Tag:

short trip

Helsinki Travel Guide

by gezielciniz August 21, 2018

Helsinki was on my to see list for sometime as I was curious about Finland. Finally, I got to see it in my combined trip of Riga-Talinn-Helsinki. Honestly, I was surprised that “must see“ touristic activities in Helsinki are not so much but that worked out for me good as spending 2-3 days in Helsinki was just the right amount for me to cover what I wanted to see. So now I can give you the ultimate guide on what to do in Helsinki for a trip of same duration!

It is relatively easy to prepare a Helsinki guide considering things to do in Helsinki , the attraction/landmark places are close to each other and the `must` ones can be tackled in a few days. Of course I don’t mean it in sense that there is less thing to do in Helsinki but in the sense that you can pace it without rushing it and enjoy the city more 🙂

In this city guide for `Daughter of Baltics`, you will find info on what to do in Helsinki , what to see, what to eat, so basically a complete Helsinki city guide packed with everything you need to know before your trip 🙂 As usual we start with summary version of Helsinki city guide:

Travel: You can find many direct flights to Helsinki, but it is also very popular way to reach Helsinki by ferries from Talinn or Stockholm. For inside city, you can reach many places by walking but you will need a short ferry ride to the islands such as Suomenlinna.

Airport transport: Train would be the best choice from airport to city center and vice versa. It takes about 30 minutes and trains are very modern and comfy. Before I go, I made an internet search and prices looked 5.5 euro per person. But when I tried to buy from ticket machines there, II chosed airport and paid only 2.9 euro. I even asked a finnish person and he said ok, and I had control at the train and there were no problems with 2.9 euro ticket. If you want to grab a taxi though expect to pay 30-40 euro from center to the airport. (2017 prices)

Visa: Schengen visa

Currency: Euro

What to do in Helsinki : Senato Square, Lutherian Cathedral (White), Uspenski Cathedral (Red), Stone Church (Stone), Market Square, Sibelius Monument, Suomenlinna Sea Fort, Aleksanterinkatu shopping street, Eira neighbourhood

Food-Drink: Especially dish from reindeer meat and sea food. Korvapuusti (cinnamon bun), dark bread, Piirakat or piirakka (rice bun) and filter coffee. Check out Helsinki food guide for more details and restaurant suggestions.

Prices: Helsinki is not a cheap city. You can get sandwiches around 3-5 euro, coffee 3-5 euro, soft drink 2-4 euro, beer 6-8 euro and average dish can vary between 10-35 from cheap to mid level places. But at least you can find cheap options if your budget is really tight. You can just grab some bakery goods from supermarkets and I think this would be the cheapest option unless you are cooking. Eating fast food would be 8-10 euro but that would at least include your drink as well. Museums are on average 10 euro (by the way city museum is free). I wrote other attractions prices under their own details below. (2017 prices).

Helsinki card: 24 hours version was 46 euro (2017 prices). Not the cheapest city card but if you do buy it, main advantage would be visiting Suomenlinna.It covers going Suomenlinna, the tour there and some museum entries. In addition, you can use hop on hop off buss and 1.5-hour boat tour with this card. There is also a 4D 10 minutes attraction, which included in Helsinki Card. If you plan to do all these, it covers perfectly all the costs and saves you money. However, I have to say the city can be explored on foot perfectly fine as well. And if you are just going to do Suomenlinna this may not be worth it. I wrote Suomenlinna prices below when mentioning it under details of what to do in Helsinki .

Bonus: Normally I learn how to say simple phrases in the places I visit if they are speaking a language I don’t speak. Such as Hello, good morning, good day, thank you etc..

However with Finnish I couldn’t even remember one simple word :p

helsinki-vocabulary-300x142

But here are some in case you are more interested and talented then me 🙂

Good morning: Hyvää huomenta

Thanks: Kiitos

Bye: Näkemiin or mai mai

Helsinki first impression

I have heard that Finnish people tend to be introverted and shy before I have been to Helsinki. I’ll even add a joke to indicate the level of stereotypes:

How do you separate an introvert Finnish and an extrovert Finnish?

Well, that’s easy, if he is looking at your feet instead of his own feet, he is an extrovert Finnish person!

Well, luckily my experience wasn’t like this. They were very helpful and smiley but of course it was also clear that they tried to respect your space. I think almost all of them speaks very good English, I asked and answer was they learn it in school.

Anyway back to my first impressions of Helsinki, why is there so many shopping malls! I guess coming from Riga and Talinn to here was also changed my expectations, as for both cities, with main attraction was the old city part itself and I was expecting similar from Helsinki maybe.

Also I was expecting more touristic attractions, once again I’m not saying it as a complaint it worked out really good for me, but for the unitiated to Helsinki, like me, this maybe one of the first impressions as well 😊

And I loved to see many heavy metal listeners around from all age groups, it was a nice throwback for me to may collage years 😊. (Finland is famous for its heavy metal music groups).

Alright let’s see details of what to do in Helsinki :

What to do in Helsinki

Of course at the top of the what to see in Helsinki list comes the big white Lutheran Cathedral in the center and Senato square. You will also see the university around here.

This cathedral was made in the era where Soviet Russians was in control of Finland. Interior is not as fancy as outside. You will see many people sitting in front of its stairs, listening music, reading book, dancing, skating and of course photographing! I think sitting in these stairs and watching around is one of the nicest Helsinki experience you can do. Only problem might be when trying to take a nice photo you may have hard time if you want to exclude the big tourist buses parked in front of the place 😊

Speaking of Helsinki churches, you have 3 of them to see. Easy way to remember them is calling them white, red and stone one. The one above was naturally the white one.

Red one is Uspenski Cathedral, you should be able to see it form market square in the back ground. It is walking distance from there so I suggest you go visit here when you are near market square. Entry to these two cathedrals is free of charge.

Market Square is nearby Senato Square, and as you can tell from the name it is a market 😊 Charm point is it being in open air and many snack food and drink options next to sea. Naturally when whether is good not only locals are here but also it is full of tourists. It can get very crowded and chaotic but eating something here while looking around the scenery which consists of sea, boat tours, ferris wheel and red Cathedral in the back is one of the Helsinki experiences as well.

I would suggest getting a coffee or a cinnamon bun here instead of food as my impression was it was more expensive than general and probably not necessarily better.

Btw, the fountain you will see narby is called Havis Amanda, made in 1906, and nearby Esplanadi Park is a nice break in the middle of the city.

