Kihei

When we booked this trip, we thought it would be great to also check out another area of Maui. So after six days in Ka'anapali, we moved down south to Kihei for the last couple days. Before focusing on Kihei, I have to mention another little road trip we took up to the North Shore. We made our way to Ho'okipa lookout which oversees Maui's world-class surfing and windsurf spot. It was so cool to see all the windsurfers zipping along the water at incredible speeds.

We stayed at the Maui Coast hotel which is located on South Kihei Road and is across the street from Kamaole Beach I. We arrived in the afternoon and pretty much as soon as we hit the beach, the afternoon trade winds started and I remembered why I wasn't too keen on spending a lot of time here. The winds were quite strong this first day so having a relaxing snooze on the beach was difficult with sand being blasted at you constantly. The water was also very choppy so we decided to go for a stroll from Kamaole Beach I to II and then III. We stopped in at some shops along south Kihei Road on the walk back before having dinner at Maui Thai. Dinner was good, we both weren't too hungry so we opted to share a dish and it was enough for both of us. There isn't much to do here in the evenings.

The next day it was relatively overcast in the morning and into the afternoon. On a recommendation, we had breakfast at Kihei Caffe. The banana macadamia nut pancakes were great!! This place is very busy, but highly recommend it.

We did some beach hoping while here and found ourselves mostly in the Wailea area, which is just south of Kihei. Less wind here in the afternoons. The water was still a little rough at some beaches so I didn't get much more snorkelling in though Z tried. We spent one afternoon at Big Beach. Just as the name suggests, the beach stretches for 2/3 miles and is just a gorgeous stretch of white sand. The surf here is pretty tricky on certain days with a very strong undertow and large waves crashing at the shoreline. Silly me experienced this first hand and gave Z a rather big scare. I felt like a pair of shorts in the washing machine. It was rather stupid of me to underestimate the current and surf. Really nice beach though and watching the waves crashing from the beach (not on top of you) is pretty cool.

On our last day, we spent the day at Wailea Beach after another breakfast at Kihei Caffe. Wailea Beach is apparently ranked by several beach rankings as the best beach in America. We managed to luck out with parking here, which can be a little tricky. I once again skipped the snorkelling and was happy just getting the last bit of rays before heading home. Z says the snorkelling here was good, but I have a feeling that the best snorkelling was up where we started this quick get away in Ka'anapali.

Lahaina

Lahaina is just a short drive south of Ka'anapali. All the action in Lahaina is along Front Street which is lined with tons of shops and restaurants. Around the centre of Front Street is Banyan Tree Square featuring, you guessed it, a large Banyan Tree which was planted in 1873. This tree is quite the site (check out the picture). Just passed the Banyan tree is a wharf and behind that is an area where beginner surfers hang out. Z rented a surf board one afternoon and frolicked in the waves and caught three waves before having to call it a day. We found a great place for smoothies, but I can't remember the name of the place. It's off Front Street and Dickenson and their passion fruit smoothie was the best! We had dinner at Mala restaurant one evening. This restaurant is located on one end of Front street, right on the water and is a great place to see the sun set. The food it really good too, the Kobe burger was very tasty.

There is a huge selection for those interested in shopping on Front Street. There are a number of art galleries as well with a very good selection of local artists' work. This town is definitely geared for the tourist.

West Maui

Our stay at the Westin Villas in Ka'anapali has been fabulous. The resort is beautiful and a great place to stay. The resort is situated right on Kahekili Beach - a perfect beach for frolicking in the water and snorkeling. There are tons of fish to be seen here and at least one resident turtle. We spent quite a bit of time here at different times of the day. The morning snorkeling seemed to have the most fish, but don't get me wrong there are lots of fish at all times of the day.

The resort has a go green option which allows you to cancel daily cleaning service and they give you a voucher for the breakfast buffet instead. We opted to go green and took advantage of the yummy breakfast buffet twice. The other mornings, we enjoyed "home" made breakfasts in our room. With the full sized kitchen, it was easy to go shopping and not worry about food spoiling.

Another great snorkeling spot was at the Sheraton Maui and Pu'u Keka'a (Black Rock). The beach was very nice and sandy. The current was a little stronger, but the water was extremely clear. There are tons of fish around Black Rock and again I got to see a turtle.

We also drove up north to Honolua Bay, another good snorkeling spot. To access the beach here, you have a short walk along a lush tropical pathway with "wild" chickens running around everywhere. The beach here is rocky and can be rather slippery when wet, but it's a nice spot. I recommend water shoes here to help with the rocky bottom at the water's edge. The day we were there, visibility was not at its prime in some areas, but it's still a great spot to head to.

