Of Turkish scrub burnings and foam, UNESCO cultural heritage, invisible dolphins and some other Asian side notes

19th of October

Today was time for the second free walking tour with Akhtan, a very well graded guide from the GuruWalk platform. After having joined a group yesterday for his tour in the European side and mostly around Sultanahmet – you can find it here – I looked forward to join this other one starting from the European and going towards the Asian side of the city. I really recommend this one as Akhtan is such a knowledgeable person and also with such a sharp sense of humour, it made us all laugh between one hill and the other.

We were shown the old train station, that right now is under renovation – yes it seems like they like to rebuild old buildings and who knows what will come, as the guide told us that they have a tendency to make stuff a bit different than they were before.

One of the very interesting things was that the platform where we stood, was the one where the Orient Express, which inspired Agatha Christie for her famous book, would arrive from Paris. There is a bit of a secret regarding her famous disappearance over 11 days, and everything is very much focused on the Pera Palace Hotel located not so far from the Sirkeci station we were standing at. There, Agatha Christie has presumably written the Murder on the Orient Express, and other famous writers used to live at the hotel. You can read more about this and see some pictures from the room where Agatha Christie used to live, here.

We reached the Asian side through a 20 minutes ferry ride, during which if you are lucky, you have the chance to see dolphins in the Bosphorus – I did not but some of the group did. Once arrived to the Asian side, we visited a first mosque and got to know that many of the palaces and mosques built in Istanbul, where often commissioned by rich women, mothers or others related to the Sultans.

Later we walked by the seaside, and were taken to the upper floor of a famous restaurant serving traditional Turkish pastry as well as breakfasts. On the 2nd floor however, we met a woman who practices the art of Ebru, a traditional Turkish art also defined as marbling, where pigments are used on oily water to create colorful motives on paper. Not only is it extremely beautiful and relaxing to watch, this art is even part of the UNESCO cultural heritage. Since they have been a few so far, I had to do a recap for myself getting some information about which other parts of the Turkish culture that I have tried or seen, are part of the UNESCO cultural heritage.

UNESCO recognized historical and cultural heritage, divided in tangible (buildings for example) and intangible (such as traditions, rituals etc.)

Tangible Heritage

• Sultanahmet Area: Hagia Sophia, Topkapı Palace, Blue Mosque, Hippodrome, Hagia Irene, Little Hagia Sophia, and Sarayburnu.
• Süleymaniye Area: Süleymaniye Mosque Complex (Mimar Sinan’s masterpiece), surrounding historic timber neighborhoods, and the Valens Aqueduct.
• Zeyrek Area: Zeyrek Mosque (Pantocrator Church complex) and its preserved 19th-century Ottoman wooden mansions.
• Land Walls Area: The 5th-century Theodosian Land Walls and the integrated Yedikule Fortress.

Intangible Heritage

• Ebru Art: The traditional Turkish craft of paper marbling practiced by city artisans.
• Mevlevi Sema Ceremony: The spiritual whirling dervish ritual practiced in historic Istanbul lodges.
• Turkish Coffee Culture: The social ritual of preparation, hospitality, and fortune-telling born in Istanbul’s historic coffeehouses.
• Keşkek Feast: A communal ceremonial dish of pounded wheat and meat cooked over open fires for major celebrations.
• Nevruz: The spring equinox celebration symbolizing renewal, unity, and peace across the city.

This woman was a so called state-artist. I had to do some research to read more aside what the guide had told us. They are people that have been given a honorary title by the Turkish government. It started in 1971 and it recognizes all those artists that have made notable contribution to Turkish culture and national identity.

After that we went through some parts of the closer neighborhoods, where basically the only thing present is restaurants of all kind. At the end of the walk he gave us a few recommendations, among the others where we could find a place for a Turkish hamam, with way more reasonable prices then those on the European side. I gathered all my mood and went for a Turkish hamam including the scrub and the foam massage. This reminded me a bit of the Japanese onsen I tried two years ago when I was in Tokyo, for the fact that basically there are these very humid rooms totally made in marble, with separate sections for men and women

The ladies spoke almost no English at all, which made this experience a tiny bit extra exciting as you have no clue about what will happen. I was told to go into a very small room in wood – as the rest of the building was too – leave all my clothes and cover with a towel, and to go out in the bath rooms and shower. The rooms feels a bit like a labyrinth, as there are a few rooms – with roof, floor and walls made of marble – following the other, with two saunas, and water sinks with a bowl on the side that is used to shower oneself. I started showering going from almost burning myself to freezing, as the sinks has two separate water taps, to later find some kind of balance and shower in a more relaxed way. From where I sat I could see what looked like a turture room where the other women were massaged and showered with what I can define, motivated employees. Since I had no clue about how this worked and nobody told me, I went and asked and the only answer I got was “go shower, go shower”. So I kept with the alternative washing method and waited to be picked up. Once it was finally time, they did really scrub my soul out of me, wearing a scrubbing glove and just cleaning everywhere. After that I asked if she also could do the foam massage, as a woman beside me was doing it and it really looked nice. This is done by applying huge amount of foam that results from soap – usually olive oil based – being put in a fabric bag, some magic happens that I have not yet understood, and at least 30 cm of foam pile up on your body, very cool! Of course it all smells very natural which also contributes to the relaxing touch of it.

I went for some food, took a ferry back to the European side, and I reached the hotel after 45 minutes.

Of a free walking tour, fragments of the holy black stone and a few bazaars

18th of October 2026

After drinking way too much tea during the day yesterday, I realized a bit too late that falling asleep may have become an issue later in the evening. Which indeed has happened and made it very difficult to wake up today. But around 9 I was already done with breakfast at the hotel and started my daily exploration.

So the plan for today was to check out two bazaars I had not yet seen, the woman bazaar and the Egyptian – spices bazaar.

I reached the woman bazaar after a 20 minutes walk from my hotel, and as it basically just opened, I had a good view of all the shops, although the smell of dairy products and meat was very strong. The main detail of the market comes from the fact that back in time the market was attended only by women, who also went to buy homemade or homegrown products crafted and grown only by women in the city or nearby villages. The bazaar is outside, opposite to the others that are actually in a big building.

After that, I headed to my next stop, the spices bazaar. On the way, I walked by a giant area that I soon discovered to be the Süleymaniye Mosque complex, part of the Unesco world heritage in Istanbul. I went to buy a headscarf as I had not had the chance yet, and entered this giant mosque, which I think so far is one of my favorite.

I kept walking towards the spice bazaar. The structure is more or less the same as the grand bazaar, but on a smaller scale. After walking through it and back and forth way too many times, I found my way home. But first I ended up very close to the bosphorus, and decided to walk the bridge and take some nice photos. Afterwards I went in the new mosque. Finally I decided to go home, on the way I stopped at a very nice place called where I had some traditional chicken pilaf, that only costed 160 turkish lira, literally less than 3 euros!

After that, I headed home and arrived after a 30 minutes walk. One hour rest and I was ready for the free walking tour I had booked yesterday. My first ever walking tour which was such a great experience! I was so happy with the tour as the guide was a very chill, funny and knowledgeable local. We started with an outside visit of Aya/Hagia Sofia, which is covered of scaffolding as they are renovating the mosque which will take around 30 years. The renovation is taking place due to a variety of reasons, the first being the risk of a major earthquake hitting Istanbul in the future.

Later we walked towards the Blue Mosque, which we also entered to see the interiors. I realized that it is very difficult to recognize which is Aya Sofia and which is Blue Mosque, but counting the minarets may give yout he answer – Aya Sofia has 4, while the Blue Mosque has 6.

Throughout the walk we visited a few different mosques of which I cannot recall all the details. But I leave a few pictures here as they all have very ashtonishing architecture.

During the tour I spoke a bit with a German girl and we spent a bit of time together after the tour was over. We walked through some of the recommendations that the guide had given us, among the others one of the underground cistern (Istanbul has around 200), which is stereotipically enough located just under a carpet shop as well as a rooftop bar. The view from the terrace was wonderful, with We also went back to a mosque we could not visit because the call to prayer was going to start very soon after we arrived. In that mosque, fragments of the holy black stone that is kept at Mecca, are displayed. It was very cool to be able to see that and although one is not allowed to even access the prayer carpet, the security guard saw how curious we were of it and allowed us not only to look at it closer, but also take pictures of it and take pictures of us in front of the fragments. Felt a bit cringe in some moments but a very cool chance that probably does not happen whenever.

After that we went towards a restaurant that served köfta that the guide had recommended as well as a baklava place close to it. The köfte place was this one and the other was called Hafiz Mustafa. We got our dessert packed in a very cute red bag, and said goodbye after we had eaten dinner.

Of metal detectors, chewy ice cream, and the last day of rain

After a very tiring journey yesterday, it was easy to get a deep and nice sleep last night. I seem to have slept through the call to prayer early in the morning, and the somewhat noisy street which my room’s window faces. Breakfast at the hotel starts at 7:30 and as a productive traveler as I am, it was clear that I would be there as soon as possible. The breakfast offer is very big with a variety of cheese, salads, pickles, olives, bread and yoghurt. Also meat and eggs etc., so I really had the chance to try the traditional Turkish breakfast.

Yesterday evening I had planned a bit of an itinerary for today, aware that the weather conditions would have been bad, so I left the hotel very motivated to pursue my plan. I headed towards the Chora Mosque, and was there after a 45 minutes walk under heavy rain. Firstly a church, it was converted into a mosque in the 16th century, then became a museum and once again turned back into a mosque in 2020 by the Turkish president. There was a lot of people in the mosque, and it was difficult to read all the information but I had the chance to admire the very beautiful frescos and mosaics from the earlier times.

After that I made my way towards the Blue Mosque, and passed through Balat, a very well known colorful neighborhood. As I am reading now – too often I gather information after my visits rather than already knowing everything before that – Balat was originally the core of the Jewish community here in Istanbul. Offered citizenship by the ruling Sultan at the end of the 15th century, Jews came from Spain and Africa escaping the inquisition as well as the decree of Alhambra in 1492.

After this visit I kept walking towards the south-eastern side of the European peninsula, namely on the right side area of the so called “Golden horn”. As I use maps.me a lot when traveling, the directions offered by the app sometimes can be a bit difficult to “locate”, which means in I do not really know how the area that I am supposed to walk looks like. After a few hundred metres by the Bosphorus shore, with wind, rain, and a total empty path aside from me fighting the weather conditions, I decided to move a bit more inside so I could get some shield form the wind.

Once arrived to the Blue Mosque, I realized I surely was not the only one that thought it was a good idea to visit that as it is for free. There was a giant queue that was not even clear where it was starting, so I decided to skip this one for today, and I am sure I will go back when the weather is a bit better, it is a weekday and especially when I will be able to be there a bit earlier than 10 a.m.

So I decided to go home, grab some food on the way, and took a power nap as I was still exhausted. My afternoon exploration consisted of sorting out where to buy an Istanbul card for the public transport, starting making use of the Istanbul metro system, explore the easter European side including the Beyoğlu district and the Dolapdere area. I easily managed to get and charge the card which gives cheap access to all the public transport in Istanbul (metro, tram, busses, ferries and funicular).

Arrived at the Taksim square I walked long streets for a couple of hours, where I even had a dessert break enjoying some delicious baklava and something very new for me called Maraş, a chewy ice cream made out of goat milk, very good.

I wanted to check the Derwish museum but once arrived there it was close, so I went around and visited among a catholic church, Saint Anthony of Padua, described there as the as the Assisi of Istanbul.

After that I decided to head back home, firstly planning to walk over the bridge, but then decided that given the bad weather and that it started getting dark, it was maybe smarter to take the metro back. This time I got out at the metro stop Istanbul university, which was just a few hundred metres from my hotel.

Once arrived, the receptionist offered me some tea, and we started talking and he suggested a place for a great döner. He walked me there to show it and I then ate it at the hotel, where I had some chats with other guests also spending some time at the restaurant.

Today’s reflections and observations

The weather has not affected my first hours here too much. Another proof that external factors really do not play such a big role as your attitude

People here are extremely good at tricking you, I have been avoiding a lot of “money cheating” but I am aware I may have fallen for at least a couple

Traveling without internet is fine, really. There is almost an anxiety related to it but you do not really need internet for it. I notice that I am way faster at orienting in new places without an always available map, as your surviving mode is on more often than if you always had a back up solution available.

There are metal detectors everywhere: at the bazaar, in the metro stations, at museums and mosques etc.

There are a lot of men going out, but women are really a few!

Of a rainy Istanbul, hidden cats, first street food and a few steps

After the last hours spent reading about the weather situation in Istanbul, I was quite surprised how smooth the trip has been.

I reached the city in the early evening, after an uber ride booked by the exit of the airport a few seconds before my connection would disappear. Managed to find the right yellow taxi that also work with uber, and reached the hotel after a shorter walk under the rain and the first uphills for this trip.

There I was welcomed by the receptionists with a hot cup of tea, and very kind explanations of how I can reach a variety of places, how public transportation system is structured etc.

After dropping my stuff in the room I went out to explore a bit of the surroundings. I always use maps.me when I know I will not have internet and through the offline map I looked at where Aya Sofia was, and started my walk towards that point. It resulted in an almost 3 hours walk around the neighbourhood of Laleli, Çemberlitaş and Sultanahmet, with a first street food try of a sesam simit with cheese and minced olives, and later on a döner for dinner – tired tourist needed an easy dinner.

During this walk I randomly ended up in the Grand Bazaar – which is very grand! – and managed to find my way back. I am not really interested in buying anything special when I travel, but this time I am for the look for saffron to bring back home. Today I only had a short walk, and will go back to see all the mini streets that are part of it. Also, I will want to check out the Egyptian Spices bazaar, that is around 40 minutes walk from where I am staying.

My plan for tomorrow is to get a metrocard, explore the asian side as much as I can, and also try some more good food.

