December 1, 2018 | BJJ Globetrotters

Sydney & Sunshine Coast Australia

December 29, 2018/in Blogs/by Robert Barker

Greetings From Sydney & Sunshine Coast Australia (14-25 Nov 2017)!

Here are the last two stops I had in Australia, polar opposites to each other but both packed with adventures. I had my lowest points of traveling through Australia that at one point had me thinking in Sydney “Screw this shitty place I’m never coming back” and then followed it by the most glorious high points that made me think “I love it here, I want to move here now!”. But that is the way of traveling, never in a straight line, always with twists and turns and highs and lows. So let’s get the low points, or most of them, out of the way, there were few and I’d really like to vent about them right now so I’ll understand if you skip to the awesome pictures and gym write ups below.

Low Points of Traveling

The first low point was the hostel in Sydney, the worst hostel I’ve stayed at in the entire Odyssey. First I will say I’ve been really lucky with where I’ve stayed while traveling, all thanks to Booking.com and using the filters and ratings they have. Unfortunately nothing is 100% and sometimes shit holes like the Kanga House Backpackers get through. I’ve experienced places that maybe weren’t nice aesthetically speaking but had everything I needed, if even the showers were shoddy and ugly. I’ve also experienced places that were beautiful and had all amenities but were just not geared to my type of crowd, overrun by college or expat party animals making it more a dorm than a hostel. But the Kanga House Backpackers ended up being so far off from it’s rating and description that I quickly found out I had run into dealing with both problems, a run down cockroach infested shit hole filled with drug fueled party people who were also the staff. The first night it wasn’t so bad and I figured I could put up with it, each night got worse and worse until finally one night the staff were up doing drugs and drinking and blarring music loudly throughout the entire place all night. Then it happened, a cockroach, one of many I had seen skitter across the floors and walls, fell off the ceiling, right onto my face while I was trying to sleep. Fuck that, I was done!

I already wrote about the kitchen spaces being overrun by packs of people living at the hostel while working (il)legally in the past article, this was even worse as they treated it like it was their own place. They were claiming all utensils and pots to cook then leaving a whole mess all over the space for whoever was on duty to clean so the place was constantly a mess and unable to cook in. The owner would drop by each day for about an hour to see how much money she was making then leave again without actually looking after the place, it was a total shit show. I checked out early, used the credit I had on Expedia and only paid an extra $20 from what the night at this hell hole costed to check into a proper hotel. I grabbed some pizza from Dominos across the street from the hotel, had a long hot shower to get the dirty feeling from staying at such a place, and relaxed on the bed watching movies for my last night in Sydney in an attempt to balance out the stress and negativity the Kanga House had inflicted on this stop. I put a very negative review on Booking.com and even had someone like and find my review helpful, but sadly this place is still operational and not getting more negative reviews or lower ratings. Please, if you visit Sydney and are looking to stay at the hostel, not matter how much extra you have to spend, DO NOT STAY KANGA HOUSE BACKPACKERS!!

I would love to say that was the only real low point to my visit to Sydney, and really other than it being expensive and having an unpleasant experience at a gym, which I will get into later, Sydney was a fun place to wander about. But leaving Sydney for Brisbane I used a cheap airline, and paid for it. Much like Europe there are some discount airlines where you might find the cheapest ticket but then find out that luggage and checking in and water and every little thing is extra, and they really make you pay. Some times it’s a gamble and you actually find a decent flight that even with the extras it’s still cheaper than a ‘luxury’ ticket. I tend to gamble with this and I had been doing quite well, until I got a ticket with Tiger Airways. Tiger Airways and Jetstar are the cheaper airlines in Australia and the Oceanic region and I had good experiences with Jetstar so how bad could Tiger Airways be? Apparently a lot.

I understand lower costumer service and the staff being just short of unpleasant, after all it’s a budget airline, you didn’t pay for that, the down right underhandedness of entrapping your customers with extra fees is unforgivable though. So I check into my flight, drop off my bag and proceed to the proper gate. While waiting for the gate to open I see the staff standing and talking, then 20 minutes before our take off time, right before opening the gate, they bring out a scale to weigh everyone’s carry on. The woman came over to me and asked to weigh my bag and what do you know, it’s now 1kg (2lbs) over and it will cost me exactly the same as it did to check my entire 25kg bag to carry on my computer bag. She even went as far as to say I could maybe quickly run back to add a few things to my checked luggage, knowing full well check in is closed so I’m now stuck with paying extra for a bag was is now suspiciously just over the weight limit or giving up my non-refundable ticket entirely. She got half the boarders with this, claiming it’s because they’re full and there’s a weight and space limit, then we boarded to see the flight was half empty. I’ve said it before many times and I will say it again, I think less of anyone who works for an airline or airport.

Back to the Awesomeness of the Odyssey

OK now that I’ve gotten that out of the way this go back to telling you about how awesome it is to backpack around the world and explore Australia. I took a train from Melbourne to Sydney which was a smooth fun ride with nice scenery along the way. We even passed a few kangaroos who were just sitting in the shade as the train passed, kind of a let down really when you hear the country is overrun with them roving in packs, I hoped we’d see one of these packs hopping around instead of these lazy guys but we were unlucky. Getting to the hostel when I arrived and around Sydney while visiting was quite easy as much of what I wanted to see was within walking distance from the hostel and everything else I could use the subway system for, which was quite efficient. Sydney is spread out but all the big attractions are in the downtown area and close together which in the heat of early Australian summer I had no problem walking as much as possible.

As for the Sunshine Coast, I was staying at a gym just south of the city but the easiest way to get there was fly to Brisbane, which is about 2 hours south of Sunshine Coast, and take a shuttle bus up. That seemed straight forward enough but was far more of an adventure than I thought. About half way there the bus pulls into an amusement park, Aussie World, where we split up into smaller groups taking mini vans. This was night time and the park was closed by the time we got there so this seemed a lot more shadier than it really was, I followed the locals and just went with it but part of me was reminding myself this is how horror movies start. As it happens I was the last stop on the list, so I sat back and watched as we zipped around the area dropping the other three passengers off before finally making it to the gym. I’ll get more into how awesome everyone was for setting me up with staying there and taking care of me later. The Sunshine Coast didn’t exactly live up to it’s name as it was raining most the time I visited so there wasn’t much exploring but when I did manage to get out there was a bus straight up to city so getting around was easy.

The Sights

Between the two spots were was plenty to see, I know I only scratched the surface of what there is to see in Sydney, and you can spend weeks wandering along the coastline in Sunshine Coast, but I saw as much as I could and took as many pictures too. Here’s some of the pics I took, you can check all my pictures from this and all my past visits over on my Flickr account.