Afterwards we continued north to Nakalele Point and blowhole. This is the northern most point of Maui. The views from here are incredible. The blowhole can spout water over 100 feet in the air. On our way back, we stopped in at a relatively secluded beach near the Ritz-Carlton Hotel called Oneloa Bay. There were maybe ten other people at this beach while we were there. A great little find.

Molokini and Turtle Town

We took a boat tour over to Molokini and Turtle Town with a group of friends and family from the wedding. Molokini is a crescent-shaped partially submerged volcanic crater about 2.5 miles off the coast of Maui. This site is a popular snorkeling destination for most people visiting the Island. Our group did the AM tour with the Pride of Maui. The boat's crew was very friendly.

I'm not sure if it was because of the time we arrived at Molokini (around 9am), or where the Pride of Maui has to moor, but the snorkeling wasn't the best; there weren't as many fish as I remember from past trips and the coral seems to be dying. I couldn't see any colourful coral. The snorkeling at our resort was much more interesting than this stop.

After Molokini, the boat took us over to Turtle Town and during the ride over we got a BBQ lunch. The food was good, though it was a little rushed by the time you got through the line up for food, ate and arrived at Turtle Town.

Just as the name indicates, Turtle Town has an abundance of turtles, as well as other colourful fish and marine life. The turtles here are the protected Hawaiian Green Sea turtles. These turtles can be very large and I got to see one here. I was feeling somewhat tired from the first snorkeling stop (not a very strong swimmer), so I decided that instead of going on a finding turtles adventure to head back to the boat and hang around there instead. Z continued on his quest to find turtles and ended up seeing three or four. Back around the boat, one of the crew was feeding the fish and so it was amazing to see the number of fish frantically chasing after the food. It was really cool to see.

The trip itself was a lot of fun because there were so many people on board that we either knew or had just met a couple days prior. Snorkeling Molokini is not what I remember it being, so a disappointment there - a lot of people were of the same opinion. Turtle Town was great and worth the trip.

Aloha

Our flight to Maui through San Francisco was delayed about an hour and a half due to low cloud in San Fran. This is apparently pretty common, and we even talked about it when booking the flight but felt our lay over time was sufficient to make the connection. Now with the delay our lay over time went from three hours to about one hour from when our flight was landing and the next one was leaving. Needless to say, I was a little uncomfortable with that especially since there was no easy way out of San Fran if we missed our connection and we had to be in Maui by the next morning....we made it with time to spare as Z would say. :)

We arrived in Maui mid afternoon Friday and made our pit stop at Costco and Big K to pick up some grocery items. We didn't realize how early the sun sets here and so by the time we got to our hotel it was already dark. Once the sun sets, it gets dark fast and when it's dark, it's dark. It makes for some great star gazing. We came to Maui for a wedding (that's the excuse and we're sticking to it!!).

We're staying at the Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas. When we arrived, we found out that we were upgraded to a one-bedroom suite with a partial ocean view. Wow....the suite is amazing. It is very spacious with a full kitchen, huge bathroom and bedroom and a lanai from where you can see the ocean. The whole resort in fact is quite amazing and is situated on Kahekili Beach.

Saturday morning we woke up to beautiful warm sunshine and birds singing. It was the perfect start to a great day. In the morning we attended our friends' wedding here at the resort. It was a perfect setting with the ceremony overlooking the ocean. The ceremony was lovely. Congrats you two, we couldn't be happier for you!!

We had a few hours between the ceremony and reception, so what better way to spend it than on the beach. Quick change and off we were. The beach here is great!! The water isn't too rough, but the current can be strong and you have to be mindful of the undertow. There is really good snorkeling as soon as you enter the water. The reef starts pretty close to the shoreline with hundreds of very colourful fish just hanging out. I even got to see a turtle swimming around and feeding off the ocean floor. The snorkeling really is spectacular here. The sun though can be really hot and it doesn't take much to get some colour.

Maui here we come!

I wasn't kidding in my last post when I said the next adventure was just around the corner... Maui is our next stop to attend the wedding of two good friends and then spend some time just relaxing and soaking up the sun before enduring the pending dreary winter weather of home.

I came across a quote from Mark Twain "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

This rings so true with me and this next short adventure of rediscovering Maui comes at a great time. Slowing down and relaxing is top of the agenda. It's unfortunate how quickly we allow life to get so busy that there's no time left over to take in the scenery.

Great memories....

This trip was so special in its own way. Getting to see new places and experiencing new cultures, foods and sights is always exciting in its own right but being able to experience that with my Z makes it even that more memorable.

How to recap all these wonderful experiences? Breathtaking views, delectable food, quaint towns, delightful people and rich history. How can you not enjoy touring around Europe?

