Summer 2023 with the fam

Our big summer trip of 2023 has come and gone. It was a success, something I was worried about, but with careful planning, it all went well.

This year, we invited my two nieces, ages 13 and 16, to come with us to visit Slovakia, the country where my spouse Igor is from, and then go to Portugal (first time for all of us), and then London. Igor and I have been before, but none of the kids had.

After we landed in Vienna, we were picked up by my brother-in-law and driven two hours to our destination in western Slovakia. 

I love when we get to the border crossing between Austria and Slovakia, when driving to Bratislava.

It’s super exciting to me because I remember coming through this border crossing back in 1989 when I first came to Czechoslovakia. I remember how long it took–just about an hour–to get through because every person needs to have their passport examined, and possibly questioned, like we were. What is your business in coming here? Where are you going? For how long? I remember the soldiers and machine guns, and how serious it all was. 

Now you just drive through. No one stops you.

I look for the old buildings. The ones I recognize. The ones I waited at or when through. Some are still there, abandoned at the side. They remind me of where I’ve been and what I’ve seen and experienced. 

Here’s one of our first meetings with relatives. My daughter seeing Igor’s aunt. It’s so fun to catch up again!

Here are the kiddos having lunch. The little one is my nephew who was thrilled to have new friends to play with. What are we having for lunch? The best chicken soup you could imagine. I am convinced that chicken soup is the food you need after a long flight. 

Slovakia is gorgeous! There are lots of castles and castle ruins.

This is Bojnice, which is probably the most famous castle in Slovakia.

The rooms inside are decorated in period pieces. I definitely recommend the tour if you go! The town of Bojnice is also a popular destination for its spas. We visited a resort for lunch, and got to walk around a bit. This is a hotel, decorated so prettily with flowers.

A couple of days into being in Slovakia, we took a short trip back to Vienna to go see the city. 

Vienna is my favorite place on earth. I lived there for a little longer than a year and got pretty familiar with it because I was traveling all over the city, teaching English to clients. My nieces wanted to go inside a big cathedral so of course I took them to Stephansdom in the very heart of the city.

It’s so peaceful inside, even with all the tourists milling around. We lit some candles.

The city center is such an amazing place! I took them to all the spots I knew. They saw and learned a lot.

We returned to Slovakia for another week and spent a lot of time visiting with relatives and having fun. After that, we began the next part of our trip, going to Portugal.

We would go to Lisbon for a couple of days, drive north through the country side and along the coast to visit family friends, and then finish by seeing Porto.

Lisbon was nice, but I had this problem. These tiles cover almost the whole city. From all the wear of people walking over them, they are smooth and shiny. They are also very slippery if you are not wearing the right shoes. I had sturdy shoes, but I was still slipping! Lisbon is know as the city with “the seven hills” so guess what? You are walking up and down all the time. On slippery tiles? Whose idea was this?! 

I wasn’t really able to enjoy my time in Lisbon, so I was ready to move on.

The coast and countryside north of Lisbon were gorgeous! We stopped in Nazaré, which is now a famous town for surfing in the winter. This was a fun touristy town to walk through.

We also went toBatalha, a small town that is famous for a large battle that took place between the Spanish and Portuguese. The cathedral was erected in honor of their victory over the Spanish.

I loved all the tiny details.

One part of the cathedral has no roof. A lot of light comes in and it’s such an unusual view. There also lots of birds flying around and nesting in the cubbies.

As I mentioned, the countryside is beautiful. You can see the rolling hills behind me in this photo.

I did love the designs of doorways and how buildings are decorated with tile. It’s so cheerful!

One church in Porto was entirely decorated in tile!

After Portugal, we flew to London where we stayed with family friends in a part of the city called Crouch End. This was the view from my room of the houses across the street. They’re so pretty!

Here’s the cute town at the main street. I loved that I could walk just a few blocks and there were shops, grocery stores, etc. 

So much to see and explore. I was happy on these little streets, going into the shops. They have lots of charity shops with second hand items. It was fun to peruse. 

I loved seeing these pubs and restaurants decorated so nicely. 

Here’s another one. This red one was in Covent Garden.

Covent Garden is the area where there are lots of musicals. Harry Potter was prominently displayed.

Speaking of Harry Potter, there was this store that was devoted to Harry Potter called House of MinaLima also in Covent Garden. The kids were very impressed.

I loved seeing gardens and loved this one at Whitehall, while walking towards the center

This building/palace was amazing! I believe they are government offices now.

We were walking towards Big Ben and it was lovely! I didn’t know there was all those gold details at the top. So impressive!

Here’s one funny thing I saw on the tube. A reminder to do kegel exercises while waiting for your next stop. 😂

The best thing is that all four kids had such a great time, that they want to go again someday. I had really wanted the trip to be transformative for my two nieces, since they may not have the opportunity to travel there in the future, and it was definitely life changing.