Shoreditch Street Art: Just Passing Through!
Street art in Shoreditch, London, spotted as I passed through by car.
Europe travel
This category includes all my articles about my Europe travel. Because I live in the Netherlands, I can travel in Europe quite easily, and as you see here, I’ve seen a lot of it. Generally I don’t write “ultimate list” or “everything you need to know” posts. Instead, I tend to focus on just one or a few sights or experiences from my specific point of view. Enjoy!
Medieval Churches in the Val d’Aran, Spain
There’s something special about the medieval churches in the Val d’Aran, Spain. All are quite small, stone-built in Romanesque style, and date from the 11th to the 15th century. Disclosure: I went to the Val d’Aran as part of a discounted package provided by Pyrenees Experience. I’ve already written about what to do in the Val…
Val d’Aran: Skiing in Spain!
Skiing in Spain? Yes! It’s possible in the Pyrenees in the Val d’Aran. Read here about the ski resort and other things to do there!
Italian Days Food Tour: A review
Our tour guide from Italian Days Food and Wine Tours was far too cheerful for such an early start. We had been picked up at seven in the morning—before sunrise in mid-January—and denied even a cup of coffee before leaving. Our hotel’s breakfast only started at seven, so we had run downstairs and grabbed a…
Hotel El Ciervo: a bit over-the-top … but in a good way!
I wasn’t even going to write a review of our hotel, the Hotel El Ciervo, here in Vielha, Spain. It was just a place to stay while we explored the Val d’Aran in the Pyrennees and its ski resort, Baqueira Beret. Or rather, while I explored and my husband and son skied. I’m not being sponsored…
London Pub signs: a photo essay
Pictures of some very creative pub signs I spotted on a short trip to London.
Osteria dè Poeti: Classic Bolognese Food
On my recent trip to Bologna, my friend Shobha (of Just Go Places) and I were fortunate enough to be hosted by Hotel Touring, which I reviewed in an earlier post. The hotel also arranged for us to eat one evening at a nearby restaurant, Osteria dè Poeti (site in Italian only). This was particularly…
Walking the Portico di San Luca in Bologna
For centuries, in the city of Bologna, Italy, a byzantine image of the Madonna and Child was carried ceremoniously from the Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca every year during Ascension week down to the Cathedral of San Pietro in the city center. It stayed there overnight, then was carried back up. The problem…
Exploring Amsterdam’s Undiscovered North
Most visitors focus on the canal district, but Amsterdam North offers a very different experience: artistic and hip and edgy.
Hotel Touring: quality in a great Bologna location
When I met Manuela Stagni at the World Travel Market in London and saw her enthusiasm in describing her hotel, the Hotel Touring in Bologna, Italy, I made a note to keep her in mind if I ever traveled in Italy again. A couple of months later, when she mailed me an offer to stay…
Huis Marseille photography museum in Amsterdam
Huis Marseille Photography Museum in Amsterdam, in two 17th-century canal houses, shows rotating exhibitions by compelling photographers.
The Dutch Resistance Museum, Amsterdam
The Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam looks at how the Dutch coped with the Nazis before and during the war: collaborate, resist, or just try to get by. Which would you have done?
WinterWelVaart 2024 and Wintergoud: Groningen’s Christmas Market
WinterWelVaart and, now also Wintergoud, are the annual Christmas market in Groningen, with an unusual maritime twist that makes it extra special!
Visiting Valor in Villajoyosa
Last spring in Guadeloupe I visited an archeological park where I got to sample the pulp from a fresh-picked cacao pod. I heard more about chocolate cultivation at two coffee plantations. Given my obsession with chocolate, I decided to take the process a step further on my short visit to the Costa Blanca in Spain,…
Red Light Secrets Museum of Prostitution: a review
Red Light Secrets Museum of Prostitution in Amsterdam presents a measured, pragmatic view of an institution usually looked at with derision and disapproval.
