Category: Europe

Barcelona, the French Riviera, and “The Walking Dead” – All in One Blog Post

by mattathomeintheworld, posted in Blogs, Europe

If you’ve read some of my previous blog posts, you know that I was a big fan of The Walking Dead television show. Although the series ended a few years ago, there have been various spin-offs and though none of them have quite measured up to the original, I think The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon has been the most interesting of the bunch. For those of you who don’t know anything about the Walking Dead universe, it’s set in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse where humans must fight off cannibalistic zombies – and one another – to survive in a brutal, post-apocalyptic world. Most of the original series’ action took place in Georgia and Virgina, though more recent spin-offs have ventured to Los Angeles, Mexico, Texas, New York City, and the Pacific Northwest.

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A Merry “Litli” Christmas Eve: Iceland, November 2025

by mattathomeintheworld, posted in Blogs, Europe, Iceland

Back in November of 2024 I visited Iceland and one of my planned stops was the town of Geysir, home to a whole slew of the phenomena we know as geysers. To call it a “town” would actually be an exaggeration; other than the field of geysers themselves, there is only a Visitor’s Center that attracts dozens of buses coming up from Reykjavik on a day trip, and two hotels, the mammoth Hotel Geysir and its neighbor, Litli Geysir. The difference in price between the two is considerable, with the big hotel being more than double the price of its smaller neighbor. When I learned that those staying at Litli Geysir are sent to the big hotel for the complimentary breakfast, I decided to save my money and stay at the smaller property.

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A Long-Awaited Return to Iceland

by mattathomeintheworld, posted in Blogs, Europe, Iceland

My first trip to Iceland was in June of 2008, and it was among my most favorite travel destinations. The scenery was other-worldly, the peace and quiet appealed to me, and the food, though expensive, was top-notch. Unfortunately, my travels over the years never seemed to bring me back to Iceland, but as I began to plan a European getaway for this fall, the new Icelandic airline called Play offered fares so low that it made my trip entire trip feasible. Since all of Play’s flights pass through Reykjavik, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to revisit Iceland for a few days after visiting Italy and London.

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A Beautiful Reunion with an Old Friend: Italy

by mattathomeintheworld, posted in Blogs, Europe, Italy

Thanks to the gigantic monkey wrench that COVID threw into all of our lives, I haven’t traveled abroad since the summer of 2019. To some, this may not seem like such a big deal, but for me, who was once described by Diletta, my former Italian teacher, as someone who “goes to Europe the way some people go to the grocery store,” this hiatus from international travel was a huge change in my life. Ambiguous and ever-changing COVID restrictions that varied from country to country, uncertainty about the economy and my own finances, and the threat of a larger war developing in Europe all made me wonder whether I would ever get back to Europe, and especially to my beloved Italy again.

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Budapest: Glorious Bridges, Spas, and No Goulash!

by mattathomeintheworld, posted in Blogs, Budapest, Europe

Every year when graduation ends and I take my summer trip to Europe, I’m drawn back to the same places that I have grown to love so much: always Italy, usually Paris and Greece, Britain or Ireland. But I also try to add a new place to the mix that I’ve never seen before. Last year was Portugal, which I adored. This year I decided to visit Budapest, Hungary.

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Never did I imagine that Budapest would be so magnificent!
Let’s go to Budapest…

The Powerful Pull of Portugal’s Algarve

by mattathomeintheworld, posted in Blogs, Europe, Portugal

After a week in Europe, the first rain of my trip came on the day I was driving from Lisbon to the Algarve region in the southwestern part of Portugal. It was the perfect day to be in a car, as I could only imagine myself slipping and sliding up and down Lisbon’s precarious hills on slick, unevenly tiled sidewalks.

Inside a sea cave, Algarve
Praia da Marinha, Algarve

The Algarve is calling… answer the call!

Music, Graffiti and Custard, Not Necessarily in That Order: Lisbon

by mattathomeintheworld, posted in Blogs, Europe, Portugal

I grew up in New Bedford, Massachusetts, a city where 30% of the residents are of Portuguese descent. I grew up with many Portuguese friends, my favorite pizza was covered with linguica, a Portuguese sausage, and every Easter morning my mom would stand in a long line at the bakery to pick up the Portuguese sweet bread that she’d ordered weeks in advance. Ironically, while I have traveled across Europe from Iceland to Turkey and Finland to Spain, I had missed Portugal, so this summer I decided it was time to make my first visit. After a few days in England, I flew into Lisbon and got my first taste, literally and figuratively, of Portugal.

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More on Lisboa…

The Battle of the Cream Teas: Devon vs. Cornwall – England, May 2018

by mattathomeintheworld, posted in Blogs, British Isles, Europe

I think SuperShuttle has a vendetta against me. Last May, as I was heading off to Europe, I waited patiently in front of my building for the familiar blue van to pull up and whisk me off to the airport, but it never materialized. I kept getting texts from them saying they were outside my apartment waiting for me, but they were simply not there. I kept telling them I was in front of my building. They kept telling me I was simply not there. And then they said they had waited long enough and had to get their other passengers to the airport and were leaving. How do you leave if you’ve never arrived?

Let’s get to England!

Northern Ireland: Land of the Giants

by mattathomeintheworld, posted in Blogs, British Isles, Europe

One of my dearest friends in the world is Maggi, an 86-year old woman I met back in 1976 in my Freshman English class at college. A housewife and mother of two, Maggi was born in Belfast, Northern Island and moved to Massachusetts when she married an American in the 1950s. Maggi is a rather famous storyteller who shares traditional folk tales, sentimental and thought-provoking reminiscences of her childhood in Belfast, and traditional folk songs and rhymes. She has performed all across the U.S. and in Britain, has won many prestigious awards in the folk world and recently published a book of her stories, Belfast Girl.

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The Antrim Coast, Northern Ireland

Don’t be a

Scotland: It’s Worth the Effort

by mattathomeintheworld, posted in Blogs, British Isles, Europe

My first visit to Scotland had been a brief trip with my dear friend Carol in 1986 during which we drove up from London to see Yorkshire and the Lake District of northern England, and then crossed Hadrian’s Wall to see a bit of southern Scotland. Though brief, that trip held memories of rolling green hills, rainbows, more sheep than you could shake a stick at, afternoon teas and a hospitable people with a wonderful sense of humor and irony.

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Eilean Donan Castle, Lochalsh, Scotland

Read more about bonny Scotland