Argentina

After 2 months of living in Germany and 3 weeks of wedding related festivities with the extended family, it was nice to have 5 days with my parents and sister to debrief on everything. We arrived from Porto via a 3-hour train ride to Lisbon. It was interesting to return to a city I already knew 7 years later. Here are my impressions from 2012 . In 2012 I had to explain what AirBnb was: For Lisbon, we decided to try airbnb.com for accomodations, wherein you pay to have someone´s apartment. It´s similar to VRBO, but the minimum stays are much less and the prices are less.     How times have changed. We stayed in  an AirBnb in Lisbon again as AirBnb is now our default choice. Lisbon has transformed over these last 7 years. In 2012, it was in the middle of the Southern European economic crisis. While there are still abandoned buildings in Lisbon, it is much less than before and an Uber driver told me that the government plans to introduce a new measure fining owners of ...

Porto Porto has recently hit the scene of places to go in Europe. Lisbon has been trendy for a few years, but Porto had a breakout year in 2017 when it was named #1 Best European Destination . It's like a smaller version of Lisbon that's cheaper and a launch pad to explore the Douro River Valley. The place was packed with tourists given that its August. The malecon along the river was extremely crowded. Given its size, city is quite walkable.  This was the Port a wine shop owner recommended to us. We really enjoyed it as well as a white wine by the same company. Port wine is quite strong at 18-20% and is usually enjoyed as an aperitif or digstif as it is quite sweet.  If you come to Porto, you have to do a day trip to the Douro River Valley. You have two options; 1) Pay about 110 euros for one of the many guided tours on TripAdvisor that will take you in a van and shuttle you around different wineries with the masses 2) Pay 60 euros to do a self-guided to...

Menorca is the 3rd largest of the Balearic Islands. You are likely familiar with the other two Ibiza and Mallorca. Each of the islands has its own target audience: Ibiza: Ages 16-30 for people who want to get wasted and go to Euro techno parties with lasers while on ecstasy. Mallorca: You are German. That's it. Mallorca is practically a German island in August. Menorca: You want a chill island that is a little more upscale and less German than Mallorca. We saw lots of Italians, Spanish, and French tourists, although apparently the East part of the island is popular with the British. Menorca has been inhabited since around 1500 BC and has been duly conquered by each of the ruling European powers due to its strategic position as a port in the Mediterranean (Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Moors, and, of course, the British. Today, Menorca's economy is 60% tourism and the other 40%, according to a cab driver, are cheese and shoes. The cab drivers we spoke to said that they...

The wedding was just the kick-off to a week of activities. We felt that since people were traveling so far for the wedding, we wanted to have more activities to make it worth the trip. I have traveled quite far for weddings and having just 1 night of fun feels inadequate given the distance you have traveled. It also was a great opportunity to have all of my family in one place and to show them a part of Spain that I have known for the last 7 years. Pool recovery day The day after the wedding, everyone woke up pretty late (around 11 am - 1 pm). We ended up having a nice walk around the village of La Alberca, drinking Radlers next the pool, and having a group dinner in La Abadia de los Templarios. The day after any big event is extremely fun as everyone recounts different stories from the night before. -"Did you see when Peter was laying on the ground during 'Shout' during the 'A little bit softer now' part?" - "Taylor en la piscina." - ...