Where the grand European adventure has taken me so far

April 2025: finally deciding where I’m going for uni & 15 stops in Europe

If this is your first time here :

I'm Lisha Lovely, a young South African who loves learning 🧠, people  🫶, and all things beautiful in life 🪸. These monthly newsletters are all about sharing my meandering journey to somewhere big ⛰ (as of yet undefined), as I build a life of impact and meaning.

Piccie of the Month 🏞️

Easter day trip to Capri…

I’m really happy we invested in the boat ride across to the luxurious, swanky Capri (streets lined with Louis Vuitton and Versace streets) because the views from the hiking trails (which we chose over shopping, surprise surprise) were ✨dazzling✨. More on stop 5 later in this newsletter 😋.

I’m going to Harvard!

Towards the end of March, I got feedback from the US universities I applied to. It was a bit of a bittersweet moment. I got into a handful of really good universities, which was exciting. Slightly sadder is that none of them were financially feasible.

However, after a bit of a financial appeals process I received really good news from one university: Harvard.

After a couple of months, it’s great to finally have clarity on where I’m going to study (as long as the whole visa thing works out okay). I think it’s going to be an incredible four years.

Now, with that big lurking question out of the way, here’s an (unintentionally) super-duper long look at where we’ve traveled so far. (Btw, I’m on a three-month Interrail trip in Europe…welcome to the newsletter. Also, another btw is that I just had a miniature heart attack because I thought I accidentally deleted all of this text from my Notes app, and it took a good couple hours to write up).

Stop 1: Cinque Terre

We had our first hostel experience in Levanto, a great town just outside of Cinque Terre. It was lovely to stay here because we got the small town experience, loads of restaurants, a beach, and vibes…all without the hoards of tourists that flooded the streets of the five colorful nearby towns that make up Cinque Terre.

We had some interesting culinary experiences…

With some new friends from the hostel, we devoured a pizza from La Picea, whose windows are lined with well-deserved trophies from the Pizza European and World Championships.

Due to the lack of a kitchen in our hostel, we also dined out the following night. On the menu, we discovered some bargainistic grilled fish with potatoes and olives for €7. We didn’t even order any water because they didn’t do tap water and we’re on a budget. Turns out €7 was the per kg price for the fish…💔

Now, whenever we get the sneaky suspicion that we’re being slightly ripped off, we just gaslight ourselves by saying, for example, “It’s only one third of a fish!”.

In my last newsletter, I already added an extremely chaotic video of the stunning hike we did along the coast, so I won’t dwell on Stop 1.

Stop 2: Florence

Firenzeeee — the home of the Renaissance.

We sped off from Cinque Terre a day earlier than originally intended after hearing about Italy’s First Free Sunday of the month.

We took an early train, and by midday we were in full museum mode. We took in the Uffuzi, followed by the Academia (where the one and only Statue of David is housed), and then finally to the Boboli Gardens to enjoy the view of the city as the sun set. Apparently, this piece of art exhibits an uncanny likeness to me when standing in a long queue at the Swazi border post:

The advice my friend had gotten for Florence was to go down alleyways.

It proved to be good advice. Rather than shady drug dealers and the smell of urine, we found the best panini shop, cool graffiti and art, and interesting sculptures.

Stop 3: The Italian Bundus (a.k.a. 5km from Tolentino)

Between two big cities, we got some valuable chill-time in a rural part of Le Marque. We stayed with a friend in her renovated farmhouse in the middle of nowhere.

My favorite part of this stay was playing croquet. I’m truly awful at it, but I think it’s super fun and it reminded me of when I used to play it with my Oma.

On one of the days, we did an outing to Fabriano, where we learnt about the ancient paper-making methods. That was really cool to see, especially because the watercolor postcards in my backpack are Fabriano. We also visited some caves which were super impressive and otherworldly, but also gave me a renewed appreciation for the sun.

It was in the Italian bundus that we had a hilarious encounter with the language barrier. Our host invited her Italian neighbors for dinner. After hearing our plans to head to Rome, the woman claimed we couldn’t leave Rome without trying some carbonara in its birthplace. She then leant over confidentiality to my friend and in a thick Italian accent asked, “Do you like seggs?”

I glanced at my friend. Communicated in her eyes was confusion and terror as she looked between the two English-speakers at the table and we all slowly worked out that the woman was asking if she liked eggs.

And then it was like somebody pumped us full of giggles that just kept bubbling even as we tried to forget the incident. It was only after I went to “fill my water glass” in the kitchen and my friend took a 10-minute leave of absence to her room that we were able to seat ourselves at the table again and look at each other without feeling like we were about to burst with laughter.

And on that note, we made our way to Rome, where we did indeed sample the world-famous bacon-y and eggy carbonara.

Stop 4: Rome

When in Rome do as the tourists: visit the Colloseum, Roman forum, and Vatican museums.

Each one of these places is grander and more impressive than I could’ve ever imagined.

They’re currently building a third underground line in Rome. It’s meant to have been finished already, but they’re experiencing delays because they keep hitting up on all of these annoying archeological finds that they can’t just bulldoze through.

