Valeda Scribbles

Lisbon went a little something like this… I stepped off the bus, checked into my hostel, made my way to the heart of the city (specifically Bairro Alto, the popping nightlife hub) and promptly became best friends with a German bachelor party, dancing till 4 am. I liked Lisbon. It was touristy, it was busy, but it had it all: fascinating history (almost the entire city was demolished in an earthquake/fire/tsunami trifecta in 1755), beautiful landscape of rolling hills leading down to the vast Tagus river, modern here, antique there, incredible music, a party that goes all night, and friendly people around every corner. I took a walking tour of the city and meet my new friend Brent that I ended up exploring with for the next two days. We drank wine at the top of a castle watching the sunset. We shared fried sardines in the streets where the entire old neighborhood of Alfalma had become a festival for the entire month. We joined thousands at the public viewing screen for the Portugal/Iran match of the world cup. I spent a day biking down the waterfront to the nearby town of Belem to see the view from a tower commemorating Portugal’s explorers and wandering around a modern art gallery. I took the train out to Sintra to explore palaces, gardens and expansive gardens of Portuguese royalty. I met a local who took me to his favorite hole in the wall club with a different actually mixing house music with vinyl. I went to a dinner performance of the music most intrinsic to their culture, Fado: guitarists accompanying a singer belting her heart out with love and longing that is guaranteed to bring you to tears. I also went to a nighttime performance in the ruins of a church where the city’s history depicted through dance and music was projected on the walls of the ruins under the stars. It can be hard to stay super-psyched all the time when travel is your whole life, but it’s even harder not to be loving life when you’re in Lisbon 🙂

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My time in Portugal has been a very satisfying “Time out” in the travel party. Ray’s farm outside of the small town of Fornelo do Monde felt incredibly comfortable and at home from the moment I arrived. I did not feel overworked, yet I felt like I learned a few things and had enough to do to keep me busy and feel like I was contributing. For being half a world away, the setting felt surprisingly familiar. Sure the town itself was distinctly different with its narrow streets, stone walls and a language I didn’t know, but the shapes of the hillsides and vegetation easily could have been rural Maine. Ray’s dog Yogi and Ranger, the nicest cat alive did their domestic animal duties of making me feel at home too. After the first few rainy days had passed making way for warm sunny days, I started sleeping on the deck outside the yoga room every night, falling asleep to satellites and shooting stars, waking up to the sunrise. Multiple times I hiked up to the ridgeline over Fornelo do Monde to stand in awe under the giant wind turbines that reside there, an interesting juxtaposition to a town that’s only had electricity for 30 years. I jumped in the stream running through the property and didn’t hesitate to wash my clothes in it the one day the water pump wasn’t working. I seriously think the laundry came out cleaner than it’s been in months! Ray made sure to show me around his solar and hydro power systems the day I arrived, however it became apparent that just having renewable energy sources does not guarantee you’ll get hands on experience with them as the systems required no management during my stay. No regrets on this workaway choice though, the comfort and serenity gave me the much needed opportunity to plan the next months of life and consider how best to achieve my longer term goals. I also had the chance to spend the weekends exploring both alone and with company. I shared portions of my farm stay with 1-2 other wonderful workaway-ers. The first rainy weekend after I arrived, we meandered to Aveiro, a small coastal town known for the beautiful tiles covering each home’s facade. The second weekend I took a solo vacation from my vacation and hopped the train down the Douro river, where mountains often terracesd with vineyards stretch their flanks down to the water and provide us with most of the world’s port wine. Further up the river the terraces give way to undeveloped rugged cliffs. I got the genius idea of taking a ill-fitting rented hardtail mountain bike up and down about 4000ft of vertical climbing over 25 miles of road, cobblestone and dirt trail through the mountainous vineyards. As we say in Colorado, third degree fun! Then on my third weekend, Ray Maude and I pitched the castle of a tent borrowed from the young family Ray invited to share his property at the first ever Orbits festival. The location of the electronic music festival was ideal, on the flanks of a river just outside a natural mountain park, but the planning of the festival was not so much so. We showed up a few hours after the festival was supposed to start to find that the stage and grounds had not even been fully set up yet. I couldn’t help but think of my friends back in CO attending the Telluride Bluegrass Festival at that very moment, where it’s typical to show up a week early alongside the performing artists and the campground is a full-on festival in itself.  It’s day 2 of Orbits fest and the music is supposed to start in 20 minutes, here’s hoping for a turnaround, I was promised dancing!!! 🙂

