North Holland, Friesland & Groningen

 Earlier this September, we spent a long weekend exploring some more of the Netherlands. Our first port of call in North Holland was Zaanse Schans, which is the heart of the Zaan region. This area has typical Zaan houses, buildings and of course windmills. On a windy day, you'll be able to see the windmills working.

Zaanse Schans

All the houses are built from timber, as stone houses would sink into the soft peat earth. Also, at the time that they were built, wood was readily available from the local sawmills. If you're familiar with the Netherlands, you'll know that Albert Heijn is a major Dutch supermarket chain. A visit to Zaanse Schans will introduce you to the first shop from 1887, a baking museum, a cheese factory was well as a mustard mill.

Many people when they visit The Netherlands, tend to head for Amsterdam and thats it. Zaanse Schans and our next destination, Edam, are easily accessible from Amsterdam, so a great way of extending a traditional city break or long weekend. Having really enjoyed our first stop in North Holland, we had a short drive to Edam, the home of the famous Edam Cheese. During the months of July & August you can visit the cheesemarket and see how they are sold. Edam is a really pretty town, very relaxed, where you can visit the Edams Museum and enjoy the many historical buildings in the town.

Edam

Delicious Edam cheese

From Edam, we had a short drive to Enkhuizen, our home for the night. We stayed at a hotel called De Koepoort, fine for one night, although it felt that it hasn't had any money spent on it since the 1970s. Enkhuizen is still one of Holland's largest ports and its many fine buildings are evidence of the wealth of Holland's Golden age. That evening we had a great meal at the Markerwaard restaurant, whilst the service could do with a polish, the food was delicious and the set menu is great value for money.

Enkhuizen 

Our main reason for staying in Enkhuizen was to visit the Zuiderzee Museum, which has both an Binnenmuseum (indoor) and Buitenmuseum (outdoor). Indoors we visited an exhibition of ING owned artwork along with an impressive collection of boats from the Zuiderzee. The outdoor museum is a a construction of an old Zuiderzee town, fascinating to walk around. Along with Zaanse Schans, we highly recommend visiting this museum. Below are some photos from our visit and you'll find more information on www.zuiderzeemuseum.nl

Zuiderzee, Binnenmuseum (Indoor)

Zuidersee, Buitenmuseum (Outdoor)

From Enkhuizen, we drove across the impressive Afsluitdijk, into Friesland, where we stopped for lunch in the Frisian capital of Leeuwarden. One of the city's claims to fame is that Mata Hari grew up here. As it was Sunday there wasn't too much open, however by chance we parked right next to the museum, Het Princessehof, the former residence of Maria Louise van Hessen-Kassel. These days the palace is home to a unique collection of ceramics of international importance.

Het Princessehof

Our final destination for the weekend was Groningen, the cultural and historical capital of the province bearing the same name. We stayed in the NH Hotel De Ville, a lovely hotel with great staff and a very nice restaurant. If your looking for a great bar for a drink in the evening or a coffee in the morning, look no further than De Drie Gezusters on Grote Markt, a huge place with the feel of an old London Pub. 

Groninger Academie

Groningen is another very nice Dutch city, fun to just walk around and enjoy the lovely old buildings. One thing to remember when visiting The Netherlands, is that generally on Sunday, with the exception of museums, most things are shut. Also on Monday, be warned that shops tend not to open till after 1pm.

Groningen Stadhuis

We had a great long weekend touring these Dutch provinces. If you haven't visited the Netherlands and were thinking about visiting Amsterdam, perhaps now you'll have some more ideas as to how you can extend your stay.

Some of our favourite hotels

Here are some of our favourite hotels from our trips over the last few years. What helps them make it onto this list? A combination of factors, including for example: location, service, atmosphere not forgetting value for money.

