This is a continuation of my series on the Annapurna Circuit Trek, which we trekked in late November. Check out our itinerary here. When we headed out of Dharapani in the morning, the air was chilly. It gave me a taste of what to expect as we continued up into higher altitudes. In the morning, I started out wearing long sleeves, a hat, and gloves. I was also really grateful that we had had nothing but clear blue skies for our trekking thus far. Our goal for the day was to reach the town of Chame, which we had heard was a larger town. Hands down, the best part of the day was our first views of the Annapurna massif and other snow-covered peaks. Up to this point, we had been accustomed to lower elevations, rolling mountains with rounded tops, brown and green hues, and terraced rice fields. Now, we were getting views of jagged peaks, barren ridges above the tree line, and snow covered summits. I couldn't stop looking at these mountains and taking pictures of them! Today's uphills didn't feel quite as bad as the previous day's uphill portions to me, so either it was easier or my body was beginning to adjust to this trekking routine. I hoped it was the latter, since we still had a lot of elevation to gain before Thorong-La Pass at 17,770 ft. We stopped for lunch in the village of Koto, one town before Chame. Lunch was, unfortunately, cold as well, since we were eating in the shade. The down jackets had to come out once we sat down for lunch. We entered Chame, once again, at rush hour on the Annapurna Circuit, accompanied by a herd of goats. A young boy, about 12 years old, also walked into town with us, asking questions about the United States, telling us that we would see yak in Manang, and urging us to stay at his family's teahouse. We had an idea of where we wanted to stay, based on one of our trail friend's guidebooks, so we declined as politely as we could. Unfortunately, when we reached that teahouse, it was full - the only time this happened to us on the Circuit. We went next door to another teahouse. It wasn't busy at all, and someone had to hunt down the the owner somewhere else in the town, which didn't inspire confidence. But the room was decent, and there was actual insulation on the walls. After putting our stuff down, we headed out into Chame in search of a few items. This was the first village that had a variety of items to buy, from extra hand sanitizer and toilet paper to candy bars to warm clothing. I had been so cold all day that I was having "cold panic". If I had been cold all day on Day 3, I was terrified that I would be a walking popsicle at higher altitude. In my cold panic, I bought a fleece lined, wool hat and a long sleeved "North Face" knock-off shirt. The logo was clearly not actually The North Face, and it smelled like a plastic bag, but it eased my cold panic a bit. I loved my hat. Combined, these two items cost me less than $10. Before going to Nepal, I had read online that it was possible to buy everything you need for The Annapurna Circuit in Kathmandu or Pokhara. I didn't actually believe it, but it's true. I felt relieved that I was able to buy things I needed, particularly when I was down to an empty bottle of hand sanitizer and had a sudden need for feminine hygiene products. Chame was one of my least favorite stops, but I think that had a lot to do with the teahouse we stayed in. There weren't other trekkers to hang out with in the evening. We were the only people staying there. The food was ok. The room was ok. Chame seemed dreary to me - was that the village itself or a reflection of my mood? It's hard to say in retrospect. Overall, I can't say that this day was my favorite. The Annapurna Circuit is SO WORTH IT, but it is not always an easy journey. I didn't write a lot in my travel journal on Day 3. What I did write was: "Today I was cold. All day. It was pretty miserable and one of those days when I had those 'why did I think this was a good idea' thoughts...It is so cold. I am so cold. I feel like I will not be warm for the next ten days and that is so disheartening." Daily trekking distance: 16 km
Total trekking distance: 47 km Starting elevation (Dharapani): 1900m/6234 ft Ending elevation (Chame): 2710m/8891 ft Costs Lunch Koto: 450 NPR ($4.22) Hat & Shirt in Chame: 1050 NPR ($9.84) Dinner + Shower + Room + Breakfast Chame: 1040 NPR ($9.74)
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This is a continuation of my series on the Annapurna Circuit Trek, which we trekked in late November. Check out our itinerary here. Our second day on the Annapurna Circuit began with breakfast on the porch in Ghermu. My breakfast was oatmeal and black tea. Unfortunately for me, I really dislike oatmeal, the world's easiest breakfast when trekking. However, I knew I would need energy for a full day of trekking, so I ate the oatmeal. We lingered a bit over breakfast, since the morning view from the porch over the fields and mountains was so lovely. Our new British and Belgian friends had long since left. Panicked about the idea of trekking during the hottest part of the day, they had set off as early as possible. After a leisurely breakfast, we wrestled our belongings back into our packs, paid the teahouse owners, and headed out on the trail. We immediately crossed a suspension bridge and immediately realized that there were a lot more buildings and teahouses in Ghermu. This was the point when we realized that we should walk further into each town before selecting a teahouse. All along the trail we saw signs pointing toward Manang, as shown in the photo below. Parts of the trail were also marked by red and white blazes, though this was inconsistent in some areas. If we were unsure about which way to go, we asked the locals by pointing and saying the name of the next town ("Chame?"). Everyone we met along the Circuit was super helpful and friendly, and, even if they didn't speak much English, they pointed us in the right direction using gestures. Most of our morning was spent trekking on the newly "constructed" road. I say "constructed" because the dirt road was extremely bumpy, filled with uneven rocks and potholes. We had to stop frequently to let jeeps and motorbikes pass. Though the road is technically two-way, there is really only space for one vehicle at a time. Each time a vehicle passed, dust and exhaust was kicked up. Eventually, we learned to look away and cover our faces with a shirt or a scarf. The road extends all the way to Manang, previously reachable solely by foot or animal. Before coming to Nepal, I had read numerous blogs or articles complaining about the road and how it is ruining the Annapurna trekking area. I get it. I get how trekkers dislike having dust kicked up in their faces and hearing the roar of motorbikes rushing past. But I can't complain too much. Imagine living in a place where the only way to get help, supplies, everything is walking for days at a time. We choose to trek for a short period of time, but this is daily life for so many people and the road will only make their lives easier. I can't expect them to reject progress so that I can spend two weeks away from cars. As the NATT Guide says, "In fact a road means a better possibility to sell theirs own farm products like apples, thus earning more, and in the same time other goods brought by the road are much cheaper than carried by mule or porter. This results in a higher life standard." The Annapurna Circuit is not a "get away from people and lose yourself in the wilderness" kind of trek. You are passing through towns, sleeping in teahouses, having someone cook for you, and interacting with locals. I had never been on a backpacking trip like the Annapurna Circuit, and I loved how it combined STUNNING scenery with local villages. All you can do is enjoy the trek for what it has to offer, bring a scarf/buff/bandana to cover your nose and mouth, and take the NATT scenic trails as much as possible to avoid the road. NATT stands for New Annapurna Trekking Trails. In 2006, the Annapurna Conservation Area Project began planning alternative trails so that trekkers could enjoy the area while avoiding the new road. We downloaded this version of the NATT Guide for free, printed it out, and used it along the trek. This version was published in 2011, but, while it is already 5 years old, it is SO HELPFUL. The NATT Guide is packed with great information, indicating when there is an alternative trail option, providing information about trekking times, and giving tips for safety. We passed through the village of Jagat, with its brightly painted buildings. Just past Jagat, there were hot springs, a 10 minute climb down from the road to the river. We did not choose to go down to the hot springs, since it was still early in the day, we had a lot of trekking left to do, and we did not want to be wet for the rest of the day. We continued through the small village of Chamje, where we diverged from the road onto one of the NATT trails. This trail was a beautiful, shaded path through lush, green forest and past a cascading waterfall. After exiting the forest, we joined a herd of goats in crossing the Marsyangdi River and began the very steep climb to Tal. Luckily for us, the road stayed