Visby, Sweden

Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Baltic cruises would stop in St. Petersburg. To replace this stop, they added Visby to the itinerary. When planning ahead, there were no excursion options available through the cruise for Visby so we planned to walk around the town and see the sights for ourselves. Once onboard, excursion options opened up but we decided to stick to our own plan. 

Visby is right on the water, of course. Most of the town is hidden behind the old town walls, but when you get on the other side of the wall you can have this beautiful view. We walked along the water for a bit.

Visby also has a great botanical garden that is free to visit. Coming in June provided us the chance to see tons of different flowers in bloom!

The other gem that Visby had to offer was church ruins. I don't know why, but I love church ruins. 

And being in Sweden meant we just had to make a fika stop before getting back on the ship! We enjoyed cake and coffee from a little café with outdoor seating. I had carrot cake, but Charles made the best choice with this slice of chocolate cake. 

What is fika?

Have you heard of fika? I was first introduced to the concept when watching the Stockholm episode of Travel Man (highly recommend the show if you enjoy dry, British humor). After learning about it, I knew it was something I had to experience when visiting Sweden. We found a fika tour through Tours of Stockholm. 

According to the Tours of Stockholm fika tour description, fika is the word to describe meeting up for coffee and pastry. However, it has come to mean any mini break.

Our fika tour guide was a transplant from Brazil (Italian heritage) who came to Sweden and fell in love with the country. It was really interesting to have an "outsider's" perspective about living in Sweden and it gave us the opportunity to learn so much about her experience moving to the country. She had such a great vibe and was so easy to spend time with. 

Our first stop on the fika tour was to a little candy shop inside Hotorgshallen, one of Stockholm's food markets. Neither Charles or I are fans of licorice, but it's very popular in Scandinavia. We tried a few different types--traditional sweet and progressively more salty types. We ended with some candy covered licorice which was actually tasty.

Another stop was to a café for some coffee and pastries. Charles enjoyed a cinnamon bun and I had a saffron bun. 

Another café visit where I had a cinnamon bun and Charles ordered a cardamom bun. This café was located in the Old Town near the colored buildings and famous fountain that we saw during our Old Town walking tour the previous day, but I don't remember the name.

At the chocolate shop stop, I had some yummy ice cream and Charles tried the hot chocolate. 

The last experience, not part of the fika tour, was a visit to the ice bar. This was also featured on the Travel Man episode for Stockholm and Charles was very keen to experience it. It was COLD inside! They don you with a warm cape and gloves, but it was still a bit too chilly for me to really enjoy it for very long. Entrance to the ice bar includes one drink of your choice and they are served in ice cups. Very cool (excuse my pun) experience! If you visit during the summer, go ahead and wear pants and a long sleeve. The cape only keeps you so warm.

Stockholm, Sweden

Our next travel adventure brought us to Stockholm, Sweden! The main draw was our Baltic cruise that departed from Sweden, but we took the opportunity to spend a couple of extra days in the city before embarking. 

We splurged a bit on the hotel by staying at the swanky Hotel At Six. Service was excellent, the room was comfortable, the breakfast buffet was plentiful and the location was perfect to see all the Stockholm highlights. 

During our first evening in Stockholm, we took a guided walking tour of the Old Town with Tours of Stockholm. We saw the iconic row of buildings in the picture, learned some history about Sweden's royal family, learned more about the Nobel prizes and enjoyed the company of our fellow tour participants (two families of which ended up being on our cruise).

Unfortunately we ran out of time to check out the inside of this pink church. Our guide told us about some of the original artwork that is housed inside. Just one reason to return to Stockholm in the future!

Before our walking tour, we stopped at a restaurant near our hotel for a quick bite to fuel up. Boo Burgers satisfied a craving for good ol' fashioned burgers and fries. The burger has a delicious crispy edge on the patty. It kind of reminded me of Steak & Shake.

Another top priority for me was to enjoy some Swedish meatballs while in Stockholm. During our fika tour, our guide recommended enjoying the meatballs at the Ostermalms Saluhall. The M Seger vendor had a little restaurant section and the meatballs were everything I had hoped they would be!

Petit Prince and Alsace

With France being so close to Stuttgart, we made an overnight trip to the Alsace region. We started off in Ribeauville where we grabbed sandwiches before a wine tasting at Trimbach. The wine tasting was quick with a tasting of five wines. Our host did not speak a lot of English, so we did not receive a lot of the history of the winery. However, the wines were enjoyable and I purchased two bottles to bring home. 

After Ribeauville, we drove on to Colmar to check into our hotel. Greet Hotel Colmar is a little outside of the city center, but offered a great rate, free parking and breakfast. I really enjoyed their design aesthetic and air conditioned room.

We headed into Colmar and rode one of the little trains for an overview of the city. It was a little hot under the plastic roof, but it was good to see all parts of the city to orient ourselves.

We walked around the town to see things a little closer up and visited a bunch of shops in search of the perfect trinkets to remember our trip by. I purchased an ornament featuring three Alsatian girls to commemorate the time with my two friends. 

Before heading back to the hotel to rest after our day's adventures, we stopped at a restaurant for dinner. I ordered one of the rosti dishes. It was so delicious!

The next morning, after enjoying some local specialties for breakfast, we drove to the Parc du Petit Prince. One of my friends is a big fan of the book, so I made sure to add this to the itinerary. I had low expectations and expected to only spend an hour or so at the park, but it ended up being super fun! We rode a few of the rides, including the little train, and took a bunch of pictures. 