Meeting with an Old Friend

Throughout the entire visit to Australia I was hoping to run into some of my old Australian football teammates from Toronto as practically everyone from the original group has moved back to Australia now. Ends up most were busy with work or unreachable, having fallen out of communication with each other over time. One good friend did get a hold of me though, Torrey and I were two for the original first five people to show up for the first ever practice for the Toronto Central Blues. We hadn’t seen each other for years, I left for the military 7 years ago at the time we met up and he left Canada before that, so almost if not 10 years since we hung out, Torrey and I had a lot to catch up on.

Sydney is split in two by a river that has a series of coves and bays all along it, I was on the south end where a lot of the bigger attractions like the opera house were, Torrey lives up north just outside of Sydney and with me not exploring that way yet it only made sense to take the ferry across and meet him there. I got to be shown around and explore the Manly Beach area while catching up with Torrey, it was quite the adventure. It was a hot sunny day over on Manly Beach and there happened to be a beach volleyball tournament going on as we walked around the beach and chatted, making for an entertaining view. It was awesome catching with Torrey, we have had quite the different lives in the past 10 years, him returning and starting a family while I joined the military and got shipped all over. Meeting up in Australia and reminiscing about the good ole days playing football in Toronto was a great walk down memory lane while exploring one of the top attractions of Sydney, hopefully it won’t that long until we meet again.

The Gyms – Sydney

Jon, of Jon and Daphne the 2016 BJJ Globetrotters of the Year, connected me with many gyms in the Sydney area. I met them in Germany at my first BJJ Globetrotters camp in Heidelberg and we kept in touch ever since. As it happens Jon and Daphne are from Sydney and were more than willing to help me out with some suggestions. Of the long list of the gyms Jon alerted me to in Sydney most were spread out from where I was staying and with the schedule I just wasn’t able to make it out. I did manage to check out two gyms while there though, I’ll have to make it back to check out the others. Thanks Jon for all the help connecting me with everyone for this visit.

Higher Jiu-Jitsu

One of the many gyms Jon connected me with was Higher Jiu-Jitsu. I contacted them and was met with a very welcoming response with the schedule for classes during the time I was in town. The gym was really close to where I was staying, just a 10 minute walk from the hostel. They hold classes inside a community center where they have a nice big room the floor is covered with puzzle mats. The community center actually gave me a bit of a hard time signing in, making sure I completely filled out all personal and contact information, I even had to go back to the hostel to get all the necessary information, good thing it wasn’t far away. After singing in I made my way upstairs to the room where the BJJ club trains and met John the coach who was very happy to have a fellow member of the Pedro Sauer lineage visit.

John is a friendly brown belt who’s teaching style is very familiar to those of the Pedro Sauer lineage, where the focus is purely technique over strength or aggression, a style that focuses heavily on the exploration and refinement of the art of Jiu-Jitsu. This of course made me think of my home gym and miss my good friends there. Throughout class I switched up a few times drilling with different members of the club, all of which were very friendly to have a visitor to train with. After drilling we had a few rolls and all were a lot of fun, most of the class there were blue belts or higher so all my matches were very technical. After class John and a few of the members and I had a small chat about the etiquette of visiting at visiting gyms and a few experiences of mine. It was a great experience and I wish I could have made it back for another class John invited me out to, I think it was an open mat class, to meet more of the gym but it wasn’t in the cards and this was my only time dropping by. Thanks for the great class John!

Legacy BJJ Academy

Another gym I visited, referred to me by a few people, was Legacy BJJ Academy. I had heard from others as I traveled across Australia that Prof. Thiago Braga, the head instructor at Legacy, was a great coach and definitely a must to check out when visiting Sydney. I spoke with Thiago online about my visit and he was happy to have me and told me which classes to come out to. Unfortunately he and some members from his club were away on a big tournament that weekend, the Australian Open, or Pan Pacs I think. Still, with it closer and easier to get to than the other options, I was looking forward to checking the gym out for a class. I made my way out to the gym, which is in a square space that may have been an old warehouse or garage space originally, being in an industrial area. As Prof. Thiago and a few students were away competing and coaching classes at the gym were small, with only a few white belts there the night I showed up.

As I showed up early to do the necessary paperwork the previous class, a large group training in kickboxing, was just finishing and all the sweaty bodies had made the place a sauna. It was the beginning of summer in Australia so days were starting to get pretty hot, at least for a visiting Canadian anyways, so an even hotter sweaty gym was death to me, but probably normal to the locals. The reason I’m mentioning this is because I had a very unpleasant experience this night over this very topic with the instructor, who was a last minute fill in and not a regular stuff there I was told. As training went on, working different sweeps from De La Riva and other open guards I was finding it hot and humid and needed to take some water breaks between drilling. When it came to rolling the instructor, who had been quite short with me all through class, yelled at me “No water!” which had me confused, if I’m sweating a lot and overheated what am I supposed to do? I asked him so, telling him I’m a visitor and not used to the heat there. “No one else is drinking, no water during class!”

I couldn’t believe it, I know a lot of old school lines of thought are not to drink water while training but modern science on dehydration and acclimatization clearly shows how that’s not a good idea. I understand if I’m training for a competition or a fight then getting used to not being able to re-hydrate until afterwards makes sense, but I’m just a visitor coming in for some friendly training. This fill in black belt teacher and his old school views soured the visit, I sat the rest of class out and then left, not wanting to be around such an negative person. Once I got back to the hostel I sent Prof. Thiago a message about this unpleasant experience and re-calling the events and my reasons for it being such a bad training method. I was assured this was not a usual idea of training at the gym and that the black belt in question was not a usual instructor there who filled in last minute when the usual coach showed up sick, which I did see take place before class. To his credit Prof. Braga even asked me to come back and make it up to me to have a good experience with is gym before I leave, unfortunately I was leaving the next day. I hope to meet Prof. Thaigo Braga one day, he was kind and helpful throughout all our conversations, it’s too bad that this one experience with the fill in coach soured my visit but the training was good so I tried not to let it ruin the image and my memory for the gym but this along with the bad experience with the hostel make me dislike Sydney, at least at the time.