Will keep you updated with longer posts in the coming days!

My first Camino de Santiago – Camino Inglés from Ferrol – Preparation

A few days ago I came back after hiking one of the Camino de Santiago trails. For those who are curious about what this is about, Camino de Santiago defines a vast network of walking trails leading to the shrine of St.James (Santiago/San Thiago) in Galicia, north of Spain, making the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela the actual destination of each pilgrimage. It has a religious background, but people nowadays are walking it for many other reasons such as spiritual, self growth, grief processing, inspiration, exercise etc. A pilgrim as per definition is someone who is on a journey, spiritual and of growth, and does not exclusively have to do with a holy place or a religious goal (Pilgrims and Pilgrimage, Introduction).

You can chose among different ways to walk, and up to the moment I started looking up more information to write this post, I thought there were “only” around 15 routes. Actually, it is difficult to say an exact number as there is literally infinite ways of making your way towards the cathedral. Here is a list of different caminos, you can find more details through this link

However, the most known and walked ones, are somewhere between 9 and 15, depending on how you count them, and cross France, Portugal, and Spain. In order to apply for a “Compostela”, a certificate showing that you have done the camino and how many kms you have walked, you need to walk at least 100 kms. The most known Camino is the French one, that starts in northern France and covers more than 800 km and takes around one month to walk. Most of the people I met on the camino that said they have walked the French one, have actually chosen a part of the path, of around 100-250 kms.

After a bit of research about it all, and since I really wanted to walk a full camino, I chose the English way, starting from Ferrol. There is an alternative that only takes 4 days, with 73 kms starting from A Coruna, but that would not make me elegible for the certificate, so I went for the other one. I will write more about this specific one in my next post.

The preparation

I started preparing my camino at the start of August, and chose to book all the accomodations in the places I would stop day by day. It was the first time on the camino and I did not want to risk not to find accomodation on the way or have to pay too much for each stop. The most expensive part in proportion to the total cost has surely been the flight to A Coruna and the one back from Santiago, as neither ways allow you to take a direct flight and I had connections on both directions. Probably if I had been booking a bit earlier, it would have taken down the cost a bit.

What makes the accomodation and the transportation a bit more expensive is that the camino ingles as many others, does not start in main cities as for example the Camino Portoguese (Porto or Lisbon as official starting point). Some of the stops are in very isolated places where maybe there is only one hotel in the range of ten or fifteen kilometres. Also another reason for the higher cost is that I did not want to sleep in pilgrims accomodation (called albergues) as I felt I needed to have good sleep with all the walking I would be doing. And the fact that I was alone, and usually single rooms are more expensive than a group room to share the price for, took the cost up.

When it comes to physical preparation, I had a feeling before, and I can only confirm it now, that there is no proper way to prepare for the camino, mainly for two reasons. Firstly, because not a lot of people would have the actual time to be walking at least 15 km a day every day for a week. There is not a specific part you can practice for the camino, it is not your muscles, it is not only the breathe, it is not the weigh of the backpack, but it is a mix of that on multiple days that makes the camino challenging. What makes the camino tough is the pile up of physical and mental tiredness day after day, and not the actual individual walking day of 15 or 25 kms, the heaviness of the backpack, the pain in your feet.

Secondly, camino is not a competition, or better said, if it is, you are the one who puts the requirement and chose where your challenge lies. You can be very experienced in hiking, but at that point you would probably like to chose a tougher trail, with more altitude differences and days of hiking, or one with longer trails for day. In some way, you will always look for a camino that challenges you and is on a tougher level compared to what you are used to.

Backpack and packing

When it comes to the backpack I used the one I have had for a few years, a Forclaz 50 lt, and packed it up to ca 6 kgs (with water it would usually be around 8). I thought I had packed little but also had a feeling that probably there would be lots of things I would not use on the way. But I think that is something that you learn camino after camino and after all I am happy with how much my backpack weighed. My usual outfit was multilayered with a tank top, a t-shirt and a termo shirt with long sleeve (all of this from H&M sport section). Although it was quite cold in the morning, I always started my camino with shorts. I bought two trousers, one that I could unzip and one that was already a short one. While walking the first day, the first one started hurting on my leg as a metal thread sticked out of it, so I could only use the second one

Tools during the camino

As the experience of the modern pilgrim definitely differ from the ancient ones, I had the chance to use two apps for the camino. One is called Buen Camino and is the official app for the camino. You can chose which trail you are on, activate location and the app will tell you how much you have left to the next stop on your stage. Buen Camino also has a detailed overview of elevation throughout the different stages.

The other app is called Gronze maps, which I got recommended about just at the start of my camino, while having my first breakfast of the camino, I met a couple of pilgrims with whom I exchanged a few words with. Gronze is basically a detailed map that tells you were you are and where you are going so you can be sure you are following the right path. It is something that Buen Camino misses at the moment.

I will write more about the camino and my reflections in the posts to come. Stay tuned!

Chill days and lost in the metro

Reading some stuff and planning tomorrow’s day trip to Yokohama. I was previously thinking about Kamakura but I read that to go there on a Sunday would be the wrong choice – especially with this nice weather – since the streets get filled with both tourists and Tokyoites. I will instead wake up as early as I can to go to Tokyo station and catch a train to Yokohama which takes around 30 minutes. There seems to be lots of things to do there

During these days I have been wandering quite much around Tokyo, and still it feels like I have not seen even 1/50 of the city, as it is so immense. I was not used to these kind of distances in my previous trips, and I realized that for next time I need to plan so much more in detail what to do, and maybe plan some day trips in the middle of the week as well. One thing I did not expect was these hot temperatures, which makes everything so much more tiring and intense.

Today was a bit more of a chill day, as I got a bad cold yesterday – starting couple of days ago when I think I got some fever as well – and was quite tired. I planned to go to the Governmental building, where I was last week, to buy some nice souvenirs, but it turned out to be a much bigger project than expected. I firstly went to Asakura to buy a new metro card, but at the tourist center they told me I needed the passport – same story again. Since the second time I bought it I did not need to show it, I thought I was not required this time either and did not even bring it (I have already lost my passport once, very cautious with it now!). I therefore went to the same information center of the previous time – I wish I could find it already from the start….which was around 30 minutes walk from the other one. Bought the card, thankfully they did not ask for the passport this time either! and went towards the metro to go to the Metropolitan building. Realised only then that I was on the wrong line station, and since my cold was not making things easy for me, I decided to just go back to my area and take it a bit easy – although different lines have the same stations, there is often a quite long walk between those. On my way I bought some different types of tea at a tea shop close to the hotel, ate a ramen and went to the hotel to take a short nap.

Short update today, but the next one will be a bit longer regarding Yokohama!

Tsukiji outer market, experiencing a Buddist ritual, Tokyo Skytree and 136.535 steps (85 km)

Yesterday was wake up early day, and took the direction of the Tsukiji Fish Market located between Ginza and the Sumida river. I took the Oedo Line from Kuramae and stopped at Tsukijishijo station, which literally leaves you a few meters from the outer market.

I have been thinking about visiting the market since I arrived, and was a bit unsure on which one to visit, whether the Tsukiji market, which is the most historical famous active since 1925 or Toyosu, which is by this day the biggest fish market in the world. However, after reading different reviews mostly saying that yes Toyosu is also worth a visit but that it is much more modern and less “characteristic” I opted at the end for Tsukiji market.

The streets are filled with tourists with quite tired faces, who probably go there so early hoping, as I did, that they would avoid the mass of people visiting this historical place. But that was not the case, already by 10 the market streets where very busy and people were looking for the best fisher to buy the breakfast – a tradition that is recommended to all tourists going there – or tasting small dishes from different stands. I am usually not for the “tourist experience” but this one felt like one of my favourite one to try – I am such a foodie! – and after strolling through the streets for a few minutes, I chose one of the restaurants where to order my sushi breakfast, which consisted in a bowl of rice with salmon, tuna, and some other fish of which I ignored the existence before, all topped with some wasabi and ginger now and then. I did not know how I would react to eating fish for breakfast but being quite hungry by then showed that it was not really an issue. But it was at least the most expensive breakfast I have ever eaten – and there were places that were way more expensive than this, can you imagine! I think it was around 35 euros for the bowl of fish – taken in count that the venue is also a very touristic one!

After that I started exploring the neighbourhood, since I had a few things on the list to visit. I first started walking towards the Kachidoki bridge, from where I could take some nice shots of Tokyo Skyline, and then crossed the street, visited a public toilet – which are known for being extremely clean – which was something I could quite confirm – and walked towards Tsukiji Hongwan-ji Temple. This was the second temple I visited here in Tokyo, but surely the most enjoyable visit I had so far, since it was not as full of people as the Senso-ji temple – Tokyo’s biggest temple – located close to my hotel. I also had the chance to be there a few minutes before a service started, and although I do not have a clue about what it was being said, it felt like some kind of more important service since there were a group of men in suits, sitting on seats that had each one’s name on it.

After that, I went through the market again to find a ceramic shop called Ichifuji, which I had read about when searching for things to do in the Tsukiji area. Bought myself a couple of bowls and soya small plates to bring back home.

There is kind of a particular weather here, it is very humid, during the days is quite warm and in the evening it gets to that strange humid chillness common for tropic/Mediterranean country. And probably because of that I caught a bad cold, which I hopefully get back from as soon as possible – especially because I lost the taste which is not the funniest of things when being in Japan.

Glad to see that I have so far walked 136K steps which is around 85 km 3-11 of October. But I am also surprised about how I am not walking as much as I did the couple of times I was in New York. Here n Tokyo I walk around 15-20K a day, while in New York it has usually been around the 22-32K. Tokyo is huge, which makes walking from a place to another actually very time consuming. For example to reach the Tokyo Skytree, which with its 632 m is Tokyo’s tallest building and the world’s tallest tower, took me more than 1 hour walk, although I had estimated around 30 minutes. And I am a fast walker, so all this is flipping all the trust in my walking abilities up and down! Back from my evening walk of around 6 km, I was ready to eat some good soba at a restaurant I found on google maps, which was supposed to be just behind my hotel, but once there I could not find it. That’s one of the reasons I do not plan too much when traveling, since things most often than not do not go as expected…but ate at the my favourite place – this time I could not taste anything because of my cold – and slept quite early once at the hotel.

Of small earthquakes, very hot baths and other stories

Very long day of walk and traditional Japanese bath. I finally woke up earlier than the very last days – at around 7.30, and at 9 I was outside the same café where I ate breakfast yesterday, waiting for it to open. Had some bread with egg and bacon, some ice matcha latte and went back to the hotel to get ready for my day at the spa.

The breakfast I ate today at “En” café close to the hotel

This was something I booked one of the first days I was here, when looking for relaxing things to do in Tokyo. Onsen is a traditional bath style done in Japan, which literally mean “hot bath”. What kind of water and the temperature it should stay at, is regulated by the Japanese Hot Springs Act, and when it comes to the one I tried, it was different baths between 40° and 50°. The SPA was quite large and with different facilities, a Finnish sauna, a foot bath, a humid one and also a cold bath on 22° – which by the way is the temperature we bath in during summer in Sweden. I went from one to the other for something more than 3.5 hours, until I felt it was time to get some energies and move to the next part of the day.

As soon as I lied down in one of the relaxation parts on the upper floor, I felt the ground was shaking and I was like, alright here it is, the first earthquake I feel here in Japan. I knew it would happen since there is continuous sismic activity in Japan, but of course when it happens it takes you a bit out of surprise. I looked at the time, around 12, and promised myself I would check the earthquake record website tonight, and it was indeed a few of them today https://www.data.jma.go.jp/multi/quake/index.html?lang=en (Northern Ibaraki Prefecture). Quite cool that I was actually in a peaceful environment and could notice them.

Anyway, the preparation for the spa was so much less than easy. They give you two bags with different towels and different clothes, and you have to wear different outfits depending on which area you decide to be at. Now when I think about it I laugh at how difficult I thought it was, since it totally makes sense now. But right then, remembering lots of information given to me very fast and in very broken English were not the perfect way to start the spa experience so to say. But I had a laugh with one of the ladies and I finally made it! Also the way the showers were build was a bit different than what I am used to. There were lots of “boxes” where you could actually sit and shower, with each their own mirror, lotion, shampoo and so on, which was separated from each other by walls up to your shoulders so to arms so to say. Also, the way people covered their body while bathing and so on, showed how different approach there is to nudity in Japan compared to for example Sweden but in general Europe. But yeah, it was not a real surprise but still very interesting to notice.

Once done at the baths, I took a walk in the shopping centre where the spa actually is located, and ate some kind of sweet lunch with a very good crepe with matcha tea taste and mont blanc creme, it was delicious! Since I even booked a time to get my nails done the day of my departure, I will probably give it a try there again. Later on I bought some clothes at a shopping were a lady working there apologized so much for not being able to speak English (we did the all shopping process through google translate) and gave me the longest thank-you bow that I ever seen, as she basically never stood up until I actually left the shop.

I took a long walk back, from Korakuen station towards Senso-Ji temple and later my hotel, which was something more than 5 km. Ended the day on 16000 step but I wish it was a bit more! Ended the day at the same restaurant I have been eating for a couple of days, and had a spontaneous encounter with a guy who works at my hotel. We were both ordering alone so we ate dinner together and when I asked where he was from, he showed up he also was Italian and has been living here for a few months. Always nice with some short spontaneous chats when solo traveling, and what a coincidence being from the same country!

The “city in a city” shopping mall, umbrella slots and fried oysters

9th of October

Started my day by stopping by at a café called “En” just a few meters from my hotel. The plan today was to wake up early and try the pancake place I wrote about yesterday, but I still could not sleep well – I feel like it has to do with the time change, not jet lag but the fact that all the other people I know are awake by the time it is time to sleep here – and I slept through my alarm. So I had a nice breakfast pancake with bacon and egg breakfast at this other place, which had a very cozy Japanese design but was mostly American inspired for the rest.

