Prague

I can’t believe I’ve finished my last trip!! It’s so surreal to think that the next time I get on an airplane, it will be to fly home! That’s both exciting and saddening to me. I’ve loved my time abroad, but with less than two weeks left, I think I’m absolutely ready to go home.

But first- Prague! I have to admit that I had high expectations for Prague, because my grandfather, whom I love dearly and whose opinion I respect a lot, said that this was his favorite European city. And boy, was Prague beautiful! If you ever get the chance to go, definitely go during Christmas time. We were lucky enough to be there when all the Christmas markets were setting up, and it added a definitely fairytale feel to the already beautiful city. When Anna, Theresa, and I arrived in Prague around noon on Friday, we quickly hopped a bus and then a metro to our hotel, got checked in, and turned around and headed back out, excited to head to Old Town Square and see the biggest Christmas market. We ended up eating lunch in the square, and enjoyed some traditional Czech food with a beautiful view of the Astronomical Clock. I actually tried goulash, which is a Czech specialty. Because I’m not a meat lover, I didn’t actually enjoy it that much, but I’ve made it a point to try any and every food native to a country while I’m visiting it, and I didn’t want to break my stride.

After eating, we decided to head up to the clock tower. The Astronomical Clock is this complicated and funny looking clock that I didn't entirely understand, but hey, it looked cool! By this time, it was around 4 PM and was starting to get dark. We were able to see some sunset views of Prague from the top of the tower that were absolutely magnificent. When it got too cold for us on the top of the tower, we headed down with plans to take on the Christmas market. The Christmas market was definitely my favorite part of Prague. All of Old Town Square was decorated, with a massive Christmas tree in the middle and vendors selling various goods spread throughout. I ambled around the booths, just taking in the sights and smells. I tried several market specialties, including baked cheese, a thin hazelnut wafer, and some delicious Czech creation that involved potatoes, cheese, and ham. I also tried literally the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had in my life. I got a sample of mead, which is like a honeyed liqeur, but it definitely wasn’t something I’ll try twice. There was a stage set up in the middle of the market with various groups performing, and I spent a good amount of time watching a precious group of children sing Czech Christmas songs while dressed in traditional Czech garb. There was even a petting zoo!

After an hour or so, Theresa, Anna, and I met back up and walked over to Charles Bridge. We wanted to see it at night, when it was all lit up. Charles Bridge was quite a sight to behold. It was SO beautiful and majestic- just what I imagined almost all of Central Europe to look like. The river ran on both sides, and we could see the Prague Castle in the distance. By this time it was pretty dark, so after walking around for a while, we headed back to our hotel for some well-deserved sleep.

The next morning, we were eager to try out a bagel place for breakfast that we’d heard a lot about. It was called Bohemia Bagels, and it certainly didn’t disappoint! I got the most delicious blueberry pancakes and most importantly, they understood the concept of free refills there! Once we’d had our fill, Anna and I parted ways with Theresa, who wanted to check out an art museum, and headed to try and find the Jewish museum and cemetery. Unfortunately after wandering around for a while and finally finding the museum, we discovered that it was closed! In our ignorance, we’d forgotten that Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath, and so nothing in the Jewish quarter was open. Since we had about two hours to kill before meeting back up with Theresa, we did the only thing we could in the situation: we went shopping. I didn’t buy anything, partly because my brain hurt trying to figure out the exchange rate (it’s something akin to 24 Czech koruna to 1 euro).

When we finally met up with Theresa, we decided to grab lunch from the market stalls before heading to the opposite end of town to the Prague Castle. After a quick lunch, we began the long walk over the bridge and up to the castle. On the way, we stopped by the John Lennon wall, which was full of color and quotes of hope. I’m still not really sure of its significance but it was cool to visit! After that, we headed up a massive hill and finally reached the Prague Castle. There, we encountered our second bit of bad luck. Turns out the Prague Castle closes at 4 PM, and we had gotten there at approximately 3:45 and were unable to buy tickets. We did walk around the perimeter though, and admired it from the outside.