We agreed that we wouldn't travel out of our way to visit this park, but while in the area it was a fun activity. Even as three adults, this park was a win. 

A sunny day in Esslingen

I have now visited Esslingen on three different occasions. With it being so close and being easy to train to, you would think I would make it there a little more often, but such is life! While hosting two friends from college, our first stop was to Esslingen for a walking tour to see the highlights and learn some history of the tour. Our guide was an American who has lived in the area for over a decade. 

It was a super sunny day, so our pictures were all a bit washed out by the harsh light. The Esslingen Rathaus is iconic, so worth sharing a picture of even if it is not the best quality. 

The story behind this fountain was fascinating! In a nutshell, there was a postman back in the day that found a valuable ring. He went around town trying to find the owner to return it. The owner had been murdered and no one knew who had done it. The postman was accused by the man's nephew of murdering him. Eventually the postman was sentenced to death. Afterward, he would reappear as a ghost to the nephew. After some time, the nephew was so distraught and traumatized that he finally confessed to murdering his uncle. The town decided to erect this statue of the postman with the story around the base. I suppose it is part contrition and part cautionary tale.

Our tour ended at Kessler for a sekt tasting. Sekt is Germany's version of champagne and this brand is Germany's oldest sparkling wine producer. The Kessler founder studied in the Champagne region of France and made his sparking wine using German grapes. We all tried the classic and it was very tasty! I brought home a couple bottles to enjoy later. 

By the time our tour was complete and we had tried some sekt, we were ready for a hearty German lunch. Our tour guide recommended Weinkeller Einhorn and it did not disappoint. I had the traditional Swabian dish called Maltauschen. This was the best Maltauschen I have eaten since being here in Germany. 

Titisee and Freiberg, Germany

After our night in Konstanz, we hit the road to our next destination--Freiberg! Along the route, we stopped at Lake Titisee. I had heard that it was beautiful, but I did not really know anything about it. Titisee is a pretty small lake in the Black Forest. It was a happenin' spot for the holiday weekend (it was a holiday weekend for Germany, too). We saw a couple bridal parties, lots of dogs and many people enjoying the lake amenities. 

We stopped for some ice cream. Even Suzie enjoyed a cup all to herself. 

After exploring a few shops and enjoying the Titisee lake views, we headed to our evening's destination. After checking into the hotel and leaving Suzie to nap, we headed to the altstadt for an early dinner. Guess what...it was Mexican again! While doing some quick research about Freiberg, I came across a taqueria called Yepa Yepa. The menu looked pretty legit. Walking up the street, I could smell the Mexican flavors and the food did not disappoint. The Al Pastor taco was my favorite!

After being nourished by some Mexican soul food, we continued strolling around Freiberg. I did almost zero research about the town so we did not really have a game plan for our walk. We meandered seemingly aimlessly. We stopped at a Korean bubble tea spot for a refreshment (called Sarang) and stopped at Rewe to pick up some beers, chocolate and other must-haves. 

We stayed at a hotel just outside of town called Mercure Hotel Panorama Freiberg. It gave us a lovely view of the town from our balcony. There were trails located right outside of the hotel (where Suzie was able to collect a bunch of ticks). I wish we could have stayed longer to truly enjoy the peaceful setting. 

Eguisheim and Riquewihr, France

While visiting Colmar, we hit the road to a couple other nearby towns. The Alsace region of France has a seemingly endless number of adorable little towns to explore. Our time was short, so we focused on Eguisheim and Riquewihr. 

This is a popular photo spot in Eguisheim. Some say it inspired Disney's Beauty and the Beast. We were really lucky to find the area devoid of many tourists so we could take a few pictures uninterrupted. 

This shows the same spot but a little farther behind with wisteria framing the shot. The spring flowers around the towns were gorgeous!

We stopped for a coffee at a shop that is 125 years old (if I read the French correctly). It was a lovely spot next to the square with views of a fountain and a church.

Our next stop in Riquewihr started with lunch. We opted for pizza and tarte flambé. I indulged with a limoncello spritz which was the perfect refreshing drink.

Each little town seemed to have a small train to learn some of the history and see the town. We took the little train ride in Riquewihr which drove us up into the surrounding vineyards for an amazing view of the town below. 

The pictures do not do the town justice. It was picturesque and pleasant. You can stop to taste wine at a number of wine shops serving Alsatian wines. You can pick up Alsatian gingerbread. You can shop for pottery or antiques. There is a wealth of possibilities and I cannot wait to return to explore some more!

Cyprus: Wine Tasting

On the third day in Cyprus, we booked a tour through Cyprus Taste Tours to learn more about the local wine scene. Our tour guide picked everyone up from their hotels and whisked us away to the mountain villages outside of Paphos where we visited a number of wineries and stopped for a meze lunch. 

Our group included two couples visiting from England and us. 

The first winery is a family-owned operation. I enjoyed their wines the most. They had a variety of sweet and dry wines--white, red and rose. We had very limited space in our luggage, but we picked up one bottle from this winery to take home. Thankfully we did not get anymore because we were one pound short of the bag weight limit upon returning home. 

Our second stop is a newer winery (20 years old). 

Our third stop was to a monastery with amazing views! We stopped into their chapel to enjoy the artistry.

For our meze lunch, we visited this restaurant. The food was delicious! They even surprised me with a birthday cake which was such a kind (and delicious) gesture!

These are the wines from our final stop. The winemaker said he prefers oaky wines and that flavor profile definitely came out in the tastings. I do not share the same preference, so this was my least favorite of all the wineries, but it was still neat to visit and learn a bit more about the unique grapes to Cyprus.