Suitehotel Pincoffs, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Rotterdam is the 2nd largest city in the Netherlands and is perhaps most famous for being the largest port in Europe and one of the largest in the world. We've visited twice, staying in Suitehotel Pincoffs and on both occasions really enjoying ourselves. In the words of booking.com, Suitehotel Pincoffs offers stylishly decorated rooms and suites whilst still upholding its historic charm. Dating back to 1879, this 4-star hotel is a shining example of classic design amidst a city of modern architecture. Whilst the hotel doesn't have a restaurant, you can order some very tasty snacks in the bar. Pincoffs stands out in terms of service, the very professional welcome and the extremly stylish rooms. On the minus side, it comes at the higher end of the price scale.

Hotel Rua, Salamanca, Spain

When we visited the historic Spanish city of Salamanca, we stayed overnight in the hotel Rua Salamanca, which is a matter of minutes from the impressive Plaza Mayor. Great value, good breakfast and the best welcome we've had in a Spanish hotel. The staff are very helpful and only too happy to explain all you need to know about the city. The rooms are spacious and give you the feeling of being in someone's home rather than a characterless hotel. Highly recommended for a short break in this lovely city.

Inside Hotel Rua

Blue Haven Hotel, Kinsale, Ireland

Whilst visiting Kinsale in 2010, we stayed at the Blue Haven Hotel which was great, easily accessible, parking near by, great room and wonderful breakfasts. The only downside is that the hotel doesn't have onsite parking, that said there is public parking just a short walk away. The Blue Haven has a large bar area, a great restaurant and is right in the middle of Kinsale, so the location is ideal.

Blue Haven Hotel

Halong Ginger, Halong Bay, Vietnam

Now for something very different, a floating hotel. Whilst visiting Vietnam on our honeymoon, we spent a night on the Halong Ginger, one of the many boats touring Halong Bay. This was a quite magical experience which we can't recommend enough. Great service, wonderful food, lovely cabin, amazing scenary....I could go on and on. You really have to spend some time on Halong Bay to really appreciate this amazing place, our experience was made even more memorable by the staff and crew of the Halong Ginger.

Halong Ginger

Hotel Calagrande, Las Negras, Spain

Situated in the stunningly beautiful national park of Cabo de Gata, Las Negras is a relatively small and sleepy town with a few bars and restaurants, it also has some of the most beautiful beaches in southern Spain, like Cala de San Pedro which you can hike to from the town. We spent a couple of nights here in 2011, in the lovely Hotel Calagrande which we loved. Whilst the restaurant area lacks atmosphere, the hotel has a great position, lovely clean rooms, great outdoor bar/pool area and only a short walk into the town and to the beach. If you like a great G&T, you'll enjoy those served at the pool bar.

Hotel Calagrande

If you'd like to read more about the town or city where these great hotels are located, enter the name into the Search This Blog box, on the right hand side of your screen or click on the links in blue font which you'll see throughout this post.

Five fabulous views from Ireland

Throughout 2013, Ireland will open its arms to hundreds of thousands of friends and family from all over the world, calling them home to gatherings in villages, towns and cities. Communities throughout Ireland will showcase and share the very best of Irish culture, tradition, business, sport, fighting spirit and the uniquely Irish sense of fun.Over 70 million people worldwide claim Irish ancestry. The Gathering Ireland 2013 provides the perfect excuse to reach out to those who have moved away, their relatives, friends and descendants, and invite them home. 

Below are five of our favourite photos from around Ireland. Even if you don't have Irish Ancestry, why not visit Ireland in 2013 and experience all that Ireland has to offer. 

The Burren

The Cliffs of Moher

The Blasket Islands

Kinsale Harbour, County Cork

View of Dalkey Island from Colimore Harbour, Dalkey

The Gathering will kick off in spectacular style at the New Year’s Eve Festival in Dublin and will be celebrated through gatherings of the people and Ireland’s major festivals during 2013. For more information check out the official website www.thegatheringireland.com. 

Hoge Veluwe National Park, the Netherlands

Last weekend a friend of ours was visiting from Ireland. Having read about the Hoge Veluwe National Park in the March copy of KLM's Holland Herald, we decided it would be a great place to visit. Thanks to a bit of good luck with the weather our decision turned out to be a good one.

