Tuesday, 26-August-2025 through Sunday, 31-August-2025
Bulgaria.
I haven’t been to this part of the world, before. I knew that I had the best tour guide I could ask for in Andrea, and had done the base background research on the history and culture (and had obviously absorbed some myself, such as Banitsa), but the adventure was a first foray into a new world, regardless.
It was glorious.
I can’t overstate how great of a guide Andrea was / is – I lovingly call her “The queen of Sofia”, and that title was well earned the whole time we were in town. Everywhere we went, people recognized her. Every restaurant saw the owner, chef, or someone similar come out to visit and catch up… alongside consistent extras unexpectedly appearing. Each bite was excellent, and each drink was special. I was in incredibly good hands.
Now, what did we do, specifically? Quite a bit: – We visited Andrea’s Grandma for her birthday! – We had amazing food – Italian, Turkish, pastries, and BBQ – We met fun and interesting people – tons of folks from Andrea’s previous life, all interesting and enjoyable – We explored. Walking around the city, I even had an afternoon of solo exploration where I got to recollect the fun of my Grand Adventure, exploring a city where I don’t know the language.
It really was an excellent start to an excellent vacation.
Thursday, 18-July-2024, through Wednesday, 24-July, 2024
Zermatt was glorious and I loved it.
Simple and to the point. End blog post, we’re done here.
Not really, of course. I mean, there’s food to talk about and show pictures of, exploration of the town itself to describe… all that fun stuff!
We’ll start with the town – an absolutely gorgeous Swiss chalet, overrun with tourists and adventurers. I saw more hiking and mountaineering equipment here than I’ve seen in recent memory… and probably more than anywhere outside of an REI in Portland. I saw watches that cost more than a reasonably-priced used car, and saw the same exact souvenier shot glass priced anywhere from €26 to €85 depending on how elitist the shop was.
Seriously – I considered if there was some way I could buy low and return high, but in the end passed up on the opportunity in favor of more hiking.
The food was lovely, and absolutely excellent – I had one less than optimal sandwich at one point, but everything else was absolutely lovely:
Zermama Bistro – My first breakfast in Zermatt, and it was an absolutely lovely buffet.
Fuchs – It means “Fox”, you dirty-minded reader. Also, there were like 10 of these places throughout Zermatt. All of them were good bakeries.
Grizzley’s bar and bistro – your standard issue American bar and grill. Normal prices for Portland, but smaller portions… which wasn’t a bad thing, since the portion was still more than enough for me
Petit Royal – Meh… not a great breakfast, truth be told. Solidly acceptable fuel for my hike, but I wasn’t remotely interested in going back
Tufternalp Restaurant – this was halfway up a mountain on a hiking trail. Welcome to Switzerland; if you’re on a hike into the wilderness, there’s probably a small chateau nearby with coffee and cocoa.
Ze Seewjinu – Another spot halfway up the mountain (on the other side), in the middle of nowhere. Excellent late lunch, glorious coffee… what more could an adventurer want?
GramPi’s – A lovely Italian restaurant. Good spaghetti and meatballs, good wine… nothing standout, but it was decidedly acceptable after a long day of hiking
Zermatt Kitchen Brücke – Solid breakfast of eggs benedict and coffee… simple and solid fuel before my adventure of the day
Restaurant Pinte – Fondue! Fondue for one, which was surprisingly hard to find! Delicious fondue, excellent coffee, and a glorious warm rest stop on a cool and rainy day.
Swiss Chalet – my first exposure to “Rosti”, which is sort of halfway between a Latke and hashbrowns? It was interesting, with good steak and good wine.
Restaurant Z’Mutt – Another hiking day, and another restaurant on the side of a mountain. This one was part of the small “town”, made up of five buildings, of Zmutt… definitely a grand coffee stop on a long hike
Grill Le Cervin – The fanciest spot I went to in Zermatt, and ironically the cheapest for it’s quality… my full meal was probably €80, with steak and wine and complimentary starter and dessert. Price comparable to similar restaurants in the States, I’d say, but service being far above the norm
Edwards – a solid hotel breakfast with a solid latte and solid eggs benedict. Not great, but safe and tasty and filling
Ice Buffet – High up, at 9,600ft, was the Ice Buffet. I was woozy, out of it, and thankfully the staff realized that and helped me find something to eat and drink to get my feet back under me.
The fact that almost all the food was great was really appreciated, since Switzerland lived up to its reputation as an expensive country… I’d say it was probably the most expensive country I’ve visited so far, though time will tell what the actual per-day expenditure tallied out to be.
