Olivia Giovetti, who, among other things, once wrote a fab set of Wandering Cheapo posts on Prague for this very blog, recently launched a brilliant blog of her own. High Culture on a Low Budget is a breathlessly plugged-in guide to finding high cultural treats on the cheap.

The first slate of posts covers Riga, London, Paris, Prague, Vienna, Geneva, Budapest, and Bolzano—a lovely mix of tried-and-true and less well known destinations. There’s opera. There are museums. There’s a Christkindlmarkt. There are tips for getting into world-class performances for far less than you’ll spend on your budget hotel.

In short, High Culture on a Low Budget is ideal for culture vultures who don’t have deep pockets. And in addition to being outstandingly useable, it’s erudite and fresh.

We can’t wait to see what she’ll come up with next…

A note to EuroCheapo Blog readers:

EuroCheapo’s Blogger-in-Chief, Alex Robertson Textor, is taking his long-anticipated trek through southern and Eastern Europe right now. Included in his whirlwind tour: Athens, Thessaloniki, Skopje (Macedonia), Belgrade, Ljubljana, Vienna, Barcelona, and Madrid.

We miss you back in steamy NYC, Alex! Of course, we’ll share any dispatches that reach the office. Have fun!

The EuroCheapo blog will continue to post travel news and deals in Alex’s absence.

Photo by Donavan

Summer is upon us, and a trip to Barcelona should not be without a beach outing. Finding a last minute bikini wax is never easy, and certainly never cheap…until you take a number at Depiline center that is!

This full service esthetic center, specializing in depilation, offers rapid, great service at unbelievable prices! Get beach-ready gams for only €4.90 and a full Caribbean bikini (that’s everything folks!) for €11.

There are no appointments- merely stop by and take a number, deli-counter style, and wait your turn. Now that’s smooth service!

Photo courtesy of  Kari Hoerchler

Where would you go if you wanted to sport crazy tights and ride Critical Mass? Or don a wool blanket while dining out at the latest ‘It’ restaurant? A place where ‘sör’ means ‘beer’ and ‘bor’ means wine?

Budapest, babája (baby)!

During a recent to trip to the Hun capital, we noticed the city under siege thanks to a few fun trends. One of the easiest places to spot the latest fashions is the Liszt tér. An artery of the Andrassy út, the tér is made up of a long strip of parkland featuring a bronze statue of Liszt, looking windblown and surrounded by airy cafés.

The ideal locale for people watching? We like to hunker down in a wicker chair in front of one of the square’s cafés. With a wool blanket, of course. That’s right Cheapos. Local women take to wrapping themselves in the colorful blankets on chilly nights, but not only that: they’re also fans of covering their gams with eccentric tights. Patterns of every stripe are represented, it seems, adding frivolity to otherwise conservative dress.

The Liszt tér eateries are optimal for observing the local peacock procession, and the food is delicious. We returned several times to Café Vian for their HUF1350 ($7) Hawaiian salad. The cappuccinos are HUF380 ($2) each and mojitos run HUF1500 ($8). The highly publicized Menza was also a treat. One Friday night we dined on veal paprika with a side order of white asparagus. The whole spread was HUF3060 ($16) including drinks.

Finally, we read in several guide books Budapest is not a bike friendly town. A confusing claim since we saw bikes everywhere and the local chapter of Critical Mass is quite active. The group, which begun officially in 2004, fights for the right to ride a bike in the congested city while calling attention to automobile induced pollution. The latest demonstration on wheels was held on Earth Day, April 22, 2007.

Photo by Kari Hoerchler

While planning our trip to Croatia, many people expressed their concerns. Why in the world would two young women want to go to a country still recovering from war? We laughed away their fears. Nonetheless, we did come across some dangers in the heart of Hrvatska. Read carefully…

1. Door Jams. Everywhere we went, doors didn’t close properly and some wouldn’t unlock without a struggle. One of us got stuck in a bathroom inside the Dubrovnik Internet Center for a terrifying three minutes.

2. The Tommy Logo You Don’t Know. The trademark for the grocery store chain with branches all over Croatia includes an apple with a face and gloved hands. No arms.

3. Creepy, Crawly Creatures. Brightly colored little animals can pop out from anywhere inside Plitvice National Park. We recommend carrying a camera to document enemy moves.

4. Rocks And Rolling Waves. Unmarked metal stairways lead right into clear waters of the Adriatic along the coast of Croatia. No gates. No security. A silly curvaceous slide, standing 20 feet at its height, was spotted along Lapad Bay, Dubrovnik.

