Max in Europe - PART 2
July 15 - July 29 // title name likely not changing...
8 countries in ~3 weeks
Vienna, Austria / Bratislava, Slovakia | 15-16
Left Prague for Vienna (bus) - made it a quick stop and stayed for 1 night and 1 day. Hit a rooftop bar and spent the night in a hotel. Hit all the main tourist areas we could. Very cool stuff to see. Loved Vienna - nothing crazy to report.
Took 1 hour bus ride over the border to Slovakia simply so we say the city there and could say we’ve been to that country. Quick 2 hour stop. Walked the main streets and river. VERY chill city. Good vibe and very quaint. No need to spend too much time there past what we did. Got dinner and left for the 2nd bus ride of the day to Budapest.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Burrgarten Park - sick park with amazing white, Vienna-style buildings all around it. I’m a fien for a good European pale. Check the pics.
Budapest, Hungary | 17-19
Budapest is a must go to. We rushed Vienna/Bratislava so we could have more time here. So much to see and do here. They say it’s easy to fall in love with this city and they arent wrong. The restaurants/food was divine. Sightseeing and meandering the city was awesome - so many places to walk to and check out. Mitch and I met up with our Aussie buddy we met in Prague and kicked it with him the whole time. Shoutout Daniel. Did the river tour at sunset. Did the Thermal Pools/Natural Saunas that this place is famous for.
HIGHLIGHTS:
House of Parliament (big one that is lit up at night) is my favorite singular building so far.
Thermal Baths
Japanese Cuisine we went to more time than we care to admit.
Italy - Dolomites / Milan / Lake Como | 19-22
The whole trip has been city focused besides that one castle. We were keen on switching it up - nature time baby. Flew to Milan, got a rental car (shoutout AMEX card for travel perks), and set off to the mountains. Made a quick stop at Lake Garda for sunset/dinner. From there, I knew Italy was my favorite country (as a whole) so far.
After 3.5 hours of driving, we wound up in Merano. We suck at planning and had to book the cheapest hotel we could find. Next day, we “hiked” (took a cable car to the top lol) the Dolomites. It was one of those places you see on IG reels. The most beautiful 360 degree mountain range I’ve ever seen. It beats the Rocky Mtns - truly, truly surreal.
We were trying to actually hike next day, but got rained out. We road-tripped back to Milan, saw the main Duomo square/shopping area. Then booked it to Lake Como. Managed to get a hike in at sunset. This one somehow topped the Dolomites hike. The best views of the prettiest lake in the world. Check pics below for Strava stats (send Kudos if you’re cool like that).
Next day was all Lake Como. Incredible area, beaches, mountains, little lake towns, ferry’s, all the goods. 10/10 day.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Mitch had his nice camera out when we checked in super late, and the guy working the desk actually owned the place. He said if we take pics of his hotel he’d give us a free night and dinner. Buddy treated us to a 3 course meals + drinks the next night. MAJOR shoutout to Alexander.
Lake Como is my new #1 favorite singular place in the world. I recommend going to the highest extent.
Spending time in nature and hiking the coolest places ever.
Croatia - Split / Hvar | 23-26
We rushed from Como to Milan to fly out. Managed to get into the airport lounge with minutes to spare (again, shoutout AMEX travel perks). Loaded up our bags with free Red Bulls, beers, snacks, and chugged as much wine as I could in 3.5 minutes before it closed. Flew to Hadar that night, then to Split in the morning.
Split was awesome, but very touristy and transient. Warm weather. Beaches. Cool town to chill at. The hostel had 2 bathrooms for 36 beds - yikes. The peeps there were awesome and so was the night life.
We had enough of Split so we left for the island of Hvar. $9 ferry to the “Croatia” we were looking for. Felt like if Italy and Greece had a baby. Hvar is high on the list of new favorite places: immaculate vibe - yachts, beaches, hiking, more relaxed environment. Spent 2-ish days/1 night there. Would’ve loved to stay, but we needed a pace change.
HIGHLIGHTS:
All buses to Split were booked when we landed. Thus, we made the executive decision to pull an all nighter at the bus stop. The entire experience felt like a gigantic simulation. Ghetto bus stop. Sketchy people. Running on 0 sleep. Too hot outside to fall asleep. Chilled with the work crew (7 chain-smoking Croat bros) from the burger restaurant till 4. Random groups of tweakers and the most beautiful women you’ve ever seen who would come thru to the restaurant, chill, then leave into the night - no idea where they came from or where they left to. Caught the sunrise. All while waiting for our 5:30 am bus. Still not sure if any of it was real.
Ran into Aussie buddy Daniel once again.
The bluest water I’ve ever been in - felt great to soak in the sun and cool off in the ocean - took long enough to do this.
Amsterdam, Netherlands | 27-current
We wanted to find a place that we could spend more time at - more than 2 days - and relax. I love the go-go-go but it’s tiring and sleep quality has been dismal to say the least. Found cheap tickets to Amsterdam and sent it. This leg makes it 8 countries in ~3 weeks.
So far, Amsterdam is the best city and it’ll be hard to beat. This place is sensational - canals everywhere, so much biking, the city streets, the parks, so many attractions, cooler weather, English speakers, etc. I’ve been here like 2 days and I highly recommend. We will be here for several days. Drake is in town and we are going to try to see him lol.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Vondelpark - coolest park I’ve ever been to.
The growing pipe dream of wanting to move here for a few months later in life. Its that cool.
NEXT UP → not sure tbh.
The slower pace of Amsterdam gives me more time to actually plan the next legs. I’ve got a few sets of people coming out/meeting up with in Spain next week.
My thumbs are on fire from typing all this on my phone. Thank you for reading!!
Spain is GOATED