The great memories will always remain and the many pictures we took will help keep them from fading. What's even better about this trip though is that from this day forward, we get to create new memories and new adventures everyday for the rest of our lives. Stay tuned for the next travel adventure, it's just around the corner....but in the meantime, let the great lifelong adventure begin.....

New York pit stop

Sometimes when you fly on points you don't always get the most direct route which allows you to see more places. Our flight home from Vienna brought us through New York (and Toronto but who really wants to talk about TO?). First off, our flight was on Austrian Air and my wonderful Z had booked our flights in business/executive class. Something neither of us ever imagined or experienced occurred on this particular flight. There was a chef on board serving the business class seats dinner. A real chef decked out in a chef hat and everything. Austrian Air has partnered with a local restaurant to bring this service on board. And boy did the food ever taste that much better. Even better still when it came to serving coffee after our four course meal, a menu was provided with seven different coffee options. Now that's style! Needless to say we really enjoyed this flight.

Our pit stop in New York was about 24-hours. We have both been there previously so weren't upset by the short stay. It was extremely hot and humid there so I was glad our time there was this short otherwise we'd be window shopping the entire time just to get into air-conditioned stores. We did walk around a bit and visited Grand Central Station where we bought some over-priced gelato. After our experience in Italy in my opinion this gelato didn't even come close to comparing. We also went to the main public library which is quite beautiful inside and is one of the few buildings that could be compared to European architecture. Times Square was packed with people which is not out of the ordinary but what seems to have changed since my last visit was that a portion of it has now been made a pedestrian corridor which helps move the masses of people a little easier.

When in New York you must take in a Broadway show. Our stay was an overnight stop, so we went to go see "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" staring Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter for those not familiar) and John Larroquette (Dan Fielding on the '80's TV show Night Court). It was a mystery to me which show we'd be seeing until we arrived in New York. I didn't know much about this particular show, but it was absolutely fabulous. Daniel is quite the singer as is John. Both had such good energy with their performances. The show itself has a good amount of humour to it and was just so well done. It was really worth seeing.

In the morning we had to leave for our trip back to Canada, but not before having a great breakfast at The Red Flame Diner, which was just around the corner from our hotel, Hotel Cassa and Residence. This fairly new and very modern hotel was a great place to stay. It was conveniently located near Times Square and the theatre where the show was playing. Z really does think of everything!! This was a great way to end our most fabulous trip.

Austria pictures

Vienna's Rathaus with screen and seating for film festival

Z and his Tichy ice cream

Spices at the Naschmarkt in Vienna

Abbey in Melk

Schloss Schonbrunn Vienna

Traunsee

Wien - Part 2

We visited Vienna’s amusement park Prater because the box-car ferris wheel, the Wiener Riesenrad, was recommended and recently featured on an Amazing Race episode. This amusement park is great because they don’t charge you an entrance fee and you just pay for the rides you want to go on at the actual ride; you don’t have to buy a bunch of ride tickets. The park has a large number of rides, games to try and win prizes and of course plenty of places to eat. When we got there we found a new ride, opened just over a year ago, that we thought would be much more fun and give us a better view of the city. So instead we opted for the 117 metre high Praterturm, the world’s highest chairoplane ride. This ride cost $5 Euro each and was worth every cent. The first time we went on the ride, the weather forecast was predicting rain and sure enough just as we got to the top we felt a rain drop, then another, then a few more and suddenly the sky opened up with gigantic raindrops (I’ve never seen raindrops this large before, they were like raindrops on steroids) and we were stuck at the top of the ride getting soaked. This rain shower didn’t stop for some time and we ended up getting soaked through to the skin by the time we reached the U station so we could head back to the hotel to dry off and change. Thankfully I wasn't the one wearing a white shirt that day.

On that one rainy day, the rain let up a little but stuck around until well in the evening. After drying off and changing into dry clothes and sandals because our shoes were also soaked through, we set off to ride the tram which took us to the museum quarter. Here we walked around looking at the fabulous architecture and reading about some of the history of the buildings in our guide. We decided to go to one museum and were glad we did. We had seen and heard a lot about this woman called Sisi and so we ended up at the Hofburg Imperial Apartments, Sisi Museum. This museum gives an inside look to the life of the Empress Elisabeth “Sisi”, who didn’t enjoy her public life in the least and was obsessed with her looks. The Austrians still carry a love for the former Empress and you see her picture adorned on a lot of tourist merchandise. We found out the Empress loved ice cream just as much as we do. This museum houses an impressive Imperial Silver collection which really showcases the pomp and circumstance of monarchies and dignitaries. The museum was interesting and also gave us an opportunity to get out of the rain for awhile.

