Category Archives: travel

Coming back from Porto, we had a 8 hour lay over in Lisbon which gave us the perfect opportunity to head into the city for a few hours. We got into one of the classic yellow trams and without any idea where to go we were just riding around town. The city has some pretty look out spots and is a very lively place. There’s a lot of street musicians like these guys who were playing out of a window haha. It’s a lot more touristy here than it is in Porto which is why I think I preferred Porto over Lisbon!

Good evening from the Netherlands! I’m back on my couch right where I belong covered in many blankets haha. It’s so much colder here than it was in lovely Portugal. Porto has gorgeous little streets, that are so steep you might run out of breath going on a town walk. The view from Gaia (the town across the river) is probably my favorite. You can clearly see the orange roofs and colorful houses, it’s pretty at all times of the day. The main bridge connecting Gaia and Port are great for pretty views and picture taking. You can also see the whole city from the top. I really loved this city and would for sure go back in the summer time, enjoy the sun rays and sit at one of the cafes by the river.

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It’s been a while now since I actually went to Brussels but it was a fun lil two days with my study association. We got very very lucky with the weather since it was sunny, and honestly made the city appear quite pretty (I wasn’t expecting that haha). Obviously we were going with the purpose of it being a political trip so our schedule was filled with a trip to a lobbying business, the permanent representation of The Netherlands to Belgium, the European Commission and NATO. All were super interesting but I must say NATO was for sure my favorite. It’s quite an impressive building and as a political science student it was super interesting to hear what they had to say. I was thinking that maybe I could see myself working in Brussels, since it has such an international community and it could be an good career choice. But I’m not sure, these were just random thoughts going through my head haha. I’m really glad I got to experience the city though and not just as a tourist but as student – makes quite the difference. The stay was only one night so I can’t really make any recommendations but I would say if you can visit NATO. It also has great historical relevance making it quite the memorable visit!

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I’ve been spending the last months at home and have really developed “Fernweh”. A feeling where you really want to travel and go explore but my schedule is so busy I barely get the chance to. And to be honest I’m broke. But I managed to fit a quick weekend in Cologne to visit my childhood best friend Katharina and wow we hadn’t seen each other in 4 years. But it felt like it hadn’t even been that long. The city is really pretty and we spent the weekend shopping and exploring the university park. I also managed to burn a hole into my pants with an iron, which just goes to show how great I am at household. Nevertheless I was still gladly strolling around town that day along the river and the Dom. I left early sunday morning to get back to reality and actually do some work for school but of course could not leave before taking a visit to the German bakery. If you plan on going to Germany, you need to visit a bakery because the bread is amazing. We finished a lovely cup of coffee and I was ready to head back home. With an adventskalender, bread and gelbwurst (because I gotta bring some german back home) I took the train back which of course was late because Deutsche Bahn can never be on time.

For the first time this summer I was at a festival and I am so excited to have finally experienced it. The Sziget Festival in Budapest this year was a success and I can probably still find glitter somewhere in my hair haha! Besides being at the festival, we also visited Fisherman’s Bastion, a touristy place that overlooks the Hungarian Parliament. Really pretty! Of course you cannot visit Budapest without going to one of the famous baths and lucky for us we had a free ticket to access one of the most famous ones, not sure what it’s called but the entire building is yellow. To my surprise the city is filled with really good food spots and restaurants like this food truck alley Karaván. I had some yummy sweet potato fries (my favorite) with a fresh green smoothie and Lauren a burrito. I highly recommend coming here, especially on a sunny summer day!

A travel tip: if you need to fly somewhere but the flights are expensive, then read more abut our little trick: Budapest is super close to Bratislava which was much cheaper to fly into and then you can take a 2 hour bus ride to get to Budapest from Bratislava’s city center (also rly cheap). Like this you get to experience an extra new city, but you can also save money by flying into a surrounding location where there might not be so much demand to fly to. So when booking flights and they’re really expensive always make sure to look for other surrounding airports!

Leaving the buzzing island of Mykonos, our next stop was Syros. This less famous island seemed to be the vacation island for all the Greek citizens but it also meant that it was cheap and did not have crazy tourist prices. Dinner always consisted of fish, whether it was mussels or calamari, we were always eating good. Most of our time we spent relaxing on Vari Beach and increasingly getting darker skin. The second and last day we used to walk around the main town Ermoupoli, hiked up to the church on top of the mountain and take a trip back down. It was a relaxed town visit and we ended up spending most of our time sitting in the airconditioning and then taking our ferry to Santorini.

Swept away by blue and white tourists cross these islands eating Souvlaki, taking pictures and occasionally partying. We were part of this move of people exploring the little town on Mykonos and visiting Oia on Santorini. Santorini was a short visit with 12 hours on the island. The goal was to go to the famous town for an hour and head back so we didn’t miss our next ferry. The island seems very pretty but in order to enjoy it you must go for a longer amount of time and stay somewhere were you are not overthrown with masses of tourists. Mykonos on the other hand was touristy as well but a lot calmer. We managed to stay a bit longer on this island (two days) and spent the morning in the town (discovering souvlaki haha!!) and the afternoon on the beach. Tanning in the sun, then going for a swim when it gets too hot is the best time to spend time and if you get hungry you can just order fresh calamari from the bar and enjoy that. If you visit Mykonos and want to party (because yes it is a party island haha) two places I really liked was Tropicana Beach Club and Paradise Club. Out of these two islands I must say Mykonos was by far my favorite. Despite it being expensive and touristy it has the ideal vibe you would expect from a Greek Island.

 

After three weeks I am finally sitting down and uploading the Greece pictures. Our trip started out in Athens but we were only there for a day meaning the exploring didn’t go beyond really good “fredo” coffee for breakfast and then heading over to the Acropolis. Going to Greece in high season (so July) meant many tourists and it was just a wave of people moving forward to see these historic creations. A few places I really enjoyed in the city was the Mary Poppins cafe. Sadly I didn’t get to actually eat here but we walked past multiple times. It is impossible to miss this place as it’s decorated with many umbrellas and all the workers are dressed in the outfits you can see in the movie. Overall, Athens is a city worth visiting but not sure if it is a place that calls my name for me to return.