Alcoy: My Too-Brief Visit
After a gorgeous, winding drive through the mountains from where I was staying in the Costa Blanca, finding the Refugio de Cervantes Bomb Shelter Museum in Alcoy took me another hour or so. The delay was due to its humble signposting, and by “humble” I mean a simple sign on a gate next to a…
Driving Costa Blanca: Some Advice
If you’re ever in the Costa Blanca in Spain, here’s what I’d recommend: get away from the coast! Yes, you can enjoy the beaches and party till the wee hours in the coastal towns, but there’s far more to see inland. The drive I did the other day, for example, was absolutely lovely. Leaving from…
Hash, Marijuana & Hemp Museum Amsterdam
It’s not surprising that Amsterdam is home to a museum of Hash, Marijuana and Hemp, given its generally tolerant policy toward soft drugs.
The Museum of Bags and Purses Amsterdam
The Museum of Bags and Purses in Amsterdam might be worth a look, if you like handbags or if you enjoy the absurdity of a museum devoted to purses. [This museum is now closed.]
Body Worlds Amsterdam: Museum or freak show?
At Body Worlds Amsterdam we are viewing actual dead bodies, called plastinates. Is this entertainment? Education? Or just a freak show? A critical review.
Gothic Barcelona: A Walking Tour with a Difference
As you know, I attended the TBEX travel bloggers’ conference in Lloret del Mar recently. While I was there, I was fortunate to be able to take a walking tour of Gothic Barcelona offered by Context Travel. They operate walking tours in more than 36 cities, “the world’s cultural capitals,” around the world. Context Travel’s unique selling…
Gala Dali Castle: Dalí’s Gift to his Muse
If you like Salvador Dalí’s art—even if you’re not such a fan of his work—the Gala Dali Castle in Púbol, Spain, is something you should not miss. This is not a Dalí museum. Dalí bought the building, a medieval castle, as a gift for his wife and muse, Elena Ivanovna Diakonova, who was called simply Gala….
2 historic homes in New York City
If you’re on a budget in New York City and want to visit historic homes, the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace Museum is an obvious choice. After that visit, I ended up also checking out the Merchant’s House Museum. These two historic homes in New York City both lend some insight into the lives of the 19th…
5 Reasons to Visit Lloret de Mar
(Nederlands versie beneden!) When I told people I was going to Lloret de Mar for the last week of my one-month solo trip (Guadeloupe, Martinique, New York, Lloret de Mar), the usual reaction was something along the line of “Lloret de Mar? But why?” Lloret de Mar has a reputation as a party city, along…
The most beautiful Starbucks?
You know how sometimes you get so used to what you see every day that you stop noticing it? I’ve walked by the Starbucks in the Groningen central train station hundreds of times in the course of commuting to and from my job up in Leeuwarden. I just didn’t pay much attention to it until…
How English is Guernsey?
The other day I tweeted “Guernsey is so very English.” Well, I stand corrected. It isn’t English. I learned this when I asked a completely unrelated question in a shop. There were candies in jars behind the counter marked “£1 a quarter.” I asked the shopkeeper “One pound a quarter what?” “A quarter pound,” she…
The Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam: A review
The Rembrandt House Museum gives a realistic idea of what a new 17th century Amsterdam house looked like. It’s a bit too new: it lacks atmosphere.
Van Loon Museum: A restored Golden Age house
The Van Loon Museum’s rooms give an impression of how wealthy residents of Amsterdam’s canal houses lived and, to a lesser extent, how their servants lived.
Canal House Museum Amsterdam: A review
Grachtenhuis means “canal house,” so it’s not surprising that the Canal House Museum is housed in a charming Golden Age row house on a canal in Amsterdam.
Ons Lieve Heer op Solder: A surprising little museum
Ons Lieve Heer op Solder museum is a great choice for a quick taste of the Golden Age of Amsterdam; it was a secret church built into a canal house attic!
Yes, you CAN visit the Rijksmuseum in 2 hours!
Yes, it is possible to see the Rijksmuseum in just two hours. Read this article to find out how I saw the best of the Rijksmuseum in 2 hours.
An unusual walking tour in Athens
It was just my luck that the day I’d signed up to take a walking tour in Athens, there was torrential rain. Nevertheless, this tour – covering religious Athens under Ottoman rule – was fascinating. Disclosure: I received this tour for free, but all opinions are my own. It never occurred to me, to be honest,…