Day 1: We arrived at Santorini Athinios port (new port) for our SeaJets ferry to Naxos. The ferry ride takes about 3 hours from Santorini to Naxos (depending on which ferry boat you choose). We arrived at Naxos port early afternoon. We were staying at Fanis Hotel close to Agia Anna Beach. The hotel provided complimentary shuttle service to hotel. After freshening up we walked to Lefto’s Souvlaki Kebab House at Agios Prokopios Beach for lunch After lunch, we went to Agia Anna Beach right across from Fanis hotel. The water was still very cold so we shifted to the …
Destination Trip Reports EuropeTrip Report – Naxos, Greece
Destination Trip Reports EuropeTrip Report: Santorini, Greece
Day 1: We arrived at Santorini (Thira) International Airport early afternoon. After picking up our rental car we drove to our hotel (Avant Garde Suites) in Akrotiri. After freshening up we decided to have lunch near Kamari Beach. Greece had just reopened post-covid and many places in Santorini were still closed (or work being done for reopening). We were lucky to find Soul By Splash restaurant open, right on Kamari Beach. It was amazing having wonderful food while hearing waves a few feet away. After lunch, we walked along Kamari Beach but the very cold water along with rough pebbles …
Destination Trip Reports EuropeTrip Report: Athens, Greece
Day 1: We arrived at Athens International Airport (Eleftherios Venizelos) in the afternoon on our flight from London. After a rapid covid-19 swab test at the airport, we were on our way. Athens Metro Line 3 serves the airport and we took the metro to Syntagma Square (9 Euro/person). Our hotel (New Hotel, Athens) was only 5 minutes walk from Syntagma metro stop. After freshening up, we decided to pick up our combo Acropolis tickets ($30 Euro for 8 sites over 5 days) from Gymnasium of Lykeion. We walked from our hotel to the National Garden. We walked through the …
Destination Trip Reports EuropeMay’21: Greece Trip – Introduction
It had been a long time (since Jan 2020) I’ve been on a vacation. Ever since Covid crisis started, we were staying home hoping for it to all blow over. After we got vaccinated in Feb 2020, it gave us the chance to go on our already postponed Greece trip in May 2021. Greece finally opened up to international tourists at end of April and the requirements were fairly simple. For vaccinated tourists, a proof of vaccination was sufficient for entry along with a passenger locator form specifically for Greece that had to be filled out no later than day …
Destination Trip Reports EuropeJune 2019 – Moscow Trip Report
Day 1: We started our sightseeing in Moscow with its most famous sight, the Red Square. Although there is a metro stop close by we took a cab from our hotel straight to the square. The square is surrounded by St. Basil’s Cathedral, Kremlin Walls, and Lenin Mausoleum on one end and the State Historical Museum and GUM Department store on the other. We did not go inside St. Basil’s cathedral as I read that the exterior architecture is more impressive anyways. Lenin Mausoleum was closed that day. After spending some time at the Red Square we walked behind St. …
Destination Trip Reports EuropeJune 2019 – St. Petersburg (Russia) Trip Report
Day 1: We arrived at St. Petersburg around noon on our flight from Brussels. After an uneventful immigration check, we took airport taxi to our hotel (Staybridge Suites St. Petersburg). After freshening up, we took the metro from Moskovskie Vorota Metro stop (Line M2) near our hotel to Nevsky Prospekt (Line M2). Nevsky Prospekt is the main street of St. Petersburg. Its crowded and quite touristy. We passed by the Kazan Cathedral and then walked along the channel embankment to Church of the Savior on Blood. The Church of Savior on Blood is quintessential Russian architecture with onion domes. After …
Destination Trip Reports EuropeJune 2019 – Brussels Trip Report
We spent 2 nights (1 full day) in Brussels while going from Barcelona to St. Petersburg, Russia. We arrived in Brussels late at night (around midnight), spent the full day exploring Brussels and then flew out to St. Petersburg early next morning. Although we missed some popular hot spots due to short schedule, it still was a lot of fun and we gained a lot of appreciation for this city. Karen had signed up for a Belgian Chocolate Workshop and I dropped her off in the morning for the 3 hour class. While Karen was in class, me and my …
Destination Trip Reports EuropeJune 2019 – Barcelona Trip Report
Day 1: We arrived on AVE train from Madrid in the evening. Although there is a direct metro line from Barcelona Sants station to our hotel (Hilton Barcelona, Maria Christina metro stop) we opted for a cab to avoid lugging all our belongings in the metro. After checking in and freshening up me and Karen decided to walk to a highly reviewed restaurant on Tripadvisor (Cerveceria Catalana) about 2 km from the hotel. Day 2: The day started out really bad weather wise and I decided to make slight changes to the itinerary for the morning. We took the metro …
Destination Trip Reports EuropeJune 2019 – Madrid Trip Report
Day 1: We arrived at Madrid Barajas International Airport in the morning. We were staying in Madrid Marriott Auditorium Hotel & Conference Center for the first night. After checking-in and freshening up we took the metro to the city (from the airport which was the closest Metro stop from the hotel). All metro trains outbound and inbound for the airport carry a 3 Euro surcharge. We did not buy any metro pass during our stay in Madrid and instead used the 10 journey ticket (that can be shared between travelers). It was close to lunch time and our first stop …
Destination Trip Reports EuropeJune 2019: Europe Trip – Introduction
During June we visited Europe for 2 weeks at the end of my parents’ visit in US. This time we went over to Spain and Russian Federation with a short 1 day stay in Brussels. We stayed 2 nights each in Madrid, Barcelona, Brussels and St. Petersburg followed by 4 nights in Moscow. In the following months, I will be posting reviews on the following: Airline Review: Iberia Business Class – Chicago to Madrid Trip Report: Madrid Hotel Review: Madrid Marriott Auditorium Hotel & Conference Center Hotel Review: Artiem Madrid Trip Report: Barcelona Hotel Review: Hilton Barcelona Hotel Review: AC …
