How do I possibly sum up this amazing city in just a few posts?
I can’t and I won’t even try to. If you want to hear about it, have a bottle of red wine with me and I would love to tell the stories of the magic I found in this incredible place.
Truly a city and country I knew absolutely nothing about when I came here...
Here’s how it went. The girl from my train walked me to this square, said goodbye and then I was left with a very uncertain feeling. I really didn’t have any concerns but we were pretty far East in Europe at this point and, again, I really didn’t know a single thing about this city or country. I was very alert, I guess we can say.
The main square was absolutely beautiful and dominated by the sight of this Orthodox church at the end. It turns out 81% of Romanians are devout Orthodox and huge churches absolutely dominated the architecture in most directions. They were all absolutely gorgeous.
I got a hostel once there and walked about 1/4km to drop my bags off.
One of the best parts of Eastern Europe in the winter? Sometimes, you have the rooms all to yourself because no one else would be crazy enough to be there.
Perfect opportunity to get some much needed rest and focus.
I was deeply curious about this place because it was so vastly different than any other place I had been to. Again, I knew nothing about Romania... Not the politics, the people, the food, etc. I wanted to just go explore it.
It seemed like the town, though small, had two very ornate squares where everyone congregated. At one end of the main square was the Orthodox church above and a gorgeous Opera Hall (that was built in 1871) was on the other side.
People were just outside and enjoying the weather. Live music was playing from open windows and the air seemed very, very clean.
It was wonderful to just sit and observe how everyone interacted.
incredible. Even if I was rich, I would still stay in hostels if I was traveling by myself. There’s this misconception that hostels are seedy or noisy or full of sketchy situations... But that’s absolutely ridiculous. I’ve stayed in hostels in 12 countries so far and have had nothing but incredible experiences.
Why are they so wonderful? Because, when you travel alone, there’s no better way to be thrown into a mix of travelers from all around the world who mostly want nothing more than to meet other people. When you truly sit and ask everyone where they’re from... It’s incredible to hear. You’ll run into people from every corner of the world (in fact, the least common demographic has been people from the United States!)
You meet these strangers, usually hit it off with one or two of them and then say “Want to go explore?” And that’s it. You spend all this time with people that are instantly friends... Bonding over new experiences and the magic of travel. You make long lasting, powerful memories and have conversations full of depth.
It just makes it that much easier and fulfilling to explore a new city, rather than just by yourself.
And the crazy thing is you get so close to these new friends in such a short period of time and spend 1-2 days doing all these things together... Then you part and both head to different countries to do different things. And just like that... It’s over and you head to a new hostel for a new memory.
But those friendships never fall away. In just this one trip, I have left multiple hostels with these new friends and we’ve both said the words “Friends for life.” How beautiful is that. A friend in a new place around the world that would love nothing more than you to come and visit them, or for them to come and visit you.
When I go to new cities like this, I wake up early and just...
roam the streets all day. Sometimes, I forget to eat or drink anything as my mind is just curious what’s down every new corner or alley.
Budapest is interesting. The people are dressed nice and the restaurants are beautiful but the architecture is so old and shows it’s wear. Its a beautiful juxtaposition and has allowed for some wonderful photographs.
