Notes from First Eurotrip Experience - Part 1

Last month, I just finished one of the most memorable and longest trips that I ever had in my life. Two of my friends and I visited nine countries in Europe for 18 days. It was exhausting, of course, but it was really enjoyable that we forgot we've been traveling for almost 3 weeks. I might be only a novice traveler for now, but that doesn't stop me from sharing few things and tips which I think might be useful for others who are also planning for a trip, especially Eurotrip.

Itinerary, transportation, accommodation

I got to visit 13 cities in total during this trip, which are:

1. Barcelona, Spain (2 days)
2. Zurich, Switzerland (2 days)
3. Milan, Italy (2 days)
4. Budapest, Hungary (1 day)
5. Vienna, Austria (2 days)
6. Hallstatt, Austria (1 day trip from Vienna)
7. Prague, Czech Republic (1 day)
8. Amsterdam, Netherlands (3 days)
9. Wageningen, Netherlands (half-day trip from Amsterdam)
10. Utrecht, Netherlands (short visit on the way home from Wageningen to Amsterdam)
11. Brussels, Belgium (2 days)
12. Bruges, Belgium (1 day trip from Brussels)
13. Paris, France (2 days)

We mainly used bus and airplane for convenience to travel from one city to another. For bus however, we set the maximum length of road-trip duration to 6 hours so we didn't feel too exhausted because too much time spent on road. After careful planning and comparing every transportation modes available (we mainly used GoEuro to compare price and find cheap options), these were how we commuted from cities to cities:

1. Edinburgh, Scotland (Starting point) -> Barcelona, Spain (Airplane. Provider: Jet2)
2. Barcelona, Spain -> Zurich, Switzerland (Airplane. Provider: Vueling)
3. Zurich, Switzerland -> Milan, Italy (Bus. Provider: Flixbus)
4. Milan, Italy -> Budapest, Hungary (Airplane. Provider: Ryan Air)
5. Budapest, Hungary -> Vienna, Austria (Airplane. Provide: Flixbus)
6. Vienna, Austria -> Hallstatt, Austria (Train & Bus. Provider: Flixbus & OBB)
7. Vienna, Austria -> Prague, Czech Republic (Bus. Provider: Flixbus)
8. Prague, Czech Republic -> Amsterdam, Netherlands (Airplane. Provider: EasyJet)
9. Amsterdam, Netherlands -> Wageningen, Netherlands -> Utrecht, Netherlands (Train. Provider: Nederlandse Spoorwegen)
10. Amsterdam, Netherlands -> Brussels, Belgium (Bus. Provider: Flixbus)
11. Brussels, Belgium -> Bruges, Belgium (Intercity Train. Provider: SNCB)
12. Brussels, Belgium -> Paris, France (Bus. Provider: Eurolines)
13. Paris, France -> Edinburgh, Scotland (Airplane. Provider: EasyJet)

To commute within the city itself, we used day pass provided by the public transportation provider of the city. In most cases, this day pass could be used to ride any transportation mode such as trem, bus, metro, etc within the city since they were all basically integrated. However, you still need to be careful and find further information about area zone—if there are any—especially in big cities like Amsterdam or Paris. They usually require different price-range depending on area zones covered in the ticket. 

As for accommodation, our choices were either Airbnb or hostels provided via Hostelworld. Based on our experience, accommodations from Airbnb were much more convenient than hostels. We tend to prefer accommodations from Airbnb since we could have our own private space, and Airbnb hosts usually rent the whole unit to a group of guests. Having a decent private space after a long journey was really helpful to fully recharge our energy and explore the next destination the following day. The best accommodation that we got during this trip was the one in Zurich, Switzerland. The little apartment was very well organised, tidy, and it was well-equipped with facilities available for you to use freely. I highly recommend this place if you were to visit Zurich next time. 

However, it doesn't mean that staying in hostels always gave us bad experience. For example, our hostel in Brussels has left us a very good impression, since the facilities are comparable to those in hotels. But then again as I mentioned earlier, the most prominent drawback of staying in hostels, where one room can have multiple bunkbeds, is the lack of privacy and a much more restricted activities / movements within the the room since you have to be considerate to other guests.

