Category Archives: Europe

Europe, Travel Blog

Discovering Lisbon – Food and Sights

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The Spain leg of our Western Europe trip was done and we landed at Lisbon, the capital of Portugal (you can read the Seville and Barcelona blogs after this one). We left our bags at the airport itself and only carried the backpack. We had to get back by night for our flight to Ponta Delgada.

A short day in Lisbon

The plan was to spend the day in the Baixa area of the city. We took an Aerobus from the airport which is a convenient way to get to the city and got down at Martim Moniz.

First sights of Lisbon
First sights of Lisbon

The plan was to explore the district by foot. We saw the famous egg custard tarts (pasteis de nata) at one shop and tried it – it was really good!

Pasteis de nata in lisbon
It might look weird for someone who has never tried it. Once you try it, you’ll look at it differently

We continued walking and saw the old trams – a historical symbol of the city which started in 1873.

Another historic structure which is worth a visit is the Elevador de Santa Justa – an elevator walkway to negotiate the hilly terrain of the city. It was constructed in 1900 and originally operated using steam!

The giant old escalator of Santa Justa in Lisbon
The giant old escalator of Santa Justa

It was a cold, windy yet sunny day and the sun provided relief from the chilly breeze. As we reached the large town square at Terreiro do Paco, we saw that a music festival, Eurovision, was ongoing. On the other side of the square was the Tagus river.

We quickly grabbed dinner from a restaurant called El Rei dom Frango (amazing sangria and lasagna). Initially, we weren’t sure if it was a good restaurant – the tables were empty when we entered. But we finished our meal and stepped out to see a long queue of people waiting to get a table.

el rei do frango in lisbon
Apparently it was a popular place

In case you are wondering why we didn’t just check the ratings on Google Maps, we were travelling without SIM cards and going “with-the-flow”.

With happy tummies, we took the next bus back to the airport for our most unique experience in the Azores. We would be back in Lisbon for part 2 of discovering the city (below).

Another day in Lisbon

We were back from the Azores. The luggage we had left in the airport locker was still there. We unpacked and re-packed our stuff, took essentials for a 1-day stay and put the bags back. It was super convenient to have a system like this – all that lugging around had been prevented. This time we took the metro instead of the bus.

On the way to our guesthouse, we entered a cafe for breakfast – the worst food of the trip so far. We checked into our room and immediately left – looking for better food.

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Europe, Travel Blog

No Entry in Barcelona

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It was 5:08 pm and we boarded our train to Barcelona. We had just completed the France leg of our trip and got on the train from Nimes – a lesser known town in the south of France. The train sped along the coast as we passed the cities of Montpellier and Perpignon and we reached Barcelona at 8:45 pm. It was a trip unlike any we had done before.

Navigating a maze

There was a direct connection between the train station and the metro. However, it felt like an underground maze as we went up and down different floors, crossing platforms and getting into confusing lifts which had doors on multiple sides (you may enter through one door but exit through another one on the side). I had never seen such lifts before and it was very disorienting.

We got into the metro station of Sants Estacio and evaluated getting regular tickets vs passes. Among all the options, the T-10 ticket seemed best for us as we were only here for two days – we could use the same ticket for multiple people.

Our stay for 2 nights

Finally, we were on our way to our Airbnb which was on a street named Carrer del Camp – the closest station was called El Putxet. We checked into our apartment – an old Argentine lady owned it. She lived on one side of it while she had let out the other side – the entire place smelled of cigarettes. We quickly left our stuff and took the metro back to Catalunya.

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Europe, Travel Blog

Seville – Flamenco, Oranges and more

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The train sped past the sun-drenched landscapes of Andalusia at a jaw-dropping speed of 300 km/h. This was the fastest we had ever travelled on land! Despite the speed, everything was calm and stable inside. We were travelling from Barcelona to Seville in Spain for the next leg of our Western Europe trip.

Getting into the city of Seville

We exited the station (which looked more like an airport) and went on a short side-quest. We had to get our flight tickets printed for the next day and walked into the nearest tabac shop (yup – tobacco shops often function as multi-purpose outlets selling local transport tickets and printouts). Prints in hand, we took a bus to Plaza de Armas – the main bus station of Seville. Some of you may have heard of “Plaza de Armas” in Latin American countries as well. It is a common term used to refer to town squares and literally translates to “Weapons Square” (no weapons kept here in the modern times).

