San Sebastian and Rioja, Spain

The second to last destination on our list that we compiled almost four years ago has finally been conquered; or perhaps has conquered us???...

San sebastian is not the easiest place to get to, which was also the case for us, taking an early flight to France, accepting a ride to the train station from a nice Parisian man (saved us 3 hours as the trains aren't frequent) hopping a train from Biarritz, changing at the border to a narrow gauge carriage and chugging along to San Sebastian. But let me say once you get to the beautiful crescent shaped beach (and get to your hotel:), all frustration dissolves into the blue green waters of the hot-lantic.

Monique and Kelly are with us for the adventure, not only their first time to San Sebastian (like us), but their first time to Spain (and France)! I think it would be fair to say we made the right decision in choosing our destination. San Sebastian is amazing collection of beautiful landscape, amazing beaches and chilled out weather, combined with perhaps the best foodie scene in the world, where you can eat your way through as many Pintxos as your can handle.

After laying on the beach for a handful of hours and walking along the pleasantly un-touristy boardwalk, we made our first foray into the San Seb old town, which must have over 100 Pintxos (Basque term for tapas) bars, all in business with the objective to provide locals and foodies the some of the best food in the world (they'd be run out of business if they didn't).

We eased into the scene on our first night, going to Bodegon Alijahandro on Fermin Calbeton. It was the perfect way to ease into the Pintxos scene, with a 5 course set menu paired with wine, left little decision making up to the consumers, which was fine with us as it was amazing. The squid risotto in its own ink was delicious! The price is right too at EUR35 for the menu, and another EUR12 for the 5 glasses of vino.

Walking back from the old town to the hotel each night was a great way to digest before going home; beautiful views too as things quiet down quite a bit at night (aside of the beach club about 50 metres down from our hotel (Niza - which was great by the way - see the view from our balcony in the first pic!!).

The following morning we get a decently early start (10am) and ascended the Monte Igeldo Mendia on an old rickety funicular; the first for the elder generation and only third or forth for us. Always an entertaining ride!

Once you get to the top, you realise why they built the funicular in the first place. AMAZING VIEWS! This is where you see all the tourist ad pics of the city.

On the top of the "mountain" is a cute antique amusement part that has a roller coaster, bumper boats, a mini train, haunted house, and of course, a mini flume ride, if only you got to go down the mountain on it! We opted for the flume ride which sends you hanging on the side of the mountain almost spilling out to sea.

The beach below is beautiful, you can rent these cute little cabanas for EUR15 a day. Keeps you protected from the scorching heat that we had for the first 36 hours.  

The following night was our first tapas crawl. We went to 4-5 places and had some great food and icy cold beer! We went to Dakara, La Vina, Cepa and finally, Zuruko, which was the most impressive of the 10-15 Pinxos spots we hit up in 2 nights!

The baby eels at Zuruko, a first for Erin and I!!!

I was able to conquer my fears and finally got retribution on the Sea Urchins after my sting in Thailand!!

After the first round of Pintxos, we caught the beautiful sunset in the harbor, which is about as good as they get! I found a bottle of wine that Erin, Jenna, Jamie and I had last summer at Brindisa in London, so naturally, we shared it on the beach after all the food before a good night sleep!

The next morning we busted out of town with our rental car and headed down some great coastal towns, stopping first at Getaria where we were a little too early to eat an an amazing looking fish spot, but not too late for the independence (Basque) parade in Zumaia, which featured amazing character with all its locals, young and old, dressed up in traditional outfits, and the men of the parade dressed in some funky bells! We grabbed some lunch from the street vendors, washed down by some local sour cider.

After Zumaia, it was further down the coast, and further away from tourists (I don't think there were any in Zumaia - but for good measure we went on) to Mutriku, which is a colorful, 3-dimensional fishing village that we wandered around for 30 minutes before returning to San Sebastian for another night of amazing Pintxos.

We went to some more great spots that night, which included La Cucharia, Txepetxa, Goiz Argi, and one that is just off Plaza de la Constitucion on Inigo. I can't remember the name but it was fabulous. You choose what you want raw, then they send it to the back where the cooks turn it to perfection! Oh yeah, go to La Vina for cheesecake...without question the best any of us ever had.

Our fun in San Sebastian came to an end the following morning. What an amazing city! But what is a trip to the Basque country without tasting the wines of the Rioja first!!??!!

My day off in Malta

When you ever have a day off in Malta and would ask locals were to go, and where to go early for the most amazing beach on the islands, I bet the majority would say Comino. Note this day off was ages ago given how far behind I am on the blog.

