Brunch, Magic Coffee, Chocolate, and Pasta Perfection

Melbourne’s reputation for excellent brunches was confirmed at The Hardware Société. I enjoyed a beef brisket with pearl onions and a soft-boiled egg, as well as an ahi tuna dish served with soft-boiled eggs and hummus.

I had heard of Melbourne’s reputation of having a really strong coffee culture, and I was eager to try the local specialty known as a “Magic”. This Melbourne invention consists of a double ristretto (a short, concentrated espresso shot) topped with steamed milk in a smaller cup than a standard latte. The result is a strong, creamy coffee with a rich flavour profile. While the coffee didn’t impress me as much as I expected, I really enjoyed the latte art.

The city’s culinary scene extends beyond coffee. I noticed a trend of adorning dishes with edible flowers, which adds visual appeal and subtle flavours.

I also visited Koko Black, a local chocolatier. While their actual chocolate tasted mediocre, their chocolate with embedded Tasmanian honeycomb stood out. The sweet, crunchy honeycomb added a nice crunchy texture and flavour to the chocolate.

One of the culinary highlights was dinner at Tipo 00, where we tried their pasta tasting menu. The freshly made pasta was cooked to perfect al dente, offering just the right amount of resistance to the bite. Their squid ink pasta was particularly memorable. This striking black pasta had a subtle briny flavour, with a silky texture that paired nicely with seafood. We took some leftovers home and they still had that al dente texture even after going through the microwave. Although I tried some wine pairings, they paled in comparison to the exceptional wines we had experienced at Oakridge Winery. We also attempted to dine at Serai, a Filipino fusion restaurant, but our poor planning meant we were still too full from our earlier meals to fully appreciate the experience.

On a lighter note, we spotted an ice cream shop called “Bing Chillin,” which I thought funny because it’s essentially a reference how John Cena says “ice cream” in Chinese. No idea if it even sells ice cream or whether it’s good.

Oakridge Winery

The culinary highlight was an indulgent four-course meal with wine pairings at Oakridge Winery in the nearby Yarra Valley. In my excitement, I committed a traveller’s cardinal sin – I forgot to take pictures of most of it.

The menu featured dishes that were a symphony of tastes and textures. We savoured duck with celeriac, chard, and blood orange. Another standout was the Smith & Jackson sirloin (local from the Yarra Valley), accompanied by spinach, charred leek, and horseradish. I particularly enjoyed the interplay of the beef’s richness with the sharp horseradish and slightly bitter charred leek. Even the potatoes served alongside were perfectly crisp, adding a satisfying textural element. For dessert, a chocolate torte arrived paired with artichoke ice cream (I was skeptical about the artichoke, but found surprisingly delightful). In addition, we indulged in a silky smooth buttermilk panna cotta served with sorbet.

Being at a winery, it seemed only fitting to opt for the wine pairing. The 2017 Oakridge Blanc de Blancs was a particular standout. This sparkling wine offered crisp multi-dimensional notes of citrus. Too bad this wine isn’t available where we live. For one of the wines, the waitress could point out in the distance where the grapes came from because those grapes came specifically from this plantation as opposed to the other Oakridge plantations in the area.

We spent nearly three hours at our window-side table, savouring each course while gazing out over the winery. The view of neat rows of vines stretching into the distance added to the overall sensory experience. Our waitress guided us through each course, explaining the intricate details of every dish. Even though her explanations have escaped me, I still appreciated the experience.

After our leisurely meal, we had hoped to take a stroll around the winery to walk off some of our indulgence. However, the weather had other plans. Despite it being only 12°C, the cold felt more biting than we expected.

Queen Victoria Market

This sprawling complex houses vendors selling everything from touristy trinkets to fresh produce. While some areas featured items of questionable quality, the stalls offering movie poster prints and art prints of landmarks of different countries interested me the most.

The market’s expansive food section was particularly impressive, reminiscent of markets I’ve visited in other cities like Vancouver’s Granville Island Market or Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market.

Laneways and Arcades

Melbourne’s laneways are a defining feature of the city’s urban landscape. These narrow streets and alleys, once neglected, have been transformed into vibrant pedestrian thoroughfares lined with cafes, boutiques, and street art. I explored Degraves Street, one of the most famous laneways, and was captivated by its European-style atmosphere and array of eateries.

Nearby, The Block Arcade offered a glimpse into Melbourne’s Victorian-era architecture. This elegant shopping gallery, built in the 1890s, features mosaic-tiled floors, a glass canopy, and wrought iron fixtures. Inside, I discovered the oldest tea rooms in Australia and, surprisingly, a Dr. Seuss art store selling high-end paintings inspired by the beloved children’s author’s works.

Flinders Street Station

Flinders Street Station, with its distinctive yellow façade and green copper dome, serves as a major landmark and transport hub. Built in 1910, it’s Australia’s oldest train station.

It reminded me a bit of Toronto’s Union Station in the sense that they’re both iconic transportation hubs of their respective cities.

Motorsport and Automotive Experiences

As a mild Formula 1 enthusiast, I visited the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit at Albert Park. I tried to drive around the track, but found some sections blocked off.

The lake at Albert Park offered a view of Melbourne’s skyline. To my surprise, I spotted black swans gliding across the water – a first for me, but probably an unsurprising Australian sight.

Dutton Garage is a great place to go for car enthusiasts. This rare car dealership and showroom houses an impressive collection of vintage and exotic automobiles. I was particularly drawn to the classic Porsche 911s, with their iconic sloping rear deck, round headlights, and rear-mounted air-cooled engines. The showroom also featured sleek Ferraris and a few McLarens too.

I also had the opportunity to visit a BYD dealership. While not available in North America due to market dynamics and potential import restrictions, I got to get a glimpse of these Chinese-made electric cars, that to me had Tesla-like qualities, but at a lower price point, thanks in part to Chinese government subsidies. A cool fact I learned about BYD’s innovative battery technology that they can make batteries that don’t ignite when punctured, potentially allowing the batteries to be integrated into the car’s frame to reduce weight.

