22 Monday Jun 2015
Posted in Croatia, Dubrovnik, Europe, Game of Thrones, Northern Ireland, Split
Season 5 of Game of Thrones was quite epic. Not only did a whole bunch of characters die (spoilers!), but Mr. Selfish and I were able to see the sights that we stumbled upon during our own GoT tour come alive as Dorne and Braavos.
31 Tuesday Mar 2015
Posted in General
Tags
Baby Passport Photo, Baby Selfish, Passport Photo, Selfish Guides, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, The Selfish Year
You may have noticed that Mr. Selfish and I haven’t been blogging lately. If you follow our blog, you may have surmised that we had Baby Selfish, and you would be correct. Baby Selfish arrived in early February, and we’ve been absolutely consumed with her since.
We are enjoying being new parents, but Mr. Selfish is already quite anxious for our trip to Japan in May. As you can see from the above photo, we are already starting the process of indoctrinating her with all things Totoro so that we can someday take her to the Studio Ghibli Museum outside of Tokyo.
21 Wednesday Jan 2015
Tags
Agrotourism Matusko, Bijac, Bosnia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Neum, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Ćevapi
This is last post of fourteen on our trip to Northern Ireland and Croatia, minus our mini Game of Thrones tour. Those posts can be found here.
During our trip in Croatia, Mr. Selfish, Cousin Selfish, and I had the opportunity to visit Bosnia. After we spent the day at Plitvice Lakes National Park, we stopped by Bihać to walk around and have dinner. Then, during our drive from Split to Dubrovnik, we had to pass through Bosnia, so we stopped by Agrotourism Matusko for a farm-to-table lunch near Neum, Bosnia.
Bosnia definitely had an entirely distinct feel from Croatia. Whereas Croatia was expensive and overly touristy, Bosnia felt like a place where people actually lived and worked. Everything was certainly cheaper in Bosnia, including food and gas. I wish that we had spent more time in Bosnia but that will have to wait for another trip.
19 Monday Jan 2015
Tags
Croatia, Dubrovnik, Fort Royal Castle, Lokrum Island, Rector's Palace, Rupe Ethnographic Museum, Selfish Year, Selfish Years
This is post twelve of fourteen on our trip to Northern Ireland and Croatia, minus our mini Game of Thrones tour. Those posts can be found here.
Mr. Selfish and I have been to our fair share of medieval cities, but we have never been in awe of how beautiful a city is until Dubrovnik.
I mean, it is ridiculous how amazingly well-maintained Dubrovnik is. It felt practically Disney-esque in its perfection. I half expected to turn a corner and find Mickey Mouse signing autographs. Fortunately, there were no mascots to be found.
18 Sunday Jan 2015
Tags
Croatia, Diocletian's Palace, Park Marjan, Pazarin, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Split, St. Duje's Cathedral
This is post eleven of fourteen on our trip to Northern Ireland and Croatia, minus our mini Game of Thrones tour. Those posts can be found here.
After spending a few nights in Zadar and Plitvice Lakes National Park, Mr. Selfish, Cousin Selfish, and I headed to Split. We arrived during nighttime and had a stressful time dropping off the rental car (parking on a hill in a manual car is never fun). Nevertheless, once we entered the city proper, our worries melted away. The city itself was beautiful.
15 Thursday Jan 2015
This is post eight of fourteen on our trip to Northern Ireland and Croatia, minus our mini Game of Thrones tour. Those posts can be found here.
After spending many cold days in Northern Ireland, Mr. Selfish and I met up with Cousin Selfish in Croatia where it was consistently sunny and hot. After wearing so many layers of clothes, it felt a little odd breaking out the shorts and tank tops, but they were definitely needed in the blazing heat of Croatia.
Our first stop in Croatia was Zadar, which is the fifth largest city in Croatia. The city is right on the Adriatic Sea coastline.
12 Monday Jan 2015
Posted in Europe, Ireland, Northern Ireland
Tags
Dunluce Castle, Europe, Giant's Causeway, Ireland, Malin Head, Northern Ireland, Selfish Year, Selfish Years
This is post five of fourteen on our trip to Northern Ireland and Croatia, minus our mini Game of Thrones tour. Those posts can be found here.