on the opposite side of the river. At this point, I was really feeling the trek in my legs, particularly with the steep climb before Tal and all the stone steps that we ascended throughout the day. I took my time with the ascent and reminded myself that lunch awaited me in Tal. At the top of the hill, we found the sign pictured below, with altitude trekking times. I took a picture of it, and we constantly referred to the photo throughout the trek. Every day, multiple times per day, because it was so accurate. We might think that we were hiking faster than normal or taking an extra long break, but somehow the time between villages was always right on target! Lunch in Tal was glorious. Tal sits right on the river and is filled with charming teahouses. We found this adorable pink and green teahouse with a lovely, well-kept garden where we sat at an outdoor table, took our packs off, and enjoyed the afternoon sun. The sweet lady who ran the teahouse made truly excellent dal bhat and momos. It was the best food we ate on the trek. Also, she had a big container of boiled water where we could fill up our water bottles before continuing on our hike, and the bathroom situation was better than most. Overall, a truly lovely lunch stop. From Tal, we had about 2 hours left to trek until we stopped for the night in Dharapani. I can't lie, motivation was difficult after our relaxing lunch. But, the trekking wasn't too challenging. When we got to Dharapani, we reminded ourselves to keep walking further into the village before selecting a teahouse. Unfortunately, this led to some indecision and resulted in us walking through the village 4 times before selecting a teahouse. Dharapani is quite spread out, so it was hard to tell whether there were more options down the trail. We did find a nicer teahouse further into the village and settled into our triple room that had a clothesline to hang our sweaty clothes. The teahouse had a gas-powered shower for 100 rupees, which seemed like a good idea at the time. I opted to take a shower because I had been sweating the past two days and I didn't know when my next opportunity to shower would be. Unfortunately, with the gas shower, the window in the shower room had to remain open. As the sun had gone behind the mountains, the temperature had dropped drastically and cold air poured into the room, negating any warmth from the hot water. I was already wet, so I shivered through shampooing my hair and washing my body, telling myself, "Almost done." Easily the coldest shower of my life. After drying off and bundling up, I headed down to the dining room. Tonight, Rachel was exhausted and climbed into bed early, as I had the previous night. Ciara joined me in the dining room after her shower, and we met a female trekker from Colorado who was doing the circuit by herself. Spending time with fellow trekkers in the teahouses at night was one of my favorite parts of the Annapurna Circuit. I felt like I got to meet so many people from around the world. I was still fairly full from our late lunch in Tal, so I opted for hot tea and sharing a dessert with Ciara. As we waited for our food, we realized that a yak was being chopped up in the kitchen. I was exhausted from the day, so I enjoyed my tea, chatted for awhile, and then headed to bed. Daily trekking distance: 18 km
Total trekking distance: 31 km Starting elevation (Ghermu): 1130m/3707 ft Ending elevation (Dharapani): 1900m/6234 ft Costs Lunch Tal: 383 NPR ($3.52) Dinner + Shower + Room + Breakfast Dharapani: 800 NPR ($7.35) This is part of my series on the Annapurna Circuit Trek, which we trekked in late November. Check out our itinerary here. Our first day on the Annapurna Circuit began in Pokhara, the city that serves as the departure point for treks in the Annapurna region. We departed The North Face Inn early for the tourist bus station. The North Face Inn was an amazing place to stay, right in the lakeside area of Pokhara and run by the nicest family. They helped us arrange bus tickets, made a phone call to our hostel in Kathmandu, gave us advice about the circuit, and had a safe drinking water station where we could fill our water bottles. We saw them constantly cleaning the place, which was particularly great after the trek - to return to a clean place to stay. We were able to store some of the things that we wouldn't need on the Annapurna Circuit at The North Face Inn and come back for them after the trek. We packed up everything we needed and took a taxi around 5:30am to the tourist bus station, where we would catch the 6:30am tourist bus to Besishahar. Thanks to the helpful owners of the North Face Inn, we already had our tickets in hand for the 6:30am bus, which cost 500 rupees per person (~$4.59). We were told that there was also a local bus station with public buses to Besishahar, but, given our less-than-stellar experience later on a public bus, I am so glad we opted for the tourist bus in this instance. The tourist bus station ended up being no more than a fenced in lot with buses parked around the edge. There was no building or waiting room. We worried that we wouldn't be able to eat breakfast before boarding the bus, but I felt confident that some enterprising Nepalese people would be selling food at the bus station. Sure enough, there was a little stand with some tables where we each had a hot drink (tea for me, coffee for everyone else) and a pastry. The other tables were occupied by a variety of people and their backpacks, indicating that they too were headed for a trek. As we enjoyed our breakfast, the sun began to rise, revealing a clear, cloudless sky and majestic snow covered mountains in the distance. Mt. Machhapuchhre, also known as Fishtail, stood out clearly with its unusual shape. Seeing the pink morning light on the Himalayan mountains only increased my excitement for trekking. Before we boarded the bus, I ran to the restroom at the bus station, a small building behind some of the buses. Sitting outside the restroom on a bucket was a woman with cleaning supplies, and there was a sign requesting donations in exchange for keeping the restroom clean. I had left my pack with the others at the food stand, so I ran back to grab a small bill. This was a reminder that things that I take for granted in America, like people who are employed by bus stations to keep restrooms clean, are not necessarily a given in Nepal. When we boarded the bus, we passed our backpacks up to a man standing on top of the bus. He grabbed them one by one, along with everyone else's luggage, and placed them on top of the bus, within a little rectangle of railings. Then, our luggage was covered with a tarp and tied down with ropes. Initially, I was unsure how well this system would hold, but we went through some bumpy and winding mountain roads during our time in Nepal and nothing was ever lost. Our bus ride to Besishahar, the beginning point for the Annapurna Circuit Trek, lasted approximately 4 hours. At the beginning of our bus ride, the majority of passengers were trekkers. As we made our way through the city of Pokhara, some Nepalese people got on as well, until the bus was full and passengers began standing in the center aisle. The roads outside of Pokhara were so bumpy that my head hit the ceiling on more than one occasion. We stopped once for a restroom break, and, about halfway through the bus ride, the driver turned on some Asian music videos accompanied by loud pop music. I cannot say whether the videos were Nepalese or from another country, but they got progressively stranger and more suggestive throughout the bus ride. Finally, we arrived in Besishahar and all filed off the bus. Luggage collection involved standing next to the bus and trying to catch your pack as the man on top of the bus handed it down. Our plan was to cut out some walking by taking a jeep from Besishahar to Bhulbhule, since we had a limited amount of time for the trek. As we caught our backpacks from the bus, we met three other trekkers who were willing to split the cost of a jeep with us. The total amount of 2000 rupees would be divided six ways, 333 rupees per person (~$3). One of our fellow trekkers tried to negotiate a lower price, but the jeep drivers knew that they had the upper hand and refused to lower their price. I was fine with that because I had already planned for the cost of a bus plus jeep. From Bhulbhule, we began walking along the road. Our plan was to reach Ghermu, 13 km away, by the end of the day. When researching the trip, I focused a lot on the temperature at the top of Thorong-La Pass and the gear I would need to stay warm....but I hadn't realized how warm I would be at the beginning of the trek. Bhulbhule is only at 2756 feet, and we climbed to 3707 feet at Ghermu. The sun was beating down on us, we had heavy packs on our backs, and we spent a lot of the afternoon ascending. I was definitely sweaty. We spent the afternoon walking along the Marsyangdi River, which we would follow all the way to Manang. We trekked through the small villages of Ngadi and Bahundanda, up and over hills with terraced rice fields and haystacks. We passed small farms and quite a bit of livestock - goats and chickens and even two