Shopping and Urban Exploration

As far as Melbourne’s shopping scene goes, I discovered R.M. Williams, a store specializing in Goodyear welted shoes made of different types of leather (even kangaroo), known for their durability and ability to be resoled (and also very expensive).

We attempted to take the City Circle Tram, a free service that loops around the central business district. We had hoped to learn about the city from the onboard commentary, but unfortunately found it difficult to hear over the noise of the tram and decided to explore on our own instead.

Our exploration also included a leisurely walk along the Yarra River, which winds through Melbourne. On the Sandridge Bridge, it features the “Travellers” exhibit, which is a series glass panels that offer information about the indigenous peoples of Australia and information about the demographics of immigrants (where they’re from, how many there were, why, etc.), reflecting the diverse cultural heritage of the nation. A common theme was that in the 21st century, across the westernized world, we’re being less and less likely to take on immigrants from weaker economic backgrounds.

Check here to see more of Melbourne, and the Oakridge Winery

There’s a bit of nostalgia in returning to Munich, a place that I’d visited a few times before a long time ago when I did my internship in Germany. I eagerly anticipated revisiting some of my favourite spots while venturing into new experiences.

Seeing the Neues Rathaus on Marienplatz reminded me of my previous visits, from a time where I had visited few foreign countries, seeing the world with young, fresh eyes.

I got to experience again the outdoor beer gardens – a fundamental part of beer culture. I eagerly sought out the ambiance of these social hubs, rediscovering the familiar taste of German sausages and beer. Unfortunately, since it was winter, most of the beer garden was closed.

Nearby the beer garden was the Eisbach, Munich’s famous river wave in the English Garden. Standing on the riverbank, I marveled at the skill and courage of the surfers who rode the powerful current with grace and determination. They made it look easy.

I stumbled upon a Ukraine War protest during my visit, and it reminded me that the war is a lot closer to Germany than it is for us living in North America. This unexpected encounter allowed me to witness firsthand the power of peaceful activism and the unity of Munich’s community. It happened to occur on the same day as the Munich Security Conference, where world leaders met to continue discussions regarding the Ukraine War.

Walking through the opulent halls of the Munich Residenz was like revisiting a bygone era, and it was a place I’d never been before. The grandeur of its rooms, adorned with ornate decorations and priceless artwork, transported me to a time of royalty and elegance.

The Munich Residenz is the former royal palace of the Wittelsbach family that once ruled Bavaria. The Wittelsbach dynasty originated in the 11th century and ruled Bavaria for nearly 750 years until the end of the monarchy in 1918 after Germany’s defeat in World War I.

As usual, I had to eat a pork knuckle, and I think I’ve now found the best pork knuckle in town at the Augustiner brewery. I saw that they had many locations, but the one I went to is the one right outside the Frauenkirche. They had perfected the crispy crackling skin with tender meat underneath. I still think about this meal. I used to go to the Hofbräuhaus, but I couldn’t help but notice how it had degraded over time. While it still retained its lively atmosphere and historical significance, it had become somewhat commercialized, geared more towards tourists, and most importantly, the food was worse (or maybe my taste buds back then were less sophisticated). Nevertheless, I found solace in knowing that Munich’s culinary experiences could still be found in other traditional establishments.

Another highlight is that I finally was able to book a spot on the BMW factory tour. I had tried in the past, but never early enough to secure a spot. Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to take any pictures. The tour goes through different parts of the car manufacturing process, e.g., the metal stamping, painting, and assembly. The process also shows how seamlessly robots and humans work together. It’s really cool to see robot arms putting a car together.

A friend of mine introduced to me the Schalznudeln, a pastry I’d never tried before. It’s essentially airy like a donut, and almost tastes like a beaver tail.

We just so happen to arrive on the last day of the Karneval. People were in the street drinking and dancing, local breweries set up shop in the main shopping street to sell beer, and people performed on stage. I’d always though the Karneval was a Cologne thing but clearly they celebrate it here too. It reminded me of the time I’d gone in 2011. It’s related to the Brazilian carnival and the American Mardi Gras – they’re all celebrating the same thing, just in their own way. The spectacle is cool, but the dark side of it is that people end up leaving lots of trash in the street. Luckily, by morning, the mess is cleaned up.

Returning to Munich was a bittersweet experience, as I rediscovered old favourites and uncovered new adventures. More photos of Munich here.

The drive to Porto took three hours, and for the entire time, we struggled to sleep off the fever from the food poisoning. I slept literally the entire ride. Our friend who felt the least worst ended up driving the whole way. Poor guy.

Porto is a historic city located in the north of Portugal, on the banks of the Douro River. It is the second-largest city in the country after Lisbon and is known for its port wine.

Church of Saint Francis (Igreja de São Francisco)

We started our walking tour along the riverbank, and then headed to the Church of Saint Francis (Igreja de São Francisco).

Construction of the church began in the 14th century, and it was completed in the 15th century. The exterior of the church is notable for its Gothic design, with intricate stone carvings and a rose window above the main entrance. The interior is even more impressive, with an ornate Baroque decoration that covers almost every inch of the walls, pillars, and ceilings.

The interior of the church hosts a display of gilded woodcarvings and intricate plasterwork. The nave of the church is divided into three sections by rows of pillars, each of which is decorated with an array of sculptures and reliefs depicting biblical scenes and saints.

The catacombs, which can be found in the lower level of the church, are known as the Crypt of the Franciscan Order, and contains chambers that were used to bury the monks who lived and worked in the church.

Ribeira Square (Praça da Ribeira)

Ribeira Square is a picturesque area with colorful houses, narrow streets, and lively cafes and restaurants, and is a great place to walk. The square is also home to a number of restaurants and cafes, serving traditional Portuguese cuisine and drinks.

