Just got back after three weeks of parental leave on the quite beautiful island of Gran Canaria. As per usual, despite us now traveling with a 1-year old, our focus was mainly on eating lots of good food. We stayed in a holiday apartment, so we both did some cooking of our own, but also managed to visit a couple of good and great restaurants during our trip. We mostly went with local/Spanish, but made a few deviations to other countries’ cuisines.

We stayed in Meloneras, so most places we visited is in that area. But if you stay in Playa del Inglés or elsewhere in Maspalomas, buses are frequent, and you can also walk. We did it a couple of times with a stroller, it’s roughly an hours walk. Let me know if you find a pink baby slipper.

Meloneras

Time restaurant (Italian)

We felt that probably no restaurant in Meloneras that we visited catered to anyone but tourists, except (perhaps) Time. Time is not a fantastic restaurant by any means, but the pizza is solid, prices are decent (a pizza is roughly €12-15), service is restaurant-y in a normal way, not a tourist destination way, which we appreciated. And their semifreddo dessert was actually one of tastiest desserts we had during our stay.

Side note: The picture is from when we used Time for take out and not have they serve it in the restaurant.

El Senador

El Senador was our first and last dinner of the trip. The first time we walked in on chance because it looked nice, and was surprised by the food quality. The last time we went because it eventually turned into our favourite place to visit for a night cap or quick beer since our apartments had no bar of it’s own.

The food is beachy Spanish with the usual suspects such as jamon (they have a jamon carving man), padrónes, Canarian papas arrugadas and croquetas as well as their own takes on local dishes, seafood and their ’famous’ red tuna taco that is hideously expensive – €11 each – but very tasty. The level of food is quite high though and prices except for tacos aren’t too bad given its location nestled between luxury hotels, right on the beach. A decent size shareable tapa was around €10 and a large beer €5. Cocktails were really good too. Loved their Canarian negroni.

La Azotea del Velero

I was convinced this was a tourist trap and that the reviews were off, but despite us being almost alone in the restaurant and that the staff made a few moves to upsell us a bit, the food was surprisingly delicious. We had seafoody tapas with sizzling garlic prawns, deep-fried squid, padrónes, papas arrugadas, local aniseed bread with aioli, and on top of that delicious cocktails. Everything was really good, and the emptiness was probably mostly due to us arriving at 5:30 p.m. or the location at the touristy shopping street behind the beach.

El Caldero

Located on the touristy Boulevard de Faro which is lined with semi-fancy restaurants, El Caldero serves up some decent paella (and other rice dishes) for a relatively reasonable price. We had their fish and seafood paella, which you can have with the shells on, or pay some extra to have them removed. We chose the first option, but if you don’t want a messy dinner maybe the second is worth the extra 1 or 2 euros. The paella was quite good and came out served on a hot paellera. The fish and seafood was well cooked and seasoned, taste was nice and there was a hint of crust to the rice. The paella serving is quite large, so after a while the waiter came back and gave us a refill. We had a bottle of Albariño wine with the paella and it costed roughly €30. The paella was approximately €25 per person. They also had high chairs for our 1 year old, which was convenient.

La Bodega

Located in the Seaside Palm Beach hotel, La Bodega is a fancier restaurant with a focus on local food and tapas. The setting, we sat outside on their terrace, is very hotel-y and slightly fancy; you for instance need to have long pants to be allowed to dine there.

We made reservations by e-mailing the hotel and got quick replies and confirmation. When we arrived we were escorted by staff from the lobby to the restaurant and were then handed over to our waiter, it felt similar to arriving a Michelin star restaurant, a bit too formal, jut everyone was friendly.

Fortunately our waiter was quite relaxed and the food was really good, and not really anymore expensive than other restaurants in the area. The food is sort of a slightly fine dining take on local dishes, and we had almogrote cheese paste – a specialty from the Canarian island of La Gomera with bread that was really good. We also had Caldo de Millo, a local potato and sweetcorn stew with eggs and coriander. The perfectly poached egg reminding us we were in a fancy restaurant. The tuna tartare with avocado was great, meaty, almost iron-y tuna with soft, creamy avocado and a citrussy touch. Langoustine and garlic prawn croquetas with a mild dipping sauce (garlic?) were as good as the sound, but the finishing gofio (Canarian flour) brownie with banana ice cream was unfortunately a bit dry. All in all though, for roughly €100 including a bottle of Spanish rosé, this was on of the highlights of the trip.

