My New Bosnian Boyfriend

The other day I learned a little about local souvenirs in Mostar. 

The colorful bronze trays I was originally drawn to are actually Turkish! It's the pure bronze (or bronze and tin) etchings that are local. I think I need a good story and tradition to commit to a souvenir. I'd been stopping everywhere to check out the hammered bracelets and coffee cups, totally feeling no commitment to anything. Then a little man stood up from behind his work table, and began pointing out the various designs in his work- symbols from local tombs, the Mostar bridge, faces of ancient coins with Latin lettering, and (my favorite) pomegranates. 

He brought out a crumbling, falling apart, well-loved book and pointed out a picture from before the war. He pointed at a man in the picture and the Stari Most- "Young man, old bridge," he said. Then he pointed at himself and outside, "Old man, new bridge." It was him in the photo, years before the bridge had been destroyed. His family had been running their workshop since 1918, and he proudly pointed out the badly burned pieces that his family had passed down, pieces that had been burned during various attacks during the war. "Not for sale," he proclaimed. He also showed me a large piece with images from around the city; the bridge, three domes, a  minaret, the towers. It was the first he had made once the war was over, and was also not for sale.

I love the symbolism of pomegranates from my time in Granada, and they seem to always pop up in various cities. I found one that I loved, and as I paid I asked if I could take his picture at his work table. My heart fell a little when he abruptly told me no, but then he smiled and said that I had to go first, resulting in a few blurry photos of me with his tools. 

Later that same day, committed to only local, handmade bronze, I passed the cutest man sitting in his teeny shop's doorway with a metal block between his legs, hammering thin pieces of copper. This was actually the second time I had stopped at his shop, so I told him I couldn't walk by without stopping- it was all too pretty! He was so sweet, and told me that if I bought a bracelet I could pick out two rings to have for free. Of course, I went back and picked out a small handful of trinkets to buy- how can you turn down an offer like that!? A couple stopped when they heard his deal, and asked if it applied to all of the bracelets. He responded, "No. Only for her, she's my girlfriend." Sorry gentlemen, I guess that takes me off the market!

After making my purchases, I thought about what had drawn me to them after wandering through all those little shops all day without being able to pick anything I wanted to buy. A huge part of it is the local factor; supporting a town's economy by buying local products typical to the area is always ideal, especially when so many shops are overflowing with mass-produced, imported trinkets. But making a connection with the artisan also plays a part, maybe even bigger. I loved seeing the book that man proudly shared, along with his treasured works his family had crafted over the years. Every time I wear my swirly bronze ring (which I may not have originally picked out), I'll smile and think of my Bosnian boyfriend.

My Personal Paradise: Granada

Most of this post was written from Bird Poop Plaza <3

As I said about Barcelona, Spain is my soul sister and being there makes me feel complete.

 Granada is forever close to my heart after being my first taste of Europe back in 2010. Studying abroad in the charismatic city was one of the best times of my life and I’m so grateful to have had that experience.  There’s something special about Granada. Yes, you could say that about any city, but Granada is a place of intense relaxation and reflection, as well as the site of some of my craziest and most memorable nights. Other than the Alhambra, there isn’t much pressure to do intense sightseeing, but there’s still so much to take in. When Holly and I first spoke about her visiting Europe, I knew I wanted to bring her to the Europe I first fell in love with. Booking our trips was a job and it was kind of intimidating trying to do all of our planning, but while looking at our hotel options on Google StreetView, I actually cried seeing where we would be staying. I could quite literally go on about the amazingness of Granada for about 11983740193847093487403872 years, so I’ll narrow it down to a few of the best moments.

Checking into our hotel in Plaza Nueva

Realizing that this was where we were staying was what brought on my Google-Street-View-Happy-Tears. It's such a central part of the city I love so much and was amazing to be back. From our balcony, we could see a little piece of the Alhambra and could look down at flamenco shows being performed in the plaza below. 

The Alhambra

The Alhambra is by far the most amazing place I've ever seen. It magnificence goes beyond beautiful gardens or architecture- ever inch of the incredible palaces is a work of art. The intricacy of the details that cover the walls and ceilings is so breathtakingly beautiful. Holly and I would often catch each other's eye and just shake our heads, mouths hanging open, at complete loss for words. 

