a few blocks away from the harbour in any direction, you will most certainly notice. But that’s not a bad thing. In fact, I think that’s part of what makes Marseille unique.
Église Saint-Ferréol les Augustins at Dusk. Marseille, September 2021.
Marseille harbour is pretty typical for the French Riviera. Combination Hotels/Restaurants line the outside edges, each with their own outdoor spaces and overpriced drinks. But I’m a tourist after all, so this is exactly what I wanted after a long day of driving and exploring the coast.
Fort Saint-Jean, Marseille. September 2021.
A Day Spent Wandering.
The first landmark you notice is the Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde, perched on the area’s largest hilltop. Climbing the hill didn’t seem like much fun at the time, so we chickened out and caught the bus that ran from the harbour all the way to the top. This was easily justified by saying “We will definitely walk back down.”
If you are going to Marseille and you’ve read about it anywhere else, I’m sure you already know that Notre-Dame is a must see. Not even so much for the basilica itself, but for the commanding view of the entire city. From here, you can see just how expansive (and beautiful) Marseille actually is. So I’ll add my recommendation on top of all the others that you probably have seen by this point: Be sure to go check out the city views from la Bonne Mère.
Taking in the view from the cathedral was great, because it gave me ideas for where to wander next. A very imposing fort guards the harbour entrance, so that seemed like the next logical choice. On the way there was a beautiful palace, and an amazing lunch at Le Chalet du Pharo, where you can sit and stare at the fort as boats go by. Also, you can take a little path down to the water and swim in the blue-green waters. One of the forts was closed, but Fort Saint-Jean was open to wandering (and free!) as was the Musée des civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée (also free!)
Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde from Fort Saint-Jean. September 2021.
Its a pretty natural progression of a walk to go from the fort to the museum to the major cathedral. And I recommend all of them! There was even a giant (and friendly!) orange bear! And everything was free, which is a huge bonus in my book. It does seem like the whole harbour area is undergoing a refurbishing, with several things closed and scaffolding on a few of the attractions. I can’t wait to go back and visit again in a few years and see what has changed.
Cathédrale La Major, September 2021.
Hugs Please. September 2021.
Marseille is my favorite place in France so far. Uncharacteristically semi-nice people are occasionally less-than-reluctant to help you out if you need it, and I’m pretty sure one of the waiters almost smiled once. This is very different from my other French experiences. A quick fifteen minute drive to the airport and it’s time to pop across the water to The Eternal City. But before we go, here are a few recommendations:
Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde. - It’s a giant church on a hill. The views are amazing
Fort Saint-Jean - Wander around an old stone fort with interesting exhibits and harbour views.
Cathédrale La Major - An inspiring stripey cathedral.
Hôtel La Residence Du Vieux Port - A wonderful boutique hotel, right on the harbour.
Le Caribou Marseille - Great drinks, and super friendly staff. Awesome staff shirts, hope they start a merch store soon!
Les Mets des Saintes - Creole/African spin on French food. Delicious and cozy atmosphere.
Little Temple Bar - I didn’t see any resemblance to the actual infamous Irish pub, but drinks were dirt cheap and the location was great.
Questions/Comments? Ask away in the comment section below!
Vík, Ísland (Iceland)
I had an 18 hour layover in Iceland, so I took a 10 hour road trip along the southern coast.
Back in 2017 there was an ultra cheap Iceland-based airline called WOW Air. So cheap, in fact, that I scored a round-trip flight to Europe for around $250. And apparently so cheap that they are now out of business. But they got me to mainland Europe for the first time ever. RIP WOW Air.
Hekla Volcano, June 2017.
Volcanic Plains to the Southeast of the Keflavik Airport. June 2017.
After a lengthy 10+ hour flight, I arrived in Keflavik with an eighteen hour layover ahead of me. I rented a car for $18 and set off to the southeast, heading for a black sand beach near Vík. I didn’t have much of a plan past that. Pro tip: Google Maps allows you to download maps to your phone just in case you don’t have signal where you are going. Somewhere like the middle of nowhere on a tiny island in the North Atlantic Sea.
Keflavik is bordered by large volcanic flatlands to the southeast. It is a volcanic island, after all. Note: Some volcanic rocks can be very very sharp. So try not to stumble and catch yourself on pointy boulders and bleed in your nice $18-a-day rental car.
Seljalandsfoss, a Waterfall in Southern Iceland. June 2017.
Seljalandsfoss is a beautiful waterfall that you can walk behind and is right off the southern Ring Road (Iceland has a single road - Route 1 - that goes all the way around the outside of the island in a giant ring. I’m not sure where the nickname comes from.) I dodged a bus full of tourists and donned my water-proof coat for what would be the only time in my whole two-and-a-half week trip. Man it was fun lugging that heavy coat around in Granada when it was 101 degrees outside. But that’s another story.
There are thousands of waterfalls across Iceland. I saw at least a few of them.
Clouds Over Southern Iceland. June 2017.
Reynisdrangar, the Black Beach Near Vik. June 2017.
Made it to the black sand beach in Vík! Black pebble beach would be a better description. There was a cave! And geometric basalt columns! It was beautiful and cold. What may seem to be three large sea stacks out in the water are actually three trolls that were trying to drag a ship ashore and turned to stone at daybreak. So keep a wary eye on them.
Black Sand Beach and Columnes Reynisfjara. June 2017.
Green Peaks in Southern Iceland, June 2017.
When the Vikings discovered Iceland, they supposedly named it Iceland so nobody else would want to visit. Then they named Greenland. Vikings were the clear predecessors to internet trolls.
Alaskan Lupine and a Snow-Capped Volcano. June 2017.
A Small Village in Southern Iceland. June 2017.
12.30 am in Iceland, June 2017.
After all this driving I suddenly realized it was going on 1 am. This shocked me because the sun had barely even gone down. One of the reasons I was excited about visiting Iceland was the chance of seeing the auroras. Turns out you can’t really do that in the summer time and I am a big dummy.
Moon in June. 2017.
I had a very, very late night (still light outside) beer and “dinner” in Reykjavik and wandered around the city. I saw groups of legitimate children running around and playing in the parks. They must want to enjoy the long days and short nights as much as possible during the summer. Either way it was strange and surreal.
In the end, I hope everyone gets a chance for an Icelandic layover on their way to/from the European mainland. WOW Air is no longer a thing, but I know you can easily add a 1/2/3 day layover in Iceland if you book with Icelandic Air. If you have any questions, comments, or likes feel free to leave them below. And give Iceland a shot! It is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen, and I barely scratched the surface. I did scratch my hand though.
Vernassa, Cinque Terre, Italia
Vernassa, one of the five fishing villages of Cinque Terre in Liguria, Italy.
Vernassa From the Balcony, June 2021.
Sheltered Waters, Vernassa June 2020.
Vernassa’s Central Street. June 2020
Tower of Monterosso, Vernassa’s Neighboring Village. June 2020.
Colors of Vernassa, June 2021.