Fortress of Oradea, Romania

In the XIth century, Ladislau I built a fortified monastery. Between the XIth and XIIIth centuries, the fortress was a castrum. In the XIVth century , a new medieval fortress was built. During the communist times , the fortress belonged to the monastery. After 1989 the started working on rebuilding the fortress. It’s been more…

A day in Arad, Romania

I have written about A day in Sighisoara and A day in Alba Iulia, but it just dawned on me I have never written about a day in Arad, the very city I live in. The reason? Probably because I find it hard to focus on just some stuff when I know so much about…

A day at Alba Carolina, Alba Iulia, Romania

Alba Carolina Fortress, the most important landmark in Alba Iulia, Romania, can be easily visited during half a day. We arrived by car from Sebes (Arad – Lugoj -Deva – Sebes – Alba Iulia) but you can also get here by train from any part of Romania. The closest airport is (probably) in Cluj Napoca…

International Museum Day 2013

International Museum Day was established in 1977 and in 2012 it had reached 129 countries on five continents. For the past three years, Alex and I managed to be a part of this magnificent cultural event. In 2011 we visited the history section and the natural sciences section at Arad Museum. We also went to…

Budapest in Spring: Simple DIY Walking Tours

Please wear good walking shoes, bring bottled water (it’s pricy in touristy spots) and wear sunscreen. Make sure to stop as many times as you need to. Each time we travel to Budapest we plan to walk as much as we can and avoid using the public transportation – albeit it’s amazing and gets you…

Review: L’Altra Casa Apartments on Vaci Utca in Budapest

Address: Vaci Utca 9, 1052 Budapest How to get to: From Keleti pu., go to the metro and take line 2 (M2 red) to Deak ter. Exit for Elisabeth Ter and make a right. On the corner there will be Starbucks cafe which leads onto a pedestrian street. Make a left and follow the street…

Dividing the “work” : pre-travel and during travel

We’ve been traveling together as a couple for little more than two years now and we already have a “strategy”. Of course, like in any democracy , in our couple we divide the “work”. So let’s take a look at what each of us does. Pre-Trip: couple of months before Both: come up with a…

VIDEO: Budapest in July 2011

Since in 5 days we’ll be leaving for Budapest, Hungary (AGAIN!) , Alex decided to put together some videos he has filmed while we visited the capital in July 2011. All images are taken with Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 smartphone. ENJOY! (c) video and editing Alex P.

How to Travel on a Shoestring Budget

I work with travelers, each day facing new challenges and questions. But once in a while (quite often) someone has a very strict budget and kindly asks us to “beat that” or “stick to that”. In many cases, it’s almost impossible to beat the budget but sometimes it might just work. However, that got me…

Day Trip: Three Historical Places Close to Arad, Romania

On our way back from Straja, Romania (couple of weeks ago), we decided to stop along the way to visit some historical sites: Corvinilor Castle, Deva Citadel and Soimos Citadel. We didn’t walk up to the last one because it rained cats and dogs. But I did visit that Citadel back in 2011 (and also…

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