puppies. Everyone we walked by greeted us with "namaste" - the Nepalese word for "hi" and "bye" - and some people asked, "Where going?" We also walked along the road for awhile with a man who was carrying a plastic grocery bag filled with bloody meat, which he told us was buffalo before inviting us to eat at his restaurant. We unanimously decided to be vegetarians for the rest of the trek. In the late afternoon/early evening, we suddenly found ourselves trekking past neatly uniformed children on their way home from school, herds of goats, stray dogs, and farmers carrying huge loads of branches and straw - or, as I liked to call it, "rush hour on the Annapurna Circuit". For the first part of the afternoon, we walked with the three trekkers who had shared the jeep with us, but they stopped for the night in Bahundanda while we continued on to Ghermu. On the trial, we came across a trio of guys from England and Belgium, who also stopped for the night in Ghermu. None of the guys had known each other prior to the trek - they had met in the airport and decided to make a trekking group. When we came to Ghermu, we stopped at the same teahouse as them, in order to hang out with our new trail friends at dinner. Unfortunately, we hadn't yet heard the advice for choosing a teahouse - don't stop at the very first one you see in a village. Often, the main village is a little further along, containing more options with better amenities. Our teahouse for the first night was fine though very basic, even for the Annapurna Circuit. It had 2 beds per room (and one MASSIVE spider) and a porch on the upper level, where we ate dinner. Looking back, it was nice to have one night where it was warm enough to eat outside with just a fleece on. I was so tired that the teahouse quality barely mattered to me. While Ciara, Rachel, and our new trekking friends chatted before dinner, I actually fell asleep on the table. I would have just gone to bed, but we hadn't had lunch and only snacked on trail snacks, so I needed some dinner. In each town, the teahouse menus have to be approved by the tourist board and they are pretty standard throughout the Circuit, except for the prices, which increase as you go higher in altitude. The menus offer the Nepalese staple of Dal Bhat (rice, lentils, and curry), curries, fried rice, noodles, potato dishes, soups, oatmeal, muesli, chapati (flat bread), tea, coffee, and some desserts. Dinner for me was potato curry - cheap and filling. We also shared an "apple pie" for dessert. Cutting into it, we knew that the filling was not apples, though it tasted somewhat similar. Shortly after eating the "apple pie", the lack of apples was confirmed when we ordered oatmeal with apples for breakfast and were told that they had "no apples". To this day, I have no idea what was in our "apple pie". Daily trekking distance: 13 km
Total trekking distance: 13 km Starting elevation (Bhulbhule): 840 m/2756 ft Ending elevation (Ghermu): 1130m/3707 ft Costs Bus Pokhara to Besishahar: 500 NPR ($4.59) Jeep Besishahar to Bhulbhule: 333 NPR ($3.06) Room + dinner + breakfast Ghermu: 467 NPR ($4.15) *They keep track of all expenses at the teahouse and you settle up in the morning after breakfast.* The reason we traveled all the way to Nepal was to trek the Annapurna Circuit, or "Round Annapurna" as the locals called it. The whole circuit takes about 20 days. We had two weeks off from work and, when we added in multiple days for flights and getting to the start of the trail, there was just no way to make the math work - we couldn't do the entire thing. So, we scoured the internet for information about which parts were must-see, which parts we could shorten, and how much we could pack into the little time we had. I have to say it: the whole thing is a must-see. Don't shorten it if you don't have to. We had to cut out much of the second half and now my friends and I are planning a trip back to complete the circuit and do the Annapurna Base Camp trek. I will add detailed posts about each day, the scenery, the distance and difficulty of hiking, and the teahouses where we stayed as I complete them! To get you started, this was our itinerary as we made our way Round Annapurna. Our 11 Day Itinerary on the Annapurna CircuitClick on a picture to read the blog post about that day's trek. Day 1: Pokhara to Ghermu (13 km)
We took the earliest tourist bus out of Pokhara, departing at 6:30am. A bumpy 4-hour bus ride brought us to Besishahar, the official starting point for the Annapurna Circuit. To shorten the trek a bit on the front end, we took a jeep from Besishahar to Bhulbhule, cutting out 9 km of walking. We trekked from Bhulbhule to Ghermu (13 km), where we stayed the night. Day 2: Ghermu to Darapani (18 km) Our first full day on the trail was long and filled with steep stone steps. The steep stone steps really got me because your legs have to push your body weight plus your pack weight up over and over. I find a gradual uphill trudge to be easier, but I know that not everyone does. We passed through some really charming towns, following along the river, across suspension bridges, and past a beautiful waterfall. Just before Tal, we climbed steeply for quite awhile. But, after we descended, we stopped for lunch in Tal, at a pleasant garden teahouse with DELICIOUS food. Probably my favorite food we had on the circuit. From Tal, we continued about 2 hours to Darapani. Day 3: Darapani to Chame (16 km) Our third day, in my opinion, was easier than the second day. It was slightly shorter and, though we did some climbing, it seemed less intense than the previous day. Or my body was starting to get used to trekking day after day. Most of the towns that we passed through were quite small. We also got our first views of snow covered peaks today! We stopped in Chame, and there were many shops where we could buy things like hand sanitizer, snacks, and even clothing. I had major panic about being cold, so I bought a fleece-lined hat for less than $2.50 and a knock-off North Face long sleeved shirt for $7. It smelled like a plastic bag but made me feel better to have an extra long sleeved shirt. Day 4: Chame to Upper Pisang (14.5 km) One of my favorite days on the trail! The day started with a trek through pine forests, which smelled lovely, with the Marsyangdi River rushing along below us. We passed through an apple orchard, along the road with views of snow covered mountains constantly in sight, and through another dense forest. We stopped for lunch in Dhukur Pokhari, sitting in the sun with views of the mountains, and then continued to Upper Pisang for the night. When we trekked into Upper Pisang, we noticed that the village went up the hillside toward a monastery perched at the top. We also noticed that there were insane views of Annapurna II, and, tired as we were, we decided that we had to stay at the teahouse highest up on the hillside. The dining room had a fireplace to keep us warm and unobstructed views of Annapurna II. We dropped our packs and immediately went to visit the monastery. The entire day was wonderful, from the scenery to our leisurely lunch to the monastery to the views of Annapurna II as the sun went down. Day 5: Upper Pisang to Manag (19.5 km) There are two options to get to Manang: the Upper Pisang trail and the Lower Pisang trail. I'm not going to lie - the Upper Pisang trail was extremely challenging, but the views were amazing and the traditional villages along the way were interesting. Additionally, the upper trail is GREAT preparation for the steep climb to High Camp and over Thorong-La Pass. The trail ascends steeply between Upper Pisang and the next village, Ghyaru. It is a long slog with switchback after switchback, and I was really feeling the effect of the altitude on my breathing. But, at the top, there were amazing views of Annapurna II, III, and IV. Later on, to counter the ascent, there is a steep descent as you move toward Manang. At the end of this day, nobody in our group was speaking because we were so exhausted and were literally hobbling into Manang. But, I still think that the Upper Pisang route was worth it, especially since it is followed by a rest day. Day 6: Rest Day in Manang (0 km) The rest day in Manang was glorious. We didn't have to pick up our packs at all. We went to one of the bakeries to have coffee and tea, met fellow trekkers, and saw a movie. Day 7: Manang to Letdar (10 km) This day went very quickly for us, as it was considerably shorter than the previous trekking days we had done. The landscape was stark and barren, and we passed by some Maoist graffiti. In Letdar, we had finally reached the place where we were no longer connected to the outside world by technology. There was no wi-fi at our lodge in Letdar, but we spent a fun afternoon and evening chatting with our fellow trekkers and soaking up the warmth from the fireplace in the dining room. Letdar was the first place where we had a really lively crowd in the dining room at night, most likely due to the lack of lodging options. Day 8: Letdar to High Camp (6 km) Once again, our day seemed super short in comparison with earlier days on the trail, but we had to keep the mileage short in order to ensure that we did