 

Meeting Holly's friend for tapas

One of Holly's friends was studying in my beautiful city and we met up with her our first night. She reminded me of so many of the little things that made the experience what it was, like how slippery the sidewalks were and that there is no better drunk food than shwarma. I was beyond jealous of her for being in the middle of her Granada experience, but it was fun to here about what's changed and what experiences carry through the years.

Tea, crepes, and hookah 

We stayed right around the corner from streets filled with little tea houses that serve all different flavors of tea, delicious crepes, and hookah and spent one sweltering afternoon sampling all three. You wouldn't think visiting a tea house would be a great way to spend a hot day, but it was. Afterwards we got terrible henna tattoos- both were beautiful and intricate when wet, but mine looked like I was scribbled on with magic marker, and Holly's flaked off immediately. A month later, my arm hair is still dyed black... 

 

Shopping our way through the Albaicin

The Albaicin is an amazing section of Granada that feels like an old Moroccan medina. The little gift shops are filled with colorful, mosaic glass lamps, inexpensive jewelry, beautiful paintings, incense, and more. I love tourist shopping anywhere, but the shops here are my favorites and it was a ton of fun to wander back into my favorites from years past. I bought much too much: A beautiful lamp for my bedroom (Holly and I picked up one for our parents, too), earrings, sparkly pillowcases, a little ceramic pomegranate ("Granada" means pomegranate and you can find them all over the city), and a bunch of great little gifts that I can't name for the sake of a certain sister-reader :) 

Museo de Cuevas Sacramonte

This museum was one of the places that made my little sister love the idea of visiting Granada (other than the fact that I never shut up about how amazing it is). My study abroad group toured the museum, and I was so happy to have Holly experience the view of the Alhambra, and the culture of the gypsies that inhabit the caves. Between the history, the flamenco dancing, and the gorgeous pottery, it's a really interesting culture to learn about!

Photo credit goes to Holly Streisel :)

Tortilla, Tinto de Verano, and Spanish Olive Oil

Three of my favorite foods/beverages/condiments: It makes no sense that an egg and potato omelet would taste good on a sandwich, but tortilla bocadillos are one of my favorite foods ever. Try as I might to recreate tinto de verano with wine, lemonade, and seltzer, it's never the same. Italy has Lemon Fanta though, so maybe I'll be able to do it here! Finally, Spanish olive oil has a very distinct taste and I swear I could drink it. 

Night out at Hannigans and Camborio

Nights out were some of my favorite Granada memories, and most nights out included a trip to Hannigans (karaoke night!), Camborio, or both. Holly and I had a 7am flight back to Milan from Granada, so we went to Hannigans for an early drink. One of my favorite Granada people was supposed to come back and be at the bar (but got there too late), so one of his friends (the bartender) kept us company and said he'd meet us later if we wanted to pack and come back. So that's what we did- packed, took a nap, got back up around 2am, and headed back to the bar. We made a few new friends before heading to Camborio, an amazing club in a gypsy cave that overlooks the Alhambra. Watching the sunrise over the Alhambra as we headed back to the hotel to pick up our suitcases (and treating my sister to her first shwarma) was such a "Granada" experience!

Exploring the World Marco Polo Style

The second stop on our summer adventure was Venice, a city I've been dying to see for a while now. It's a short train ride from Milan (though we traveled from Rome), and while it's incredible enough to spend a month visiting, it's also the perfect destination for a weekend getaway. Holly and I fell completely, head-over-heels in love with Venice. 

The hotel we booked was located perfectly, across the Grand Canal from the train station. It was super easy to find, but just a turn away the maze of tiny streets and canals that we couldn't get enough of. One of the first things we noticed was that there are truly no cars; everyone traveled by boat. The taxis, the police, the garbage and construction vehicles were all boats! We heard a siren at one point when we weren't next to the canal to see it go by, but assumed that even ambulances were boats. Craziness! 

I've said it before, but wandering is one of my absolute favorite things to do while traveling.

