A Little Slice of Italy

Last weekend, to celebrate our final few days on the Adriatic Sea, Abbie and I trekked to Trieste, Italy for a taste of Italian culture and cuisine. There is just something so inimitable about the country; you can feel the fervor of the Italians immediately after crossing the border.

Trieste Canal

Trieste is a large port town that blends Slovenian and Italian customs, as it is about a five-minute drive from the Slovenian border. The entire city is located on a steep slope overlooking the sea, and the roads feel like they are as wide as our tiny rental sedan. Abbie and I held on for dear life swerving through the narrow, windy, STEEP paths that led to and throughout the city. After parking at the port, we bee-lined straight for a pizzeria and enjoyed some Italian vino and a calzone. We had contacted a couple locals through couchsurfing.com (which is utterly amazing) and had planned to meet up with one of them that day so that they could show us around. We perched at an outdoor bar and enjoyed aperol and aperitivo (a pre-dinner drink and appetizer-like snacks provided with every drink, much like Spanish tapas) as we waited for our new friend. Federico (or “Feddy” as everyone called him) showed up with a mental itinerary, and his genuine character served as the perfect welcoming. A native-born Triestian, Feddy knew tons of facts about the various sites he led us to: an ancient Roman theater and ruins, the Trieste castle and fortress, the annual chocolate fair where he treated us to Italian hot chocolate (I got a mix of white and dark, which is solely melted chocolate aka extremely rich and delicious). Next, Feddy began explaining the ritual of an “Opazzi”, which is a Slovenian-Italian tradition that occurs for about a month of every year in Trieste. Local Italian families living in the outskirts of the town open up their homes for others to come and try their homemade wine, cheese, and other aperitivo. However, you can only find these homes through secret “holly-and-arrow messages” scattered throughout the boroughs (see picture below). Feddy invited us and some of his friends to the Opazzi near his home, where we enjoyed the family’s wine, cheese, bread, and prosciutto. Feddy and his friends were some of the nicest people I have ever met, completely enthused in everything Abbie and I had to say, despite their difficulties in understanding our rapid and slangy English. They apologized immensely for not being able to come out with us that night as they had a birthday party, but directed us to the most fun bars and discotheques. A night out in Italy proved amusing to say the least, and the outdoor culture left us refreshed after a long evening of drinks and more aperitivo on the streets of Trieste.

One of the hidden arrow messages leading to an Opazzi

The next day we toured another fortress situated directly on the coast, and headed to a local Italian restaurant for some pasta! Seafood is the obvious specialty of the coastal town, and a heaping plate of spaghetti and shellfish gave us the satisfaction of trying authentic Trieste fare. After, we met up with yet another couchsurfing friend. (side note: couchsurfing.com is an international networking website that allows you to contact people from all over the world who are willing to show you around the city they are living in or are willing to provide lodging for free! It has seriously restored my faith in humanity, as everyone we have met through it has been unnecessarily gracious in showing us around, taking us to the best and most “hidden” places, even buying us gelato!!) Anyways, Pablo is from Argentina and is a student in Trieste, so we chatted with him during a walk along the coast for a few hours. We said our goodbyes as we needed to head back to Zagreb, but he is in Brussels this weekend so he is going out with us and our colleague tonight! I love how paradoxically big and small this world really is...

Abbie, Pablo, and I at Piazza Unita

Hungary for Romania

Weekend trips to Budapest, Hungary and the region of Transylvania, Romania have undoubtedly been the highlights of my past month! Abbie and I visited our coach, Adam, in Budapest for a few days (he is originally from a small town outside of Budapest but now lives right in the city center) and were lucky enough to stay in downtown Budapest at a nice hotel recommended by him.