Update – music came through and 12 straight hours of dancing commenced! But I the next morning I decided that I’d rather experience Saturday night in Lisbon vs another night at the Orbits fest so I hopped the next bus and with that I left behind the countryside for a week of Portugese Metropolitan life in Lisbon and Porto!

Views from around the farm:

Aveiro Excursion:

Douro River Weekend:

And I apparently took no pictures from the Orbits music festival itself, but I did take a couple photos from the tiny town I hiked to before the music started…

 

Truth – The sheer amount of breathtaking beauty that I’ve seen throughout the world is almost overwhelming at times. I have moments where I compare the scenery of the cinque terre with that of the Lost Coast of California or with the Kapalii Coast of Hawaii, and I realize how incredibly fortunate I am to have seen such a myraid of remarkable places in my lifetime. My great grandmother and namesake never traveled more than 10 miles from where she was born in her entire life. She never even saw Quebec City, less than 40 miles away. Yet ever since I was a kid my parents would take me hiking in the mountains of Maine or hop on a boat to see the rugged coastlines, and in my own life I made it a priority to travel to and experience natural beauty both close to home and far away. As a result I’ve seen islands, volcanoes, rainforests, mountains, waterfalls, geysers, glaciers, buttes, canyons and a million other landcapes drawn from a pen gone wild. Somehow each scene, regardless of similarities to others I’ve witnessed, exude their own unique personality, which is what I was experiencing overlooking the cliffside pastel communities spanning the Cinque Terre. From the moment the ferry rounded the corner to catch our first glimpse of Porto Venere I knew I was in someplace special. I spent a few hours exploring the picture-perfect town and overlooking castle before ascending up to the pension where I’d be spending the night, and had the panoramic view from the porch picnic table to myself both for an afternoon of writing and then for a 4-course homemade meal made just steps away. There was only three of us staying at the pension that night, two of whom arrived much later and were in an adjacent room, so I had a restful sleep with a window open to the Mediterranean in preparation for two big days of hiking ahead.
And big days of hiking they were! Although quite a few people hike between the 5 towns that are the namesake of the “cinque-terre”, not many people hike beyond them like I did so I had the entire section of mountains and hillside villages for the first 8 miles and the last 5 miles of my ~23 mile trek practically to myself. The 5 towns of the Cinque Terre were fairly populated with tourists, but Corniglia, the town I spent my second night in, is perched up above water and therefore is inaccessible by ferry, making it much quieter in general and definitely in the evenings. From there I hiked through the park to Levanto, a more substantial town and vacation destination for local Italians, which was a nice change from the tourist ridden (albeit beautiful) towns of the Cinque Terre. The next day I saw the landscape from the vantage point of a ferry back to Porto Venere, said my goodbyes to the coast and headed inland to Pisa!