After that I walked towards Kuramae station on the Oedo Like, to reach after around 30 minutes of metro ride, the station of Roppongi, where among the others, the National Art Center is located. It took me a while to decide what to do today, since it was raining so it mostly had to be museums and other indoor activities. A few museums were closed, others did not offer information in English and others were a bit too far away (50 minutes metro ride). I really wanted to see the Maxell Aqua park which is apparently the best one in Tokyo, but it would not open until tomorrow, so I decided at the end for the National Art Centre. I walked there under the rain and some quite strong winds, and once arrived I left my umbrella in one of these very smart umbrella holders that I had never seen before coming to Japan. The National Art Centre is a very beautiful modern building completed in 2006, designed by Kisho Kurakawa. As soon as I entered, I felt very relaxed and started looking up to the ceiling and through the glass windows and wood walls. It reminded me a bit of the MAXXI building or the Auditorium in Rome, with their very spacious, silent and modern areas. The entrance to the building is free, but each exhibition has usually their own ticket fee. I found one that interested me at the last floor, where a hundred or more paintings were exhibited, unfortunately with no English information. But still very nice to look at and to have a nice break from the rain. I bought a few postcards with pictures of the paintings and left the museum after taking a few pictures of the building.

Started walking towards Roppongi Hills, the name of a neighbourhood which has been vastly expanding in the last years, but also name for the big complex including a shopping mall, a beauty centre, a cinema, a museum, the observation deck and so much more. I took a look in the shopping mall but it was impossible to find where each shop was located, so looked on the map for the closest bookshop. I went to Tsutaya Books, just outside the mall. Looked for English books but ended up buying a couple of Japanese recipe books in Japanese instead, thankfully one can just take a picture and translate in on the phone. Looking forward to experiment some nice recipes!

Later on I walked towards Tokyo Tower, which is basically one of Tokyo’s landscape that you see a bit everywhere if you are close to it, but it seems always unreachable in some way. Took a picture of it, doing some kind of labyrinth walk among the young ladies getting some shots with the tower as the background. They take pictures very seriously here in Japan, something I could also notice at the National Art Center, where a few were standing on the escalators or by the handrails, posing for the next pictures.

After that I made my way to the metro, with Akanebashi as a start and Kuramae as the arrival destination. Ate dinner at the same place I had been a few days before – close, cheap and delicious, with the nice mix of plates that they carefully put on a small tray. This time I tried some fish meals and among the others was some fried oyster and some seaweed that was surprisingly slimy, but still very good. Once done I really felt I wanted some dessert – had been craving it for a few days and here most you can find are mostly dry cakes and so – so I went to a café close by the corner where I had been at the start of my holiday, and ordered some Japanese pancakes with chocolate, vanilla and matcha tea ice cream, so delicious!

Was quite done for the day but it still took quite some time to fall asleep. I feel that the fact that the room is very small may be a reason for it!

Writing some more tonight!

Of bells telling kids to go home, tax-free shopping and colder weather

Today was a chill, slow, bit energy-less day, but I still got a few things done which feels good. It has been raining all day, however temperatures have gone down a bit from yesterday when it was 29°, so it is quite nice. Since I could not sleep so well last night, I woke up quite late and left the hotel around 10 – yes that’s quite late for me! I walked towards Asakusa, looking for a place that I have saved on my places to check out when in Tokyo, where they do amazing pancakes. But obviously I was not the first one to discover it and by the time I arrived all the spots for the entire day where already booked. So they told me to be on place at 8.30 in the morning to ensure I get a ticket. Let’s hope I wake up in time tomorrow and I will let you know more about it – still have not really sorted out how to plan my day tomorrow.

So I walked further in Asakura and went into Don Quichote which is a kind of a discount shop where you can buy tax free products, if you pay at least 5000 yen (around 350 sek). Those things will be sealed in a bag and can only be used outside Japan. I bought some matcha tea and biscuits, some mochi (rice cakes) with different tastes, and a lucky cat. Aftewards I went to the Asakura tourist centre to buy a second 72 hours ticket for the metro, and walked back where I rested a bit. In the evening I tried a new dining place called Yayoiken Kuramae. Although I mistakenly ordered something that I think was seitan, instead of chicken, I finally had a bit lighter and healthier meal than the previous ones. Lots of rice, raw fish, meat and fried food starts to be a bit too much. But I will focus on finding a bit healthier alternatives in the days to come, and still be able to taste traditional Japanese food.

Interesting unique stuff that happened these days:

• Both police and firefighter cars/trucks drive around with a speaker, and it is told to the people around that nobody should move until they have drive by.
• At 17.00, there is a bell that you can hear quite loudly, after that a voice of a woman speaks for a few minutes. Curious about what it is about, I googled about it and redan that it is a voice telling the kids that it is time to stop playing and to return home.
• When two Europeans meet, they smile at each other here on the streets, which was definitely a new experience for me.

For the rest, meeting people in Tokyo is not as easy as it is in New York, and this is definitely a different solo trip than the ones I have been doing previously, although without my surprise. I knew myself and that the fact that Tokyo is such a huge city would have made me mostly focus on exploring as much as I could and write on my blog, which I love doing. There are more than a few meetups and other ways to meet people and mostly internationals, but the city is indeed huge and to go from for example Shibuya – where most of the nightlife is – to Kuramae – takes 45 minutes by metro, which makes the most of those meet ups a bit less accessible. Like there are definitely ways to meet people but right now I feel like I am in a very good place exploring and writing lots of things down here on my blog.

Meeting locals is not as easy as in other places, the level of English is surprisingly low – people basically do not speak English – and they all time seem to be very busy. There is a reservedness that reminds me quite much the Scandinavian one, so everyone lives their life and cares about their business, and breaking the ice is extremely difficult, and if you succeed, it is maybe only for a few minutes and without any further connection. Also, the fact that I see many solo travellers happily going around, and many people sitting and dining by themselves, it makes being by my own so much more normal.

Of an elevator host who thanks the guests, Eastern calmness and forbid to run

7th of October 2024

A few raindrops started falling when only 200 m. where left to reach my hotel, coming from Asakusa’s loud and bright streets. Today was also an intense day, even though I did not walk as much as the previous couple of days. I started my day eating breakfast at the café spot close to the hotel, to later walk towards the subway station Asakusa, where I took the Oedo line in the West direction of the city – area Shinjuku – and stopped at Tochomae. In the metro rides now I always read something, and this time is a book about Tokyo explained through the different traditions and habits attached to every month, written by an Italian woman who fell in love with the city a few years back, moved and now has a family here in the city. The book is called “Tokyo tutto l’anno” but I do not know whether it has been translated in other languages than Italian. It would have been nice to read it all before my trip, but I am realizing, the more pages I go through during the days I am spending in Tokyo, that I can have a different appreciation of the content now that I start learning more about the different areas, neighbourhoods, and recognize the names of different places. So not a bad idea at all to keep reading it while I am here!

The reason I stopped at Tochomae was to access the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building, where there is an observation deck on the 45th floor, which is free and accessible on weekdays following more or less office hours. In Tokyo there are a couple more observation decks from higher heights as well, but I am not really into checking these out as they are usually quite expensive and I do not think it is worth the time you spend there. I’d rather take a drink on a rooftop bar with a view for example. But here you can find a list of observation spots and decks around Tokyo.

I may eventually go back to the Governmental building to buy some nice souvenirs in some of the shops located on the ground floor, and check out the observation deck again, with the hope of seeing Mt. Fuji, the Skytree and other landmarks. Although when I was there yesterday it was a sunny day, it was also very hot and quite humid (around 80-90%) so most of the city was covered with a white cotton like layer that did not allow to see much more than the city.

The fact is that from whatever point you stand to observe it, the city is huge, and it feel almost like the buildings expand all the way to the horizon – well, at least when the air is so humid that you cannot see after those buildings!

Once I was back from the deck – and yes, the elevator staff bows towards the people standing in the elevator when the elevator is about to close before going up – I started walking towards the more central area of Shinjuku, as there were a few things I wanted to make sure not to miss before leaving the area. I had already been in Shinjuku the first or second day after arriving to Tokyo, and I remember how busy and confusing it was, especially as it was raining then, but also because I was overwhelmed by the amount of people crossing those streets and metro halls and corridors. This time I approached Shinjuku from another side, not coming directly from the metro station, and I could see how the underground leading to the train station and metro and shopping mall(s) and the ground area were connected in the urban texture. And I was surprised to see that it seemed like there was even more people than in Shibuya, which I had visited the day before. It took me a few minutes to find my way out of the station and to take the right direction towards one of the main avenues in Shinjuku. I walked through Kabukicho all the way down to Golden Gai, which I had not yet visited, and realized on the map that not so far away was a relatively small neighbourhood called Korea Town, which I of course wanted to visit. I started walking thinking it would take no more than 15 minutes or so, but I got of course to confirm that it took me much longer time than that! Korea Town was for me not so much different than the rest of Tokyo, except for the fact that everything was written in both Japanese and Korean, and that K-Pop images where everywhere, from shops selling shirts with the celebrities faces on, stickers, hair decoration inspired to K-pop trend and huge advertisement screens with their music, their faces, and some “All White” text on, which was a bit shocking to be honest.

After going through Korea Town – Shin-Okubo, I made my way towards the next metro station, which was around 1 km away from where I was. There are 13 metro lines in Tokyo, which are made of Tokyo Metro Line and TOEI Line – (Teito Rapid Transit Authority). All of them are marked by a name and a colour, and the different stops have, aside a name specific to the area/stop, the initial letter of the line and a number. So for example, the stop Kuramae close to my hotel, where both line Asakusa and Oedo (both on TOEI line) transit, are called A17 and E11. Some of the lines are interconnected at certain stops, but sometimes you have to walk a few hundred meters, in corridors that can be everything from very deep underground, very humid and sometimes quite smelly, as well as with quite a lot of people passing through at the same time. This becomes more confusing when one mainly has to walk on the left – and not right as we do in Europe – but sometimes the arrows on the stairs (which show on which side one should walk) are placed in very random ways. But all this is some way gets balanced out by the neatness found in most places. From the book about Tokyo that I named above, it seems like the Japanese culture implies that one’s home is extended in the outside environment – maybe because the living space in the apartments is so limited – and therefore there is this respect for the common owned thing, this kindness and cleanliness throughout different spaces. There is a sense of order and peace which we can only dream about in the Western countries. People are usually not in a hurry, they apologize frequently and thank you at least as much. On the escalators you have signs telling that one should not rush because you risk to hurt yourself, that it is forbidden.

So I walked from Korea Town to Ushigome-kagurazaka, took the E line towards Shinjuku where I changed to the Marunochi Line, and stepped off at the Tokyo stop, connected to the Central Station. To my surprise, everything there was so in order and silent, but I would discover later that it is because all the connections and the actual entrance to the train platforms is located one floor down. After desperately looking for a trash bin, I started walking towards the post office, where I needed to buy some postcard stamps, and later on towards the Tokyo International Forum.

That was basically my itinerary for the day. After that I was quite tired and went back home, taking first the M line and then changing to the E line at stop Hongo-sanchome. Then walking another km from the station and I was finally at the hotel! I intentionally skipped lunch in order to be able to get a nice dinner at Sushiro, the same place I was at the second day after my arrival.

From Kuramae to Ueno, Akihabara, Shibuya and back

Steps walked/km – 21,249 and around 12,89 km

One can almost feel the excitement from the people standing by the traffic lights, some of them already holding their phones with cameras on, ready to catch a few minutes of almost hysterical walking from one side of the square to any other of its corners. When the traffic lights show green simultaneously for all of the five sides of the street, the mass of people make it alive and show how it became the busiest intersection of the world, with something between 1,000-2,500 pedestrians walking in all directions in those few minutes. I checked that from my to-do list today in mid afternoon, after visiting both Ueno and Akihabara districts.

My feet hurt today, I have been walking quite a lot although I started using my 72-hours subway ticket today. But I started the day with eating a sandwich at the bar close to the hotel, at around 9, and after that started walking towards Ueno district, still part of Taito ward. It was supposed to take around 40 minutes but I decided to take it at a very slow pace, to grab some Sunday morning atmosphere in this relatively quite area of the city. I read that this area was once home for craftmen and toy wholesalers, and is now more and more being discovered by restaurants, shops with studios, who are moving in making the area a bit more modern but that still keeps its charm.

Once arrived, I showed the ticket I had bought online a few days ago to avoid queue, and made my way towards the Tokyo National Museum, located aside the Ueno park, and close to many other museum locations such as the Museum of Nature and Science, the zoo etc. Spent around 2 hours walking around artefacts, clothing, paintings and archeological findings before heading to the garden where I could see some teahouses that have been moved to the garden as exhibition. Later on, I went to check some stands in Ueno park, which I had seen on my way to the hotel. It was some sort. of Latin festival, with food stands from different countries and music, I was kind of hungry but told myself I should wait until the next Japanese food place so I could taste something new…

I started walking towards Ueno Subway Station, since my plan was to visit Shibuya, and close to the station was the well-known Ameyoko shopping street, filled with restaurants, shops selling all kind of stuff, game shops…I ordered a very sweet brown sugar and caramel bubble tea with tapioca bubbles, as well as some fried stuff called “cheese corn dogs”, and it was my first delicious snack after breakfast at 9.

After that, I looked for Ueno station – mind that train stations and subway stations are usually not connected here in Tokyo, you have to walk quite much to reach one after seeing the other. I got on Ginza Line – the yellow one – and after almost 30 minutes ride I was at Shibuya station, a very crowded and confusing one. And I wonder how crowded Tokyo central station is compared to this one – something else on my to-do list! It took me a while to find the exit, especially because I first took a long walk in the shopping mall connected to the station, called Tokyo Plazu, which among the others had a restaurant where most of the errands were done by robots! I also went to the toilet hoping to find a trash can to throw my bubble tea cup, but did not have any success. I finally found one at the 7 Eleven in front of the shopping mall where I could throw it. Reason for this is explained here.

