🇪🇸 Madrid, Spain (2026)

     As we made our way through Europe in July 2026, the FIFA World Cup was nearing its culmination. In Paris, we had rooted for Spain to beat Austria one night, and cheered when Argentina beat Cabo Verde because everyone wanted to see Messi keep going. Canada was eliminated by Morocco on July 4th, which we had discussed with a Moroccan-French Bolt driver in Bordeaux.  

     

      We flew to Madrid from Athens and settled into a guesthouse just a few steps from the Puerta del Sol, a huge plaza buzzing with people. We were like backpacker pals at a hostel. We shared one big room, with four single beds, AC, high ceilings, and a tiny TV (like Michael Scott's in the dinner party episode!). The windows and doors opened to a balcony overlooking a fun street full of bars and shops. Although the location was convenient and lively, inside the pension it was peaceful. The place was spotless and very quiet, with minimal but eclectic decor. 

     As tranquil as the guesthouse was, we ventured out to see Madrid. I'm pretty jealous that Madrid has a literature neighbourhood called Barrio de las Letras, with author museums, book stores, and lots to browse. 

 

   We also went to the Museo Nacional de Arte Reina Sofia -- with quite modern art (19th century to contemporary). We saw lots of works by Picasso (including Guernica), lots of Dalí (trippy stuff for sure), and much more. Spending a few hours in an art museum is so strange and interesting. It's dedicated time to wander, wonder and ponder, maybe even pander, just to balance out this sentence. 

  

    So we get to the contemporary section and there is consumable art -- like never ending stacks of oversized paper printed with a few wise words, and a pool's worth of hard candies that have to be replenished as patrons take them!  What a fun and weird way to walk 10,000 steps. I love it.

 

    Mike had recently read Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, and was reading For Whom the Bell Tolls on the trip, so in Paris and Madrid, he was dropping some fun facts about Hemingway's time spent in each city -- where he lived, places he wrote, places he drank, details like that. The gals started busting his chops, asking if Hemingway sat on this bench, or walked on this sidewalk, or bought a fan at this store, this or that, everywhere we went. We did go for a drink and tapas at a Cervecería Alemana in Plaza Santa Ana, like Hemingway. Mike made a pal in the waiter, Miguel. :D 

  

     We went to a flamenco show! It was the Essential Flamenco show, which takes place under a restaurant, in a brick cave. The tablao is the wooden dance floor that amplifies the dance steps. The musicians play guitar, cello, drums, and they sing and clap percussion. When it gets going, it's absolutely fierce, and the outfits were fuego! Tailored suits for the fellows and vibrant dresses with tiers and ruffles for the ladies. The passionate music and dance was entrancing (to us at least. We overheard an angsty Irish teen say, "It's nothing but f*in' tap dancin'" lol).   

 

     Our last night in Madrid was the World Cup final -- Argentina versus España, and while Argentina is dear in our hearts, we had to root for Spain, lest we get caught in an angry crowd on the way home! We reserved a table at a restaurant where we could watch the game. Most of the crowd was in red, with a small delegation repping the blue and white of Argentina. It was a long game, with zero-zero on the scoreboard until overtime. Spoiler alert: Spain won! The crowd went wild, and we got to join the revellers. We basically floated back to the guesthouse in the tide of people going down the street, and when we got tired, retreated to our room to enjoy the scene from the balcony. Drummers and dancers posted up outside our window and rocked into the night, and yet, I got a great sleep. 

 

  

     All in all, our timing was luckhounds' classic. We got a train to Seville the next day, and avoided the crowd of almost two million people (literally) gather to see the team parade through the plazas with the cup on a scorcher of a day. 

   

 

🇬🇷 Greece 2026: Elika, Plitra and Mani

     Everyone was looking forwards to a return to the tiny village of Elika, Greece. It's hard to believe it was our fourth time, and it's wonderful to see it hasn’t changed. The food is still delicious, the beer and wine are cheap, and the coffee frappé is a nice treat. 

     Swimming in the Mediterranean Sea is the best. That turquoise water is so beautifully clear and warm, and the views are lovely. We relished our time on Tortuga Beach in Elika with a sublime routine of swim, lounge, read, chat, swim, sip, snack, read, swim, and so on. Bliss.

     We returned to Plitra beach — a little bigger and more polished than Tortuga, with more amenities and beach lovers. There is always some upbeat music bopping, and the bright yellow loungers go great with the cheerful atmosphere. 

       We did an overnight trip to check out the Mani peninsula, and one day was all we had, but not enough! While there are lots of secluded beaches, we chose one for the afternoon. It was beautifully tucked into a rocky cove. We played in the waves, and had the best club sandwich ever: BLT and breaded chicken with aioli and basil on focaccia— yes, please and EFKARISTO! On our way back to Elika, we took a little boat tour and walk through caves. 

It might take some time, but mostly likely we will be back on the Peloponessian again someday! 

Bordeaux, France (July 2026) 🇫🇷

    From Paris, we took a bullet-train to Bordeaux. With temperatures in the high thirties, we found fantastic ways to stay cool: water, wine, caves, and castles. 

     First the water: reflecting the majestic Place de la Bourse, there is the grand Miroir d'Eau, which is a gigantic shallow pool, that rhythmically drains, sprays a fine cooling mist, then refills to two centimetres. We chilled out there for a bit before seeking La Grosse Cloche -- a medieval wall and bell tower. We strolled, we had poké bowls for lunch (p'okay?), and we relaxed in our AirBnb.

            We went to an exhibit at the Bassins de Lumières, a World War II submarine base transformed into a massive projection gallery. Videos are projected onto the high walls and reflected in the water in the old submarine bays. The show that was playing when we were there was all about underwater action. It was dark, cool, psychedelic and scientific. 