The Gyms – Sunshine Coast

My connections for Sunshine Coast I also met at the Globetrotters Germany camp. Black belt Chad Wright, otherwise known as ‘Fat Jesus’, and his brown belt student Josh, who was away while I visited but now runs his own gym in the area, both these guys I met in Germany and were amazing and helpful. Actually, while I stayed and trained at their gym both of them were away backpacking but I was connected with the two black belt instructors still there, Robbie and Paul, who took great care of me. In fact this stop was the epitome of what BJJ Globetrotters is about, I had met Chad at the camp, talked briefly about my travels and from that small interaction Chad opened his gym to me to stay and train at, with the guys there needing nothing more than a brief introduction from Chad to accept me in and take care of me. One night one of the students, having talked with me during previous classes, offered me over to his house for supper before the class that evening saying “it’s just spaghetti but it’s better than the corner store food I see you eating” he wasn’t wrong. I was more than happy to have a home cooked meal. Just a perfect kind of stop for the Globetrotter’s experience and how to end my travels across Australia.

Infinity Martial Arts – Kawana Waters

It was late evening by the time I arrived to Infinity Martial Arts – Kawana Waters, Paul had stayed after class to meet me and give me the full tour of the gym and the nearby area. The gym is in a strip mall in a big rectangular space with a wall in the middle dividing it. The wall separates the two big square mat spaces, with the washrooms and showers in the back space which also had a couch and fridge and kitchenette counter along the back wall so it was a perfect spot for me to set up camp. Paul even set me up with a mattress and pillow that I would stow away every morning before classes started so that my camping out wasn’t in the way.

I met Robbie the other black belt later on that night, he and his wife were training at another gym they were friends with when I showed up. They had just moved there to run the gym and were staying in the office for the time being, with the head instructor showing up later in the week the gym was a full house of travelers. Paul would teach the evening classes and Robbie during the day, I got to train and roll with both of them and had a blast the whole time. Robbie was a killer with some great drills and Paul had a more sneaky game and was great at keeping the classes captivated and entertained. The students ranged from pure killers to more friendly hobby rollers, all of which were happy to have me and interested to hear my stories. I can’t say I attended as many classes as I’d like to or rolled with everyone in the classes but any time on the mats with this gym was a great time.

One student had a match on the weekend, part of a MMA event that had matches and tournaments during the day before the main show that night. During the week I let him use me for drilling and honing in his game. It was pretty cool to be part of that, helping a team out and then going and watching the matches, being a part of a gym again. The head instructor had come down in time to watch the matches as well, he was going to be in town for a while and there were belt gradings the next week that the students were preparing for so it was a very active week of drilling. I wish I had more pictures to show you of my time with everyone there but they got corrupted and I lost most of them. I still have the memories though of the great times I had on my last stop in Australia, thanks again Chad, Josh, Paul, Robbie and all the crew at Infinity Martial Arts!

And with that last awesome stop finished it was time to say Good bye to Australia and head off to the next destination, Auckland New Zealand.

Until next time,

see you on the mats!

OSSS!!

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Autumn in Tartu, Estonia

December 28, 2018/in Blogs/by Sabine

Reasons to go: Peaceful small town charm, bike/pedestrian friendly, extremely safe for solo female travelers, budget friendly, fast wifi, many English speakers

Tartu (Estonia) was actually the destination of my first longer-term stay upon leaving Belgium, from mid-September to mid-October. I debated for some time whether or not to include this post, as many months have now gone past since that first trip. I much prefer to write about a place while actually in the city or very shortly upon departure, so that all the impressions are still fresh in my mind. But I wasn’t yet blogging at that time, so wasn’t in the habit of taking notes or high resolutions photos. Still, it seemed too important a destination to leave out entirely.

Why Tartu?

The first question after having decided to leave Belgium to become a full-time nomad was: where to go? I had a criteria in mind and could already think of a lot of cool places, but wanted more ideas from people who’d actually traveled and lived there, so posted up on the BJJ Globetrotters FB group explaining my situation and asking for recommendations.

One of the many people who replied with suggestions was Jorgen, instructor of Võimla gym in Tartu, who I’d met some weeks previously at the Globetrotters 2018 Summer Camp in Leuven (I had attended his presentation on food/nutrition there).

I’ll go ahead and admit that I’d never actually heard of Estonia at this point, and didn’t really know where it was or anything about it. But, having already been to many bigger, more traditional tourist cities on past vacations, I was interested in trying some smaller, lesser-known destinations. After some Google research, Tartu did indeed meet all my criteria and overall seemed like a pretty good choice.

Jorgen probably doesn’t realize it but was a HUGE help to making this trip possible, from finding lodging and making recommendations on transportation to making me feel very welcome to come train at his gym. Being so new to nomad-life travels and longer stays, it was also just immensely reassuring to know someone who could answer questions, or potentially offer advice if anything with the trip went wrong.

Riga to Tartu

My first challenge was actually getting to Tartu. Unfortunately, none of my usual favorite budget airlines flew to Tartu directly from Belgium, making the best options flying to Tallinn (the capital of Estonia) or flying to Riga (Latvia), then taking a long distance bus over to Tartu. I chose the latter (I don’t remember why, probably just because it was cheaper).

I arrived in Riga around noon and took a couple buses to get to my hostel (I had a private room with a shared kitchen/bathroom that time) to drop off luggage. I then spent most of that afternoon touring city center, which was actually really nice and very pedestrian friendly. Tall pretty buildings (many in the art nouveau style) lined wide brick and cobblestone streets with restaurants on every other block. Here, I had an exceptionally good and incredibly cheap meal of Latvian food which consisted of fresh bread, hearty meat/veggie soup, and salad.

Since Flix Bus (my usual long-distance bus of choice) didn’t have routes in Latvia or Estonia, I used Lux Express instead, which actually turned out great. The 4.5 hour bus ride over was comfortable and uneventful, and included free coffee. I spent most of the time listening to music and watching the scenery, which consisted mostly coniferous forests with a scattering of villages, fields and smaller clusters of houses along the way.

Tartu

Tartu is full of small town charm and is possibly one of the safest cities I’ve ever been to. Here, it’s not uncommon to see even fairly young children walking or biking around solo, which would be entirely unimaginable by American big city safety standards.

The city center is clean and pretty, with medium sized classical buildings, paved stone and brick streets, and many unique sculptures. The size of the city, plus many spacious, well-maintained walking and bike paths make Tartu very easy to transverse without car. I didn’t even bother getting a bus pass while here but simply walked and biked everywhere instead.

Despite its relatively small size, Tartu does include a major University and huge student population. The campus isn’t centralized but rather comprised of a series of buildings scattered throughout town. It’s common to see young people and students going to and from class anytime of the day.

A river runs through the center of Tartu, crossed by a handful of bridges lit up with colors at night. You can sometimes see people fishing off the bridges or from piers along the shore. There’s a lot of graffiti around and under the bridges, but mostly artistically done. Instead of making the city appear shabby or sketchy, it gives the landscape a creative, crafty, almost hipster vibe.

