People all over the world go to a lot of trouble to write guidebooks to help the rest of us with information on a location, hotels, restaurants and general information. However, guidebooks are also limited by several factors. First of all, what one person thinks is a ‘must stop’ might not be meaningful to you […]
Read MoreI’m a sucker for Roman history and will take any and every opportunity to see Roman ruins when I’m travelling. Today, we visit Aquincum. The area of Aquincum was originally settled, sometime between the third and forth centuries BC, by the ancient Celtic tribe called the Eravisci. Little is known about the tribe, but it […]
Read MoreWe’ve visited Iceland in March and Canadian Northwest territories in February. What compels two California gals to travel to places that are not only cold, but damn cold? Well for one thing, we don’t like crowds, so we often travel ‘on the shoulder’ season when weather can be less than ideal. For another, in the […]
Read MoreI learned long ago that there are certain items that are essential when travelling, especially backup chargers, cords, and converters. The last thing you need on a trip is to not have power for your phones, laptops, cameras, and ipads. In today’s electronic world, there are multiple types of connectors – USB, C, D, flash […]
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Hungary has been on my list of places to visit for a very long time. I don’t know exactly why other than my grandma used to make goulash and I always thought it was a Hungarian dish. What I didn’t know is that Grandma’s goulash was her own invention and nothing like Hungarian food! Then […]
Read MoreThere are a few elements of the Salt restaurant that I love – fresh juice pairings concocted and made in house, fresh herbs collected often by Chef Toth himself, the service….. And then there’s the food, which should be at the top of the list, but for me sadly, it is not. As we sat […]
Read MoreLeaving in the morning, we had more wonderful stops as we made our way towards Budapest, Hungary. Not too far outside the city of Cluj Napoca, we made a really interesting stop at the Water Mill Bologa where a local family is making an effort to preserve a historical watermill. Here we met the 6th […]
Read MoreOriginally we were going to fly from Bucharest to Budapest. Then, one night when I couldn’t sleep, I realized that the driving time wasn’t a whole lot different than flying given all the time involved in driving back to Bucharest from Brasov to fly to Budapest. It was an adventure trying to cancel a refundable […]
Read MoreWhat do you get when a Hungarian marries a Portuguese and they open a restaurant? Delicious food and a Michelin *! That’s the origin of Essencia Restaurant in Budapest, Hungary. Located on a quiet street in Budapest, Essencia offers three tasting menus, one Portuguese, one Hungarian, and one that’s named May 17, the day their […]
Read MoreArriving at the Ritz Carlton in Budapest, Hunary after a long day of roaming around northern Romania, we were hungry and ready to eat! Uber doesn’t operate in Hungary so we called a cab and gave him the name of the restaurant. He got lost and attempted to deliver us to a closed store. Bob […]
Read MoreA day trip out from Brasov, we hired a private guide to go to Sigisoara with a stop in the historical town of Viscri. Viscri Viscri’s white fortified church was first mentioned in 1400 as Alba Eccelsia, ‘White Church.’ There was actually a church prior to the arrival of the Saxons between 1141 and 1162. […]
Read MoreWe like fine dining so I did a lot of research on Brasov restaurants. Every meal we had in Brasov was great. While they may not be Michelin *, they are definitely worth the visit. Our first lunch was at Cafe Hirscher. It’s kind of a weird decor with tropical inside, but the service was […]
Read MoreTransylvania has been a region of Romania since 1918 but historically was an independent province. Ottomans, Hungarians, Jews, Serbs, and Roma gypsies all lived in the area over hundreds of years. Their beliefs and cultures have woven the history and myths into the region. I love history and the stories of Vlad the Impaler, Dracula, […]
Read MoreBob and I had watched a travel show a few years ago that included Bulgaria. We were surprised to see the rural way of life was more akin to the early 1900s where farmers still do a lot of the work by hand instead of with machinery. Horses and wagons are plentiful and it and […]
Read MoreL’ Atelier While not Michelin starred, we visited two very nice restaurants in Bucharest, Romania. The first one was L’Atelier which is located in the The Epoque hotel. A short Uber ride, (yes Uber exists and so does a competitor called Bolt) from our hotel to the restaurant, we were pleasantly surprised at the restaurant’s […]
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