not gain too much elevation too quickly. Between Letdar and Thorong Phedi, we passed through a landslide area, which made me nervous initially, but we didn't see a single rock falling or sliding. We rested in Thorong Phedi for a short while before tackling the final push to High Camp. As I mentioned before, I was extremely grateful that we had done the Upper Pisang trail because this section (Thorong Phedi to High Camp) was very similar, steep with switchback after switchback. We knew how to tackle it after completing the Upper Pisang trail, slow and steady with breaks to catch our breath. We arrived in High Camp before noon and spent all afternoon and night in the dining room, hanging out with our trail friends. Day 9: Crossing Thorong-La Pass: High Camp to Muktinath (15 km) Crossing Thorong-La Pass seems to be the pinnacle of the Circuit, what everyone had been working toward as we climbed day after day, higher and higher. A very long day, we woke up around 4:00am, ate breakfast, put on all our warmest clothes, and hit the trail by 5:30am, in order to cross the pass before 10:00am when the winds pick up. The ascent was tough and cold and I once again felt the effects of altitude on breathing. I didn't realize at the time that I also had a cold, which was making it even more difficult to catch my breath. We reached the pass by about 8:00am, quicker than the time estimates, and it felt joyful to know that we had reached the top of the Annapurna Circuit. On top of the pass, we encountered most of our trail friends, took lots of pictures by the sign, and strung prayer flags, all while we tried to stay warm. From there, we spent the rest of the day descending and shedding layer after layer of warm clothing until we reached Muktinath, a holy city for Hindus and Buddhists, where we relaxed and took hot showers. Day 10: Muktinath to Tatopani by Jeep It was very strange to have completed our walking on the Annapurna Circuit. I didn't want to be done, but we had to start making our way back. Initially, we thought, "There's no way that it will take two full days to get back to Pokhara." Then, we experienced transportation in rural Nepal. We should have gone to the jeep stand a lot earlier in the day. As it was, we caught a jeep to Jomsom at 11:30am with 9 other trekkers, so we were able to split the cost. In Jomsom, we had to wait for the jeep drivers to finish lunch before we could get another jeep to Tatopani. We arrived in Tatopani about 7 hours later - 2 hours to Jomsom, waiting in Jomson, 4.5 hours to Tatopani. Day 11: Tatopani to Pokhara by Bus & Jeep On Day 11, we officially left the Annapurna Conservation Area. We took a local bus (rookie mistake) to Beni and had to put up with attempts to rip off the tourists as well as a bus ride that was reminiscent of riding a mechanical bull. There was literally a Nepalese man vomiting out the window in front of me. That bus left at 8:30am-ish and the ride took about 4 hours. From Beni, we paid for another jeep for the final leg to Pokhara, where we arrived about 3 hours later, bruised and exhausted from the bus and jeep rides. On the way from Atlanta, Georgia to Kathmandu, Nepal, we ended up with a long layover in Doha, Qatar, since we flew Qatar Airways. I was thrilled since I had never been to the Middle East, and a long layover would give us time to leave the airport! After doing some online searching, I learned that Qatar Airways offers free city tours of Doha during long layovers. These tours include a visa, transportation, and a variety of city sights. I thought, "Perfect. We won't have to worry about making arrangements ourselves." So, when our flight landed, Ciara, Rachel, and I hustled through the sparkling clean Hammad International Airport to the city tours desk.. They were full. No spots left. Now, what were we supposed to do for 8 hours? We waited for the tour to actually meet, just in case someone who had signed up didn't show. But, when the last name had been read off the list and all tickets had been given out, we realized that a free city tour wasn't an option. "What if we just went into Doha ourselves?" asked my friend Ciara. We hadn't really done any research, since we had been counting on the free tour, but a quick Google search told us that Americans can get a visa upon arrival at the airport. We approached the information desk and asked the nice man about what to do in Doha. He recommended that we visit Souk Waqif and gave us some tips on getting a taxi. Going into Doha was unbelievably easy. We breezed through security and passport control. Since we had checked our bags, there was no luggage to worry about on the layover. At the passport control station, I walked up, paid for my visa, and walked out. We made a brief stop at the money exchange counter. I've always heard to avoid changing money at the airport because the rates are worse than in the city, but we needed cash for the taxi and ultimately only had to change a small amount for our few hours in Doha. There was a line of taxis waiting outside the airport. We found one, discussed the rate, and confirmed before hopping in. Within 20 minutes of making the decision to take a taxi into Doha, we had navigated security, changed money, secured a taxi, and driven to Souk Waqif. Souk WaqifRather than try to zip around the city in a limited amount of time, we decided to pick one spot to explore, and that spot was Souk Waqif. A souk is a marketplace. Souk Waqif is comprised of a number of beautiful stone buildings and labrinythine alleyways filled with fabrics, spices, and even pets. It was renovated in 2006, so, while the stone looks old, it is very clean and well-preserved. As we wandered through the souk, we came upon a stand selling traditional Middle Eastern food - meat skewers, hummus, pita. Having not eaten dinner, we ordered a little of each to share. Everyone around us was eating with their hands, tearing off pieces of pita and using the pita to get meat off the skewers or scoop up hummus, so we ripped off pieces of pita and dug in. This food was perfection. I could have eaten five more orders. Without trying, we stumbled into the Souk Waqif Art Center, a building with stunning architecture, colorful lanterns, and intricate tile. Vendors inside this building displyed paintings for sale. When we came to a dead end or a turn, we just picked a direction, wandering without direction but taking in all of the sights and sounds. Different parts of the souk had their own personalities. We rounded the corner into a noisy area filled with animal smells and sounds, where vendor after vender was selling pets. We walked past shops with beautiful and colorful bolts of fabric and tailors who would make custom clothing. We entered a pottery shop with hand made mugs and vases. We turned the corner and saw a wide path lined with hookah cafes and nice restaurants. Parts of the souk were almost deserted, maybe due to the time of night. After all, how many people go fabric shopping at 8:30pm on Saturday nights? While other parts of the souk were bustling with families and groups of people sitting at outdoor tables, enjoying a meal. Doha CornicheAfter exploring the Souk Waqif for a couple of hours, we walked down to the Corniche, a waterfront promenade in Doha that begins not far from the Souk Waqif. Like everything else we encountered in Doha, the Corniche was super clean and well maintained, lined by palm trees. From the Corniche, we had a view of the Doha nighttime skyline across Doha Bay. Between us and the skyline were tons of what looked like fishing boats, along with some boats lit up by neon lights, clearly catering to tourists wanting a nighttime ride on Doha Bay. The temperature was just right and the night was so pleasant that we sat on the wall bordering Doha Bay for a long time, staring at the skyline and watching the tourist boats dock. We mused over the fact that we were in one of the richest countries in the world, but we were soon headed to one of the poorest. We exclaimed over the various colors of lights in the Doha skyline and hypothesized what each building could be. We watched an almost full moon rise over the Museum of Islamic Art, and we wished that we had more time to spend in Doha. Final Thoughts about DohaThe most common question that I get from people who learn that we went to Doha is "Did you feel weird walking around in your Western clothes?" The answer to that is no! While Qatar is situated in the Middle East, a very conservative part of the world, Doha is a super modern city and an emerging financial center in the world, so you see a mix of all different types of people and dress. We walked by men in long white tunics and traditional white and red head coverings, but we also walked by men in jeans and t-shirts. Some women covered just their hair with a hijab, some women wore a full black abaya, some women covered their whole body except their eyes. I dressed modestly in a long sleeved black shirt with a crew neck and loose fitting black hiking pants, and I never once felt uncomfortable with what I was wearing. I also wore a scarf around my neck because I wasn't sure exactly where we would go and wanted to be ready in case a head covering was required.