The view is not exactly what you would expect of the Dutch landscape, its quite unique and in many places looks more like something you'd experience on an African safari. The view within the park is changeable, switching from grassland and pet bog to tundra like heath covered with silvery reindeer moss as well as a dark pine forest. In all the park covers 5,400 hectacres, which you can explore, naturally as you are in the Netherlands, by bike. 

The park was created originally by Anton and Helene Kroller-Muller, who at the start of the 20th century were the Netherland's richest couple. She was an heirest, he was an industrialist and having fallen in love with the Veluwe, started buying it up, piece by piece.

Anton was a keen hunter and reintroduced red deer, wild boar and roe deer to the park, as well as importing mouflon sheep from Luxembourg. Helene was an art lover who acquired a staggering 11,500 works of art, including 90 paintings by Van Gogh. The park shelters the Kroller-Muller museum, which houses her immense collection, started when she was 40. In addition to the impressive art collection, you can explore the beautiful garden of statues.

The Hoge Veluwe is known throughout the Netherlands for its free white bicycles, 1,700 are available to visitors to explore this beautiful and unique area of the Dutch countryside. They are a fun way to experience this wonderful park, hidden in an area of the Netherlands called Gelderland. If you are visiting the Netherlands and are anyway close to the city of Arnhem, which is close by, check the weather forecast. If the sun is shining or at least it looks dry, take a visit to the Hoge Veluwe National Park. We had a great time and can highly recommend the cheese & ham pannenkoeken (pancakes), in the restaurant in the middle of the park.

We revisited the Park again in October 2012, this time to visit the Kroller-Muller museum, again we were lucky with the weather and really enjoyed both the museum and the statue gardens. 

Famous city squares......

When you arrive in a new city, its often difficult to decide where to start your exploration of the city. One obvious choice is to look for the city's main square and head for it. If like us you enjoy a spot of people watching, that's an added benefit of starting in a city's central square. Here are some of our favourite city Squares/Plazas/Piazzas.....

Place Guillaume II Luxembourg
As the name indicates, the main square in Luxembourg City is dedicated to William (Guillaume) II of the Netherlands (1792 - 1849), Grand Duke of Luxembourg. The equestrian statue of the great man stands in this square. The hotel de villa, built in a traditional local style has overlooked Place Guillaume II since 1830.

Place Guillaume II

Piazza del Campo, Siena

Piazza del Campo is the principal public square of the historic center of Siena, Tuscany, Italy and is regarded as one of Europe's greatest medieval squares. It is known across the world for its beauty and architectural integrity. The Palazzo Pubblico and its Torre del Mangia, as well as various palazzi signorili surround the shell-shaped piazza. Twice a year the Palio di Siena horse race, is held around the edges of this stunning Piazza.

Piazza del Campo

Plaza Mayor, Madrid

The Plaza Mayor is Madrid's main square. It is located right in the centre of the city, just a few minutes walk from the Puerta del Sol. The square is mostly surrounded by three-story houses with balconies looking out onto the square and still lived in by the fortunate few. Located at the north end of the square resides the four-story Casa de la Panaderia building, supposedly named after the bakery it replaced. 

Plaza Mayor

Plaza de Armas, Santiago de Chile

The Plaza de Armas is the main square in Santiago. It is the centre piece of the initial layout of the city which has a square grid pattern. Surrounding the sqayre are a number of important buildings which include the Cathedral of Santiago, Central Post Office Building, Palacio de la Real Audiencia de Santiago and the building that serves as the seat of the local government.

Plaza de Armas

La Grand- Place, Brussels

La Grand-Place in Brussels is a remarkably homogeneous body of public and private buildings, dating mainly from the late 17th century. The architecture provides a vivid illustration of the level of social and cultural life of the period in this important political and commercial centre.

La Grand-Place

Trafalgar Square, London

Trafalgar Square is home to Nelson's Column, those iconic stone lions, the famour Fourth Plinth and thousands of pigeons. Its also home to the fambulous and free of charge to enter National Gallery. During the Christmas period you'll also come across the biggest Christmas Tree in London, an annual gift from the city of Oslo.