Erin was finally able to visit me and we took a morning off from the crazy work schedule and on the Saturday morning we got up and had the usual nice breakfast at the Hilton Malta before taking the 45 minute bus to Cirkewwaa and then a 15 minute ferry on United Comino Ferries (no reservation needed) at the port for €10 return. The first ferry out is at 9am and they go until 6pm. We were some of the first people dropped off at the beach and while you think you are in peaceful bliss in the beautiful waters, come noon the place is crawling with day-trippers on organised tours from Villetta.

We have been to some of the best beaches in the mediterranean that include Cala Goloritze in Sardinia, Scopello in Sicily, the beaches of Sifnos and Folegandros, the lava rock beaches of Santorini and even those in Cannes and Cassis. I think only Goloritze near Cala Gonone on the East Coast of Sicily compares in terms of amazing blue azur waters.

We got some great lounge chairs on the rocks at the edge of the water and lounged in the warm, pristine waters that have amazing white sands for about 2.5 hours until the crowds began to offset the beautiful scenery and we decided to walk around the island.

While we were walking around the island away from the crowds, we found some kids cliff jumping so of course I had to have a go at it!! This actually looks at lot like a photo Erin took of me at Cala Goloritze, see link above.

Following Comino we got a local boat driver to take us to Gozo for a look at the island before heading back to St. Julians. I definitely DO NOT advise to try and do both of these sites in one day and I think the Maltese would think you were crazy too. However, being total power tourists, we went for it, taking the boat to the Gozo ferry port and a bus to Victoria, the capital a ways inland for a nice lunch in the main square.

Following lunch we had a little tour of the citadel and around its walls. It is perched on the highest part of the island and has a commanding view with 360 degree walls that have seen many many years.

After the citadel we jumped on another bus to the famous beach in Gozo only to be stumped by the San Lorenzo village festa, which prohibited the bus from heading any further to Dwerja Bay. The bus had to make a percarious U turn at the foot of the village that took about 12 minutes to inch forward and back like the golf cart in the hallway in Austin Powers.

We regretably turned around and grabbed the Ferry back to Malta, catching some last cool water at the Beach in front of the Hilton before having a nice dinner at Zeri's, my go-to restaurant in my time in Malta. For the record, I have now spent 50 nights in Malta since the second week of May.....too many.

Working in Malta

This post has been in draft format for six weeks now, as work has been consuming all my time - I am travelling a lot and even when I travel, don't have the capacity to update the blog. I am forcing this one out now to get back on track!

I recently have been working quite often in Malta, assiting an local EY team on one of our clients. This is what my home away from home has looked like from the inside for the past several months. While it seems glamorous, being away from the wife more painful than anything and having dinners alone gets pretty lonely.

I started working here in May and am now on my fifth trip here. But I am finally getting some company as some of my colleagues are joining now. I have had one weekend day off during my time here and in the day I had off, I got to experience a little taste of Malta by taking a hop on hop off bus.

I primarily stay at the Hilton, which is a great hotel for both business and pleasure and has about 410 rooms, 400 more than the hotels we usually like to stay in. The bay below is St. Julian's, where there are lots of old boats, restaurants and of course, beautiful waters.

The first stop of the hop on hop off bus was Valetta, the capital of the country. With amazing history and architecture, you could easily spend a whole day here wandering the alleys, walking through gardens to arrive at beautiful views of the harbor, and lots and lots of churches (as Malta is one of the most religious countries in the world). Malta has a really varied history and has been occupied by the Arabs, Napolean, Britian, Sicily and even Germany.

Its most famous protectors were the Knights of St. John, who fought for years to keep the Ottoman empire from conquering the city - successfully. Their fortress is across the harbor from Valetta, you can see it in the pic below.

Following Valetta, I took the bus to Mdina and explored around the picturesque medieval capital of Malta. You don't need more than an hour or two wandering around, but there are plenty of lunch spots and you can walk along the walls that used to protect the city.

Following my city tours, which builds up some sweat in the Maltese heat, it was off to the beach. Ghajn Tuffieha and Golden Bay were the beaches I choose, which has crystal clear waters and are off the beaten track, yet accessible by the hop on hop off bus.

The best of the two was Ghajn Tuffieha, as it had a little pizza cafe and is otherwise unspolit by development.

Again, as beautiful as the scenery is, my buddy was missing in the photo below, could've used another towel, some snokerling gear and a little wife!