On the outskirts of the city along the river are a couple small beaches with sand, playground equipment, and some outdoor workout equipment. I saw a guy swimming bare-chested in the river once, on a day where I was cold enough to wear my thickest coat and many layers of clothing. Estonians are so hardcore!

My time spent in Estonia was relaxing and calm. I slept exceptionally well at night, possibly either due to the silence (there wasn’t the usual background noise of traffic ever-present in the big cities) or because the air quality was exceptionally good.

My accommodations consisted of a room in a house with a family that included two (adorable!) kids. My hosts were exceptionally kind, and very welcoming – I felt a little like I’d become a normal member of the household by the end of the month.

Besides that, I trained regularly and enjoyed many nice walks, jogs and the occasional longer bike ride through the woods on the outskirts of the city. The people of Tartu don’t consider this to be a true forest, but coming from desert and dense city, it felt like a real enough forest to me. I especially enjoyed the beautiful golden autumn colors towards the end of my stay.

Estonia

Estonia has a long history of basically being conquered and occupied by various other neighboring countries. It wasn’t until fairly recently (1988) that it became independent. There’s still a large Russian population (especially in Tallinn) who are descendants of people who had immigrated over during previous Russian occupation.

The Estonian History Museum in Tartu was especially nice – huge, very modern with many interactive and digitally-augmented exhibits. What’s additionally neat is that visitors are given a “language” card which they can swipe on little panels next to each exhibit to change the language of the text.

Oddly, many of the vegetables commonly found in most European countries came in exceptionally large sizes in Estonia. Someone explained to me that this was because Estonia was very far North so had extra daylight hours in the summer. This, combined with generous rainfall and moderate temperatures, creates ideal conditions for growing giant veggies.

Estonian People

Estonian people are very considerate and kind, but (to someone accustomed to American culture) at first glance might seem extremely stoic and impassive. Estonians do not smile automatically and do not make irrelevant small talk (at least, not to strangers). One of my training partners once explained to me that even eyes are considered “private space”, so it’s rude/invasive to look a stranger or in the eyes too directly.

Also, “how are you” is not used as a casual greeting. That’s considered a personal question you should ask only to someone you know well, to which you can expect a very genuine, thoughtful answer rather than an automatic, offhand “I’m good, you?”. Many Estonians dislike the American “how are you” greeting for what they perceive to be insincerity. As a person who grew up in American culture, it was a surprisingly hard habit to break to stop myself from automatically greeting everyone I met with, “hi, how are you?”.

The Estonian stoicism applies more to previous generations than the younger ones though, since more recent generations have been exposed to far more western culture through television and internet. You also just get used to Estonian mannerism after having been there awhile, and begin to notice and appreciate the subtleties rather than expecting more prominent, overt displays of emotion. So, if someone in Estonia isn’t broadly smiling, isn’t asking how you’re doing, and doesn’t seem especially chatty – do not worry or take offense, they’re probably not angry or being rude. It’s just not their custom.

Training

Võimla

Võimla, owned by brown belt instructor Jorgen Matsi, was my “home gym” for a month while in Tartu. This gym was very friendly and welcoming, with an international atmosphere including some students from a handful of other different countries who were attending Tartu University. For the month that I was there, training include a strong emphasis on take-downs as well. Classes alternated between gi and nogi, in a mix of English and Estonian. On the days where the class was given in Estonian, there was never a shortage of students willing to help, who very thoughtfully took initiative and began translating for me before I could even ask.

Võimla gym has an exceptionally big group of women as well, probably 10-12 who train and compete regularly (possibly more, since not everyone attends class every day), which is HUGE for a normal BJJ class in Europe!

3D Treening and Tallinn

One very early morning I took the Lux Express up to Tallinn, about 2.5 hours to the North of Tartu to train at Priit Mihkelson’s 3D Treening – future location of the 2019 Globetrotter Spring Camp! Really nice facilities with a HUGE mat space, bean bag chairs and a sauna (which are common in Estonia) in the women’s locker room!

After training, spent the remainder of the day wandering around the adorable city center full of Gothic style buildings, with (again) many cute little paved streets and small cafes/restaurants. I stopped at one for a very good (and very reasonably priced!) meal.

Eventually the cold and pouring rain got the better of me. I spent the last couple hours of the day checking out what turned out to be a really nice (and much bigger than expected) museum, before taking the late evening Lux Express bus back to Tartu.

Traveling & Training in Liege, Belgium

December 19, 2018/in Blogs/by Sabine

Reasons to go: Finest waffles, chocolate, and craft beer of all the world! Modern city convenience, old European city charm, museums, beautiful churches/castles, unique cultural festivals, open air markets, holiday markets, good public transportation, reasonably safe for solo female travelers (there’s a few sketchier areas to avoid, especially after dark), many English speakers.

This Trip

I was only in town for a handful days passing through from Budapest to America on this trip, so spent the majority of the time hanging out with my very wonderful aunts and uncles, tying up a few loose ends, and of course – training! Having lived in Belgium for 2.5 years previously though, I’m quite familiar with the city, so wanted to take a moment to share with you what Liege and beautiful Belgium has to offer.

Belgium

Belgium is culturally split roughly in half between the Dutch-speaking Flanders region to the North, and French-speaking Wallonian region the the South. There’s a very tiny German chunk to the far East as well, giving the country 3 main national languages. One thing to keep in mind when traveling between the three regions is that the city names change based on the language of the region. Take the French name Liege, for example. This city is also known as Luik (Dutch) and Lüttich (German).

Some of you might already be familiar with Belgium from the (now retired) massive BJJ Globetrotters Summer Camp in the small university town of Leuven. When people visit Belgium, they typically see Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp – all of which are quite beautiful and rich in culture, art and history. Liege (a medium-small city with the river Meuse running through the center) isn’t generally thought of as much of a tourist city but despite that, I think, still has a lot to offer!

Liege

Belgium (Liege especially) has a very special place in my heart. It’s the city where I was born and was my first destination upon leaving the US. Most of the days in the 2.5 years I stayed there were like living in a fairy tale, a feeling which never entirely wore off despite becoming quite familiar the city. It’s a medium sized city with a very elegant old European city vibe mixed with the modern. Walking down the pedestrian cobblestone streets near city center though, it’s easy to look at the buildings and imagine what the city was like a couple hundred years ago. My days in Liege were filled with fun times, great food, beautiful strolls, and a million happy memories. I arrived in Liege a stranger with a handful of distant memories from past childhood trips, and left there with a second home city.