El Churrasco (Argentine)

For our daughter’s first birthday we had made a reservation at El Churrasco, a steakhouse which we visited the Las Palmas outlet of, during our last visit to Gran Canaria in 2017, and which we really loved. I’m not sure if the Meloneras outlet always has been a bit more soulless because of the location, or if they have just overall deteriorated since we last visited. Anyway, we arrived to a nearly empty restaurant, mentioned our daughter’s birthday, got an ”oh okay” – of course they don’t have to make a big deal out of it, but maybe a happy birthday at least. Taking our order was so fast we didn’t even have time to order wine, they took our steak orders and left. When I ordered a glass of wine, again it was so fast my partner couldn’t order before the waiter again had left. She had to go to the bar herself since no one was around (again, in a nearly empty restaurant). Well, service aside, the food was quite nice with nicely grilled entrecôte with chimichurri butter (but soggy chips), views are great, and prices are okay (€25 steak, €10 cocktails, €7 glass of wine). Still, maybe I would go back for the views and the steaks.

Callao

Located next to El Senador right on the beach, and a part of the Hotel Faro, Callao serves local food fusioned with some South American twists. The place was usually quite empty when we passed by, but the menu was really intriguing and the restaurant and beach bar looked nice from the outside, so we decided to give them a try.

Service was quite slow, but after a while we were handed menus, and after another while we got to order. Last year in Barcelona we had some amazing Josper-grilled chicken in a steakhouse, and seeing they had a Josper grill and grilled chicken on the menu, we both decided to order that. We also ordered some bread which arrived served quite beautifully with butter, sea salt and delicious olive oil. The chicken arrived and was quite delicious, but unfortunately one of our chicken breasts were undercooked; pink and mushy. At this point, because it took ages to order and receive our food, and because no one was around, we just ate the food and cut off the undercooked parts. The waiter didn’t say anything about it when taking our plates and we were to chicken (hehe) to complain. Instead we ordered a cheesecake made with smoked Herreño cheese, which is a local Canarian cheese, that was delicious. So overall great food, but slightly undercooked chicken and super slow and a bit unattentive service.

Maspalomas/Playa del Inglés

Wapa Tapa

Another of our favourites from our 2017 visit to Gran Canaria is Wapa Tapa. Located in the Yumbo shopping center, it’s not the location where you might expect a really good tapas restaurant among the other touristy shops and restaurants, but there it is. Reservations are mandatory, we sat next to the entrance and there were walk-ins denied almost every minute, so the place is certainly popular.

We had noted in our reservation that we had been there before (you fill in a form where they ask this on their website) and when arriving the friendly owner came and greeted us personally which was fun and unexpected. They also took great care of our 1-year old, providing children’s cutlery, high chair and lots of joking which she really enjoyed.

Food-wise the standard was still high, but we felt it was slightly better during our first visit in 2017, when we had possibly the best tapas dinner ever. This time too we shared a bunch of dishes; jamon on tomato bread; fried herreño cheese; padrónes; Saharan calamares; papas arrugadas with mojo picon, and queen scallops. We also tried their desserts; one Filipino lemon flan, and a Basque cheese cake. Everything was tasty, but the jamon on tomato bread and the herreño cheese stood out as our favourites.

Greek Village

We got recommendations to visit the Greek restaurant Greek Village in Playa del Inglés by a person on Instagram, and since personal recommendations often work out well in my experience, we decided to skip the local fare for a day and head to the mediterranean. The restaurant is not overly large – outside where we sat there were perhaps 10 or so tables – so reservations in the evening might be a good idea. We went for lunch and got a table without problem, but it was nearly full as we left. For food we went straight for mains, and ordered the grilled lamb, which came with a choice of fries or rice, pita bread, a few vegetables and tzatziki, as well as a gyros platter, which had the pretty much the same sides. Food was quite tasty, but I think it would’ve been better to go for a few dips and salads as well as it was a bit meat and potato heavy to just order mains. Prices were okay for the area and we paid roughly €45 for our mains, water, a beer and a glass of Retsina.

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Well, I’m going to start by clarifying that the final part of the Stockholm to Croatia train trip did not involve an actual train. While it’s indeed possible to backtrack from Venice to Austria and Slovenia and get to Croatia that way by rail, we opted for the faster route: by fast ferry across the Adriatic Sea straight from Venice to Pula in Croatia.

