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 As you know, we love driving around a country. I’m not sure it’s more economical than public transportation, but it certainly becomes more depending on the number of people you are traveling with, and on this stint, it was four of us. We arrived in Germany and proceeded to the rental car desk, where we were in for a shocker. Yes, we can have our credit card be the overriding insurance carrier on the car, except that since we were not from the European Union, we were going to have to produce written authorization from the credit card company to do so. What?! We have never, ever had to do this before in any country. But, the lady was adamant and suggested we call our company and have them fax it, sometimes that works. Well, two hours later another lady told us it rarely works, and we’re burning beer, um, tour time. We paid the insurance. Unfortunately it did not start our Germany portion of the trip out very positively.
Thankfully, it quickly got better, though, as we drove through relatively mild, fast, and mostly courteous traffic to the quaint city of Bamberg. I had never been here before, but the city center is a World Unesco Heritage Site, so we figured it was a great place to head. We were not dissappointed. After finding our apartment, we sped downtown to find dinner and our first draft beer of the entire holiday.
The city is divided into two parts by a river. It was full of half-timbered houses painted in brown, white, and even yellow or blue. The town hall, which straddles the river, was richly covered with frescoes. Kayakers were making there way along the river with larger vessels, and the sun was setting to bring out those golden glows of the late afternoon. Walking through the streets was almost magical at this hour.
After a full-blown Schwabian meal of pork, potatoes, gravy, and beer, we again walked around for a little while before heading to the Schenkerla, for a smoke beer or “rauch bier,” a tradition that the tavern has been serving up for about seven centuries. The Schenkerla is very traditional with the beer being drawn from the wooden barrel. They only served two kinds of beer, and I didn’t really care for either of them, but I have to say after a couple of them we weren’t worrying about that rental car insurance anymore!
 A Radler is the result of true German ingenuity. From the love of beer comes a drink that only has half the alcohol content. It’s perfect for lunch or anytime before the 5:00 beer hour. A simple creation, the radler is half lemon lime soda and half beer. It can be found in any gasthaus, restaurant, [... Relishing the Radler!]
 Chocolade Bolletjes in S'Hertogenbosch
I was visiting a friend, and we went to the Netherlands to see some of both hers and my old stomping grounds. She took me to S’Hertogenbosch or just “Den Bos” to locals where her family has a long history. Most of her ancestors had been bakers and one famous guy, Jan [... The Famous Chocolate Balls of Jan de Groot]
 I would have to say that one of the Dutch foods that I love so well is pancakes. I know, lots of countries do pancakes…but not like the Dutch. They make a meal out of them–morning, noon, and night. You can see signs for pancakes everywhere you go in Holland. They are thinner than the pancakes I’m [... De Pannekoekenbakker – Restaurant Review]
 The one of the fantastic things about living in Europe is the proximity to so many things to see and do. Living in Turkey, we’re a little removed from that, but we always have to fly through central Europe when traveling back to the U.S., which we do every year thanks to the U.S. government.
This year, [... Whirlwinding Europe Starting in Belgium]
 I am a budget traveler, but I have to tell you, Botswana wasn’t a budget experience. As we were preparing to plan for our trip there, there was just too much to see. I came across a great website, Drive Botswana, and gave them a call.
The conversation went something like this:
Me: I would like a quote [... Time-lapse Botswana]
 One of the great things about living in Turkey is that it is almost entirely surrounded by water. Where there is water, there are ferries to interesting places. Along the western coast, many of these ferries goo to Greek islands. Last year we took one to Rhodes, and this year we tried the small island of [... Day-tripping to Chios]
 You cannot, no matter what all the guide books say, do Thessaloniki in one day. We were there on a Monday, and therefore none of the museums were open. All we did was visit the Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments of the city, which were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.
So we walked and [... Gawking at Icons and Frescoes in Thessalonika]
 As per our usual, we rented a car to drive to the few places that we had on our itinerary. Greece has both large roads in pretty good condition (most of which you have to pay a toll) and small roads that wind up and down large mountains with exceptional scenery. Even though we would rather [... Driving to Thessaloniki]
Temple of Apollo
The Temple of Apollo on Mt. Parnassus was revered in ancient times as the place to come, make a significant sacrifice, confer with the oracle, and reap your rewards. Many influential citizens of the time did just that, and the Delphi is mentioned over and over in history. We came not knowing what to [... Searching for the Oracle of Delphi]
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