Vienna is rich in culture and is known as the birthplace of opera and the waltz. Everywhere you look there are posters advertising classical concerts. We went to see a performance by the Vienna Royal Orchestra who performed a compilation of pieces mostly by Mozart and Strauss. We managed to get tickets for $29 Euro each. The concert took place in a neo-Gothic Imperial Hall which had a very impressive architectural interior. There was a 10-piece orchestra and they were accompanied at times by two Viennese opera singers and ballet dancers. We were also treated to a performance by a Mexican Youth Choir who was in attendance that evening. Overall we were quite impressed with the concert and felt we got great value for the price.

The entire time we were in Austria, Z wanted to try a Sacher torte. This dessert originated in Vienna, so what better place than Vienna for him to try it. Even better we found Cafe Sacher, the home of the original sacher torte. This torte is basically a two layer chocolate cake with apricot jam filling in the middle and is served with a side of whipping cream. Z enjoyed his torte immensely while I ate a slightly overpriced, but well worth it fresh fruit salad. This salad was so fresh I had to wait about five minutes before it arrived.

The Naschmarkt is a place worth visiting. Here you find blocks of vendors selling everything from fresh produce, fruit, meats, cheeses, spices, teas to souvenirs. There were plenty of places to order food from and several restaurants lined the outside rows. A lot of the vendors were of Middle Eastern descent and a lot of the foods had a Mediterranean flavour to them. You could sample an endless supply of olives, and stuffed tomatoes.

The Rathus, city hall, is a very impressive structure as well. The Vienna Film Festival was taking place during our stay and there was a colossal screen set up in front of the building with chairs set up for people to view the free nightly movie. The plaza out front was lined with a large assortment of international food vendors. And in Viennese style, the meals are served on real plates and drinks served in real glasses. It was definitely a well run and classy event. There are tables in the plaza area to sit, or stand, and enjoy your food and/or drink. We enjoyed a sample of Greek food and I must say it was the best tasting chicken slouvaki I’ve ever had. We also tried an Austrian Ottakringer beer. We had the Radler, which is a mixture of 50% beer and 50% lemonade. It was refreshing, but the taste was a little unusual; not bad, just not something we’re accustomed to.

Austria is also known for its wines and what better way to end our stay than a trip out to a Heuriger (wine taverns). We read about these in our guide and thought it would be fun to experience. We took the tram towards the outskirts of Vienna to an area called Nussdorf. From there we walked a couple blocks before we started to see the wreaths which indentify a Hueriger. We stopped in at Schubel Auer Heuriger, a 300-year old family run winery. As you enter through the gate you walk up a cobblestone path to the wine garden which had picnic tables and chairs, umbrellas and trees; there is also indoor seating, but we chose to sit outside. It’s like being in someone’s back yard. It was quite busy when we arrived and we didn’t have a reservation, but we found an empty table and shared a wonderful ½ litre of red wine. These wine taverns generally offer new brews which are made on site, so we’re not exactly sure of the name of the wine we had, but it tasted great nonetheless. What a wonderful way to end our stay in Vienna.

Wien - Part 1

Vienna is definitely a big city and you get that sense right when you arrive. Thankfully the city has a great transit system that gets you wherever you want to go with relative ease. The U-Bahn is fabulous; the stations are clean and bright; the trains run on time and are quite modern. The stations are also all well signed. My favourite line was U2. We bought a 72-hour transit pass, for about $14 Euro each, which allowed unlimited travel on the U-Bahn lines, buses and trams. Vienna’s transit system goes on the honour system, but if you get caught without a valid ticket, it’s a $70 Euro on the spot fine.

We felt safe walking around the city and in the underground and while it’s always important to be mindful of your surroundings, we never in the least bit felt we had to be overly cautious. Even a taxi driver, who immigrated from the Philippines 20 years ago, said he moved here because he felt it is the safest city in Europe. The city is generally pretty clean as well. There are plenty of public toilets around the city, including in the U stations, which are clean and stocked with required supplies; some required payment of 50 cent Euro while others were free. It’s definitely a different culture here with what I would describe as more respectful values in place. You were promptly greeted when entering a store and service in general was just better. We also noticed that alcohol can be consumed openly on the streets and you didn’t see a bunch of people walking around drunk. It’s quite the contrast from home.

We stayed at Hotel Imlauer, which is a contemporary, modern hotel. It’s located a short train ride from the central Vienna core and the U station was about two blocks away. The hotel even gave us a nice welcome note and small gift for our honeymoon. It was a great hotel for the end of our European tour.

Again, we chose not to visit many museums because of limited time and we wanted to see the city, not artifacts and artwork. We took the train to Schloss Schonbrunn, the former summer house of the Imperial family. When we arrived there were children’s choirs from several Asian countries performing in front of the palace. They were there for the World Peace Choral Festival. The surrounding gardens were immaculately sculptured. There are Roman ruins and sculptures all around the grounds. The grounds appear to be a popular running spot for locals. You get some really good city views when you walk to the end of the gardens where you find the Gloriette structure.

