Reims, France

After spending a long weekend in Paris, I made my way to Reims for a few quiet days by myself. Most tourists probably spend an afternoon in Reims or skip it altogether, but not me. I was looking for a small, adorable town to wander through and that’s exactly was I got.

I booked an Airbnb for two nights on the southern end of town. My private bedroom with shared bath was stylish and oh so comfortable at $49USD per night. My host was friendly and helpful though her English was limited (as is my French). The apartment is a bit of a walk from the train station (Gare de Reims) in town but this did not deter me. Note that there is no left luggage facility at the Reims train station. There is, however, a new service called Nanny Bag that was suggested to me by the tourism office.

I visited both the cathedral and the basilica during my time in Reims. I cannot recommend these enough. Both buildings are awe inspiring to wander through. And, both are free. Plus, if you have just come from Paris, you will actually be able to enjoy and appreciate these spaces without hordes of tourists.

Our Lady of Reims.

Our Lady of Reims shot from the park behind the cathedral.

I also visited the Surrender Museum (Musée de la Reddition) and really enjoyed this small but significant piece of history. While I consider myself generally knowledgeable about World War II, I had never heard of Reims and the important role the city played.

While in town, I treated myself to a decadent lunch at Anna S. The prix-fixe menu was seasonal and delicious. It was such a filling meal that I did not eat dinner that night. It was my only splurge while in town but at €42 (which included a glass of wine), it was well worth it.

I also ate some mussels while in town. I researched a few places but my Airbnb host recommended Le Grand Café and she did not steer me wrong.  Once again, my meal was accompanied by wine (when in Rome…) and cost €22. 

After two days in Reims, I was ready to move on to my next destination. For this, I needed to make my way out to the high speed train station (Gare Champagne TGV) just outside of town. I searched and searched (using my cell phone) for good information on local buses and tram lines and came up empty handed. Later, I was able to find this online map for the trams and local buses which opened on my laptop.

Before boarding the tram, you must buy a ticket and then validate it once on the tram. There is an option for paying via cell phone but I didn’t research this as I only used the tram once. The city is not that big and I love to walk and explore. 

Postojna, Slovenia

We drove from the Venice airport directly to the Skocjan Cave in Slovenia. We were lucky to arrive just before the next scheduled tour started (see their website for tour times). The tickets cost €18 per person but was well worth it. The guided tour was very informative and the experience was amazing. Note that there is a lot of walking as well as stairs involved in visiting this cave. 

 

We stayed at one of the many guesthouses in Postojna. The owners of Grmek Apartments were very hospitable and the room was delightful at a cost of €48 per night. The apartment was a bit of a walk from town but close enough to walk to dinner at Štorja pod Stopnicami. This was one of my favorite meals in Slovenia. Though not budget friendly (dinner for two with drinks cost about €62), I can’t recommend it enough. The food was delicious and the service was friendly and inviting.

Octopus over roasted carrots and pureed potatoes with a green pea sauce.

 

The following day, we visited the Postojna Cave which is more built up and fantastical than the Skocjan Cave. They have installed train tracks and small trains to take you through the cave. It was a fun experience but definitely more expensive at €28 per person. If mobility is an issue, I recommend visiting the Postojna Cave as there isn’t nearly as much walking as in Skocjan Cave.  

 

After visiting the cave, we drove back into town to get a kebap. This little restaurant has delicious, cheap, and filling kebaps for about €5 each.

 

Kebap with all the fixins.

On our way out of town, we visited a small park which has two natural bridges. If you enjoy hiking, this is a great place to explore nature. 

 

Kyle posing in front of the larger of the two natural bridges.

 

Venice, Italy

We visited Venice in late September and were lucky to have warmer than average weather for the few days we were there. We stayed at Ca’ San Vio for two nights and spent our days wandering the city and enjoying the scenery with a glass of wine in hand. Our room was very small but breakfast was served in our room. The staff was very friendly and welcoming. 

 

We found a few delicious places for biccari but found out the hard way that they tend to close around 9pm. Our favorites were Osteria Al Squero and Cantine del Vino gia Schiavi.

We also ate at Trattoria Bar Pontini for lunch one day. We arrived just in time to grab the last available table outside. The seafood dishes were delicious and fresh. Our total for two entrees and two glasses of wine came to about $46USD. Also, I was able to ask for (and receive) free tap water, acqua del rubinetto.

 

To get to and from the airport, we took the airport shuttle (€15 roundtrip) and then walked from the bus depot into the heart of Venice. Later in our trip, we returned to Venice with a rental car and stayed in the town of Mestre for the night at the Camping Village Jolly. While the accommodations were sparse and dated, the location and amenities (free parking, a pool, and a shuttle to Venice) were very well priced at $24USD a night. If you want to visit Venice of a tight budget, this is my recommendation instead of staying on the islands.