Main shopping street is Aleksanterinkatu. You will se emany shops and malls here, but buildings in general tend to look more on Gothic architecture than an average European city. For those of you looking for Helsinki Hard Rock Café, you will find it at the end of this street which leads to city center. Of the shopping malls, Stockmann is the Finnish one which also has malls in other countries.

One of the Helsinki attractions I was curious about was Sibelius Monument. Locations is relatively further away from city center but I recommend you visit here. It is a monument made in memory of musician Jean Sibelius, it is basically huge metal pipes but they do give really nice photos from distance and close by 😊 Plus the very famous 130 years old red wooden hause café by the sea, Café Regatta is close by. (I will mentioned this place more in food-drink section but short story `Must Go“)

Don’t worry I haven’t forgotten to mention third church and a must what to do in Helsinki list item – the Stone Church. I think it was one of the most different churches I have seen, not only in Helsinki but in general. It was refreshing to see a modern and spacious church. It is made into a huge tone, hence the name. Unfortunately, unlike other churches this one needs you to purchase a ticket to see inside. But at least it is only 3 euro (if you buy it from the café next to it 2.5 euro). But it is definitely one of the things to do in Helsinki.

If you are looking for a calm, peaceful sea view with less tourists, I suggest Eira neighbourhood. It is a nice location with next to seaside cafes and you will have anice walk along the shore.

Time for a roadtime story 😊 This is totally unrelated to what to do in Helsinki list so you can skip this part if you are not interested!

When I first came to Eira district, I was checking out the scenery where a bride and groom was also taking their wedding pictures.

An old gentlemen started chatting with me with “oh, look at the bride, how beautiful isn’t, it“ opening line. I was already thinking well if people come here to take their wedding ophotos, I must be in right place and I also started chatting with this gentleman. Conversations was generic naturally like where have you come from, what are you doing here etc. So he was from Denmark and he was living here for 7 years. He said life here is hard. Then of course I couldn’t help but asking then why have you come here? He said “lost love“. Besides it was a learning point for me to not speak so fast and blurt out personal questions, I felt very sad. Apparently he has 2 kids here, one around 24, other around 30s. and he said he will be around for some time here too.

Then we changed the topic. Once he learned that I came from Turkey, he mentioned that apparently his grandfather had a medallion from Ottoman Empire! Of course Iw as surprised and asked what kind of medallion is it but he was already telling the story 😀 So his grandfather was a gardener and thanks to his services he was deemed worthy of the medallion! He said we always joked in the family tht he made the gardens of the harem 😊

Later he gave me some directions on where to go next and left. But the expresion I witnessed in his face when he said `lost love`will be a memory I will remember. I wonder if I should have spend more time talking to that old gentleman!

What to do in Helsinki – Suomenlinna

So back to what to do in Helsinki ! When you are in Helsinki, you will see everywhere, I mean everywhere, advertisement/suggestion to go to Suomenlinna Sea Fortress. It was like if you can take only one advise on what to do in Helsinki it is visiting this place because I even saw it is suggested to people who had only 5-6 hours in Helsinki!

What makes this place so popular is I guess it is in UNESCO world heritage list. Back then it was a very important military defense location/asset, but now it is a touristic attraction with cafes, museums and walking tours. You can get here by ferry, it is a short 15 minutes trip. City lines (HSL Line) is the cheapest, but other many private lines you can get your round was ticket for 7 euro.

For 11 euro you can join a walking tour, I did! I was thinking there is no way I will understand why this place is so popular otherwise! Because as nice as it was, when branded as Finland’s number 1 attraction you have more expectations!

There is also two other islands nearby and you can also visit them.

So it apparently all started when Sweden started the project to build here against Russian’s building of St Petersburg. (for historically challenged ones, finland was under Sweden governance for 500 years) anyway at some point Russians get hold of this place, they also continue to build it but bottomline this place was never utilized to its power and used effectively.

One of the interesting history piece about this place was it has been used in Finland’s civil war, and the winning side used her to prison ten thousands and thousands died in these camps of starvation and conditions. And imagine these numbers with the total population of Finland!

So Suomenlinna apparently had part of this dark history too, and it was a strong contrast to see now green big square was back then the place of a camp where thousands died.

Inside of Suomenlinna Sea Fortress, you can see bastions, dry dock, King’s Gate, big square, church, museums, summer theater,Vesikko submarine and Field Marshal Ehrenvard’s monument grave. Ehrensvard was a Swedish guy who first started to build Suomenlinna, who thought I’d stay 2-3 years and go back and ended up staying there 25 years and dying there without even seeing the completion of it. But he was so loved and respected, even the King of Sweden joined his funeral and it was the first state funeral.

Btw did you know Molotov cocktail name is coming from Finns? (Molotov cocktail is a breakable glass bottle containing a flammable substance such as gasoline and mostly known to be used in protests as poor man’s arsenal). So during the Winter War, Soviet minister of Foreign affairs was Vyacheslav Molotov and he made a claim in radio broadcasts saying that they are not bombing but rather delivering food to the satarving finns. So finns started to call the air bombs Molotov bread baskets and then they invented a response to attackts with Molotov cocktails which were “a drink to go with the food“ !

You may think what it can do against air bombs, but actually back then it was quite effective for Russian tanks. Because the technology of the Russian tanks back then was depending on a one point of air withdrawal to cool down the engine but if you throw a Molotov cocktail there, you basically suck in the fire instead of cool weather and kills everyone inside the tank! Ok so why did I mentioned this story here? Because there is only couple of private property in Suomenlinna Sea Fortress and one of these houses belongs to the family whose grandfather invented the Molotov cocktail! (that’s what my guide told!)

So couple of worth mentioning place before I finally conclude what to do in Helsinki 😊

Hietalahti food market, where you can find many different cuisine side by side try and photograph. It is a closed food hall not open air. So can also be visited in winter time.

And there is also an amusement park in Helsinki, I haven’t been there but might be an option for families with kids. Entry is costless but attractions inside are with tickets.

Btw, I’m not sure if it can be classified as an attraction but it should totally be part of any proper what to do in Helsinki list: going to a finnish sauna! I was visiting in summer and even though it wasn’t hot weather I didn’t felt like going to a sauna so I can’t really recommend where to go for it!

Ok, so now we are finally done with what to do in Helsinki ! Good job on me saying there is relatively less place to see in Helsinki and managing to write this long on it 😀

Thanks for everyone who were patient enough to read until this point, I hope I was able to give you useful info on what to do in Helsinki . Let me know how was your Helsinki trip and if you have any tips and tricks for fellow travelers for what to do in Helsinki 😊

And for a detailed guide on what to eat in Helsinki check out my Helsinki food guide.