After our castle failure, we were ready to hang out at some more Christmas markets, this time in Wenceslas Square. We began the long trek back over Charles Bridge and finally made it to Wenceslas Square. After looking around for a while, we decided that we were really hungry and ready for some dinner. We ate at this delicious (and CHEAP) restaurant that one of our friends recommended. It was actually kind of underground, with cool stone walls and a dimly lit atmosphere. The food was some of the most reasonably priced and delicious that I’ve experienced in Europe, and I even tried some mulled pear juice! After dinner, we headed to bed with full and happy stomachs, ready for our early flight back to Brussels the next day.

Prague was such a BEAUTIFUL city, and even though we didn’t do much in the way of museums, walking around and seeing the beautiful architecture was a treat in itself. I’m so glad I rounded out my travels there! And now, just two more weeks in Brussels full of final exams and goodbyes! I’m still trying to decide if I’m more excited to go home or more devastated to leave my enchanting semester in Europe. Right now, the ready to go home part is winning, but I know I’ll feel differently when I finally am home!

Astronomical clock

view from the clock tower

the Christmas market below

Prague Castle in the distance

delicious Czech desserts

view from Charles Bridge

John Lennon wall

Prague Castle

Istanbul

I just got back from a whirlwind weekend in Istanbul! After saying goodbye to Jake on Friday morning, I headed to the airport myself only a few hours later with 6 Furman people. We’d basically decided on a whim that we wanted to visit Istanbul, and were excited to visit a European city with a decidedly different culture. We landed around 8 PM Friday night on the Asia side of Istanbul, and had a long drive to our hostel. The traffic was so bad over the Bosphorous Bridge (linking the European and Asian sides of Turkey) that street vendors were actually set up within the lanes.

Anyway, after settling into our hotel, we decided to grab some dinner. Our hotel recommended a traditional Turkish restaurant, where I had the best chicken dish I’ve possibly ever had in my life, followed by the Turkish specialties of baklava and apple tea, which I think I’ve actually formed an obsession with. At dinner, Anna and Russell also ordered this type of meal that cooked in a clay jar. To serve it, the serve cracked the clay jar in front of us, and poured the meat and vegetables into a separate dish. It was an awesome dining experience.

After dinner, we were all tired, so we decided to get some sleep for the busy day ahead. The next day, our first stop was the Hagia Sophia, a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum. It was really beautiful, and definitely different than any other European church I’ve seen. The Hagia Sophia itself contains a famous mosaic of the Virgin Mary, which is featured pretty prominently. I was really impressed with it.

After the Hagia Sophia, we took a look around some of its tombs. This involved a lot of taking off our shoes, since they aren’t allowed in places of worship or holy places. This is also where I learned that my dress, which I considered to be very modest, was actually too short by Turkish standards. I wasn’t allowed into one of the tombs because of it!

After the tombs, we made the short trip over the Blue Mosque, which faces the Hagia Sophia. To enter the Blue Mosque, the girls on the trip had to cover our heads and hair with scarves, and the Mosque officials gave me a long blue skirt to wear over my dress. All the fuss was worth it, however, because the inside was beautiful. It had blue tiling, and we could see people worshipping in the traditional Muslim way.

By this time we realized that we missed visiting the Topkapi Palace, the primary residence for Ottoman sultans for almost 400 years. We quickly walked back over past the Hagia Sophia and to the palace. The palace housed a seriously intricate imperial treasury, with jeweled weapons, crowns, medals, jewelry, and more. IT was all really impressive and gorgeous.

By this time we’d worked up quite an appetite, so we grabbed a quick bite at the famous “Pudding Shop”. It became popular in the 1960s as a meeting place for hippies and other travelers on overland route between Europe and Asia. The restaurant got its name as a result of word of mouth from numerous foreign travelers that could not remember the name of the eatery but did remember the wide and popular selection of puddings sold there and thus referred to it as the "pudding shop". I of course sampled some of the pudding, and found it to be delicious!

