1st Quarter Summary: England to Bulgaria

When people ask how long I'm travelling for, my general response is 400 days, or 13 months. This is, of course, just an estimation that is mostly dependent on how much money I've spent. 100 days is a nice round number though, so even if it's not exact, I feel this is a good time to take a quick look back at the first quarter of my trip.

So far I've visited the UK (England, Scotland and Northern Ireland), Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria - and that list is going to grow quickly as I jump around eastern Europe. For those who haven't followed the blog regularily, here is a very quick summary:
London, England: British Museum, Victoria & Albert, Tate Britain and Tate Modern, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, increasing the street artists I know and can recognize the art of from 3 to about 20, good mates at a bad hostel (and watching Bridesmaids and The Inbetweeners Season 2 because those were the only DVDs we could find), very unEnglish weather.
Near London: Tour to Windsor Castle, Bath and Stonehenge
Chester, England: wandering the city at 4am, walking the city walls, getting lost in the woods
Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh Castle, climbing the Holyrood Hills / Arthur's seat, the Royal Mile
Glasgow, Scotland: checking out the museum with Nasir, strolling the pedestrian shopping streets
Other, Scotland: 1-day trip through the highlands, Loch Ness and Loch Lomond, finding the Hairy Coos, the mountains of Gleveagh
Northern Ireland: drinking far too much Guiness in Derry (and discussing circusese and Scottish pandas with a very drunk and mostly incoherent local on another night in Derry), Giant's Causeway, the rope bridge, Belfast
Ireland: hanging out with cool people (and even Nigel, I suppose :D), Dublin, singing "Galway Girls" with Galway girls, spying thousands of puffins at the Cliffs Moher that nobody else noticed, wandering in the woods alone in Cong, kissing the Blarney Stone (and enjoying the castle and gardens), becoming a certified Guinness-pourer, Newgrange, burial mounds and fairy trees
Amsterdam, Netherlands: arriving to a sea of orange on Queen's Day, the Rijk and Van Gogh museums, red light district, street markets
Brussels, Belgium: Grand Place square, chips and waffles, Roa, funky architecture
Bruges, Belgium: the belfry, "In Bruges" walking tour with a wacky guide, sleeping above a pub full of middleaged Englishmen dressed in too-tight spandex superhero costumes, finding the Canadian bridge, the best beer so far
Paris, France: baked goods, the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, vertical gardens, Paris street art, Orsay, finding new pants, late night talks about everything from life to politics to childhood cartoons, Notre Dame, St. Chapelle
Near Paris: Getting hailed on at the Versailles palace and gardens, visiting Joan of Arc's catherdal in Orleans, magic museum and unexpected sculpture in Blois
Lucerne, Switzerland: hunting for ibix on Mt. Pilatus, hiking Mt. Rigi, baby swans, the covered bridge and its tower
Venice, Italy: the first night pizzeria, San Marco's, being constantly lost in a maze of narrow alleys, bridges and canals, gelato, mask shops
Florence, Italy: David, Uffizi Gallery, Dany House "parties", Ponte Vechio, Clet's altered signs
Rome, Italy: the Colosseum, Roman Forum, more treasures of history than I can list, feral cats in the ruins, the Pantheon during the rain, Trevi fountain, long discussions over free pizza, trying twice to see Galleria Borghese and being awed, Musei Capitolini, the Alice Pasquini murals (and other street art)
Vatican City: climbing the steps of St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican museum (especially the room of muses and Sistine Chapel)
Santorini, Greece: hiking from Fira to Oia to catch the sunset, black and red beaches, Akotiri ruins, riding shotgun in the car with no roof, doors or windshield, bluest water
Athens, Greece: National Archaeological Museum, cheap food, jungle of grafitti and street art, Acropolis/Parthenon, sleeping on the docks
Other Greece: Mycenae, Olympia, Delphi, the monastaries at Meteora, fancy hotels with good buffets
Istanbul, Turkey: Hagia Sophia, blue mosque, eating swordfish under the bridge, Topkapi Palace, the birthday night out, the Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar, walking to Asia
Other Turkey: Troy, Perge, Ephesus, learning about rugs, pottery and candy, paying our respects at Galipoli, Konya, Antalya, walking barefoot down Pamukkale, climbing everything, exploring underground abandoned cliff cities, flying over Cappadocia in a balloon (and later hiking through it), fairy chimneys, museum of Anatolian civilizations in Ankara and Ataturk's mausoleum
Sofia, Bulgaria: Rila Monastery, great hostel and ridiculously cheap alchohol


A lot of people have asked what my favourite place so far is, and that's a tough question. Each place has had its highlights, and so much of enjoying travel is about the people you meet and experiences you share, and those things aren't dependent on location. Still, if forced to choose I think I'd go with:
Favourite City Center: Rome, Italy
Favourite City beyond City Center: Paris, France
Favourite Surrounding Area: Lucerne, Switzerland
Favourite Region: Cappadocia, Turkey


I have a few ongoing lists I'll post updates on in the next month or two as well, but I'm going to keep those aside for now. I hope everybody is having a great summer!
-Richard