Roadtrip stops in Scotland

My friends and I drove from Glasgow, up into the highlands to John o’ Groats, and then back down to Edinburgh. During this long road trip, we found some great little spots to stop and break up the drive.

-We visited the town of Oban for a visit to the whisky distillery. While trying to figure out what to do about lunch, we realized that Dunstaffnage Castle was on a bluff overlooking the water not far from Oban. We popped into Tesco, picked up some picnic items, and drove to the castle.

Oban Distillery did not disappoint.

-We took an afternoon to hike to Sandwood Bay Beach on our way to John o’ Groats. The hike was not difficult but was longer than expected. We estimated it to be 4.5 miles from the parking area all the way to the beach. The hike was nice but not as spectacular as the views of the beach. If you have the time, I highly recommend it. Also, here is a link to a video of the beach.

Here we are on route to the beach.

-We stopped in Inverness for lunch at the Kitchen Restaurant which was very delicious and well priced. After lunch, we walked to Miele’s Gelateria which totally hit the spot after an amazing lunch.

-When we visited Aberdeen for the afternoon, we had a recommendation to go to Slains Castle for lunch. While the inside of the bar and restaurant is quite interesting, the food was only mediocre. I would recommend going in for a drink and to wander around but find your meal someplace else.

-We stopped off in Perth one day to stretch our legs and eat lunch. We stumbled across this quaint little French inspired place, the Tabou Bistro.  Everything was amazing from the homemade soup to the salmon salad to the charcuterie platter. For lunch under £12GBP, it was a great find.

Wadi Rum National Park, Jordan

Wadi Rum is amazingly beautiful and definitely worth a visit. We researched a handful of tour operators and decided to go with Classic Wadi Rum Tours. They offer many tour options. We chose the four hour Jeep tour with an overnight stay in their tent camp. At JD45 a person, it was an awfully good deal. In addition to the guided tour, the price included a large boxed lunch, delicious hot dinner, breakfast, bottled water, and Bedouin tea. The park entrance fee of JD5 was not included.

The rock formations of Wadi Rum.

I was nervous that their “camp” would be the dumping ground for all of the tourists in Wadi Rum that day (think hundreds of tourists milling around in one place). Fortunately, this was not the case. It seemed as though each tour company had their own secluded, small camp set up in different areas around the desert that is Wadi Rum. The camp we stayed in has about 20 tents with 2-4 beds in each. There is also a tent for congregating/eating and the camp has running water, toilets, and showers. We felt lucky that when we were there in mid-March, there were only about 12 people staying in our camp. At capacity, there could be around 80 people in this specific camp.

 

We really enjoyed the day with our guide, Salman. He was very friendly and answered all of our random questions about Jordan, Wadi Rum, and, oddly enough, goats. 

San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico

San Cristobal is a lovely colonial town that also feels like an acutal town. While there are more tourists (English speakers are more prevalent here), and there is some of the bothersome focus on selling things to tourists, there is something about the town that also feels normal; locals just going about their day.

Ominous clouds over San Cristobal

We spent a lot of time wandering around the regular, everyday market (food, housewares, etc.) not to be confused with the craft market (ceramics, textiles, souvenirs, etc.). It is a never ending maze of stalls.

 

We also ate lunch in the market most days we were there; taco and caldos (soups and meat dishes that sometimes include rice and beans, but always include corn tortillas) were the main choices. Once again (see blog entry Chiapa de Corzo), speaking Spanish is a must. But the food was good, plentiful, and cheap. The average meal we had in the market was around $25 MXN. I am not sure what the custom is on tipping at these food stalls but we tipped a small amount, maybe $5 MXN each time. Knowing how much we were saving, we felt that we could afford to be generous.

Carne asada tacos con cebolla

We chose not to visit the nearby Mayan villages after reading on other blogs that the locals in those villages were not always interested in people coming to stare at them. So instead, we went out to a park called Archotete and it was well worth it. 

We took a taxi most of the way to the park which cost about $60 MXN. We had read online that the taxi would be closer to $30 MXN but since there were two of us, maybe the cost was per person. We walked the rest of the way, about a mile down a gravel road through a small town.

Me crossing a shaky bridge in Archotete park.

The entrance fee for the park was $10 MXN per person. We were two of four people visiting the park that day so we had the trails to ourselves. We paid an extra $10 MXN to go into a cave and we made friends with the local stray dog. After a few hours of hiking, we decided to take a taxi back from the park instead of walking down to the main road which cost $80 MXN.

The grotto in Archotete park

We named this dog Omar.

There are a lot of beautiful churches to visit in town and some great bars and restaurants to relax in. One of the cheapest bars we encountered was on Real Guadalupe called La Vina de Bacco. It’s a wine and tapas bar with their cheapest glass of wine starting at $18 MXN. They also serve beer and mixed drinks. There also seems to be a lot of live music venues around town.