Cathedral of Porto (Sé do Porto)

Getting to the cathedral from the waterfront required navigating a series of stairs. A walking tour around Porto is no easy task for people getting over food poisoning.

Construction of the cathedral began in the 12th century. The exterior of the cathedral is characterized by its fortress-like appearance, with a large square tower and battlements along the roofline.

The interior features Portuguese tiles, also known as azulejos, a distinctive form of decorative tilework. The designs are known for their intricate patterns, vibrant colors, and the use of repeating motifs such as flowers, birds, and geometric shapes.

The inner cloisters consist of a square courtyard, surrounded by a covered walkway with arches supported by slender columns. The columns are decorated with intricate carvings.

The altar is surrounded by a profusion of ornate decoration, including twisted columns, garlands of flowers, and cherubs.

The roof offers a panoramic view of Porto and the surrounding landscape, including the Douro River.

São Bento Station

São Bento Station is a train station and is famous for its facade decorated with azulejo tiles. The 20,000 plus hand-painted tiles depict scenes from Portuguese history and everyday life. It’s still a fully functioning train station. As someone not really educated in the history of Portugal, I couldn’t really follow the story.

McDonald’s Imperial

The McDonald’s Imperial is still a McDonald’s but its uniqueness comes from the beautiful Art Deco building it’s housed in, which was originally built a coffeeshop.

In the 1990s, McDonald’s acquired the building, but retained some of its existing features. The inside mostly looks like a regular McDonald’s though.

In a weird way, eating McDonald’s was actually a break from the seafood that made us sick and while the food is not considered healthy, we felt safer eating it.

Livraria Lello

Livraria Lello is considered one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world. It’s gotten so popular that entry into the bookstore costs money.

Though for the 5€ it costs, there’s not much to see except for the main atrium and the upper floor. However, the ticket price can be redeemed against any purchase.

Mercado do Bolhão (Bolhão Market)

Bolhão Market allows visitors the opportunity to see and purchase a wide variety of fresh and seasonal produce, including locally grown fruit and vegetables, fish caught locally, and various cuts of meat. In addition, there are also artisanal products, such as cheese, bread, and wine.

It’s really clean compared to other food markets (like the ones in Asia) despite them also handling produce and raw meat. We ended up buying some cans of sardines here too just to give them a try. We also got a complimentary sardine pate too. Though like I mentioned in the other post, I later found out that the sardines here weren’t as good as I expected.

Fado Music

Fado is a traditional form of Portuguese music that is characterized by its melancholic tone. The word “fado” comes from the Latin word “fatum,” which means fate, and the music is often associated with feelings of longing, saudade (a Portuguese word for a deep sense of yearning), and a sense of resigned acceptance of life’s ups and downs.

Fado music is typically performed by a solo singer accompanied by a Portuguese guitar and a classical guitar. The singer sings songs that often tell stories of love, loss, and the struggles of everyday life. Fado music is usually performed in small venues, such as restaurants and cafes, and the intimate setting adds to the emotional impact of the music. I can’t say I enjoyed a lot, but I could definitely feel the emotion in the singing and it’s pretty consistent with the style.

Port Wine Tasting at the Vila Nova de Gaia

Across the Dom Luís I Bridge that spans the Douro River is the neighbouring district of the Vila Nova de Gaia, which hosts a number of port wine houses.

Kopke is one of the oldest Port wine houses in Portugal, and located in the district of Vila Nova de Gaia, across the Douro River from Porto. The Kopke family has been producing wine for over 400 years, and the winery is known for its exceptional vintage Ports and aged tawny Ports.

We got to take a tour of the Graham’s Winery. The guide explained to us the difference between tawny, ruby, white, and vintage Ports. Tawny Ports are aged in oak barrels and have a smooth, nutty flavor, while ruby Ports are younger and have a fruity, sweet taste. White Ports are less common but offer a refreshing, citrusy flavor. Vintage Ports are made from the best grapes from a single year and are aged for a long time, resulting in a rich, complex flavor.

As a part of the tour, we purchased three different tastings of port, a combination of tawny, vintage and ruby ports. My preference is definitely the aged tawnys, though I found it tough to distinguish between a 20 year, 30 year and a 40 year tawny – so I guess that means spending more on the extra years of age isn’t worth it for me. But at least I could tell between the tawny and the other ones and now I know what I like.

Bota & Bira

This definitely one of the best meals we had in Portugal. We ordered a 1.2 kg aged T-bone steak to share. Combined with the aging process and the seasonings they added, the meat had a rich, beefy, earthy flavour.

We felt bad that we made our friend drive the whole way from Lisbon to Porto while we just slept so we treated him to this meal.

Porto compared to Lisbon

Compared to Lisbon, Porto was a lot hillier. The whole city is built on hills, which made it challenging when recovering from being sick. Though the city itself was much more well maintained than Lisbon

It was a lot less grungier too, but there were still people in the street hustling their fake purses or selling marijuana (though to a lesser extent).

At one restaurant in particular, when the host led us to the table, mentioned that we were lucky to get a table as there was a reservation no-show, even though while we ate, there were several tables that never got filled. It just made them look dishonest.

Though on the whole, we definitely enjoyed Porto a lot more than Lisbon. The food was better, the sights were more interesting, and we felt safer.

See more photos of Porto here

As a day trip from Lisbon, we visited nearby municipality of Belém. It is located on the western side of the city and is home to several iconic landmarks. This post will feature the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument of the Discoveries), the Tower of Belém, and the Jerónimos Monastery.

Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument of the Discoveries)

The Padrão dos Descobrimentos was erected in 1960 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of Prince Henry the Navigator, who is widely regarded as the patron of the Portuguese Age of Discovery. The monument is a striking representation of the spirit of exploration and adventure that characterized this era of Portuguese history.