August 21, 2018 0 comment

Travel Guides

Luxembourg guide – not just a day tour city!

by gezielciniz May 2, 2017

written by gezielciniz

Luxembourg is not one of Europe’s tourist magnet places. I knew it when I searched for Luxembourg guide, what to do in Luxembourg, where to go in Luxembourg and had much less hits than any of my previous trip destinations 🙂

Luxembourg is a small country and hence many people assume there is nothing much to see or do. Actually I was one of those people with little to none expectation, so I’m extra happy that I get to overcome my prejudices about this country. Travel is indeed the medicine to broad and correct your views!

That being said, make no mistake Luxembourg is indeed a small country. And if you are looking for going into from one tourist action to another this is not a place of your dreams. I would say you need at least 3-4 days for Rome just to cover main attractions but for Luxembourg, it is a place I can suggest for a weekend or even a day trip. Though I mean it in a positive way because sometimes you need an easygoing trip with no need for “I have to see this here, I must do this” kind of rush.

But this is just for the capital Luxembourg City itself, actually I enjoyed my trips from capital to other regions as much as -even more than Luxembourg. Being small in size comes in handy for easy travel to nearby cities!

And as you can judge by the size of this Luxembourg guide, it may not be as small as you think 😉

So as usual I will start with summary info for Luxembourg guide and then we will go into details for what to see in Luxembourg.

Oh and in the meantime you may also want to check out this short video of yours truly gezielciniz in Luxembourg .

How to get to Luxembourg: Even though it is small (God, small will be the most used word of this guide isn’t it :p) there is an airport, and you can find many promotion flights so it doesn’t have to be costly. Though since it is located in BeNeLux region (Belgium-Netherlands-Luxembourg) many travelers chose to come via trains too.

Airport transport from Luxembourg City: I was pleasantly surprised once again to find a cheap airport transfer capital city after Lisbon. I mean come on guys Luxembourg has Lux in its name, and one of the known facts about Luxembourg is that citizens enjoy a high income here matched only but high living costs. Yeah, of course I expect a hefty transport price! well I was surprised, very much! You can get to city center with a 2 euro ticket valid for 2 hours. You should get into bus 16 (bus 29 also goes but bus 16 is faster). In fact if you would like to buy a day ticket it is just 4 euro, and best part, it is freaking valid for whole country!

Yes you read that right, so you can just hope into a train and go to another city in 1-2 hour distance and come back with this day ticket because it will give you access to every public transport (bus, trains) in all country not just capital Luxembourg City!

And by the way, if you want to take a taxi from airport, it is 6-7 km distance to city center and should cost around 25 euro.

Luxembourg guide – Vianden Castle

Visa: European citizens can stay as long as they want, while USA and Canada citizens can visit up to 90 days without a visa, if you also have Schengen visa it should be valid here, after all the famous Schengen is a village of Luxembourg.

Food Drink: If I am to name one Luxembourg dish to try it would be Judd mat gaardebounen. Made from pork meat, accompanied by potatoes and beans it certainly has a German cuisine feeling. Actually Luxembourg cuisine, like city itself, a mixture of German and French cuisine. And of course you will find many fast food and doner places as usual.

Things to do: Casemates du Bock(part of Unesco World heritage list, a fortress made of caves), Corniche (Europe’s most beautiful balcony), Kathedral, Palace of the Grand Dukes, Place Guillaume II, Town Hall, Place d’Armes square, Grund (old city district), Clairefontaine Square and Duchess Charlotte Memorial, Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial

And if you have additional days, you may want to consider day trips to:

Vianden: Medieval style town with a castle, part of Unesco cultural heritage since 2013.

Schengen: Just for sake of saying you have been in Schengen 🙂 There are couple of memorials and a museum for EU and Schengen agreement. There is a fairy tail style tower just behind and actually starting point for Luxembourg wine route.

3 euro for the wax figure, 2 euro for the book 🙂

Yes, there is a wine route you can follow and you can make stops along the way to taste and buy Luxembourg local wine producers.

And there is another part of Luxembourg known as Little Swiss -a region famous for its nature and hiking trails.

Prices: Luxembourg is not a cheap city. I would say prices are above European average though not as high as Norway and Denmark level! But still you can tell it is an expensive and small city when you notice there is only one hostel and its over 20 euro per night!

I stayed in this only one hostel and paid 65 euro for 3 nights, including breakfast and it was a clean nice hostel. Some other prices to give you an idea:

Coffee 2,5-3 euro, beer 3-5 euro, main dish in a normal restaurant startsaround 12 euro, but average prices are around 20 euro. Fast food menus are around 8-10 euro and a Turkish doner would be 4.5 euro.

The only paid tourist attraction in Luxembourg city De Bock is 6 euro.

Luxembourg guide – sunday market

Luxembourg Card: Like many touristic city, Luxembourg has its own city card that offers visitors discounts and free entries to cities attractions. 2017 prices for Luxembourg card was 13 euro for 1 day and 20 euro for 2 days. As part of gezielciniz Luxembourg guide, let me calculate for you if it is worth to get this card 🙂

In short unless you plan to go to Vianden, you are ok without it!

As I mentioned above day ticket for transport is 4 euro and castle entry in Vianden is 7 euro, and Casametes du Bock is 6 euro. So if you plan to go to Casametes du Bock in the morning and then go to vianden and visit castle then you are good! Also this card will save you 5 euro more allowing you to free entry to Victor Hugo’s house in Vianden but you are not missing much if you pass this attraction!

Alright, now time for Luxembourg guide details on where to go in Luxembourg.

There is frankly no need for public transport usage in Luxembourg City, as city center and interest points are close and small to each other. But you may need it if you plan to visit American Cemetery as it is a bit further. In any case if you need to buy it 2 hours tickets are 2 euro and day tickets are 4 euro and I will never get tried of saying this but it is valid for all country 😀

I think at this point I should mention the actual size of Luxembourg just to get rid of your curiosity and save you a click to Google, country is around 2500 km square and total population is around 570 thousand. For capital Luxembourg City, it is 51 km square and population is around 107 thousand. (People from metropolitan cities can’t process this numbers smaller then their neighborhood now lol :D)

City center has classic European feeling, nice clean architecture, cobble stone streets with cafes on both sides, occasional fountains etc.. But you understand this is not a big city soon enough as you walk by same fountain for the 3rd time in an hour!