St. Stephen’s Cathedral is an impressive, gothic church built in the 1100’s. This gigantic church was undergoing some restoration, but the “wrapping” was a picture of the part of the church it was covering, so you really did get to see the whole building. Inside the church was beautiful with dramatic high ceilings and lovely artwork.

We walked along the main pedestrian street in the core of the city. This street was filled with buskers performing their various talents. This street had plenty of shops where you could spend all your money or restaurants and cafes in case you were hungry. One thing about Vienna, you’ll never go hungry in this city. You could even get take away seafood chain called Nordsee, but Z said his box of shrimp wasn’t that good.

We had a lot of other great tasting food, including a meal at a restaurant called 3 Hacken Magazin. We read about this place on another traveller’s blog who raved about the traditional Austrian food. So we tried it out and agreed that the food was great as well as the ambience. We arrived just before the evening dinner crowd, so we managed to get a table without a reservation, but apparently it is recommended to make a reservation for this place.

On the recommendation of a friend, we went to an ice cream store called Tischy. Now, had we not gone to Italy before Vienna, I’d definitely say this was the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted. It’s a very close second in my books. The ice cream is rich in flavour which just explodes in your mouth. I had hazelnut and vanilla one time and hazelnut and strawberry another. The strawberry tasted like I was eating real strawberries and the hazelnut was to die for. I could have lived on this if I was allowed. Z will attest to that and I think he could have too. The flavours he had were absolutely fabulous as well.

The Romantic Road to Vienna

That's not me making up the title, there is actually a route called the Romantic Road which takes you from Salzburg to Vienna through many beautiful and quaint villages and towns.

We rented a car for the journey between Salzburg and Vienna and if you have time, this is the way to travel because you have a lot more freedom on where you can stop and what you can look at. Before leaving on our trip, we received a map of the Romantic Road which was mailed to us from Austria after requesting it over email. This map provides not only the driving route, but also points of interest along the way and this is how this part of the trip was determined.

From Salzburg we drove to Bad Ischl, a charming little town and our base for a couple days as we explored part of the Salzkammergut region. Here we took the Katrin cable car up the mountain, taking about 12 minutes, and did a short hike to Katrin Cross. I'd classify the hike as easy, but there were a few places with many stairs to climb. Reaching the summit at Katrin Cross was worth it. The view of the Salzkammergut region was incredibly breathtaking. The scenery was fantastic for as far as the eye could see; we saw views of many little towns, Wolfgangsee and Traunsee - a place we visited later on. It's really hard to describe by words the view from the top.

From our base here we also visited Hallstadt which is famous for its salt mine. We took a guided tour of Salzwelten, which is the world's oldest salt mine. The tour itself was really good, our guide did a good job of providing the information in both English and German. We also had lunch here at the Brauhaus (Brew House) which had its outdoor seating along the lake.

Some of the other towns/villages we stopped in around the region included Bad Goisern, where we found a grocery store where we found some great items for our future road trips; Traunsee was a very beautiful lake and had a neat little church perched up on a hill; Gmunden was a bigger town and here we visited the Seeschloss Ort (Sea Castle) which is apparently a popular wedding venue. We drove up the Danube River to Kerms. Along the way we found countless apricot orchards and vineyards. Kerms is also a bigger town and here we enjoyed some ice cream, espresso and wine from the Wachau wine region. We had wine at a wine bar situated along the main pedestrian street in Kerms and it was fantastic and incredibly well priced; we each enjoyed a glass of wine and the total bill was only $5.70 Euro. WOW!! Could never find such a deal back home.

We also stayed in a town called Melk, about an hour outside of Vienna. The main, and only, attraction in this town is the Abbey. This is one of the world's most famous monastic sites. It was founded in 1089 and is located above the town. It's a really short walk up the stairs to the entrance. We did an unguided tour of the abbey buildings which were quite spectacular. We also got to see the library, which houses over 100,000 historical books and manuscripts, and the church and garden grounds. A small market was set up the day we were leaving and we ended up buying some fresh apricots for the road. Boy did they ever taste great and we regretted not buying more.

Driving around Austria was relatively easy with the help of a GPS, which we were advised was a must have. The roadways are built for driving and at times I think Z wished he were on a motorcycle instead. Drivers stay in the right lane and only use the left when passing, what a concept?!?! Trucks also remain in the righter most lane, again what a concept!! The route we took was amazingly scenic and well worth it. We would have missed so many breathtaking views, scenic and quaint towns had we taken a train instead. This was definitely the way to travel to Vienna.

