Links

Links:

Matroyshka Trip, Jordan, Hungary, and Bulgaria starts here

Montreal 2021 starts here

Jordan 2021 starts here

Greece/ Turkey 2021 starts here 

Backpacking on Isle Royale July 2019
Peru in June 2019 starts here
Louisiana in January 2019 starts here
Europe in April 2018 starts here  

Belize in February  2018 starts here:.  Slideshow here
China in September 2011 starts here:
Germany in July 2011 starts here:

Russia in 2008 starts here:

Here's the link to some projects that I have done.

April 20: Mujib Chalet, Dead Sea and then a Long Flight Home on the 21st

Our destination was Mujib Chalets, our favorite place to stay by the Dead Sea.   We had hoped to do the Siq trail again but it was scheduled to open May 1 instead of the customary April 1. Instead we had tea in Madaba and lunch at the Dead Sea Panaramic Museum Restaurant.  

We spent the afternoon floating in the Dead Sea and taking a mud bath. And since the water was on the chilly side, we had the Dead Sea pretty much to ourselves.  

In the morning we drove to the airport and flew home via Royal Jordanian Airlines. The flight left at 11 AM (4 AM in Detroit) and arrived in Detroit at 6 PM after dropping off the Canadian passengers in Montreal.

View of the Dead Sea from the Airplane

It was a fun trip, not the most efficient--3 airlines, 5 rental cars, 2 time zones.  We had had to cancel our trip to Egypt in January and use the plane fare by the end of April. Jordan was the cheapest option for rebooking, and we had thought to stay there for 2 weeks. Then we realized it would be Ramadan,  so we scrambled for other options at the last minute and came up first with Hungary and later Bulgaria.  We loved both Hungary and Bulgaria and know there are a lot of places in both countries that we haven't yet seen. We traveled extensively in Jordan last September and saw most of the tourist sites and even some non-tourist places. 

April 19: Spa and Sauna and then Flight Back to Jordan

 After our 2 days of hiking we were ready for something more relaxing, so we went to the Thermal Hotel Visegrad which had extensive pools both inside and outside and warm enough to swim outside even though it was only 40 degrees F. They also had an extensive sauna area with multiple options for heating up (aromatherapy, medium with eucalyptus water to create steam, super hot) as well as cooling down (dripping ice, cold shower, and a pool of very cold water). It was especially nice because there were very few other people there and we had the place almost to ourselves. 

 In the afternoon we drove through Budapest and back to the airport where we flew back to Jordan. 

We took only one picture,  the Parliament building in Budapest. 

Hungary April 18, Visegrád Castle

 In the morning we hiked up and around to the Visegrád Castle on top of the hill. . Visegrad Castle was built in the 1300s.  

Solomon's Tower on Left, Castle on Top

We got there before it opened, so we hung around enjoying the view of the Danube until we could go inside.

After that we walked through the woods and down to Solomons Tower, a tower on the lower part of the castle walls where Vlad the Impaler, supposedly a model for  Dracula, was imprisoned in the 1400s. 

Solomon's Tower

Then we walked through town, stopping at the King Matthias Museum--Royal Palace 

Then back to our hotel for lunch. 

After lunch we walked through town to get a gelato then to a Matthias Natural Spring (Quelle/Forras) to fill our water bottles and then essentially the same route as the morning in reverse, up the hill to the castle and the down the other side of the mountain back to our hotel.  One of the paths was flanked with wood carvings.

Each walk was about 5.5 miles with a climb of 1500 ft.  

Hungary, April 17, Rám-szakadék Gorge hike and beyond

 Today was one of the highlights of our trip.  We combined 3 different hiking routes in a large circle.  About 7 km up, 7 km down and about 5 km on the level. The first part was an incredibly beautiful and fun gorge. The second part was at the top of a hill overlooking the Danube River. The third part was a steep downhill climb on loose rocks and with large rocks on either side of the path. It was a difficult hike but really very rewarding. We were joking that we would need to take a bath after our hike to sooth our aching muscles when we came across a decaying Kruschev era apartment building with an old bathtub sitting next to the track.

Copy of our hike except we started from the Danube River by Dömös and did some extra walking to get up to the trail

April 16: From Sofia, Bulgaria to Visegrád, Hungary

 We spent the morning in Sofia, one last banitsa, one last Gelato, this time Mozart flavor, chocolate,  pistachio, and vanilla, and some last minute shopping once we discovered we had a little more room in our bags. Then we took the subway to the airport and hung out in the lounge and ate chocolate and cheese.   Our flight was on time.  We were very impressed with Ryanair. They didn't reschedule our flight for the middle of the night and then leave late (as both of our Wizz Air flights did) nor attempt to cancel a ticket (as Royal Jordanian did). 