    With plans to taste wine at Château Giscours, we rented a car and made our way to the Margaux region and appellation. Our host taught us the basics about how wines are blended and named, and how the climate and land affect the nature of the wines differently each season. We toured the warehouse of oak barrels, where wines are aged, and then we went outside to sit at a table under a big tree, next to the castle and its stables.  

    

    Our host set a white page on our table, as well as glasses and stainless-steel spittoons. She poured a Cabernet Sauvignon, and tilted the glass so that the sun shone through the wine and beamed its red colour spectrum across the paper like a liquid stained glass window. She poured four more and showed us the technique: smell, swirl, smell again, then taste. She was genuinely curious about the teens' take on the scent, taste, and texture of the wine. They weren't going for a second sip, but she was a good sport and got them to describe what they'd noticed. 

    After the tasting, we had lunch at a cool little roadside restaurant, swam in a lake in Carcans, and swam again at the beach at Lacanau, where the town was setting up for an international surf competition -- so much to see and do. 

        Another day, another roadie... this time to see the Lascaux Caves in Montignac! Well, those actual caves are closed to the public, to prevent further damage to the pigments used about 17,000 years ago to create some of the world's oldest known art. But, Lascaux IV is a precise replica of the nearby Lascaux caves, down to the millimetre, painstakingly recreated to allow us to appreciate their scale, complexity, beauty and atmosphere. 

    From the modern welcome centre, through a magic door to Palaeolithic times, you walk about 200 meters through cave tunnels. It's a gallery of incredible drawings and paintings, with symbolism and special effects. The "Great Hall of the Bulls" looked familiar from history books, but my favourite depiction was the five "swimming" deer. The stags are painted onto a curving wall and a natural ridge is used as a water line. The guide held a candle at a certain angle and as the light flickered, the deer seemed to bob across a river. ("Better than AI," she whispered.) 

    No photos were allowed in the tunnels, so the interpretative centre displays more replicated sections of the caves, with the "greatest hits". What a wonderful spot to contemplate the timeline of human history and to wonder how our ancestors lived. 🙌

   

     On our way back to Bordeaux from Lascaux, we had exquisite foccacia sandwiches (chicken Caesar 🥬for the kids, Caprese for us 🍅 -- omg the European produce is so good 😭) in the town of Montignac. The Tour de France flags were going up for later in the week, and we geared up for one more stop: Château Hauteforte. 

    We approached the castle on the left, through the tunnel of Canadian cedar, planted and curved to form a pergola. The sun was blazing and we were glad for the shade. Instead of the front door, we entered through the side door, the Maritime way 😊. So we started our tour in the kitchen and pantry, where holographic servants were chopping veggies and polishing silverware. Somehow a scent of roasting meat emanated from this lower level of the castle. As we walked from room to room, floor by floor, it was easy to get swept away by daydreams about who lived there over the centuries and what they got up to. The architecture and decor is extravagant, of course, and Sylvie had a Rapunzel moment gazing out of a balcony at the formal gardens. Magnifique!

    I'd return to Bordeaux in a heartbeat, but ideally in the spring or fall for milder temperatures. 💙⚪🟥

    

Encore Paris! 🇫🇷

We arrived in Paris on Canada Day 🇨🇦, groggy from our night flights and vulnerable to all the baked goods, and —oh mon doux!— the AirBnb wasn’t ready. 🫣 We hung around a nearby café, then eventually talked to the cleaner, who was almost done, but had to run a quick errand to buy more towels. The beds were barely made when we flopped out. The cleaner let herself back in, did the last of the cleaning, and let herself out to the sound of all four of us snoring, sain et sauf! 😴  

        When we got ourselves back on track, we made the most of our convenient location in the Latin quarter, across from a Sorbonne campus. Notre Dame was around the corner, and we used our Catholic Fast Pass to get a mass in. The priest’s homily was solid and unpretentious, with a focus on living and loving life…. same message as Bad Bunny’s music basically. Tourists walked around the cathedral with solemnity and snuck a few pics of the faithful in action. 

    Day Two took a macabre turn as we toured the famous Paris Catacombs. We descended a spiral staircase 20m to the former quarry, under the city in dimly lit tunnels. Eery music played in our headsets and we listened to stories of how the place came to be. A few twists and turns down further corridors of yore, and we got to the ossuary. Truly, wow. Bones of millions of deceased Parisians backfill the quarry and become supportive walls. The bulbous ends of femurs and tibiae are stacked in tessellating rows, bracketed by rows of skulls. The empty sockets of the eyes, noses and mouths call silently: I was someone. I was a real person. You too, eh? The halls curve on forever. On the walls, there are thoughtful quotations -- some poetry, some religious, some historical. Despite the initial creepiness, it's a wonderful place for reflection on the meaning of life... and the heavy metal aesthetic. We got about 20,000 steps in and eventually exited to a whimsical gift shop. No regrets. 

    Back on the level of the living, we spent a fun night on Champ de Mars, the big field facing the Eiffel Tower with a few thousand others. We had a drinks and snacks, took a bunch of photos, saw the tower light-show, and just enjoyed the scene.  

    Another day, we went to the Musée D'Orsay where we saw masterpieces of art. We also took a quick jaunt through the Galeries Haussmann, which is obviously a lot to take in -- the macarons, the architecture, the designer brands, the prices(!), the rooftop. At some point we got in a visit to the Paris Panthéon, and saw the graves of some legit GOATS, like Louis Braïlle, Marie & Pierre Curie, Josephine Baker, Victor Hugo, JJ Rousseau, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Voltaire, etc. Solemn and cool.

     We made the most of our stay in Paris, and it was a wonderful way to start our trip.