Cannes, France - (almost) 10 years later

Back in Cannes, nearly ten years from the memories that has prompted a decade of traveling, what should I expect? Surely it won't be the same, but hopefully the times engrained in my mind will come alive again, albiet sans 6am train rides home from Juan Les Pins!

Returning to Cannes to show Erin where my passion for travelling began has been a goal since we started dating nearly 9 years ago. When I was a junior at SJU, I studied at the College Internationale de Cannes for a semester, falling in love with Europe and travelling in general. If you do the math and that suggests its been almost 10 years since studying abroad. MAN WE ARE OLD!!

That said, it was about time to return to Cannes, check on good ole’ room 100 to see if the Tuesday Champagne parties are still on the menu, and see whether the beach, Quays, La Frigate, students hanging out at the picnic tables etc. is still status quo. Hopefully all my classmates in Cannes get a chance to read this and smile when they hear not a lot has changed over the years and many of the spots we enjoyed are still around. Now it was a different experience to experience Cannes with the wife, much different with more disposal income and also with less friends to stir up mischief with.

Let's raise one to Orangina, a loaf of french bread at every meal, "wine" with plastic wrap tops, crepe nights, late nights, Tuesday nights, easyjet flights, Geneva death freights, "a demande a telephone sil vous plait", volleyball tourneys, paninis, scandanivian country clubs, Murphy's Irish Red, get out of class at noon and walk 100 feet to the beach, absinthe, Dann, Willy, Claude, Trash bitch, Helge, Hansson, Sarah, Tanya, Wicker, Adam, Julie, the rest of the CSB/SJU class, the 213 click, the black eyed peas "weekend", the Norwiegan girls, and everyone else at La College Internationale de Cannes!!

Erin and I were in town for two nights and a day and a half, just wandering all the streets, checking out the castle, exploring the market, walking through the marina and spying on the fancy boats. It was really great to return.

Not only did we visit Cannes, but as a former student, you can stay at the College for €30 a night, which is naturally what we did. Here’s the lowdown on things Cannes 10 years later.

Still strong – Quays, La Pizza, La Frigate, the market, the Petanque players, the little grocery store on the shortcut to town, 100 foot yachts, lots of expensive shops, beer at McDonalds, cold water.

Room one double O ain't rockin like its duce double O one.

The room interior definitely hasn't changed, though the desks have been upgraded.

Gone – the beach outside the college, the Moonlight café (now a gay club I believe – we didn’t try it out), the Panini shop, Tuesday night Champagne parties, Nutella and made to order items at the College Sunday brunch.

I was expecting my perception of Cannes would be completely different from reality, but thankfully it wasn’t, Cannes is about as I imagine it, a beautiful holiday spot with fast cars, expensive clothing, luxurious boats and lots of Sun. It was really great to return to the roots for a couple days and I poured a little for my homies in rememberance for a great semester abroad.

Greek Island Hopping Part Two: Folegandros to Santorini

Folegandros....a lot apparently has changed on this sleepy island over the last 15 years. When we arrived on our ferry from Sifnos at 10:30pm on a Monday, we got in the van that the hotel we stayed at, Fata Morgana, dispatched for us. The nice Italian couple we shared the van with explained how they first came in 1995 when there were only three cars on the island, and one bus (that is still used today)! 1995! Also, there were no hotels then either, only 15 years ago.  Thankfully not a lot has changed on the island. There are certainly more cars, hotels and restaurants now, but there is still a very local vibe that will hopefully remain. 

After we dropped our bags off and freshened up, we hit the village of Chora (pitcured above), a beautiful whitewashed village that is completely pedestrian (not because of preservation or anything like that, but because there never have been cars here)! The village itself is majestic; it consists of three squares flowing one into the next and has trees covering the squares. There are lights on most trees which presents an amazing setting to eat some great octopus washed down with a Mythos!

The night was really relaxing and refreshing. The next morning we woke and saw the beauty of the little island in daylight, and the sweet views from the pool!

Following breakfast we got a few picnic items for the beach and jumped on the bus to Agali, where we skipped the beautiful beach (below - but we swam there later) and got on a boat to a beach called Lavalki (or something like that), only accessible by boat. The beach was really great, snorkeling, sun (and shade) and some cliff jumping. 

We unfortunately didn't jump off that one as the water was way too shallow for jumping in those situations. There was however, a cliff to deeper water about half as high around the other side. You can see Jenna, Joel and I contemplating the jump. 

After the beach we headed back to our hotel and took a short dip before heading to town and having perhaps the best meal of the trip (wait I said that in the last post!), Erin and I split a massive lobster that we had to share to finish, combined with some great pasta. The cats spoiled the ambiance a little (be sure to send Linsey birthday cards with cats on them, she'll be sure to thank you), but we had a great night nonetheless. 

