Spring is in the air!

The freezing temperatures we were enjoying a few weeks ago seem to be a thing of the past, and it's starting to feel like spring is just around the corner. Without even looking at the weather forecast we decided to pull the tandem out for our first ride of the year. We've been doing some geocaching, so I chose a few caches in the countryside to give our ride a little purpose.

Love our tandem!

We rode through the towns of Tegelen, Maasbrae, Baarlo and Blerick. The first three of these are all in the Middle Limburg farm country, and we were excited to see the fields being prepared for Limburg's famous white aspargus. It is often served with Hollandaise sauce*, ham, boiled potatoes and hard boiled eggs, or transformed into a creamy and delicious spring seasonal soup. The asparagus, which has a milder taste than the green variety, is white because it is grown under black plastic sheets, without benefit of sunlight so no green chlorophyll.

Photo:  az1172 

Another frequent sight in Limburg are field crosses. All of our caches today were located near crosses. They are all similar in size, but different in design. Limburg is one of two predominantly Roman Catholic provinces in Netherlands. The other Catholic province is Noord Brabant, all other provinces being considered Protestant, although most Dutch people do not hold to any faith.

Crosses are also located at road crossings

The Dutch word for spring is Lente, because spring is associated with the liturgical season of Lent. Today's ride reminded us that spring is in the air and Easter is on the way. So we were happy to find this fun place to buy eggs (that other, more pagan symbol of the season).

Egg vending machine near Maasbrae

*Although Hollandaise sauce is one of the five main sauces of French cuisine, some accounts attribute its creation to Dutch Limburgers, who served it to French Huguenots, who took it to France.

Road Trip

Vineyard near Husseren-les-Châteaux

My parents are volunteering in the Black Forest for a few weeks, giving me a good excuse for a spontaneous road trip.

Splashing in the fountain, Eguisheim

I drove south through Germany on the A61 motorway, aka autobahn. The one thing everyone seems to know about the autobahn is that there is no speed limit. It can be a bit startling to be passing a truck that's going 80 km/hour (about 50 mph), only to be passed on the other side by a car going close to 100 mph. Add in rain and construction diversions, and it turned out to be a fairly stressful drive. Luckily the weather was partly clear and I was able to enjoy the spectacular scenery just south of Koblenz, aka the Romantic Rhine, an area I hope to revisit soon.

Despite weather and traffic I arrived safe and sound, and in time to enjoy a good German meal with my folks. It was great to see them again, and we had good travel stories to swap as they had recently been in Tanzania and we had just returned from Greece. It's pretty obvious who I got my travel bug from!

Cobblestones and 16th century residences in Equisheim

We spent Saturday exploring the Alsace region, my first visit to that part of France. It's a beautiful area, a hilly patchwork of vineyards spread nearly up to the forested tops, ornamented with charmingly historic villages. Although now part of France, it is historically tied to Germany as well, as shown by place names like Kaysersberg, Obermorschwihr, and Steinbach.

We shopped for fruit at the Saturday market in Rouffach, enjoyed a delicious lunch of French and German specialties (the onion tart was especially yummy) in Eguisheim, tasted Riesling and Pinot Noir wines in Ammerschwihr, and listened to an impromptu organ concert at the Romanesque church in Kaysersberg. I was surprised at the good wine values, and it was interesting to see how the French spend a sunny afternoon - eating good food, then shopping for wine to accompany future meals. I could get used to that!

Marché du samedi in Rouffach

For the trip home, I chose a route through France, partly to avoid some of the construction diversions that helped slow me down on Friday, and partly just to see some different scenery. The French motorway was definitely different - the pavement was rougher and there were no rest stops. But with a speed limit of 130 km/hour, at least I wasn't startled by cars zooming by.

The most interesting sight I saw on the return trip was the disused, seemingly abandoned border checkpoint near Lauterbourg, France. Seeing those rusty, dusty buildings helped me better understand what Europe gained by unifying. I imagined a world of abandoned checkpoints, where instead of wasting time and energy fearing and distrusting each other, we enjoy a good meal together and then shop for wine. I could get used to that, too.

Photo credit drw25

Greece

If my major - Liberal Studies - had been a Girl Scout badge,
it would sport an image of the Parthenon

No posts the past two weeks because we were in warm and sunny Greece. While this adventure was definitely outside Limburg, it is a typically Dutch vacation destination. People here tend to take their holidays in sunny places like the Canary islands, Turkey, Spain and Griekenland.