5. The Gardening Old Lady Disguise. Upon spotting our camera, a gardener tending cliffside greenery insisted we take her photograph. As she raised her arms to clear skies above and offered a warm smile, it became apparent she couldn’t be trusted.

6, Here, Drink This. Family vineyard? Shamly shinyard! Without a label, who knows where those grapes grew, pal. Pour me another!

7. Men. In Dubrovnik, they sang to us a cappella. In Korčula, a man tried to get us drunk above his charming jewelry shop. In Split, sportsmen hit us with picigin balls only a day after an intoxicated man at a beachside bar forced us to dance with him to “Light My Fire.” We had to get out before one of us got trapped in paradise in a family way.

Wandering Cheapo Kari Hoerchler is a blogger, budget traveler, and science fiction novelist stationed on Planet Earth. She has recently been spotted on small stages of New York coffeehouses telling tall tales of a tropical island—and future vacation hot spot—in the Bermuda Triangle. Book ahead.

Photo courtesy of SpirosK

After perusing the Kárpátia Restaurant Web site, we were halfway expecting a tourist trap. Between the beautifully decorated vaulted ceilings and the shameless plugs for Sarközi and his Gipsy Band (the in-house band) the restaurant appeared to be a traditional Hungarian cliché. Thankfully, it was all that and more.

Our meal took off with a small glass of brandy, followed by a creamy appetizer platter and the Kárpátia salad with duck breast and wild mushrooms. It began to dawn on us that our best meal in Budapest was unfolding.

My main course consisted of a Mangalica filet mignon with clove-quince apple compote. My travel companion enjoyed wild duck with balsamic vinegar and wild grapes. We savored a dry, red Hungarian house wine between bites. The meal came to a bittersweet close with poppy seed cake and Somlói galuska, a rum-scented vanilla cream cake with chocolate sauce.

At HUF16,400 (€66; $90), the final bill for two certainly worth the splurge.

We were sold on the band as well, happily shelling out HUF5,000 (€20; $27) for their CD. Sarközi and band played up for each and every table, posing in perfect time for cameras and pulling out local favorites for impromptu tableside celebrations.

Wandering Cheapo Kari Hoerchler is a blogger, budget traveler, and science fiction novelist stationed on Planet Earth. She has recently been spotted on small stages of New York coffeehouses telling tall tales of a tropical island—and future vacation hot spot—in the Bermuda Triangle. Book ahead.

Photo by febpanda

Maybe it’s just us, but catching a flight from Budapest to Dubrovnik is a bitch at this time of year—unless one likes flying through London.

After researching major airlines for half an hour, we decided to pack it in a train to Zagreb instead. At Kelati Station, the southeast train station in Budapest, we bought two tickets for HUF7,280 (€30; $40) each.

The journey was six hours but the train car conversation seemed to stretch over an eternity. Riding in cushioned seats along Lake Balaton, the largest lake in continental Europe, we had the pleasure of chatting with Sándor and Martina. The two Huns had about 130 years between them and a treasure-trove of European history to share.

The train itself was clean, providing standard heavy metal bathroom facilities and both smoking and non-smoking cars. We made up for the lack of restaurant car with our own fruits and energy bars. Border patrol officials were friendly—and attractive!—in dark blue uniforms.

Upon arrival in Zagreb, we paid HRK2 (€.27; $.37) to use the toilet and HRK15 (€2; $2.75) to use roomy lockers at the train station. After acquiring a few hundred HRK out of the bankovni automat, we hit the city. Zagreb is small enough to tranverse sans tram. Tram rides, incidentally, are pricey at HRK6.50 (€.90; $1.20) apiece.

The gorgeous Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (formerly St. Stephen’s) provides free transportation to enlightenment while the funicular up to Markov trg cost HRK6.50. It was a heavenly sight to see both in use, enough to inspire us to surf the Internet at the Art Kaffee along the lively pedestrian Tkalčićeva Street (HRK.25 [€.03; $.05]) and write home about it.

Two tickets to Dubrovnik’s paradise aboard Croatia Airlines cost HRK475.80 (€64; $87) each. Providing between three and four flights daily, Croatia’s national airline also provided a thick, glossy magazine with lots of high quality photos of Istria and the country’s favorite cookie. It reminded us of gingerbread.

Arriving into Dubrovnik’s Old Town at night was spectacular, to say the least.

