Spring European adventures – Tavaszi európiai kalandok

After a few months of rest, we were ready again for new adventures. This time, away from home for 36 consecutive days, visiting 8 European countries.

The preparations for this trip were different from our last one in Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and New Zealand. For that trip we worked with a travel agency. For this, we did the planning and the logistics ourselves for almost everything associated with the 5 weeks of travel.

We are very much excited about this adventure! We will be visiting Spain, Andorra, France, Monaco, Italy, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary, being in some of these countries for the first time!

During the months of preparation, both of us “worked” diligently figuring out the logistics. I did a lot of research online: reading travel blogs, watching travel videos, and designing our packing list. This would again be carry-on only travel. Our packing list differs just a little bit from what we used for the Big Trip. (There is no need for winter clothing for spring in Europe).

Both Steve and I consulted old-fashioned guide books. I discovered walking tours and accommodations in various cities. Steve bought the airline tickets, some of the train tickets, and some of the tickets for museums.

It was very helpful that for the first week of the trip, our friends Concha and Kevin, took care of everything: bought the train and museum tickets, and rented an apartment for us all in Madrid. Concha and I taught at Seattle Prep for more than 20 years. Last summer they moved to Spain, Concha’s home country, and now they live south-east from Madrid, in Cuenca. They will be hosting us and showing us not only their home city and its surrounding areas, but also Madrid and Segovia. Thank you, Concha and Kevin!

Besides being with our friends, we will be doing sightseeing on our own, go on day-trips with a small group of people, and go on walking tours. We will be flying, riding trains, boats, maybe even buses. We will be renting a car and drive home from Vienna to my village in Slovakia. We will be staying in hotels and apartments, and hope to experience local cuisine of different countries.

Here is a glimpse into what places we will be visiting.

Spain (13 days): Cuenca, Madrid, Segovia, Barcelona
Andorra (1 day)
France: (4 days): Nice, Antibes, Cannes
Monaco (1 day)
Italy (5 days): Genoa, Milan, Lake Como
Austria (2 days): Vienna
Slovakia (8 or 9 days): Pozba, Dunajská Streda (and possibly visiting other small towns)
Hungary (1 or 2 days): Budapest

We can’t wait to be in all of these places! Hope you can join us by following along on this blog.

Day 1, Tuesday, April 22: Flying to Madrid

From home, we took Uber to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, from where we took off 10 minutes after 1 pm on Delta airlines. A nice and eventless flight: reading, blogging, and watching two films. Tried to get a little nap – no success.

Landed in Amsterdam (in the Netherlands) before 9 am on the next day. Stood in a very long line for passport control, but we were not in hurry since we had a 3-hour layover.

Day 2, Wednesday, April 23: Cuenca

From Amsterdam, we flew on Air Europa. This was the first time that we were on a European budget airline. We didn’t know that the partner airline for Delta was going to be this type. But it wasn’t bad, except they didn’t even give you a glass of water for free! You have to pay for everything.

We landed in Madrid around 2 pm. Our friends, Concha and Kevin, were waiting for us at the airport. We were so happy to see them! What a fantastic reunion after a year! The drive from Madrid to Cuenca is about an hour and half. On our way, we stopped to eat in a small restaurant, where we got our first exposure to the famous Spanish tapas. No doubt, we will explore many more in Spain.

After we settled at their beautiful condo overlooking one of Cuenca’s parks, even though at this point we had been up for many hours, after some rest and refreshment, we took a walk. Concha went to her art class, so it was only Kevin, Steve, and myself.

We walked leisurely by the river enjoying nature, good conversations, and the views of the modern and historic town.

On our way back, we even got invited to a small private museum by the owner, the artist José Luis Martínez, who makes small and bigger statues from recycled metal. It was fun to see his various, quite silly art.

After returning from our walk, Concha prepared a delicious feast: ham and chicken croquettes, roasted sweet red pepper, lomo Iberico, accompanied by award winning bread and local red wine, even a cake! We ate quite late (after 8 pm) – in the style of the Spaniards.

After some lovely post dinner conversations, we were more than ready for our first night in Spain.

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