At the start of my trip everything felt a bit of a foggy cloud, my mind was full of all the places I wanted to visit without being able to plan exactly what to do what and in which order. But after buying the 72-hours ticket and started going on a few subway rides, everything felt so much easier – also, it helps getting a better overview of the city, what are the names of the neighbourhoods, where they are located, etc. And going back to what I wrote yesterday, Tokyo’s metro is not more confusing than New York’s one, it was just difficult at the start and especially since I was learning about the metro system during jet lag. Much way better today!

However this does not mean that using the metro in Tokyo is easy, it still requires quite a few minutes of walking when you want to connect to another line – in total they are 9 – and going from one side of the city to the other I guess could take up to 2 hours, if not longer, depending on which lines you need to take. Of course when you explore the city as a tourist every meter counts since your feet probably will burn from the usual daily walk – or at least mine usually do!

But now I need to sleep, I will write something more soon again!

Confusion blues, a stroll in Shinjuku and a bit of Tokyo subway

Steps/km walked today: 13.591/8,38 km

It can be very overwhelming and exhausting to “get lost” in a crowded city like Tokyo, even if to be honest, you never really get lost in such a populated area. I am sitting here at Coffee Kan, the first stop at a café of probably a few more to come during my stay in Tokyo. It is located only a 5 minutes walk from my hotel, on and I felt like I needed to recap my day somewhere else than in my tiny hotel room. And since I have been very overwhelmed by so many things around, bowing at least four times to the lady that made an exception for me and let me buy a 72-hour ticket without need for passort, seemed like the least to do.

Today’s observations:

• There are almost no pregnant women
• There are very few European tourists
• I have googled which subway system is most confusing and New York ranks the top, with Paris after and Tokyo as a third, but having been in New York I feel like this subway system in Tokyo is way more confusing, but today was also only the first day trying it, I will let you know what I think at the end of the trip.
• Majority of people here in Tokyo are using a transparent umbrella, which I think is kind of funny. Especially when you see them leaving their umbrella outside a restaurant or other place, how will they ever find their own umbrella?

Jet lag took over this morning, when after waking up at 12 – I could not sleep before 4.30 a.m. after drinking so much green tea for dinner – I felt extremely tired. I hoped I could avoid it since the first hours went surprisingly well, but now everything is up and down, I am energetic when I should go to sleep, sleepy in the middle of the day. But still the best solution to this is being as active as possible and stick to regular routines. Which was a bit difficult to do this morning as I woke up quite late, and decided not to go to the Tokyo National museum as I had planned to do yesterday. But I did still walk towards the metro stop called Ueno Okachimachi, where the lady at the metro station I spoke to yesterday, told me that I could buy a 72-hour ticket. Arrived at the station I tried to do that myself at the automatic machines, but it was not possible. I could have bought single tickets for one way ride, but they have a particular system there as well, which I will tell you about later, and not knowing exactly where I wanted to travel to, it did not really make much sense. I went to the information office where they told me that the metro was not there and I could not buy those multiple days tickets.

I was a bit down because of the long walk, the rain, umbrellas and people everywhere – the more I got away from my area the more people I started to encounter – and I was quite hungry as well since I had not eaten anything since yesterday. So I started walking and on the way I found the next stop (Shin-Okachimachi) where I put a bit more effort to understand how the one way tickets work. So basically you are required to pay a sum which is 180, 220, 280 or 330 (which is around 12 to 23 sek) – depending on how many stops you wanna travel for. Quite clear that I unfortunately could not do my spontaneous metro stop jumping which I do sometimes during my trips to get a better overview of how the city is structured. Or at least I cannot do it without an unlimited ride ticket.

So I went to Shinjuku-Nishiguchi, and found an information office where I could finally, or so I thought, buy the ticket. The lady working there told me that I needed to show my passport, which I had of course left at the hotel room – I am much more cautious with bringing it with me since I lost it once last year. Otherwise I could do it online without showing the passport. She sent me upstairs where the would be free wi-fi, but then the website did not work and I went back to ask for help. We went through the website together and when she saw it actually did not work, she picked up a colleague and they came back and told me that just for this time I could buy it without passport…so grateful! So a 72-hour ticket is valid from your first validation time, and works in the Tokyo Metro Line and Toei Line, and only costs 1500 yen (which is around 100 sek, so really convenient!). At this information office I also got a very nice map of all the Tokyo Subway Route Map, with some of the main attractions drawn on it, makes it so much easier for me to orient.

After thanking the lady immensely, I left the station and was faced with a river of people – all of them holding a transparent umbrella, which seems like a bit thing here! – and the tiredness got even stronger. I went into a shopping mall called Shinjuku Marui Main Building. The place was massive and had something like 10 floors, with the top floors dedicated to beauty centres and spas, as well as a golf school on the last floor. I got even more overwhelmed, the shops had basically everything, the first floor mostly had food which looked delicious, but it was not really useful since in Japan one of the main etiquettes is to not eat in public. So yeah, for a walker and a foodie like me, this is a big disappointing.

I went out and wanted to make my way to Samurai museum, which I though discovered was closed, and instead ended up in another mall called Subnade, this time underground, where I found a delicious place called “Tonkatsu Wako” where I ate this wonderful dish – mainly my only dish for the day. This was also an interesting experience. To get a sit you have to write your name – mine was the only one with Latin alphabet in the list, and they will call you when there is a place available. The funny thing was that I had asked the waitress how it worked, and she saw me writing my name there, but when it was my time to go in, she asked me if the name on the list was me, which I find a bit funny to be honest. When I sat, the lady showed me a box where to put my bag and umbrella, and moved it close to my seat on the floor. I ordered calling the staff through a remote control – seems like the usual business here in Japan – and payed later on with the bill I got when they served the food.

After that, I took a walk around Shinjuku, which for many ways reminds of Broadway, with their neon screens, big advertising screens, lots of lights and lots of people. I took a picture of the Godzilla head – and started making my way back to the hotel after getting lost a bit in the streets of Golden Gai and Shinjuku. I took the metro back but unfortunately when I took exit A5 I did not have a clue about where I was – I found out just later that I was very close to my hotel, only wished my GPS had not stopped working right then.

Around me, in the café, are a few young people drinking tea and reading books, such a relaxing daily activity that we in Western society, and especially throughout the younger generations, seem to have totally lost.

After the time at the café I stopped at the same cozy place where I ate dinner the first evening spent in Tokyo, namely this one Sukiya Kuramae Station where I ordered this one below.

My first Goshuin (御朱印), lots of green tea products and a belt table sushi experience

4th of October

Steps/km walked today: 20.426/13,19 km

Green tea drank so far 0,5 L of cold one and at least 5 cups of hot one

To be honest, I did not actually write the whole post yesterday evening. I got extremely tired and found myself opening my eyes all of a sudden a few times, and really needed to take a break. The jet-lag is though surprisingly not as bad as I thought would be – maybe it has to do with the fact that I am keeping myself busy and trying to keep a routine. But we will see what happens in the next 24 hours.

Today my day started first at 7.30, when I shortly opened my eyes to check the time, very surprised my body felt totally rested already then, and then again at 9 after falling asleep for an extra 1.5 hours. I had a strange feeling of being both very relaxed and very tired at the same time. I decided to go downstairs and check if I was still in time to buy breakfast – with not a few English language barrier – and walked one block to arrive at a small place called Square Coffee, with whom the hotel has a deal. I chose the ham and egg sandwich and a coffee, which was served with some green sallad and potato, as well as a little bowl of yoghurt. I went back home to get ready for a long walk, and headed to Sensu-Ji temple, only a 20 minutes walk or so from where my hotel is located. Being allergic to touristic areas – meaning restaurants, souvenirs shops and so) I mostly focused on visiting the temple, basically ignoring all the shops around knowing that prices and quality of what is sold there is likely not worth the time. Besides the temple, I went to a closeer building just beside the main temple, where I saw a long queue and realized it was probably the right place where to collect my first goshuin (a stamp given by people working at the temple). I could buy their notebook for 2000 yen (140 sek/12 euro) and the stamp costed 500 yen (35 sek/3 euro). My plan is to try visiting as many temples as possible to get their unique stamp on the notebook, we will see how far I’ll come!

Later on, I made my way to Edo-Tokyo museum, which is about the story of the city and how it developed throughout centuries – with a focus on Edo period between 1603 and 1868). Unfortunately, after a mid long walk, I discovered that the museum is closed as they are renovating most of it. Sadly it will be closed until 2025 (and it has been closed since 2022!). I have googled a bit to see which museums would replace at least a bit of the experience at Edo museums and found a few, among the others Tokyo National Museum which is a 40 minutes walk from here – yes, I am still at the start of the holiday and have not sorted out either how to orient in the subway system nor where to actually find a metro card! – and I literally love walking, something that is also quite much essential with all the food I will be tasting while in Tokyo! On my way back to the hotel I walked by a laundromat that was close to my hotel, to check prices, see how it works and so on. However, the door was closed, I pushed the door bell button but nobody opened, so nothing left to do than hand-washing my clothes at the hotel hoping for them to dry before mould makes its way…yes, it is very humid!

This afternoon, after writing the blog and chilling a bit at home – I have learned not to stress during my trips, especially when I have at least ten days left in the same place – I headed out back to Asakusa area, where I was this morning. While walking in what is called the “Asakusa Broadway” I saw a belt sushi place called Sushiro, which I later discovered is a chain. It took me a while to sort how the process works – all the queue system is automated, interesting thing. I promised myself I would go back that place, which happened sooner than later. Since I did not eat any lunch and had quite a late breakfast with that deliciosuh am and egg sandwich, I decided to try that place tonight. And it was amazing. So basically you reserve a place for yourself either at the counter (the famous belt on which the dishes are put) or at the table. Since I was alone I took a number for the counter, and sat to wait my turn, which came in less than 5 minutes. I sat in front of the counter and started going through the menu on one of their tablets, max you can order at a time is two plates, but you can make more orders one after the other. I am not gonna tell exactly how much I ate, but I think that just saying that I am a foodie will do its part. I ate sushi, gunkan maki, ramen, tempura and a cake made on green tea – all eaten with lots of hot green tea aside.

It does not feel like I have only been in Tokyo for 24 hours, and I look forward to experience so much more in all the days that are left, write about it and reflect about I see around myself.

This morning I also booked a ticket for a day at Spa La Qua, apparently one of the top rated spas in Tokyo, which newly opened in 2023 and recommended on Lonely Planet Tokyo guide as well. Looking forward to a relaxing day after so many of long walks!

Subway – I still have not sorted out anything about the Tokyo subway. I went to the Kuramae station in front of the hotel to either buy a refillable card or a 72 hours ticket. Apparently neither of them could be bought at the self checking machines. I noticed that there was a lady working just beside and asked if I could buy one of those card to then refill. After 10 minutes of very confusing conversation – her English was not so fluent – I left the station with no ticket. Apparently you can buy the 72 hour ticket only at a close by station, but when I asked if she could help me buy a one way ticket, she also told me that was not possible – which I think is a bit strange, since the guy who standing before me in queue just did that. But tomorrow I will give it a new try. The Tokyo National Museum which I plan to visit tomorrow, is close to this specific station where I should be able to buy the ticket, so I will just stop by during this nice 40-minutes walk – which most likely will be a bit more humid than usual as the forecast tells rain throughout the all day.

Tokyo without extra internet on your phone is totally doable, or at least based on the way I travel. I usually make some research the day before and in the morning before leaving the hotel. I use an app called maps.me, which makes you download a specific area you want to explore (or even the all city) together with transportation routes and walking times, so you can have all the information available offline as well. Yes, it is a bit of a problem if your GPS does not work properly sometimes, but Tokyo does have some wi-fi hotspots throughout the city, and many shops and restaurants have that as well.

Time to close WordPress and try to sort out some google maps settings, since it has decided that everything now is in Japanese…

Very humid, quite silent, relatively organized

3rd of October 2024 – a first, more unstructured than usual, post from Tokyo – pics to come, google photos has apparently not yet culturally acclimatized to Japanese wifi apparently…

Taking a stroll around 10 p.m., in the area of Kuramae, part of the Taitō municipality, so called “ward” (special municipality) here in Tokyo. The headache started hitting a couple of hours ago, both because of the jet lag, but also due to the very high humidity here in Tokyo, although when I arrived it wasn’t warmer than 23 degrees.

It’s Thursday evening, and both in Italy and Sweden, you would have probably seen people taking a slow start to the weekend, grabbing a beer, a dinner somewhere in the city, or a glass of wine – especially as Friday is a common “work-from-home” day. But except for a few people – often sitting alone – eating at some ramen place on the main street, there are many men in shirt and a working bag, walking either very fast, or extremely slow, clearly tired from a long day of work. They also walk on the left, something I had already read about a few days ago, which I am trying to getting used to, but it feels to me like trying to unlearn how to ride a bike, or stop being able to read, really not that easy.

I reached the hotel at around 21:30, and after leaving my very big bag in my very small hotel room – think about this, I have heard it is quite common for hotel rooms in Japan to be this small – I chose not to fall into the jet lag. Meaning that sometimes even if you feel extremely tired, going to sleep is the last thing you should do. So now I am at least trying to stay awake until more or less midnight – and see when I wake up tomorrow. So I took a walk to observe a bit of the surroundings, get some air and stretch my legs after two very long flights. And it seems like the area I am staying at – here is the hotel by the way – really is full of nice small restaurants, “fast food” where to buy delicious traditional Japanese meals, but also nicer dining places. I stopped at one of those, one block from the hotel, which offers a variety of rice bowls, gyudon, miso soup, side meals but also breakfast bento boxes, which I am of course very curious of trying. Food at this place was very cheap, and we talk about around 500 yen (3 euro/35 sek) for both a big bowl of rice topped with meat, and a small miso soup.