There is no tourist info in the airport but there is one in center, near one of the main squares. Dropping by as first thing and getting free city map is always good idea 🙂 Besides from a statue there is not much to see in this square but on Sundays there is market taking place here. And enjoying a freshly cooked home cake or croissant from this market could be a good breakfast idea.

You will find Cathedral just behind this square. It is a Gothic style nice Cathedral but can’t say it has a distinctly striking feature compared to other Cathedrals in Europe. If anything, it was first time that I stumbled upon modern style paintings inside a Cathedral.

Palace of the Grand Dukes is basically where the royal family’s home is 🙂 Fun fact, Luxembourg is the only remaining grand duchy. If you see the flag is raised it means currently there is someone from royal family in the house, so pay attention to this little detail 😉 But more importantly you will find one of the best spots in Luxembourg just across this place called “Chocolate House” . As the name suggests it is the place for a sweet stop but you will be surprised how delicious the cakes looked and how many flavors they have for hot chocolate! Not to mention this place is one of the remaining old style Luxembourg houses and it is actually a nice opportunity to see such structure from inside.

At this point you may still think, ok but I need pictures to put on Instagram so you should head to Corniche also known as best balcony view of Europe. Any Luxembourg guide has to feature it!

This is a viewing stop where you can look over to old city -also known as Grund and really has nice scenery. One of the best activity you can do in Luxembourg is just walk from here to old city following the downhill way and stop at Scott’s Pub for a coffee, beer, wine whatever you like drink with a nice river and old houses view (as in cover photo for this Luxembourg guide article).

But before heading down to old city, you should visit cities most known attraction in Luxembourg which is Casemates Du Bock. It is remains of an old fortress structure currently part of Unesco World Heritage. Structure itself is very old actually, parts of it started to be constructed in 10th century, at its peak it was over 23 km and 40 meter deep with many layers and really strong protection. Actually this fortress was so defensive that it was also known as Gibraltar of the North.

Unfortunately in 1867, as part of Luxembourg neutralization, they demolished this structure to 17 km. Only reason they didn’t destroyed more is because it would hurt city foundation itself. Right now you can visit and walk in some of these 17 km but of course only a small portion. You can get nice views of the city and some weaponry. There are many guides for this place you may want to consider joining one.

Another popular spot especially for USA visitors is the go to American Cemetery memorial where famous general George S. Patton also rests. Well, that’s it for Luxembourg guide! Actually you can fit all of above in one busy day. I stayed 4 days in Luxembourg City, and I used my 3rd and 4th days to visit other cities and regions in Luxembourg.

I went to Vianden, Schengen and Remich.

Vianden is a small cute place. Famous for its medieval style houses and castle, which came under protection of UNESCO Heritage in 2013. There are nice cafes along a nice street but notice lack of plurals in street 🙂 So it is very small city, but here are couple of other attractions here too along with visiting castle, you can also visit Victor Hugo’s house. Though unless you have 5 euros to burn or hard core fan of Victor Hugo you won’t be missing too much if you skip this one. House is very small as you can guess and there is not much personal belongings kind of exhibition. It would take 5 minutes to see all rooms and take a picture in the room with wax figure of Victor Hugo. By the way all books and notebooks decors, all writings are in German or French, no English.

Schengen, yes first word I will use, is small! But it was a fun visit for me because as a non-EU, non USA, non Canadian traveller I had to often apply and get Schengen visa to enter European countries and to see the place where this agreement is made is nice.

Schengen is a village on Mosel river side, other side of the river is Germany. There are couple of memorials, museum and gift shop for EU and Schengen agreement. And a very lovely charming fairy tale style tower 🙂

I’ll write my Schengen visit in more detail later on!

Actually I would also like to visit Little Swiss (Mullerthal region) and do the wine route (Mosel region) but weather was not good for these trips. Let me know if you do it, how was your experience 🙂

And here I also write about restaurants and cafes I visited in case you need reference places 🙂 Here is link to where to eat in Luxembourg

Overall it was a short but calming vacation for me. Let me know if you have questions or additions you would like to make for my Luxembourg guide !

In the meantime please enjoy this short video of yours truly Gezielciniz in Luxembourg

May 2, 2017 0 comment

Food-Drink Travel Guides

Where to eat in Belgrade

by gezielciniz December 28, 2016

written by gezielciniz

What to eat in Belgrade is easy to answer, where to eat in Belgrade is not so easy because unless you have a capacity of hungry hippos you have to make a choice between nice places. Don’t worry though; I have answers for both questions 🙂

Belgrade is an amazing place: food is delicious and good priced. You should definitely try red meat here but it is a place where you can find anything from sushi to Italian. So let me introduce you to some of mention worthy places in Belgrade for eating out and later what to eat.

My first recommendation will be for meat lovers. You can find meat in various forms in Belgrade, used in most of the local dishes or as pure T-bone steak or many dried versions sold in markets. (Actually many people chose to get some dried meat from here when they return as a souvenir but if you do so it might be better to put in your luggage not hand-luggage).

So for steak lovers my recommendation on where to eat in Belgrade is ` Toro Steakhouse`.

And as for the local dish/place recommendations on where to eat in Belgrade actually I have 3 places to recommend:

4 main dish (meat) + 3 salad +3 beer +1 cola= 4500 dinar so it is like 36 euro –>9 euro per person!

First one is where one of my local friend took us ` Cuburska Lipa`

Cuburska Lipa has classic decor and has a `your friendly neighborhood` place feeling. Actually if it wasn’t for our local friend we probably wouldn’t find this place. Portions of meals were big as usual of Belgrade and cheap as usual to our surprise because when we first came in and see the service and place we thought it might be expensive than normal Belgrade standards. It wasn’t.

Second one is a place we saw it on Trip Advisor and heard from friends so we wanted to try ourselves: Gradska

Gradska also had an interesting location, we could only find thanks to offline maps and navigation. If it weren’t for the comments we read and heard I wouldn’t bother finding! But good thing we bothered as it was a very cosy and friendly place with good food. Our waitress was really friendly and later she offered us free drinks `rakija`. (My God, what a drink! I mean I’m not a weakling for alcohol but it was really high alcohol and spicy and really not for everyone!). Food was once again really good and cheap.

I just ate salad for the dinner, so I’m keeping my diet, nevermind the half kilo cheese on top of it!

And last of my where to eat in Belgrade local food place recommendation is a place I heard a lot from my traveler friends: Şeşir Moj. It is on famous Skadarlija Street (a place you will hear a lot on what to do in Belgrade). Actually I would say that most places in this street are a good choice to experience local food and dinner time –Balkan tavern entertainment. But if I have to give another name it would be Dva Jelana where you can find hunt animal meats such as deer. Fun fact, Şeşir Moj means my hat and Dva Jelana means two reindeers so it is also interesting to learn what the names of restaurants in this area meant 🙂

So far we talked mostly about meat and local places let’s see what else is there.