Seville is a very unique city – with architecture and culture that are different from the rest of Europe. Let’s take a quick look at its history.

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Europe, Travel Blog

Discovering Nimes and Pont du Gard in Southern France

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When we planned our trip to France, we were looking for places beyond Paris and Nice. If you read the previous blog on the Azores, you know what I’m talking about. One place that quickly caught our attention was Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy. From a commute and proximity point-of-view, it did not make sense, especially given our 2 week constraint. The next one was in the south of France – an interesting little city called Nimes (pronounced Neem). That’s the one we picked!

We waited for our bus at a junction in Cannes. The city of Cannes is most popular for being home to the international film festival as well as other festivals. We had spent half a day exploring the town, the Walk of Fame and cute cafes. There wasn’t a lot to do here and we had planned to take a bus in the afternoon to our next destination – Nimes.

The Cannes walk of fame
The Cannes Walk of Fame

Why did we pick Nimes?

If you check the map of the South of France, there are a bunch of cities lining the French Riviera- Provence-Occitanie region – Saint-Tropez, Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Arles, Avignon and Nimes. Many of these places are famous for lavender fields. Some are resort towns. All of them are nice stops if you’re doing a slow road trip along the coast from Italy to France to Spain.

South of France map showing Nimes
Map of the south of France

We were looking for something unique however. Nimes had a bunch of Roman monuments – in fact, it was often referred to as the most Roman city outside Italy. The Nimes arena is considered the best preserved Roman amphitheater in the world. It is still used for concerts. The Maison Carree, an ancient Roman temple, is also considered to be one the best preserved in the world. The best part however was a sight just outside the city and was one of the main things which prompted us to visit here.

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Europe, Travel Blog

Flying on the Wings of Tatev

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I opened Google Maps to check where we had reached. We were supposed to take a cable car to the Tatev monastery. I could neither spot the cable car nor the monastery. I scanned all the surrounding hills but they only had trees. Why did we enter this parking lot 15km away from Tatev in this village called Halidzor?

Where is the cable car?

It was day 4 of our Armenia trip and we were at a remote village in the south of the country. Zaven took us towards the ticket counter and showed us the platform that stood above it. This was the starting point of the cable car. That’s when I realized that the cable car was going downhill – that’s why I couldn’t see the monastery anywhere. 

The cable car is called the Wings of Tatev (Such a cool name!!!). It is the longest reversible aerial tramway in the world. At the ticket counter, we were told that we had a set time for boarding and returning on our ticket. The cable car would arrive every 15 minutes and the last one was at 6:45 pm.

Some stats about the Wings of Tatev
Some stats about the Wings of Tatev
Where is the monastery?

Once it arrived and we boarded, I started looking for the monastery. It was still nowhere to be seen. Soon, what I noticed was that the cable car line was shaped like a “U”. We were first going down, then up to the top of the next hill. And after the pillar on that hill, there was another “U” to the next hill and that is the one which had the monastery! We were actually crossing two hills to get there!

We could see cars snaking their way along the hairpin bends on the roads below. I was glad we didn’t spend an extra hour navigating those!

At the edge of the cliff

The monastery is a short walk away from the cable car. It is literally standing on the edge of a cliff. There were many hidden rooms and halls and it was a lot of fun to explore the entire place! Our cable car back was at 6 pm – so we got to spend a good hour here.

Exploring the hidden rooms of Tatev monastery
Exploring the hidden rooms of Tatev monastery
The Tatev monastery stands on the edge of a cliff
The monastery stands on the edge of a cliff

When we got back, we asked Zaven to take us to our hotel in Goris – the town where we were spending the night. Tatev and Halidzor only had basic homestays and would have been difficult with the kids. It turned out to be a good decision.

A remote Soviet town

We stayed at a place called Khoreayi Dzor. It was a castle-like building on a hill overlooking the town. The view from the room was really nice! We could see the mosaic Soviet-era buildings strewn across the town. This would be the most remote part we visited on this trip.

The town of Goris as seen from our hotel
The town of Goris as seen from our hotel

For dinner, we had dolma – lamb and rice wrapped in grape leaves. It was amazing!

