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]]]>

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 De Groot, apparently came up with a recipe for a chocolate ball pastry which became all the rage.  Jan de Groot created the chocolade bolletje around the 1930, and the recipe has been handed down carefully from generation to generation, so now only a few bakers in town really know how to make the “real thing.” 

Her grandfather’s bakery still exists across the street from the railroad station, and it is a very popular stop for locals and tourists alike.  We happened to go there, though, on a Sunday and it was closed.  I was so dissappointed, because I’d had my hopes up for one of these delicacies. 

Not to let it put a damper on our day, we headed down to the city center to wander around.  As we were headed to the main square, there was an open bakery that boasted “Chocolate Balls in the style of Jan de Groot.”  You see the baker wasn’t related to the famous Jan at all, but had bought one of his relative’s bakeries, and along with it the recipe.  He swore up and down that you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between those balls and the ones across from the train station.  We just had to take his word for it, and by golly, they were the best balls I’d ever eaten!  A sinful four to five inches in diameter, it’s basically a huge round cream puff filled with the most decadent thick cream imaginable with a gentle chocolate glaze surrounding it all.  We had one with a cup of coffee, just like every other customer in the joint – no exceptions, and it was heaven!

As we engaged our host, interrogated might be closer to the truth, we found out a little more scandalous family history as well as heard all about how the town bakers had had an all out turf wars over certain famous recipes, in which the balls were only one.  He was kept us laughing throughout our short stop, then sold us a sample of one of the other famous recipes that had been bought from the original descendent of Jan de Groot, a farmer’s cake (Bossche Bouwer’s Koeken).  Somewhere between a fruit cake and a dense nut bread, you could see plenty of hungry Dutchmen tackling this baby.

This year, [... Whirlwinding Europe Starting in Belgium]]]> 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, we are taking a little over a week to visit some sights in Germany, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Austria.  We’re not spending much time, enough time, in any one place, but we’ve lived in both Holland and Germany before and we’ll be revisiting some places and adding a couple of new ones as well.  We’ve once again rented a car, so we’re completely on our own clock.

We fly into Frankfurt, Germany and since it’s such a large city, we check out how much we can do just using the U-Bahns and S-Bahns (local train/metro system).  It’s pretty inexpensive to do a number of cities this way, in fact cheaper than driving.  Unfortunately this time around we’re not really going to take advantage of it.  Next time, we will.

We head to Belgium, where we have no intention of spending the night.  We just are stopping here on our way to where I used to live, near Uden in the Netherlands.  Our main mission was to go the Plantin-Moretus Hous and Workshop Complex in Antwerp.  Antwerp is one of my favorite Belgium cities, and the downtown area is gorgeous with its cathedral, cafes, and ubiquitous buskers.

The Plantin-Moretus house is a museum that was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. Christophe Plantin was one of the most important publishers of his time in the 1500s.  The museum shows his house and living conditions as well as a full workshop with an entire row of printing equipment, as well as a full library, and plenty artwork on all the walls.  One of the funniest things that the tour kept pointing out was the leather walls.  Apparently Christophe had a liking for it.

The museum is somewhat overwhelming.  It is so chock full of important works, from Gutenberg’s bible to Ruben’s paintings, that it’s difficult to retain it all.  The building itself is a great example of the architecture of the time.  This is the type of museum that I like going to, someone’s real living and working quarters with the artifacts in situ.  Fantastic.

Afterwards, we needed some lunch, so we had a sandwich.  I don’t know why Belgian sandwiches are so good.  I think they are some of the best in the world.  I had salmon and capers, but really you could have just about anything.  So good.  Then it was onto Holland, where we didn’t do much else but visit my old stomping grounds (school, house, etc.) and eat.  In fact, my next entry will be a restaurant review of my absolute favorite Dutch restaurant.

The conversation went something like this: Me:  I would like a quote [... Time-lapse Botswana]]]> 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 on a self-drive tour that possibly could include the entire country of  Botswana,seeing not only the Big 5 animals, but all of them.  Oh, and I would like to keep this as inexpensive as possible.
Andy:  No problem, when would you like to come?
Me: In three weeks.
Andy: Choke! Wheeze!  Cough!  Three weeks!?  We’re normally starting this process at least a few months beforehand…but I’ll see what I can do (now that I’ve caught my breath).

Boy did Andy come through.  The price, well let’s just say…not inexpensive, but, as the commercial goes, the experience was priceless!  He had asked me to call him back a couple days later, then sent me a tentative itinerary.  We worked out some of the kinks like my having to visit Tsodilo- the one and only UNESCO World Heritage Site in the country, and voila!  I was ecstatically embarking on a new continent, new country, and an entire slew of new and exciting experiences. At this point, we trusted Andy with our entire trip.  He set up our rental truck, accommodations, food, and some activities.  When we were on site, the people there all knew Andy quite well and if there was a question of what was included or how to pay for something, they didn’t bat an eye.  He is well-respected at all the places and we, in turn, received right royal treatment.

Our itinerary went something like this:

Fly to Livingstone, Zambia to visit Victoria Falls.  Wet, hard to photograph, funny bamboons, wet, beautiful birds, hilarious people, gorgeous, awe-inspiring…oh, and wet!

Andy then sent a hired van to pick us up, take us to the river crossing, then drop us off in at Kubu Lodge in Kasane, Botswana at our first accommodations.  There we picked up our truck and were basically on our own for the remainder of the trip. While in Kasane, we took an evening Chobe river cruise, something that I’d read mixed reviews about online. Therefore, I was a little apprehensive about it, but it turned out to be one of the best wildlife viewing excursions of the trip.  We also drove through the next day, which in retrospect, I wish we had allotted more time, because the abundance of wildlife was astounding.  We even saw lions, albeit they were covered with flies from eating their lunch, so they weren’t as majestic as I had imagined.  I loved the camaraderie of the fellow drivers as we shared info on this sighting and that sighting. 