But here I am in any case, in the country where everything usually easy, for some reasons seems to be unexpectedly complicated, such as taking a shower, going to the bathroom or washing your face – yes, there are indeed instructions beside each and every sanitary tool.

My trip to Tokyo started yesterday, in a taxi shared with random people met at Triangeln station, due to trains being canceled cause of a police intervention in Tårnby in Denmark…after meeting the first three friendly faces of my trip without evening leaving the country, I checked into my first flight, the 6 hours one to Dubai, not exactly knowing what to expect.

For me it was my first time flying with Emirates, and since I was flying in economy, I think that most of the difference from any other airline was that everything was much more silent – except for the announcements given in three languages – usually the departure and destination language as well as Arabic, the food was better and the bathrooms were very clean. My flights were mostly spent watching films, sleeping, trying to sleep, observing other passengers’ socks – surprisingly more pizza socks than expected – reading the Tokyo guide, and eating.

First it was time to refresh some classics, watching Pride & Prejudice, and later Perfect Days, a film set in Tokyo folllwing the life of a relaxed, at first happy Japanese man.

Always nice to find films who I had always wished watching but never moved from the “to watch” list. I watched The Alpinist, a documentary which I thought followed the adventure of a still alive alpinist, to only at the end discover that the 25 years old smiling guy who has adhd and climbs solo on some of the world’s most dangerous peeks, passed away during a climbing adventure with a friend. Oh, if I only had read the plot…

When writing the first notes for this post, I was standing on platform 1 of Narita Airport station, waiting for the Access Express train, that would take me all the way to Kuramae station in around one hour – ticket costs 1380 japanese yen – 8,50 euro/97 sek). One thing i learned, or maybe reconfirmed after a few hours here, is to never trust Google maps when it comes to transportation routes! I was sure i needed to take two trains to get to the hotel, firstly Sky Access and then a metro/train, but it wasn’t like this and there was indeed a much faster way. Of course, had I been traveling in a country with a latin language it would have been easier to sort the train/subway network myself, but things here were a bit more complicated.

First impression after only couple of hours is a country that is quite alike Scandinavia for many things, you enter a metro and everyone is looking at their mobile, there is silence, facial expressions is not so marked, public expression of affection do not seem a thing either. The only thing that definitely does not stick out as a Scandinavian behaviour, is the train host shouting at everyone who they see not standing in the right place according to which train will come (different trains, different lengths, different places on the platform they stop at). Also, there are a couple of train hosts standing on the actual platforms, to keep order, answer to travellers’ questions – they have an actual timetable at their disposal, where all trains, all times and stops are reported (old style never lies!) – and tell people where to stand.

I noticed lots of solo travelers, many with a backpack and maybe traveling around south east Asia, which makes you feel even less alone – not gonna lie, there is always a risk for it when traveling alone, but when it comes to me, give me some good food, a laptop, lots of places to explore and I will be fine. Then the social part is a cherry on the cake if it happens.

Anyway, so far I can say that I am very happy to have canceled the booking for a 4-bed shared room in a hostel, and changed it with a booking at a hotel. Relax, silence and alone time are a must after such an intense journey. Everything is fine so far, I probably only had wished that it was not so humid _ right now it is 86%. I chose October for booking my trip as the rain season is over, but apparently summers are becoming longer and warmer.

Haven’t been here longer than ten hours, but from what I see, Japanese people are the kindest people I have ever seen. It is not only that their faces usually is covered by a smile when you see them, but rather there is such a genuine and pure.

Wrap up

Writing for me has always been a way to process feelings and emotions. I am someone who feels and perceives a lot, and makes others feel a lot too, which can sometimes be overwhelming. Thing is, people can take a break from me but I have not found how to totally detach from myself yet. If you know a way, please drop a message 😉

I am very spontaneous and basically never say no to anything that comes on my way, and definitely one who belongs to the group of people who see the glass half full rather than half empty. This has a lot of pros and I could not live my life differently, but it also puts a strain on my energy levels and my organising skills most of the time, cause I feel a lot and very strongly, and it happens all at the same time.

So I need to let it out, especially after those trips I do by myself, cause they are always so entrenched with a lot of nice experiences, new people met, new places and new things learned, and that needs a few days to process. New York is a source of continuous sensory overload, when you are in the middle of it it feels cool, but it is also very tiring and energy draining, and I am still here, one week after, processing and doing my best to take it easy after the trip 🙂

I wished I had posted more, but I chose to explore the city as much as I could and time was never enough to recap at the end of every day. But I will keep updating the posts on the way and will be adding some pictures too:)

On my way to NYC

On my way back to the airport

Of rooftop bars, clubbing in the US, of American pizza and a musical on Broadway

6th of October

Today’s focus was on Chinatown and Little Dominican Republic. I had already been visiting Flushing’s Chinatown last time I was in New York and this time definitely felt more familiar. After that I took the subway towards Harlem and visited the Hispanic Society Museum and Library where I had the nice surprise of finding that some Velázques’ paintings were there. I was curious

But more about last evening, when I actually took myself on a date! The guy I went out with showed me a place called The Flatiron Room Murray Hill, just a few blocks from where my hotel was, between 39th and Lexington. Let’s start with saying that I would never go to a jazz place myself cause I am not really into that type of music, but everything felt a bit special and just right, which made me appreciate the music and the place a lot. We had a drink in that place that kind of mirrors the idea I could have had when framing a jazz place in New York, with no knowledge about how they could actually look. And well, I started with an espresso martini cause the day had been an intense one and I was basically sleeping. We went there walking and started walking to the next place but actually took a taxi after a few minutes, to reach a place The Fleur Room. So, now I cannot really remember how the entrance looked like because everything was quite dark and undiscovered – and I am usually very alert when I travel and go to new places. But what I remember is that they checked if we had weapons – or at least, they checked the guy I was with but not me, instead they only checked my pursue. And I remember there were a lot of steps and it felt as a bit of a labyrinth, and people ask questions before letting you in. I just realized I might be quite spoiled in Scandinavia and in general in Europe, where we probably live in a bit of a sugar cloud when it comes to dangerous situations. However, although I think it kind of kills the mood to be questioned in a quite serious way and going through a weapon control, we really had a nice evening and I enjoyed every song and corner of the buildings around us. The evening was a very foggy one and basically all skyscrapers where hidden, cars moved around and I took a couple of videos to just catch the moment. I think it is always a bit funny to see cars moving from such a height – they just seem to be pushed forward by an engine under the street, no stops, no irregularity on the way, everything goes smooth. And everything can be so silent.

Funny thing of the evening. Outside one of the two places, cannot remember if it was the jazz bar or the club, there were a lot of Italian Americans, and I can say I have never seen something mirroring a stereotype so well, they seemed like they had just left a Godfather scene or something on that direction…I just laughed a lot!

---

7th of October

The last day was a dizzy one. I had been going out the day before and slept at around 4, so because of a hangover and a very tired body after long days spent to explore the city and walk something between 25000 and 35000 steps each day, I have been hanging around in the city doing the last things before leaving. I went once again to Wall Street, took a photo of the bull. well you can’t believe it, but tourists actually queue to take a picture while they touch the “back” of the bull! Later I visited the American Indian Museum, and found myself donating 15 dollars to the American association for support to research about authism. I visited the Museum of Fire Department of New York to buy some souvenirs I had been asked for, and made my way back towards the hotel, so I could sleep a bit and relax. The evening was a very nice one as I had bought a ticket for the musical Chicago that would be played at the Ambassador Theatre on Broadway, so exciting! I got ready, of course I was a bit in a hurry as always, and decided to took the taxi – which yes, are indeed very easy to stop if you just raise your arm and get closer to the street. I thought it would be a fast ride but of course everything around Times Square is a huge traffic jam, and I was a bit nervous that I could not make it – well the driver may have felt that and did some speedups that got me totally glued to the seat. And also, interesting random thing, people do not seem to use a belt when they get into a taxi in New York.

After the musical I texted the guy and we decided to meet in front of JIMMY, between SOHO and Nolita . The place was reserved for a wedding unfortunately, and only a few guests not on the list were allowed. So we ended up at a place called Le Bain, in the Meatpacking District, a club with a very nice rooftop – which I realized are the best place to be cause clubs in New York – at least from what I saw – seem to be very dark, where the music is played. We could see some more skyline and also New Jersey just on the other side of the Hudson, although it was still a bit foggy, but very beautiful!

This time they did not check for weapons, but we had to do what I wanna call poker face to actually get into the place, cause they did ask a lot of things before letting us in! Cultural shock!

But it was a very nice place to enjoy kind of a summer night in very good company, we had a couple of margaritas and left the place afterwards. We walked a bit and I got to experience the typical American pizza slice, or maybe to say it better, a typical New York Pizza slice. Cannot remember the exact taste we ate but it was just so so good – great that I did that in company cause I did not dare doing it in the previous days of solo exploring 😛

Of Hasidic Jewish communities, blogging by the rooftop bar and new connections

3rd of October

Today was one of the ones that made me so grateful for traveling alone. So I basically went on an itinerary that I got recommended by the same man that I had a long talk with yesterday evening, talking about a lot of New York’s related stuff. He told me that his apartment had been flooded during last week’s floods and he was put in a hotel for this first week. He knew so many things about the city and as soon as I told him that I like to explore a bit more “off-road” than the usual touristic places he basically created an itinerary within 3 seconds, I mean, faster than whatever AI engine you could use!

So, this morning I tried a bagel with garlic and herbs cream cheese – although I finally know that my favourite one is the one with lox shream and I will surely like to try one with fresh salmon before I leave. I have so many things on my bucket-list that I am almost on my way to plan another trip to New York as I am writing!

The Tenement Museum – Immigration Museum in New York City

Anyhow, I took the 6 train downtown, to change at Broadway Lafayette and take the F line train to Delancey , which is just by the start of Williamsburg Bridge. I took a few meters towards west and entered the Tenement Museum, which was founded in 19 and wants to keep the memory alive of all the immigrants that reached the US and lived in terrible conditions during the 1800s, in particular the area of lower east side was home to thousands of Irish and German immigrants.

Later on, I crossed the Williamsburg bridge to reach the Hasidic Jewish Community in Brooklyn.

I wanted to try a place called Sips & Salt, but as I was actually expecting, the place was closed because today is the day of the celebration of Simchat Beit HaShoeivah (Joy of the water drawing) and all the places in the area were closed. I ended up taking some very nice pictures of the neighbourhood, saw a lot of people belonging to the Hasidic community. So, this week I saw a lot of Jews going around with some kind of plant, asking people if they were Jewish, packing boxes and moving around with their families, and I felt like some celebration was probably going on.

Interesting things I discovered during my walk in Williamsburg and especially on Bedford Avenue:

• The traditional yellow school busses had all the text in Yiddish

• Outside of the biggest buildings where the community lives, there are some boxes in the backyards, which I really did not what they all were about. I did a bit of a search and found that they are called “sukkah” and they are temporary buildings that are used during the week-long festival of Sukkot – starting this year on the 29th of September and ending on the 6th. I could already guess something was going on as I saw many Jewish going around with some kind of plant during the last days, and also bringing big boxes, moving around with the all family and so on.

4th of October

So what I did after Williamsburg was taking a very long walk towards Dumbo, which was around 3 km but had already had a few ones since the start of the day. I visited the Time Out Market, went up to its rooftop and also got a few nice pics by the Brooklyn Bridge. After that I went to a nice sightview spot by the river, and walking with the plan of going home, I asked for directions to a lady who was standing there. And that’s always a great way to meet people when in New York. She was from London and visiting a cousin here, and had some time over until a dinner later, so we went around, grabbed something to drink and she very kindly helped me find the closest subway stop – Borough Hall. Finally arrived at the hotel, and packed my laptop and went upstairs where I wrote the blog a bit, while a lot of people where having drinks on the rooftop bar. When I was going up, I took a few last pictures and a girl who was having drinks there with a friend started a conversation which led to me having a drink with her and her frien who was visiting, at the bar of the hotel. The one visiting is from Germany, and the one who started talking to me works in new York but commutes from Connecticut. Had a really nice time and hopefully we will make it in time to meet again before I leave!

Interesting stuff: New Yorkers go out in the middle of the week, and not mostly on weekend, as I understood they often go out directly after work – which sounds quite exhausting thinking about the way they work!

I kind of have the feeling that people here in the city work a lot! Like in ways we Europeans we usually would not imagine of! Like I have been using dating apps and guys do not actually answer until they are done at work? Which totally makes sense, but it is different than how we Europeans do it. Well, I have been working on finding a date, will let you know if that actually leads somewhere!

One thing I noticed that is connected to this is that I basically have not seen a lot of couples or families while going around, which is very strange is not it? I do not know if it is about the area I was staying at – although I did go around a bit everywhere – but this thing just really shocked me a bit.

Of air rights, an unexpected meeting in the hotel lounge and a new burger place

2nd of October 2023

With three blog posts that are work in progress and feet that need to rest, this morning will be dedicated to writing and refilling energies.

The day started with me waking up at 6.55 to make it in time to book a free ticket for the 9/11 museum, who has free entrance on Mondays from 5.30-7 p.m. The museum was part of my previous visit in New York, and I was not even sure if I would make it this time, and did not quite prioritize it. One can find more information on their website and if you wanna try your luck to grab a free ticket (one person can reserve up to four tickets) they are dropped every Monday at 7 a.m. If you wanna read about the museum and the memorial, check the post I wrote when I was there in 2018.

—-

One hour after and I am sitting at a place called Cha Cha, with a matcha latte – first time, have never tasted it before, and it’s delicious! – on a stone bench where I am sitting in front of my computer. Unfortunately they do not have wi-fi, so I am already planning to move from here soon. I remembered a café I went to 5 years ago, found it through the posts of my blog – it’s called Ace Hotel and I will soon go there, will be nice to visit it again!