Form the beginning, I felt a much stronger sense of community and connection in Liege than I previously had in any other American city. This was, I think, due to a big combinations of things. Part of it my attitude. Outlook towards a place does so much to change your experience and perception of it, after all. I’d dreamed about living in Liege for a very long time, and very much wanted to be there. Another part was my history, knowing this was the city where I was born and the land of my ancestor. Another part was my family. I’d grown up in America with parents and brother, but without any other extended family. Suddenly living in a place with so very kind and welcoming aunts, uncles and cousins nearby was a very cool new experience.

Stronger sense of community in Liege is also due, I think, to the layout of the city (and most European cities) compared to the American cities. Most American cities have a very poor public transportation system, making it excessively time consuming and impractical not to simply drive there yourself. Also, distances to get anywhere are much larger. This results in an immense amount of time spent alone and isolated inside a car. Liege is a very pedestrian friendly city. There’s a very well developed public transportation system and almost everything you need can be reached within a 20 minute walk from city center. Seeing the faces of people in your community and many small interactions helps foster a sense of community which isn’t developed when constantly driving from place to place. You experience a city much more directly when walking or taking public transportation than when driving everywhere.

Logistics

Language

Most people you meet will speak very good English (though they’ll probably very modestly tell you that they speak terrible English).

Public Transportation

Liege has a very good public transportation system, made up mostly of above-ground buses. There’s one major train station in the city (Gare de Guillemins) which connects to a couple smaller stations within Liege, stations in all the nearby villages, and stations in other major cities all throughout Belgium.

The bus system is called TEC. Bus rides can be paid for in cash when you enter the bus. You can also purchase a 10-trip bus card from the Public Transportation Building near Place de St. Lambert (one of the two main city squares). Make sure you you keep your ticket while on the bus as ticket agents do come through periodically to check passengers.

Train tickets are slightly discounted Saturday and Sunday. If you plan on traveling frequently between cities by train in Belgium, purchasing a 10-trip Rail Pass will save you a lot of money. The Rail Pass is a physical ticket with 10 slots for details of each trip which you fill out yourself. Be very diligent to actually fill out your trip details before or as soon as you board the train, as ticket agents come through very regularly checking tickets and absolutely WILL charge you a much higher price if you didn’t fill it out in advance when they come around. You won’t get off the hook by claiming you forgot or get any leniency for being a tourist. This happened to me once as an honest mistake… lesson learned!

Business Hours

One thing to keep in mind: many shops in Liege are closed on Sundays. Additionally, many shops in Liege close much earlier than an American person would expect them too. Grocery stores often close around 8pm, for example. No late night grocery shopping trips in Liege! Also, there’s much less of a “customer is always right” attitude. Living in Liege taught me to be a much more patient person, overall.

People

People in Liege have a reputation for being exceptionally friendly, so don’t hesitate to ask if you need anything. A kiss on the cheek is the normal greeting between relatives, friends, and even between casual acquaintances, regardless of gender. Coming from America, it might seem a little odd to have people you don’t know well (and sometimes even strangers at training) greet you with a kiss on the cheek but, you get used to it quickly. And, of course, can always decline if this makes you truly uncomfortable.

Tourist Time

Montagne de Beuren (Beuren Staircase)

This is one of Liege’s biggest tourist attractions and isn’t a mountain but is actually a giant staircase. It’s 374 stairs high arranged in a series of flights in a straight line up. The staircase doubles up as outdoor gym for various fitness enthusiasts – you’ll often see people people jogging or sprinting up, or even doing extra push-ups and squats at every flight of stairs for additional workout, solo or in groups. I once saw a really hardcore looking guy carrying a 25kg plate up!

This is the story I heard explaining the staircase…. In the past, soldiers and armies needed to reach the city center from the barracks on the perimeter of the city. Before the Beuren stairs were built, the only way to get to city center was to pass through a labyrinth of smaller streets filled with bars and working ladies, resulting in many soldiers being delayed, arriving drunk, or altogether not reaching their destination. So, someone built the stairs to give the soldiers a more direct access to the city center with fewer distractions. Wikipedia has a different explanation though, so I have no idea if any part of this story is actually true.

Fort de la Chartreuse (Abandoned Barracks)

Tucked away on the North side of Park des Oblats, surrounded by a small park forest in the middle of the city is the Fort de la Chartreuse – a series of giant abandoned army barracks and handful of other buildings. It was built around 1817 by the Dutch (before Belgium was even a country), then used by the Belgians to house troops, then used by the Germans as a prison, then used by the Americans as an army hospital, then at some point abandoned.

This places is HUGE and basically completely opened to the public! It’s a good place for entry-level urban exploration, though make sure to bring good shoes as there’s some broken glass on the floor of some of the rooms. The insides are filled with graffiti, rubble, and nature reclaiming the ruins. Most of the buildings are in amazingly good state, though some of the upper levels are collapsing in a few of the buildings, and I haven’t ventured into any of the basement levels. On the walls in some of the rooms, beneath and among the graffiti, you can still see remnants of some of it’s past lives with much older little paintings of soldiers completing tasks in their everyday life. It feels eerie, beautiful, peaceful and mysterious all at once.

I must have returned here at least a dozen times. Most of my Belgian family and friends don’t understand my fascination with these crumbly, dirty old abandoned buildings. The thing is, this place would NEVER exist in America! First, we simply don’t have much history and older buildings. Second, it would have been fenced off and destroyed a long ago, deemed a safety hazard and eyesore, certainly not left open and accessible to the general public.

The last time I was here (Fall 2018), part of the buildings were fenced off, and I heard a rumor that part of the buildings were going to be rebuilt as housing. Not sure whether or not that’s actually true, or if the plan is to eventually demolish the entire set of buildings. So, there’s a chance this place won’t continue to exist in the future.

Every Sunday: Marché de la Batte (Market)

Through the center of Liege flows the river Meuse. Every Sunday along the waterfront is La Batte Market, where a 3.5km long portion of the street is blocked off and lined with vendors selling wares. It’s one of the oldest continuously running markets in all of Europe! Here you can find fresh fruits, veggies, nuts, spices, fine cheese and meats, an assortment of fresh street food (like giant baguette sausage sandwiches and waffles), cheap household goods and clothing, plants, and small livestock. If you’re there close to closing time (between 2-3pm), you can get some really AMAZING deals on the last of the fruits or veggies! But might end up with impractically large quantities (like many cases of a single type of fruit or veggie). It has a very old-market ambiance, crowded with locals purchasing groceries and vendors loudly advertising their wares.

People say to keep an eye out for pickpockets (like in all crowded places). I grocery shopped here regularly, was mildly cautious, and never had a problem.

Marché de Noel (Christmas Market)

In addition to the regular Sunday Market, in December the city’s two main squares (Place de St. Lambert and Place de la Cathedrale) are filled with vendor stands for the yearly Christmas market. Here you can purchase winter clothes, craft gifts, snacks and candies, and lots of delicious fresh vendor food.