Although we didn’t have the amazing sunny weather that we had in Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland was absolutely beautiful. In fact, while we were visiting, there was an epic storm due to some hurricane in the U.S. that was wrecking havoc on the northern coastline.
As a result, the weather was tumultuous and varied from torrential rain to cloudy to brief glimmer of sunshine. Mr. Selfish and I tried to hold out for the brief glimmers of sunshine but we weren’t always the best at predicting when it would occur. There were certainly times when we got caught in torrential downpour.
Below is one of the instances, in which we got lucky with the sunshine:
This is Dunluce Castle, and although it looks quite scenic on the coast, it is mostly in ruins. We didn’t go in; we just snapped some photos when the sun came out briefly. This is because we were trying to ensure that we had some sunshine at Giant’s Causeway, which was our next stop.
10 Saturday Jan 2015
Posted in Dublin, Europe, Food & Drinks, Ireland
Tags
brother hubbard, Dublin, Food & Drinks, Hogans, Ireland, Leo Burdock, Queen of Tarts, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, The Stag's Head
This is post three of fourteen on our trip to Northern Ireland and Croatia, minus our mini Game of Thrones tour. Those posts can be found here.
During our stay in Dublin during the Selfish Year, we enjoyed some tasty food. This time around, Mr. Selfish and I figured that we would enjoy some new eats. However, when we asked our cabbie from the airport for food recommendations, he immediately recommended Leo Burdock for fish and chips. So we decided to go back. It was just as good as last time. The fish and chips were perfectly crispy and well-seasoned.
I think we’ll have to make it a tradition to eat here every time we visit Dublin.
09 Friday Jan 2015
Tags
Book of Kells, Brian Boru, Cartoon Saloon, Dublin, Dublin Castle, Ireland, Long Hall, Old Library, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Trinity College
This is post two of fourteen on our trip to Northern Ireland and Croatia, minus our mini Game of Thrones tour. Those posts can be found here.
After back-to-back red-eye flights, Mr. Selfish and I landed in Dublin. We were exhausted, me in particular due to the pregnancy. We spent two nights in Dublin and took it pretty easy since we had already been. Of course, last time, we only searched the city for the best pint of Guinness. This time, we figured we would hit up some of the sights.
The first place we visited was Dublin Castle, which was largely completed by 1230. Most of the original construction has not survived, other than the Record Tower (photos below). Today, Dublin Castle is a major Irish government complex.
07 Wednesday Jan 2015
Tags
Bokar Tower, Cersei's Walk of Shame, Church of St. Nicholas, Croatia Game of Thrones Tour, Game of Thrones Tour, GoT Tour, House of the Undying, King's Landing, Lokrum Island, Lovrijenac Fortress, Minceta Tower, Qarth, Red Keep, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Walk of Shame
This is the final post of seven posts on the Selfish’s customized Game of Thrones tour. Check out the other posts here:
Mr. Selfish and I saved Dubrovnik for our last stop in our Game of Thrones tour. Dubrovnik is the current filming location for King’s Landing and formerly provided the sets for Qarth and the House of the Undying. We knew that it would be the pinnacle of our GoT tour, and we weren’t disappointed.
Even though Malta was the filming location for King’s Landing in season 1 of GoT, Dubrovnik has been King’s Landing since seasons 2 forward.
Although there’s a lot of CG going on in the two above stills, you can still see Dubrovnik all over it. It’s such a beautiful walled city.
05 Monday Jan 2015
Tags
Braavos, Croatia, Croatia Game of Thrones Tour, Diocletian's Palace, Dorne, Game of Thrones Tour, GoT Tour, Hotel Zagreb, Kastel Gomilica, Meereen, Muzej Grada Splita, Selfish Year, Selfish Years
This is the fifth of seven posts on the Selfish’s customized Game of Thrones tour. Check out the other posts here:
After eight days in Ireland and N. Ireland, Mr. Selfish and I finally made it to Croatia. We met up with Cousin Selfish, who is coincidentally also a Game of Thrones nerd, in Zadar, Croatia.
