Dubrovnik, Croatia

We arrived to Dubrovnik two days after a long week in Italy. I arranged to stay in a house with four of my friends which worked out just beautifully. We stayed right in the Old Town of Dubrovnik right next to the infamous city walls. Dubrovnik was the perfect place to unwind because there is not too many things to see. The trip did include a visit to the city walls, a tram up to the top of the mountain, cliff diving and an epic meal at the end of the trip.

Italy day 3 through 7

Since I have had literally no internet the past few weeks, I have had no time to post on my blog. I am so far behind, I am just going to post a bunch of pictures from Italy and Croatia to catch up to where I currently am in Bulgaria. These pictures consist of our trip in Florence and Rome. Pictures include the vatican, trevi fountain, the duomo, pantheon and the colosseum.

Naples day 1 and 2

We arrived in Naples at 8:00 in the morning. Once we got packed up, we decided to take a 30 minute train ride to Pompei. The trains were packed, it was hot, but a quick ride. Once we got there, we decided to just walk around for 2 hours or so looking at the sites and taking it all in.

Pompeii was much larger than we had thought. It took forever to walk through only about a 4th of it. Once we were done, we took a quick train back to Naples for our first stop of pizza. It took us about a 30 minute walk to get to the pizza place on Via Tribunali, but it was well worth it. We initially wanted to go to Di Matteo, but we were so hungry we stopped at Sorbillo which is one of the best in Naples.

We walked into the empty restaurant and sat down to quickly order. The menu consists of ONLY pizza. No salads, pasta or anything else. There is a huge wood burning oven in the front with very minimalist design. I opted for the margherita pizza. I do not hesitate in saying that this was the best pizza I have had. Ever. The pizza was out in two minutes and I was ready to eat.

Such a simple thing, but executed perfectly. What was so different from this pizza than any I have tried was the sauce. The tomato sauce was so sweet and you could tell it was from the freshest tomatoes possible. The cheese and basil just made everything meld perfectly and the crust was perfectly charred. Perfection.

After lunch we headed back to the boat to rest. After we decided to go out and get amazing pizza again and some gelato. Overall Naples was really not very cool. It was dirty, smelly, but the pizza was worth the trip alone. I can't wait to come back and sample all of the pizzerias.

Barcelona Day Two-Sagrada Familia y Gaudi Park

My blog posts are somewhat out of order. This post is about my second day in Barcelona. On this particular day we wanted to visit some of the most famous spots in Barcelona so we decided to go to the Sagrada Familia and the Park of Gaudi.

First off was the park of Gaudi. This park is where Gaudi lived and eventually was turned into a giant public park with all his work. Unfortunately my camera ran out of battery so I was only able to snap a few pictures.

Gaudi's house

Next up was the Sagrada Familia which is a huge cathedral that has yet to be finished. The structure was started by Gaudi, but do to his death, the city of Barcelona is trying to finish his work. It is expected that it will take about 25 more years to be fully finished.

Both of the sites were pretty awesome. Although both places were super crowded, it was awesome to see the giant cathedral and the park where some of Gaudi's masterpieces lie.

El Cellar de Can Roca

On my last day in Spain, I decided to head to Girona to eat at the number 2 restaurant in the world, El Cellar de Can Roca. The train ride was about an hour, so it was not too bad getting there. We arrived right around 1 at one of the most beautiful restaurants I have ever been to.

We quickly sat down and were treated to multiple glasses of champagne. After we decided on the feast menu, the rest is history. I just want to note that I am not going to explain each dish, but just provide pictures. My favorites were all the desserts, the suckling pig, lamb, steak tartare, sole and the onion soup.

Caramelized olives hung from a tree

Fried Anchovy Bones and Chicken mousse cracker

Spanish Omelette and Calamari

Sole with flavors of the mediterranean

"Onion Soup"

Charcoal Grilled Prawn

Escalavida- anchovy, smoke, pepper, eggplant

Cherries, elderberry, eel

Baby Squids and onion rocks

Red Mullet

Steak Tartare with mustard ice cream

Iberian Suckling Pig

Lamb and peach

Lemon Sorbet

Vanilla, caramel, licorice

I can easily say that this dining experience was one of the best I have ever had. At the end of the meal we got a full tour of the kitchen and got to meet all three of the Roca brothers, which was just insane. The food at El Cellar de Can Roca was some of the most unique, beautiful and delicious I have had anywhere. I can't wait to come back sometime in my life because it truly was a life changing experience.