Four special treats found mainly around the holidays are baked marzipan, nougat, and mulled wine, and fancy boudin. Marzipan is a very sweet almond paste, sold in blocks or small candies. Nougat is sortof like hard marshmallow, with various other things (species, fruits, nuts) mixed in. It’s not especially Belgian, but there’s a lot of it sold at winter markets for some reason. Mulled wine is hot red wine spiced with a mix of cinnamon and orange zest (which I LOVE), great for staying warm on a chilly night. Mulled wine isn’t especially Belgian either, most European countries do have some variation of this. Boudin is a kind of blood sausage. It’s sold all year round, but comes in extra varieties around Christmas.

Gaufres (Waffles)

Little known to Americans, there are actually MANY different kinds of waffles. There’s what Americans called “Belgium Waffles”, which is usually a light dough topped with fruit and whipped cream. There are smaller wafer thin cookie waffles. There are big square fruit-filled waffles. And there are dense doughy Liege waffles, with solid chunks of pearl sugar baked into the dough (my favorite!). Try them all!

Bier!

No post about Belgium could be complete without mentioning the beer: Belgians are the undisputed MASTERS of craft beer! There’s a million different varieties to try, and plenty of cozy little cafes all around town where you can relax and have a drink. One word of warning – most beers you will find here are MUCH stronger than those typically found in America. If you like collectible things, every beer has a unique special glass you can purchase. The breweries change the design of their glass every year, and also release special editions. Around the holidays, you can also purchase “advent calendar” cases of beers and try a fancy new holiday brew for every day of the month!

Special Events

The city of Liege has many organized many special events for its citizens throughout the year, some with paid entry requirements but many totally free. This includes music festivals, concerts, expos, special exhibits, jogs, organized walks/hikes, theater performances, firework shows, fairs, sports displays, markets, and picnics/breakfasts. Also, every first Sunday of every month, most museums are free to the public.

Nocturne des Coteaux de la Citadelle (October Candle Festival)

On the night of the first Saturday in October, the Beuren staircase and all the neighborhoods surrounding it are closed off to vehicle traffic and lined with thousands of tiny candles in cups for one immense evening block party. There’s live music, drink and food, performers telling folklore stories or wearing elaborate costumes, and huge crowds of people walking around having a good time. The Beuren stairs are decorated with thousands of little candles in an elaborate pattern. Very festive, crowded, loud and lively!

Montagne de Beuren in Flowers (Beuren Staircase in Flowers)

Every two years in June, the Beuren Staircase is decorated with thousands of potted flowers arranged in an elaborate pattern. It’s up for a week or so. Once the event is over, citizens from Liege are welcome to take the flowers for their homes.

Enterrement de Matî l’Ohé (Burial of the Festival Bone)

This festival spans from August 15-16 and takes place in the Outremeuse neighborhood, which is on a sort of big island where the Meuse river splits then rejoins itself. The first three days of this festival are pretty standard – lots of live music, food and drink, a parades of the statue of the Virgin Mary, bands, and also parades with giant figures of characters from religious and folkloric stories.

The last day is when it gets really special: the burial of the bone. This consists of a large parade of people wearing black (sometimes very elaborate) funeral clothes, waving branches or bunches of celery (yes, the vegetable you eat), following a procession of official people carrying a giant fresh bone in a casket through the neighborhood streets. Anyone is welcome to wear black, get some celery, and join the parade! The mourners alternately cheers/dances or cry/mourn according to music. The idea is that the previous day’s festival is now over, all the food and drinks have been consumed, nothing remains but the bare bone and people are mourning the end of the party. I have no explanation for the celery though!

I sincerely regret that I can’t find photos of this from previous years.

Other Attractions

For more traditional tourist attractions, I recommend the following….

Church of St. Bartholomew: church with very beautiful exterior and interior, including a baptismal font.

St. Paul’s Cathedral: another big pretty church, located in front of one of the city’s two main squares. The decorations of the main square area changes every couple months. Usually it’s patterns made of plants and flowers, but for a couple months in the winter it becomes a covered ice skating rink.

Grand Curtius: a HUGE museum, often with special exhibits.

Museum of Walloon Life: offers a great overview into the history of Belgium and Liege, including large collection of black and white photos in slide-viewer glasses which make them appear 3D. The building it’s located in used to be a monastery.

Courtyard of the Palace of Justice: the small courtyard is actually a parking lot but is lined with decorative stone pillars, each with a unique design.

Science Museum: aquariums in the basement with a HUGE ancient taxonomy collection upstairs, including a really impressive whale skeleton!

Parc Boverie: nice park with a rose garden and art museum at the center. On hot days in the summer, it’s packed with people sunbathing and having picnics.

Training!

Gracie Barra Liege

I trained at Gracie Barra in Liege for 1.5 years towards the beginning of my BJJ career, and take every opportunity I can to drop in when passing through Belgium/Liege. It’s always a pleasure train here, and see how much the group has progressed in my absence.

There are three main instructors here: Florent Minguet (black belt, gym owner), Jordy Peute (black belt head instructor of Gracie Barra in Maastrict, who also gives class in Liege twice a week) and Valere (brown belt instructor). Valere and Jordy are probably the two individuals who have contributed the most to my BJJ career thus far and helped give me a very solid understanding of the foundations of BJJ. Both compete regularly, with Valere occasionally participating in MMA fights as well. Their classes are very detail oriented, professional yet casual, and fun – I always looked forward to training.

The gym includes both gi and nogi classes, and has evening class 5 days/week with Open Mat on Sunday afternoon. Classes are given in both French and English. Here, you’ll find a huge rage of students from total white belt beginners to very experience, fast, fierce hardcore athletes.

How to get there: A note on finding the place – it’s actually located in a building called “Le Pole Image de Liege” which appears to be some kind of television and recording station. You need to enter a gate to get to the main building, then ring the doorbell labeled “Gracie Barra” to enter. Once inside, go down the main hallway past the bathrooms and the cafeteria until you see some stairs leading upwards on the left. On the second floor, go down a (much smaller) hallway painted with bright, bold graffiti letters to get to the gym.

Budget Flights Overseas

I left Belgium from Brussels, flying to Los Angeles on Wow Air, an icelandic budget airline. I’d already been accustomed to flying on budget airlines within Europe, but this was my first time using one for an international flights. I had more than a few doubts about this after reading terrible reviews for this company online BUT, having found an incredibly great deal on the price of the plane ticket, decided just to go for it anyways.

