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*pronounced core-chew-lah. I don’t have the Croatian alphabet on my blog so if the word doesn’t sound like it looks I’ll add the pronunciation. The water looked like this while we were on Korcula: Sad, very sad, windy, and cold. Even still, I think this will be one of my favorite stops on our trip because it was just that beautiful of a town. We didn’t do anything, literally nothing but eat and watch movies and drink wine for three days, and I still loved it. It’s definitely

After three days in Dubrovnik we decided to head to a neighboring country for a day to see some other scenery. Kotor Bay: We spent an hour and a half in Kotor, which was just enough time to walk the short way to the top of the fortress on the city walls. It cost 5 euros for both of us and it is straight up hill. Compared to other hikes we have done this was the most difficult for me and we were sweating like little pigs by time we reached the top. The view was amazing and it

*We booked all accommodations through Air B&B. It makes the most sense for us because most accommodations offer a kitchen so we can cook 90% of our meals. The currency here is the Kuna. 1 Kuna= approximately .14 cents. Three Days in Split Day 1: Walked on the Riva, Visited Dolectians Palace (UNESCO World Heritage Site). Day 2: Hiked Marjan Hill. It was free and took about 2 hours to walk, provides amazing views of the city! Day 3: Took a day trip to Krka Falls National Park.

Our Italian travels are coming to a close! We’ve spent eight magical weeks in Italy and I feel bittersweet about the thought of leaving. It’s safe to say if we weren’t restricted to 90 days in Europe we would be here for a lot longer exploring other regions in Italy. Oh well, I guess this just means I need to plan another trip in the future ;). As for the last two weeks in Italy we were in Ostuni, Puglia, just 30 minutes away from our last location. Surprisingly though, it fe

I’ve been saying in past posts that we were staying/working in Brindisi but the truth is our hosts aren’t IN a city at all, and Brindisi is about 30 minutes away. Brindisi is just the closest big city, and a whole lot easier than explaining what part of the country we were in. Only recently did our hosts acquire an address, but they sometimes find it easier to give out GPS coordinates as directions. Basically, we were in the middle of nowhere. OUR HOSTS Our hosts were Bob and

You cannot go  much further south in Puglia than Otranto, which is located on the east coast. This most southern area of Puglia is referred to as the Salento peninsula. The Strait of Otranto, connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea and separates Italy from Albania. The old town is set next to the harbor and lined with the little boutiques, restaurants, and gelaterias you see in every town here. Out of all the towns we have seen in Puglia, this was one of my favorites. T

The cuisine in Puglia is called peasant cooking (cucina povera). The staples are olive oil, grapes, tomatoes, eggplants, artichokes, peppers, salami, mushrooms, olives and fresh seafood. We have had some amazing food and wine, not having eaten out, but from meals cooked using the ingredients from the markets. Some may find it inconvenient that if a vegetable, herb, or fruit isn’t in season or cannot grow in the region, that you just won’t be able to get it. I think it should

In the quiet town of Guagnano, Puglia lies Feudi di Guagnano winery and tasting room. On one of my days off, a friend of my hosts( who are originally from Manhattan,) were kind enough to take me wine tasting in this area. The tasting room is set between wine barrels, a large jenga looking wine rack, and one table. Add a candle or two and this could be quite an intimate setting. The wines were incredible, I’m confident in saying it is some of the best wine I have ever tasted.

Bari was a stopping point between Rome and our next host in Matera. It’s one of the larger cities in the Apulia region, right beside the Adriatic sea. Within the city you find a mix of new and the old. One block is lined with designer shops and boutiques and a block later you transport back thousands of years in the Old Town. Seriously, one second we were walking by GUESS and H&M, and the next we saw fresh seafood being prepared on the streets. From pavement to cobblestone al

Our flight from Amsterdam to Rome was delayed two hours and while we were waiting in line to board, a couple behind us saw the SOU Alumni sticker on my water bottle and asked if we were from Oregon. We discovered they were from Eugene and both University of Oregon graduates. They were traveling through France and Italy, and we spent the rest of the wait in line talking to them about their travels. They were the first people we have met from Oregon since we have left, and it w

Getting off the plan in Amsterdam we couldn’t wait for a hot shower and comfy bed. We didn’t have anything booked but wanted to see if Cocomama had anything available. We also didn’t know how many nights we were going to be there, everything we had planned for the next few months was out the window. Luckily the hostel could book us for the night and we started formulating our next step right away. There is a last minute page on workaway but I highly doubted anyone would take

We took a train from Brussels to Amsterdam, fairly inexpensive if I remember right. The train companies/sites I use most are Rail Europe, Rome to Rio, and I just found a new one The Train Line- Europe which had much better rates. I almost booked a train through Rail Europe for 118 and checked The Train Line last minute, it was 58, so definitely worth it to spend time checking every option. Also, were considered youths until we are 26, so I always make sure to mark that as wel

Why did we go to Brussels? Well, there wasn’t a real reason other than, “why not?” I thought it looked beautiful (in photos) and being so close to our planned visit to Amsterdam, we decided to stop in on our way. I didn’t plan this portion of the trip to well, I have to say. I booked a later flight, thinking we could get to the hostel before dark. Arriving in the Belgium airport I realized I knew a lot more Spanish than I thought because French looked as familiar as Chinese a

Arriving in Barcelona was like entering new world. It was so different from where we were coming from, but only just a few hours away. We took a high speed train from Malaga, it was such a comfortable ride and a lot less of a hassle than a flight. I’m becoming very anti-plane if we can help it. Not only the comfort but since we have to pay for baggage with every single flight, the cost is usually the same or a little bit more. If the flight is 35 euro and baggage is 20 and th

The average person could tour Ronda in a day, but we decided to go overnight because taking the bus everywhere eats up a lot of time. We woke up really early in order to catch the 7:15 am Colmenar bus to Malaga, which takes about 40 minutes. The bus from Malaga to Ronda left at 8 am so we knew we would be cutting it close. Through a series of long stop lights and traffic, we entered the bus station at 8:01 as I saw the bus to Ronda leave the station and turn the corner… I was

Mikel and I had no idea what to expect with our first workaway. We only had a few pictures and a couple of reviews from other workawayers to base it off of. We were pleasantly surprised when we met Denise and Gabriel, they were so welcoming and sweet. Denise is from Southern London and Gabriel is from Catalonia. It is quite a unique blend of cultures in one house. Gabriel speaks pretty good English and Denise speaks both English and Spanish. It makes for the perfect environme

Our transportation here is limited. First, because we don’t have a car. Second, because we are too young to be put on the hosts insurance (you have to be at least 25). Lastly, because we are about 10 minutes driving distance from the bus stop. That being said, when our hosts said they would drive us into town when they go grocery shopping, we jumped at the chance to spend a day exploring the city. The last bus to Colmenar was 7pm, and we got into the city at 11am. With our da

It feels as though I have been put through the spin cycle…twice, but we made it to Colmenar in one piece. The flights here were pretty horrific, I grossly underestimated the amount of food we would need/want and overestimated the amount of hours of sleep I thought we would get. Also, it didn’t help that our long flight from PDX to JFK was not-so–conveniently broken up into two flights on the same plane…a.k.a no in flight meal (not even pretzels!!). Needless to say I was quite