Interestingly, though, it was a sort of “expense by average” – normal breakfasts and dinners were much more expensive than other countries, but high-end meals were actually quite reasonable… about the same price as other European countries, and noticeably less than their United States counterparts.
Ohh… what else about Zermatt?
It was amazing. I adored being able to just walk out my door and start a hike. I adored the tiny little utility vehicles and mini-busses that were the only vehicles allowed in town (from what I could tell), and I appreciated how everyone biked everywhere. The grocery stores were quick and efficient, and there were amazing views literally everywhere I went.
My first visit to the “mainland” Scandinavian countries, and my surprisingly abrupt transition into Summer. I mentioned how, when I stepped off the plane in Greenland, how I was blasted with gloriously cold arctic air, which immediately set my soul happily ablaze? When I stepped onto the tarmac in Oslo, the heat of Summer hit me, leeched into my bones, and warmed my core into a bright cozy fire. A different happiness than the cold, but happiness none-the-less.
The drive to my flat in Norway was about as different as it could possibly get from Greenland or Reykjavik. Unlike Greenland and Iceland, Norway is not focused primarily on Tourism. Oslo’s a working city, with a close-by airport and a population twice that of the entirety of Iceland… and 12 times that of Greenland. It was a city – a true, working, bustling city, and I couldn’t wait to explore it.
I started as I always do – just wandering around, and finding myself some food. So lets start with that – Where’d I eat, while exploring Oslo? Excluding smaller cafes and other “quick stop” options;
Folkets Burger – Symmetrically to Nuuk, I started Norway off with a cheap burger from a townie fast-food / greasy cafe. It was… Well, it was tasty and a nice change of pace!
Baken Hansen Løren – Absolutely delicious, 100% a lovely European cafe
Kjøkken og Bar AS – Also absolutely delicious! Super quiet, and I had an amazing chunk of salmon that was glazed to perfection
Kaffebrenneriet Løren – Absolutely delicious, another lovely European-style cafe
Barcode street food – I was feeling a little bit overwhelmed, to be honest, and just needed some simple calories that reminded me of home. I got loaded waffle fries, with pulled pork, and felt better
Åpent Bakeri Tranen – Nice American-style breakfast – pancakes, bacon, and eggs! Great spot to work from a cafe on photos and blog posts
Herregårdskroen – A quite fancy restaurant in the Vigeland sculpture park. Good, and exactly what you’d expect from an up-class museum restaurant
Fryd – Tasty neighborhood bar and grill. Nothing special, but perfect for what I was looking for after Herregårdskroen
Pepe’s Pizza – Similar to Fryd, just simple and good pizza with especially lovely and friendly staff
Let’s see… what else about Oslo?
My first exposure to the “mainland” Scandinavian capitals was definitely interesting. As I alluded to earlier, it wasn’t quite as friendly & tourist-focused as Nuuk or Reykjavik, which definitely took a bit of getting used to. I felt more isolated here, more alone in my world of speaking English. It may have been partially due to the location of my rental as well – I was staying in more of the suburbs, instead of in the center of tourism, which led to seeing more families and friend groups… which, in turn, reminded me that I was traveling solo and was hours and hours away from friends and family.
I won’t say it was bad, though. Part of this trip is the learning process – learning about Europe, and learning about myself, and learning to continue growing as a person out of the stagnancy that I’d found myself in while living in Oregon. The isolation hurt, but it helped me grow and move through some mental blockades… and slowly but surely, let me bloom back into the person that I want myself to be.
Thinking back, one of the big drivers for those isolated feelings could be just how child-friendly Oslo felt. There were countless families pushing strollers or carrying kids, all walking around nearly infinite playgrounds and child-friendly parks. It FELT like a city meant for families, far more than the cities I’ve recently been to in the United States. I tried looking up statistics to see if that feeling was enshrined in reality, but… turns out, those kind of stats are complicated, and every country uses different numbers and I just gave up. I accepted how it felt, and moved on with my exploring.
On a less introspective note, Oslo was also the first place that I really leaned in toward using Electric Scooters. I admit – I was one of the people who mocked them when they first came out… and I still mock them in some ways, and still get annoyed when people park them like crap or just do dumb things with them.
They’re amazing for tourists, though – I can grab one, get to an area I want to walk quickly, and then leave it for someone else to use… all for just a few dollars.
Another nice new thing with them – I don’t know if this is just new rules, or Scandinavia, but there’s LOTS of geofencing on these things now. You can’t park just anywhere, and you can’t ride everywhere – There’s designated “scooter only” parking spots, slow zones for pedestrians that automatically reduce your speed, and other protections in place. They don’t interfere with cycling as much anymore, or so it seems, which is pretty rad.