There are at least two different ferry companies as of Summer 2023 when we were traveling: Venezia Lines and Adriatic Lines by Kompas. We wanted to travel with Venezia Lines, but ended up with Adriatic Lines since they don’t depart daily to all destinations, and we had locked in our hotel stays before booking ferry tickets. From our research we found that both ferry companies both seemed good enough, but my impression was that Venezia Lines generally got slightly better reviews and had nicer ferries.

Nevertheless, Adriatic Lines it was and our trip started with us catching the water bus from the stop next to the train station. The trip was quite quick and took us to Zattere from where we could walk to San Basilio ferry terminal from where our ferry, the Andela, would depart at 17:30 (5:30 p.m.)

After checking in, we were told to wait a little while before boarding would commence. There are benches and a few vending machines, but apart from that there is not very much to do in the terminal. It did not matter too much for us though as we soon were told to head to the security control and then start to board our ferry.

The Andela was surprisingly modern and nice in my mind. Maybe I only read the negative reviews. There is only one class onboard with comfortable seating, a bar/café and also an outside deck where you could watch some really nice views of Venice from the sea, while we were crusing the lagoon. After reaching open sea and the ferry would speed up, everyone had to go inside again however.

The trip takes about 3,5 hours, and there’s not a whole lot to do while on the open sea. The phone signal/internet worked most of the way but dissappeared for a while as we were far from both the Italian and Croatian coast. We mostly just sat back, relaxed and watched the sea. Some people went to the small bar area, but most seemed to just sit back like us. It was a quite relaxing trip, and pretty much on time, 21:00/9 p.m. we arrived to a dark Pula. Disembarking was fast and as we had pre-booked a shuttle bus (you can do that at the same time as booking), we went to a bus, told a staff member our names and went on. We had booked transfer to Verudela, which is a collective stop for a couple of resorts at the Verudela Peninsula just outside the city of Pula. As the cost was just €6 per person, I thought it was very convenient as we arrived Pula quite late in the evening, and probably similar to what a taxi would’ve costed.

The total price for the entire trip from Venice to Pula, including our transfer and two large bags was €170. Not too bad given it was a quite smooth trip from start to finish with everything working quite well.

After two weeks of traveling through Europe it was now time for almost a week of poolside relaxing before traveling back home again. We stayed at the very nice Park Plaza Verudela which was sort of a combination between hotel rooms and holiday apartments with each room having an equipped small kitchen. The area has several restaurants, bars, a supermarket and swimming pools as well as beaches which was very relaxing. Some days we cooked ourselves but most days we went out trying the different restaurants in the area. Best was Bonaca, a dreamy fine dining sort of restaurant with fantastic views, great ambience and decent (but not amazing) food.

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After a good nights sleep at the surprisingly nice and modern Harry’s Home hotel we went over to Villach’s station to see if we could find anything to eat as breakfast wasn’t included in our room rate and the station seemingly had no lounge.

Our next train was the sort of famous ÖBB Railjet, which is ÖBB’s most modern high-speed train that travels in speeds up to 230 kilomters per hour. Railjet is also a train where you can upgrade yourself from first class to business class. Yes, you read that right. First class is below business class, but mostly in terms of the seat, which in business class is super large and comfortable. You’re also in your semi-private part of the first class carriage as well as receive a welcome onboard drink. It’s a €15 supplement on top of the first class fare to choose business class, and I think it was worth it.

As we got onboard we were greeted by a stewardess who checked our tickets and took our welcome drink orders. I tried to get sparkling wine, it might have been translation issues, but I was told I could only chose from white or red wine so I opted for the white that was quite nice. I also ordered a schnitzel sandwich that due to some kind of payment connectivity problems took almost an hour to get, but it was tasty nevertheless when it eventually arrived.

We took a little tour of the train and found a bistro with seating if you prefer to eat there. In first class and business class you have the option to order from the onboard staff that picks it up from the bistro and serve it at your seat though.

As with the other train trips in the region, the scenery was great. Mountains, Austrian villages and eventually the ocean passed by outside as we approached Venezia Santa Lucia, Venice’s main railway station.

The trip costed us €223 for two, which I think was really worthwile. The comfort of the seat, the space and the nice touches like the welcome onboard drink. It also quite unbeatable to reach the very center of Venice from the comfort of your leather seat. It’s literally just steps from the train platform to the Grand Canal.