The Padrão dos Descobrimentos is shaped like a ship’s bow, pointing towards the sea, and is adorned with statues of important figures from Portugal’s Age of Discovery, including Prince Henry the Navigator, Vasco da Gama, and Ferdinand Magellan. The monument also features intricate carvings and reliefs that depict scenes from Portugal’s maritime history and its voyages of discovery.

Tower of Belém

The Tower of Belém is a 16th-century fortification built to protect the harbour and to commemorate Portugal’s Age of Discovery and is now considered one of the most important examples of Manueline architecture, which is characterized by the use of intricate carvings and decorative elements, including armillary spheres, and ropes and knots, all of which are symbols of Portugal’s maritime heritage. The tower is also adorned with battlements that once housed weapons to defend the harbour.

Today, the Tower of Belém is a museum that showcases Portugal’s maritime history and the discoveries of its explorers. It is also a UNESCO Wolrd Heritage Site.

Despite going during the low tourist season, it was still almost a two-hour wait to get inside the tower. It’s not so large inside, and so they must control the traffic. The inside is not as beautiful as the outside since the ornate decorations are on the outside as opposed to the inside. The stone rooms are otherwise rather plain. Knowing what I know now, I don’t think it’s worth the wait to go inside.

Jerónimos Monastery

Another notable landmark in Belém is the Jerónimos Monastery, a stunning Manueline-style building that was constructed in the 16th century to commemorate the voyages of discovery of Portuguese explorers. The monastery is considered one of the finest examples of Manueline architecture and is now a museum that showcases the history of Portugal and its explorers.

Knowing what I know now, I would have much rather visited the monastery as opposed to the Tower of Belém.

Pastéis de Belém

Belém is also famous for its gastronomic culture and is known for its traditional Pastéis de Belém. They pretty much look exactly the same to Pastéis de Nata. They both have a delicate, flaky texture with rich, sweet filling. They are a traditional treat that originated in the Belém neighborhood of Lisbon, Portugal and have been enjoyed by locals and visitors alike for over 200 years.

They’re small, round pastries that are filled with a creamy custard-like filling made from eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon zest. The pastry dough is crisp and flaky, and it is usually sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar before serving.

More photos of Belém here

A walking tour through Lisbon’s streets and squares offers a unique and intimate look at the city, allowing oneto soak up its history, culture, and atmosphere. In this post, I’ll take you through a walking tour of downtown Lisbon, highlighting some of the city’s sights.

Praça do Comércio

Praça do Comércio is one of the largest city squares., and is a popular destination for visitors. The square is surrounded by beautiful buildings, including the elegant Arco da Rua Augusta and the magnificent Palácio dos Condes de Calheta. There are also a variety of bustling cafes and restaurants that line the square

The Praça do Comércio also faces the Tagus river. The river is a key feature of the city’s landscape and has played a significant role in the city’s history and development. The 25 de Abril Bridge spans the river and is painted in the same orange colour as the Golden Gate Bridge, and has a similar design to the Bay Bridge in San Francisco.

Seafood culture

Portugal is proud of its seafood culture, with a long history of fishing and coastal communities that have helped shape the country’s culinary traditions. It is an integral part of daily life for many Portuguese people. Restaurants everywhere serve a variety of seafood dishes.

We were able to go to a nice seafood buffet at the Praça do Comércio at a placed called Baía do Peixe. One of the items on the seafood platter was a gooseneck barnacle (left hand side in the picture). We’d never seen that before and had to ask the owner how to peel them – the shell is soft enough to be separated from the meat with just the fingernails. The owner himself was super nice and chatted with us about how he used to work at a Cantonese restaurant and showed off a few phrases to us too.

A far far less spectacular meal, at a place I absolutely do not recommend is at Cervejaria Ramiro. We had a bout of food poisoning with a fever too. Two of our friends recommended this place to us too. While the place had a lot of good reviews, we found out later that a lot of recent reviews also talked about food poisoning. The oysters tasted salty as if from added salt as opposed to the natural ocean, and the shrimps were rubbery from being overcooked and only had very simple seasonings of butter and salt.

Despite the seafood culture, it’s too bad we had this experience. It’s been pretty rare for me to *not* like the food of a place I travel to. There’s a stereotype that British people have bad food, but maybe they’ve got competition now.

Castelo de São Jorge

Castelo de São Jorge (St. George’s Castle), is a castle situated on a hilltop overlooking the city. The castle dates back to the Moorish period and has played a key role in the city’s history, serving as a royal palace, a military stronghold, and a prison over the centuries.

The castle’s ramparts offer a perfect place to take in the panoramic views of Lisbon and its surroundings, including the River Tejo and the old city center. At the time, it looked like a fire was happening. We saw puffs of smoke coming out and heard sirens down below

We got to tour its museums and exhibitions, explore its ramparts and gardens, and admire its architecture. The gardens are also a habitant for peacocks, and can be seen around the premises. What I didn’t know is that they can fly a bit, and we saw several of them high up in the trees

Alfama District

One of the first things that visitors to Lisbon will notice is its hilly terrain, with narrow cobblestone streets and historic buildings that seem to spill down the hillsides, especially in the Alfama District. The district is also where the Castelo de Sao Jorge is located. Another neighbourhood to visit is also the Bairro Alto.

Time Out Market

The Time Out Market is where we went after waking up super late after a late night of New Year’s festivities. The Time Out Market is a bustling food hall featuring a diverse selection of local and international cuisine, from traditional Portuguese dishes including some fusion creations. Time Out Market offers visitors a taste of Lisbon’s food scene.