My intake of Hungarian history, culture, cuisine, and sights left me in awe of wonderful Budapest, and Abbie and I squeezed in the chain bridge, Buda Castle, Parliament, The Museum of Terror, a night river cruise (with champagne, cha-ching!), St. Stephen’s cathedral, Heroes’ Square, and Margaret Island! Adam had sent us an itinerary of must-do’s, and we only got about a third of the way through! Budapest has so much to offer; its history of occupation by the Turks, the Russians, the Germans, and the Austrians has inspired their uniquely chaotic story. Despite a surprisingly disturbing past (learned from the Museum of Terror), Hungary is extremely developed and a strong contributor to the European Union.

View of the Danube river, separating the "Buda" and "Pest" sides of the city

Along with miles of walking around the massive city, Abbie and I tried typical Hungarian goulash, paprika chicken, cottage cheese crepes, and local wine and beer – did I already mention that food and alcohol are by default one of the most amazing aspects of travel?

The following HALLOWEEN weekend, my friends in Bulgaria came up with the amazing idea to hit up Transylvania, Romania to celebrate the spooky holiday Twilight-style! Team Croatia, Kosovo, and Bulgaria all met up in Bran, Romania, where Dracula’s castle is. Well, met up BEFORE an 18 HOUR drive through deserted, under-developed no-name Serbian and Romanian towns. Eastern Europe Google maps lies (Claire, Kell, and Jenna – get on that haha!) Abbie and I drove to Belgrade, Serbia to pick up Bill and Lydia, who had taken a bus from Kosovo. Getting into Serbia from Kosovo is a difficult process, and there is literally a war in Lydia’s passport. Because Serbia is one of the only countries to not recognize Kosovo as a country, anytime Serbian border control sees their Kosovo stamp, they pound an “annulled” stamp over top of it! Their Kosovo stamps caused us problems at the Romanian border as well – 3 Americans and 1 Brit driving a Croatian rental car through the Romanian border at 3am caused quite the queue.

We finally reached the Transylvania region just as the sun was rising, and if I hadn’t of been so crabby/numb/sick of car games/tired of yelling at Bill for driving so aggressively past horse-drawn wagons, I would have enjoyed the windy passage through rickshaw cottages, just waking up with smoke in their chimneys. Completely out of it, we checked into our amazing lodge, and were greeted by the kind owners insisting that we have breakfast before sleeping. They brought out fresh fried eggs literally straight from their chickens, warm milk straight from the cow, and mysterious cheese straight from the goat. After rest we explored Bran market and souvenir-shopped our little hearts out. We snapped pictures of Dracula’s castle during daylight and enjoyed Romanian funnel cakes in town – my fatigue was completely overshadowed by the amazing weather, company, and indescribably extraordinary surroundings.

Bran Castle (the original "Dracula's Castle")

That night we enjoyed Vampire wine at the lodge before heading to a Romanian restaurant for dinner with the whole group. From there, dressed head-to-toe in black, with plastic fangs to emanate truly vampy personas, we marched up to Dracula’s castle just as midnight on Halloween eve was approaching. Halloween is the only time of the year when the castle is open during the night, and we loved gallivanting through the truly paranormal fortress for awhile, reading tall tales about “Count the Impaler” who inhabited the castle. After an unforgettable tour, we headed to a Halloween disco and danced the night away with the rest of the Halloween-spirited locals.

Count Kristen and Abbie Cullen inside Drac's Castle on Halloween

The next day we went to Brasov, Romania, a picturesque town with an adorable Sunday market, and enjoyed browsing the many stalls of homemade gingerbread cookies, delicious cakes, hot wine, cheese samples, and other traditional Romanian specialties. It was a beautiful afternoon, and stopped by the famous Black Church of Brasov – which actually is now Lutheran!

A night of relaxing dinner and drinks in Bran prepared us for the long day of traveling we had in front of us (that Monday was All-Saints Day in Eastern Europe, so did not have work). We all tried to enjoy the car ride home, and broke up the trip by stopping in Belgrade for dinner. Was two more-than-full days of backseat driving worth the trip to Dracula’s castle for October 31^st? Bloody bet it was.