Europe: Oh My Gawd Food Moments

Over the past five months we have taken you along on the fantastic European chapter of our Radventure which has included an incredible smorgasbord of deliciousness. Below are the highlights...

The Top Five:
1 - Spaghetti allo Scoglio at Il Carrettiere (Como, Italy)
2 - Bistecca alla Fiorentina at Osteria Perbacco (Siena, Italy)
3 - Weiner Schnitzel at Cafe Anzergruber (Vienna, Austria)
4 - Pasteis de Nata at Pasteis de Belem (Belem, Lisbon, Portugal)
5 - Froi Gras and Black Truffle Miso Soup at Con Gracia (Barcelona, Spain)
 

Schnit!...

Scotty crunching into his tart

Of course there is quite specific criteria to make the list, namely it has to be a single plate, and really some meals are just hard to spilt into parts so here are some very honorable mentions in no particular order:

- Every morsel of Zia Memma's cooking from her delicious pasta sauces to the soft pillows of gnocchi. Yum!
- Mrs Geisseler (Olivia's Mum) simply scrumptious Swiss home meals. Some of our favorites include raspberry pavlova, roast lamb and rustic salads. So good!
- A very British Sunday Lunch at The Old Stag in North Wales
- The "Brat" from Vorderer Sternen Grill in Zurich - it doesn't get much better when you've got a hot crusty bread roll and hot mustard!
- Sweet and sticky Turkish Pistachio Baklava at Karaköy Güllüoglu in Istanbul
- Our fine dining experience at Ledbury in London. We couldn't fault the entire lunch and worth every single penny, of which there were a lot!

 

Yummy raspberries!

Memma's gnocchi

With European food having almost daily parties in our mouths here are some more tantalizing moments:

- Lamb Tagine with Prunes (Marrakech, Morocco)
- Paella (Madrid, Spain)
- Stone cooked steak at Cabacas (Lisbon, Portugal)
- Grilled Seafood Platter at La Ramblas Market (Barcelona, Spain)
- Chocolate Croissant at Au Ble d’Azur (Nice, France)
- Nutella Ice Cream at Cioccolat Italiani (Milan, Italy)
- Prawn and Black Truffle Risotto at Carpaccio (Venice, Italy)
- Ham & Cheese Baguette in Montmarte (Paris, France)
- Chocolate Fondant (Paris, France)
- Blue Cheese from Barthelemy (Paris, France)
- Pizza Taglio from the shop near Zia Memma's (Carpineto, Rome, Italy)
- Spaghetti Carbonara from Romana's (Rome, Italy)
- Water from the fountain at the Spanish Steps (Rome, Italy)
- Gelato from Giotti (Rome, Italy)
- Panino from a random deli, a crunchy bread roll, fresh ham and delicious white anchovies (Amalfi, Italy)
- Grilled Swordfish & Stuffed Tomatoes at Zia Angela's (Messina, Italy)
- Aranchini (Messina, Italy)
- Pesto (made by Nicola's mum) Gnocchi (Messina, Italy)
- Greek Salads (everywhere in Greece)
- Grilled Lamb Chops at Romilos (Rhodes, Greece)
- Kofte 5 Herb and Spice (cumin, chilli, garlic, oregano and sumac) Kebab (Fethiye, Turkey)
- Chicken Indian/Turkish Curry cooked by Captain Ahmet (Before Lunch, somewhere on the mediterranean sea, Turkey)
- Scone with jam (Isle of Skye, Scotland)
- Haggis Fritters at MacDonald Pub (Loch Leven, Scotland)
- Fresh Strawberries from a farm (Cheddar, England)
- Rick Stein's Fish & Chups (Padstow, England)

Slicing into haggis fritters

French cheese

The best water in Roma

Paella and more in Madrid

No more scone - all gone!

Are you hungry yet? If not check out how the overall moments have changed.

Keep eating!
Scotty and Sara

 

Cream Teas, a Camper and the Countryside

Britain is home to our gracious Queen, Earl Grey tea, The Beatles, very bad teeth and for 3 weeks two Australian Radventurers! Our time in Britain was bookended by a few sightseeing days in London but the majority of the trip was spent on the open roads. We nearly managed to hit all the extreme compass points of this small but spectacular land. As we flew back across Europe, sipping on our first cup of English tea, we calculated that this was our first English speaking country in 7 months. The thought of ordering from a menu and knowing exactly what you were getting, understanding directions and asking obscure questions was quite exciting. At this stage we hadn't heard the thick Scottish and Welsh accents or ordered the nice sounding black pudding.