Once we returned to the airport at about 10:30pm, I looked up information about Doha on wikitravel and found this tidbit about the free city tour offered by Qatar Airways: "Also note that the this tour is fast paced with only one ~30 minute stop at the Souk and just quick 5-10 minute stops in other places to take pictures (ie no admission to the museum, etc)." Upon reading that, I definitely think that we got lucky by missing out on the tour. Rather than jumping from place to place to place and spending the majority of our time on a bus, we were able to focus on just a couple of places in the city and explore at our own pace. By taking taxis, we chatted with people who live and work in Doha, who were friendly and told us about their city. We spent about 2 hours wandering through the souk and stopped for amazing food. We were able to walk along Doha Bay and take in the skyline on a beautiful night. We decided when to return to the airport on our own time, when we were ready. A free tour like that seemed so appealing online because they take care of all visas, transportation, etc., but nothing about leaving the airport on our long layover was hard. From the visa process to getting a cab to deciding where to go, the whole excusion was easy to navigate on our own. I am SO GLAD that we left the airport to explore Doha! It is unbelievably easy to see at least part of the city on a long layover, and my only regret is that we didn't have more time! I am left dreaming about the delicious food we sampled at Souk Waqif and all the unseen places like the Museum of Islamic Art and the Pearl. I guess I will have to book another flight on Qatar Airways (and, lets be real, it's a really nice airline to fly) to get that long layover. Or maybe I'll just book a separate trip to do some in depth exploration of this intriguing area of the world! On the first day in Budapest, our goal was to get a feel for the city and experience the general vibe. By our second day in Budapest, Brett and I had a good idea of what we wanted to do, and, thanks to the coffee map we received on the first day, we started with amazing coffee. Fekete, the Hungarian word for "black", was my favorite coffee shop that we visited in Budapest. It was right near the Astoria metro stop, making it easy to find. On top of that, the espresso was super high quality and the shop was a cool, modern space with high white ceilings and industrial furnishings. Just outside, people caffeinated themselves on a small, cobblestoned patio. Budapest has a really vibrant coffee scene. I have heard that the historic, old-world, ornate coffeehouses are famous in Budapest as gathering places for artists and writers in the early 20th century. However, Brett and I never stepped foot inside any of them. There is a plethora of old architecture and ornate buildings around Budapest, which we loved exploring, but it was also cool to experience the trendy side of Budapest by visiting modern coffee shops. Rather than run into tourists who heard that coffee houses were the "thing to do", by visiting shops like Fekete, we encountered young locals and baristas who were super passionate about coffee. After grabbing espresso, we headed to the Great Market Hall, a massive, multi-level, indoor market in central Budapest. The lower level is filled with food - produce stands, meat products, pastries. One of my friends who studied abroad in Budapest said that locals actually shop at the market, and I believe that's true if you stick to the first floor. Disappointingly, the upper level was jam-packed with people and stand after stand sold the same touristy souvenirs. Our Airbnb host had a folder of recommendations, one of which was to eat traditional Hungarian food at Fakanal, a restaurant in the market. After we moved through the line to pay, we were astonished at the prices. We paid more than double what we paid for lunch the previous day! The food was delicious, don't get me wrong, but I feel confident that there is cheaper Hungarian food in the city. To be honest, if I found myself in Budapest again, I would not return to the Great Market Hall, with the packed aisles, touristy stands, and overpriced eats. After lunch, Brett and I made our way to the House of Terror Museum. If you are in Budapest, you MUST go here. The House of Terror Museum was the best museum we visited on our European Adventure. It was definitely sad but so eye-opening. As I mentioned in the post about Day 1 in Budapest, the Hungarians seemed stoic and reserved upon first impression. This museum showed us why. It opened our eyes to the many tragedies that occurred in 20th century Hungary. I realized that my generation is the first group of Hungarians in a long time to grow up free from oppression. The House of Terror shows life in Hungary under the various regimes of the 20th century and acts as a memorial to the victims of these dictatorships. In WWII, Hungary was occupied by the Nazis and placed under a homegrown fascist dictatorship, before falling under Soviet control and Stalin's regime. The museum displays actual footage of tanks rolling through the streets, propaganda from each dictatorship, items left behind by people sent to labor camps, and more. The building itself used to be the headquarters of the secret police, where victims were imprisoned, tortured, and killed. That fact really hits home at the end of the tour, when you head slowly down to the basement in a dark elevator and emerge to see the prison cells. It gave me chills, creeps, and tears to see where people were imprisoned and tortured just for speaking out against the regime. There is a lot of reading to do: in each room of the museum, there is a paper handout (in both Hungarian and English) explaining that era of Hungarian history. If you don't want to do that much reading during your walk through the museum, consider purchasing the audio tour with headphones. It's all important information to understanding the history and the exhibits. Anyone visiting this city must visit the House of Terror museum in order to better understand Hungary's recent history and its resilient people. After leaving the House of Terror, we had time to try one more coffee shop. As we walked down Andrássy út, referred to as the Champs Elysees of Budapest, we were drawn into the Hungarian State Opera House because it was just so beautiful. Once again, Budapest's amazing architecture captivated us, and we stepped inside to marvel at the ornately decorated lobby. Unfortunately, we were unable to walk around the rest of the opera house without a guided tour, so we snapped a few pictures, craned our necks staring at the ceiling, and continued on our way. Brett and I enjoyed our afternoon coffee at Espresso Embassy, which was another very cool shop, before taking the yellow line metro to our Airbnb to get ready for dinner. The yellow line/Line 1 is the oldest electrified underground railway system on the European continent and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. The stations had wooden columns and old fashioned subway tile covering the walls, a contrast from the utilitarian feel of the newer metro stations. While public transportation is rarely one of the "attractions" in a city, I was glad to have the opportunity to experience Line 1. We decided to have one fancy dinner on our European Adventure, and we chose Budapest because we could actually afford a nice meal in Budapest. So, based on the recommendation of our Airbnb host and online reviews, we made a reservation at Zeller Bistro. Upon entering, we descended the steps into a stone-walled room, reminiscent of a wine cellar, and were greeted with glasses of elderflower champagne. Oh my goodness. That elderflower champagne. I could have drank glasses upon glasses. It was like bubbly, happy, magic in a glass. They also brought us a basket of bread - gluten free bread, since we had let them know about our dietary restrictions. I felt so showered with food and happiness. We each ordered a glass of Hungarian wine and shared a charcuterie board to start. For my entree, I ordered fish, while Brett chose a duck dish. Everything was fresh and delicious, so it was a wonderful choice for our nice meal in Europe. And, it was still cheaper than we would normally spend on a date night in the United States! After dinner, we wandered through the Jewish District one last time, then headed home to pack and get some sleep for our early morning train to Slovenia! Upon arrival, my first impression of Budapest was of grit and character. After clean and orderly Copenhagen, Budapest was a bit more chaotic, a bit dirtier, and a bit rougher around the edges. Compared with smiling Danes, the Hungarians we encountered were stoic and reserved. But, I don't think that a place has ever grown on me quite as much as Budapest. Quite simply, it charmed me. Here's how we spent our first day in Budapest: Day 1We began our first morning in Budapest with an errand. Our Airbnb was conveniently situated near Budapest Keleti railway station, where we could buy our train tickets to Ljubljana for a few days later. Also, this meant that the Keleti metro stop was nearby, making it easy to get around the city. We loved using the Budapest metro and found it very easy and affordable to ride. It is also the oldest electrified underground railway system on the European continent, and the oldest line (Line 1/the Yellow Line) was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. A block of 10 tickets costs about $10, meaning that each ride is approximately $1. Everything was well-marked, timely, and, though some of the trains were older-looking, quite clean. On our way into the city from the airport, we were lucky that our Ryanair flight attendant told us to validate our tickets with validation machines each time we entered the metro and to keep the validated tickets on us. Budapest has multiple people stationed at each metro entrance and exit to ensure that you have a validated ticket, so, if you don't hold on to the ticket to show on your way out....well, we never found out what would happen. But, they are vigilant about checking for validated tickets, so I assume they would have a problem with it. After procuring our train tickets from Keleti railway station, Brett and I headed to Vörösmarty square to meet up with a free walking tour of the Jewish District. There was no need to pre-book this