Best view, attractions, and culinary

If I have to pick top 5 favourite cities during this trip, this will be my list—ordered from most-to-least favourite:

1. Budapest, Hungary
2. Brussels, Belgium
3. Zurich, Switzerland
4. Prague, Czech Republic
5. Barcelona, Spain

Among the 13 cities that I visited, I must say that I enjoyed my visit to Budapest the most. We were so lucky that we got a very nice weather during our one-day-visit to this beautiful city, since it offered us a very breath-taking view both day and night. If you plan to pay a visit to Budapest, make sure you visit Fisherman’s Bastion (Halaszbastya), located in Pest part of the city around Castle Hill district (together with Buda castle and Matthias Church). This place offers a stunning view of Buda part of the city from above. The building itself is very beautiful and magical, since it is all white with a Disney feel strongly attached to it—especially if paired with a clear blue sky. I guarantee you can’t help but take a lot of photos when you are here.

Apart from the view, Budapest also offered us amazing culinary experience with cheap but delicious food like Goulash, one of Hungarian traditional cuisine. I got to try this famous cuisine in Drum Cafe, Budapest which is apparently a Jewish cafe. For Muslims like us, having Kosher menu options was truly an advantage since we could order meat dishes with Kosher label. If you hadn’t known already, Kosher meat is permissible to be consumed by Muslims, because it comes from animals that are slaughtered by the people of the book. You can do your own research regarding this matter because there are many discussions by famous Scholars about this already. 

Another highlight of our visit to this city is New York Café - The Most Beautiful Café In The World. This cafe surely lives up to its reputation—the most beautiful cafe in the world. It has an eclectic beautifully done Italian Renaissance-style interior and a live orchestra performance every once an hour. But even when the orchestra performance is not there, a live piano performance will always accompany you throughout your meal with classical music. Ambience is really out of the question when you talk about this cafe, since it is on a top-notch class. 

As for the food, just look at their menu where you can see that desserts are offered in various options which all look so aesthetically pleasing and tempting. I ordered Fogas filé paprikamártással és túrógombóccal and New York fagylaltkehely which both taste good, though not that special. If you look closely at the price range of the menu, you will notice that they are not that expensive. Try comparing it with price range of cafes in the UK, for example. They charge you with about the same amount of money but with a completely different ambience. I am very grateful that I stumbled upon this short clip from Battle Trip before my trip, because that was how I first knew about this cafe. To finally be able to have a casual lunch in this cafe, was truly a delightful experience. Please note that this cafe is not a franchise, even though its name is often misunderstood to depict it that way.

Following Budapest, Brussels comes second notably due to its mesmerizing night view of Grand Place, Town Hall. Brussels’ Town Hall is one of the most beautiful town halls in the world, so no wonder it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998. I mean, just look at some of the photos that I took there—amateurly, of course—and go judge on your own.

Another thing that lifted our mood during this visit to Brussels was the fact that there was suddenly a live free orchestra performance in the Grand Place. I love orchestra, and I love free things. So when these two are combined together here, I can’t help but adoring this city even more. I love orchestra that much that I even cried—out of joy—a little during their Make You Feel My Love performance. Listening to live orchestra performance of your favourite song while being surrounded by beautifully illuminated buildings were too much for me to handle. I was genuinely happy at that time. From this orchestra performance, I got two new favourite Jazz songs which I still listen to regularly till now: Orange Coloured Sky and Cheek to Cheek. 

As for culinary, its is widely known that Brussels—or Belgium in general—offers the best chocolate and waffle. Waffles can be found every few meters from the street vendors with a very cheap price: 1 Euro for basic waffle. There are also various choices for toppings available which you can order even if you’re on a tight budget. If you are willing to spend some more on staple cuisine, Brussels’ mussels and fries must be included to your checklist. We had a chance to have dinner at Chez Leon—one of the most favourite restaurants that serve mussels in the city—and it has successfully made us speechless the moment we had our first bite. One of the best that I have tried in my whole life, seriously. Definitely a must try!

All in all, this Eurotrip has been a delightful and life-changing experience for me. My Mom always reminded me throughout this trip that I had to use this as a way to always praise God because in the end, it was Him who created all of these and made this trip possible. Alhamdulillah.