Honestly – it was totally fine! The airplane was smaller, there were no little TV’s on the back of the seats, no blankets or pillows, and no meals, water, or snacks included, and no checked baggage included (without paying extra) – but those was the only real difference between this and a standard carrier. These differences didn’t make the trip significantly worse and were well worth the money saved, in my opinion. I think a large part of the negative reviews online can probably be attributed to passengers not understanding how a budget airline functions and probably expecting the service and amenities of a standard carrier. Anyhow, I wouldn’t hesitate to fly with Wow or another international budget airline again in the future.

Blog 6 — Death Valley & Las Vegas

December 14, 2018/in Blogs/by Derrick Kersey

We recently found ourselves exploring the states of California and Nevada. One of our first stops here was a mining ghost town built in 1905 called Rhyolite. It’s a combination of the original buildings along with abstract art installations scattered around the area. The town had early success with mining and was able to grow to have hotels, stores, a school, an ice plant, two electric plants, foundries, machine shops and even a miners union hospital. However, there was widespread financial panic in 1906 and within a few years, all of the mines had shutdown and the citizens were forced to abandon the failed town. Interesting note, one of the original houses was completely built using bottles as bricks which actually acts as temperature regulation.

The house made completely from bottles in the early 1900’s.

One of the three story buildings still standing.

We then made our way into Death Valley. It’s pretty cool that while driving down into the valley, you can hold your hand out of the car window and within a span of a few miles, you can feel the temperature raise 10 degrees due to the extremely low elevation. It’s actually called shaking hands with the devil. I found out that Death Valley is actually quite the desirable tourist destination. It gets so hot in the summer — regularly above 100 degrees fahrenheit — that the winter is peak operating season. There are all kinds of hikes, camping and attractions to see. We hiked around an area called Artists Drive and another called Badwater Basin. Artists Drive gets its name for the wide range of colors found in the geology there, which was truly amazing. Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America — 282 ft. below sea level, which seems odd when you’re standing in it because you’re almost completely surrounded by gigantic mountains. The high levels of salt from the surrounding landscape gets carried and deposited in the basin after a rainfall and has created what seems to be an endless basin of salt.

Tough to capture everything in one picture.

After all of this exploring I was ready to get some training in so we headed to Cobrinha BJJ in Las Vegas. It’s located within a beautiful plaza right next to a NYC-style deli so I very much enjoyed walking around the area with some espresso before class. The classes and training were great. Head instructor Hector Vasquez treated me like a part of the team. A great person who is dedicated to his craft. It was his last week at the academy before flying out to Toronto to corner Claudia Gadelha for her upcoming UFC fight. He was there everyday teaching class until the day he left, with a somewhat serious injury. So grateful for instructors like him. I spent a week here training everyday and met some awesome people. The guys here were all super welcoming, friendly and liked to train hard — just my type. I will definitely be returning in the future.

Winter in Budapest, Hungary

December 11, 2018/in Blogs/by Sabine

Reasons to go: Affordable, great food, many historical sites, buildings/sculptures/monuments of breathtaking grandeur, ruins pubs, thermal baths, caves, markets, great public transport, pedestrian friendly city center, safe for solo female travelers, many BJJ gyms

Budapest is SO grand! Everything about it is on a scale just a little larger than a normal life. The streets are spacious, city center is huge. Concrete buildings span block after block many stories high. The facades of even ordinary buildings are beautifully ornate with carved stone textures and romantic figures. It really seems like you can’t walk 5 minutes in any direction without running into another beautiful monument, statue or city view!

Budapest was originally 2 separate cities (Buda and Pest) which were combined in the 19th century and now function smoothly as one. The Buda side (which has nothing to do with the Buddhist religion/philosophy) is on the left, the Pest side on the right. The Danube river run between the two sides of the city and is crossed by 8 bridges – massive things spanning many lanes of traffic, with spacious sidewalks on both sides and tram lanes down in the middle. You can feel the vibrations of the trams in the soles of your feet as they pass while you’re walking across. Each bridge is built in a different style and has a unique history about how it was built.

The Pest side is mostly flat. Standing on the summit of one of the low hills on the Buda side looking across the river, you see a grid of tall buildings stretching to the horizon in every direction, broken up periodically by the rounded domes churches and pointy castle towers.

Standing on the banks of the Pest side near city center and looking towards the Buda side, you see low hills covered with building. Depending on where you are, you might be able see Buda castle on a summit overlooking the city, or the tree-covered Gellert Hill with giant statue of lady holding a palm leaf above her head (the Liberty Statue) on the summit.

Budapest (at least near city center, which is huge) is very much a tourist city. Art, history, castles, cathedrals, monuments, museums, markets, city parks, caves, dining, spas, nightlife – this city has it all, and could easily entertain a visitor for days. It’s also a very accessible city due to great public transportation. Wide boulevards crisscross the city in a fairly regular grid pattern making it easy to find your way around.

I was in Budapest twice for this portion of trip: for 2 weeks in October on the way to Serbia, and for a bit less than a week returning from Serbia, heading to Belgium. The reason was this was partly logistics – it’s an easy connection from Budapest to anywhere using budget airlines. But it was also due to my desire to see Budapest (again). Despite three visits, still I feel like I’ve only just grazed the surface of what the city has to offer. It’s grandeur beautiful and breathtaking. It never seems to get any less impressive and there’s always new things to discover.

Logistics

Transportation

Transportation consists of buses and trams above ground, an underground metro, and boat (which I didn’t try). The airport is quite far from city center, but very accessible due to buses/metro that run there and back frequently.

Public transportation passes can be purchased from a ticket counter at the airport or from ticket machines at almost any tram/metro stops. The passes are simple small paper receipts, so make sure not to throw them away on accident! Multi-day (unlimited ride) passes work on an honor-system basis – passengers are responsible for having a valid unexpired ticket but don’t swipe or show it to anyone upon entering the tram/bus. You can purchase an unlimited rides pass for 1, 3, 7 days, or a full month which is valid for all means of transportation. There’s also an option single ticket 10-packs of tickets.

Alphabet and Language

The main language spoken in Budapest is Hungarian though many people speak English as well. The Hungarian alphabet is Latinic, so most of the letters look similar to the American/European alphabet, though it does include some additional accented letters, trigraphs (chunk of three letters together with specific significance) and digraphs (two letters together with specific significance). Also, Q, W, X, Y weren’t part of the original alphabet in the past but are now often included to spell foreign words.

Tourist Time!

Food

Hungarian food is SO good, and comes in really generous portions! The meals I tried consisted of hearty stews, pasta/veggie/meat combos covered in thick sauce and served with pasta or rice, and street food of veggies and sausage or other meats served on pita-like breads. Hungarians love paprika, make it well, and use it in just about everything.

