Last Updated on February 12, 2024 by Travelationship
Where We Went
The Stops
- Penge, London, UK
- London, UK
- Brixton, London, UK
- Helsinki, Finland
- Suomenlinna, Finland
- Tallinn, Estonia
- Telliskivi, Estonia
- Riga, Latvia
- Jūrmala, Latvia
- Sofia, Bulgaria
- Plovdiv, Bulgaria
- Skopje, Macedonia
- Pristina, Kosovo
What We Did
July started with the London Pride parade. The energy was wonderful, surprisingly relaxed, and so crowded.
On returning to Penge, we stopped off at Brixton to have dinner. We aimed to dig into some brisket spring rolls at Black Bear Burger, but they were sold out. The last time we were in Bristol was the day after David Bowie passed away, so it’s been a while. We weren’t diggin’ it on that particular day, so we left early and visited again later in the week. When we did return, we found some new to us street art, but we felt the art in Penge was way better. Every time we visit Brixton, it’s a bit worse for wear, but it still has charm.
In Penge, we spent most of our time hanging with cuddly Teddy or looking for street art. Check out some of the great street art from Penge here.
Penge’s street art scene was exceptional. Matt continued to cook quite a few meals. His July specialties were veggie and egg scramble or chicken Kyiv (premade) and homemade scalloped potatoes.
Back Out on the Road
Helsinki was up next, and I’ve got to admit we didn’t get it. Helsinki felt like the lost preteen friend, trying to be like everyone else or who can’t seem to figure themselves out. That’s not to say we didn’t like it because we did. We happened to be there the day before Biden’s visit, which may have contributed to the weird buzz in the air. However, the food we had in Helsinki was deelish!
Estonia, Estonia, Estonia! We loved Estonia! We took the ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn, which was a fun experience. From the minute we stepped off the ship at the dock in Tallinn, we loved the look, the vibe, and all things Estonia. Neither of us can pinpoint why we got on so well with Estonia. It was an overall VIBE. We hope to get back and road trip the country.
Then, it was time for our double bunny sit in Riga, Latvia. Our sit was fun, and because the bunnies needed fresh greens to eat, we learned about the local wild greenery. We had to go out around the neighborhood several times to collect food. It made us both miss our gardening time.
We spent most of our time in the old city area—a mixture of architecture and lots of history. We liked the Central Market and Jewish areas the most. That area has more of a local feel with lots of charm.
Across the river, their city library was an architectural standout. Plus, the views of the city from the top floors were beautiful.
The weather wasn’t in our favor, so we only took a day trip out of Riga to Jūrmala—a beach town with a really cool forest park. The day we went, it was super windy, so a full-on beach day wasn’t in the cards for us.
Overall, we liked Riga and would love to see more of Latvia.
The Home Stretch
Then, onto Sofia, Bulgaria, which we found quite likable. We met up with one of our IG friends who lives in Sofia.
We found Sofia to be walkable and easy to navigate. There were bits of street art scattered throughout a sea of tagging. Because of the overwhelming amount of tagging and some closed store windows, it all was sort of artistic.
We also loved the UNESCO Boyana Church site. The bus ride out of the city and the Redwood trees were beautiful. The church and the grounds were really pretty.
We did a one-day trip to Plovdiv on the week’s hottest day. It was an easy, quick bus ride. We visited the Roman ruins, the Main Street, and a fantastic photography exhibit at the City Gallery. The exhibit was all about a walking pilgrimage around an island in Japan. The day started to get way too hot (103), so we decided to head back to Sofia early. Luckily, we did because our evening bus had been canceled, and we didn’t know it.
We visited Skopje, North Macedonia, and Pristina, Kosovo, from Sophia at the end of July. We only spent a few hours in Pristina but what we saw we liked. And we really like Skopje. It’s been a little warm, so we have split our days by taking a midday break to keep cool. We have a few more days in Skopje, so I will have more to tell you about in next month’s update.
The Great
Favorites
Estonia! For us, it was one of those places we clicked with.
Meeting some wonderful people. We finally met our IG friend, Lesley @nomadic.indo, in Sofia.
We also met João from Portugal and Annie and Damian from California on the bus from Sofia to Skopje. All of us went together to hire a car to Pristina, Kosovo, and spent a few hours touring the city.
The Not So Great
The Least Favorites
The idiotic religious freaks at London Pride.
Saying goodbye to Teddy in Penge. He really stole our hearts with his sweetness and perfect cuddles.
The heat – we are experiencing some of the soaring European temperatures.
The Oops! and The LOLs
We had a big scare with our photo drive. It started acting up and took forever to back up. It took several days to get it backed up, and there were a few moments we thought we might lose some photos. The panic was intense.
The idiotic religious freaks at London Pride.
We continue to be packing idiots—too much stuff. We had a flight from Riga to Sophia and struggled to make the luggage weight limits. The last time we flew, they made us split up our carry-on because it was too heavy, so we were a bit concerned for this time. Somehow, we were able to get through without getting weighed.
We continue to suck at getting actual blog posts written. Although, there is a new street art post up.
The Hilarities
SURPRISE! I got Sunday roasted out and couldn’t eat any more Sunday roast.
What We Learned
Big lesson number one was we should no longer invest in sits under three weeks. Previously, we were trying for two weeks or longer, but unless the sits are near each other, we should aim for three weeks plus. I’m not sure how feasible this will actually be, but we will aim for it.
Lesson number two was we’d scheduled ourselves too far out too soon. The majority of our schedule is full up to April 2024. We learned we should hold off on filling our “empty” times and allow for opportunities to come up rather than force-filling the time.
Lesson three- Listen to our inner voice! Keep to slow travel. Don’t let our excitement of seeing more take over our plans.
Oh, and back up our photo drive more often.
What We Read
- I read nothing but magazines, online news, and some blogs.
- Matt listened to “The Dogs of War” by Jonathan Maberry.
What We Watched
- “Shrinking” on Apple TV+ – Loved it!
- “Daisy Jones and the Six” on Amazon Prime – Entertaining
Up Next
Matt’s birthday month!
More of Macedonia, onto Albania, and then Greece. We have a 3-week sit in Thessaloniki, where we hope to get lots of beach time and take in a few sites. Fingers crossed, the temperatures start to come down.
The Greece sit should keep us pretty busy with two cats and two dogs. At the end of our sit, we may head to Athens for a few days to visit all the famous sites.