Serdika Subway Station

Waiting at the Airport

Once in Budapest, we picked up our rental car and drove north about an hour to Visegrad on the bend of the Danube.

We had access to a kitchen, and since we were tired of eating out, we drove to Lidl and stocked up on food and spent the evening relaxing.

More pics and descriptions when you push the picture up at this link

https://photos.app.goo.gl/

Bulgaria, April 15, Plovdiv

 We took the subway to the airport and rented a car there, picking Petja, her sister Mira, and Sophia. Petja's mom had made us banitsa (filo/feta) and her dad gave us Bulgarian yogurt.  After our snack and admiring the bees and chickens next door,  we drove about 2 hours southeast to Plovdiv,  through the mountains and near the Mediterranean.  Plovdiv is built on a hill and boasts Thracian, Roman, Byzantine,  Ottoman and Bulgarian ruins. 

The most intact is a Roman Stadium discovered in 1970 because of an earthquake. 

The Roman Stadium 

More pics and descriptions when you push the picture up at this link

https://photos.app.goo.gl/p2k8cs6NZn4KvRDVA

Bulgaria, April 14: Sofia and Sophia

 In the morning we walked around Sofia while we waited for Petja, a friend met in East Lansing and her daughter, Sophia. Petja came from Bonn to meet us and was staying with her family near Sofia. We walked around Sofia, eating lunch at a Bulgarian restaurant.  It's easy to find vegetarian food in Bulgaria because the country is Orthodox and used to vegetarian food on fast days. Hungary, which is Catholic,was more difficult.  We saw the typical things that one is supposed to see in Sofia, but we also spent a lot of time at the tea shop. 

Banitsa-Filo and Feta

Vitosha Boulevard with Vitosha Mountain 

Roman Ruins at the Subway

Lunch at Hadjidraganov Restaurant 

St Sofia

Once Upon a Time outside tea garden

More Pictures here: 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/p2k8cs6NZn4KvRDVA

if you push the picture up, you will find a description and map. 

April 13: Egerszalok Thermal Bath, Dobos Torte and Flight to Bulgaria

 In the morning we drove back towards Eger. Our goal was Saleris Spa in Egerszalók, Hungary, a natural salt spring occuring here in Hungary, somewhere in Turkey, and at Yellowstone in the US.  We spent about 3 hours soaking, mostly outside. The pool is both inside and out with a flap door between.  The main pool was decently warm,  making the hot tub unnecessary.  Waterfall jets ran for 15 minutes every half hour, and it was equivalent inforce if not temperature to the waterfall in Jordan. The saltwater is apparently similar only to Yellowstone and  somewhere in Turkey.   In the background was the salt hill where water trickled down and dissolved, leaving a salty residue.  

 After the spa we went back to the palacsinta  (crepe) restaurant  in Eger and had a similar lunch to our last time there, crepes with sheep's cheese  for main course and cherry custard filled crepes for dessert.  Then we walked around Eger again and had Dobos torte and Rigo Janski torte for tea. After that we drove back to the airport and hung out in the lounge until it was time for our flight to Sophia, Bulgaria.  This time we flew Ryanair and had no problems at all, arriving at our hotel around midnight.

Hungary, April 12: Lillafured and Miskolc cave pool

We drove south to Lillafured, a place built as a holiday destination in 1890. We parked at the top of the hill and walked down to the palace hotel and then to the gardens. Our object was to find the largest waterfall in Hungary, about 20 meters of cascading water.

After that we continued on to our hotel in  Miskolc . 

Typical Hungarian Village

For lunch we had strawberry cream soup,  spätzle with sheep cheese and sour cream, and palacsinta (crepes) with apricot jam. 

 After lunch we walked to the Miskolc Cave Pool.  It was a building with a labyrinth of various pool set in caves.  The largest was cool water, the smaller was slightly warmer, and the hot tub got up to 40C . There were several areas with jets that ran every hour and 2 areas with waterfalls, one which was very gentle and the other which was much more vigorous,  rivaling the waterfall in Jordan except that this one was only warm, not hot.  Every hour the jets in the main circle of the cool pond were turned on for about 10 minutes, creating a strong current so that one could basically float around the perimeter of the cave system which was a lot of fun. 

More pictures here