Unless he died in the last 24 hours, he is still alive.

well sure they do, and you can also get a philly cheesesteak outside of philadelphia, beef on weck outside of buffalo, a po'boy outside of new orleans, lobster roll outside of new england, etc.

Did someone say francesinha? That was one of my best meals ever. I'm sure I have the name of the restaurant in Porto saved somewhere.

And yah, Pasteis de Belém isn't really any different than pastels anywhere, but it's also located to a couple sites, so if you're gonna be in the area anyway you could stop in (although sometimes lines get ridiculous).

I got home last Friday night after six weeks in Europe. The places I went, in order:

Reykjavik, Iceland
Stockholm, Sweden
Helsinki, Finland
Tallinn, Estonia
Riga, Latvia
Vilnius, Lithuania
Warsaw, Poland
Krakow, Poland
Budapest, Hungary
Vienna, Austria
Prague, Czech Republic
Berlin, Germany
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Paris, France

The only place I had been to before was Paris.

I'll try to make a more detailed post when I get home tonight and I'll answer any questions.

Wow, sick trip. Well done.

solid list, the only error I see is lolPrague

while you were doing that, I did Rome -> east coast Italy -> San Marino -> Bologna -> Venice -> Milan -> Nice -> Monaco -> Cannes -> along the French Riviera -> Perpignan -> Madrid

looking forward to your Budapest report!

Awesome work! Looking forward to the TR.

I'm thinking in May I might take a few weeks off and do this leg of the journey, then turn southeast until I get to the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria.

wondering about your critique of Prague. granted, the last time i was there was 2006 but we had a lot of fun. inexpensive, interesting sights, above average food and drink. what's changed?

Haven't been to Prague in a long time, but it was a great city in the 90s before discovery by the other Euros and Yanks.

I had a good time in Prague in 2015. Extremely crowded since it was high season but otherwise fine. Met a few 2p2ers there too.

Usually I defer to chop for travel related advice but I also had a great time in Prague around 2008. I do find the local fare a bit meat, potatos, Czech dumplings centric.

totally agree about the local fare, but the meat i remember was venison, duck, quail, goose, boar, rabbit, etc.
granted we were there in autumn when game meat is likely more common, but i remember really enjoying the hearty meals and feeling like i was eating something that would be served at a family meal.

This. The cuisine is very meat and potatoes but also very delicious.

Generally speaking, I feel bad for vegan tourists going to Eastern Europe. You miss out on so much good food. You either gotta break your diet or eat at vegan restaurants.

Or just stop being self-righteous and hypocritical about animal welfare. They have options, at least.

Like I said earlier, I pretty much agree with this - the main beer advantage of the smaller towns is better drinking in the town squares, but we should also add that there is also a risk of getting Prague beer in Prague rather than the stuff from smaller towns, even when you order it:

(Gambrinus sold as Pilsner)
https://ekonomika.idnes.cz/restaurac..._ekonomika_are

Part One

I left the DC area on Thursday, the 27th of September and flew to Iceland. It was an overnight flight. The weather was pretty bad the first day so couldn't really do much, but I booked tours for the Golden Circle (you get to see a geyser and a national park and some cool waterfalls) and the Blue Lagoon, which is a large geothermal spa. When I was walking through the water in the BL, I heard someone call out my name and I was thinking "who the hell knows me here?" Turns out one of my law school friends was there with his gf. Pretty cool to randomly run into them like that. So I hung out with them for about two hours and it was a good time. On the bus ride back I encountered two American girls and became friends with them and we went out to dinner when we got back to Reykjavik. I had a reindeer burger. Then they invited me to their hotel room and I ****ed them both. No just kidding.

I also booked a tour to see the Northern Lights but it was cancelled because of weather. Iceland is beautiful. I was there for only three nights so would like to go back and see the Lights as well as do a snowmobile tour and maybe some whale watching.


From there I flew to Stockholm. Another beautiful place. Very safe city too. I was there for four nights. One day I did a bike tour that was organized by the hostel and got to see the whole town. Really cool how it is surrounded by water and islands. I really enjoyed walking around the Old Town. I had filet of moose for lunch one day.


Then I took a 17 hour ferry ride to Helsinki. I had a very tiny cabin on the boat. This didn't really qualify as a cruise I guess but it was the first time I had a room on a boat. Helsinki was not that great, maybe my least favorite place on the trip. Again, the weather was not good and I didn't stay in an interesting part of town. It looked like a cool place on the last day when I went towards the harbor but meh overall.

Please stay tuned for Part Two where I describe my visit to the Baltic states.

Primavera do Jeronimo was really good. Atmosphere was cool and as you described, a really intimate place, we were one of only two English speaking parties there (the other was a hilarious old Irish couple we were sat directly next to. The guy kept giving me **** when he found out I was American, claiming that I worship Donald Trump. I feel like Irish people are constantly busting balls and I love it). I had lamb in some sort of au jus-like sauce which was amazing and my friend had caldo verde which I also got to try and enjoyed. Maybe it's a fail to get a non-seafood meal in Lisbon but I have no regrets.

Sintra, very cool. We did Pena Palace and Quinta de Regaleira. The weather sucked, about 60F and rainy, so crowds were sparse and we were happy to spend a lot of time meandering in the Pena Palace. It's an absolutely crazy looking building, as you said. The entire grounds of Quinta de Regaleira were beautiful and interesting. Requisite picture of the Initiation Well below, but honestly there's tons of stuff to see there beyond that. Would have stayed way longer if it were dry that day.

Couple other notes:

*Spent Friday night at Damas. Awesome bar, probably the place I most want to go back to in Lisbon. Has the feel of a Budapest ruin pub, where every room has a different vibe to it.

*Saturday night met up with a local (friend of friend) and he took us to Pink Street. Meh, felt very intense and touristy, but we did a couple rounds at Bookstore Bar--its exactly what it sounds like, it's a bookstore that turns into a bar at night--and I'd go back there.

*I was not expecting such a strong wine culture. It's difficult to find a glass of non-Portuguese wine on a menu, and that's totally fine because they've got some really good stuff. We struck up a long conversation with the owner/bartender at Little Wine Bar and he may just have convinced me to come back for a trip to Douro

*Went to Time Out Market-- don't expect a good atmosphere, it's kind of like Eataly in NYC, but if you want to sample food from restaurants around Lisbon it's not a terrible idea. I had anchovies served nigiri style from Sea Me. They were excellent.

I'll try to stop hijacking CJD's thread but wanted to post this review since you guys seemed interested. Eager to hear the upcoming report on the Baltic states!

I hear good things about Ramiro restaurant in Lisbon but I haven't been.