In true London fashion we were welcomed by the drizzle and stunningly chilly grey skies of a British 'summer'. The shorts and thongs were again tucked deep in the depths of our backpacks. Our first day in London was filled with the regular tourist hotspots like Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, No. 1 Downing Street, The Big Ben and more. A lunchtime pitstop to enjoy a pie and a pint led to us feeling right at home.

Delicious pot pie

Big Ben and The London Eye

The next day, excited to get on the road and escape the rain drops of London, we picked up our Spaceship campervan (basically a Tarago with a bed in the back and a few camper trimmings). Every night we stayed at camp sites which ranged from organic farms to muddy fields out the back of pubs to pristine official club sites. Sometimes we looked at others with envy at their Tajmahal sized tents and uber modern campervans, but when it started to rain and everything was soggy we smiled smugly in our cosy little Spaceship.

Our Cool Camper

Dinner time!....

The trip itself was an anti-clockwise circle starting in London heading up to Scotland via the east coast, then down the west coast, past The Lakes District into Wales, then Cornwall before a short stop in the south-east before arriving back in London. Let us start by saying that Britain has some outstanding natural landscape - not a day passed where we weren't inspired by the changing countryside.

Scotland had by far the most differing and stunning landscape. But before we rave about the hues of green, blue and of course grey, we have to talk about sock removal. The debate is still raging whether our two days at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival were so entertaining they blew our socks off or so funny that we laughed our socks off. Either way we had an incredible time walking the cobbled streets and soaking up the fun-filled vibe as it was full of performers and people in outrageous costumes. The biggest highlight was definitely comedian David O'Doherty and his hilarious tunes. With sore cheeks from smiling we drove to the north of Scotland and the uppermost tip of the mysterious Loch Ness. The next day we spent 12 hours sitting on the shore with binoculars hunting for the beast that lurks within.... Not really. We did drive down one edge, but the best we saw was a floating log. After a magical drive through the untouched Scottish Highlands we arrived at the Isle of Skye - despite the small distance the terrian changed from more lush curved grand mountains spotted with shaggy cows to volcanic formed jaggered peaks. On the Isle of Skye we found a perfect spot to park the camper and spent the evening cooking and watching the sunset over the mountains (and getting eaten alive by bugs). The next morning Sara ate 'the best scone in the WORLD', but she gobbled it down to quick for us to get a photo. Our last few nights were spent camping by more of the Scottish Lochs, and we enjoyed a few off terrain walks through forrests and past waterfalls. Before we left Scotland we tried the famous haggis, which was surprisingly good, but we cheated and got it fried and typically anything that is served in crunchy batter is usually pretty good.

Edinburgh Fring Festival

One of the many spectacular Scottish Lochs

 

Highland Cow

Scottish Beach

We said goodbye to Scotland bound for The Lakes District in the North of England. We were warned not to head to this area on any summer weekend, so of course we timed it perfectly to be there on the biggest long weekend in England. Let's just say the little town and camp ground was full of pasty white Englishmen and tonnes of excited kids. Near the town center we saw our first stone circle. It was small but free and completely open for a rock climbing experience - surprisingly slippery when you are wearing only your socks. Before the rain came tumbling in that afternoon we took a walk along the crag and got a stunning view of the famous lakes in the area.

Peaceful stone circle

Looking out at the lakes from the top of the crag

Wales was the next destination, which meant that in 3 days we had crossed into 3 countries (that is a record for us). We explored our first castle, Conwy Castle, which is a shell of a once grand building. It was incredibly rustic and antique. Very cool. As it was a Sunday night, we went to a small local pub, The Old Stag, and enjoyed a huge and very English Sunday Lunch. Coming into Britain we were not so excited about the "food journey" but surprisingly it was meals like this and the simplicity of things like real fresh organic cows milk with cereal, that were tantilising our tastebuds. Next we drove through the Snowdonia National Park and arrived in St David to a stunning camp sight on the edge of a cliff. After more walks passed cows, relaxing and cooking good food Wales came to a end. We do think it is still a little strange that in Welsh an eight letter word can only have one vowel.