—

So I am sitting now at the Ace Hotel, and probably just at the same sit I had when I came here 5 years ago. I remember telling myself that I should have checked rooms at this place for the next time I would be here, but nevertheless I did not remember 😉 so I am putting this on a reminder for next time I will be in New York!

—

I am sitting in the lounge of the hotel and I am totally tired and drained. So basically I have been going around since 7.30 this morning and I more or less calculated that I have been walking ca 20 km during the day, even though every day I promise myself to get the subway a bit more the next time 😉 One of the issues when I travel is that I love to make plans and lists and itineraries, but then I forget to look at them while I am around. So I forget most of the things, like for example today I left the hotel with the goal of starting my tour at the Chrysler building, to take a look at the hall, but I totally forgot it. So it is now added to the next itinerary instead.

During this trip I am extremely confident and comfortable with being alone, even more than the previous trips I have been doing lately. It must me that I had not been traveling for a long while, or maybe New Yorkers make you feel so welcomed that you literally never feel alone. But also, so many people here go around alone, eat alone, probably go to theatre alone and so on, that it is totally normal to solo travel. It is such a great atmosphere to just walk and enjoy whatever comes to your attention while strolling around!

So after the bar I decided to go to the hotel to change a bit – the temperature was already high and I would go around and walk all day, so I changed into an even more summery outfit and took the train towards Bowling Green (Line 4 downtown). I explored the Financial District, St.Paul’s Chapel which was the church famous to have stood up after 9/11, saw the stock exchange and yeah, basically tickled that tourist one

Afterwards I started walking towards South Street Seaport, then walked down towards the pier where Staten Island Ferry would leave from, and left for a sightseeing trip that took me in total probably 1.15 hour (ferry takes 25 minutes and then I had more or less 15 minutes of wait before embarking for the second one). I had the chance to get some very nice pictures and also talk with a very kind lady – as all New Yorkers I have met have showed to be! Later I walked to the 9/11 memorial and accessed the museum with the ticket I had got for free in the morning. The experience at the museum was of course tiring, heartbreaking and emotionally draining. The last part, where the pictures of the people jumping from the building and written testimonies of eye witnesses is where I could not stop the tears.

I am back to my room even more tired than before. I had the luck to start talking with a man staying at the bar here at the lounge, who knows basically every single detail about New York. We have been talking about everything from Williamsburgh to Central Park, from kosher food to the Flatiron to the so called “air-rights” that a few of the buildings in New York have, which basically implies that nothing can be built above these buildings. I got a wonderful recommendation for an itinerary across Williamsburgh and Dumbo which I will try tomorrow, and I so look forward to it!

—

The culinary experiences for the day were first a taco salad somewhere in Wall Street – I was so tired and hungry that I do not even remember the name of the place – and a burger at Shake Shack, just behind my hotel. Will probably go for another one as they have a famous Shake burger i really wanna try!

Now I really need to go, packing my stuff to start another day. Tried a bagel with garlic an herb cream cheese at the usual place, and have been sitting almost one hour to plan the itinerary of the day, that will focus on Williamsburg and Dumbo, I am so looking forward!

“Are you by any chance Jew?” and other stories….of mind-blowing walks, a bar on 230th, and some more tacos

1st of October

Steps walked: 34 303

I write this as I sit on the terrace of the hotel where I am staying at, the sun is shining and although I was one of the few wearing shorts this morning, this weather literally feels like Swedish summer and I love it! Needed to come back and have a break here as the battery of my phone died and could not really find anywhere to charge it – especially when I only had with me a usb charger.

I started my day very early, waking up at 5, getting ready right after and already in the lounge with a bagel to eat for breakfast at 7.15 a.m. Planned to walk all the way down to Lower Manhattan, but since I still underestimate the time it takes to walk in New York – always an optimist, and especially a weather and time optimist! – I mostly focused on Chelsea Market, Meatpacking District, Hell’s Kitchen, West Village and the High Line – which was a pleasant turn of the walk, as I did not know that one of the accesses actually is by the Meatpacking District!

Not only had I planned to walk towards Battery Park today, but also include a visit to Soho, Noho, Little Italy and China Town, on top of Chelsea, Greenwhich and others. You see, a bit too optimistic indeed. Instead I will visit those at the end of my lunch break – during my afternoon tour, and will much likely take the subway (the 6 line) towards Astor Plaza, which is in the middle of Greenwhich Village. I plan to be back at around 18 to relax a bit an get ready to go out – as I have been talking to a Couchsurfer with whom I may visit a rooftop bar with.

I will write more later!

——

The afternoon was indeed packed with a lot of walking, as always, with the goal of exploring Soho, Noho, Little Italy and Chinatown. I went first to Grand Central station for number 6 downtown, but just missed a train and did not wanna wait around 20 minutes, so I made my way walking instead. Not a good idea! Since the morning, there had been preparations for a Polish Parade that would happen later on, starting at 12.30 and would make all 5th Avenue closed to traffic, and mostly one was not allowed to cross the street either. So it made everything more difficult and at the end the only way for me was to actually go back to the subway and catch a 6 train downtown. Little Italy and Chinatown were not easy to find. My previous experience of a New York Chinatown was the one in Flushing, which is home to the city’s largest Chinese population. The Q train literally leaves you in the middle of the mess which is a gathering of shops selling marinated insects, dried pork and goose meat, people mostly only speaking Chinese and some not even knowing a few words of English, men standing in the streets shouting the news in Chinese and selling newspapers. I had some of the best dumplings and wan ton soups last time I visited New York and got immersed in Flushing’s Chinatown vibe. That’s what I love about New York, you can literally jump from one world to the other without making a lot of effort and from just going from a block to the other.

The afternoon was a relaxing one, I spent some time in the lounge and relaxed later on in my hotel room. I went out to have dinner at the same place I had been to the first evening, right after my flight, Los Tacos N.1. This time I took a taco with pollo asado, a quesadilla with pork and another tacos with grilled cactus, lovely! And on top of that, they only speak Spanish to you when you order, which really keeps the mode up and complete the atmosphere of an already quite traditional place. I really recommend you to check it out if you are/will visit New York.

Later on in the evening I started getting ready to go out to a rooftop bar located on 5th avenue, the 230th bar, on the top of a 20 story building close to Broadway. I had planned to meet up with a Couchsurfer around 9 and we had a drink on what really felt as a summer night. I started going home around 11, and took the subway instead than walking as I did on my way there – yes, New York is safe but in the middle of the night you most likely don’t wanna have an unexpected around-the-corner meeting with someone under the effect of heavy drugs. So the less blocks you have to walk alone the better.

Fun fact of the day: today I was stopped by a Hasidic Jew while I was walking uptown on Broadway from Chinatown, and asked whether I “by any chance, was a Jew”. I replied I was not and he very rapidly answered with: “bye, have a good day!”

Of a block party, the city after the floods and “over-walking”

Slept at 21.30 and woke up at 5, right on the computer to complete this post and then heading to the bagel place to start my day! So this is from yesterday, Saturday 30th of September. And yes, there are no pictures yet because my google photos is backuping 😉

New neighborhoods visited today:

• Hell’s Kitchen
• Hudson Yards
• Midtown

Steps done: 31045

• Grand Central Station
• Times Square
• Rockefeller Center
• The New York Public Library
• The Jewish Museum
• Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles II

Turns out I did indeed get jet lag and it was a bit tougher than yesterday, as I randomly woke up a 3.30 in the middle of the night, with a striking headache. But I could sleep again quite soon after and when I woke up again I decided that I would take a bit slower morning. So I went downstairs to the hotel lounge, where every morning there is free coffee to grab – which is way lighter than the Swedish coffee, just to say – took my laptop, map, paper and pencil to plan the day a bit. I decided I would visit the following spots, and maybe get a food reak in the middle of the walk:

I went to the Bagel Express place for my breakfast, and this time went a bagel filled with avocado and cilantro cream cheese -or schmear as they would say here – and of course with a toasted bagel. This word made me a bit curious and especially I wanted to see what’s the difference between spread and schmear, and found a few answers to this. So schmear is a word of Yiddish origin, as I could read on this website just a few minutes ago:

When you want a bagel with a generous helping of cream cheese, New Yorkers will ask for one with a schmear. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, when the word (sometimes spelled schmeer) was coined in the early 20th century, it originally meant “everything possible or available,” which comes in handy when ordering anything you want more of. It specifically came to mean “a spread for bread or other foods,” especially cream cheese, by 1914.

The American spoken in those little local shops is sometimes hard to grasp, and it happens sometimes that I need to ask to repeat what they just said…but you make mistakes and you learn all the time. Tomorrow for example I will order the bagel saying the name of the schmear “on” the bagel, instead than saying a bagel with a certain schmear. Small differences that make your English sound better I guess.

There were obviously a bit of plan changes to my day itinerary, but that’s always the case when exploring a new city. So I started walking towards Grand Central Station, to take a bit more relaxed visit than when I was on my way from the airport to the hostel. I even got lost – finding the exit is never so easy! – and took a look at Grand Central Market. Later I walked towards the Public Library, to later discover that for some reason today it would open a hour later than usual on Saturdays – may even be because of the floods. So I started walking towards Rockefeller Center instead, and later on took the metro to 96th Street to visit the Jewish museum. I was a bit disappointed once I arrived there cause I had mixed it up with the Jewish Heritage museum, which is about the memory of holocaust and is located in Battery Park. This museum aims at promoting the Jewish culture globally, and does so through exhibitions of artworks by Jewish artists as well as non Jewish but who were inspired by for example their values and artifacts in producing their art. But it was interesting and a good stop to do during my walks. Afterwards I walked back to the subway stop on Lexington Avenue/96th Street, and took line 6 back to 51st Street and later reached Bryant Park, where I could finally visit the Public Library. After a few seconds. I had a deja-vu as I remembered that I had already been there when I was here last time. But it is always a nice visit, and I spent almost half an hour at their bookshop, where they are playing a very relaxing music and all you can do is to get lost in the hundreds of books they are selling. After that, and it was already around 14.30, I started walking uptown towards the west side, and ended up in what is called as Hell’s Kitchen, where I wanted to try a place called Tasty Handpulled noodles II (the first one is in one of Manhattan’s Chinatown), and took a soup with noodles and chicken dumplings to later walk back towards my hotel. Really good, and it only made me even more look forward to my walks around Chinatown! On my way back I took a look at Instagram and saw that by Hudson Yards there would be a West Side Fest during the day, with free entrance to museums, food stands and music all around the area, so after I got home, I decided to take a subway train downtown (34th Street-Hudson Yards) and take a look at it. It was a nice and relaxed stroll around the area – I also visited the shopping center right in the neighborhood – but made my way back as I started to be very tired. I had been talking to a Couchsurfer during the day to maybe plan a night out, but instead I grabbed some thai food (called Tam Sang Thai Kitchen) from a place just on the corner 2 minutes from my hotel, wrote a bit and went to bed very early. I need to better at balancing my energies and if I wanna go out these coming evenings I really need to sleep a bit before that.

So now I will get ready for the day, go buy me a bagel and plan the itinerary for the day. Stay tuned!

Of historical floodings, lox schmear and a hotel on the 39th

Neighborhoods visited today:

• Murray Hill
• Turtle Bay
• Upper East side

This time jet lag was a nice experience after all. Smooth as every New Yorkers who proudly and bravely jumped into once another puddle this morning, cause you know, the worse had already happened, and if you dip a sponge in a sink full of water twice, it won’t make a big difference after all. Writing after having experienced what has already been described as a historical flooding and that has put the city in emergency state during rush hour today, Friday 29th of September. Personally, I do not think I have ever experienced so much water in all my life, my shoes became a sponge after around 30 minutes of walking, the corners of sidewalks were filled with so much water that it could easily reach your ankles, the trains and bus services were interrupted. On top of that, while walking along 5th Avenue, a tree has fallen down and was laying covering all the street, which I mean, is quite broad, and which of course led to even more traffic. The tree had fallen around half an hour before I walked by at exactly the same point, as a doorman who would later call me “a compaesana” and who worked at a hotel on 5th Avenue, would tell me, which is actually a bit scary. When it was time to go back, I went to 77th Street E subway stop, to get a train downtown with the plan of reaching Grand Central Station and walk a few blocks to my hotel. But you know what? Let’s rewind and start from a few hours ago!

Once I arrived at the hotel yesterday afternoon, I shortly made up my mind on what to do – it was raining already then – and head out to one of the Los Tacos N.1 locations, a place I wanted to try, which is very close to the hotel I am staying at. Entering the place was like having access to a time machine that would bring you to what I guess would have looked like a ’60s-’70s diner, or to what probably a few places still look like in the US. I opted for a taco with chicken and one with avocado, but I was soon after offered a new one with pork, which was just delicious. Pico de gallo, spicy sauces on top and some grilled jalapenos and onions that I was spontaneously served, and to wrap it up, an open enchillada with cheese and chicken, and a lot of avocado dressing. I was also offered tequila shots but that would have literally killed me after the long day of travel I had, and yeah, aside that, as a woman traveling alone you just need to be cautious all the time. Yes, the place was a chain and not very unique as the place I will tell you about later, but the people there make you feel welcome and make the place feel very familiar.

