I’m home!
After two weeks exploring Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia and Hungary, it was finally time for the long journey back to Florida. Thankfully, all of my flights were on time, and despite the thunderstorms around Orlando, I think we actually landed a few minutes earlier than expected. I truly wish that Hungary and the other countries were getting some much-needed rain.
I hadn’t slept much on our last night in Budapest, although I did manage to sleep for a while on the flight across the Atlantic. We landed in Philadelphia, and that’s where Elizabeth and I had to say goodbye. After traveling together through the Balkans, she was heading home to Missouri and I was continuing on to Florida.
At a Longhorns along the way home, I stopped for something I hadn’t had in a couple of weeks: sweet tea! I paired it with chicken fingers, which I would like to point out are a perfectly valid menu choice for an adult.
By the time I finally walked through my own front door, I was exhausted. I barely had enough energy to climb the stairs and get into my own bed. Unfortunately, my body apparently hadn’t received the memo that I was back in Florida. I didn’t sleep particularly well and woke up way too early.
Hello, jet lag. I have a feeling we’re going to be spending a few days together.
The good news is that I’ve heard from my traveling companions, and Elizabeth, Susan and Ginny all made it home safely too.
Now comes the unpacking.
I love bringing things home from my travels, but I’m not necessarily talking about expensive souvenirs. I like finding things that remind me of a particular place or moment. Books, artwork, mugs, Christmas ornaments and owls almost always catch my attention.
And magnets.
Before this trip, I told myself I wasn’t going to buy magnets because I still haven’t figured out exactly how I want to display them.
That plan did not last very long.
So, while I’m unpacking everything, I thought I’d share some of the things that made their way home with me.
Romania
Romania was our first country, and apparently I wasted absolutely no time shopping.
At a local farmers market, I bought some of the most amazing cherries, and they were incredibly inexpensive. Unfortunately, those couldn’t come home with me, so I had to enjoy them while I was there. I also found little dried lavender sachets for about $1 each. They smell wonderful, and I couldn’t help remembering how much more I paid for similar lavender sachets last year in the South of France.
One of my favorite stops in Bucharest was Cărturești Carusel, often called the “Carousel of Light.” It may be the prettiest bookstore I’ve ever visited. The white balconies, sweeping staircases and shelves of books spread across several levels make the bookstore itself worth seeing.
Of course, I wasn’t going to walk out of a bookstore like that empty-handed.
I found a really cool English edition of Dracula, which seemed particularly appropriate since so much of the story is associated with Transylvania. I also added Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in Romanian to my growing collection of Harry Potter books from around the world.
Susan and Ginny added to that collection too. They gave me a Romanian Harry Potter Christmas book, which makes it even more special because now it will always remind me of traveling with them.
Then there are the Starbucks mugs.
I managed to find the Romania, Bucharest and Brașov You Are Here mugs, so all three of those came home with me. My cabinet space may eventually become an issue, but that’s a problem for another day.
This trip also added several things to another collection I’m slowly creating.
I’ve decided I want a gallery wall at home filled with artwork I’ve collected during my travels. I already had a long, narrow print of a field of sunflowers that I bought earlier this year because it reminded me of France. After driving through Romania and seeing field after field of sunflowers on our way toward Transylvania, now it reminds me of Romania too.
I picked up prints of both Bran Castle and Peleș Castle, which will eventually become part of that wall.
At the fortified village of Prejmer, the same place where we saw all of those enormous stork nests, I found a beautiful wreath made from corn-husk flowers. The following day I bought another print of Bran Castle, and I’m thinking about using the corn-husk wreath as a frame around it. I think that could look really interesting on the gallery wall.
Prejmer was apparently a good shopping stop for me because I also bought some Transylvanian honey and a bar of lavender-flavored white chocolate.
I haven’t tried the chocolate yet.
I’m intrigued.
It could be delicious, or it could taste like a very lovely bar of soap. I’ll report back.
