Europe, Pt. 1 - Friends, Drinks and Love
Check out our first adventures in Europe, exploring Budapest, Prague, Switzerland and France.
Flickr Album - Europe, pt. 1
After spending an almost exact one-third of our trip in Asia and finally making our way to Russia for the World Cup, we are now well and truly in Europe.
Summer in Europe. Such a romantic idea. We thought of how we could summarise these first few weeks, which has been incredibly intense and fast-paced, and we figured the most appropriate way would be in three words: friends, drinks and love. In no particular order. Our first part in Europe was spent in Hungary, Czech Republic, Switzerland and France.
Asia has been amazing but also a bit lonely, as it was just the two of us for the majority of the time in very foreign countries. Europe, on the other hand, has been pretty much back-to-back with friends! And what a feeling it is to have other people to share such amazing experiences with beautiful weather in new places! So, where do we begin?
Budapest, Hungary
Budapest, Hungary
We both really wanted to go to Budapest, but it was the fact that this was one of the cheapest places to go to from Russia that was a deciding factor for us.
Beautiful, trendy, relatively cheap and with lots of character, Budapest truly exceeded our already high expectactions. We only had 4 nights in the city, let alone country (welcome to travelling in Europe!) but I feel like we covered good ground in this time.
Being a relatively large city with points of interest quite far from one another, we decided on a bike tour which took us to the castle, various historical buildings and monuments and with a goulash lunch. Due to the high costs of bike tours (vs. free walking tours) we rarely do them but they are always worthwhile when we do, this one was no exception. It was a great way to get our bearings of the city and enjoy the beautiful weather.
Bike tour in Budapest, Hungary
Bike tour in Budapest, Hungary
Budapest is also home to a number of Roman baths, being built on top of thermal springs, it's a pastime enjoyed by tourists and locals alike. We enjoyed these thoroughly, going two days in a row - firstly, to a more touristy bath, Gellert Thermal Bath - more expensive but incredibly beautiful with inside and outside pools, saunas, steam rooms and ice baths and then the next day to a more local bath, Király Thermal Bath - cheaper, with a much more modest interior and less choice of baths, but still a fantastic experience nonetheless. We are both a huge fan of thermal baths and take any and every opportunity we get to enjoy them, so needless to say we can only highly recommend the experience and both baths we went to!
Gellert Thermal Bath, Budapest
Gellert Thermal Bath, Budapest
Budapest, Hungary
Besides these two key highlights, we mainly just enjoyed strolling around the city, taking in the atmosphere and eating in interesting bars and restaurants, as well as cooking some good meals in our Airbnb. The city is full of beautiful old buildings and so much history, we both agreed we could have easily spent another week or two here. Budapest is definitely on our must-return list!
Prague, Czech Republic
Prague, Czech Republic
Budapest was the last stop on our solo travelling time, at least for a while, as we set off on a RegioJet bus for Prague to meet up with Alex’s high school friend Charlie. This was our first bussing experience in Europe and it went without a hitch. Although a lot longer than flying, the 7.5 hour bus ride meant a day of downtime, watching Netflix on a comfortable coach, arriving straight in the heart of the city.
RegioJet bus, from Budapest to Prague
As we have spoken about before, seeing a friendly face after being by ourselves in foreign lands for long periods of time is an incredible, joyful thing, and seeing Charlie was no exception. Our five nights in Prague flew by, although we probably saw more of the night life and less of the city during the day, it was a fun and wild few days. As the World Cup was still in full swing, we were lucky enough to find a bustling beer garden, which we frequented twice to watch the Round of 16 matches that were on. This and the random diner/club we kept ending up at were probably not the BEST nightlife that Prague has to offer but it served us well nonetheless and was a lot of fun.
Alex with Charlie in Prague
Drinks in Prague
...and more drinks in Prague!
Besides this, we also did a walking tour, which covered a good chunk of the old town and we spent a good amount of time walking through the city, exploring the castle (which is free!), eating chimney cakes, and soaking up the sun by the river.
Prague seen from the Castle
Prague
Despite being (almost) peak summer holiday time and one of the most popular tourist destinations, we found the city manageable and didn’t have any issues with overcrowding anywhere. We were blessed with amazing weather the entire time and really enjoyed the long summer days, however the time in Prague left us a little worse for wear...