Prologue:
Once upon a time there lived four girls: Danielle, Jenn, Jaime & Valeda. They were friends who lived in the bustling city of Denver. The girls liked Denver, but occasionally longed to see far away places with cities and landscapes different from the high rises and mountains that they were used to. This was especially true for Danielle, who as a counselor helped people through their problems and needed to put aside their burdens for a bit and embark on an adventure of her own. One day, a friend of Danielle’s told her about a place called Croatia with castles, islands, walled cities and neverending waterfalls. She immediately knew it would be the perfect place for a fairly tale adventure. Danielle told her friends about the magical place, and it was only a matter of time before the girls got on jet planes (and a bus) and were on their way to explore Croatia!
Chapter 1
When Danielle and Jenn’s planes landed in Croatia, Valeda was already there to meet them in a pumpkin-sized chariot just big enough for exploring, but not so big as to use much fuel or make it hard to find a parking space. They set the course for Croatia’s neighbor Slovenia, which was said to be just as beautiful as the magical land of Croatia. They arrived in the town of Ljubliana and found it all to be true. Streets of cobblestone with clocktowers and fountains were interspersed by a turquoise river with a bridge flanked with statues of dragons. A castle perched on a hilltop peered over the city once keeping watch to protect the townspeople below, but today the girls climbed up to its watchtowers just to view the city from above and croon at the still snowcapped mountains off in the distance. They found a festival of local food, wine and beer in the main square with such a vast array of choices that the girls head spun trying to decide what to try.
Once night fell and the moon rose the girls left the sparkly streets and made their way to a much darker part of town. At first glance the girls were a little scared – their destination looked more dungeon than castle, a ramshackle old warehouse covered in graffiti. Once inside the gate they found lots of people milling about and music coming from all directions. Door after door revealed live bands, DJ’s and bars, so they made friends with townspeople, watched the musicians play, and danced the night away.

Chapter 2
Though they awoke the next morning with tired feet from dancing the night before, they had new places to explore today. So off they went, soon arriving at Lake Bled, yet another fairytale scene. A castle-like church sat atop an island plopped in the center of the lake, and a fortress stood guard on an adjacent cliff. Mountains surrounded the lake in all directions, and churchbells sounded throughout the day. They climbed to the top of a nearby park for the perfect vantage point. They then hopped in a rowboat out to the island and climbed the steps up to the clocktower to find it powered by a giant pendulum with all mechanisms exposed to marvel at the design. They rowed their boat back to shore and settled in under a restaurant’s awning with a spread of four masterfully curated soups just in time for a rainstorm to roll in. When it let up, they wandered across town for a slice of the famous Krema Rezina, a layered custard cake the town was famous for. With their bellies and hearts full, they said goodbye to storybook Bled and crossed the border back into Croatia, welcomed by a vibrant double rainbow stretching across the horizon. They rendezvoused with Jaime in Zagreb and explored the town at night, finding first a jam packed beer festival and then a street with bars each catering to whatever each Croatian man & woman’s heart desired.

Chapter 3
Every good storybook has love and heartbreak, so the next day the girls went out to explore Old Town Zagreb, eventually stepping into the “Museum of Broken Relationships”. The museum exhibited a collection of relics memorializing relationships past, each donated by an individual with an accompanying writeup. Rather than make the girls depressed, they agreed that they left with a sense of empathy and connection acknowledging a life event and the emotions that everyone of us has experienced. They then shared a strukli, the baked cottage-cheese dish Zagreb is famous for, prepared either sweet or savory and always decadent.
It was then time for the girls to hit the road again, so they emerged from the city streets and onto the country roads, eventually finding themselves in the quaint river-side town of Rastoke. Here the river and the town intertwined with one another with knee to waist high sized waterfalls cascading left and right around the stone buildings. They proceed to have perhaps the most memorable dinner of the trip, consisting of three whole pan seared fish and a serving of spit-fired pig split between the four of them, first served overlooking a set of cascades, then relocating in front of a wood fire as the night cooled. Their unabashed elation must have been very apparent to their server Iva, because at the end of the night the check came with a gift of four women’s tank tops bearing the restaurant name. The girls wore them proudly, and from then on throughout their travels in Croatia lovingly referred to themselves as “three fish and a pig”, all titles up for grabs between the four of them!

