Faroe Islands

Have you ever heard of the Faroe Islands? Until about a year ago, I had never heard of this small country situated between Scotland and Iceland. My husband revealed that it had been on his travel wish list from before we even met. It struck me as funny that it took about 17 years before he let me in on this long held desire. 

We visited in September which is at the end of the ideal travel season. I was anticipating dreary, rainy days. Upon arrival, it was a little misty and grey. But we lucked out with some amazingly beautiful days, too!

Fishing accounts for about 97% of exports for the Faroe Islands. Needless to say, boats are plentiful around the islands. 

The Nix, represented here as a horse, is a fascinating tale from Faroese legend. It lives in the lakes of the Faroe Islands lures people to him and then drags them into the water to meet their end. But if you shout his name, he loses his power and you will live. 

If you know me at all, you probably know that I love church pictures. Charles and I jokingly said that we should create a book of all the churches on the Faroe Islands. We tried to capture as many as we could, but we definitely missed several. 

I also love ruins. These were beautiful!

One of our days was spent with a guide hiking up to a tiny little light house. The area around the light house was used in the filming of the most recent James Bond movie. Charles and I are not James Bond fans, so that part didn't really matter to us. But it was beautiful! 

The seal woman statue represents another legend from the Faroe Islands. I cannot do the story justice, so please go read it for yourself. The more I travel around Europe and hear local folklore, the more I wonder why Hollywood keeps making the same movies over and over. These legends would make really great films.

This church was in the town where our Airbnb was located. It was sunny in this part most of the time we stayed.

Our Airbnb! This place was fantastic! The views alone were worth staying here and the house was cozy and well stocked with everything we needed for our stay. 

The Airbnb was located on a sheep farm and we were allowed to wander around the fields. We made friends with several sheep. 

Hanging out with the sheep was one of my favorite parts of the trip!

The art museum in the capital was really neat! 

And because I can, a couple more churches to end our trip! 

The Faroe Islands were beautiful and peaceful. I am so glad that Charles made it a priority to visit. If you have a chance, please go! You will not regret it. 

Bergen, Norway

Our next big trip was a two-part one. The first part being Bergen, Norway. If I am being technical, it was really three parts. One night in Bergen, several nights in the Faroe Islands and then back to Bergen for a few more nights before heading home. But for the purpose of this blog, I am going to lump all of our Norway information together. 

Bergen is famously rainy. I went in with low expectations in regards to the weather. We were pleasantly surprised with decent weather while we were in town! Sure we had some rain and chilly wind, but we also lucked out with some sunshine!

On our first day in Bergen we took a walking tour which led us down cute alleys. We learned some of the history of Bergen.

Bergen was rife with street art! 

Another outing while in Bergen was a "fjord" cruise. It was pretty much just the fjords closest to Bergen, so it was more populated and less scenic than I would have liked. But it was a relaxing boat trip. 

We rode the funicular up to the top of the mountain for some panoramic views of the city. 

We did not eat nearly enough pastries while in Bergen. This was like a cheese Danish. Charles was happy to see mochas on most of the café menus. Surprisingly, we haven't seen that a lot in Germany.

We mostly avoid Mexican food in Germany. It's just not good. I saw a taco place with good ratings and thought we'd give it a try. It was actually pretty tasty!

We also enjoyed some Thai food while in Bergen. Yum, yum, yum!

This was the view from our Airbnb which was located outside of Bergen. Downstairs is an Italian pizzeria with some of the best pizza we have had in a while. The owner was so friendly and brought us fresh croissants every morning of our stay. His story about living in Italy and how he came to relocate to Norway was fascinating!

Street Art in Sofia

Another highlight from our Sofia, Bulgaria trip was a graffiti and street art tour. Prior to the tour, we assumed that graffiti was legal in Bulgaria, but that's not the case. With that said, there are some workarounds for street artists. 

I don't remember the stories behind all the artwork we saw, but the tour did highlight the importance of turning around. Many of the pieces we saw we would not have noticed if we did not turn around. Our guide was personable, knowledgeable and gave us ample time to snap photos of all the great street art we saw along the way. 

We made a reservation for the free tour, but you can also book a paid version through Airbnb and other websites. I am not sure how much Charles tipped our guide (who is one of the founders of the tour and a street artist himself), but I suggested he tip at least as much as it would have cost if we booked the paid tour through another site. 

This piece is a bit controversial because it shows their patron saint, George, in a different light. There are strict rules about how saints are to be depicted and this does not follow the rules. 

This was my favorite piece from the tour. I love pop art! This piece also gives a nod to where graffiti and street art started with a NY subway car. 

I asked why this piece showed a woman holding an American football helmet. The owners of the restaurant (which our guide recommended, but we did not have a chance to try it out) studied in America and grew to enjoy American football. 

At the end of the tour we were all tasked with creating our own graffiti tag. This is what we came up with!

This was our group for the evening. The lady on the end was visiting from England and the three ladies were visiting from Hungary. 

Seeing Bulgaria's Communist Roots

Bulgaria has been under a variety of rulers over its history. Most well known is when it was part of the Communist Soviet bloc. Just walking through Sofia you can see the remnants of this period of their history by the number of Communist-era buildings. 

When I was researching before the trip, I came across a suggestion to visit The Red Flat. This is a small museum showing a regular Bulgarian family's apartment. With your ticket (which you purchase in a really cool gift shop filled with items from local artists), you have basically unlimited time to spend in the apartment and a very thorough audio guide telling you about all aspects of the items in the home, life in Communist Bulgaria and more. It was so fascinating!

Another part of the trip that was really fascinating was the Museum of Socialist Art. After Communism fell, they took a lot of the statues erected during that time and placed them outside this museum. It is a great way to connect with history. The grounds were filled with both well-known people (like Lenin) and statues of everyday workers. There were also many statues of women which I was surprised by. 

The inside of the museum had some artwork that was not as interesting, but the ticket is very affordable so why not check it out?

Barcelona's Sagrada Familia

The best part of the trip to Barcelona was visiting Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's cathedral. It is a very modern building and still under construction (although promised to be completed by 2026). 

We booked a guided tour and a visit to the Nativity Tower. If you visit, you HAVE to do a guided tour. Seeing it before the tour started was cool, but knowing the design inspiration behind everything made me appreciate the place so much more! 

Throughout my travels, I am ever disappointed that I cannot completely capture the beauty I see in real-life in a picture. This church was beautiful, but you have to see it in person to experience the full depth of its beauty. 

The trip to the tower was interesting. You ride in an elevator almost to the top and then go up a little bit on a narrow staircase to the viewing platform. A small viewing platform... I thought there would be another, larger area to see the city view but there is just the one so take full advantage of it. 

O the return to the bottom after your tower visit, you have the pleasure of descending down the narrow, ever winding staircase. I am afraid of heights and normally avoid tower visits. Going down was not fun, but since it was so narrow I felt a little better. I could easily brace myself against both sides, if need be. It was slow going down, though, because the people in front of us were older or stopped to take pictures along the way. 

Charles took this picture because there was no way in heck that I would take a look down the tower.

If you're visiting Barcelona and for some reason do not have this on your itinerary, do whatever you need to do to add it in!