Lorenzo Kakalamba is one of the places to answer where to eat in Belgrade. This place is famous for its really interesting interior and a kitchen which is a combination of Italian and Serbian food.

For sushi lovers they should look for W Sushi.

And if you want a bit more high end places you can check Manufactura or Dorian Gray. Though compared to Belgrade standards these places would be expensive they will still be reasonably priced compared to most of the Europe.

Sol baştaki Sırp kahvaltı tabağı, sağdaki başka kahvaltı, ortadaki de hızımızı alamadık yumurtaları…

For breakfast my suggestion is La Petit again in Skadarlija Street. Well to be honest there is just many places to try in this street and they all are nice, but I suggested this place because they have a plate called `Serbian breakfast plate` and it has cheese, special Serbian butter, ajvar, dried meat, borek in it which is a good combination for a super breakfast time! And you can order other plates and extra eggs too like we did for an extra super-duper breakfast time!

Eggs and bacon is one usual way to start the day and another popular option for Serbians are getting some pastries for breakfast from bakery shops called `Pekera`. So if you see a place named `… Pekera` , there you can find many fresh made and delicious pastries including sandwiches, little pizza, and sweets too. You can sit also but most of them only have places to stand and eat and it will be really cheapest and delicious option for breakfast. If you want to go a somewhat famous pekera then try Pekera Toma.

So we covered where to eat in Belgrade now let’s focus on what to eat in Belgrade!

Here are some local foods you should try while you are in Belgrade:

Cevapcici – made from red meat this is flag dish for Balkans, basically they are like meatballs in short finger shape and always ask for `kaymak` with it.

And you must definitely have Karadordeva/Karajorjeva! Actually if I am to suggest you just one thing to try it would be this Karajorjeva! It is again a meat dish but I’ll say no further just try it!

I love breakfast in new places the most where my camera and map also shares the table!

`I can eat a lot more tell me more people` should save some place for Pljeskavica – another version of Balkan meat ball this time shaped in one big flat piece and don’t forget to ask for salad with every meal!

They have this salad called Sopska and Serbian of which you should try both. Actually they almost have same ingredients like tomatoes, cucumber etc and but one has onions in it. My favorite is Sopska though because it comes with plenty of cheese on top of it!

(Side note Cevapcici and Sopska are also local food in Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Before ordering though, be aware that portions came really big so if you are not travelling alone you might want to consider sharing your plate.

As for the desserts, there is this local dessert called Krempita, but not expect too much as it is just plain cream between milfoy dough but you might want to try it from one of the pekeras for around 150 Serbian dinar.

And as for the local drink you can ask for sljivovica or rakija but let me warn you it is pretty strong alcoholic drink! Don’t assume you are used to alcohol as it contains really high alcohol and very spices. But guaranteed to make you feel hotter!

Also I saw lots of pizza places around Belgrade, really much to notice. And yes they were nice as well. (Ok at this point I should probably admit that I was a hungry hippo while in Belgrade!)

Bu da rakija dedikleri içkileri, buzlu bardak içinde beher tüpü gibi geliyor, daha kötü çekilmiş ve hiç belli olmayan fotom yoktu, olsaydı ona koyacaktım, şimdilik bunla idare edin!

This is a bad, if not worst, picture of rakija, served in a tube inside a glass full of ice, next time I promise I’ll bring my lighting systems to dinner!

PS: Only minus point to mention for where to eat in Belgrade is that they allow smoking inside so if you are visiting in cold season and sit inside and have at the same time heavy smoking customers it may not be as nice as it would normally be!

So I hope I was able to answer what to eat in Belgrade and where to eat in Belgrade ! Let me know if you have questions or suggestions in the comments!

By the way speaking of Belgrade, you might be interested in below articles as well:

Belgrade Guide

What to do in Belgrade

Belgrade Night Life

December 28, 2016 0 comment

Travel Guides

Athens Guide the perfect weekend!

by gezielciniz December 28, 2016

written by gezielciniz

Athens is one of the best destinations for a weekend getaway. City is full of life, and you are guaranteed to have nice time day or night in full 2 days. So buckle up and get ready for a gezielciniz Athens guide weekend version!

This trip was my first with Turkey’s Traveller Club members. We were 3 people and one of us already saw Athens many times before but he joined because Athens on weekends is always a good idea! We got our tickets arriving early Saturday and returning late Sunday giving us perfect time management on a weekend trip.

I have been to Greece before but not to Athens and as you might already know by now I just “have to” see the capitals 😀 And moreover I was really looking forward to see Parthenon as I was a fan of Xena and Hercules when I was a child and really interested in Greek mythology. So seeing Parthenon was on my lifetime bucket list and I was really excited for that.

So enough chit chat, let’s start with summary Athens guide version as usual and then dive into details:

Travel: Athens, being the capital of Greece, very easy to reach as you can find many daily flights. And usually at good prices as well. Also many cruise tours have a stop on nearest shore (outside Athens) and take a half day to see Acropolis and return on the same day.

Airport Transfer: Athens Elefterios Venizelos International airport is 22 km to the city center. You can take the subway and it would cost you 8€, or with taxi 40 €.

Visa: Schengen. One thing to note though, if you have Norther Cyprus visa on your passport this may cause you trouble as this is sensitive topic for Greece.

Food: It is very likely that you encountered delicious Greek food before, but if not get ready for a feast. You have to try Gyros (similar to Turkish doner), souvlaki (similar to Turkish kebab), Greek salad, any kinds of sea food, Greek coffee(similar to Turkish coffee), Greek alcohol drink ouzo (similar to Turkish rakı). Yeap Greeks and Turks are neighbors and we have similar testes in food. So if you like Greek or Turkish food you will really enjoy here.

What to see: Acropolis, Syntagma Square, Ermou Street, Monastiraki Square (Plaka), fleemarket (Ifestaau and Astiggos streets), Aga Irini Palatz , Psiri, Adrianou Street, Acropolis Museum, National Archeology Museum, Kolonaki street (luxury shopping street)

Where to stay: Especially central places such as Syntagma or Monastiraki would be convenient. Prices are usually reasonable, you should be able to find a decent room for two around 40-60 euro in these central places. Even more cheaper if you get it early reservation.