Toni Bokun of Guesthouse Bokun picked us up, at no charge, blasting Supergirl out of the CD player of his little Euro-sized sedan. Warm and friendly, he wasn’t afraid to get informal fast, teaching us some world famous Hrvatska slang on the way to his garden palača. But Toni and his garden paradise are tomorrow’s story…

Wandering Cheapo Kari Hoerchler is a blogger, budget traveller and science fiction novelist stationed on Planet Earth. She has recently been spotted on small stages of New York coffeehouses telling tall tales of a tropical island—and future vacation hot spot—in the Bermuda Triangle. Book ahead.

Photo by sushimifune

One of Croatia’s tastiest baked treats is its sour cherry strudel, otherwise known as Štrudl od višanja. Or if salivating glands have got you tongue-tied, just point to the selection in the pastry case with the blood-red glaze oozing out its sides. Višnja pastries are a common sight in Croatian bakeries, markets, and even bus station cafés.

That the strudel’s filling is so unusually bright might be an indication of the unexpected but welcome tartness that greets first-timers to višnja strudels. And rest assured that you won’t find any skimping on this filling of sour cherries, which are a specialty of Dalmatia. The best cherry strudels have a light flaky crust topped with a generous smattering of powder sugar.

Whether you’re people-watching at an outdoor café with your kava ša šlagom or looking for some eats to tide you over on the slow boat out to Mljet island, višanja strudel is easy to find. We were partial to the piping fresh ones discovered at Konzum Market (HRK5/ €0.70) just outside of the Pile Gate of Old Dubrovnik.

Wandering Cheapo Sunnia Ko is a wanderer at heart and primarily supports this habit as a teacher at Plovdiv University in Bulgaria. She is currently on a cross-Balkan trek from Plovdiv to Sibenik, Croatia, where she hopes to find the Adriatic as splendid and turquoise as she remembers it to be.

Photo by marlandova

The beauty of travel in the Balkans is the authentic experience it provides its visitors. Without much of the tourist infrastructure set up in other parts of Europe, an adventure is always just around the corner.

Like when you want to inquire about transport options to Montenegro from Bulgaria and your handy Bulgarian phrase book only gets you so far with the impatient cashier. After all, how are you supposed to know that locally, Montenegro is known as Crna Gora?

Never fear, it’s ‘ole Wikipedia to the rescue. Consulting this handy Wikipedia directory in advance might just save you the energy you need to climb Ano Poli when you travel from Sofia to Solun (Thessaloniki). We love that the Web site lists city names in most European languages and with a version that uses the Latin alphabet. This way, we can at least approximate the local pronunciation.

Oh, and if you’re in Budapest and want to meet me in Dubrovnik, ask for a flight to Raguza pronto.

Wandering Cheapo Sunnia Ko is a wanderer at heart and primarily supports this habit as a teacher at Plovdiv University in Bulgaria. She is currently on a cross-Balkan trek from Plovdiv to Sibenik, Croatia, where she hopes to find the Adriatic as splendid and turquoise as she remembers it to be.

Photo by ji the pee

One of our favorite ways to travel within Bulgaria is by bus. Buses are easy, punctual, fast—well, faster than trains—and best of all, cheap.

If you’re starting from Sofia’s Central Bus Station, check this handy Web site beforehand or, alternately, head straight to the information booth upon arrival. You’ll learn quickly which of the 40+ private companies serving Sofia sell tickets to your chosen destination. Outside of Sofia, look for the cashier windows and the handy разписание (schedule) on the wall.

And it’s not just wandering Cheapos who jones for some Bulgarian bus action. Locals love and fully utilize the bus system too. That’s why you’ll easily find 17 buses each day making the two-hour journey between Bulgaria’s two biggest cities, Sofia and Plovdiv.

Tip: If you’re traveling alone and request it, you may even be allowed to sit in the roped-off seats behind the driver. These seats offer the best views, and they’re an especially fab vantage point for travels through the breathtaking Balkan Range at historic Shipka Pass in Central Bulgaria.

One last reason why we love Bulgarian buses: there’s no need to buy your tickets far in advance. 15 minutes before departure is ample time for you to get your ticket, stake out a window seat, and grab some coffee or pretzel sticks for the bus ride.

Sample one-way bus trips and fares:

Sofia—Plovdiv. 2 hours. BGN10 (€5).
Sofia—Veliko Tarnovo. 4 hours. BGN12 (€6).
Sofia—Varna. 8 hours. BGN21-BGN24 (€10-€12).

Wandering Cheapo Sunnia Ko is a wanderer at heart and primarily supports this habit as a teacher at Plovdiv University in Bulgaria. She is currently on a cross-Balkan trek from Plovdiv to Sibenik, Croatia, where she hopes to find the Adriatic as splendid and turquoise as she remembers it to be.