Yummy dolma!
Yummy dolma!

Next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and started on our way back. We said goodbye to Goris! First stop was Shaki waterfalls. We hoped it wouldn’t be as difficult to reach as the Gveleti waterfalls in Georgia! 

Waterfall time!

The hike was not very steep to begin with and thankfully, we got to the end quite fast.

A relatively easy hike to Shaki waterfall
A relatively easy hike to Shaki waterfall

We turned around the corner to see the waterfall gushing down with its spray rising almost as high as the waterfall itself. It was a beautiful sight. We took off our shoes and went into the water – it was ice-cold and the kids quickly had enough of it. Parth was quick to ask for his cap to cover his ears from the spray and sound.

Super refreshing experience
Super refreshing experience

We spent a lot of time here, enjoying nature. It was the most underrated experience so far. And there was no one there except us!

Our next stop was for an early lunch at the same food court. The kids were fast asleep after playing in the water, so we packed lunch for them and left for Noravank monastery.

Another unique monastery

This monastery is unique in its shape – it’s a two-storey structure unlike the others we had seen so far. It was also surrounded by brick red cliffs inside a gorge which gave it a very different look as compared to all the monasteries we had visited. I guess the others were tired of monasteries by now but I couldn’t get enough of them as each was different.

Posing in front of the Noravank monastery
Posing in front of the Noravank monastery
The two-storied red monastery of Noravank
The two-storied red monastery of Noravank

That’s how the trip was planned so that we wouldn’t be repeating stuff.
We got back to Yerevan by evening, explored the Cascade area, had dinner at Rehan restaurant and slept. Our flight back to India was the next day. We had finally completed the trip that originated with the Air Arabia vouchers left over from our Uzbekistan adventure!

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Europe, Travel Blog

Mount Ararat and Areni wine – a trip to South Armenia

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Researching is one of my favorite parts of traveling – apart from the actual travel of course. I look for the most unique experiences possible in a place and try to accommodate it into the itinerary. After all, if I am traveling all the way to another country, I don’t want to come back and find out that I missed something good. This is not to say that the trip should become a long check-list. Rather the contrary – know everything that the place has to offer and then make an informed decision – pick only those that appeal to you. This process led me to Khor Virap, Mount Ararat and Areni in Armenia.

It was Day 4 of our Armenia trip and we found out that it was Zaven of Hyur Service, once again, who would be taking us. This was a 2-day trip which meant he would be staying overnight with us and then bring us back the next day. There he stood next to the Mercedes Vito with his black sunglasses and white shirt – sharp as always.Our two-day excursion to south Armenia started with Khor Virap, Mount Ararat and the Areni winery.

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Europe, Travel Blog

Yerevan and Etchmiadzin – the Oldest Cathedral in the World

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As you drive from Sevan Lake to Yerevan, you will pass through some mountains. At one point in this journey, you might spot a snowy peak in the distance. It is an imposing structure and disappears again for a while. The mountains soon give way to reveal the greatest symbol of Yerevan – the snow capped peaks of Mount Ararat.

Ararat approaches on the way to Yerevan
Ararat approaches on the way to Yerevan

We’ll cover Ararat in greater detail in the next blog, for now, let’s call it the Burj Khalifa equivalent of Yerevan – a monumental structure that defines the city in many ways and forms a part of the lasting memory of being here.

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Europe, Travel Blog

Crossing a land border to Dilijan – the Switzerland of Armenia

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It was the second last day of our Georgia trip. We had booked a car for the next day to cross the border from Georgia to Armenia. I got a message from the driver, Iuri, that we would have to modify our plans slightly. 

We were supposed to visit Haghpat monastery on the way to Dilijan. His message was exactly this, “Good evening. I wanted to warn you that the road to the Haghpat church is closed, we will go tomorrow only towards Dilijan. The road was washed away by the rain and the road there is blocked. I don’t know for how long, but I don’t think we can get there”. 

Floods in Armenia

I searched on Google and found that the entire north of Armenia was affected and train services were suspended. The main highway between Georgia and Armenia had been washed away by the floods, the worst they had seen in more than a decade. The entire train system was also blocked. And we had to cross over the next day!

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