tour, and, just like the tours in Copenhagen, the only fee is what you decide to tip at the end. Brett and I chose the Jewish District walk because I had read about the rich history of the Jewish District and that it is currently the most vibrant area of Budapest. Our free walking tour was filled with history and beautiful architecture, led by a guide brimming with personality. He was, by far, the best guide we had at any of our free tours in Europe. Much like our guide, the Jewish District is also brimming with personality. The synagogues are quite beautiful and magnificent to behold, while the streets are lined with cafes and painted with large murals. The tour wound through the streets, tracing centuries of Jewish history in Budapest and ending at Szimpla Kert, the original "ruin pub". Here are some of the pictures from our walking tour: After the tour, we explored the Jewish District on our own. We stopped in My Little Melbourne Cafe for coffee and discovered that Budapest has a thriving coffee culture. Not just the old world cafes that you read about in guide books (although there are plenty of those), but a robust third-wave coffee scence, where baristas talk about preparation methods and serve high quality, single-origin beans in modern spaces. We received a coffee map with the best coffee shops labeled and made a mental note to check out some of the others during our time in Budapest. For lunch, we stopped in Legelo Salad Bar, a small spot with quick, healthy, and affordable salads. After the high prices at restaurants in Copenhagen, it was great to find cheaper spots in Budapest. One of my favorite places that we explored in the Jewish District was Printa Cafe, a coffee shop, art gallery, and store with a cool, modern vibe. Printa had a variety of shirts, journals, framed prints, and jewelry, silkscreened with unique designs or Budapest city maps. We ducked into Printa on our free walking tour to avoid a sudden rain shower, and I loved the vibe so much that we went back after lunch to peruse the shop at our own pace. Another place that I loved in the Jewish District was Massolit Books and Cafe, an English-language bookstore tucked into a quiet street with inviting turquoise doors. The cozy interior was filled with books to browse, while small cafe tables encouraged patrons to sit down with their finds. Brett and I spent time perusing the shelves, and I was particularly interested in the shelf on Hungarian history and the revolution of 1956. After exploring the Jewish District, we wanted to head to another part of the city, so we began wandering toward the Danube River. On the way, we stumbled upon St. Stephen's Basilica, the largest church in Budapest. The building itself was so beautiful, and Brett was so taken by the architecture, that we decided to head inside to see the church, which asks for a donation at the entrance. The inside of the basilica was stunning, ornate, and impressive, particularly the dome, which is the same height as the Budapest Parliament building. From St. Stephen's Basilica, we headed on foot across the Danube to the Buda side of the city. Budapest used to be two separate cities, Buda and Pest, divided by the Danube River. Now combined, the two sides of the city have each retained their own distinct character. We stayed on the Pest side and spent most of our time there. The Buda side was considerably quieter than Pest. Walking across the river offered a great view of the majestic Parliament building, one of the most iconic buildings in the city of Budapest. Brett and I climbed many sets of stairs in Buda to get up to Castle Hill. At the top, we took in the cityscape from the Fisherman's Bastion, a lookout point that can be accessed for free! From there, we could see Parliament, St. Stephen's Basilica, and all the bridges spanning the Danube. We also strolled through the rest of Castle Hill, admiring Matthias Church, with its beautiful patterned roof. Besides going up Castle Hill, we also went to Buda because we had read that there was a pizza place with gluten-free crust. The restaurant was called due Fratelli Ristorante & Pizzeria, and we sat outside on the sidewalk to enjoy our gluten free pizza. The pizzas were only 1700 HUF (~$6) each, so Brett and I each ordered a different kind and shared the pizzas! After dinner, we headed back to Pest, to the Jewish District for a glass of wine. This area of Budapest is known for nightlife, ruin pubs, and trendy cafes. We ended up at Gozsdu Courtyard, a pedestrian area with variety of bars and restaurants, specifically at DiVino Wine Bar. The wine bar had a variety of Hungarian wines at cheap prices, and it was a great place to people watch, since the Jewish District is the most popular area for nightlife in Budapest. After glass of wine, we walked back to our Airbnb to get some sleep for our second day in Budapest! One of the only activities I planned ahead of time for our European Adventure was a food walk in Ljubljana, Slovenia with Ljubljananjam. Brett and I love to try new foods and get a sense of new places by sampling local cuisines, so I felt that a food walk would be a perfect way to get acquainted with Ljubljana! Ljubljananjam offers a variety of different food walks, from "Ljubljana Essentials" to a craft beer tour to tours focusing on coffee and cakes. To set up the reservation, I got in touch with Iva, the owner of Ljubljananjam. She was very easy to communicate with and very helpful in figuring out our preferences via email. We let her know that we were interested in a "Ljubljana Essentials" tour and would need gluten-free food because Brett was just diagnosed with Celiac Disease. It was great to hear that a gluten free tour would be no problem. We met Iva by the Tourist Information Center in the center of Ljubljana, an easy walk from our Airbnb, though we initially went to the wrong Tourist Information Center. Luckily, she waited for us even though we were a few minutes late. Iva was friendly, knowledgable, and eager to share about Slovenia's food, culture, and history. Iva, Brett, and I spent the next three hours walking through the streets of Ljubljana, trying a wide variety of foods and learning more about this place. We started in Ljubljana's central market, which is set up almost every day and offers stands filled with produce, cheese, plants, and meats. Personally, I love markets, so I had fun perusing the various offerings as we made our way through the market. Iva had some specific stands for us to sample, including a stand that made goat and sheep cheeses and a meat stand where we tried bear sausage! Yes, it is made with real bear meat mixed with pork! From the market, we sat down at a small shop to eat bowls of vegetable soup before heading to a restaurant where we shared sea bream with lemony potato puree and chicken fillet with buckwheat and pumpkin seed oil sauce. Iva warned us ahead of time that we should expect the fish to be served whole, and, sure enough, on the plate was the entire fish, bones and eyes and all. She was nice enough to de-bone most of the fish for us. We learned that pumpkin seed oil is a common ingredient in Slovenian cuisine. Armed with that knowledge, we headed out of the restaurant to sample some pumpkin seed oil. Next, we stopped in a shop that sold a variety of Slovenian products, including pumpkin seed oil and Slovenian liquor. We were able to taste pumpkin seed oil made from raw and roasted pumpkin seeds. I liked the unique flavor of the pumpkin seed oil and ended up choosing it as salad dressing for other meals in Ljubljana. We also sampled some flavors of Slovenian liquor, which came in flavors like honey, sour cherry, and blueberry. Our next stop was at one of the cafes along the river to drink Slovenian wine. Iva picked a Lisjak Sauvignon Blanc for us, which was quite good. Google tells me that Boris Lisjak is a Slovenian winery in western Slovenia, only 16 km from Trieste, Italy. Brett and I typically choose red wines more often than whites, but we both really liked Iva's pick for us. It was highly enjoyable to drink our wine at a table outside, surrounded by the beautiful buildings of Ljubljana's Old Town with the river in the background. We actually went back to this same cafe the following day to relax with another glass of wine in the sunshine. Following the wine stop, we got gelato! After sampling a few different flavors, I ultimately chose a combination of lemon-ricotta gelato and a flavor with pumpkin seed oil, one scoop of each flavor in my cup. The food tour finished with coffee and espresso. Because Brett loves coffee, Iva and the guy in the shop showed him how to make espresso using the machine, which he had never done before. We chatted for awhile with the guy working in the cafe and found out that he is in a band called Koala Voice, just back from a tour around Europe. Throughout the tour, Iva gave us a number of recommendations for food and drink in Ljubljana and marked them on our map. We appreciated hearing where to go from someone familiar with the food and drink scene in Ljubljana, rather than wandering around by ourselves and guessing which shops were good. Our favorite recommendation from Iva was Moderna, a cafe in the Museum of Modern Art. They roast their own coffee beans and were the only shop in Ljubljana that served pour over coffee (or filter coffee, as they generally called it in Europe). Overall, I highly recommend Ljubljananjam Food Walks! Iva really personalizes the tour for each group and provides a wonderful experience. I didn't include the restaurant names in this post because I don't want to give away all of Iva's secret spots! The only name that I included - Moderna Cafe - wasn't actually on the tour, just a recommendation of Iva's. Brett and I felt that the food tour was easily worth the money that we paid, given the variety of foods we tried as well as the personalized service. The food walk doubled as our lunch, since the tour started at 11:00am and lasted until approximately 2:00pm. It was a fantastic introduction to the city of Ljubljana, and it was clear that Iva was happy to show off her city. I recommend doing a food walk early in your visit to Ljubljana, since it will help orient you to the city. You will also benefit from Iva's recommendations for the rest of your stay! If you are headed to Ljubljana, go to the Ljubljananjam website and find the right food walk for you!