We opted to splurge and stay at the NH Santa Lucia hotel, situated very conveniently just a short walk from the station. Price for a room with a canal view and a small balcony was roughly €350 per night, but the room was spectacular, the location very good and we probably saved a small fortune by being able to buy drinks at the next door Spar supermarket and have them at our balcony watching the life on the canal, instead of forking out for 15 euro cocktails at some waterfront bar.

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After four days in idyllic Lake Bled, it was time to move on. From Lake Bled, the nearest travel hub for trains is Villach in Austria, from where you can catch trains to for instance Vienna, Munich or several cities in Italy. As on the arrival to Bled, we had to catch the train from Lesce-Bled which is about a 5 kilometer taxi or bus ride from Lake Bled. We chose a taxi as we had heavy luggage, and again the fixed price for the trip was €15.

Being the main train station in the area, Lesce-Bled is surprisingly tiny and basic. There were no screens, staff or access to any train information, only a small café and a few benches. As our departure time came and passed we were a little worried that our train had been cancelled. But then we realized we could check our train’s status on ÖBB’s website where we found that it was 30 minutes late. Happy that we would indeed reach Austria (and our next day connection), we just sat on a bench in the sun and waited until the train arrived.

We had booked first class with ÖBB as we wanted seat reservations if the train was busy, and the price difference wasn’t too high compared to second class and two paid for seat reservations. However the train was almost empty so on this short 1 hour trip the first class upgrade wasn’t worth it for us. The train was decently comfortable and first class meant quite ordinary seats in a six seat compartment. We did not check, but I don’t think there was any café or similar onboard. We paid €33 for the two of us, which felt a little steep given the short trip. But as mentioned, that was mostly on us.

The best part of the trip however was the views as we drove past mountains, forest clad hills and beautiful villages on our way to Austria.

Of the few other passengers on the train, many seemed to be bikers, probably taking advantage of the beautiful landscape. Next to the first class compartment we were in was a large bike storage, so this train seems like a good choice if you’re on a bike trip.

30 minutes late, but still quite happy we rolled into Villach HBF which was a quite large train station. We had booked a room in the newly opened Harry’s Home Hotel just across the station. We had planned to eat at a nearby Austrian restaurant, but it was closed and since we both were a little bit sick we eventually ended up having McDonald’s in our hotel room. Oh well.

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After a fun night out in Ljubljana, with excellent Istrian fuzi pasta with beef and truffle at restaurant Most, it was time to take a final train to our first proper stop of the trip, the famous Lake Bled. As we stayed quite close to Ljubljana’s train station, we just walked over there a short while before our Slovenian railways train was to depart. We had bought tickets online costing us about €5 each for the 1 hour trip to Lesce-Bled, which is one of two train stations in Bled, and the one that seem to handle long-distance traffic. The other one is Bled Jezero which is closer to Bled town and the lake, but with fewer trains connecting to it.

The train departed on time from one of the farthest away platforms, it’s quite long distances at Ljubljana station, so it’s good to have some extra time with that in mind we realised. The train itself was quite modern with screens showing the next few stops in real time and announcing each stop as we approached. The seats were also comfortable and onboard staff spoke good English. It’s more like a comfortable commuter train than anything else, and it stopped at many places along the way, but it’s still a very smooth way of getting to Bled in under an hour.

In Lesce-Bled we took a pre-booked taxi that we had booked through our hotel to Lake Bled. It costed us €15 for the approximately 10 minute ride, which was quite steep, but on the other hand Lake Bled is surprisingly expensive in general. We also paid the same price for the return booked through another hotel, so I guess it’s just what the price is (was).

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After checking out beautiful Graz, eating a mediocre schnitzel and getting semi-submerged in a massive Austrian rainfall, it was time to move on once again. We stayed very close to the central station in Graz, so after checking out from the IntercityHotel Graz, we walked the 100 meters or so to the station for our next train, which would take us from Graz to Ljubljana, the small capital of Slovenia.

Since we were travelling in first class on ÖBB we had access to Graz Hauptbanhof’s lounge. After some searching we found it past a few fastfood outlets to the left of the main entrance to the station. We just scanned our tickets at a reader and got automatically let in. The lounge is quite small, but there was seating, a coffee maker, a few snacks and reading materials. We only spent 15 or so minutes there though as it was soon time to find our platform.