That gives you an idea of the abundance of ancient ruins to be seen in Rome. And I’m not even talking about the main sights. Everywhere you go, you seem to stumble upon amazing relics of history. For example, our host told us that the ginormous empty-ish rectangle we walked past everyday and were curious about was once used for chariot races.

My time in the Vatican Museum is a good metaphor for Rome in general: with the ceilings, walls, and floors all covered in intricate, colorful and elaborate designs, it was simply impossible to absorb it all in the given time.

On one of the days, we spent the morning exploring the Roman Forum. We had thought we’d be able to see all the ruins in about an hour. HAHA. Five hours later we still hadn’t seen all the ruins, and we hadn’t even gotten to the Capitoline museum yet. We were absolutely famished.

We collapsed in a restaurant (a pretty rare, luxurious experience for us) and shared a pizza and Carbonara pasta (inexplicably good). We then played cards for the better part of the afternoon.

Sometimes, when there’s too much to see, you’ve just got to enjoy what you can and be content with that. I would much rather take my time appreciating bits and pieces of a place than rushing around trying to cram in all the “must-sees”.

Stop 5: The Amalfi Coast

Stop 5 brutally showed me how heavily I’ve come to rely on Europe’s (mostly) gorgeous public transport system.

At Naples, we stepped onto the train heading south to the coast. It was a rattle-y affair, but okay as long as it got us where we needed to go. Except it didn’t. It broke down in Castellammare and we were told to wait at the bus station for a bus to pick us up and take us the remaining stretch.

After two hours had passed and a couple rain clouds had been emptied onto our heads, still no bus had emerged to pick up the hoards of passengers that had been squeezed onto the train.

After briefly considering setting up our tent on the beach (wild camping is strictly prohibited in Italy 🥲), we found a slightly questionable hostel on Airbnb where we spent the night (after taking two hours to find the place and get let in).

The next morning, trains were running again which was just lovely. We then did the final leg of the journey by bus. Our only option that morning took us to a village nearish to our destination, so we completed our journey on foot. Along the way, we found some artichokes. We cut two and had them as a super sophisticated appetizer to complement our super-fancy camp stove meal that evening.

On Easter Sunday, my friend and I booked a boat trip to Capri after trying and failing to book a (admittedly very last-minute) campsite near Pompeii. Wanting to avoid the super-duper sky-high Capri prices, we decided to grab a mozzarella and ham panini at local grocery store in Nerano. It took slightly longer to assemble the masterpieces than we’d hoped, and I ran down to the jetty while my friend waited to collect the sandwiches.

I got down to the jetty at 9:15am. I could see that the boat, about 100m away, had already set off. After talking to the people from the boat company and making the slightly wobbly argument that the boat must’ve set off sooner than its supposed 9:15am departure time, the captain actually turned around and came to pick us up. I almost cried out of pure relief (those boat tickets were quite a chomp out of the budget). And so, thanks to our efforts in avoiding buying anything in Capri, we ended up buying something in Capri: a gift for the captain and crew.

We spent our entire six hours on Capri hiking, and it is genuinely one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. I don’t know what was going on that day, but the hiking trails were almost completely empty. It was magical. I think this is my favorite place so far.

We found a gorgeous place to eat our paninis (which were so yum they were almost worth the trouble) on the edge of a cliff next to a Roman ruin (where we later discovered, thanks to some gentle shouting from an Italian woman, that we were very much not meant to be).

Stop 6: Duino

As I mentioned in my previous newsletter, my friend and I changed our travel plans — instead of heading further South, we zoomed back up to Northern Italy so that I could meet with the careers counselor at United World College (UWC) Adriatic r.e. universities.

I’m pleased to say that this brings my UWC count up to 3/18. I saw UWC Thailand during the 2024 congress, and, of course, spent six years at Waterford Kamhlaba UWC.

It would be so, so, soooo cool to somehow see all of them one day. It’s so interesting to see the subtle or huge differences between the schools, yet appreciate how they all fulfill the purpose of bringing together students of different nationalities for peace.

UWC Adriatic is the first UWC I’ve visited that only has the two International Baccalaureate year groups, so naturally it is pretty wee. The older, smaller student body makes the campus feel intimate, yet somewhat limited. The school has an open campus, which I think helps to nurture the growing independence of the students. Most importantly, however, this allows you to take a wander along the top of the white cliffs overlooking the sparkling Adriatic Sea. What a life.

While in Duino, we also were lucky enough to secure last-minute tickets to the opera in Trieste. It was the quintessential Italian experience, with ample drama (Lucia and Edguardo took an hour to die, including lots of blood). The only thing that did not quite match the occasion were our backpacking outfits.

Stop 7: Ljubljana

We were in the Slovenian capital for just under three hours thanks to our train “layover”. But it was such an awesome stop that I just have to include it.

Some people had told us not to bother visiting because it’s just another medieval city. It was another medieval city, but not “just” another medieval city.

