Traveling within Romania: when you do not own a car

After two years, I won something valuable again: two nights’ stay at a ski lodge in Straja, Romania. Straja is a mountain resort in Romania, located close to Lupeni (and Petrosani). It belongs to Hunedoara County and is only 244 (or 277 – depending on the route) km from where we live. Soooo…why not actually…

The Tea in My Life: Photo Blog Post

Three months ago I wrote about the coffee in my life. Now it’s time to tackle the tea addiction. Especially during winter I make friends with various tea mixes – which I also love to buy from the places I visit. Here is a short list of teas I have had the past fall and…

Something to Read: Sex and the City – Candace Bushnell

ATTENTION SPOILERS! Sex and the City (the book) is a collection of essays written by Candace Bushnell, based on her own column Sex and the City in the New York Observer. Everything in the book is based on her life and on her friends’ lives. The book was first published in 1996 and I was…

Review: Budapest Parliament Tour

We finally made it to take the free(1) tour of the Hungarian Parliament . Before planning this, I already knew one thing : we needed to go early in the day to get tickets then come for the tour. So, on Sunday we were in the city walking by the Danube and decided to go…

Budapest: St. Stephen’s Basilica – inside the church and the viewing platform

It is the largest church in Budapest and has been dedicated to the first king of Hungary. Apart from being a splendid church, it also houses the treasury and the chapel where you can find the mummified right hand of St. Stephen (we skipped the treasury; entrance 400 ft / person) and offers stunning views…

Traveling With a Group of Friends and Acquaintances

Budapest 2012-2013 was probably the worst experience I had so far traveling with a group of friends. And even worse, it brakes my heart that Alex felt even worse. The travel writer in me , though, has found a way to turn it into something constructive: write some ideas / tips for traveling with a…

Places We Visited in 2012

It’s that time again, when we make a list of the places we have visited in the year which is about to end. Alex said we traveled more this year, I said we have traveled less than in 2011. Here it goes: Rome , Vieste and Foggia – Italy We left Arad and flew from…

How touristy is Budapest?

Tourism does any economy a lot of good and we all know what the economic crisis did to the European Union. But for the past two days I have been not pleasently surprised by the many tourists in Budapest. Last year when we visited in December it was cheaper and less crowded. Heroes Square was…

Hello, Budapest!

We woke up at 3 a.m. Alarm was set for 3:30 but somehow I was better at waking up without it. By 4:30 we were out the door looking for a cab. At that hour there’s no public transportation available and walking in -7c wasn’t a choice. I felt the driver was a bit cranky…

Packed and ready to go

I just finished packing for our next 5 days (Dec 29 to Jan 2) in Budapest, Hungary. Thankfully I also remembered to ask the staff at the place we are staying whether they provide towels (and they do!) so I don’t carry any dead-weight around. I also decided against taking the fleece and opted for…

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Author Archives: Cris P