The train arrived on time and was quite busy, despite booking online many months ahead, we did not get seated together, but still next to each other with the aisle inbetween us. The leather seats were relatively comfortable, but like the whole train the first class carriage felt a bit old and worn. We had paid around €50 per person for the 3,5 hour trip though, so given that it wasn’t too bad, and views were at times spectacular.

A nice aspect with the train was the onboard restaurant. I’d always wanted to have a schnitzel onboard an ÖBB train, and now it was finally time for that! Unfortunately they did not accept card payments onboard, but we managed to scrape together exactly the 14 euros that was needed. As it was pretty much all cash we had, we could only afford one, and no drinks, but it was quite tasty to be honest, and very exciting to eat while passing by the Austrian and Slovenian countryside outside the window.

After finishing our schnitzel we made our way back to our seats as it was almost time to get off. All in all the ÖBB Eurocity train from Graz to Ljubljana was quite comfortable. Seat was decent, views were great and food quite tasty.

In Ljubljana there is a short walk into town from the central station, and like earlier stops on the trip we stayed quite close to the station at the recently opened Ibis Styles Ljubljana Center.

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After a night at the Intercity Hotel Hauptbahnhof it was soon time to get moving again. Although we had a few hours to kill before our 18.45 departure, so since our next train would not have any dining car (but you can order some food to your compartment from the staff), we thought we’d have an early Berlin kebab dinner. We took the S-bahn commuter train a few stops from Berlin’s centrail station to Zoologischer Garten, took a walk to Kurfürstendam and the famous department store KaDeWe, before ending up at Zaddy’s kebab very close to the station as the line was long and that is usually a good sign.

The kebab was actually really good – thin juicy döner kebab meat, pickled red cabbage, lots of onion and pink kräuterßose in a fluffy sesame bun. The place was packed with people, and we had to stand on the sidewalk eating our food, but absolutely worth it in my mind.

Anyway, it was time to get on the S-Bahn train again and go back to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof to catch our next train, namely the sort of famous ÖBB Nightjet.

We rode the Nightjet once before, between Berlin and Zürich in Switzerland on our trip to Malta in 2019 and loved it. Our hopes was that it would at least be much better than our recent experience with SJ on the way to Berlin, but that wouldn’t be too hard to be honest.

We had paid roughly the same for the ÖBB Nightjet trip from Berlin to Graz in Austria as the trip from Stockholm to Berlin, which was roughly €350 for two. This time however we also had our own bathroom and shower in our private sleeper, which of course makes it a whole lot more comfortable.

The train arrived on time, and boarding went smooth. The train we were on had three different destinations; Wroclaw in Poland; Budapest in Hungary, and of course Graz in Austria, where we were going. The train did split up eventually, but all carriages would first go to Wroclaw.

Our sleeper compartment was very clean, quite large and super comfortable. It was especially great to have our own bathroom again. It’s not that bad to have it in the train car of course, but it’s inconvenient in the night for instance, although it definitely is a luxury problem. Another luxury problem is that ÖBB clearly states that a welcome onboard amenity kit is provided, as well as a welcome onboard drink. We did receive one amenity kit, and no drinks without any explanation. We asked about another amenity kit when our tickets were checked but the onboard stuff just shrugged and said they had a shortage. We later heard another passenger ask about the welcome drinks, we did not hear exactly what was answered but it sounded like the warm tiny bottle of water in the amenitiy kit had replaced the cold bottle of prosecco we had our last trip.

But, apart from this, the rest of the trip was immaculate. As we started to leave Berlin, we went to the small compartment from where staff were selling drinks and paid for some Austrian sparkling wine instead. A half bottle, 37,5 centiliters, was priced about €14. We had also bought some snacks at the Rewe supermarket at Berlin HBF, and as we were crossing the border to Poland the train feast was on. Nibbling on olives, pretzels and having a few drinks we went through eastern Poland on the way to our train’s first major stop in Wroclaw.

After stopping at Wroclaw, it was time to get some sleep. The bed was comfortable and we slept okay – but I never sleep that good on trains unfortunately.

We woke up already in Austria with approximately half an hour to breakfast and two hours to Graz where the train was terminating and we were getting off.