We decided on our vacation destination just two weeks before departure, after considering Ireland, Barcelona and a driving trip through Germany and Austria. I'm still excited about visiting those places; maybe next year.

Gaudi's Church of the Sagrada Famila (Sacred Family), Barcelona
Photo credit Roy Stead

Normally I make pretty elaborate vacation plans, but the kids were hoping for some relaxing beach time, so we kept our itinerary simple: a three-day bus tour to some out-of-the-way ancient sites; a few days at the mainland beach town Nafplio; a couple of days in Athens; and four days on non-motorized Hydra island.

This was the first time we've tried a bus tour, so we didn't know what to expect. It was great! Not only did we have a great guide and driver, there were only 13 people on the tour (on a full size tour bus) and we were the only Americans. The only other kid in the group was the same age as our younger daughter, and they got along great (she's from New Zealand, so language wasn't a problem). Five members of our group were from Brazil, and the other was a Aussie traveling on her own.  I can't imagine a better group; we had a great time together visiting the ancient theatre at Epidaurus, the site of the original Olympic Games, and Delphi.

At the starting line of the 200m "stadia" run at the original Olympic stadium

It was hard to say goodbye to our new friends, but we were ready for a little beach time, so we boarded the Greek equivalent of Greyhound bus to Nafplio. In this seaport town and original capital of independent Greece, we found ourselves surrounded by Greeks; relatively close to Athens, Nafplio is a popular weekend getaway for Athenians (about one third of all Greek residents live in the Athens metro area). We enjoyed hiking to the hilltop fortifications, swimming in the warm and salty water of the Aegean, watching beautiful sunsets and eating tasty Greek food. If you ever get a chance to visit Nafplio, be sure to stay at the Pension Rigas and say hi to Lena for us.

View of Arvanitia beach from the hilltop fortification

Rested after our beachy sojourn, we returned to Athens to see the sights. Climbing the Acropolis was a peak experience for me, but I think the rest of the family preferred viewing it from the air-conditioned comfort of the Acropolis Museum restaurant. We really appreciated that many of the ancient sites stay open until 8 pm, since the middle of the day felt really warm to us, with temperatures in the mid- to upper-90s (high 30's Celsius). We chose to visit several wonderful museums (such as the Acropolis Museum and the National Archaeological Museum) when it was hottest, saving the sites for the early morning or evening. We even had time to ride the funicular to the top of Lycavittos Hill for a great view of Athens and the Acropolis. That was on one of the hottest days, so we followed up with some liquid refreshment, including my new favorite coffee drink, Cappuccino Freddo.

Iced espresso, lightly sweetened, topped with frothed milk foam. Yum!

Before we left for this trip, several friends (who must have been watching the news earlier this year) asked us if it's safe to visit Greece. We felt very safe, even when surrounded by camping protesters when walking through Constitution Square. Greeks are proud of their ancient democratic heritage as well as more modern democratic practices such as free and spirited public debate, and rightfully so.

Photo credit Tilemahos Efthimiadis

Athens was great, but we were ready for a break from the noise of the big city. Fortunately we had saved the most relaxing part of our trip for last. We boarded a high-speed FlyingCat catamaran to the non-motorized island of Hydra, and saw this when we disembarked:

Hydra Island is officially non-motorized

Admittedly donkeys aren't silent, but there is something relaxing about listening to them clop-clopping up the cobblestone paths. The best time of the day for donkey-watching is early in the morning, when the pack trains queue up at the waterfront to load up cases of tomatoes, bottled water and sacks of hay for deliveries all over Hydra town. We spent four very relaxing days swimming, playing cards, napping and celebrating our 28th wedding anniversary, which was a great excuse for eating more delicious Greek food (including grilled octopus, stuffed grape leaves, gyros, and the very yummy vegan giant beans).

Does anyone have a recipe? These are so good!

We loved Greece! Maybe it's the delicious food, maybe it's the warm and sunny Mediterranean climate, maybe it's the warm and friendly people. It's probably a combination of all the above and more. One thing I'm sure about: we'll be back.