Alex & Charlie after a few days in Prague...
Switzerland
Chris & Claire's wedding
After a short flight from Prague to Zurich we met up with our next friend, Sam for an overnight stay before picking up our hire car and driving to Crans-Montana, the location of the wedding. Honestly the whole car hire was a mess, we have heard other people experiencing issues with Europcar and now we can add our own the mix; aside from the absurd price of hiring a car in Switzerland (probably normal in Swiss standards, considering everything is so expensive), we experienced surprisingly rude employees on both ends with little customer service or help. Regardless, the actual drive was beautiful; we took a detour through the incredibly picturesque town of Lucerne, where we stopped for photos and lunch and then finished with a long, windy drive through misty mountains before reaching Crans-Montana.
The gang on the way to Crans-Montana
Lunch stop in Lucerne, Switzerland
Beautiful drive around Switzerland
Our two friends, Chris and Claire got married up in the mountains of Switzerland, probably the most beautiful, romantic spot for a wedding ever, in Crans-Montana, a very quaint but luxe ski town that is gorgeous in the summer: you can hike up or just down (like we did) the mountain, taking in incredible views along the way, and there’s even a small “beach club” where we enjoyed live music under the sun on real sand (!) next to a lake where you can take a dip. We stayed in an Airbnb the four of us plus our friends Rupert and Mandy. Being in a house surrounded by friends was not just a lot of fun but really familiar and comforting too, giving us a taste of home.
"The Hangover Hike" post-wedding, Crans-Montana
"The Hangover Hike" post-wedding, Crans-Montana
"The Hangover Hike" post-wedding, Crans-Montana
Crans-Montana Beach Club
The actual wedding was something out of a fairytale: two of our sweetest friends, Claire, Alex's highschool friend and Chris, a friend we grew very close to prior to leaving on our trip, coming together to celebrate their love and union on the hills of the Swiss Alps. To be honest I think photos will do the day a lot more justice than words can do, so here was the picturesque day we were so lucky to be a part of...
Chris & Claire's wedding venue
With the bride
At the wedding, before it got too loose
To be honest, Switzerland would never have made it on our visit list if it wasn't for the wedding (simply due to budget), but looking back now it is a huge highlight for the both of us. The friends, the ceremony and party, the stunning surroundings, it was only a few days but is sure to be a main highlight of the year.
France
Annecy, France
When we started our trip we put up a post on Facebook calling all our friends who live overseas to let us know if we happened to cross paths so that we could catch up. Daniel and Denise (Fernando's high school friend and his wife) were one of the first ones to message us back then, saying that they would be happy to have us over at their place, in the tiny and charming town of Voiron, in the southeast of France. We had 5 days of pure love, fun and enjoyment. Not only did they have us over but they gave us their room with no question and did everything they could to make us feel comfortable and welcome. We cannot even begin to describe how grateful we were!
We went hiking in Voiron, checked out the Chartreuse factory and wandered around the little streets of Voiron before venturing out to the surrounding cities.
Voiron, France
Hiking in Voiron, France
Daniel & Denise's place in Voiron, France
Following Daniel and Denise's recommendation, we jumped on a local train to check out the city of Annecy - which turned out to be one of our favourite places in this trip so far. A charming, colourful, little town full of canals and with a beautiful green water lake was waiting for us when we got there. A dreamy place!
Annecy, France
Annecy, France
Annecy, France
A quick dip in the lake in Annecy, France
On our last day, Daniel was our private guide and took us to Lyon, where we had an amazing day experiencing the city like a local: checked out the city's main spots, had a traditional Bouchon Lyonnais lunch and finished it off with a picnic by the river with some of their friends. We are truly blessed for having such amazing friends who receive us so well!
With our local guide in Lyon
Streets of Lyon
Picnic by the river in Lyon
We didn't have the chance to see much of France and we will definitely come back one day, but given our tight schedule, we had a blast over five days and made the most out of it.
Our Europe leg has kicked off in style - amongst friends, weddings, beautiful scenery and lots of drinks to go with all that. Once again, we can only be grateful for having this amazing experience and for having all these lovely friends who care for us. Hope we can repay the favour one day in Australia!
We still have about 2 months in Europe now and will probably slow down a bit - detox, (try to) eat better, cut down on the booze and reconnect with ourselves... Life is good on the road!