Conwy Castle

St David (Our campsite is the white dots above our heads)

Scotty chowing down the last few bits of Sunday Lunch

By this stage we only had a few more stops in England before we had to give back the Spaceship. We drove to Bristol, snapped a pic of an original Banksy piece (Scott has become a little obsessed with street art), then through Bath before arriving in Cheddar Gorge. We walked along The Gorge and took in the sheer dropping edges. As we left the area we chowed down a few slices of the famous Cheddar cheese and drove into the Cornwall region. This area continued to "wow" us with an incredible drive through the Dartmoor National Park where there are no fences to keep the wild animals (mostly sheep, cows and horses) off the road, so they just stroll from the ever so green rolling mountains onto the road. We stayed a night in Padstow, which is also know as PadStein after the famous chef Rick Stein. His restaurants, patiserries, shops, delis and cooking schools are spotted throughout the town. So to make sure we could enjoy the famous food we took a very long stroll along the Camel Trail (an old train track), before enhaling the best fish and chips we will ever eat in our lives! OK after a 21km walk (half marathon!) we were starving so it may have impacted our food rating but when you fry a delicious piece of lemon sole fish in beef drippings and a crunchy lemony melt-in-your-mouth lightly salted morsal emerges you cannot beat it. Full to the brim we then made our way up to Avebury town for our second stone circle and a night at the shitest 'campsite' in Britain. Early the next morning we made our way to Stonehenge expecting an over-hyped tourist trap, but it was amazimg. This huge ring of ancient, giant stones somehow captures the imagination. A rainy afternoon drive ended at the famous White Cliffs where the crashing waves and the tumultous grey skies only added to the powerful landscape. Sadly that was the end of the road trip and after 4,024kms (the equivalent of driving from Sydney to Melbourne 5.5 times - yes we are nerds) we were wondering if we could join the rest of the Australian Expats enjoying free weekends out in the English countryside, but an afternoon shower quickly reminded us that there is no place like home!

Banksy Original

Sara on top of a big drop in Cheddar Gorge

Rick Stein's Fish and Chips

Scott getting up close to the Avebury stone circle

Magical Stonehnge

Stunning white cliffs

Back in London the weather held out for us and we didn't have a drop of rain in four days! We had some very exciting activities planned including seeing The Lion King (an excellent production) on West End and enjoying a very fine lunch at the Michellen Star rated Ledbury (outstanding food - an incredible flavour sensation in every mouthful), but let's start at the beginning. Our first afternoon was spent wandering around the impressive and free Tate Modern Art Museum that had some very cool exhibits. We walked past St Paul's Cathedral and stopped in at the Museum of London before headig to Kings Cross to see a comedy night at a London Pub. This featured a naked Frenchman, slutty housekeeping maids and some very 'interesting' stand up routines. Our hostel was in the heart of Camden (London's alternate central) and we made the most of it by spending a morning checking out what was on offer at the Camden markets, which included anything your modern day Punk or Raver could possibly need. That afternoon we made our way to the Tower of London to see the Crown Jewels and the site of all Henry VIII's famous beheadings. We were lucky enough that night to catch up with Scott's friend Miles for a few pints, before getting our culture on at the Lion King. Continuing with our 'culture hits on we went to the Ledbury for lunch, which included an incredible summer bean salad, squid risotto, berry dessert and delectable cheese platter (basically everything we ate!). We spent that afternoon strolling around Notting Hill and the Portobello markets before hitting up Chinatown and the Soho area that night (a place for people who bat for any team). Our last morning was spent hunting around London's East End in search of cool street art, which ended in a rich Indian lunch on Brick Lane. With a huge food coma we staggered along Oxford St (Scott's favourite past time was pointing out the Monopoly names) and Speakers Corner in Hyde Park before collapsing back in our hostel with dreams of warm weather.