In my opinion, Copenhagen is about as close as you can get to a perfect city. The buildings are beautiful. It's super clean. People bike everywhere in these wide, well-maintained bike lanes. Everyone is really tall, beautiful, and stylish. There was good coffee, interesting neighborhoods, and history to discover. The only downside was the cost: Copenhagen is quite expensive for travelers. In another post, I will explore budget tips for staying in Copenhagen, but, for now, let me describe the wonderful days we spent discovering Copenhagen. Day 1We woke up late at our Airbnb, feeling jet lagged. We had arrived past midnight and relied on the kindness of a local to help us find the correct bus stop. After waking up, we set out immediately for one of the coffee shops I had researched before the trip: Original Coffee. We were staying in Østerbro, one of Copenhagen's neighborhoods north of the city center, described by some locals as the place for "boring people and babies". There were lots of baby strollers and it was quite a walk to the city center, but, overall, it was a nice, quiet neighborhood to stay in. We ended up walking A LOT during our stay there. Luckily for us, one of the Original Coffee locations was on the way to the city center. After caffeinating ourselves and stopping for a quick late lunch, we headed to Rådhuspladsen, the city hall, where the Grand Tour of Copenhagen with Copenhagen Free Walking Tours would begin at 3pm. We chose the Grand Tour from the various options they provide because we wanted to orient ourselves on our first day there. And, yes, the name is correct - the tour is free, but the guides work for tips, so you can decide how much to pay at the end. The Grand Tour lasted about 3 hours and touched on most of the major sights in Copenhagen. As you can imagine, with a free walking tour, you don't get to enter any of the palaces, museums, or attractions, but you do get to view the exteriors (often beautiful), learn a bit of history about each place, and figure out where everything is, in case you do want to come back later. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour and felt that we saw a lot of the city center, so we tipped our guide 100 dkk (~$15) for both of us. Here are some of the things we saw on the Grand Tour: We finished the day by having dinner at a raw foods restaurant, where we sat outside on the square.. Something that I loved in Copenhagen was that the outdoor seating at cafes provided blankets for chilly nights. I covered my lap and enjoyed the scenery despite an evening chill in the air. From there, we walked to a wine bar, where we met a fabulous bartender who spent a good portion of the night giving us recommendations about the city. Day 2We began our second day in Copenhagen much earlier than the first, and, unfortunately, we got caught in some of the unpredictable Copenhagen weather. We began by walking to Nørrebro, a neighborhood situated next to Østerbro, for coffee. The Coffee Collective is well-known in coffee circles. In fact, we saw shops in Budapest selling beans roasted by The Coffee Collective and encountered jealous Budapest baristas when we told them that we had just been to the shops in Copenhagen. Following coffee, we once again headed toward the city center on foot, getting caught in an unexpected thunderstorm and having to duck into a kebab shop to wait out the rain. While filling our stomachs with kebabs, I ran into someone that I knew from high school, back in Brookfield, Wisconsin. It really is a small world sometimes. After lunch, we bought some dry socks and stopped in the National Museum while we waited for the weather to improve. The National Museum is FREE and houses exhibits on Danish history and culture, including Viking artifacts. Once the storm had passed, we headed to Højbro Plads to meet up with Copenhagen Free Walking Tours again. We elected to go on the Christianshavn Tour, a 90 minute tour of the Christianshavn neighborhood that ends at the entrance to Freetown Christiania. Here are the highlights of our second free walking tour: As I mentioned above, the Christianshavn tour ended at one of the entrances to Freetown Christiania, a self-declared autonomous community in the Christianshavn neighborhood. It was created by residents squatting in abandoned military barracks and evolved into a kind of anarchist, "hippie commune", with its own flag and laws. Christiania is a community of people who collectively make decisions, contribute to the well-being of the rest of the community, and demonstrate extreme creativity in art and architecture. I can honestly say that I have never been anywhere like Christiania. I personally liked the Christiania bike, a three wheeled bike with a large basket in front, invented for transporting children around the community, since cars are not allowed inside. From Christiania, it was a short walk to one of our favorite spots in the city: Copenhagen Street Food on Paper Island. Copenhagen Street Food is a collection of food stands with a variety of international cuisines. Its aim is to be "a colorful and cheap street food market for the people". Go for a meal, go for coffee, go for a snack, go for a drink, just go here if you are in Copenhagen. You can grab your food inside and then head outside to picnic tables overlooking the harbor. All the stalls have to offer at least one item for 50-75 dkk (~$7.60-$11.40), so still not super cheap but definitely more affordable than most food in Copenhagen. I will make the disclaimer that most of the dinners we wanted were slightly more than that range (around 85 dkk or $13). On our first visit, we ate pulled pork egg wraps from one stall and ordered green juice from another. Yes, we went back another day. Day 3Our third day in Copenhagen once again began with The Coffee Collective and food at Grød in Nørrebro. Grød is a porridge restaurant, where we ate the Acai & Chia Bowl, which was surprisingly filling and surprisingly affordable for Copenhagen (55 dkk or $8.40). From here, it was an easy walk to Assistens Kirkegård, a large, vibrantly green cemetery in Nørrebro. It may sound weird to walk through a cemetery for fun, but it was incredibly peaceful and beautiful. This particular cemetery also happens to be the resting place for some famous Danes, including Hans Christian Anderson and Søren Kierkegaard. On the other side of the cemetery, we emerged from the peaceful green space into chaos - work crews were setting up for Distortion, a street music festival held annually in Copenhagen. The first day's events were taking place on the streets of the Nørrebro neighborhood, and festival-goers streamed into the area. We took in the atmosphere and then continued to wander away from the mass chaos. Our next stop of the day was Torvehallerne market, another one of our favorite places in Copenhagen. Outside the buildings, fresh produce stands sold colorful fruits and vegetables alongside potted succulents. The inside contained a mix of products (e.g. chocolate, olive oil), grab and go snacks, trendy eateries, and beverage options (e.g. The Coffee Collective, beer). After wandering through the various stalls and examining the offerings, we bought some macarons for a snack. At this point, we had visited most of the central neighborhoods in Copenhagen: Nørrebro, Østerbro, City Center, Christianshavn, and Freetown Christiania. The main one we were missing was Vesterbro, which almost everyone had recommended we visit. So, Brett and I walked to Vesterbro to get a glimpse of Copenhagen's "hipster" neighborhood (check out #4 on this list of the world's most hipster neighborhoods). We walked around. It was definitely different, a bit grimier, than the squeaky clean Østerbro or city center. Vesterbro apparently used to be somewhat seedy not that long ago, and you can still see some traces of that. When describing Istedgade, one of the main streets in Vesterbro, the bartender that we met on Day 1 told us that the first few blocks "are all hotels and hookers". And he was totally right - sandwiched between the hotels were strip clubs and adult shops - but, after a few blocks, we began to see trendy restaurants, cafes, and shops. For dinner, we walked back to Torvehallerne and bought food from Palaeo. We also bought oranges from a produce stand and took them to Ørstedsparken, a park nearby with a nice walking path and a lake in the middle. It was filled with Danes enjoying the good weather, picnicking, and drinking wine and beer. After we walked back to our apartment, we spent the rest of the night enjoying wine and chatting with our Airbnb hosts, an Italian couple studying in Denmark. It was a lovely experience to spend time with people who live in Copenhagen and learn about what daily life is like there. We loved our stay and loved meeting Artu and Bertina. Day 4On our final day in Copenhagen, we returned to Original Coffee, where Brett studied for the bar exam while I got asked to be in a Danish historical film. I was reading and enjoying my coffee when a man came up and asked if I had ever done any acting. He went on to explain that he was casting for some sort of historical film about a Danish king, and that the Danish king marries a Slavic princess, for which I apparently had the perfect face. I had to tell him that we were leaving later that day and was unable to help him out. I'm still 50/50 on whether he was really trying to cast me for a movie or it was some sort of scam. Either way, we laughed about it for awhile after.