After lunch came my favorite part of the day. We headed to the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul, one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world. There, I got to try my hand at bartering, and I must say, I think Wanda would be pretty proud of me! I perfected the “walk away until they give you the best price” method. The market sellers are such funny people. They entice you with calls of “beautiful girl” and “I have the best price for you!”, but once you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a hundred times. The sellers are also highly theatrical, and will be fake upset if you quote a price that is too low. Overall, I got some nice goodies and enjoyed myself immensely. This all took about two hours or so, so we all met back up at the Starbucks (!!!!!) in Istanbul before heading back to dinner.

            Because we’d had such a good experience the night before, we decided to head back to the same Turkish restaurant. The restaurant was happy to see us and even gave us some complimentary food! After another delicious dinner, some of us went into a local bakery to try some Turkish delights, the famous Turkish desserts (and consequently the dessert Edmund sells his family out for in the Chronicles of Narnia) and some more baklava. I actually got some apple tea again, and even ended up buying a packet of some to take home.

            By this time we were all exhausted, having spent most of the day on the move. We had to get up at 4:45 the next morning to head back over the Bosphorous Bridge and back to the airport, so we went and got a good night’s sleep. Even though I was in Istanbul for less than 48 hours, I absolutely loved it. It was just so different from anywhere else I’d visited. I would love to go back to Turkey some day!

baklava and Turkish delights

the grounds of the Palace

inside the Blue Mosque

aren't I fashionable?

Hagia Sophia

oops, too short!

Asia in the background

the group in the Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia

Blue Mosque

mosaic of the Virgin Mary

inside the Hagia Sophia

Blue Mosque

delicious food from the clay jar!

Bruges

As I’d shown Jake pretty much every thing I’d wanted to in Brussels, we decided to take a day trip to the beautiful Belgian town of Bruges. Bruges is a little canal town that is honestly breathtaking. Jake and I caught a train in the morning, and within an hour had hopped off with absolutely no plans or idea what we were going to do in Bruges. We ended up at the tourist information center, and after finding out what the must-sees were in Bruges, we took a nice long and scenic walk to the center of the city. Our first stop was the church of Our Lady, which holds one of the only works of Michelangelo outside of Italy. It was a beautiful church, as is typical of most in Europe, and we had a great time just going around and admiring the architecture.

            After the church, Jake and I ended up in the city center, which was hosting a market with a lot of street vendors. We grabbed some lunch from a sidewalk cart and spent an hour or so just eating and talking with our to-go lunch. I can’t reiterate enough how nice it was to have one of my oldest and dearest friends with me in Europe. It was like having a little slice of home with me, but also it was exciting to be able to share with him a little of what my study abroad experience has been like. There truly is NOTHING like an old friend.

            After lunch, Jake and I visited the Bruges belfry, which involved us having to walk up quite a few steps to get to the top. The top provided a beautiful view of picturesque Bruges, and we also had luckily timed our visit right to be able to hear the bells in the belfry ring in a new hour.

            After the belfry, Jake and I visited Bruges’ magnificent town hall. The meeting place was seriously so gorgeous, and I couldn’t believe how steeped in tradition Bruges was. We did a little Christmas shopping, then decided it was time for a tour of Bruges’ canals. We hopped on a little boat and took a guided tour of the canals, and it did not disappoint. I enjoyed this canal tour even more than the one in Amsterdam, mostly because it was an uncovered boat and I could see more.

            Needless to say, it was pretty chilly after our canal tour, so Jake and I sat down and had some hot chocolate in a little restaurant near the canals. It warmed us up substantially, so we did a little more Christmas shopping and walked around some more and Jake got to try his first Belgian chocolates at a little chocolate shop.  By this time it was getting pretty dark, so we headed back to the main square for dinner. Jake decided to try Belgian mussels, and I think he enjoyed them! We had a lovely long dinner together, just catching up. Once again, I can’t reiterate how much of a blessing it was to have him come visit me. There are some friends you’ll have for life, and Jake is definitely that friend for me, so I’m glad he could share a little of my study abroad experience. After our long and delicious dinner, we grabbed a train back to Brussels. I said goodbye to Jake a mere two days later, after our delicious Thanksgiving experience. I was sad to see him go, but excited that the next time I would hang out would be around his brand new fire pit in Hartsville. I can't wait!

Bruges

beautiful canals

view from the Belfry

town hall

canal cruise

decorated for Christmas!