Ring, Ring

Art at Tate Modern

Cool street art

More very cool street art

Scott enjoying Indian for the 2nd time in 8 months

Britain was full of character and a fantastic place to spend 3 weeks campervanning around. We weren't expecting the countryside to be as spellbounding as it was and the people so friendly (not a riot in sight!). London itself has so many distinctive cool neighbourhoods that we can see why so many Australians get caught in its web.

Peace Out,

Scotty and Sara

Turkish Delight

We crossed the divide from Greece to Turkey on a ferry, with not a day left to spare on our Europe Visa and a few recommendations for destinations in Turkey. A little anxious at what was in store, we questioned if two and a half weeks was too long to spend in this less travelled land?
 
Our first few days were spent in Fethiye. Like many other tourists we used the town as not much more than a transit point, but managed to sneak in a few sights. We went to Karaköy which has been a (slightly spooky) deserted ghost town for 90 years after the Greek/Turkish population exchange. It's incredible how nature can reclaim the land in such a short space of time. We also went on a full day boat cruise to Butterfly Valley (in 1 hour we spotted a total of 2 butterflies), where we also went cave swimming and did a couple of strolls around some cool coastal ruins. Fethiye was also the start of the kebab journey in Turkey and we stumbled upon a delicious kebab stand (it had 5 herbs and spices but not as secret as the Colonels), which would not be surpassed the rest of the trip.

Looking down at the ghost town

From Fethiye we embarked upon a 4 day/3 night cruise of the very impressive Mediterranean Turkish coast line. Quite simply it was unforgettable! Our 4 days onboard this wooden güllet were filled with snorkelling, sun bathing, indulging in the delicious food cooked by our captain, reading, making many new friends, learning to play backgammon and 14 person games of cards. As the güllet sailed in and out of the bays with the wind behind its sails, our heartbeats dropped even further (if it's possible to be more chilled than we already are!). Each night we went to sleep on deck gazing up at the stars, counting shooting stars instead of sheep to send us to sleep. Definitely up there for a big highlight of the trip!

Big smiles at sunset

Our kickass gullet

Chillaxing on the boat

Soaking up the afternoon with Drach (Kool Kiwis)

With a "sweet" Kiwi couple in tow, our next stop was a small hippy town of Olympos a little further up the coast. We continued to relax here for a couple of days, enjoying the company of our new "bros", eating gozleme, looking for turtles and playing more cards/backgammon. By this stage we were as unwound as a yoyo doing a walk the dog. 

Sunrise on the beach

The gozleme lady

As relaxed and at peace as we were the journey had to continue and in spectacular fashion it did with our arrival to the otherworldly Cappadocia. As we drove in and the sun was rising and the sky was filled with literally hundreds of brightly coloured hot air balloons. This region in the heart of Turkey is home, due to a unique geographical occurrence, to a society completely built within caves. The people's homes, shops, stables, churches, everything is painstakingly dug out. Some stand starkly upright called fairy chimneys and others are cities built completely underground, up to 8 stories deep! We were lucky enough to sleep in a genuine chimney which used to be an old pigeon room (don't worry Mum it's all clean now!).

Living in the caves

Looking back at Goreme valley

A 'fun' overnight bus that had wifi on board, but no toilet put us in Istanbul, the bridge between Asia and Europe. The city exudes energy and you can't help, but get a little caught up in it all. The skyscape is freckled with the tall reaching spires of the many mosques of this ancient city. The most impressive of these being Aya Sofia and the famed Blue Mosque. On our third day we managed to travel out to Gallipoli for an eye opening experience that gives you such respect for the courage of man and futility of war. Once back in the city we set our sights on a couple of goals, 1) find the best Turkish Delight and 2) find the best Baklava. Despite trying every single stands wares in the spice market we had to go to the shop of the inventor of the Turkish Delight before finding one that ticked all the boxes. However, with the Baklava, we followed the locals and found the sticky, sweet, scrumptious baklava that scares you of instant diabetes. A compulsory trip around the Grand Bazaar and we haggled for rugs we had no intention of buying just for the experience. Before we even knew it our time in Turkey was over and we were left thinking why we only planned two and a half weeks...

The Blue Mosque

Inside Aya Sofia

Gallipoli

Delicious rose Turkish Delight

Sticky Turkish Baklava

Scotty getting his professional and traditional shave

The count down is on,
Scotty and Sara