Salzburg

From Venice we took a bus to Villach, Austria and then hopped on a train to Salzburg. Total travel time was about 5 hours and we passed some very beautiful scenery along the way. Entering Austria we caught great views of the Alps and small villages on the hillside. We’ve entered Mozart and “The Sound of Music” territory.

We stayed the Mercure Salzburg Kapuzinerberg. This hotel was conveniently located about a 15 minute walk from the Old Town of Salzburg. We were given one of the recently renovated new rooms. The hotel again was quite nice with the room being very spacious. The carpet had a musical design in it and was quite fitting. Breakfast was included and was absolutely great with a large selection of food. They also offered the option to have breakfast delivered to your room, which we did the morning we were leaving.

We determined rather quickly that Salzburg is not a late night city and didn’t find much open after 6pm. We walked along the Salzach River on our way to the Augustiner. The Augustiner was founded in 1621. It’s a beer hall with several different sitting rooms, most were non-smoking. You can also buy food from different vendors in the hallways. Your beer is served from a wooden barrel into a stone mug and you go to one of the rooms, sit on wooden benches, drink beer and socialize with those around you. There were mostly locals present when we arrived on a Friday night and we just sat at one of their tables. Children were also present with their parents.

The next day we walked around Salzburg in the rain. We walked through Mirabellgarten, which was built by archbishop prince Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau for his mistress in 1606. These gardens and its palace are a popular wedding venue and in fact we saw three separate brides while we were there. Some scenes from The Sound of Music were also filmed here.

Along the Salzach River, we found an artisans’ market where you could buy homemade items such as tablecloths, handbags, jewellery, knickknacks, and many other things.

We made our way through the Old Town, stopping at Mozart Plaza and the Salzburg Dom Cathedral. Unfortunately the cathedral was closed because they were setting up for an outdoor concert the next day. We didn’t know this before we arrived in Salzburg, but Austria’s most renowned classical music festival takes place from late July to end of August. We have scheduled our trip a little differently to take in some of the concerts had we known this.

The Hohensalzburg Fortress provides incredible panoramic views of Salzburg. This fortress and castle is situated right in the city atop Festungsberg Mountain. Construction on the fortress began in 1077 and it has quite the rich history to it. We opted to take the funicular up and down because of the rain. Once inside, you can take an audio walking tour, included in the ticket price, which takes you through a few wings of the castle and provides you with descriptions of the various rooms and what they were used for. It was rather informing and worth doing. The rest of the fortress is open for exploring on your own.

With Austria being the home of the famous Von Trapp family and The Sound of Music, we couldn’t help but end our stay in Salzburg with The Sound of Salzburg dinner show. This show was great and included a selection of songs from The Sound of Music as well as Austrian folk songs. It was a great way to finish off our stay here.

A little more of Cinque Terre with pictures

Before posting some pictures of Cinque Terre, I want to expand my post on this lovely day trip we took. I wasn't feeling the best when I wrote the original entry and feel I left out some key details of the hike we did from Corniglia toVernazza. We did the hike in just over an hour and I'd classify it as a medium difficulty hike. It was up and down along the hillside and sometimes it felt like we were on nature's stair master. We saw stunning views of the countryside, ocean, and towns from most everywhere along the way. There were lots of vineyards along the way and I got to see my first olive groves too. At times we were walking on pathways that when looking down from were nothing but cliff. It was probably one of the best hikes I've ever done and would recommend it to anyone travelling to the area.

Monterosso del Mar

Approaching Vernazza

Nature's stair master

View along the hike, Corniglia in the background

Looking back at Corniglia

On the way from Corniglia to Vernazza

Manarola

Along "Lover's Path" to Manarola

Sestri Levante Pictures

Sitting, watching the waves crash

Biking around Sestri Levante

View from hotel roof top patio

Bay of Silence

View from the pool towards the bay

View from the hotel room

Venezia

From Sestri Lavante we took a train changing in Milan and then on to Venice. I have to say the train system throughout Europe is fabulous. You can get just about anywhere by train, it's really convenient. Our total travel time was about five hours. We arrived in Venice in the late afternoon. Venice is definitely an interesting city. It's always been a place I wanted to see before it "sinks".

Venice is a city built with a maze of streets on a maze of canals. It is made up of 117 small islands. Without a city map it's easy to get lost and even with one it can be challenging to navigate around. Thankfully Z has a really good sense of direction and an amazing ability to read maps and figure out where he is, so we didn't have too much trouble.

Right outside the main train station, we bought 48-hour passes for the vaporetto, which allowed unlimited usage during this time period. The vaporetto is Venice's public waterbus service which gets people around the city. It was quite convenient and can also get quite packed so we usually ended up standing along with most other passengers.

