Eastern European Finale – Croatia
After 41 days of traveling through 10 Eastern European countries we have reached our final nation – Croatia. Here, we chose to spend a week in three different places within this small but diverse country.
After 41 days of traveling through 10 Eastern European countries we have reached our final nation – Croatia. Here, we chose to spend a week in three different places within this small but diverse country.
We journeyed to Romania to visit two different areas of the country that we wanted to experience before they become more popular in the future. Learn about our two views of Romania by reading more of the story.
Traveling through Europe may not pose some of the challenges found in Asia or Africa, but we have had our own set of problems to solve as we make our way through a total of 19 countries.
We have just completed our second European trek. This four-day hike took us through a small section of the Julian Alps, in the country of Slovenia. We wanted to hike here to take advantage of the hut-to-hut system, which is a type of trekking found in Europe.
After 10 days in Poland and Slovakia, we have left Eastern Europe to visit Germany. We chose to stay in two cities that we had not previously visited, Dresden and Bamberg. Germany is also the place for a very special family reunion, almost exactly halfway into our 14-month trip.
During our week in Poland, we received a great introduction to the country, a ‘primer’ of sorts. We wanted to learn more about this country’s culture and its turbulent history. In addition, we wanted to view its natural features by bus and train.
We did not have the budget to cruise down the Norwegian coast and see the fjords by sea. So we pieced together an overland itinerary to see as much of this scenic country as possible.
As we approached our first trek in Europe we knew that it would be unlike anything we had attempted to date. We would also be trekking in one of the harshest environments in the world, in Lapland, located above the Arctic Circle.
Sandy writes about her return to Sweden 30 years after she was an exchange student in the country.
We have spent the past few days in the capital cities of Tallinn, Estonia and Helsinki, Finland. The two cities are located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) across the Gulf of Finland from one another. We enjoyed learning about the history and culture of both places.
After over three months in Asia, Europe is the next continent on our journey. Our new experiences began with our first stop in Europe, Latvia.
Uzbekistan has been long synonymous with the Silk Road. After leaving Samarkand we split our time between visiting two Silk Road cities and experiencing the rural village countryside.