From Original Coffee, we rented bikes and joined the hoards of Danes who use bicycles as their main form of transportation. They used to have a bikes available for free in the city, but that program no longer exists. Instead, there is a city bike rental program called Bycyklen, which costs 25 dkk (~$3.82) per hour. You can pick up a bike at one location and return it to any stand around the city. Lets be clear about one thing: biking in Copenhagen is serious business. The bike lanes are well separated from the traffic, and some of the traffic lights have separate bike lights to indicate stop and go. It is like a bike highway, with people merging from side streets and fast bikers passing on your left. We braved the bike lanes and had a fast-paced but enjoyable ride to Copenhagen Street Food for lunch. There, we ate Thai food and looked out over the harbor one last time before returning to the apartment, gathering our things, and heading to the airport for our flight to Budapest. It was sad to say good-bye to Copenhagen, a city that we really loved exploring. In just a few short days, we had eaten well, walked a lot, seen beautiful architecture, met friendly people, drank wonderful coffee, walked through a street festival, and much more. Based on our time in Copenhagen, it's not hard to see why Danes are often called "the happiest people on Earth." On Easter Sunday, we found ourselves in the middle of an exuberant procession, drums pounding, flags waving, incense wafting our way. A church with the dates "1525-1535" painted near the top towered over the square and the hoards of people celebrating. At unpredictable intervals, fireworks boomed around us, surprising me every time. The men carrying statues of saints were clothed in wool ponchos and the women donned wool skirts, woven shawls, and colorful blouses. Inside the church, straw covered the ground, making the floor slippery. We saw more than one person fall and almost followed suit. The inside of the church was an open space, with no benches, pews, or chairs to be seen. Groups of worshippers knelt on the ground in front of statues of saints, burning candles and making sacrifices to heal themselves. The procession of men, flags, and statues rounded the square before heading inside, pressing everyone more closely together. It was loud, exciting, and different than any worship I had experienced before. We were in the Mayan village of San Juan Chamula, only 10 km from San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico but very distinct in traditions, culture, and language. Chamula is made up almost entirely of indigenous residents who speak Tzotzil. The town is autonomous, with their own religious leaders, town leaders, and police force. Experiencing the unique culture of San Juan Chamula and San Lorenzo Zinacantán, another autonomous Mayan village, was one of the highlights of our trip to Chiapas. We signed up for a tour through Alex y Raul Tours at the recommendation of our Airbnb host. The host called the company to reserve our spots. The only information we had was to show up in the main square of San Cristobal de las Casas at 9:15am on Sunday and look for Caesar. Luckily, we found him standing very obviously in the center of the square. They divided us into an English-speaking group and Spanish-speaking group, and we were off to San Juan Chamula. I HIGHLY recommend the Mayan villages tour with this tour company. Our guide for the English-speaking tour, Raul, was superb. He told us that his father owns the tour company, and he helps out by giving tours on weekends. During the week, he teaches college history and language courses in San Cristobal. His English was excellent, he ensured that the group stayed together, he was friendly, and he had a wealth of information about the villages. When we first signed up for the tour on Easter, we were concerned that there wouldn't be anything to see, since we are used to restaurants and shops being closed for the holiday. However, as Caesar assured us, it was the exact opposite. The villages were bursting with life to celebrate Easter, a special occasion we would have missed on any other day. In Chamula, we started the tour by a cemetery and abandoned church. The cemetery contained graves with multiple crosses on each grave, the stone crosses representing Catholicism and the wooden crosses traditional to the Mayans. Raul explained that the Mayans of this village have blended their traditional religious beliefs with Catholic beliefs introduced by the Spanish in colonial times. In Chamula, they revere St. John the Baptist above all others and consider themselves children of St. John - hence the name San Juan Chamula. While people in Chamula say they are Catholic, their church is not recognized by the Vatican due to the differences in their beliefs from Catholic doctrine. For example, during a healing ritual, worshippers in the church kneel in front of particular saints, burn candles, present chickens, and drink posh, an indigenous liquor from sugar cane. We entered the home of a religious leader, who had a curtain of plants set up to protect the statue of the saint in that house. Raul explained that it is an honor to be a religious leader in the town and that men who are chosen for that year quit their jobs to devote all of their time and money to the saint they represent. The leader was tending to the altar as we talked, setting up candles and changing the plants. We presented a donation to the leader and took a small sip of posh, the liquor used in religious ceremonies. Next, lead by the sporadic booms from fireworks, we headed to the church where the Easter procession was in full swing. On the way, we passed markets and stands selling everything from mangoes to seafood, wool clothing to kitchen tools. The previous days, I had observed women and children selling trinkets, shawls, and other handicrafts in the streets of San Cristobal, all wearing furry wool skirts wrapped with belts and colorful blouses. I had wondered whether this was actually traditional or whether these clothes just made them look more authentic to tourists. I was happy to see in San Juan Chamula that all the women and young girls were wearing this same outfit. I saw very few people wearing Western clothes, often the men who travel outside the villages. I was assured by Raul that this was the traditional dress of Chamula. He explained that Chamula is known for wool products, used in the skirts, ponchos, and other clothing items. Raul informed us that we were not permitted to take photographs of the church, the celebrations, or the people, as they believe photographs steal your soul. I wish I would have been able to take pictures of the beautiful dress or the inside of the church, but it was important to be respectful. Raul let us know that the townspeople might demand to delete the photos or take your camera if you violated this request. One thing that I found odd was that a few people said we could take photos for 10 pesos (about 60 cents). Some tourists in our group took the residents of Chamula up on this offer. I understand that many of the townspeople are very poor, but all I could think was, "If they truly believe that photographs steal souls, did they just sell their souls for 10 pesos?" Rather than take photographs, Brett and I donated our pesos to the religious leader we visited, the Mayan woman who made us tortillas, and one of the churches we entered. After eating lunch in Chamula, we headed to San Lorenzo Zinacantán, also a Mayan village, also autonomous, but quite different from Chamula in many ways. Zinacantán is known for flowers and cotton, giving their traditional garb a different look than in Chamula. The women's skirts are cotton and the blouses and ponchos worn by the men have elaborate, colorful, floral embroidery covering them. I preferred the clothing in Zinacantán, probably because I love bright colors and thought the floral embroidery was incredibly beautiful. We started in one of the main churches of Zinacantán, this one recognized by the Vatican, as Zinacantán has become more assimilated to the outside culture than Chamula. In this town, as you might guess from the name, the patron saint is San Lorenzo. This church had elements that we saw in Chamula, such as statues of the saints around the inside, but also elements that you would see in a Catholic church in the United States: candles on tables instead of the floor and pews to sit on. After viewing the church, we walked to a local house, where the women of the house welcomed us. They showed us how they weave with a back-strap loom and made blue corn tortillas over a fire. We tried the corn tortillas, still hot from the fire, with ground pumpkin seeds wrapped inside. Before leaving, we examined the traditional clothing that they make by hand and were able to try on some pieces. I loved their beautiful embroidered shawls, but ultimately bought a handmade scarf that I knew I could wear more often. My simple scarf was also less expensive than the elaborately decorated blankets and shawls. I was pleased to learn that each woman keeps the money that she earns from weaving. When we wanted to buy an item, the girl or woman who made it was called to name the price, since she was the one who put in hours and weeks and months of work to craft the piece. If you are in San Cristobal de las Casas, you must do the Mayan villages tour. San Juan Chamula and San Lorenzo Zinacantán are distinct from the city of San Cristobal and offer a glimpse into a different culture. It is possible to catch a bus or taxi to these places, but you will miss out on key information, interesting stories, and meeting residents of the town without a knowledgable guide. Book with Alex y Raul Tours (250 pesos per person + guide tip) and you will be in good hands! Read more about our Chiapas trip with my blog posts about the Sumidero Canyon and San Cristobal de las Casas.
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AuthorMy name is Alyssa Good and I have a passion for travel, adventure, culture, and new experiences! I focus on budget friendly travel, trip planning resources, and seeking out new experiences. Archives
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