In every nook and cranny, every open space, and some dark alleyways, you can find super cool sculptures, some of them very modern. The buildings in the old town are stunning, and there are loads of cute little shops lining the bottom floors with the most aesthetic setups that make me long to do my Christmas present shopping in Ljubljana. With an utter lack of cars, and not too many people, the capital city gave great stress-free town vibes even though there was lots happening.

Since it was Saturday, there was a huge market with fresh local veg, fruit, cheeses, and even a station where you can fill up your bottle with fresh milk.

We found a stall with kefir, and were debating whether to buy it when the dude at the stall said, “You can have it for free.” What the heck?! So kind!! We did try to pay him, but he literally ran away from his store and refused to accept the cash. He must’ve felt some serious pity for these scraggly backpackers. Wow, that was some good kefir.

Stop 8: Zagreb

Look at that! Despite spending way longer than expected in Italy (it has that effect), we finally made it to the capital city of Croatia.

We really slowed it down here — I think we’ve seen enough cities to not feel that need to see every museum and every sight.

Ummm, that being said, Zagreb is the city with the most museums per capita in the world, so we had to capitalize. Choices include the Museum of Hangovers, the Museums of the 80s, and the Museum of Illusions.

We spent some time in the Museum of Broken Relationships, looking at the most random artifacts (dried ginger, a bear onesie, a pizza mix box, etc.) and reading people’s real-life stories about how each object signals the end of a personal relationship.

The Plexiglas-encased piece of dried ginger was the artifact that really stuck in my mind. It was the remainders of a piece of ginger an Australian girl’s brother had used to cook his first full-on dinner (with salad and the whole shebang) for their family. The next day, she drove somewhere with him and veered off the road, into a tree. Ending in his death, this tragically broken relationship was made all the more real for me because I have a fledgling chef of a brother and a driver’s license. That one piece of ginger conveyed a lot of grief and guilt. Though, unlike many of the other stories, this one was really heavy, I’m glad of the reminder to value every precious day with my brother (and my family and friends).

Besides a touch of museum-hopping, we mostly just had a chill time. Zagreb has gorgeous parks; one evening we had a dinner picnic and did a few handstands on the luscious lawn.

We also made sure to partake in the weekend coffee culture, where people dress up elegantly and meet up with friends. We spent a number of hours painting the wholesome weekend scene.

Stop 9: Vrelo

In order to visit the very photogenic Plitvice National Park, we stayed nearby so we could get in early before the crowds. Somehow, we managed to land up 20km from the entrance to the parks, with no prospect for public transport, in the most ruralest of villages (I’m talking sheep, haystacks, and chickens).

Hitchhiker mode activated. Incredibly, we ended up getting door-to-door service with a guy who works on the boats at Plitvice. We enjoyed our day in the unbelievable park immensely.

Stop 10: Zadar

I went for my first run in a lonngggg time. It was hard. But the next one, following the exact same route along the seafront, was much better. It’s good to get moving again — it’s so valuable to be and stay fit.

In Zadar, we found the Sea Organ, which is series of steps and pipes where you can chill and listen to the random melodies produced by the waves. We spent a lot of time here, reading, picnicking, swimming. We were the only people swimming, even though it was hot. Slightly sus?

One of the best moments in Zadar was devouring a topla cokolada at sunset (who needs an aperol spritz anyway?). This hot chocolate was so thick it had to be eaten with a spoon — sipping it would’ve been impossible. I would describe it as warm chocolate mousse. Delectable and inspiring.

On our last day, we switched up our routine ever so slightly and chose a different spot to go swimming. We took the ferry across to Preko, which is on an island, rented teeny weeny little city bikes, and peddled our way to a gorgeous (totally undiscovered, totally empty 😜) cove.

Stop 11: Split

About 80% of our time here was spent on the beach and in the water. The water is the perfect temperature, and so clear that you can gaze at the fishies below without goggles.

I’ve grown a real appreciation for rocky beaches. At this particular one, you could jump straight from the rocks into deep water. And when you’re done floating about in the abnormally buoyant water, you can dry off on the rocks without getting all sandy. Ultra convenient.

Stop 12, Stop 13, Stop 14, and Stop 15: Nightjet (take the ‘jet’ part with a pinch of salt)

We decided to take the night train from Split to Vienna. En route, it kept breaking down, sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for a few hours. That’s why the Nightjet encompasses Stops 12-15. By the time we were meant to reach Vienna (8.40am or so), we’d barely made it out of Croatia.

Currently, I’m sitting in the train the next morning and finally getting down to writing my newsletter.

One great thing about this train ride (besides giving me loads of time to write my newsletter) is that it’s super empty. Probably, most people know to avoid Croatian trains. Though we initially took up our seats in our crowded cabin of six, we quickly realized that all the other cabins were completely empty. This resulted in a fairly luxurious night of being able to lie flat on the seats and only occasionally waking up when the train loudly ground to a halt, or one arm fell asleep.

Since we’ve figured we’re going to be here for a while, we’ve turned this place into home 😊✨🏡. Lorien’s even done some interior decorating by popping her fake sunflower into the corner.