Logan Went Down to Georgia : Travel: Eat, Pray, Love, Repeat

I am always at a loss when it comes to reporting on a vacation. I’d love to tell you everything, but I’d also love for it to not be a travel log of all the places I saw while away. I can start by giving you the stats though. I spent 16 days traveling 1,650 miles through 8 countries and 21 cities to reunite with 4 old friends and eat uncountable amounts of calories (paying in 5 different currencies) and have new adventures. It was a trip for the ages!

Perast, Montenegro

Part 1 of my trip was 3 days of solo travel, a first for this highly extroverted traveler. I was a little bit nervous at first but the excitement of trying something new was also great. I made my way to Tirana, Albania on an early morning flight from Tbilisi and so my journey began. I had time to kill in Tirana so I decided to wander the city and find food (a common occurrence in my travels). After talking to a few locals I got some good tips and found a café where I proceeded to order a fest for about $3 and was floored by the deliciousness of it all. Great food followed by a nice tour through the center of town left me with a good taste for Albania and a desire to come back and really explore more.

Thanks for the good times Tirana!

The rest of my solo vacation was spent in Montenegro. I stayed in the old walled city of Kotor in a hostel with a bunch of other strangers. On my first night I made friends with a Chilean who had just graduated from college and was taking time off to travel. We had some great conversation. I love the interesting people I meet when traveling. The next day I took a tour of Montenegro with some other people from the hostel who were visiting from various other European countries. It was a beautiful day trip. I especially loved when out Muslim tour guide took us into an old Serbian Orthodox monastery. He shared with us views of how it was a special place and even though you may not adhere to the same religion as those who frequent this holy site, you can still come and feel a sense of peace and rejuvenation. It was a simple message but in it he hit on the truth that our shared differences don’t have to be something that divides us. In the end Montenegro was a magical place of rocky mountain landscapes, moving monasteries, old cities, crystal clear waters, and of course delicious cuisine.

The monastery in the cliff where we visited on our tour

A small church on a man made island in the bay. Can you imagine how many rocks they had to throw down into the deep bay to make an ISLAND let alone one large and stable enough for building!

Old Kotor in the bottom left and the Kotor bay

Just a pretty view of Montenegrin nature

After my time in Montenegro I moved on to Croatia where I joined up with my friends Erik and Erika, as well as Erik’s parents who were joining us on their way home from a mission in Ukraine. What followed was a wonderful 6-day tour through one of the most geographically stunning countries I have ever seen. We based ourselves in Dubrovnik, Split, Plitvice, and Zagreb but also rented a car and traveled all over the coast. The cities were old walled off sea towns dating back to the Roman Empire. The food was a delicious cousin of Italian and the scenery was simply stunning. Some of my favorite memories include our day long boat tour of the islands near Split, the magical exfoliating black mud we covered ourselves with in Nin, and the impressive Plitvice park where we were surrounded with pristine lakes and rushing water unlike anywhere I’ve ever been. It was also wonderful to meet up with friends I haven’t seen in over a year, including Erika who I first met 10 years ago when I started my Freshman year at Utah State. You never know who is going to turn into a lifelong friend, but she was definitely a good choice.

Dubrovnik from above, I can't even describe it!

Old streets and stairways in Dubrovnik

Some free spa therapy in Nin

Plitvice Lakes in all their glory

We had to hike around for hours to find this view point

Exploring Croatia by sea

After my whirlwind tour of Croatia part 3 of my trip took me off to Prague where I meet up with my friends Katie and Rachel whom I met while living in DC but have since relocated back to Salt Lake. They’d both been traveling for a week or so before meeting me in Prague so we were all at the same level of tiredness but we just couldn’t stop. Prague’s sights were simply stunning. We walked all over the sprawling town and spent a lot of time eating our new favorite local street food- chimney cakes, which are basically cylinders of fried dough with different coatings. It is probably a good thing we didn’t count how many we ate.

If I lived in Prague I'd start the first Chimney Cake Anonymous chapter

While I loved the time we spent in Prague my favorite memory of the Czech Republic was the day we spent touring the countryside in our rental car. We visited a beautiful castle, a charming village, and a beautiful town all in the southern part of Bohemia. I am always struck by the blend and balance of modern and historic in the cities and towns across Europe. These places are full of history and they wear it very well.

Stunning sunset in Prague

Paddle boats in the evening

Jumping for joy wherever I go

Krumlov <3

I'm a big fan of colored buildings all lined up.

After a few days in the Czech Republic we took a midnight train to Vienna and got an early start touring the Schonbrunn palace which was incredible. What I loved even more was learning about the history of the country through the history of the people who have inhabited the impressive palace. I never enjoyed studying European history and its endless cycle of war and conquest, but I was suddenly very interested in the lives and stories of these people. While in Vienna I also had some time to myself where I went on another walking tour through the old section of town. I visited their moving holocaust memorial and also spent some time in quite meditation inside a Jesuit church which while very plain from the outside was quite impressive from the inside. I’ve noticed that whenever I am traveling I often seek out memorials of tragedy like the holocaust memorials scattered through Europe, as well as places of faith like mosques, cathedrals, and synagogues. In these places I find my thoughts reflecting on humanity and our shared history both the good and the bad. Through my travels I have acquired a deep set trust in the innate goodness of other people, despite our often all too apparent shortcomings and differences. Our world history is riddled with painful memories but in those dark moments there are truly inspiring stories of hope, humanity, perseverance, and love.

First stop in Vienna, getting fancy at the palace

Vienna is full of impressive buildings

The Jesuit church where I spent time reflecting

Holocaust memorial in Vienna, an inverted library.

The final stops on my trip were Bratislava and Budapest. Bratislava became the hidden gem of the trip with its small cozy atmosphere. We had our best meal of the trip here, and stayed out late just wandering the streets of their old town. Budapest then quickly became our favorite main attraction. Someone referred to it as the Paris of the East and I will not dispute that. It was bustling and lively with interesting architecture and monuments as well. I devoured the history of the town while touring the National Museum in the Buda castle, impressed by the number of times the city was destroyed and rebuilt after endless sieges and wars well into the 20^th century. On our second day with met up with a new friend and local who spent the evening with us and willingly shared his knowledge of the Hungarian life and history.

Bratislava simple and quaint

Working on my nature photography

Sunsets on the Danube in Budapest

After a few days in Budapest, including half a day spent relaxing in their famous natural public baths, it was time to wrap up my trip with a redeye flight back to Georgia. While the 16 days spent traveling through Eastern Europe were not the most relaxing, I still felt energized and rejuvenated on other levels. This is what traveling is all about to me- getting out of your comfort zone, meeting new people, learning more about other’s histories and experiences, rediscovering how good the world is, experiencing the wonders of both the natural and man-made world, challenging your views, finding the majestic, and of course eating everything you can because calories don’t count when you’re on vacation!