Like much of Lisbon, it’s pretty easy to find Pastéis de Natas. It’s a sweet, flaky pastry is filled with a creamy, egg-based custard that is lightly dusted with cinnamon and powered sugar. The one at the Time Out Market was pretty good, but the best one is still the one from Fábrica da Nata. We also tried a tasting of several different kinds of small plates, but they tasted OK and weren’t too memorable

LX Factory

LX Factory is kind of a hipster market. It offers a diverse range of Portuguese and international cuisine, and has a lively atmosphere, and has a range of stalls selling artisanal products, such as jewelry, clothing, and souvenirs. It’s a place to wander and soak up the atmosphere, as well as grab a bite to eat, though a lot of it is catered to tourists. In particular, there was a really good chocolate place there called Landeau Chocolate, and a health food chain called Oakberry that sold really delicious acai bowls/smoothies (they even have a presence in North America)

Rossio Square

Rossio Square is one of the city squares that are hard to miss when walking around Lisbon. It’s a historic square, that is surrounded by cafes, historic buildings, and tourist shops. The square is also home to the national theatre.

Sardines

Portuguese sardines are an iconic dish. These small, oily fish are usually grilled or fried and served as a snack, main course, or as part of a larger dish. They’re a staple at outdoor barbecues and markets. We got to try some of these in various foods while we were here, but I didn’t think they were that out of the ordinary. I actually really like sardines – especially the ones from Costco that are seasoned and canned in olive oil and I thought those were better than the ones I got to try here. It’s too bad they couldn’t even get sardines right…

Wonderland Lisboa

Wonderland Lisboa is the local Christmas market. We didn’t plan on going here, but rather we just stumbled upon it in our walk around town. Vendors set up stalls selling handcrafted gifts, seasonal foods, and hot spiced wine.

They even set up a skating rink, but since it’s Portugal, people didn’t really know how to skate and it was funny watching them struggle.

The worst thing about Lisbon

Petty theft, such as pickpocketing and purse snatching, is unfortunately an issue in tourist areas of Lisbon, like any other major city. We happened to stay near the neighbourhood of Martim Moniz and in the city square we a lot of people just hanging out on the side of the street not really doing much, which didn’t give us a good feeling. It’s too bad that the story of Martim Moniz is that he’s legendary knight, who is said to have defended the city during the Siege of Lisbon in 1147. I feel like what it looks like today ruins that legacy.

The streets in Lisbon unfortunately are also not well maintained, with cobblestones frequently falling out of the sidewalk. Ina lot places, the streets in general look grungy. Probably years ago when Lisbon was less popular as a tourist city, it wasn’t like that, but now it’s also attracted a lot of foreigners who are here pushing their gimmicky trinkets or fake designer bags. A guy even tried to sell me marijuana *while* I was at the ATM. First of all, it’s super not cool to talk to anybody while they’re actively using the ATM. I was totally on edge expecting a thief or something. And then when I finished and starting walking away, he tried to hassle me again.

This and getting sick from the food definitely made Lisbon a worse experience than it should have been. But still between that and the things we did, we still got to experience it.

See more photos of Lisbon here

Andorra is the 6th smallest country in Europe and its capital is Andorra la Vella, the European capital with the highest elevation. It’s a principality like Monaco, except that it’s headed by two co-princes: the bishop of Urgell, Catalonia, and the president of France. Even though it’s not part of the EU, it still maintains open borders (there’s no way to get there except by land) – so no extra passport stamp for us.

Its official language is Catalan. In fact, Catalan originated here and spread outward to Barcelona, the place more commonly known to speak Catalan. Initially, we thought Andorra was a Spanish-speaking country until we saw welcome signs at the border saying “benvinguts”. I don’t know Spanish, but I at least knew their word for it was “bienvenidos”, so I deduced that Andorra would be Catalan-speaking. There are other words like “obert” means “open”, and “xocolat” means “chocolate”. Even though Catalan is the official language, Spanish, French, and Portuguese is also prevalent. Luckily, I knew a tiny bit of Spanish, so getting around there wasn’t a huge struggle. I didn’t really know much about Andorra before going there – I figured I’d just be going to a new country.

The lady at the tourist info center was really nice and gave us free postcards. She also noted that Andorra doesn’t have its own postal service. The let the Spanish and French postal services set up shop there so people can send letters “locally” to these respecive countries. She also taught us how to say “thank you” in Catalan – “gracie-es”, as opposed to the Spanish “gracie-as”.

Afterward, we took a short break at a local chocolate shop and had some drinking chocolate. It was like being Aztec royalty. But it was very very rich – to the point it was difficult finishing the entire cup.

Because of all the mountains, there are a lot of hikes and viewpoints in the area. Even the city itself had a short 20 minute hike to get a view of the city. The city itself is very quiet, and hotels are everywhere – all there to handle thewinter skiiing/snowboarding traffic. Traffic must be bad in the winter – most of the roads in the country were single lane per direction.

We visited the viewpoint of Mirador Roc del Quer to see mountains in the day. Interestingly, even in the summer, there are no snowcaps on the mountain tops.

After visiting Andorra, we headed to Toulouse where we’d spend our last night before we returned home. We had only momentarily escaped the heat and humidity of southern France – it came roaring back when we reached Toulouse. We spent the night walking around town to see sights like the Pont Neuf (“new bridge”), which lights up at night. There’s also the beautiful and ornate city hall, which also lights up at night.

Dinner service was very slow – maybe it was just from the place we ate at, but it also fit the stereotypes we knew of southern French culture. We thought we could eat quickly and spend the rest of the time walking around, but we spent a good portion of time waiting for our food. We did get to try the Touloussian style cassoulet, but felt the one from Carcassonne to be better. The one from Carcassone had a richer duck flavour. We also got to try a chicken medallion with mushroom stuffing inside, which was really good. I still found the majority of the bread served in restaurants that we tried to be quite underwhelming – I could do better.

We had a great time here and am grateful that we got to explore more new places! It was great to get a broad view of the south of France but it was a shame we couldn’t stay longer.