It is extremely easy to strike a conversation here, which I remember from my last visit but I can only really appreciate this now that I am staying more days, but also I am more experienced in solo traveling – cause yeah, when I travel I am quite much in my sphere and really a bit extra cautious. Another spontaneous meet up from today, aside from the man who had Sicilian relatives – not so surprising as around 700.000 of New Yorkers are Italian descendants – was a man called Luis, from Dominican Republic, who worked in St.Patrick church, one of the places I stopped at to find a break from the rain. Later on, I stopped at a building which I got to know was home to the office of Citadel, one of the biggest investment firms in New York. A guy taking a break asked me if I was trying to go to the office, and we started talking. He was from Colombia but spoke Italian as his sister had been there many years, and is probably the first person who guessed my country of origin from the first guess – must have been the accent! But yeah, his name was also Luis, which is, from what he told me, one of the most common first names in Spanish-speaking countries in central-south America. During that conversation I tried to look for an Uber, but the price then was 53$ and I felt like that was just a bit too much, and anyway, I was already soaked so why not keep walking? It ended up with me taking some more courage and start walking again towards the MET. Of course when I finally arrived there I was totally soaked, and the idea of spending an entire day at the museum, which was of course full of people with the same idea as mine, was not attractive anymore. So I just changed my mind and made my way back to the hotel. Decided to opt for the subway, but while I was waiting, the downtown 6 train was delayed multiple times and the rest of the lines where stopped because of the floods and I decided to walk back instead – could not really wait any longer in wet clothes but also risking of being stuck somewhere in the underground was not really the goal for my day.

All of this happening in the first 5 hours of the day, and all fine, if it was not for the fact that I stubbornly decided to act on my plan to go to the MET, for a cozy, relaxing rainy day inside. Naturally, the day showed to be something totally different than cozy, given the streets through the city basically all have a layer of water of at least 5 cm – when you are lucky! But I started the day with my usual optimism, smiling at the city waking up and the rain literally pouring on the streets, sidewalks, the cars, traffic lights and everything else. But when the city awakes that’s just a totally different feeling you know? Keeping on with the “one bagel a day when in New York” tradition, I looked for the closest bagel place to my hotel, and found one called Bagel Express, on 347 Lexington Avenue, where I opted for a bagel with lox schmear – which yes, I just realized it means salmon in English – in Swedish it is lax and I thought they got inspired by that…). Got me a coffee too, and with that in my hand I started walking on Lexington Avenue, with the goal of first making a stop at Grand Central Station, to later keep walking to the park.

New York’s high prices require a detailed research when it comes to experiencing different types of food so if one of your main goals when traveling in the city that every year over and over again, gets confirmed as the best place to experience the world’s food variety, is to try a lot of nice places.

This trip would have probably required at least one month of planning and reading, but I actually only started a couple of weeks ago, saving a few spots that I wanted to try, both museums, different locations in New York as well as restaurants – both small and larger ones – and buying a Lonely Planet guide only one week ago. I spent part of the trip going through the recommendations, which I will later save on my map that I created on google maps. Here is a screenshot of some of the things that I wish to try and visit during the coming days.

The list of places and venues becomes overwhelming when you on top of this, even start following differents pages on New York. You go into a FOMO mode that does not lead anywhere, and especially it makes the bucket list just very difficult to complete.

After the last 45 minutes long walk that felt more like a work out at the swimming pool than something else, I went to a Just Salad place, but did not buy lunch there as around 250 Swedish crowns felt just a bit too much for a fast lunch. I went instead to a place I had just walked by preparing Cuban specialties called Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine, which I thought to an “independent” restaurant but I just realized that it is also part of a chain. Anyway, definitely not cheap, but it was worth the money – bought a pork stew that included a few sides – like rice, bens, veggies – as well as a couple of empanadas to try.

Jet lag, as I named earlier, has not been too harsh on me. Aside waking up at 5 with a hitting headache, because I basically slept through both my breakfast and lunch time, I think that going to bed quite late – or yeah, it was 10 p.m. here, but 4 a.m. Swedish time, did the sweet magic.

Chilling in Kotor: of a good café in the old town, of traditional Balkan grilled meat and partying among narrow streets

Today was a pretty chill day, as I woke up around 11 because I slept so late as it thundered very much tonight. People were trying to go home and laughed and screamed as the rain was incredibly much. It even rained inside the apartment!

I just took it easy, started with an ice coffee in a place called Caffe Bar Mone and went around the city. I went to the bus station to ask about an eventual change of my ticket to Podgorica, and kept walking around during the afternoon. Around 18 I went once again to this place called Tanjga which I could not try yesterday because of a too long queue – but also cause they were closing soon and they stopped making cevapi, which was the main reason for which I went there! So this place is magic, it is basically a butcher’s where you can either pick your own meat to be grilled or chose some combinations from the menu to make it easier. Cheapest dish is 10 euros and it contains grilled chicked, cevapi, something like sujuk, then kaymak, a chilly sauce, fries and quite much vegetables on the side. Some of the biggest dishes cost 30-50 euros, and can definitely be shared with other people. Anyway, the meat was amazing and staff was incredibly kind. One of the waiters would say goodbye to everyone with a “thanks, hope everything was good, see you tomorrow!” he even asked me if I ate everything and gave me a high five when I said i did. Probably that was the reason I even got a beer for free!

Now I am just getting ready to take a walk in the evening and visiting some bar, but without staying too long. Tomorrow I will wake up very early to head up to Kotor fortress, located around 260 meters above the sea. Afterwards, I would love to get some traditional breakfast and then will see what I feel like doing! 

Post scriptum:

Walking around the city in the evening was such a nice experience. I went around a bit and then went to Lektrika, a place where I had already been a few times, both during the day and the evening. Going around Kotor you meet more or less always the same people working and living here, and at Lektrika I had a few persons to talk to when I arrived, which was very nice. So basically this place is a pub that has tables outside during the day, while around 21 it mostly turns into a nightclub with live music and a Dj playing music on the corner between two narrow streets in the Old Town. Fabulous!

Perast: of a tiny dalmatian city, of a boat tour and island legends

Today I woke up around 7 by the sound of tourist walking up to or coming back from the fortress, 1200 metres above the sea. I decided to sleep a bit more and actually got up around 9. Some of the plans for these days are to visit Perast, Tivat and Herzeg Novi, and, if I make it in time, to visit Kotor Fortress. Today I therefore decided to take a small trip to Perast, a small coastal village often described as a little Dubrovnik on the Montenegrin coast, not even 15 km away from Kotor. The way to get there is easy and fast, starting from the Main Gates in Kotor you just need to go left on the main road, until you find a small green area, and there is where the bus towards to Perast will stop. You will not always have buses with the exact name on Perast on, so it is good to make sure the bus actually stops there, but the one heading to Risan, stops in Perast.

After 40 minutes (yes, traveling with Montenegrin public transports never really goes the way you plan and the 20 minutes on the guide became 40) of narrow curves and people letting their seats to older people – how I miss this habit, in Sweden that does not happen often). The bus stops in the middle of a road full of curves, and you will have to take a short tunnel to cross the street. After a quite steep step street (try saying that 10 times as fast as you can!) you get directly into Perast Old Town, and even here, well, it was hot!

I took a walk on the main road that is facing the sea, in order to get used to the place. I usually do not prioritize the list of touristic places to visit, but this time I chose to go for that and wanted to thick the majority of recommended places that I read about. I went therefore to the Museum of Perast and came just in time for a guided tour of the musuem.

Afterwards I walked a bit more and sat in the sun. Some people where takin a bath but I decided to take it easy and go eat some lunch that I saw was recomended a bit everywhere, called Konoba Skolj, and ordered some grilled squids (their speciality was lamb cooked under the bell, but there were still a few hours left for it to be ready). Together with the squids a side dish of potatoes and Swiss chard sauted in oil and garlic was served. On the menu it was described as a “dalmatian side dish” and I saw it in different restaurants. I look forward to be preparing some when I am back home in Malmö.

After lunch I asked around for the best boat tour to the two islands close to Perast, “Saint George Island” and “Our lady of the rocks”. 10 euros is the usual price and I was lucky to be the only one on the boat, so I could take a lot of pictures from different angles. When we got closer to the small Saint George Island, the guy driving the boat showed to me that there was a street dog just by the place where I would have got off from the boat, and he told me that probably it was better not to stop at that one. Although I can understand the risk, street dogs here in Montenegro have proved extremely relaxed so far, and I cannot see how that would have been a problem. It rather seems as it would not be so convenient for him to stop just there, as the island was basically empty. But I got a few pictures and we headed towards Our Lady of the Rocks.

Our Lady of the Rocks

After the boat tour I went to catch the bus and arrived in Kotor, where I then visited the Cats’ museum of Kotor.

In the evening I struggled a bit to find a place where to eat. I was very tired and had slept a bit after the day in Perast and I started looking for some food around 19. Stopped at first at a famous bbq place here in the city, but the queue was too long and kept walking around instead. There were too many fine restaurants and it was quite challenging to find a relaxed place where to sit and have some food. At the end I did some research and found that a good place on Tripadvisor was called Cesarica and specialized on food dishes. I went there and ordered some fish soup and some fried squids – yeah, I probably did have squids in all possible forms you can order, filled, fried and grilled.

After a very filling dinner I went home because the plan for the following day was to wake up early and go to Tivat. Plans did not go as wished since around midnight it started raining a bit, and after 10 minutes it turned into some of the strongest thunderstorms I have ever seen. It basically took me until 2 am to fell asleep again and the day after I woke up quite late.

But that’s another story, I will tell you more about it later!

From Budva to Kotor: of sunny, warm stone walls and pavements, tiny apartments and wi-fi struggles

You cannot always wish for things to go perfectly and the apartment where I arrived today and where I will be spend my days in Kotor at is an example for that. First the apartment is in the Old Town which mean the accommodation is basically built in stone. Fine, not really funny as it gets very humid as well as the drain pipes are not very new, as neither is the electricity system, and so on. This comes together with a not so pleasant odour in the bathroom, but is part of the charm of small old houses they say, isn’t it? But I will do my best to make this stay as fine as possible, and I found already some challenge when finding that the temperature here was way hotter than it was in Budva, or maybe it is because there I visited the beach almost every day. We shall see!

But one thing that is sure is that white marble stones and sun really like each other! I have not even gone to the beach today and my sun tan has almost doubled since yesterday! It is basically like swimming in the sea, the sun gets reflected on the stones.

So what I did today was leaving Sveti Stefan and take a shuttle bus to Budva, later I walked to the bus station to catch the bus to Kotor and after around one hour (because of a long queue at a traffic light just after a tunnel) I arrived at Kotor bus station, where I later walked towards the apartment I am renting. The uphill towards the apartment was tiring, done in typical medieval style,

Later I went around the city and visited the Maritime Museum, as well as different churches (some Catholics some Protestant Orthodox). Some of my first impressions here is that the town is way more dirty than how I found Budva and Podgorica to be. Also, the town is completely full of tourists, while Budva had more of a mixed crowd.

In the evening I took a walk on both the West and East side of Kotor, to look how the parts outside the Old Town look like. I found a few supermarkets and some spots to eat traditional breakfast that I would like to try during these days. 

A bit later I went out with a girl that I know from Malmö, that just happened to be here by coincidence. We firstly went to a restaurant called Dekaderon where I had some squids, and later moved to a place called Marinaio that was basically an open air night club, but very basic as it was in the streets of the Old Town (very beautiful!) and last stop at Lektrika, which funnily enough was just a relaxing pub where I took a lemonade the morning a few hours before!

• There is a cruise ship anchored outside the Old Town, and probably that is why Kotor was extremely crowded during the day
• Wi fi is always present at bars or restaurants, but it is private and has password, they will usually tap it for you when you ask them for access.
• And, sweet thing, Kotor is full of cats! They are everywhere in all forms, colors and shapes, and there is even a Museum about them!

Leaving Budva: hvala, do skorog viđenja

I can definitely say that Budva has treated me well. It is such a perfect destination for beach days and relaxing times, and already now I am planning to go on a similar trip next summer, maybe even exploring Croatia and southern Montenegro. Yesterday I treated myself with yet another day at one of the beaches in Budva, which are free and where you do not have to pay any fee. Around 13 I took a short walk to look for a restaurant called Rivijera which was recommended on TripAdvisor as the 4th best restaurants of the 21 rated in Budva, and their food really made that justice! I ordered a mussel stew, which funny enough was among the appetizers in the menu, but given the price in relation to the place (16 euros!) I kind of guessed that there was more to it. I really enjoyed it and just had the break from the sun that I needed it.

Mussel stew

Relaxing location by the Rivijera restaurant in Budva

An interesting fact about Montenegro is that the water is quite cold, rather than almost boiling hot as it is when you take a bath during summer in Italy. This is actually not bad at all, as it did allow me to stay quite many hours in a row outside in the sun, without the need of a break in the shadow as I would need in Italy 🙂

Right, a quite short post here, I will see you soon!

Strolling around Budva, Montenegro: of public beaches, a good eating spot and some more Montenegrin food

Yesterday was probably one of the most relaxing, although still very tiring, days since I arrived here. I decided to go to Budva first thing in the morning, firstly to buy some food but also to see the Old Town and this party city everyone is talking about. I decided to get the one of the small private buses that has a shuttle service between Budva and Sveti Stefan (while from Budva you can get to a few other destinations). On my way to the stop the owner of the place that I am renting (he lives there with his family) drove by and said he was going to Budva too, so I got a ride towards the city. Before dropping me in Budva, we did this registration that is required for any visitor visiting in Montenegro. Usually the staff of hotels or other renting locations will take care of this. You can read more about this by clicking on this link.

There was a lot of traffic entering Budva, so I walked from the main road towards the Old Town. First thing on my to-do list was to enter the Stari Grad (Old Town) and visit all the attractions there. If you are planning on visiting Budva you should know that quite much everything in the Old Town is touristic, which I think is quite a pity, because the landscape would be much more preserved without the small pizza kiosks and souvenir sellers, but all the Old Town pretty much looks like the area around Pantheon in Rome. I started entering the town walls which costed 3,50 euros. Went around and got some very views and pictures of Budva and the bay surrounding the city. Be aware that to get to the other side of the walls you have to pay 3 more euros, which I opted not to as I had gotten so good sights already from the first point I got to.

This scary barking dog just at the entrance of the Old Town gave everything a much more medieval tough to the all place.

