South American adventure

Happy holidays everyone!

We arrived in Santiago on Xmas day so as you can imagine, there wasn't a lot open especially near our hotel, Marriott Santiago. Our hotel is in the Las Condes area which is a business area where a lot of richer people live and is close to a nice mall and park called Parque arauco but it's far from the major tourist areas (metro ride away). The first evening we explored the Bellavista area and ate at a local Chilean restaurant called Galindo. A cool area of restaurants and cafes is called Patio Bellavista. Besides empanadas, we haven't have the best luck with Chilean food so far. There were 2 women that were very nice and started a conversation with us at dinner when they saw us unsure what to do with one of the local dishes we ordered. In general, we have found Chilean people to be very genuinely friendly without an ulterior motive for a tip, selling you something, etc. 

The second day we explored the downtown/tourist area including plaza des armes, Santa Lucia market, main cathedral, and climbed to the top of Santa Lucia hill for nice views of the city and mountains in the backdrop. We reserved some of the sightseeing for when Arif and Shy arrive on Dec 30. We had dinner at Astrid y Gaston (Providentia area) which is a restaurant that was famous in Lima and I had regretted not going to it when we were in Peru because we were on a backpackers budget. It was definitely fine dining but very tasty including a random dessert of crispy bananas with Quinoa, passion fruit honey, ice cream etc with incredible presentation!

We took a day trip to Cajon del Maipo which is a volcano in the Andes mountain range. Although what we actually saw including the waterfalls, canon, mountains, condors, etc weren't very impressive to us compared to what we have in Alberta or New Zealand, it was overall a nice day trip getting to chat with 4 other fellow travellers from Argentina, U.S and a guy whose studying in the US but from Saudi Arabia. Our guide was also fantastic and had such a humble perspective on the world. 

We went through a company called AndoAndes - although the trip was overpriced for what is was, we had a good time. 

Adam and I haven't taken a vacation in a long time where there weren't a lot of people who spoke English. Someone should make a movie on what tourists looks like trying to explain or ask for something using the few words they know in a particular language mixed with a lot of sign language. It would be hilarious! Even when we are using the correct words, we are often not understood because we don't have the Spanish accent. For example, the guy at Starbucks wrote Adams name as "Aron" on his cup. 

Overall, Santiago is a great city that is totally liveable as its modern, feels very safe but has a lot of culture. Although I wouldn't put it in my top 5 cities to visit or anything, it's a nice place to visit. It's a lot like Calgary in sown ways: cold in the winter, hot in the summer but with cool summer nights and close proximity to the mountains and nature. There is a lot of American influence in terms of restaurants, fast food and cafes (I.e. Pf Changs, subway, KFC, Dunkin donuts, etc.) It's far more organized and orderly than I was expecting compared to Peru and Ecuador.  Santiago isn't a cheap city. In fact very comparable to Canada with a few exceptions. Metro tickets and taxis are a bit cheaper and tipping at restaurants is 10% (automatically put on but you can chose to keep it or not). 

Next stop Valparaiso/vina del mar then back to Santiago! 

A Taste of the Czech Republic

Prague has always been a city I wanted to visit as it know for its architecture and heritage! Upon recommendation from friends, we started off our first day with a walking tour that started in the Old town square, called Sandemans walking tour. It was a great way to learn about the city and got us well acquainted to explore later on. The highlights of the city for me was the Charles Bridge, views if the Palace and just the Old town square area. A famous landmark was the astronomical clock In the middle of Old town square. We also walked through the Jewish quarter, the area of the famous 1988 revolution where communism fell, etc. The palace was far more grand from far - you could probably skip the visit to the roam through the Palace. There is an entrance for a short or long tour but I'm glad we did the short tour. 

If you have a chance, the E bikes and the Segways looked like an awesome way to tour the city especially since there is a good amount of sights to see! I'm hoping to try those in another big city on a future trip!

We weren't that adventurous with food in Prague because we just wanted some yummy tasty comfort food. Our first meal we searched out an Indian restaurant called La Qila which we ended up going to twice in 4 days because it was so good. The waitress was a Canadian girl from Toronto which was so random. In retrospect, we should have been having Goolash, meat and potatoes which is what a lot of Czech food is. Adam was reunited with his Gloria Jean lattes and international brands that you come to expect on vacation. 

This trip wouldn't have been the same without the Tripadvisor off lines aps for Amsterdam and Prague. You download them but when once they are on your phone, you can use them without wifi/data and they will lead you in The direction you need to go. This is great for finding places to eat at that are actually well rated when you're hungry and haven't necessarily planned your next meal or finding exactly where you need to go once you get off the subway/tram without having to ask around as much. It's best you verify the address of some of the locations before you go because it led us in the wrong direction once but every other time, it was accurate and very convenient. I'd highly recommend them but they are only made for some of the most popular cities in the world. 

Last days in Croatia

We had a very short time in Split as it was more of a transit point for us before we left for Prague. Although we were there for a short time, it was a pleasant little place. Almost all the action is again in the City Walls or Diocletian Palace. It is filled with restaurants, shops and of course a lot of travel agencies. 

We stayed at an apartment within the walls. Although very basis with no frills, it was in a great location amongst the Palace and we were walking distance for where we needed to go. The owner was a younger guy, Baldo, who was super friendly and helpful! Baldo recommended that we dine outside the city walls and we are glad that we did. Split apparently has some nice beaches and a beautiful waterfall close by that some other American tourists told us to see on our catamaran ride in from Hvar but we didn't have enough time. 

The Main Street along the water was a lively place in the evening with lots of patios, food vendors, etc. We ate a "fishermans plate" at another   "Konoba" or Croatian kitchen but Adam and I are obviously all fished out and need some Indian/Thai food to restimulate our palates! We stumbled upon a Bosnian sandwich place that was really yummy and worth the long line up!

Unfortunately we didn't do much shopping in Croatia although they do have some of the typical international stores like Zara etc. I imagine Zagreb, the capital city, would be a better place for that! 

Overall, I enjoyed Croatia quite a bit but Dubrovnik is by far the highlight! Friendly people and great weather (too hot at this time of the year) to top it off! It was a refreshing change to not be bombarded with American chains although you really didn't know if you were going to find a good coffee or not which is an important thing for Adam - no Starbucks, KFC, etc. There is only 1 McDonalds in all 3 places we went to and that was in Split.