Prices: Compared to rest of the Europe food and drink prices are really cheap. (Well unless you go to high end luxurious restaurants). You can actually have a really nice lunch or dinner per 5-6 euro per person. (Take that Norway!) And taxi prices are not bad as well if you are traveling in a group. For taxis you can see fixed prices for certain distances such as from airport or central places so you have a piece of mind that you won’t get screwed over distance and prices. Though most likely you can also walk through the city unless it is airport journey.

Alright now detail version of Athens guide below!

Obviously first thing you should do in Athens is visit Acropolis. Actually we went right away from airport without checking in to our hotel as we only had small backpacks. Entry is 12 euro and frankly a bit higher then expected but you haven’t been to Athens if you don’t visit here so it is a necessary cost. (Hence I start Athens guide with this place first!)

So Acropolis is basically an ancient citadel where now you can see remains of historical building next to each other. You have to walk a bit to a hill because “Acropolis” is literally city above and it was built on top of a hill where you can see rest of the city. Parthenon, Theater of Herodes Atticus and Dionysos, couple of temples are some of the historical building you can see here.

Well more accurately whatever remained from these buildings because these are structures from 2500 years ago so currently not very much left to see save for some columns and stones…There seems to be restoration ongoing but since this restoration has started in 1975, chances are it will be ongoing for quite some time.

Though it is a bit unfortunate, especially if you are expecting to see old temples and such ( like myself) considering history of these buildings (multiple huge fires, destruction from war as it was used as an explosive weaponry storage at the time and got hit..etc) it is actually amazing there are any standing columns remained.

I liked theater of Herodes Atticus most because despite its age of 2000 years, it somehow still has a proper condition and actually can still be used as a concert place time to time! You will be surprised to hear who had concerts here; from Frank Sinatra to Sting, Jethro Tull to Andrea Bocelli and even Elton John! Not to mention lots of Greek artists and ballet and symphony orchestras. It is very nice to take a picture here and made me want to come in another summer time where I can watch a show here!

Before moving on to city center and other areas of Athens guide, one side note, Acropolis museum is not in Acropolis! It is close but museum is on the street you will probably pass through to come to Acropolis. Entry was 5 or 6 euro if I recall. Again not to expect much from this museum as it doesn’t have much to offer to its visitors because most of the salvaged art pieces were smuggled to many other countries and exhibited in their museums (We are looking at you UK!).

But the entry of the museum you can see an ongoing archaeological excavation ongoing under glass floor and it was cool. And museum has a nice café where you can see sit outside and watch Acropolis and city landscape.

So, let’s have a look at the city center.

Syntagma Square (Syntagma Plaka) is one of the most known squares as it hosts Parliament building. It is a popular tourist attraction to watch soldiers waiting in front of no name soldier monument to exchange places. Well I’m not very into watching this soldier change place things but I can say Greek version was interesting as soldiers walked to each other in steps with 90 degree and they had interesting uniform with cute shoes! But that’s about all the action in this square.

After having a look at Syntagma Square, you should take Ermou street and come to the real main square which is Monastiraki Square.

On your way through Ermou Street, you will notice that it is one of the main shopping streets. This street is usually crowded with lots of people as many shops, cafes and restaurants are side by side all along it. Monastiraki Square can be called main square because it is crossroads for different part of the city such as Plaka and Acropolis. One of the most eye catching building in this square is a mosque named Mustafa Ağa Tsisdarakis Camii. Well more accurately it was a mosque as you can still tell from its architecture but today it is used as Greek Folk Art museum.

If you want to have an Acropolis photo where you stand in front and Acropolis behind you, this square is the place to take one. And you should definitely check out many streets around this area one being Adrianou Street to also have a small café break. And actually there is a flea market nearby so you will also probably stumble upon that.

But mentioning of flea markets, (and this being the weekend get away version of Athens guide ), if you are here on a Sunday you should check Abyssinia Square and around as you will see streets full of side by side open market hand crafted goods, natural stones, one of a kind handmade t-shirts, really interesting accessories and antique sellers.

I have been to many flea markets but I can say they really had different artisans. In fact we even stumbled upon a couple with their small kid who were on the roads for years and having a corner and asking for donations and selling their hand made goods. For non Greeks (as Greeks already know!) if you like something in these markets do not forget to haggle 😉

Another must check out place is Plaka area. This area is home to Greek style entertainment and food with stone roads and old houses- and most likely your evening stop.

And Kolonaki is the area to go if you are into high end neighborhood with brand shopping in mind!

Alright now best part of Athens guide, food and drinks!

Gyros is made of meat and very similar to popular Turkish fast food doner as I assume you must have tested it at some point of your life 🙂

Souvlaki is simply Greek kebab and they have two versions one with yogurt one without.

Greek salad is a must to try and in fact any kind of sea food is also good. But seriously they are masters in salad! And good thing is their portions are generous and prices are really reasonable.

Mythos is Greek beer brand and it will be good company on your first break while exploring the city.

Obviously another popular Greek drink is ouzo but we will come to that in a minute. If you are not into alcohol, Athens might be good place to try Frappe as it is a Greek invention. (Though it is from Thessaloniki not Athens)

As for the desserts, one thing that stuck to me was a dessert place where they have this fried dough and you chose to put various sweet sauces and chocolate and ice cream into it. It is a simple idea but results are just perfect! And you can but dried fruits covered in chocolates in many shops as it is also popular.

But as for all of the restaurants, though they are certainly friendly, do not expect fast service 🙂 They are easy going relaxed people and service industry, especially if you are from USA, might be different then you expected in sense of speed!

So no Athens guide is complete without mentioning Greek entertainment, but first you have to make a decision! Do you want to try classical Greek tavern style entertainment or do you want modern pub/club entertainment?

“I want to break some plates and play me sirtaki all night” people should head to Plaka Monastiraki area where they can pick a place and enjoy a night of Greek music, food and ouzo. And if you are a crowded group you may want to negotiate first and have a nice deal.

And if you want to see modern entertainment in Athens, you should head to where young people usually goes such as Gazi area and near seaside. Psyrri ve Metaxuorgio areas have nice places to check out.

Let me know if you have questions or some suggestions to add to Athens guide in the comments!

December 28, 2016 0 comment

Travel Guides

Belgrade Guide -all answers you are looking for!

by gezielciniz December 28, 2016

written by gezielciniz

Belgrade is a popular destination especially famous for its entertainment and delicious cheap food so it is a perfect choice for a weekend getaway or 2-3 days visit when you are in Europe. Therefore preparing a Belgrade guide to answer your questions on what to do in Belgrade, where to eat in Belgrade and of course Belgrade night life, is my duty as your gezielciniz!