We stayed a couple of nights in Zadar and visited Plitvice Lakes National Park before heading to Split, Croatia. There wasn’t too much GoT action until we left for Split though, but that’s when things got real.
On our way to Split, we stopped by Kastel Gomilica since I had read online that they were preparing a filming location for Braavos there. We parked the car near the beach and started walking. We didn’t know where the set was but we could see a picturesque building from afar so we started walking in that direction.
Update: After having watched Season 5 Episode 2, this is indeed where Arya Stark lands in Braavos.
02 Friday Jan 2015
Posted in Europe
Tags
Castle Ward, Game of Thrones Northern Ireland, Game of Thrones Tour, GoT Tour, Haunted Forest, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, The Twins, Tollymore Forest Park, Winterfell
This is the second of seven posts on the Selfish’s customized Game of Thrones tour. Check out the other posts here:
After spending two nights in Dublin, Mr. Selfish and I embarked on our Game of Thrones tour proper. On our drive to Belfast, we had three filming locations on our list – the Haunted Forest, Winterfell, and the Twins.
First on our list was Tollymore Forest Park, otherwise known as the Haunted Forest in GoT. The most notable scene in the Haunted Forest/Tollymore is in the first episode of season 1, in which the Stark family discovers the dead dire wolf and her pups.
Tollymore is a beautiful park with a very large area for exploration. We had to pay admission for our car, which was only 4.5 pounds. As soon as we arrived, we knew we were in the right place to start our GoT tour.
Yes, that’s a Game of Thrones tour bus with a tour guide all dressed up.
01 Thursday Jan 2015
Posted in Croatia, Europe, Game of Thrones, Ireland, Northern Ireland
Tags
Croatia Game of Thrones, Game of Thrones Tour, GoT Tour, Ireland Game of Thrones, Selfish Year, Selfish Years
This is the first of seven posts on the Selfish’s customized Game of Thrones tour. Check out the other posts here:
As we were still recovering from the triple jet lag we suffered as a result of our trip to Greece and Taiwan, Mr. Selfish asked me where I wanted to go next. After a brief moment of consideration, I said that we should do a Game of Thrones tour. I had recently become obsessed with the television series and had started reading the books. So just like that, it was settled.
The next step was to figure out where Game of Thrones was filmed. Some quick Googling revealed that GoT has been primarily filmed in Northern Ireland, Malta, Croatia, Morocco, and Iceland.
The only place that we had previously visited was Morocco, so I decided to skip that location. It seems like you need to visit Iceland during the winter to get the GoT experience, and we were planning our trip in August, so Iceland was out too. That left N. Ireland, Malta, and Croatia.
Mr. Selfish looked at our points and decided that the best routing for us would be to N. Ireland and Croatia.
27 Saturday Dec 2014
Tags
Delos, Europe, Greece, Island Hopping, Mykonos, Selfish Year, Selfish Years
This is post fourteen of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:
Mr. Selfish and I weren’t too overly impressed with Mykonos. We felt that the crowd was too young and drunk for our liking. Nevertheless, if we hadn’t spent two nights in Mykonos, we wouldn’t have taken a day trip to Delos, which was awesome.
Delos is known as one of the most important mythological, historical and archaeological sites in Greece. According to mythology, it is the birthplace of the gods of Apollo and Artemis. Although Delos is still being excavated, a great deal of excavation has already occurred. Mr. Selfish loves ruins and was in heaven.
26 Friday Dec 2014
This is post thirteen of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:
While researching the Greek islands, I discovered that Mykonos is known as a huge “party” island. Against our better judgment, particularly since we are not (and never have been) rambunctious party-goers, Mr. Selfish and I still decided to spend two days in Mykonos. It just looked so lovely in all of the photos I saw online.
Well, we were not let down. Mykonos is indeed as pretty as the photos but also full of young, loud, and drunk party-goers as its reputation would have you believe. Mr. Selfish will go over the party side of Mykonos in a later post. This post will focus on all things pretty in Mykonos.
The Selfish Years 