Check here to see more photos of Andorra and Toulouse

I’m not a real F1 fan and I don’t have the patience to watch the cars go around the track 50 times, but I do like the idea of cars doing that. I’ve seen bits and pieces of the Monaco race – how they navigate the tight Monaco streets, especially the famous Monaco hairpin. All the souvenir soups all over town sell postcards that outline the Grand Prix track, and since it’s all on public roads, I got to do my own lap around Monaco. They even left the red and white racing lines on the road!

Monaco has a reputation of being a place for rich people, and we felt it. Every mall had all the luxury brands, hundreds of yachts were parked on the harbour, students in private school clothes walked in the street, and plenty of people drove fancy cars.

We wandered around town and eventually made it to the Monte Carlo casino. It looks really fancy outside with Rolls Royce cars parked outside, and it looks fancy on the inside too, but only people who actually gamble can go into the gaming rooms. The AC was a nice temporary escape from the heat outside though.

I saw two parts of Monaco: the rich posh part, and the traditional part. The traditional part is a small old town known as the Rock of Monaco. It’s also the location of the prince’s palace. I think the tradition is that if the flag is up, it means the prince is home. As we walked around the old town, there’d be motorcades going through, so I assume there were some local big shots going in and out.

We walked through a garden nearby the palace and saw an assortment of locale vegetation: tall/short, succulents/lush greens, flowers/trees with the bright blue ocean as the backdrop.

The toughest part about today was not only that the weather was super hot, but also the mosquito bites from the day before had swelled up and was itching me constantly. It almost felt like every 5 minutes I’d have to apply the anti-itch cream. Once we got back in the car and I started driving, I could at least distract myself from it while concentrating on the road. Later in the afternoon, we reached the small town of Èze.

It’s a picturesque town extending from the base of the hill to the top, with a view of the ocean. It was super tough finding any parking and I didn’t find any publicly accessible car roads leading up to the top – I mean that makes sense since the place was built before cars were invented. The only parking was at the local Fragonard perfumerie, but even then we couldn’t park there too long since they were about to close and we didn’t want them closing the gate on our car. We didn’t have time to visit both the hilltop and the perfumerie, so we opted to get a factory tour since that’s what we were there for. I figured we didn’t miss out on the hilltop – the view of the hill was probably better than being in it.

The factory tour itself was interesting. They showed us the giant vats for perfume distillation, how there are professional “noses”, the top top tier of perfumers, the different levels of perfume (it goes parfum, eau de parfum, eau de toilette, and eau de cologne in order of most concentrated to least concentrated). An interesting thing I noticed was that the perfumerie had two Chinese salespeople, whom I assume were placed there to interact with the many Chinese tourists that come through, but since at the time we went, China was having it’s Zero-COVID policy so the only Chinese tourists had to come from elsewhere.

See more photos of Monaco and Èze

At the time we went, Iceland was one of the few countries in the world that allowed vaccinated foreign visitors. All that was needed was proof of vaccination – not even a pre-entry COVID test. The fact that most people were vaccinated meant that most people were not wearing masks in the city, but this was before even the Delta variant – it seems like so long ago now.

I had been itching to go travel somewhere since the pandemic began, and this was a very welcome nudge towards normalcy. Flying with Icelandair was the same as before: the seat and leg room is pretty comfortable, but there’s no food included with the airfare. The only difference is the extra bureacracy related to COVID, which increased how long it took each person to get through immigration, resulting in long lines after the plane. It didn’t help that we arrived so early in the morning that the food places weren’t even open yet and we had to wait in line while hungry. Eventually, we picked up the rental car and drove into Reykjavik for breakfast. We took the day easy by just exploring Reykjavik on foot, and took a nap in the afternoon when the jet lag caught up to us.

That night, we had probably the most memorable meal we’ve ever had at Tapas Barinn. The great thing about tapas is that as tourists, we get to try a little bit of everything as opposed to ordering entrées.

I even got to try some Flóki single malt whiskey. The smokiness from the whiskey actually comes from the barley smoked using sheep dung, a traditional cooking method. I also got to try some more brennivin like my last trip to Iceland – it’s essentially a grain alcohol (40%) and flavoured with caraway seeds, which gives it a sweeter flavour than something like vodka.

I had visited Iceland a couple years ago, but it was in the winter where there was only 4 hours of light per day, and even then the sky looked like dusk.

This time, travelling there in the summer, I didn’t see the night sky the entire time I was there. I could more clearly see and appreciate the nature around me, like the endless fields of moss growing on the rocks, and sheep freely roaming the fields.

It is thought that the Icelandic sheep were introduced to Iceland by the Viking settlers. Farmers allow them to freely roam around in the summer months, and as winter comes, they round them all back up again.

Like my previous trip to Iceland, we travelled along the Ring Road to see the waterfalls, and the volcanic beaches.

This is what the view at Seljalandsfoss looks like in the summer versus the view I saw in the winter. I had no idea Iceland could be so green. In the summer, people can even walk behind the waterfall, between the rock and the falls itself, but in the winter, the trail is closed because of ice.

Skógafoss looks about the same between summer and winter, except the vegetation is greener in summer.

A kitty even came out to hang out with us! As we were walking, the cat just walked up to us and stopped, expecting pets as a payment to pass through. After that, off it went.

Unlike travelling to Iceland in the winter, there were no restrictions (4WD) to drive up to Dyrhólaey in the summer. As we drove up, I could see why. The road was a set of steep switchbacks on gravel roads that were only a little more than two cars width – and there were no guardrails.

From the top, one can see the endless mountains, or watch the waves crash against the beaches of volanic sand.

The next day, we took a Superjeep tour to see ice caves on an active volcano known as Katla. The reason why it’s called Superjeep is because it can deflate its tires (for icy roads), and inflate them back up again depending on the terrain, but otherwise it looks like your typical Ford Excursion but with big tires.

The ice caves were located a ways in from the glacier. In summer, a lot of the ice had melted, revealing the volanic sand and rock underneath.

Only just now as I was writing this, did I realize we were travelling on a literal volcano, but I suppose it’s safe.