As usual here is summary version of Belgrade guide and don’t forget to check detail versions!

Travel: Belgrade have many cheap flights from Europe and actually arriving with train and bus is also a widely used option though not for comfy traveler!

Airport transfer: Actually I would suggest taking a taxi from airport to city center as it is quite cheap (should be around 1500-1800 kruz so around 12 euro). Otherwise you can also take bus and minibus options. You don’t need to exchange much money at the airport as you can find exchange office everywhere across city even open on Sundays and late evening!

Visa: Serbia is pretty visa friendly country, if you are visiting for touristic purposes (staying less than 90 days in 180 days) they allow 74 country citizens to enter without visa including all Schengen area countries, United states, Canada, Australia, Japan , Turkey..etc..For more information please check https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Serbia

Food: A red meat heaven! Dish names you should especially note are Cevapcici (made from red meat this is flag dish for Balkans, basically they are like meatballs in short finger shape and always ask for `kaymak` with it.) – any Belgrade guide without mentioning this would have been incomplete, and my personal favorite Karadordeva (aka karajorjeva –just amazing must try –again meat dish) , Pljeskavica (another version of Balkan meat ball this time shaped in one big flat piece) , Sopska Salad and as for the dessert Krempita –but do not expect too much of this dessert just focus on the food!

They have a local alcoholic drink called sljivovica or rakija but be warned as it is very strong and spicey and not for everyone! For restaurant and café suggestions check out where to eat in Belgrade.

Sightseeing: Kalemegdan, Nikola Tesla Museum, Zemun (old town), Garos Tower, Knez Mihajlova Street, Skadarlija Street (Bohemian Quarter), St Sava church.

Actually I would like to mention more on sightseeing places in this Belgrade guide but then it becomes too long to read! So for more details on these places and more please check out what to do in Belgrade.

Where to stay: You can find really economic nice deals in Belgrade. We were travelling with 4 people so we wanted to rent a house in city center. It costed 9 euro per person! So it was 36 euro per night and actually it had 5 beds and a coach so basically we could have stayed 6 people there! Building looked really old and not good condition from outside but inside was more than good. Since we were just `home` to sleep, it was just perfect for us. It also had a kitchen but we didn’t use. Where we stayed: Apartments Skadarlija.

Prices: One of the best places in Europe as everything has reasonable prices. (After Norway it felt basically free!) 1 euro is around 120 serbian dinars. (2016-12) and some example prices:a coffee/tee cost around 150-300 dinars depending on your café shop fanciness, dinner for 4 people including 4 main dish (meat) + 3 salad +3 beer +1 cola+ 4500 dinar so it is like 36 euro (so 9 euro per person! -and portions are big here!), entry to Tesla museum 500 dinar, entry to Garos Tower 200 dinar.

So let’s mention some general impression and tips about Belgrade.

Belgrade will give you oldies but goldies vibe in Europe. When I say old, I don’t mean medieval old in this case but just 10-20 years older than current times. This is actually not surprising because war in 1990s really staggered the growth of Balkan cities and Belgrade is no different. That’s why you feel it is modern but somehow old and still in the middle of developing vibe. I really felt like a trip to the past in Belgrade, because music played in most places were old music and they allow smoking inside so that really gave me the 90s impression.

You can explore the city in couple of days as cultural and touristic places are conveniently closely located to each other therefore making it ideal for a short trip destination.

Before I came here I didn’t understand why so many of my traveler friends visited this place over and over but then once I tried the cheap and good quality restaurants here I could see the reason! I’m also considering re-visiting Belgrade too and I say this despite my unpleasant first arrival in the city which was in a night bus from Bosnia. The bus arrived so early in the morning and my sweet sleep interrupted so suddenly that I found myself out on the cold streets where nobody was around just after seconds I opened my eyes. Needles to stay I was in instant grumpy mode and that was how I first met with Belgrade!

Anyway, most travelers chose to stay near Kalemegdan, Knez Mihajlova and Skadarlija (as we also did). And these places are close to each other in walking distance. Actually you will probably only need transportation when coming or going to airport or maybe crossing the river to go to other side of the city. Otherwise walking on foot is really best way. For public transport, trams are widely used and cheap. Taxis are also cheap; since we were couple of people we used this method a lot. There is this taxi service called `Pink Taxi` where you can call for a taxi in English and prices are controlled so it is also a good option if you don’t want to trust to taxi drivers fearing a tourist trap 🙂

As I just mentioned Belgrade is divided by a river so depending on which side of the river you are (old town side or new town side), attractions change. You can find out more on what to do in Belgrade depending on which side you are in. But if the weather is good don’t forget to take a river tour as well!

Serbians are proud of their guest friendly nature. That was my impression as well after meeting with local friends of friends I first met there and random strangers we met on the streets asking for directions or other things!

So these were my general tips and info about Belgrade guide, don’t forget to check detail parts on

where to eat in Belgrade,

what to do in Belgrade and of course infamous

Belgrade night life 😉

December 28, 2016 0 comment

Travel Guides

What to do in Belgrade (must see places)

by gezielciniz December 28, 2016

written by gezielciniz

Belgrade is a popular destination especially famous for its entertainment and delicious cheap food so it is a perfect choice for a weekend getaway or 2-3 days visit when you are in Europe. Therefore preparing a Belgrade Guide was my duty as your gezielciniz! So right now you are in detailed version of what to do in Belgrade.

For general info and summary versions of all parts you should check Belgrade Guide, and also here is a comprehensive guide on where to eat in Belgrade (and what to eat!) and of course Belgrade Night life as well.

Alright, so good news, “what to do in Belgrade” aka “what are the must do sightseeing activities in Serbian capital Belgrade” is actually very manageable. You can do `must do` sightseeing in 2 days, here is how.

what to do in Belgrade ? Go to Kalemegdan of course!

First thing to know is Belgrade is divided by a river (kind of typical for a European city). So depending on which side you are, activities and things to see will change. Therefore I cover it for each side separately. But most places are just a walking distance to each other so don’t imagine a huge distance between river sides.

On `New Town` part of the river you can find many touristic attraction places, starting with Kalemegdan. Actually this is number one in all what to do in Belgrade guides! Name of Kalemegdan has its Turkish origins meaning `castle square`. This is a big area so I suggest planning 2-3 hours of visit so you can thoroughly enjoy parks and city view inside, visit military museum and have a nice coffee break while viewing the city from above. In fact you can also stumble upon temporary exhibits inside Kalemegdan additional to military museum, I saw `torture tools` exhibition while there. Though that doesn’t sound delightful, it was interesting and knowing more about history was not bad at all.