Destination Trip Reports EuropeJune 2017: Berlin Trip Report
Day 1: There are many places in Berlin where you can still see the remnants of the Berlin Wall but the two most popular ones among them are the East Side Gallery and Berlin Wall Memorial Park. We wanted to start our Berlin trip with East Side Gallery and took S-Bahn to Ostbahnhof station. After coming outside the station, within about 5 minutes walk you get to the wall. After walking along the wall by the river Spree, we reached Oberbaum Bridge. After crossing the bridge we walked to Markthale Neun market. I had TripAdvisor reviews about the place and …
Destination Trip Reports EuropeJune 2017: Prague Trip Report
Day 1: We bought a day pass (110 CZK per person per day) from our hotel front desk for each of our days in Prague. The pass allowed all 4 of us to travel together on tram and metro for unlimited trips. We started the day by taking the tram to Charles Bridge. Standing on the Charles Bridge over Vltava river gives you a great view of the Prague Castle in the distance. After spending an hour on the bridge looking around at different statues, we walked back towards the Old Town Square. We walked on narrow cobblestone streets through …
Destination Trip Reports EuropeJune 2017: Budapest Trip Report
Day 1: We took the metro M1 line from Oktogon stop to Deak Ferenc Ter and switched to Bus 16. The bus crosses the river Danube and turns by the Funicular and goes uphill all the way to Buda Castle. After exploring Buda Castle for a couple of hours we walked towards Matthias Church. The exterior structure of this church is simply stunning and even though you can see it across the Danube from Pest side, nothing beats seeing it up close. From Matthias church we walked across the street to Fisherman’s Bastion. After spending some time taking pictures …
Destination Trip Reports EuropeJune 2017: Vienna Trip Report
Day 1: We took the hotel shuttle to the city center where it dropped us off in front of the Vienna State Opera. Right next to the opera is the busy shopping street of Kartner Strasse. We walked along the street and came across the beautiful Donner Brunnen Fountain. After taking some pictures we walked further along the Kartner Strasse to the very busy Stephansplatz square. The square sits right in front of the St. Stephen’s Cathedral. The exterior of St. Stephen’s Cathedral is very impressive. After spending about half an hour inside the church we proceeded on Graben street. …
Destination Trip Reports EuropeMay 2017: Munich Trip Report
Day 1: We arrived in Munich early morning on our flight from Houston. The S-Bahn station is right outside the airport served by both S1 and S8 lines. We were staying right next to the Munich Central Railway Station (Munich Hauptbahnhof) and so the S-Bahn was the best way to get to the city. A lot of European cities have group day tickets which is more economical than personal daily tickets. A ticket from Munich Airport (Flughafen Munchen) to city is under “Entire Network” option and so I bought a group day ticket (valid for up to 5 travelers) for …
Destination Trip Reports EuropeSummer 2017: Central Europe Trip Report – Introduction
My parents are visiting me in the US this summer and after their month long stay we are going to be visiting Europe for a 2 week trip. I was in Europe for the first time during the summer of 2014 when we visited Amsterdam, London, Lucerne, Milan, Venice, Rome and Paris. This time around we will start in Munich followed by Vienna, Budapest, Prague and finally Berlin. In the following weeks I will publish the following reviews and trip reports. Airline Review: United Airlines Business Class – Houston to Munich Trip Report: Munich, Germany Hotel Review: Aloft Munich Trip Report: …
Destination Trip Reports EuropeJuly 2014: Paris Trip Report
We arrived in Paris Orly Airport by EasyJet from Rome pretty late at night (around 11 PM). The Orly Airport is much closer to the city than Charles De Gaulle airport. Even though a cab is a perfectly economical mode of transportation for 4 passengers, we wanted to use the public transportation. The OrlyVal train was already closed by the time we got out of the terminal. We took the OrlyBus shuttle from the airport to Denfert Rochereau and took the RER B from there to Charles De Gaulle Etoille station (after transferring in between to Paris Metro). The exit …
Destination Trip Reports EuropeJuly 2014: Rome Trip Report
Day 1: We took the FrecciaArgento #9423 train from Venice Santa Lucia station to the Termini station in Rome. The Termini station also has the Metro station outside the train station. Rome has only two metro lines, Line A (Red) and Line B (Blue). Our hotel for our stay in Rome was Holiday Inn Express, San Giovanni which is closest to the Ponte Lungo stop on Line A. We took the Line A metro outside the Termini train station to the Ponte Lungo stop and walked for 10 minutes to get to the hotel. After checking in and freshening up, we …
Destination Trip Reports EuropeJuly 2014: Venice Trip Report
We got on a FrecciaBianca train bound for Venice from Milan Central station in the late afternoon. There were luggage racks at the end as well as mid compartment. I had read warnings on online forums regarding putting luggage at the end of the passenger car so we kept it in the mid-compartment luggage racks. The train had a dining compartment too but we had already had lunch at the Milan station. We arrived at the Venezia Santa Lucia station in the early evening. The weather Gods were not kind as there was a thunderstorm going on in Venice. Heavy …
Destination Trip Reports EuropeJuly 2014: Trip Report – 4 Hours in Milan
After breakfast, we got to the Lucerne Train station. We picked up some more sandwich supplies from the Coop store at the train station. We were heading to Venice and had a 4 hour connection in Milan. The journey to Milan was on Eurocity (EC 253) train, a 4 hour trip. I had opted for the shortest route from Lucerne to Milan, not necessarily the most scenic route. There are other scenic routes available between these two cities (although not as direct and more time consuming). Since we had around 4 hours in Milan, we wanted to utilize the time …