Chapter 4
There was no time for delay – the next morning they were up with the sun and off to Plitvice Lakes. This instagram-famous spot was no secret, so they hoped their early arrival would put them ahead of the inevitable rush of other tourists eager to see the sight for themselves. They entered the park and within no more than a 5 minute walk were face to face with a jaw dropping view of 4-plus-layers of waterfalls. It was a waterfall-theme park as far as the eye could see, except this theme park was brought to you by none other than Mother Nature herself. They walked for miles, and corner after corner revealed another system of lakes spilling over their banks in magnificent fashion. The girls decided they’d had enough spectacular waterfalls for the day and drove south to the cost to Split. They dropped off the car as they’d be travelling by sea for the rest of the trip. They found a delicious meal of black cuttlefish risotto, beef with homemade tortellini and figs, roasted eggplant and peppers, and a plate of pan seared whole sea bream and sea bass. Although it was a Monday, the town was popping with activity. They tried the local beers and spirits with mixed reviews and soon 3 of the 4 of them were dancing on the beach until sunrise.


Chapter 5
There was still a few hours left to explore Split, so after breakfast the girls perused around Diocletians’s palace, a vast walled complex built in the 3rd century AD and intended as a retirement home. Diocletian lived in it for only a few years before he died, and it remained mostly vacant until the 7th century with squatters moved in, fleeing invading Croats; townspeople continued to live there, set up shops and thrived in the palace basement and within the walls to this day. They took a peek at the lavish 7th century cathedral, the oldest standing cathedral in existence in its original form. They then climbed the precarious steps up to the belltower, taking in the view of the surrounding city and the Adriatic sea. Then they set sail on the sea themselves off to the island of Hvar!
The girls arrived to a perfect seaside village flanked by yet another castle atop the hillside above the city. They admired the view of the adjacent islands during the day and soaked in the timelessness of the cobblestone alleyways at night.

Chapter 6
The next day the girls rented a little 8-horsepower motorboat and buzzed from one of the adjacent islets to another, docking at one for a view from the lighthouse steps and another for a lunch of figs, cured meats and cheeses, strawberries and fresh baked bread. They rolled into port just as a storm rolled in, but the torrential downpour wouldn’t wash away the smiles on their faces no matter how hard it might try!

Chapter 7
A new day brought another boat ride and another island for the girls, this time Korkula! And so the fairy tale continues – they hopped on bikes, ascending and descending the green hills, rolling by vineyards, through ancient towns, past expansive views of the sea and coastline, and arriving at a small sandy beach just in time to take a dip in the cool but not frigid sea. They popped into a few of the island’s wineries and experienced truly authentic connections from the vitners, ranging from the grandfather in the corner who said nothing about the wines and very little of anything else as he contemplated his newspaper crossword puzzle, to the mother and son exchanging rolled eyes while preparing our tasting, to the owner’s best friend exchanging banter with us with whatever connections he could come up with. But the clock was ticking and sunset wouldn’t wait, so the girls scooted back to Korcula town and ascended the ladder to the lookout of the walled city’s tower, now occupied by a cocktail bar, where they took in the technicolor sunset around them.


Chapter 8
It was time for the girls to leave the idyllic island of Korkula and sail back to the mainland, docking at the base of the walled city of Dubrovnik. It was a sight to behold, with the perverbial icing on the fortress walls being that they’d be staying in an apartment with a window that opened up directly to the wall walkway, in true princess style. They left only to watch sunset at a bar perched on a cliff accessed through a hole in the city wall famous for its cliff diving options, alas the girls were not dressed accordingly to take part. The girls then followed their ears to guide their night and first ended up at a DJ with an accompanying saxaphone playing an opening party for one of the bars in the main square. Then they followed the numerous reccommendations to go to a club in a fortress just outside the city gate. They too had a live musician, this time an electric violinist playing along to the music. They danced all night an left only once their walk home was lit by the glow of dawn.