I kept going around and visited the museum of Budva – entrance fee 3 euros – a quite small one, but with quite much objects to see, and a bit of history in English too). and later took a short break at Casper bar that is just in front of the museum. Prices are higher than I expected, I took a glass of iced brew coffee that was almost only ice and no coffee, and payed 4,20 euros, but it was worth it as I really needed a break in the shadow, and very cozy atmosphere too. Going around the Old Town I had seen a little “portal door” in the stone walls, that was the entrance to one of the beaches. I therefore went there and started my beach session for the day. The beach, called Plaža Ričardova Glava, is owned for more than the half by a hotel called “Avala Resort and Villas” but you can also rent sun lounges – I still have not checked that so I do not know anything about the price for that – as well as using your own towel since there is a part of the beach that is open to everyone and with no fee. And yeah, you can just imagine how fast the beach fills up and how crowded it gets!

Coffee break at Casper Bar

A bit later, and not really at a normal lunch time, I went around to look for the restaurants listed in the Lonely Planet guide, one called Konoba Stari Grad and the other one Konoba Portun, but both of them were closed when I arrived there (around 14). I walked on the main street – called Mediteranska – and found a place called Adriatic – which was probably a bit touristic, but still a bit away from the Old Town and much more local than other places in Budva. I ordered two of the dishes that are quite known in Montenegro – as they probably are in many other maritime locations – the black risotto and fried small fishes. The food was great, and I would really recommend it to people visiting Budva and needing a break from all the touristic spots and crowds.

Fried small fishes

Black risotto

When sitting on the bus on my way home I could see an array of luxurious accommodations built just on the beaches and in general by the coast. One that really surprised me was called “Royal apartments Budva” and it was so huge it actually looked like a city, what I think you can find in Dubai (have not been there, but I just imagine). Just by that place, I saw some big signals with written “citizenship by investment program”. It made me a bit curious and googled a bit about it, and other than confirming what the program is about – quite straight forward name there – even the countries where this approach is adopted are listed, and of course it is about developing countries. You can take a look at the information through this website

For now I will leave you here. See you soon for the next update! 🙂

From Podgorica to Budva to Sveti Stefan: of breathtaking views, Montenegrin public transport and Mediterranean vibes

*This post was written throughout two days

Funny to write that today was another of “those days” where things do not really go as they should should and firstly it is a bit tough and confusing, but most of it already is a little funny memory of this trip.

So, I decided to take it easy as I was going to move from the hotel in Podgorica to the apartment in Sveti Stefan. Right, that was the plan. In the morning I was going to have my nails done with manicure and pedicure as well as waxing, as I have ahead of me some nice days of beach. Fine, started walking to this beauty center and the way showed to be totally different than I expected, although it only was 25 minutes from the very centre of Podgorica. Right, with this I mean that it was in the outside of the city, close to a very big street and I even had to cross some railway tracks that were totally “uncovered”, fine, there always has to be a first time right? Anyway, I finally succeeded in reaching the beauty center, and guess what, the booking was not there. Nothing to do, as the girl working there had her schedule totally full and my email booking had not been registered in the system. I waited there a while to charge my phone and get some wifi, as I do not have any here in Montenegro (it is outside EU, and I chose not to buy any extra package).

Fine, after staying there half an hour the girl told me she could help me anyway but then I would miss my check out time at the hotel, so I asked her if she could call me a taxi and went back to the hostel instead. That led to me buying manicure stuff and instead fixing it myself at the hotel, a process which was accompanied by a very nice and interesting conversation with the girl who was working there at the reception.

Later I went to the bus station with a taxi (it was a quite short distance from the hotel to the station but the luggage I had is giant and heavy and I opted for the more relaxing one). And later it was time for the bus to Budva. i had already bought a ticket on this website and payed 7.20. Later I got to know that you can actually buy the ticket at the station or on the bus, and from what I understood from the little Serbian I know, it only costs 6 € if you buy it there. Then there always seems to be an extra fee of 1 € if you have to put a luggage in the trunk. The trip was exhausting, it took 1 1/2 hour to get to Budva, and the bus was for the first hour of the journey extremely hot and everyone was sweating, I swear I sometimes thought I was gonna faint. Arrived to Budva bus station I asked for a bus to Sveti Stefan, and while I would later get to know that there is a small local bus going from Budva, I took this one that was kind of a “regional one”. There did not seem to be any problem with that except the slightly more expensive ticket, if it had not been for the fact that here people drive like crazy and they do not actually stop but you have to call for the stop, as it is “free stop”. Fine, so I tried to ask all the time to all possible people where the stop for Sveti Stefan would be, nobody knew, when I finally asked the driver he responded “oh, you should have told me before!” it has been already – while from behind I heard a man whispering “just go for a cheaper taxi you will be ok!”. Dropped off and managed to get the bus on the other side just 2 minutes after, and got actually dropped at the right one place, funny driver this one time. I finally reached the road where the apartment was, but without internet it was difficult to find the exact place, so the host was helpful and picked me up at the place I described on the phone.

The small apartment is just what I need for these days, as I will stay outside most of the time, and after a little talk with the owner of the place – and a funny remark on this one, we realized after a while that since he does not speak English the only way to understand each other is a bit of German (as I know a few words and some expressions are close to Swedish).

Sveti Stefan is such a little gem. I took a walk around the area and reached some of the first beaches close to the small “island” that actually is Sveti Stefan – and guess what, the island is owned by an hotel that costs at least 800 € per night, in case you wondered. I went around a bit and found a small shop selling food, with extremely high prices, as the area is manly a touristic/vacation place. Bought some stuff for the breakfast and the first dinner, but the plan was to buy some more food in Budva later on, about which I will tell you in my next post. I will now leave you with two pictures I took of Sveti Stefan when I arrived. See you soon! 🙂

Podgorica: of flexible train schedules, missed stops and Turkish döners

Today has probably been the funniest and most random day I have experienced so far during my trip in Montenegro.

I woke up with the idea of getting to Skadar Lake, one of UNESCO heritage locations, apparently what is known to be a very famous place and worth the journey. Started the day with the delicious musli bowl they make at the hotel, I took a walk around the city since the train would not leave until 12.11, or so said the schedule at least.

So I chose to take a walk around the city and visit the Museum of Podgorica, which was a mix of exhibitions of contemporary arts and some historical collection. Interesting stop and it filled just perfectly the time before going to the train station. On my way back I walked by a building located under one of the bridges of Podgorica, which in the past was used as a Turkish bath, better known as “hamam”. Then it was time to walk to the train station. Had a random talk with the barista at the café outside the station. The guy there asked me where I came from as soon as I ordered an espresso macchiato. Came up he was born in Milan and moved later to Montenegro.

Then it became time to go to the station to catch my train, and I guess there is where today’s adventure started. First thing to say, Podgorica station may actually be the best spot to get a sun tan while in the city, in case you are interested. The train arrived at least half a hour later and there where no any indication about when the train was gonna come or any other information. Screens with timetables, or paper timetables, forget that, there were not even numbers for the platform. But even there, Podgorica station is more or less as big as Monte San Biagios, a little village between Terracina and Fondi, located between Rome and Neaples.

Waiting on the platform I started talking to a guy from Poland, who had just took a break from the group he was traveling with, and decided to take on a small trip himself to Bar. He later would tell me where my station was and we lost contact.

But guess what, I never got off the train at that stop. The train had stopped something like 30 times with no apparent reason, and the stop where I was supposed to get off, did not have any clear signals and the train literally stopped two seconds. Too bad, I guess it was meant to go like this, as you always need some kind of unplanned happenings during a trip.

I went through the train again, which by the way, was as much old style as I could imagine, with compartments likely the ones we saw in Harry Potter films, or even the night train to Kiruna, except there were not any beds. Met a guy who was sitting there who gave the idea of being a local and I double checked with him whether the train was directed to Bar, and took a seat in the same compartment. The guy had been traveling around since three months, backpacking through Europe with his next stop in Italy – taking among others a ferry from Bar to Bari in Puglia, just this evening. He was half American half German living in Amsterdam, going to move to Finland in a couple of weeks. Neither of us had any plans so we just hang out in Bar and had lunch in a Turkish place called Istanbul. I ordered a döner which, since I am used to the spicy and varied cousine of Malmö, was a bit too little spicy and not enough tasty for me, but it was just exactly what I needed after a long walk and morning in the sun. While talking I got the advice of downloading an app for using offline maps when there is no internet, called maps.me. Feel like it will drastically change the way I travel from now on. We sat there a while and had long conversations, sometimes you really realize some mistakes or plan changes are really for the best, they are what make the journeys special and unique beside the destination. The journey is always the experiences you have on your way rather than the destination themselves. The journey is always getting to Itaca, rather then Itaca itself.

As you set out for Ithaka

hope the voyage is a long one,

full of adventure, full of discovery.

Laistrygonians and Cyclops,

angry Poseidon- don’t be afraid of them:

you’ll never find things like that on your way

as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,

as long as a rare excitement

stirs your spirit and your body.

Laistrygonians and Cyclops,

wild Poseidon- you won’t encounter them

unless you bring them along inside your soul,

unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

May there be many a summer morning when,

with what pleasure, what joy,

you come into harbors seen for the first time;

may you stop at Phoenician trading stations

to buy fine things,

mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,

the sensual perfume of every kind-

as many sensual perfumes as you can;

and may you visit many Egyptian cities

to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.

Arriving there is what you are destined for.

But do not hurry the journey at all.

Better if it lasts for years,

so you are old by the time you reach the island,

wealthy with all you have gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.

Without her, you would not have set out.

She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.

Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,

you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

After the long talk he went to take the ferry and I started walking to the railway station, where I even this time waited ca half an hour for the train to come. But good news, this time the train was of a new model and with air conditioning too. Got some other good views of the Skadar lake from the train and after an hour I was once again in my beloved Podgorica. Had been thinking about some good Ćevapči since lunch so I stopped at a place that I saw yesterday while strolling in the city. Had a classic one with onion and ajvar, and took it to the hotel. Right now I am sitting with a Nikšićko beer and good live music on the background.

Funny stuff about Montenegro

• Trains do not seem to be on time
• Railways do not usually seem suited for very fast speed
• It is difficult to find street names on side of buildings, and when you find them, it is not sure they are written in Latin alphabet, more often than not, they are written in cirillic
• Almost no place takes card, excepts for hotel, restaurants and bigger shops.
• Going around in Podgorica is for some reason very easy. I do not know if it is about me stopping using the phone (since Montenegro is not in the EU I do not have internet and decided not to buy any extra internet package during my stay) and therefore getting better at orienting myself. One thing is sure that after a bit longer than 24 hours Podgorica felt like home after the long day I had today.
• People in Montenegro love to talk and love to help you. Little detail about that, is that they love doing that in their language, even after you stop answering completely and tell them you only speak English. Very peculiar behaviour, but I am quite sure I will get used quite fast to this too.

Practical information

The train from Podgorica to Virpezar costs 1.30, if you want to extend the trip to Bar you can pay the rest to the ticket guy on the train. You can actually also buy a ticket by cash on the train when it comes to local train journeys.

I have just spent only a few hours in Podgorica and in general in Montenegro, but for some reason I just have the feeling that whatever plan you may make here, it is probably not going to work out as you hope to. And for sure, this applies a bit everywhere when you are traveling, but it just feels like a Montenegrin characteristic too.

Podgorica: first impressions, live music and talkative people

For those who have met me, it is quite known that I talk a lot. I ask and tell stories, I love noise and people. I do meet people who enjoy talking at least as much as me but it is not so common. And when I landed in Podgorica, and actually even before as there as not been a single second of silence on the flight, I realized that Montenegrin people may get the prize for most social and talkative people, but more than other, kind, helpful and good in hospitality.

Much of it has to be connected to the fact that the hotel booked for the three days showed up to be a place which has a very nice atmosphere and a vibe that is similar to a hostel when it comes to the common rooms and events, but at the same time it has private rooms as a normal hotel.

The flight

As I live so close to Denmark, I chose to fly from Copenhagen Airport. I am quite happy that I chose to fly with an airline that was not SAS, as in that case I would not probably be sitting here writing about my first day in Podgorica. A lot of flights where cancelled and I heard of people needing two days to finally succeeding arriving in the decided destination. The flight I bought was with Air Montenegro and it took ca 2,5 h, although we took off almost an hour later than scheduled. Air Montenegro seemed like a Balkan version of Ryanair, regarding the plane, the thing offered during the flight, and the service at the departure airport. In fact, the check in desk was not shown in the big screen and it took me a while to realize they had already started, which made everything a bit more stressing than I had wished . However, the price for a ticket with a checked-in luggage of 23 kg was 170 euros.

The trip from the airport to the city went quite fine. At first, as I got out from the airport I was asked if I needed a taxi, but as soon as I saw that the car looked like a totally normal private car, I of course said I was not interested. Went back to the official and legal taxi line outside the airport. The price for the ride was 12 euros, and is the price that is set for the legal taxis from Podgorica airport to the centre of the city. From the airport there are even set prices for the most common locations around, like Tivat, Budva, Kotor, Sveti Stefan and so on. You can read more about it through this link.

The accommodation

Hotel Marienplatz Podgorica: 34 Njegoševa, Podgorica 81000

Earlier I wrote a bit about the hotel and how I enjoy the vibe here. I totally recommend staying here to all people that are starting their trip throughout Balkans here in Podgorica or if they make a stop in the city for any reason. Especially solo travelers may appreciate this place, while people looking for a more relaxed atmosphere maybe would like to opt for something more usual. I write this since here at this hotel they organize events with live music almost every day, and the terrace where they play is just in front of the rooms, with walls that are not sound proof. So nights are long and noisy, if you stay in the room for all the time. But I would definitely recommend to join these music evenings as they create such a good vibe. The staff also make you feel welcomed and at home since the very first moment you enter the place.

For now I will leave you here, as I will go and talk a walk now that the temperatures have become a bit more normal, but I already have a few ideas on other posts, so stay tuned!