Trafalgar Square

To see more about the cities or countries where these beautiful public places are located, simple click on one of the following links: Luxembourg, London,  Siena, Madrid, Santiago and Brussels.

Five, very different Museums

The Albertina, Vienna, Austria
The Albertina was once the Hapsburg palace of Duke Albert of Sachsen-Teschen and his wife Archduchess Marie-Christina. Today it houses one of the world's finest collections of graphics including works by da Vinci, Michelangelo, Durer, Rubens, and Manet. It is also home to the Sammlung Batliner, a collection of paintings under the motto "Monet to Picasso". As you can imagine the Albertina is very popular so to avoid the queues try and book your tickets or buy them the previous day.

Albertina, Vienna

Blasket Centre, Dunquin, Dingle Peninsula, Ireland 

If while visiting Ireland, you make it down as far as Dunquin, be sure and visit the Blasket Centre (also signposted as Ionad an Bhlascaoid). Within sight of the islands themselves on a headland, this centre was established to highlight the history and culture of the Blasket islands. It more than succeeds, even if you've never heard of the Blaskets before, you will leave impressed. You'll also learn about Peig Sayers, an Irish woman who lived both in Dunquin and on the Great Blasket Island after marrying a fisherman who lived there. Her autobiography was for many years (and may still be) on the curriculum for secondary school students in Ireland. She has been described as "one of the greatest woman storytellers of recent times". I'll leave you to form your own opinion either by reading the book, Peig, or by asking for the opinion of some of the people you meet whilst travelling in Ireland.

Blasket Centre, Dunquin

Palau Nacional/Museu Nacional D'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

The Palau Nacional, or Museu Nacional D'Art de Catalunya is a must to visit during your stay in Barcelona. In 1990 the Catalan Museums Law reunited the collections of the old Museu d'Art de Catalunya and the Museu d'Art Modern under one roof, and declared it a national museum. The museum is easy to get to as it is one of the city tour bus stops. Entrance fee is just €10 with many discounts for families, students etc as well as with your tour bus ticket. For more information you'll find the museums website listed under our favourites.

Palau Nacional, Barcelona

Art Deco Museum, Salamanca, Spain

The museum has 19 collections of decorative art dating from the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. It contains almost 2,500 pieces, including glass, porcelain figures, gold and ivory statues, enamels, bronze items, paintings, ivory pieces, furniture, jewels, toys, a Faberge egg....It also has a major pictorial exhibition with 19th century works and pieces by painters from Salamanca, such as Celso Lagar and Mateo Hernandez. Highly recommended is a break in the lovely cafe where the pasteries are delicious.

Art Deco Museum, Salamanca

Heineken Experience, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

As the website will tell you, its not "the Heineken Museum", its the "Heineken Experience". Why is this? Because four levels of interactive experiences in the former brewery will plunge you into the world of Heineken. See it, hear it, smell it and finally taste it. Enjoy the experience, we did!

Heineken Experience, Amsterdam

To see more about the cities where these museums are, simple click on one of the following links; Vienna; Dingle; Barcelona; Salamanca and Amsterdam

Viva Las Vegas

We returned late last week from a great break in Las Vegas, so we're just starting to get over the jetlag which hit us on the return journey. If you've not experienced Vegas, hopefully our photos will give you some idea of what you will experience if you choose to visit this larger than life city, in the Nevada desert. We chose to spend a week there as some friends were getting marrried in Vegas midway through our break, most people stay for just 2 or 3 days.

Bellagio hotel with Caesars Palace in the background

We stayed at the Bellagio which has a great location, fairly central on the Vegas Strip. That in itself is a great reason to chose a hotel in Vegas, especially in the summer when temperatures soar well into the forties, the heat is incredible. Don't forget sunblock and a cap of some sorts. Perhaps the most well know attraction of the Bellagio is the lake in front, on a daily basis the famous Bellagio Fountains perform to music, a fantastic sight. For those of you who have seeen the movie Ocean's 11, you'll know what I mean. From 8pm onwards the fountains perform every 15 minutes and to get the most impact from the show you need to see it at night and ideally from the Strip.