 Venice is truly a labyrinth, with a billion little streets, bridges, and dead ends to get lost in. *Side note: because my students all learned English as a second language, the translations were often more sophisticated than your average 9 year old's vocabulary. When telling me about their birthday parties at a laser tag facility they'd often discuss the 'labyrinth' that you navigate through as you play. Hehe cutie pies.* Venice, like Florence, is one of those cities where we'd be admiring the view only to look back and see that what was behind us was even more incredible. I'm not sure how to even begin describing it. The peacefully still canals, the waterlines creeping up the old buildings, the colorful flower boxes in each window, and the cobble stoned streets make Venice the perfect city to wander until you have absolutely no clue where you are.

The Bridge of Sighs

Interestingly, Holly and I didn't have any of the complaints many tourists have visiting Venice in peak tourist season. 

Maybe it could have something to do with growing up around lakes, but it didn't smell awful like I'd heard it would. The only place we felt was too crowded was right around San Marco's. Seeing the Bridge of Sighs was cool, and I'm again embarrassed about my lack of travel knowledge. I had thought the the 'sigh' part of the name came from travelers sighing in appreciation of the view from the bridge. That's partially true in that hundreds of years ago prisoners were moved between buildings on this bridge, and they would often sigh as they caught their last view of Venice through the windows before their incarceration. The area was beautiful, and I definitely will be doing some reading up on the history (I know, I know- I really need to do my reading before traveling), but we didn't stick around there long and instead kept to the relatively empty little alleyways. 

San Marco's Basilica

He had a friend paint this view for his
pride&joy/gondola.

We took a ride on a gondola, and it was definitely worth the price. 

The view from the boat was beautiful, and our gondolier was full of interesting little details on each landmark we passed, as well as Venice in general. He was very proud of his boat, and seemed to be friends with everyone we rowed past. My teacher side is coming out again: one of the most exciting moment of the trip was when he nonchalantly pointed out Marco Polo's house from the water. We spent a long time learning about exploration this year, and Marco Polo was one of our biggest focuses I'm class... *insert high-pitched squeal of excitement here!!* The most amazing part was that it just blended in with the surrounding houses. If he was born in 1254, that makes his house at least 760 years old, but it didn't look out of place or any more like a historical landmark than the others. We also passed Casanova's house. Crazy. 

Clearly he's thrilled.

Marco Polo's house! Ermahgerd!

Maybe a little research will help with this, but Holly and I kept wondering about the doors that led directly to the water. Sure, then you could access your front door from your boat, but what about when the water rose another two feet as our gondolier said it would? Were they all boat garages? Some looked like dungeon gates like you'd see in "The Man in the Iron Mask" or "Ever After" or something. Hmmm something to ponder and perhaps Google...

Embarrassing, hilarious, & so much fun!

Unfortunately for us the forecast called for rain during our brief stay. However, luck was on our side and the storm lasted for about two hours in the evening, and we headed right back out afterwards. It was dark at that point, and the street lights shining on the wet cobblestones added a very ethereal feel to the already magical city. We did some more wandering, and when we heard some music playing across the Grand Canal went searching for its source. It turned out to belong to a group of locals who meet each week to learn new dances. One of the men asked us to join in, saying that they learn dances from all over the world and practice in public in order to meet new people. We learned an Israeli dance that looked simple but took me forever to get the hang of. After finally remembering which foot to cross over and when to take the small tippy toe steps, I was very proud of myself. That is I was until I looked up from the guy next to me's feet at the graceful girl to his left and realized I dance like a broken robot. A French three-step dance came on next and I'm pretty sure I was worse at that one. But no matter- it was such a fun, spontaneous experience and from now on I'll always seek out the music!

Next time (it's pretty cool to be able to say next time and feel confident that there will be a next time), I definitely want to go inside San Marco's, the Da Vinci museum, and take a trip over to the island of Murano for a glassblowing demonstration. As for souvenirs, Venice is full of carnavale masks and figurines made from both beautiful Murano and cheap imitation glass. I loved all of the ornate clocks we kept seeing and bought a lovely little sundial, as well as little glass candy pieces that now fill a dish on my coffee table. Something for the grandchildren to play with :) Holly and I are now on a train to Nice, which should be nice (haha I'm so funny). I'm looking forward to Old Town, rosé wine, and combing Pebble Beach for sea glass. 