As we headed up the volcano, the lush, green vegetation quickly disappeared, revealing a rocky landscape with a mix of ice and black volcanic rock. Grey clouds covered the sky and it began to rain.

Eventually, the tour guide parked the truck, and we began our volcano hike. He brought his ice pick with him and used it several times to cut steps in the ice.

Despite the summer season, the temperature still felt like a mild winter. But it still meant the ice caves would not be as fully developed as in the winter season, and this could clearly be seen when comparing the ice caves from this trip versus the previous one. In fact, the winter ice cave was really more of a tunnel, while the picture of the summer ice cave was taken from the end of the cave with the camera pointing out.

The ice on top of the volcanic rock looked so alien that several movies used this place as a location for another planet. Rogue One was filmed in the area for the opening scene where young Jyn Erso hides from the stormtroopers. The movie doesn’t show the whole cave, but the similiarity is clear. If the movie had shown the whole cave, one would see why people call it the “Yoda Cave”.

It was nice staying in the cave for a bit as a brief respite from the rain. We made the mistake of wearing jeans for a multi-hour hike in the rain, and our wet clothes just made us even colder. We also got the chance to chat a bit with others on the tour. We met an orthodonist who practised in Greece by the name of Thanos (I wonder if he was aware of the MCU), and another who claimed to be a “voodoo priestess”, whatever that means.

The next morning, the plan was whale and puffin watching. It turned out to be an incredibly bad idea because I apparently get seasick, and didn’t get to see a lot. Even those who did see whales could really only see a small fin barely capturable on camera. Only a small percentage of people get to see the whale flying out of the water and crashing back down. Good thing the puffin watching was on a separate tour so I got to recover from the seasickness, but we decided not to go and instead gave the tickets away to another group that we overheard looking for tickets to the same tour.

Instead, we went to go get some Icelandic hotdogs for lunch. The key things that set it apart are the condiments, and the sausage. In addition to ketchup, and sweet mustard, they also add “remoulade”, similar to mayo with added herbs. The sausage uses lamb, as opposed to chicken/pork/beef.

Next, we headed to the Reykjanes Peninsula and the Blue Lagoon. We reached the tip of the peninsula and stood on the cliff watching the waves crash against the shore. If there was such a thing as the end of the earth, this was it. Despite strong gusts of wind, thousands of birds nested on the side of the cliff. From far away they look like white specks, but one can see them clearly with a good set of binoculars.

Next, we went for a relaxing soak at the Blue Lagoon, a man-made spa fed by water used by a nearby geothermal plant.

The water forms a milky blue colour from the high silica mud, and is supposedly good for the skin. They even sell super overpriced skincare products at the gift shop.

The area is beautiful with all the steam slowly rising from the hot springs with the light cool breeze. It would have felt like a whipping biting wind if not for the hot spring. You just submerge yourself until you feel not too hot and not too cold, and then relax with their cleansing silica face masks and a drink.

After leaving Blue Lagoon, we’d learned there was an active eruption happening at the nearby Fagradalsfjall volcano, and was happening slow enough such that it was OK to go see it.

A short walk from the parking lot led us to the lava flow. The trail continued upstream of the lava flow to the mouth of the volcano.

There were warnings for people to not walk too close to the lava flow because of risks of toxic fumes, but many did it anyway (as did we). Many curious hikers threw rocks on it just to find out that the lava flow had already hardened, even though there were still visible fumes coming out.

The hike turned out to be really long, and we weren’t really prepared to do a multi-hour hike at 20:00 in the cold, wind, and rain. As we reluctantly turned around, we saw people pointing the other and when we looked, we managed to catch a glimpse of the volcano spewing lava from afar. It makes sense now why people call it the “land of ice and fire”

It was surprising to see how watery the lava looked. I expected molten rock to be more viscous. The lava just spewed out in a splash. I felt super lucky to have seen such a sight.

As we walked back, I noticed these hexagonal patterns in the ground. Maybe this is how basalt columns form? From what I’ve read, under certain conditions, the cooling magma can cool in a way that forms these hexagonal shapes.

By the time we reached the parking lot, we were wet and cold (seemed to be a recurring theme by this point). Luckily there was a food truck at the parking lot selling hot soup.

The next morning before heading out to the Golden Circle, we started the day off with a nice brunch at Sandholt.

The unexpected star of the breakfast was the bread. As an amateur baker myself, this is the bread I aspire to make – it’s soft, light and airy with a crisp crust.

Next step along the Golden Circle was Geysir. The geothermal heat creates pressure underground causing the water to explode upward every few minutes. The entire area is filled with geothermal pools, some of which are so hot they’re bubbling from the heat and pressure.

It’s cool just to just stand in anticipation of the eruption. From looking at it, there’s no indication that it’s going to explode at all, and then it just does. At one point, the wind carried the water toward us and got us all wet, but luckily by the time the water hits the ground, it’s cooled down.

From the Geysir, we drove to Gullfoss. Unlike other waterfalls, this one has a unique feature where the water does a zig zag before hitting the bottom.

There were attempts in the past to build a hydroelectric plant here, but those efforts have not succeeded, and since then, the waterfall is now under government protection.

The last destination of the Golden Circle was Kerið crater. It’s believed that the crater formed through volcanic activity. Once the magma chamber emptied, it collapsed, forming the crater. The accumulation of water is not formed by rainfall, but is actually ground water.

On our last day before we left, we got the chance to try more Icelandic dishes. This time we had some lamb soup, dried fish, fermented shark, and some Einstök white ale, a local craft brew.

It’s not often that I would rave about soup, but I liked it so much I’ve been trying to recreate the flavour at home. It’s savoury soup with vegetables, lamb, and herbs/spices. I can’t say I was a huge fan of the dried fish and fermented shark though. The dried fish is served with butter and its flavour reminds me of super tough beef jerky with a light fish flavour, while the fermented shark has a texture of a ham with a soury tang. Perhaps it’s an acquired taste. The beer was great though.