Chapter 9
Late nights dancing didn’t keep the girls from adventuring the next day, and they rented kayaks to circumnavigate the adjacent island and stop into a cave or two, one complete with a sandy beach. After returning the kayaks they met up with Iris, who would provide them with a historical walking tour of the city. They then headed to the cable car to whisked them to the top of the Dubrovnik Fortress and take in a magnificent sunset, a goodbye gift from the city on their last night in town. They, unlike the sun, did not sleep while the sun did and after another night of dancing were still up to greet it from the city walls at dawn, giving thanks to their 10 days of magic. The morning was a call back to reality for 3 of the 4 girls, but the fairy tale was not one they would soon forget.

THE END

• Many photo credits to Jamie and Jenn; I couldn’t include Dani’s AMAZING photos so check out her posts on Facebook here and here!

One thing I’m VERY grateful for is that my travels this summer are a mix of time with family (MOM!), time with friends (Jenn, Dani & Jaime in Croatia, Sam & Eric in Milan, and Phil whenever we can finagle our paths crossing 🙂 – and anyone else who will join me, the invitation is open!), time at workaway “homes”, and time exploring alone. I’m invigorated travelling alone; there’s a freedom that comes with travelling by your own agenda (or lack thereof). I do find however that it can get lonely, not necessarily because I’m “alone”, I interact with plenty of people along the way, but those connections in almost all cases are temporary and can start feeling empty compared to long time friends and family. So I was sad to see mom take off for the airport and head back to Maine, but was excited to hit the road with my pack and my own two feet and head on my shoulders! I hopped the train from Athens and Thessaloniki and watched as the (surprisingly HUGE!) mountains whizzed past. I arrived in Thessaloniki just in time for Saturday night, and soon found out that the city was ready to get after it! Within minutes of walking out of my hotel it became very apparent that Thessaloniki was quite a bit more Metropolitan than the area of Athens we were staying in…. The streetside cafes, bars and restaurants abuzz with customers stretched on for handfuls of city blocks in multiple directions and the sidewalks were shoulder-to-shoulder with men and women of all ages dressed to the 9’s headed to their venue of choice. The prominence of 3-inch heels was a wake up call that I wasn’t in Denver or one of my cozy mountain towns anymore! After grabbing a yummy dinner of salad, bolognase and too much wine (the rose came in a minimum of 500ml!) I people watched and wandered the streets for a bit but wasn’t feeling a proper Saturday night in my plans. I’ll leave the task to you Thessaloniki!
Plus, I had grand plans in the morning… I donned my running shoes, mapped my route, filled up my water bottle, and set out for a do-it-yourself running tour of the city! My route took me along the byzantine walls of the old city dating back to 300 BC, up to the Thessaloniki Castle, up to the top of the Trigoniou Tower, past numerous stunning churches and monastaries (this was the first time I’d seen the stunning dome structure of traditional mosques, and in Thessaloniki and other cities across Eastern Europe when Christianity reigned instead of destroying these beautiful buildings they’d often “put a cross on it”, add biblical imagery to the interior and tear down the minaret). I toured the remains of the Roman Forum, saw the Byzantine baths, passed through the Arch of Galerius and stood in awe the Roman Rotunda with beautiful frescoes from 300 AD. I then made my way to the White Tower which thuroughly yet interestingly presented exhibits detailing the history of Thessaloniki and its people, with the perk of having great views from the tower roof. From there I spent a couple hours in the Archeological Museum, documenting the findings from populations in this area from the Neolithic. That’s 20,000-6000 BC. There was even a cast of the skull found in the Petralona Cave, 40km southwest of Thessaloniki, that scientists estimate is from either 200,000 BC or 700,000 BC. To be face to face with (an edifice of) a human that existed so incredibly long ago just blew me away. There was also Roman statues and stunning gold leafed crowns found in burial sights in the area from Roman times. By then my feet were getting tired and even with the occassional snack of delicious grecian pastries from street vendors I was in need of more substantial food, so I ran along the waterfront back to my hotel to cap my discovery tour. My phone was dying but I’m estimating the route at around 10 miles. The day could not have been more perfectly capped; I found a perfect hole-in-the-wall restaurant thanks to Tripadvisor and devoured a scrumptious dish of roasted pork with plums, complete with a local amber ale and complimentary custardy-cake thing. I rounded the corner with thoughts of calling it a night, but was wooed into a corner bar by the sounds of live music. It was apparently the customary Sunday jam session; my new friend sitting next to me at the bar explained that these were a “revival” style of instuments resembling mandolins and guitars, and everyone in the bar sang along to the old time favorites. You can’t plan this stuff!
 