While exploring Kalemegdan you will notice some really old gates/doors. Main entrance what remained from Ottomans who ruled over Belgrade at the time and named in Turkish Istanbul Gate. Of course it doesn’t look like much now but in old times it was a really important place. In park areas you will see old men playing chess and crowd watching and many lovers who enjoy city view and of course many tourist groups.

When you are in the mood for a break, check out Kalemegdan Teras as it is a conveniently located inside Kalemegdan cafe/bar. It will be a good choice with its good view. It also has restaurant part but prices are slightly higher then what you can find in city and frankly there are so many good places to try and eat in Belgrade so I suggest just a drink/coffee stop here to enjoy view.

Kalemegdan Teras cafe view

Main street is Knez Mihajlova, where you will find many cafes and shops side by side with always people walking around. But my favorite place in this side of the river was Skadarlija Street. This is also called Bohemian quarters and in stone cobbled street you will find very nice cafes and restaurants side by side with eye catching names and décor. Especially if you are visiting on summer time you will probably see street musicians and many flowers to make the street even more beautiful to the level that you want to Instagram every corner! Restaurants and cafes here are all good choices, in fact I covered many of them in where to eat in Belgrade and these are local places where at night you can also enjoy as Balkan taverns.

Another sightseeing point in this side is St Sava Church which has a mighty look outside so if you have seen/visited enough churches it may be enough to see just from outside!

And last but not least of this side’s popular attraction would be visiting `Nikola Tesla Museum`. As a Worldwide renowned genius above his time Nikola Tesla, actually never lived in Serbia but he had Serbian origins and this is a proud fact for Serbians. So after his death, thanks to a generous donation this house turned into museum for his work. Building is pretty small so they can’t exhibit everything they have on Nikola Tesla but you can be part of some of the experiments using prototypes of Nikola Tesla’s works in museums free tours. They provide these English tours free of charge and they explain how the things you saw around works very good and even do some experiments together. Don’t forget to check out `memory book` where visitors can sign and make notes, there are some pretty funny comments inside!

Alright, so these were the most popular things to do in the new town side of the river. What about the other side?

Well the other side of the river is called `Old Town` area (surprise surprise!) and like the name it will really give you old times feeling with cobble streets and old style buildings.

I suggest to go to Zemun part which is kind of center for this area. Nearby river you will find many good restaurants and clubs too. So if you have evening-night plans it will likely be around this area too.

It is well worth going to Garos Tower for a mere 200 krus entry you can see this part of the city from above and it is a pretty sight. Then stroll down to the river side and have a break in one of the nice places across. In the main square area you may also stumble upon open air market.

Garos Tower

That was all `must see` places I wanted to list and these are actually the ones covered in free city map copy (which you can get once you arrive in Belgrade).

If you have more then 2-3 days you can also check out `National museum`, `Sveti Marco Church`, `Princess Ljubice Palace` and `Car museum`.

And actually even better go visit a beautiful city nearby called `Novigrad`!

So I hope now you have an answer on what to do in Belgrade ! Let me know in the comments if we can add some more suggestions to this list or if you have questions!

Also if you are interested more on Belgrade:

Belgrade Guide

Where to eat in Belgrade

Belgrade Night Life

View from Garos Tower

December 28, 2016 0 comment

Travel Guides

Strasbourg the Capital of Christmas!

by gezielciniz December 21, 2015

written by gezielciniz

As a Christmas time destination Strasbourg is one of the best choices. I think it is one of the most romantic and beautiful city in Europe and in Christmas time it gets even more beautiful!

Christmas Market visiting is an old tradition of Europe. Especially Germany, France and UK is famous for it but many European cities have their own Christmas markets. Generally speaking ones in Germany are more popular but France city Strasbourg has a special place because it is also known as “Capital of Christmas”. There is even a sign at one of the main entry points saying “Welcome to the Capital of Christmas” of course in little cute lights.

After seeing it with my own eyes I would say it is a well-deserved title because city really gets into Christmas mood! Normally you would see some action and decoration around Christmas markets area but in Strasbourg almost all streets were decorated in Noel spirit! Some streets are even decorated in a special theme like all white decorations!

Strasbourg is near German border of France and previously it was a German city. Therefore city has both French and German characteristics, I would say both good traits were passed 🙂 Strasbourg is full of nice old houses, riverside view, parks, nice café and boutique filled streets so it is very fun to walk around. Strasbourg is very photogenic as well. River provides a good view and also you can get on a river tour to enjoy more scenery. One of the attractions here is that on your boat tour there is a special place where they have to change the leverage of the water so the boat can go on. In good weather it is more fun to do the boat tour. Also you can do canoe in the river even in Christmas time.

Speaking of Christmas time you will see all kinds of Christmas decorations in this town! Snowflakes, Santa Clause, reindeers, angels, teddy bears, toys, flowers, shiny balls, and gift packages…Even walls of building will be covered in these! Of course streets will are covered in small lights and more than one Christmas trees in certain squares.

Most action occurs around the Cathedral as many Christmas market shops open in this area. Of course you will find many Glühwein (hot wine or mulled wine) here, you can choose red or white and another good drink choice here would be hot orange juice. This one is free of alcohol and despite how it sounds it really tastes good (believe me I was skeptic as well!) Like many Christmas markets cups are special each year and for additional price, like one euro, you can keep the cup as a souvenir. If you don’t want to keep it just return it to where you bought it and they will give you your money cup money back!

While you are browsing through cute shops in the Christmas market (or trying to make your way since it will be very crowded at night time), you can stop resisting crepe smells and buy a Nutella crepe usually around 3-5 euros. You can find sweet or cheese version. Another popular snack is bagettes and waffles. I would recommend leaving space for Christmas cookies or at least buy a package to eat later!

When you are not hungry maybe you can notice other Christmas market stands 😀 Most sells cute decorations, candles, local products, handcrafted items, special soaps..etc.

Cathedral area would be the most crowded place so it may be hard to navigate in the crowd but you will come across spontaneous little concerts, costumed Santa Clauses walking around and other small attractions.

In any case, Strasbourg is very nice place to visit whether it is Christmas time or not. I can suggest this city for anyone, to romantic trip planners, friend trips, solo trips and family trips. It doesn’t need to be e long trip though, just fo a small break. Also if you have an extra day I would highly recommend visiting nearby German city Heidelberg (100km).

December 21, 2015 0 comment