My main reason to go to Italy was to trek in Dolomites, blog post and photos to come, but I also spent some time in a few cities as well. I was planning on going from Slovenia straight to Venice, but the woman who hosted me in the mountain hut I stayed at in Slovenia told me she was from Trieste and that I should spend a day there. Trieste was a great place to spend one night, and also a great first day in Italy. Trieste has a lot of history. It was originally a Roman town, and then it became a major port for the Austrian Empire. The main downtown area is architecturally similar to Vienna, and other Austrian cities, and was the perfect place for a blue hour self portrait!

On my recent trip to Patagonia I spent a week hiking the O-Trek in Torres del Paine National Park. This is probably the most famous and popular place in Patagonia so there is plenty of info online already, but I just thought I’d share the seemingly unique itinerary I took, and why I really liked it, and fill in some other information gaps that I had wish I had known while planning my trip.

El Chalten, “the trekking capital of Argentina”! With five days in and around El Chalten I got to experience a small piece of what this place has to offer. Other than hiking and camping, the area around El Chalten in also well known for mountaineering, rock climbing, mountain biking, and I’m sure much more.