From Kasane, we moved on to the Caprivi Strip in Namibia for only one night.  Again this probably would require more time, but if you don’t have the time, don’t bother.  The best part of the drive were the views, and the best view was from the customs house border crossing. 

After our brief jaunt into Namibia, we drove to Seronga.  This was one of the most out-of-the-way, and hardest places to get to.  We had to try and get gas and then take a ferry over.  Once there, we took a tour of the Okavango Delta in a mokoro.  These squat, kakhi-colored boats convince you that you could not possibly be closer to the water.  Our guide was a funny man that had lived in the delta his whole life and told us story after story about the peope and animals found there.  At one point, he took us to where a bloat of hippos liked to hang out.  Apparently, he had made friends with one of the more curious females.  He took his pole and slapped the water to call her, and she came to visit.  A male, her male, the male…anyway this guy didn’t like her behavior and anytime he felt she was getting too close called her back.  I don’t think his language is fit to print, but I have to admit, I didn’t really like her getting to close either. I was just as happy that he kept her back where she belonged, safely out of reach.

The next day we were headed for a camp way out in the bush.  At this camp, we could do another delta boat ride, or drive to Tsodilo.  Because this World Heritage Site is so far off the beaten track, we only saw one other group the entire day.  The San people that run the site and museum, were friendly and knowledgeable.  I asked question after question, and our guide was more than happy to answer.  The area driving up to the site is flat and dusty, but the Tsodilo hills appear and you can see why it became such a spiritual spot for the San.  Here, where its been inhabited for over 30,000 years, you can see tons of rock paintings.

Our next stop was Mankwe Lodge.  Talk about luxurious!  I think this ranks up there as one of the few in all of our travels.  Needless to say, we loved be pampered and we loved the camp director, Christopher.  Around the campfire, he regaled us with stories about everything from leopard encounters to his stint in the British SAS somewhere in Indonesia. While there we also had a couple of guided safaris, one at night and one in the daytime.  Then upon leaving, we drove ourself throught the reserve.

One of the final things we did was stay at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary.  We were looking forward to this stop, because we had only seen one rhino before this, and were anxious to have a better look at them.  We were more than rewarded when right away we sighted a female white rhino and her calf.  As this was really our last stop in Botswana, we had driven and driven and driven.  We took a couple rides on the tracks, but then spent an entire day at one of the pans. It was like watching the live version of the “Lion King”.  Taking turns, all different kinds of animals came to the pan to drink.  If the previous slurpers weren’t quite finished, the next ones would wait quietly in the brush until the pan was vacated.  Other drivers came up and saw us there, asked us what we had seen, waited for a few minutes, then left without seeing much.  In one day, we saw everything!  Amazing! It was a great goodbye to this beautiful country.

Ok, so the question is, what animals did we see?  This is not a comprehensive list, but here goes:  elephants, giraffes, rhinos, lions, crocodiles, antelopes galore (everything from bushbuck to kudu), a myriad of birds (bee-eaters to fish eagles), buffalo, mongoose, warthogs, wildebeest, ostriches, hippos, and zebras.

This was a fantastic mix of following the trusted route that Andy set up for us, having wonderful accommodation along the way, and yet being able to spend more or less time, depending on our own style, wants, and needs.  We loved it.  We can’t wait to go back.  Botswana, for me, ranks up there as one of my favorite trips…ever! 

I would love to hear from any and all of you that have done Botswana on a more budget basis.

So we walked and [... Gawking at Icons and Frescoes in Thessalonika]]]> 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 walked around looking at all of the Byzantine Churches dating back to the 13^th century.  I’m not sure how many there are, but we visited about five in a few hours.  They are spread throughout the city, and all of them have their own character and personality (along with the caretakers).

There are Byzantine churches all over Greece and Bulgaria, and it doesn’t take long to recognize them.  They are usually not very large, compactly built with brick.  The arches are rounded and above the windows and doors there is some type of brick or glass filigree to decorate it.  Some of the larger churches won’t necessarily follow this design, but almost all the smaller ones do.   (In Bulgaria, the city of Nessebar has many of them strewn around the city as well.)

The first church we visited was the ___ church.  We were welcomed by the caretaker with candy, and she let us take our time and as many photos as possible.  This kind of ruined us for the rest of the day, when the caretakers were a little less than friendly. 

One of our favorite churches was what we liked to call the “crooked” church, because it was nestled in between a couple of apartment blocks on the corner of a busy street, and it obviously wasn’t on the same level angle as the buildings around it.  It was the smallest church that we visited and it had only a few gorgeous frescoes and icons. 

We also visited the Hagios Demetrios , which has built a special rotunda just to hold the disputed remains of St. Demetrius himself.  The remains are purported to be authenticated after they began to seep myrrh from some of the bones.  People line up single file to enter the chapel where they go in individually to kiss the icons and pray.  St. Demetrius is one of the saints of soldiers and ranks up there with St. George. 

Last on the list was the Hagia Sophia, named after her larger and more famous cousin in Istanbul.  Since Thessonaliki was the second most important city in the Byzantine empire, it was only natural to build such a church.  The church does not disappoint.  It has beautiful golden chandeliers molded in the shapes of birds, beautiful frescoes and icons that shine through its dark interior.

Walking to and through all of the churches we could handle in one day was exhausting, but we did find a great little sandwich shop and baker in the center of the city, called Ble, which I would recommend.  I would have written a pretty nice review on it, but they wouldn’t let me take photos, so that was the end of that. (It was located across the street from the crooked church).