We enjoyed several different areas of Venice during our stay. Wondering around the Ca' d'Oro we found a restaurant for dinner our first night there with a great outdoor patio. Afterwards we made our way over to Piazza San Marco. This square is the largest in Venice. There was an outdoor concert with the Philharmonic and Opera happening, so access was limited to the area by the Basilica. We stayed for awhile to listen to the concert, but I'm not a huge fan of opera so we didn't stay too long. Instead we walked away from the square towards the canal and found a restaurant with a live band consisting of violin, bass, piano and accordion and their music suited my taste much more.

With the city being built around the canals, it shouldn't be a surprise, yet it was still quite the sight to see water ambulance and water police boats. The city didn't strike me as unclean as some have described it. We had no trouble communicating in limited and broken Italian with a lot of English. In fact, in all the places we visited in Italy we got by mainly with English and found the people to be rather friendly and hospitable.

Venice does not have a shortage of restaurants or gelato shops. In fact we probably averaged at least one gelato a day and usually the serving consisted of two flavours, in some cases three, but no one was keeping track Z. My favourite flavour turned out to be hazelnut with tiramisu a close second.

We stayed at Hotel Al Ponte Mocenigo, which opened in 2005. It's a smaller hotel consisting of only 18 rooms. It was quite a neat place and we got upgraded to a bigger room which was a nice treat. The room was very ornate with silk feeling material on the walls. The hallway walls also had exposed brick and I couldn't quite figure out if it was built that way or not. Our room was actually located in a separate building from the main hotel and had its own separate entrance. To get there originally, we had to walk down this extremely narrow street. The hotel had a delightful breakfast and could be enjoyed on a small outdoor patio.

We got to witness some of the sinking problem walking along the Grand Canal in the afternoon. The water was spilling over onto the walkways. We also witnessed the same thing at the Basilico di San Marco when we visited it during the day. Where we stood the night before, now had several inches of water and we had to walk over a makeshift small bridge to enter. I could not figure out where the water was coming from because it's not situated right next to a canal. The area from which we exited the Basilico was also slightly emerged in water. The interior is very ornate with gold ceilings and beautiful paintings. We learned that it has been rebuilt three times. As a woman your shoulders must be covered and you can't wear shorts. This was strictly enforced and I had to pay $1 Euro for a paper shawl to cover my shoulders.

The area known as Rialto has a great open air market with tasty cheap fresh fruits and vegetables. There are also plenty of shops selling a wide variety of items. I ended up buying an Italian leather purse for what I thought was a good price, $18 Euro.

We made our way to Venice's Lido. Here we found a boulevard of shops, restaurants and gelato shops. At the end of the boulevard is a great sandy beach that stretches for 11 kilometres. Here we also got to test out the waters of the Adriatic Sea. The water was very nice and refreshing and while we didn't have our swim gear with us, walking along the shoreline was quite lovely as well.

Our hotel informed us that on the day we had to leave, there would be a general strike which meant that the vaporetto's would not be operating their regular service. This was not a huge deal because we had to make our way to the bus station, which was about a 15 minute walk from our hotel and it was not too difficult to find. The bus station is called Piazzle Roma and from there we had to take a People Mover (a short skytrain-like ride) to our bus which was taking us to our next destination, Austria.

Milano pictures

La Galleria

Dinner at Cafe Milano

On the Duomo rooftop

Stained-glass windows in the Duomo

Barcelona pictures

Fruit stand at La Rambla market

Beach in Barcelona proper

Plaza de Catalunya

La Sagrada Familia church

Barcelona streets with many offshoots to explore

Arc de Triomf

Canet de Mar

Sestri Lavante & Cinque Terre

From Milan we took a train two and a half hours southwest and stopped in a quaint town called Sestri Lavante. This coastal town is situated on the Liguria Riviera. We stayed at Hotel Helvetia which is about a 10 minute walk from the train station. This hotel is seaside and Z booked us a fabulous seaside room with a balcony overlooking the bay. What he didn't know before booking this room was that the sound of the surf crashing on the shoreline is my top favourite sound. We stayed three nights here and each morning got to enjoy a wonderful breakfast spread on the outside patio. It doesn't get better than that. We enjoyed some lounging time on the outdoor deck and also enjoyed a cool dip in the infinity pool at the hotel.

The town is not too large and can be easily explored by foot. We had access to bicycles through the hotel so we also chose to use those one morning and ride the bike path along the waterfront. The town as ample restaurants, shops and plenty of gelato shops. We just can't get enough of the gelato. I tried two sorbet flavours as well...peach and melon and they both tasted like I was eating the fruit itself. So good. They really know how to scoop the gelato too so that you can enjoy both flavours, or all three is that's what you order, at the same time.