We had a go with the onboard shower and I actually think it was quite alright. It wasn’t one of those where you had to sit on the toilet and shower, but you had a small but manageable shower cubicle with both decent pressure and temperature of the water.

After the shower it was time for breakfast. At the ÖBB Nightjet, breakfast is included and what is very nice according to me is that you can order what you want (maximum 6 picks though) from a small selection of different breakfast options.

Altough our selection of gouda cheese had run out, we got both salami, ham and cream cheese as compensation and was happy anyways.

As we rolled through a fantastic mountain-y landscape close to Graz, we enjoyed our breakfast of semmel bread rolls, butter, salami, yoghurt, coffee and juice.

A little while after breakfast we arrived into Graz, Austria’s second largest city. And like in Berlin, walked a few 100 meters from the station to our next Intercity Hotel, this one the IntercityHotel Graz.

It is always super convenient to stay near the train station, especially with bags. But although the hotel was quite nice, the immediate area around the train station wasn’t really that fun. It wasn’t very seedy or anything, but central Graz a kilometer away felt like another world.

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I’ve grown fond of train travel the last couple of years with train trips from Stockholm where I live, to both Malta in 2019, and to Scotland last year. It’s an incredibly (mostly) comfortable experience compared to flying, you just take your bags to the central station, no lines, no checking in, no waiting, no slow boarding. Just jump onboard and you are already on your way.

This year we wanted to visit Slovenia which we had planned to go to in 2020, but due to a certain pandemic, we had to cancel the trip. When we started to look at ways to get us there, and while studying the map we noticed that Venice, where I’ve never been, but always wanted to go, is quite close, and from Venice there are lots of ferry lines connecting it to Croatia. Our goal was to finish the train travel part of the trip with a week of sun lounger-ing in a nice resort somewhere, and Croatia has a lot of such places.

Okay, so with the route set, it was time to start building the trip. We do not use a travel agency or a rail pass as we usually go by a combination of private sleepers on night trains and then in first class on day trains. Instead we just logged on to each train company’s website and booked straight through them. Mostly we used Austrian ÖBB’s website which is quite easy to work out. The Stockholm to Berlin train we booked on Sj.se and paid for with credit card.

A reason for the entire trip was that I wanted to try out the new SJ Euronight train, that goes from Stockholm to Hamburg, and during the summer all the way to Berlin. Since a first class sleeper compartment with private bathroom was quite insanely priced at around 6500 sek (~€550), we opted for a second class one, where you have the compartment to yourself, but with shared bathroom and shower in the carriage. For that we paid the still very costly price of 4000 sek (approximately €320).

Before boarding our train, we went on a dinner shopping spree in Stockholm’s central station since there’s no dining car onboard the train, although there’s a small kiosk. In Stockholm’s Centralstation there’s quite a lot of eateries such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Urban Deli’s take out kiosk, and several bakeries from which you can bring take away food. There is also a large COOP supermarket, and proper restaurants such as Luzette and Urban Deli where you can have a sit-down meal. We opted for a mix of McDonald’s cheeseburgers and fries; shrimp salad from Urban Deli; a bag of chocolates and water from COOP and some dinner rolls from Gateau bakery for a train picnic.

Then it was time to board the train, which left right on time just before 18:00 o’clock.

Our second class sleeper was quite dirty when we entered it, crumbs on the floor and also an empty champagne bottle under the bed which we found after a while. It was also quite dusty and when touched, our sofa gave a way a little dust cloud. Not so nice.

Despite this, we had our little train picnic dinner and was still quite happy with being on our way. After a while we heard some clicking noises and suddenly a child appeared in our compartment, seemingly the door lock between ours and our neighbour’s compartment wasn’t too effecient and despite being locked from our side the child could still easily open it. He looked as surprised as we did though, apologized and quickly retreated back to theirs. But not very safe.

After dinner we went to check out if there was any life onboard, remebering a night on the Arctic Circle Train with a dining car full of happy beer drinking tourist on their way to see northern lights. No such luck though, we overheard the staff telling another passenger that they wanted a dining car for the train, but since there are different train tracks in Sweden, Denmark and Germany, they couldn’t find any that worked all the way. My suggestion is take one from Stockholm and leave it in Malmö then, no one’s going to eat after midnight any way. But maybe that delays the trip too much.

What was offered was a small kiosk where staff sold drinks, snacks and I think maybe some kind of light meals. In our compartment ’information folder’ it was stated that staff would come around with a trolley service, but that never happened.