Goodbye, Hydra town

Ride Across the Netherlands, the Last Day

Although it wasn't marked as such, this appeared to be the end of LF7

Woke up late, must have needed the rest. Breakfast was much like Belgium - a melange of the best cultural elements of France and the Low Countries - in addition to the usual coffee, boiled egg, ham, jam, and yogurt, there were two kinds of aged cheese including a wedge of deliciously moldy blue, plus baguette, croissant, and my favorite pastry, pain au chocolate. Our breakfast host, who speaks Dutch (the regional language in this part of Belgium) and French but not English, asked me how to say "eet smakelijk" in English. I pondered this for a moment, then pronounced: bon appetit. We shared a bit of a giggle about this linguistic oddity.

The skies were threatening but we rode dry and fast. Found the turnaround point south of Maastricht by about noon and rode back to the station by about one o'clock. A quick stop at the station Albert Heijn for sandwiches and juice, and we were on the train headed north. Enjoyed a conversation with an Amsterdam University student on the train. He was bringing his grandfather's bike back to school, his third bike this year - the first two were both stolen - a common problem in Amsterdam but fortunately something we have yet to experience.

Heading north near the terminus of the LF7 in Kanne

Arrived home by 3 o'clock to a sudden dose of reality: Tim had a business dinner in Nuenen so I drove him to the restaurant and continued into the village to find a cafe where I could reflect about our week on the bike path. 

Our experience was in many ways typical of this lovely country: varied, pleasant, and with adventures to suit the taste of Goldilocks. In a relatively short time we saw a wide array of landscapes and met people from different walks of life; even the weather joined in the display of variety. We cycled through two countries and passed within a few kilometers of a third. It was an idyllic first European touring experience.

Are we planning another cycling adventure? You bet! Where would you go? Suggestions welcome!

Our route to Maastricht and home again.

Ride Across the Netherlands, Day 2

Bedankt, Mireille, for this wonderful ontbijt!

After an amazing breakfast in our little caravan, we rode to the dunes national park on the west side of Texel, then to the ferry back to the mainland. In Den Helder we visited the Dutch Navy Museum where among other things we toured a cold war era submarine and a 19th century ironclad ship.

Then we had a tough ride along the seawall, about 8km with a very strong headwind. After that the wind was not so bad. We rode through more dunes along the west coast, then turned inland through some beautiful, wild farmland. We saw many houseboats along the canals in that area, several windmills, and lots of thatched houses, including a new house being thatched. Then through some woods until we came to the long-distance route 7, the "Overland Route" which we'll be following the remainder of our trip.

Start of LF7

Our ride for the day ended in Alkmaar. We had time for a quick visit to a beer museum, and a pause for refreshment in the basement pub. Our hosts for the night, courtesy of Vrienden op de Fiets, are a very nice couple with a beautiful home. 

Our Vrienden in Alkmaar had a peaceful view of the canal 

We showered and went out for dinner at a Scottish restaurant, where we enjoyed a new beer, Hielander Porter, custom brewed for the restaurant. More Belgian than British, but still very good. It was a warm evening so we made good use of the late sunset by taking ourselves on a self-guided walking tour of the town. Alkmaar is beautiful, kind of like a little Amsterdam, which we'll cycle through tomorrow.

For the truly curious, here is a link to a map of our route this day (the first real riding day of our birthday trip).

Donderdag

Photo credit: Joop Ankerman

Thursday (Donderdag) is late shopping night in Venlo. On other days, most shops in the downtown area shut at 6 pm; on Thursday they stay open until 8 or even 9 pm.

This makes Thursday a good night to head downtown, have a drink or an early dinner, and do some shopping. There are many places to choose from for a drink or dinner. At this time of the year, the days are long and the weather warm enough to sit outside on one of the squares. Each restaurant has its own tables, many under the cover of umbrellas in case of showers. The photo above shows the historic city hall which graces the main square in town.

We had planned to go out for dinner and shopping this week, but wet weather during the day added some uncertainty to our plans. Fortunately the clouds blew away and the weather was fine. We chose a restaurant on the main square which has a seasonal asparagus menu. White asparagus is the special food at this time of year, and the traditional way to eat it is with ham, boiled potatoes, a hard boiled egg and melted butter for dipping. The white asparagus has a subtle flavor compared to green, and is slightly sweet. It goes well with the local pilsner beer.

A bonus was the 16-man brass band that appeared on the square to play popular tunes, including a few we recognized. Saturday is Koninginnedag, Queen's Day, and we figured the performance was a warm up for the festivities, which begin Friday night. Regardless of the reason for the band, it did create a festive atmosphere.

We did end up doing a bit of shopping, but for me, Donderdag is about enjoying life ... whether the shops are open or not.