Setri Lavante seems to be frequented mostly by Italian and other European tourists, though we had no trouble with finding English menu copies at restaurants. It was a great base for our excursion to Cinque Terre.

We spent a day exploring Cinque Terre, which are five villages on a rugged portion of the Italian coastline. These villages and the surrounding hillsides are part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a heritage site. The cost to enter the park and each village is $5 Euro per person. You can walk from each village to the other, except that when we got there, one of the paths between two villages was closed due to landslides. We took the train from Setri Lavante to Riomaggiore, the village furthest away. From there we walked to Manarola, which took 10 minutes. Unfortunately the next path was the one closed, so we hopped on the train to Corniglia and then hiked to Vernazza. The hike took us just over an hour and was absolutely stunning. The views from the cliffs we hiked along were breathtaking. From Vernazza we could have continued hiking to the last village, Monterosso al Mare, but it was getting later in the day and we wanted to enjoy the beach at this village so we took the train instead.

The beach at Monterosso al Mare was packed; it's a very popular place in the summertime. We found a place and rented beach chairs again and Z went in for a wave crashing swim; I wasn't feeling up to it, but did step in to test the water. We ended the day with a great dinner at a restaurant overlooking the water. What a great ending to a perfect day.

Milano

From Barcelona we flew into Milan, Italy and spent the day here. Italy, the home of gelato, vino, gelato, pizza, gelato, tiramisu, pasta and gelato. OK, yes there appears to be a liking for gelato.

Our hotel was located a short walk from central Milan and was called Hotel Canada. Again, I liked it for the name and Z for the great reviews. This hotel was quite nice and we had a good sized room. Breakfast was included and it had a very good spread of cereals, fresh fruit salad, pastries, toast, cheeses, and meats. Z really liked the fact that he could order a cappuccino with breakfast. We arrived early in the afternoon and were greeted at the hotel by the front desk clerk who was a Mr. Bean look-a-like. He even had some Mr. Bean tendencies which were quite humorous.

After checking in we walked into central Milan because we only had the one day. We quickly found the Duomo, Milan's cathedral. This magnificent building is the fourth largest cathedral in the world. It took six centuries to complete. It is absolutely stunning. The interior is massive and has incredibly beautiful stained-glass windows. We paid $6 Euro each to walk up about 200 stairs to the roof top. The views of the city from there are amazing and definitely worth the cost.

After exploring the Duomo, we came upon the Galleria which is a mall filled with high end stores. In the Galleria is a great gelato shop called Savini and this is where I tasted my first authentic Italy gelato. I've been hooked ever since and am not sure I can go back to eating ice cream or gelato back home. OK, who am I kidding I can't give up eating ice cream, but it will never compare to Italian gelato.

Just outside the Galleria is the world renowned opera house, Teatro alla Scala. This theatre was inaugurated in 1778 and recently received a face lift. The interior was beautiful, very "posh". Unfortunately the theatre was dark the evening of our stay, but we could only imagine how wonderful a performance would sound in there.

We also made our way to Castello Sforzesco, a castle situated in central Milan. This castle now houses several museums and art collections. Before ending our day, we had a lovely dinner at Cafe Milano situated along the main pedestrian street. Once again we sat outside for dinner and enjoyed the opportunity to people watch. Dinner consisted of a tasty pepperoni pizza and steamed vegetables on the side with tiramisu for dessert. It was a great start to our stay in Italy.

Sitges

Day 3 was another beach day. This time we took a train a half hour south to a resort town called Sitges. This town had lots of charm, a beautiful old church and kilometres of coastline with the finest sand beaches. The beach that we ended up hanging out at for the entire day was called Platja De La Bassa Rodona. This beach quickly became my second favourite beach of all time; following closely behind Playa Varadero. We decided it would be worth renting lounge beach chairs for $5.50 Euro each. While this may seem a little silly, trust me when I say it was well worth it. It gave us a comfortable place to lie in the sun without getting the lovely fine sand everywhere. The water here I found to be slightly warmer than the other beach we visited. The swimming area here did not drop off as quickly as the other beach which probably factored into why I felt the water was warmer. We spent a fabulous day swimming, wave crashing and sun tanning. I enjoyed this beach time so much that I kept saying that we need to move to Sitges so I can just sit on the beach every day.

Before leaving on our day excursion, we stopped at the market at La Rambla and purchased some fresh fruit and nuts which we snacked on throughout the day. After grabbing a very late lunch, we explored the town a little and found ourselves witnessing two weddings taking place at the church.

Sitges was definitely a great way to finish off our short time in Barcelona. We almost didn’t make it there because prior to leaving on this trip we read about the area and I decided it wasn’t really somewhere overly interesting. Boy was I wrong.