At Peleș Castle, I found one of my favorite little purchases of the entire trip. A local woman was selling tiny porcelain bird whistles for about $2. You put a little water inside them, blow into the whistle, and they actually sound like a bird chirping.
She had plenty of songbirds, but I chose an owl.
Of course I did.
I try to bring home at least one owl from the places I travel, so my little $2 Romanian chirping owl was definitely coming home with me.
And then we need to discuss the magnets.
As I mentioned, I had decided I wasn’t buying any on this trip. But then I started thinking, what happens if I eventually come up with a brilliant way to display my travel magnets and I don’t have one from Romania?
Clearly, that would be a tragedy.
So I bought a Romanian magnet featuring Bran Castle and Vlad the Impaler.
Just in case.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria was never really on my list of places I felt like I needed to see.
Well, I was wrong about that.
I really loved my time in Bulgaria, and apparently my shopping proves it. I bought more magnets there than I did in any other country on this trip, including a couple written in Cyrillic.
So much for not buying magnets.
One of the things I quickly learned in Bulgaria is just how important roses are there, and that found its way into my suitcase too.
I bought a couple of boxes of Turkish delight, including some flavored with rose. I also brought home a small jar of rose jam and a bottle of rose liqueur.
I haven’t quite decided what I’m going to do with the rose liqueur yet, but I plan to experiment with it. I’m thinking there may be a Bulgarian-inspired cocktail in my future.
That’s one of the things I really enjoy about traveling. Sometimes the places you weren’t particularly expecting to fall in love with end up being some of the biggest surprises.
Bulgaria was definitely one of those places for me.
Serbia
By the time we reached Serbia, I had clearly abandoned any pretense that I wasn’t shopping.
One of my goals was to find another Harry Potter book for my foreign-language collection. In Belgrade, I found a Serbian copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
I had really hoped to find one printed in Cyrillic, but the bookstore owner told me that they hadn’t published the book in Cyrillic for something like eight to ten years. The current Serbian edition uses the Latin alphabet.
I decided to buy it anyway, and I’m glad I did.
A little later in the trip, Serbia made up for the lack of Cyrillic Harry Potter.
While exploring Novi Sad, I found a little shop specializing in Serbian handicrafts. There I discovered a beautiful cross-stitched sampler of the Cyrillic alphabet. That will make a wonderful piece to display at home, and I think it’s actually a more interesting reminder of the Serbian alphabet than the book would have been.
I also found three handmade owl Christmas ornaments there.
Yes, more owls.
I picked up a beautiful owl lapel pin too. It was only about $10, and I’m not even sure I’ll wear it. I may find a way to display it because it’s really that pretty.
My Starbucks mug collection grew in Serbia as well.
At the Starbucks in Belgrade, I found both the Serbia and Belgrade You Are Here mugs. The Belgrade mug is particularly interesting because it features Београд, the city’s name in Cyrillic. It’s a very cool addition to my collection.
Then Elizabeth told me about a little antique mall she’d spotted down the pedestrian street near the bookstore.
Obviously, I needed to investigate.
I’m so glad I did.
Lately I’ve been replacing my scratched-up Fiesta Ware with what I affectionately call my “old lady china.” I’m collecting mismatched china with florals, gold trim and the kind of patterns that look like they might have been brought out when someone’s grandmother was serving cake.
I love it.
Most of the pieces I’ve collected so far have come from thrift stores, but I love the idea of occasionally finding a piece while I’m traveling.
In Belgrade, I found a lovely china teacup, saucer and dessert plate made in Bavaria for only about $22. Someday, when my mismatched china collection is complete, I’ll be able to set a table where some of the pieces have their own travel stories.
At the same little collection of antique booths, I found something else I absolutely did not need.
An old photograph of a very distinguished Serbian gentleman with a magnificent handlebar mustache.
I know absolutely nothing about him.
Naturally, I’m going to invent his entire life story.
So far, I’ve decided that he’s a beekeeper and poet living in urban Belgrade. That’s all I have at the moment, but give me time. This man is going to have a fascinating life.
I also found a handmade wool fairy ornament that will eventually find a home on one of my Christmas trees.