Food near the city center is, of course, much more expensive due to tourism. And, have been told everything on the Buda side is about 10% more expensive then on the Pest side, but by chance I didn’t happen to dine there so can’t confirm from personal experience.

For those who like alcohol, two noteworthy drinks are unicum and tokaji. Unicum made of a mixture of herbs and taste bitter, a little like Jagermeister. Tokaji is a special wine from the Tokay region, which is supposedly very sweet (I didn’t get the chance to try it). There’s also mulled wine (hot red wine with spices) in the Christmas markets (which I personally LOVE), but most European countries have some variation of this so I don’t think it’s an especially Hungarian treat.

And then, there’s chimney cake! It’s a doughy holiday pastry with a slightly crispy exterior, coated with topping of your choice, cooked over coals and served hot. I tried the cinnamon sugar variety, which tasted a little like a cinnamon roll. Very delicious! One cake is probably meant to be shared between a group of people (they’re pretty huge), but I ended up eating the entire thing myself. No regrets!

Central Market

Here you’ll find fresh veggies, cheese, meats, drinks, pastries, spices, textiles (lace and pretty embroidered cloths), cookies, many handcrafted goods, and a wide assortment of souvenir items. It’s quite a big space with many rows of shops and two floors, with most of the non-food items upstairs. The atmosphere is colorful, lively, busy yet casual. The customers are a mix of local people purchasing weekly groceries and tourists checking out the ambiance and souvenir items.

Christmas Markets

Christmas markets in Budapest used to be smaller events for primarily local people, but have recently become a huge tourist attraction. It’s a cheerful and lively atmosphere, with many enticing smells of cooking food and pastries as you walk through, holiday lights and music in the evening. Here you can find great street food (warm meals, chimney cake, mulled wine and unicum), an assortment of handcrafted goods, spices, winter clothes (like cozy wool socks), and various holiday stuff (such as small ornaments).

Fisherman’s Bastion

This area consists of Matthias Church, a statue of King Saint Stephen on a horse, and seven towers representing the seven original Hungarian (Magyar) tribes. It’s situated on a hill with one side offering an amazing panoramic view of the city and Danube river below. All the buildings and walls are made of pale tan/grey stone, with brightly colored geometric patterns on pointed church roof – very beautiful.

Be warned, it’s not that big of an area and is a HUGE tourist attraction. Expect the area to be filled with hordes of people taking selfies and guides leading large groups around – you won’t find much peace and quiet here.

Shoes on the Riverbank

Along the banks of the Danube near the Parliament on the Pest side you’ll find a memorial that consists of 60 normal-size shoes made of irons in styles that men, women and children. These are a tribute to the nearly 20,000 Hungarian Jewish people that died during World War 2. Here, Jewish people were lined up along the banks and shot so their bodies fell into the river. Before being killed, however, they were forced to remove their shoes, which the soldiers later resold for profit. People today leave small offerings of flowers, candies and money in the shoes.

Pálvölgyi Cave

Budapest has an extensive system of caves formed over millions of years by hydrothermal water. I took an “adventure cave tour” and thoroughly enjoyed the experienced, which consisted of wearing caving suits and helmets then crawling, squeezing and climbing through a network of tunnels in total darkness (except for the headlamps) for a couple hours. The group was quite small (just two others besides myself and the guide). The guide was a passionate caver herself, and knew much about the history of caves in Budapest. At different points throughout the tour, she gave us a couple different options of which paths to take depending on whether we wanted more climbing, crawling, or squeezing through tiny spaces. Good times, well worth the money!

Thermal Baths

Mineral rich thermal springs underneath Budapest supplies naturally hot water to many baths throughout town. These were first created by Romans (who believed they had miraculous healing properties), further developed by the Turkish and Austrian people who later inhabited the city, and are still quite popular today. Those on the Buda side are Turkish in origin, which doesn’t mean anything significant as far as what you’ll experience there – it just refers to the time period from which they originate.

Things to know: In some smaller, less touristy places, certain sections of the pools or certain days are restricted to either men or women only. Also, the water is often a little murky. This is because of the high mineral content, not because it’s dirty. You should plan to bring your own swimsuit, towel, and sandals (though you can pay to rent one if not).

Széchenyi Baths (on the Pest side) is the biggest and grandest of them all, featuring 15 indoor thermal pools, 3 outdoor pools, and a spa/massage place upstairs. It’s a very impressive space in size, architecture and decorations. One word of warning though – it’s a very popular tourist hotspot and can be quite busy/crowded.

On my most recent trip, I tried a much smaller bath called Veli Bej (on the Buda side), off the tourist path, to see what a more local, authentic experience was like…. and also because my hostel gave me a coupon for 20% off, making it less than half the price of any of the others. Cheers to the budget life! I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a real hidden gem.

Veli Bej bath house consisted of one large hot central pool, 4 smaller cold water pools (which I didn’t touch because I hate the cold), and a handful of very small (3-4 people) sauna rooms. The decor was simple but elegant – rough stone walls and a glass ceiling showing the night sky in the exterior hallway, large arched doorways encircling the central main pool, and dome ceiling high above punctuated with a geometric pattern of holes. Small lights at regular interval give the space a cozy, dimmed atmosphere. It was moderately busy, but not to the point that it was obnoxiously crowded, with a very local vibe.

I think the Romans’ belief that the water has mythical healing properties might actually be true. One of my fingers has the cuticle all roughed up and damaged from training, which had been painful and irritated for the last two weeks. But actually looked and felt MUCH better after my evening in the thermal water!

Around Hero’s Square

This area (on the Pest side) consists of a very large park crisscrossed with walking paths, a small lake, Vajdahunyad castle (small but very pretty, with a handful of nice sculptures), and Hero’s Square. It’s a nice area to go for a walk/jog.

At the center of Hero’s square is a huge pillar with sculpture of archangel Gabriel on top, ringed by the seven chiefs of Magyar on horses at the base, looking SO majestic and fierce! Behind them are a series of columns with more statues of important historical figures, all beautifully rendered with great detail.

Gellert Hill and Liberty Statue

Gellert Hill (located on the Pest side) consists of a large tree covered hill with meandering paths and many splendid lookout points providing great city views (especially at sunset). The summit features the Liberty Statue, a larger-than-life statue of a lady holding a palm leaf symbolizing freedom, liberation and prosperity dedicated to the soldiers who gave their lives in World War 2. Besides it are two smaller (but still huge) statues of figures holding flames in dramatic poses. It’s a really nice place to go for a walk/jog, though be warned – the summit is another huge tourist attraction and often very crowded.