That’s pretty much it for Iceland. We got the chance to try all sorts of local delicacies, and see a piece of nature we wouldn’t normally see in our part of the world. At the airport duty free, I even got to pick up some Brennivin, and a bottle of the Flóki sheep dung whiskey!

See more pictures of my trip to Iceland here

Strasbourg

Strasbourg is in the historic region of Alsace-Lorraine. The unique thing about Alsace-Lorraine is that in the span of 100 years it has flipped back and forth multiple times between France and Germany as a result of three wars (the Franco-Prussian War, World War I, and World War II). As a result, the city shares cultures from both countries. This is super evident in a part of town called Petite France, most notably the timber framing around each building. The local dialect Alsatian, also has Germanic origins.

It’s also the home of the European Parliament. This is where over 700 democratically elected Members of European Parliament pass legislation.

Thus far, in France, I had been speaking my very limited French here and there whenever I needed it. As we waited for the tour, a Middle Eastern fellow struck up a conversation with me in French, kind of just asking us where we were from etc. It was kind of weird, but we went along with it anyway – it didn’t seem like he was a pickpocket or anything. I managed to get pretty far in the conversation in French actually, which surprised me quite a bit. He told me that he had moved to France from Afghanistan after working there as part of the local security forces, and even showed me his old Afghan ID, and a bomb scar he had.

The conversation got super weird when he started asking about our yearly salary, and it seemed like he was asking us for money (but it’s possible some of that was lost in translation). At that point, we totally understood why he started the conversation in the first place. We basically told him that we’re not that well off either and he tried to give ME money, and I still don’t understand what was going on there. When the tour started, it seemed like he was still staying within our general vicinity, which made it even weirder. Eventually he picked up on that and left us alone. We even checked if he followed us back to our car (just in case).

Strasbourg appears pretty proud of their cuisine – even their postcards have pictures of recipes of different Alsatian dishes. One that we had was called Flammekueche (in German it’s Flammkuchen, so it’s easy to see the German influence in the language here, at least in this word). I think the closest analogue that English speakers would know would be a flatbread pizza, but with more French style ingredients like fromage blanc, and uses crème fraîche as a base as opposed to tomatoes.

From Strasbourg, we began our journey to Switzerland. At the border, we bought our vignette (it’s a required sticker on the car for driving in the country). I spoke to the lady in German and I got a nice feeling speaking and listening to a language that I understood again.

Habsburg Castle

Our first destination in Switzerland was the Habsburg Castle. This is where the House of Habsburg began. This is THE Habsburgs that wielded enourmous power in Europe for centuries, most notably the Holy Roman Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The castle looks quite modest compared to other European castles like Neuschwanstein, but this is because it was originally constructed almost 1000 years ago.

Zürich

As we drove through Switzerland, we expected mountain passes full of snow, but there were actually very few mountains along that route! We probaly would have seen some in Zürich itself, but too bad it was nighttime.

We arrived in Zürich just in time for a fondue and raclette dinner, because that’s what the stereotypes say. Of all places we found though, we found the most touristy one. I’m pretty sure everybody in there was a tourist.

As we were chatting while eating, I was trolling my friend, saying he comes from China even though he’s actually from Taiwan, since Taiwanese people stereotypically like to assert that Taiwan is not the same as China. A lady at our neighbouring table heard us and actually confronted us about it. She seemed so pissed off! She seemed fine once we told her we were just messing around, and that I’m from Hong Kong (people from there generally side with Taiwan). But imagine travelling all the way to Switzerland and hearing someone trashtalking your country!

This concludes our fourth day. Stay tuned for day five!

• Strasbourg
• Habsburg Castle
• Zürich

Our second day takes us to Oosterscheldekering, Ypres, and Dunkirk.

Oosterscheldekering (Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier)

We began our day two heading back into the Netherlands, to a network of storm surge barriers, designed to protect the Netherlands from flooding. Large sets of doors can open and close to control the water flow coming in from the ocean. They’re important because most of the Netherlands sits a few metres above sea level or lower, and thus are prone to flooding.

As we drove in the area of Oosterscheldekering, we encountered a lot of windmills spinning noticeably in the wind. And I wondered where all the old traditional windmills went, as in the ones with a tower made of brick with four rectangular fan blades . Netherlands has a stereotype of having a lot of them. We barely saw any of them and then it occurred to me that most of them were probably upgraded to use modern technology.

Ypres

Our next destination, Ypres, is known for the many battles that occurred there during the First World War, where the Germans introduced chemical weapons in the battlefield in the form of poison gas. During the course of the war, the town was destroyed, mostly by artillery fire.

The town was rebuilt after the war using German war reparations, with the main square following the original design as closely as possible. The In Flanders’ Fields Museum (the big building in the above picture) is a museum dedicated to the First World War.

Dunkerque (Dunkirk)

Our final destination for the day was the French port city of Dunkirk, known for the role it played during the evacuation of Allied forces from France. The Germans had achieved a breakthrough in France and had surrounded the bulk of Allied forces around Dunkirk. The German airforce was tasked to destroy these forces, so that the Germany army could conserve its ground forces for other operations, but the Germans failed to destroy the Allied forces and over 338000 soldiers were successfully evacuated to Britain.

That night, the locals were having a festival, called the “Bal du Chat Noir”, probably loosely translated as “The Black Cat Ball”. It’s so obscure that as of this writing, an English Wikipedia article for this festival doesn’t even exist. The French Wikipedia describes it as a festival to celebrate the opening of the carnival season (i.e. the Christian Carnival), and that it’s local to Dunkirk.

From what I can tell, it’s kind of like the Carnival in Cologne, where people party in the streets dressed up in costumes. There’s no shortage of reasons for people to party!

Stay tuned for day 3!

• Oosterscheldekering
• Ypres
• Dunkirk