The next day we had a really relaxing one, sitting by the pool, pure relaxation and chillin'! It was nice not to go anywhere except for the pool, the bar and the lounge chairs!

That night Joelskie and I had a man-date to the church you see in the pic above and caught an amazing sunset! The girls certainly missed out as the walk is easy and the sun wasn't blazing. The views were absolutely remarkable. 

After some ridiculous kebabs, we hit the town for some partying, finding a few great spots to wet the lips! The next morning, after three quick nights, it was time to say goodbye to Folegandros, a fantastic place to go and relax, and to get away from the over-commercialized resorts of the other islands, great character, good people, and beautiful views of the Aegean Sea.  

When you approach Santorini, its hard to believe you have finally arrived; the place that people see pictures of and have to pinch themselves to make sure this place exists on earth; we had arrived! Santorini is built on a volcano, with many of the villages perched high on the rocks, defying gravity as buildings literally hang off the cliff. We choose the village of Oia to stay for our three nights, as most travel resources (Strauss) suggest this is the most beautiful place on the island...he was right.

We stayed at Atrina Houses, which I advise everyone else to follow our recommendation as you will be blown away by the hotel. There are about 20 rooms that are traditional houses of the islands. An amazing breakfast is brought to you each morning directly to your balcony, its quite the treat. Chocolate chip banana bread was the crowd favorite!

The first day we were there we walked down 240+ steps from Oia to the "beach", which meant you find a lava rock to drop your towel on and then take an super refreshing dip in the waterhole. This was one of the best spots we swam at because of the great snorkeling, cliff jumping, and rocks that made it close to the top of the water, but not quite so you didn't have to float the whole time. The water was also sublime!

Following the swim we got delivery dinner of kebabs, which was great to relax overlooking the sea with some vino and brewskies. 

The following day we rented a car and did a tour of the island, stopping at the various unique beaches that consisted of either red or black sand. Needless to say the beaches were HOTTTTTT!!! It was probably 105 degrees out and after roughing it at the red sand beach, we sprung for the umbrella at the second. The beaches on the southern part of the island are great, with a young student-vibe, particularly around Perissa, where it appeared the beach parties go into the early hours. 

The vibe in Oia was slightly more subdued, where a lot of couples were spending their honeymoons or anniversaries there. The woman running the hotel, one of three sisters, was very helpful and booked us reservations for an amazing fish joint near our first day swim. We again had octopus, squid and picked out an amazing local fish. The ambiance was perfect and we really enjoyed the meal (but not the walk up)!!

If you noticed above, I let my facial hair grow all trip and then on the last full day of the trip, gave myself an interesting stash!! Here's to you, Carl Pavano!! Enlarge below for full effect.

This is sunset on the island, you can see the harbor we had our fish dinner at all the way down by the water. The sunsets, though not quite as serene as Folegandros, were gorgeous!

The rest of our time on Santorini consisted of lounging around Oia, chillin' by the pool with our books, often jumping in. It was really the first trip we had taken where it was mostly beaches and relaxing. Needless to say we'll be doing it again next summer. It was also really nice to have Linsey, Jenna and Joel along for some extra banter and fun for the trip. We were especially happy that Linsey made it all the way from SF to join our travels. There were no bumps, no cuts, no flesh wounds, which made us all breathe a sigh of relief, especially after the dodgy dirt roads we took the scooters on.

It was also the end of the road for Jenna's summer abroad. She had a pretty cushy life out here in London, free room and board, massages with Erin (especially poolside pirate lesbian mermaid massages in Folegandros), caesar salads, pints at the POW, traveling to Europe's hot spots every other weekend...yeah she had it pretty good, and we're sad to see her head back to school!

Lastly, what can you say about Joelskie, "ya know what I'm sayin"? He was a true trooper with the Utz', and was kind enough to bunk up with Jenna for a few nights of the trip! He even made my photo taking less annoying by nearly equalling the number of photos I took with his sleek Cannon pocket-sized money camera. We're just waiting for him to return from Mexico so he can share some of those photos!

The next morning we awoke early and had a few hours at the pool before heading back to the airport. The water and sky are so amazing when looking out from the island, the pool water too had some fine qualities. 

Alas, it was time to close the Greek chapter of our life. Words can't describe the greatness of the Greek islands. I think you have to go there yourself to get the complete Greek experience. Santorini, Sifnos and Folegandros are pretty good options and as you can see, are beautiful, unique, and highly recommended.