Hey, it's me! In an apparently see-through shirt...

Roaming Rome (hehe word play)

Who doesn't love souvenir shops?!

As I type this, I'm sitting on the top step of Palazzo delle Esposizioni, looking down on Via Nazionale in Rome. It's the last night of my third trip to Rome, and the three words that cross my mind probably 15 times a day are again going through my head: I'm so lucky. 

This is my first time traveling during the summer and it's much different. On one hand, packing is better because clothes are so much smaller and lighter. Seeing the different monuments surrounded by trees in full bloom adds an extra degree of beauty to appreciate, and it's pretty wonderful to find a shady spot to sit and write for a while. On the other hand, the amount of tourists (much as I hate to admit it, I know I fall into this category) that have flooded the city is astonishing. You're constantly walking around or stuck behind a crowd, and it's impossible to avoid walking through people's pictures. The heat is also intense and can make the crowds feel even more claustrophobic. 

Holly and I with our bud Pinocchio 

Usually when I've traveled I've been more of a follower than a leader, but for Holly's first trip to Europe I wanted to be as organized as possible. 

Rome has been a pretty easy city to navigate with a map and I've only taken us in the wrong direction a few times. Earlier when I was trying to find a street sign to pinpoint our location, Holly asked if the map on my phone was broken or something, and I know I could use that but it's actually easier using a printed map here and feels more authentic. I'm starting to get the hang of where things are. I'd love to really know a place, here or really anywhere, but have no sense of direction. I love showing people around and knowing where to go! 

Anyways, a few thoughts on souvenirs: I love objects with a story. I've mentioned it before for non-family readers, but some of my favorite memories growing up we're listening to my grandparents reminisce about their adventures in Europe. The time they spent in England inspired me to apply for teaching positions around Europe. Anyways, many of the stories were attached to things around the house. Grampy had a huge wooden desk with what seemed like a million little drawers and secret compartments, one of which was filled with coins from all over the world. As a Kodak man, his photographs were a point of pride and full of stories. The last time he and I spoke, I told him I was moving to Italy and he became very quiet. I asked what he was thinking about and he said, "All of the things I saw, all the pictures I took." His pictures contained memories that he held onto for his entire life. If I'd ask Grammy about her favorite places she'd take out her jewelry box or head over to a cabinet full of special knickknacks from all over the world. Their home was full of trinkets and little details that brought back memories and I hope that someday when my grandchildren (God willing...) come to visit they'll be able to point out quirky little things and I'll be able to tell them stories about all of my adventures. 

The Colosseum never fails to take my breath away.

This time around I bought a book on Rome (all I want to do after leaving a place is to read absolutely everything about its history. I wish I knew everything), and this cool hanging bead... thing. I'm also always on the lookout for gifts to give. One of the girls I work with has mentioned keeping a drawer full of gifts at home, buying them way ahead of time even if it's nowhere near a birthday or Christmas. I'm starting to do the same and now have some simple but nice little things from all over that I'm excited to bring home. 

The next few weeks are going to be busy ones! 

Last week, after the successful completion of my first year as a teacher (yay me!), I just about died of exhaustion and turned into a hermit. As boring as it sounds, I did everything I wanted: thoroughly cleaned and organized my apartment, wrote thank you notes to my extremely generous and thoughtful students, met my future husband Joe Jonas, and Netflix-binged on 30 Rock and Vampire Diaries. Now, after three nights in Rome, Holly and I catch a train to Venice tomorrow, then head back to Milan before traveling to Nice, Barcelona, and Granada. We're kind of all over the place geographically but I just want her to see everything!! After that I'm going home for an entire month to Webster, which will definitely include a weekend in Lake Wallkill for Regatta, many beachy afternoons and campfire evenings at Cayuga, and possibly a trip out to California to see Krista in her new habitat. It's a busy, wonderful summer and I'm loving every minute of it!

Wandering through the Forum feels like stepping back in time.