After a quite reasonably priced (for Sweden) €5 cold German beer together with watching the moonlight crossing of the Øresund Bridge to Denmark, it was time to hit the sack. Sleeping quality was standard for a train I’d say. It was quite comfortable and we both slept okay.

The next morning, we had to go out to the kiosk to pick up the breakfast box that was included in our sleeper compartment. It consisted of a bread roll, jam, butter and juice, and you also got free coffee or tea.

At this point, towards the end of the trip, the train looked like a dump unfortunately. The hallways had trash and paper on the floors, and the toilets hadn’t been cleaned and was really, really gross. I’ve sent SJ a complaint about this, but they haven’t yet responded about a month later. We’ll see if they do.

In the end though, we arrived safe and sound, and on time, to Berlin Hauptbanhof, one of my favourite train stations with lots of food, shops and connections. For us it was time for a brief one night stop though in the nearby Intercity Hotel, a few 100 meters from the station.

A tip, if you stay near the Berlin HBF and want to have a proper German dinner, is to visit Zollpackhof restaurant and biergarten. Good prices, full of locals and tasty food. It has both a quite affordable self service part where you pick up you food yourself from a sort of food court concept, or a terrace with table service. We chose the former and were quite happy.

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Living in Stockholm, and being a big negroni lover, and after reading this list about the best negronis in town, I had to pay the number one entry, Ciccio’s, a visit.

Ciccio’s ’Negroni XL’ is, according to their menu, served ”generous”, and additionaly comes with a few included negroni friendly nibbles in the shape of above salami and olives. The price is 185 sek (when we visited in 2023), so it’s a bit steep, but since it’s also quite large, and you get some snacks which is unusual in Stockholm, it’s quite worthwhile in my mind. At least compared to other similar venues.

Ciccio’s brands themselves as an American-Italian restaurant, but they also have a small bar area where you can hang out if you like me only visited for the negroni. The interior is quite rustic and old school, in a good way. And felt like an appropriate place to have a stiff drink like a negroni in.

The negroni came pre-mixed from a container in the bar (you can see it in the background in above picture), but is of course made in-house by mixing gin, campari and vermouth into the drink we all (okay most of us) love.

The negronis were really good to be honest. Nice classic flavour, and excellently complimented by the salami and olive nibbles. It is also sufficiently large so that you can get a good idea of the flavour before it’s already gone, as I’ve experienced with a few smaller negronis through the years.

All in all, Ciccio’s is absolutely both a good bar and a nice place to enjoy a near perfect negroni in Stockholm.

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This weekend is Walpurgis weekend in Sweden, and it’s also a weekend when most people have their ”grill premiere” after a long Winter. As I live in a small apartment, I have no grill, but was still craving something grilled for dinner. I’ve seen Oklahoma style smash burgers being made across the internet for years, and I thought now might be the time to try.

Ingredients for two

• 1 large yellow onion (or red or white/silver), thinly sliced.

• About 400 grams of minced beef formed into 4 meatballs. Preferably chuck roll or similar with extra high fat content (because flavour and crust).

• 4 slices of cheddar cheese (or as much as you’d like).

• 2-4 burger buns depending on if you prefer one double or two single burgers. I like brioche with sesame seeds.

• 1 dl (~0,4 cups) of mayo, 1 tablespoon mustard, 1 tablespoon ketchup and a splash of hot sauce depending on how much spice you like.

Cooking instructions

1. Heat up a frying pan until very hot. Add one of the meatballs, put a handful of sliced onion on top of it and then use a spatula, a burger smashing thingy or the bottom of a pan (perhaps with baking paper in between) to smash the burger as thin as possible. This is how you smash burgers and why they get so crispy and thin. Don’t keep pressing after it’s initially smashed though as you’ll lose the beef juices.

2. After a minute or two, flip the burger and let fry another minute. Put on the cheese and let melt for a minute before removing the burger from the pan. Repeat with all your burgers.

3. Mix the mayo, ketchup, mustard and hot sauce into a sauce. Toast your breads lightly on the inside.

4. Add sauce to bottom bread, put an Oklahoma smash burger on top, and then the top bun. Serve with fries, pickles and a nice glass of red. I love French red such as those from Crozes-Hermitage, or perhaps a cold IPA style beer with burgers.

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