 
 
 
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The next morning brought another bus ride and a new destination… Sofia, Bulgaria! Again with the mountains on the bus ride – I could definately have some fun up in there, and may have the opportunity to do just that later this summer. When we arrived I made my way to my hostel and met the most kind and generous owner, Ivo, to find that not only would I not have to share a room, but I would have the entire 4 bedroom hostel to myself! Even Ivo, aside from setting up a generous breakfast spread in the morning, would be a WhatsApp message away at his own home. I’ll take it! I joined a free tour for a walk around the city, which was good but not as fulfilling as my solo-tour in Thessaloniki the day before. The architecture was stunning; mosques, cathedrals, mosoleums, statues and communist relics all stood in harmony within just a few blocks, with Mt. Vitosha beckoning just outside of city limits. I took the opportunity to run through the cities streets and parks the next morning with my personal highlight being stumbling on the huge daily farmers market only about a mile from “home”. I found that during my travels in Thessaloniki, Sofia and Belgrade English was very much NOT prevalent, so buying food often entailed smiling, pointing, and hoping for the best outcome of a purchase, potentially unsure of what you bought until the first bite. So far I’d say I’ve done pretty well, and either way that’s what experimentation is all about! My 24 hours in Sofia were up and the next bus arrived so off again…. to Belgrade, Serbia!
 
 

Oh Belgrade, I loved you from the moment I arrived… which partially probably had to do with the fact that thousands of miles away my realtor was successfully selling my house for hundreds of thousands of dollars more than I bought it for five years ago, but also because here it was a Wednesday night at 10:30, and the streets leading to the hostel were alive with music and people. Sofia, albeit beautiful, lacked a vibrant social scene. I was tempted to go check out a bar or two at midnight after the hour long phonecall with my realtor, but a storm rolled in so I took a walk in the rain with no particular destination. Belgrade displayed a beautiful montage of historical architecture and creative modern development. It was obvious that some tourists but mostly locals buzzed through the streets, throughout the parks and in the city establishments. I spent my day there wandering the city, first en route to the Belgrade Fortress which now houses a sprawling park on the north end of town, looking down onto the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers. My route there took me first down a polished avenue of high end stores and coffee shops, and the way back had me meandering down a curving cobblestone alley complete with a band of men playing traditional Serbian music. I popped in to the Nikola Tesla museum and although the museum was small, they did a great job of presenting a summary of his work, specifically his harnessing of the AC electric current. His many of his inventions and ideas, most of which never had the funding or support to succeed, would be revolutionary achievements even now over a century later, such as a wireless system to transmit electricity. If only Elon Musk would have been around back then to put a financial backing to his genius… That night I met up with a friend I’d met on the bus to Belgrade to check out the Serbian nightlife, and it definitely did not disappoint… We stopped first at a small brewery, then a dark, smoky dive bar hidden away in an alleyway, and somehow to a posh club opening at a venue sitting on the Sava River, dancing until 3am (an early night by European standards).
Reasons why I love Belgrade beyond what I mentioned above (in no particular order):

• adorable (and not yappy) small white dogs frolicking everywhere
• beautiful people eating ice cream
• creative craft beers
• low cost of living (about half that of Denver CO)
• and of course, the fact that its the namesake of my hometown, Belgrade, Maine! I can’t see any similarities between the two, but I appreciate the ode nonetheless. I think Belgrade Serbia is a little too busy for me to want to live there, but I loved my quick visit! Next stop: Croatia!