Bellagio Fountains

Like most of the hotels on the Las Vegas Strip the Bellagio is huge with almost 4,000 rooms, despite this it doesn't make it into the top 5 largest hotels. One of the bizarre attractions of Vegas is the hotels themselves, they are huge and many have specific themes such as New York New York, Excalibur, Treasure Island and Circus Circus. Added to this, all of the hotels have multiple reasons to visit them aside from the obvious, the casinos. You'll find fine art exhibitions, shark tanks, roller coasters, botanical gardens and even a replica of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris hotel. In the Venetian you can even take a ride on a gondola on the canal which runs through the shopping mall in the hotel. Yes, many of the hotels have their own shopping centres as well as concert/show arenas.

 Paris

 Venetian

 Mirage

There is no doubt that Vegas is not a cheap destination and to be honest some of the prices charged are way over the top. Tickets to visit the Leonardo di Vinci exhitbtion in the Venetian were $27, in the Luxor they were charging $32 to visit their Titanic exhibition. When you compare these prices to those charges by some of the great museums in other cities they are a bit of a rip off. That said, there are ways to make Vegas a while lot cheaper and some great things to do without having to pay that much. One activity is simply to spend some time visiting the hotels, there are many and as they're spaced out along the strip you can easily spend a couple of days just doing this. Its also a great way of cooling down from the heat outside by escaping into the airconditioned interiors.

 Excalibur

New York New York

Mandalay Bay & Luxor

So, touring the hotels won't cost an arm and a leg and the Fountains show at the Bellagio will cost you nothing. Next best free show is the Fremont Experience in downtown Las Vegas. Fremont Street has been covered with the "worlds largest lightshow", on a nightly basis you'll be entertained by a breathtaking show above your heads which costs nothing, as well as that there are free concerts in ths street and a whole lot more going on. Downtown Vegas is also a lot cheaper for hotel rooms, meals etc than the more commercialised areas on the Strip. Its also said that the slot machines tend to payout more than their cousins on the Strip, sadly I can't say whether thats true or not.

 Fremont experience

Another of the of the famous attractions of Vegas are the Shows, and there any many to chose from with all of the large hotels having at least one running. We were lucky enough to see two of the seven Cirque du Soleil shows that you can visit in Vegas, "O" in the Bellagio and "Viva Elvis" in the Aria. These were our first experiences of Cirque du Soleil and after seeing "O" on the Friday evening we were hooked and booked the following afternoon to see "Viva Elvis" on our last night. It's hard to find enough words to describe just how amazing they are, if you get the chance to see one of the Cirque du Soleil shows anywhere in the world, don't miss out as they are simply out of this world.

A toast to the King if Rock 'n Roll

The nightlife in Vegas is legendary and it has something for everyone with hundreds of places to dine, we enjoyed a great meal in the Jasmine Restaurant in the Bellagio, it overlooks the lake so in the evening you are entertained by the fountains if you ask for a table towards the front. We also had a wonderful meal at Gordon Ramsay Steak in the Paris, you won't find a nicer steak in town. For a great view of the Las Vegas Strip at night, visit the Ghostbar at the top of the Palms hotel.

View from the Ghostbar

If you get the chance don't leave Vegas without visiting the Grand Canyon, you can chose from a coach tour or a helicopter tour. It takes you about 4.5 hours to get to the Canyon by bus compared to 45 minutes by helicopter, that said the prices are obviously very different. The helicopter trip is a once in a lifetime experience so if you can choose this option don't miss out.

Valley of Fire

Lake Mead

Grand Canyon

I could go on for ages about Vegas as there is simply so much to do and see, however I don't want to bore you so I'll end here. One thing not to forget if you're travelling from Europe is the shops, the Americans do retail in style and in Vegas you'll find everything from Prada and Tom Ford to H&M and  GAP. There are two Premium Outlet Malls, one at either end of the strip and the Nike Shop in Caesars Palace is also really worth a visit. That's enough for now, enjoy Las Vegas.