Between Harry Potter, Cyrillic, owls, Starbucks mugs, old china, Christmas ornaments and one mysterious Serbian beekeeper-poet, Serbia did very well in the souvenir department.
Croatia
Croatia gets a special distinction on this trip.
It’s the country where I didn’t buy anything.
Not because I suddenly developed tremendous willpower.
We visited on a national holiday, and literally everything was closed!
We had a wonderful day exploring Ilok and Vukovar, but there simply wasn’t anywhere to shop. So there won’t be a Croatian magnet, mug, book, owl or piece of artwork coming out of the suitcase.
I did discover that I liked the Croatian wines much more than the Serbian wines we’d tried the previous day. My favorite was the Traminac, so Croatia certainly gave me something memorable even if I couldn’t bring much of it home.
Hungary
And then we reached Hungary.
By this point, I had a problem.
I needed another suitcase.
Technically, I probably could have managed without buying one. But I had accumulated quite a few Starbucks mugs & books by this point, and the thought of carrying all of those heavy items in my backpack through three airports wasn’t appealing in the slightest.
Especially because my back was really hurting by the end of this trip.
So I bought a suitcase.
Maybe that should count as my final souvenir.
I was very glad I had it, though, because my Starbucks collection grew one more time in Budapest. I found both the Budapest and Hungary You Are Here mugs, and they joined all the others for the journey home.
Elizabeth also remembered a farmers market from a previous visit to Budapest, so we walked up there and I picked up some of Hungary’s famous paprika to bring home.
Honestly, by the time we reached Budapest, my back was hurting so badly that I wasn’t able to do nearly as much exploring as I would have liked. That was disappointing because Budapest is absolutely beautiful.
But I don’t feel like I’m finished with Budapest.
I definitely want to go back someday and really explore the city when I’m feeling better and can wander without constantly thinking about how much my back hurts.
For now, I’m probably going to be doing quite a bit of resting this week. I may even get a massage.
I’ve never had a massage in my life, mainly because the idea of a stranger touching me like that has never sounded particularly appealing.
But desperate times call for desperate measures.
More Than Souvenirs
As I’ve been unpacking everything, I’ve realized that these things really aren’t about shopping.
They’re reminders.
A $2 owl whistle takes me back to the grounds of Peleș Castle. A corn-husk wreath reminds me of Prejmer and those enormous stork nests. A Romanian Harry Potter book reminds me of one of the most beautiful bookstores I’ve ever stepped inside. A china teacup will remind me of wandering through an antique shop in Belgrade. And someday, when I look at that old photograph, I’ll probably remember the completely fictional Serbian beekeeper-poet whose life story I’m apparently now responsible for writing.
Even the magnets I wasn’t going to buy will remind me of where I’ve been.
That’s why I love collecting little things when I travel.
Long after the suitcase has been unpacked, the laundry has been done and the jet lag has finally disappeared, these are the things scattered around my home that will unexpectedly take me right back to a place I’ve been.
And after this trip, I’ve got quite a few new memories to find homes for.
P.S. Of course, I’ve already been thinking about my next European river cruise. Next spring, I’ll be sailing through Holland and Belgium on my Tulip Time group cruise, and one of our stops will be Antwerp, the Diamond Capital of the World.
After everything you’ve just read about what followed me home from this trip, I suppose there’s only one question left…
What in the world am I going to buy to remember my time in Antwerp? 💎
P.S. Since we’re talking about diamonds, I have to give a little shout-out to my friend Susan Purnell at Kuhn’s Jewelers in Salisbury, Maryland. Susan and her team can help with all of your jewelry needs, whether you’re looking for something special, having a piece custom designed, or maybe getting a little distracted by diamonds like I do. If you’re in the market for something beautiful, give Susan a call!
Kuhn’s Jewelers
1306 S. Salisbury Blvd., Suite 192
Salisbury, MD 21801
410-742-3256
Susan is the best, and Kuhn’s has been in her family for over 100 years.
Cleared For Take-Off! 