Ljubljana

Ljubljana, Slovenia was a destination that was decided upon by default. It is one of the only places (in the direction we wanted to go) that we could get to by train from Split without using up more than one day on our Eurail passes! Luckily, it's a very nice little city and was a good place to spend a day or two. The main attraction is Ljubljana Castle, which we reached by climbing up a steep hill (there's a funicular to the top, but that seemed like cheating!). The view from the top was beautiful, although it was a little hazy on the day we visited. Another main attraction of the city is Dragon Bridge, which stems from the legend of the creation of the city. According to the story, the Greek hero Jason was sailing to the Adriatic Sea and was stopped by a large swamp where he fought and killed a dragon. Jason became Ljubljana's first resident, and the dragon became the symbol of the city.

View of the city from the castle:


The castle:


Feeding time:


The Dragon Bridge:




The Fransican Church, in the city square:

Dubrovnik

From Split, we took a five-hour bus ride south to Dubrovnik. I had first heard of the town from some fellow travelers in Prague, but as it turns out, Dubrovnik is one of the most popular tourist resorts on the Mediterranean. I guess I haven't spent enough time watching the Travel Channel! Even though it's a very popular tourist destination, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that it's actually a very affordable place. For less than $50/night, we had a room at Apartment Gordana, which was actually a private home with three guest rooms, two bathrooms and a kitchen. The owner (Gordana) lived in the home just above ours with her mother and she was a wonderful hostess. She and her mother even made us a special dinner one evening, which we enjoyed on our private terrace. You don't get that kind of treatment everywhere!

We spent a day wandering around the old city, which is very well-preserved, despite being heavily bombed during the war in the 90's. Another day was spent on an excursion to the nearby island of Lopud, where we spent a great day at the beach. The weather was beautiful every day that we were there, so we tried to take full advantage of outdoor activities. (Although we also got in plenty of naps and reading time as well!).

A much better picture of the old city than I could have taken (thank you Wikitravel!):


Views from our terrace at the apartment:




View of the old city from the stairs leading down to it:


On a ferry to Lopud island:


The beach at Lopud:




With our hostess Gordana (middle), our fellow guest Gail from Australia, and Gordana's mother (looking at this picture made me realize that my 90 SPF sunscreen is really doing its job):

Split

Before we began our trip, Croatia wasn't even a place we had given much thought about visiting. However, we had heard great things about it from several other travelers, so we decided it would be well worth the trip. And we were right! After our mis-adventure getting into the country, the first planned stop was Split, which is an ancient port city. One of the most interesting things to see in Split is the Diocletian palace. Built at the turn of the fourth century, there are now many hotels, restaurants and other businesses within the palace walls and some people still actually live there as well. Another thing will we enjoyed while we were there was the bustling outdoor market that was between our hostel and the palace. There were hundreds of stalls where people were selling everything from fruits and vegetables to lingerie to pig's ears. When you walk through, the stall owners all call out to you, trying to get you to buy whatever they're selling. Split also had a very nice beach, where Jesse swam in the sea and I spent some time reading and soaking up the shade.

Split:


The harbor, with the palace in the background:


The cathedral inside the palace:


A home inside the palace walls:


A small part of the market:


Enjoying the shade and my Kindle (thanks again, Lesley and Zach!) at the beach:

Zagreb

The train ride from Vienna into Croatia turned out to be a bit more than we bargained for. We left Vienna in the morning with the intention of arriving in Split by evening to check in to our hostel. However, on the way there, the train hit a person. We're not sure exactly the details of what happened, but the ride ended up being delayed there for 3 hours while the police did investigations. During the delay, we meet a girl from Japan who was traveling around Europe, and she was also heading to Split that evening.

By the time we got to Zagreb, we had missed our connecting train to Split, so we had an evening to spend in town. We visited with our new friend and walked around the old town area which ended up being quite nice. We stopped for a dinner in a Chinese restaurant, and made our way back to the train station to catch the overnight train to Split. In the end, we enjoyed our unexpected evening stopover in Zagreb.

Zagreb:

Vienna

Vienna was a quick stop (just two full days), but we made the most of our time there. On our first day, we spent a couple of hours wandering through the Naschmarkt, which is a large outdoor market with lots of gourmet (and not-so gourmet) foods, restaurants and pretty much anything else you might want to buy. After that, we walked into the old city and saw many of the city's famous sites, including St. Stephan's Cathedral. Construction on the church first began in 1147, but the cathedral's trademark patterned roof wasn't added until 1952. We spent our second day in Vienna exploring the area and beautiful gardens around the Schonbrunn Palace, which is a former royal summer residence. The surrounding gardens are now a place where tourists and locals can go to enjoy beautiful flowers and trees, fresh air, and a great view of the city.

St. Stephan's Cathedral:


Getting in some playtime at the park:


At Schonbrunn Palace:

Prague

Prague has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in Central Europe and it was very crowded with other tourists, but that didn't detract from the beauty of the city. As usual, we spent most of our time just walking around the city, enjoying all of the sights and trying to take in as much as we could. Although Prague may not have been quite as clean and perfect as some of the other cities we've visited, it had a lot of character and we enjoyed seeing a different side of Europe than what we had seen so far on the trip.

Tyn Church in Old Town Square:


Astronomical clock in Old Town Square:




Prague Castle:


Cathedral at Prague Castle:


View of the city from Prague Castle:


Traditional dinner out at Pivovarsky Dum (roast pork with sauerkraut and dumplings on the top, sliced beef with dumplings on the bottom):

Berlin

After leaving Stockholm around 8:30 in the morning, we traveled on three different trains and one ferry to arrive in Berlin after 11 that night. It was exhausting! Once recovered from our long day and night of traveling, we set out to see the sights of Berlin. The weather was beautiful on our first day and we walked throughout the city, stopping to see the Berlin Wall Memorial, the Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie, among other sites. The following day, we took the train (well, three different trains and one bus - travel in Germany is not easy!) to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp just outside the city. Unlike the previous day, it was cold and rainy, which seemed appropriate for visiting such a place. Although most of the original buildings were torn down after the camp was no longer in use, there were a few buildings that remained and gave us a picture of what it had been like for the prisoners. While the visit to Berlin may not have been entirely pleasant, we did learn a lot about the history of the city and how it is still recovering from its turbulent past.

At the Brandenburg gate:


Berlin Wall memorial:


Checkpoint Charlie:


Barracks at Sachsenhausen:

Stockholm

When we arrived in Stockholm, we discovered something that we'd really missed in Copenhagen: the sun! The weather was perfect for our entire stay in Sweden. Our hostel (Castanea Old Town Hostel) was located on the island of Gamla Stan, which was central to everywhere we wanted to go. My favorite place that we visited was Skansen, which is an open air museum and zoo that was founded in 1891. There is a full-replica of a 19th century Swedish town, and many of the buildings are authentic and were transplanted from their original locations around Sweden to Skansen. Jesse's favorite was the Nobel Museum (and I liked it too because I could sit on a cushioned seat and watch movies about the winners!). On our last night, we went out for a nice dinner of traditional Swedish dishes. Jesse had meatballs with whipped potatoes and I had thinly sliced salmon that had been lightly cured with salt and dill potatoes. Both dishes were delicious and a very nice change from our usual sandwiches! Overall, Stockholm was awesome and was definitely worth the detour up into Scandinavia.

The tiny street our hostel was on:


Stockholm at sunset:




At Skansen:








Our delicious Swedish meal at Pelikan Restaurant: