Bratislava

It started with 2…then it quickly escalated to 7, 4 kiwis including us, Andrew and Amy, 2 Aussies Luke and James and 1 Brit Paul…destined for Slovakia. Unfortunately for Paul, due to a recent stint in a German jail after the last group trip, he decided to drop out.

So what seemed like an eternity after booking the holiday, the 6 of us headed off after work to Luton airport eager to head into the depths of a Slovakian winter and experience Bratislava to the fullest. Seems that all the excitement was too much for some of us though, taking the opportunity to sleep hard on the plane, for others the joy of photographing those sleeping was also too much to resist.

After arriving at the airport late at night expecting to walk outside and find the normal 50 taxi cabs waiting desperate for business we spent a good 10 mins in the exceptionally chilly climate frantically waving down any infrequent taxi that rolled up. By the time we arrived at our accommodation, spent what seemed like an eternity checking in, once again the girls were tired and the boys were hungry! Some of the group made it back in time for some sleep…others (no names but they were Australian…) befriended some locals and held them up in a local bar till the very early hours despite protests of “we need to go home – we have lives to lead”.

True to form though and despite the lack of sleep everyone was up and ready to go in the morning on our pre-booked day trip to the outskirts of Bratislava. Much to our delight we realised we were the only ones booked so we had the luxury van and guide all to ourselves. After a quick history lesson and tour around the city of Bratislava, we headed into the Carpathian ranges and their small towns, although the weather was very foggy and cold so we couldn’t see any mountains or much else. First stop was a ceramic making workshop where we got treated to a demonstration of pot making then painting which is a traditional pastime of Slovakia. We couldn’t help but snap up some ceramic bargains, it would have been rude not to.

After that we were off to Červený Kameň (red stone) Castle which ranks among the best preserved in Slovakia and boast the largest cellars in central Europe. After a quick snow fight in the grounds we had a guided tour of the huge castle which apparently you aren’t allowed to take photos inside of but I seemed to miss being told that and was snapping away happily until I was told I wasn’t supposed to – oh well!

From the castle we went straight to our last stop on the tour which was to visit a local winery. It has been said that Slovakia produces some of the best white wine in the world, problem is that it is so good that all of it gets drunk by the locals and there is none available for export which is why you can’t buy it outside of Slovakia. The family vineyard was the highest mountain vineyard in Slovakia and I have to say it was really odd doing a wine tasting session in the snow. You normally equate wine tours with sun! The owner also had a mighty fine collection of old tractors which were restored to working order, would have loved to have started one up and taken it for a burn around the grounds but there was wine, cheese and bread to sample inside.

Coming from a country where wine is of a high standard, and humouring the Aussies who also claim their wine is drinkable, we would always be a hard bunch to please. We were not disappointed though, so much so that we all bought some to have later on that night considering we might not be able to find it outside of Slovakia anytime soon.

We got our guide to drop us in the historic centre of Bratislava on the way back and much to our delight it was the first weekend of the Christmas markets. The others were quick to snap up one of the fried meats on offer, whilst I was more inclined to look at all the Christmas decorations – yeah ok maybe I was sampling the fried goodness as well…I cant tell a lie. After some solid market browsing we decided to recuperate back at the hostel before going out for dinner. Recuperate for some means taking over the lounge room playing games loudly!

After getting bored of the games we ended up going to a traditional Slovak restaurant for dinner – recommended by our friendly guide. The food was delicious, most of us opting for traditional – although Chris got snails and I thought they were a French delicacy? Ah well, they tasted ok! We emerged from the restaurant into the cool of the night and started wandering around aimlessly until some local girls took a shine to the Aussie contingent and lead us to their favourite hangout which happened to be an underground rock bar. No health and safety rules in this place as they shut off the lights and lit up the bar with fire!

The next morning saw us wave goodbye to the Aussie boys as they were on an early flight and one of them was looking a bit worse for wear to be honest…all in the name of fun apparently! That just left the 4 of us kiwis to continue our sightseeing around the city taking in the castle, the new bridge which has a viewing platform like a UFO (unfortunately not open to go up and we still don’t know why as we don’t speak Slovak!) and as many of the historic sights we could find.

Of course all this walking builds up a good appetite so it was back to the Christmas markets for more tasty meat products! We got tired of walking around so headed back to the hostel to grab our bags and get to the airport in good time. Our taxi driver turned up quick smart and it was apparent after wheel spinning out of the driveway that he was on a mission. Zig zagging through traffic, driving at breakneck speed, flashing anyone sitting in the fast lane and hitting the off ramp to the airport at approx 160kph we were all hanging on for dear life. As he screeched to a stop in front of the departure lounge he uttered his first words to us, “8 minutes, good time”. So we bid farewell to Bratislava with that quote in mind…in fact it could be said that we could take it and make it a saying of our own to describe our trip to Bratislava…“6 people, good times”.

Italy vs Portugal

With the impending arrival of Janice from NZ, it was decided that a girls trip to the “heel” of Italy should be planned. We chose Lecce as the destination of choice due to the rave reviews about the baroque architecture and the claims that it was the “Florence of the South” for traditional food and way of life.

Now it has to be said that I possibly did rub in the fact that I was going away to a gorgeous destination with a great group of friends on an almost daily basis to Chris so it was inevitable that envy would kick in and he would plan his own boys trip away to another European destination – therefore the Porto boys trip was booked!

Not content to be outdone I ensured I was not just away for a weekend but made it a nice long 4 day trip, leaving extremely early on Thurs morning. Amy and I caught the night bus at 3am in order to get to the airport on time. We arrived in Brindisi rather jaded and a little disappointed to see grey skies – where was our hot Italian weather? A short train ride later we arrived in Lecce and waited at our bed and breakfast for Janice and Karena to arrive from Rome. It was a quick turnaround from bags being dropped in the room to heading out to find food.

Wandering through the old city gates into the old town we quickly discovered that “siesta time” from 1-5pm was a way of live and strictly adhered to as the place was deserted. Luckily for us there was a snack cafe opening up and we managed not to kill each other from hunger. After fuelling up we continued to wander through the old town as things slowly started coming to life. We were merrily going about our way when the heavens opened and rain teemed down. We sought refuge in a cafe where it would have been rude not to buy something to eat! We all assumed that this weather would be a freak occurrence and that we would be basking in sunshine for our remaining 3 days – bad assumption. For the remainder of our stay in Lecce we battled the rain, wind, thunder, lightening and hail!

Fortunately for us the charm and food of Lecce kept us very happy indeed and we spent most of our time marvelling at the grand baroque buildings and sampling the local cuisine. Of course this was all time is slow motion as every day we were forced to nap and rest from 1-5 as literally nothing was open. Funnily enough this was really easy to get used to!

We did manage a sneaky day trip down the coast further to Ottranto just to satisfy our curiosity that the weather was no better than in Lecce…it wasn’t, but it was still a great little trip on a funny little train! And just to clarify, wet weather is no reason not to try as much gelato as you can handle…

On the flip side, and possibly some kind of cruel joke, Chris and Andrew struck the sunshine jackpot and enjoyed summer temperatures of 23 – 24 degrees in Portugal for their weekend away. I will never live this one down…he even took a photo of a temp gauge to rub it in that little bit more. In fact this blog posting will now transfer over to the gloater himself to fill you in on the boys weekend.

Aaaahhhh warmth. Portugal was great. 23 degrees everyday was great considering the temp in London has not passed 10 degrees for a couple of months now.Our reason for going to Porto, Portugal was easy. The Flights were cheap and well why not. With the girls away it was a good opportunity to go on a holiday with no clothing shopping.

We didn't have much time so decided that in order to make the most of it sleep would have to be sacrificed. We arrived in the evening and our first impressions were great. The metro was new, the airport was new and everybody was real friendly.As the girls were not there we decided to stay in a dorm to save money. We ditched our stuff and went straight out for a feed. After some aimless walking we settled down to a massive meal, beers and some pool. Somehow it never really cost us that much. I think that could be because the waiter kept stealing untouched food from other peoples tables and giving it to us with a sneaky thumbs up.

Like so many European countries the night life doesn't really kick off until about two in the morning. We missioned back to the dorm where there were 5 Americans still sleeping. They had been sleeping when we arrived much earlier. After some accidentally on purpose crashing and banging they woke up and joined us on the journey back out to sample the local nightlife. We had been given directions to a club but never made it. The street was closed off and there were thousands of people outside partying so we stayed there instead.

5am time for sleep. 8am breakfast. 8:30am straight to the nearest coffee shop where Andrew had grown fond of the double shot espresso and as I don't drink coffee a can off coke for me. Still in shorts and tee shirt we headed out for an intense day of sightseeing. We started with a river cruise, which was a great way to take in the city from a different perspective and our first opportunity to taste some of the world famous Port (funny that with a name like Porto). The other Aussies on the boat had bought a bottle each so it meant the normal red Port had run out we could only have white port.

After the boat ride we visited the Calem Port Factory which was about as old as dirt. It was good tour with an even better tasting at the end. I must admit though I didn't buy any to take away as I really do think that Port taste a bit like spew.

After walking through the city sampling local foods and bevy's, visiting gold leaf covered churches and buildings covered in bath tiles (it seemed the Portuguese got a bit carried away and started covering everything in white and blue bath tiles) we grabbed some prosciutto ham as a snack and went back to the dorm. Before long the Americans had joined in and it was full steam ahead preparing for another night on the town. We didn't stay as long in town this time but what a great atmosphere.
The trip was awesome and made better by the fact I new I would be returning to Portugal at Christmas for a week long surfing mission.