April 2017 – Wanderwiles

Kaunas, Lithuania: Ninth Fort and Old Town

The enormous Ninth Fort memorial to the more than 30,000 Nazi victims killed there. David is standing substantially in front of it, so the scale is not immediately obvious.

Now that we’re back from our Baltic ramble, I’ll be catching up on Wanderwiles. We were just too busy and too much on the move for me to want to spend much time live-blogging. – Tamara

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Our second day trip out of Vilnius was to Kaunas, the second largest town in Lithuania. It’s an easy 1h 15m drive on the E85, a well-maintained highway between the two cities. The main attraction for me was the Ninth Fort, one of a chain of a Lithuanian defensive forts that had been commandeered by both Soviets and Nazis over the years. The Nazis used it as a prison and deportation camp as well as a site of execution. There’s an enormous memorial there (see above) to the more than 30,000 victims of fascism who died there as well as a museum. At least 10,000 Jews were taken from Kaunas by the Nazis and executed there in what became known as the Kaunas Massacre. read more

Lithuania’s island castle of Trakai

One of Lithuania’s most famous and picturesque sites, Trakai Castle, lies an easy 40-minute drive from Vilnius. Like most historic sites in Lithuania, the castle has been rebuilt. The restoration was well-executed and visitors are free to wander throughout most of the castle where museum displays tell the story of the castle and preserve artifacts relating to its history.

This type of coin/medallion decoration was very popular

The museum is spread out over many rooms on various floors of the castle keep and in the outer ward of the reconstructed castle

Trakai was once a major power hub, but the city dwindled to a small town and island castle fell into ruins. Old paintings in the museum show the castle ruins looking like a romanticists fantasy. Wars and economics halted the reconstruction many times, but it’s now complete and worth the visit. read more

Vilnius, Lithuania

Gedimino prospekt, the Champs Elysées of Vilnius

I wrote this live-time in Vilnius, but wanting to focus on our current travels and a shortage of Internet time have me posting later:

We launched our Baltic adventure with a Belgium Airlines flight from Brussels to Vilnius. We cruised through the classic train-station-like Vilnius Airport, picked up our Addcar rental (far and away the best rent car deal I found in the Baltics) and–with only a short walk with luggage in the rain to our car–we were off. Things got a little snarled after that when none of my email servers would let me send or receive the emails I needed to make contact with our AirBnB hostess’ mother. We parked behind the pharmacy she’d used as a landmark in a typical Eastern European graffiti-covered alley/parking area while I messaged our hostess, Ruta, who was vacationing in Paris to let her know I couldn’t reach her mother. Meanwhile, David wandered around asking random strangers until he actually found a co-worker of Ruta’s mom and we finally got things moving. (If only Ruta had said her mother worked in the pharmacy, there’d have been no problem at all!) In minutes, we were settled into our lovely apartment. From that moment on, things flowed smoothly. We love Vilnius! read more

Hallerbos, the Blue Forest of Belgium

A year or so ago, a friend (Thank you, Robin!) sent me an article with an extended list of beautiful places in Europe. Somewhere around 37 of 50, I came across the “Blue Forest” of Belgium. Despite all the time I’ve spent in Belgium and France, this was new to me. When David and I agreed to housesit again in Antwerp, I was thrilled to see that we might be in Belgium for the wild bluebell bloom that turns Hallerbos into the Blue Forest for a couple of weeks a year, usually in the last half of April. read more

Chimay Blue 2017 vs. Westvleteren 12: a surprise

Maybe it was the little plastic glasses??

David decided it was time to do our side-by-side tasting of Chimay Blue 2017 and one of the Westvleteren 12’s we picked up a few weeks ago at the abbey. While we’d had absolutely no trouble distinguishing a St. Bernardus Abt 12 (in either bottle or tap) from the Westy, we were stunned to find the Chimay Blue 2017 to be startlingly similar to the Westvleteren 12. We went into this side-by-side expecting to taste two extraordinary beers, but not expecting them to be nearly indistinguishable when first opened and served cold. Wow. We were so startled by the similarities that we fetched two new glasses and did a blind side-by-side. (We’d started with four plastic Leffe tasting chalices, knowing we were being slightly sacrilegious, but liking the idea of four identical small glasses.) The differences became more apparent as the beers warmed, but still. The Chimay Blue 2017 is really an exceptional beer…and so much easier to come by than the Westvleteren 12. Thankfully we’ve got 3+ cases of Westy 12 to work our way through (and will do our best to score two more when we’re back in Belgium in the fall), but we know that’s a rare privilege, so it’s good to know the Chimay Blue 2017 is out there. read more

Keukenhof: Holland’s magical tulip park

Keukenhof in the Netherlands is world-famous for its spectacular display of spring flowers, the undisputed queen of which is Holland’s iconic tulip. The park is only open eight weeks from mid-March through mid-May for the spring flowering season. It is the showcase for the Dutch floricultural sector with an emphasis on bulbs. Each year, 7 million flower bulbs are hand-planted in Keukenhof. The season kicks off with daffodils, crocuses and hyacinth. The tulips are usually not in full bloom until mid-April. read more

Rent car anomalies; snagging a deal

Our spiffy Skoda Fabia cost us a lot less than if I’d chosen a different code on Avis’ web site

We booked a rent car this week for a daytrip from Antwerp to see the tulip fields and gardens of Keukenhof in the Netherlands. We’ve rented cars several times now in Antwerp that we pick up at Antwerp’s gorgeous Centraal train station. There are several rental companies there: Avis, Hertz, Budget and Europcar. Avis and Budget share a small office as do Hertz and Europcar. I think we’ve used all four companies now, but Avis seems to offer the best deal for short rentals. It also presents a classic rent car anomaly that I thought was worth pointing out. read more

Mechelen, Belgium: Why is this place not on tourist radar?? (And how awesome that it’s not!)

Located a mere 15-minute train ride from Antwerp’s Centraal Station and 15-25 minutes from Brussels, Mechelen, Belgium, is an overlooked gem. I’ve seen several lists of “Most Beautiful Towns in Belgium” (Beauty definitely abounds in Belgium.), but none mentioning Mechelen. Old Town Mechelen is delightfully reminiscent of Bruges and Ghent and lesser “most beautifuls,” but without the mobs of tourists. Mechelen is home to two UNESCO World Heritage sites: the medieval St. Rumbold’s Tower that soars above the magnificent St. Rumbold’s Cathedral and the Large Beguinage, a complex that once housed a religious sisterhood similar to nuns, but adhering to less strict vows. (Other beguinages can be found in other Belgian cities, including Antwerp.) With the weather forecast calling for bluebird skies and a high in the low 70F’s, David and I hopped the train yesterday (a mere 13 minutes from our local Antwerpen-Berchem station) to spend a gorgeous Sunday wandering the picturesque cobblestone streets and plazas of Mechelen. read more

Carnaval de La Louvière in southern Belgium

[Beer tasting, the Tour of Flanders bike race, and general busyness with life in Antwerp distracted me from posting this promptly. The Carnaval de La Louvière was the weekend before last, March 26-28 9 (Sun. – Tues.)]

One of the first things I do after basic travel plans (dates, transport, lodging) are set is check the holiday and festival/event schedule for a destination. Bank holidays are especially worth knowing since they can change opening dates and hours for things you really want and/or need to do. Festivals and events can effect practical things, too (like anticipated crowds, parking, elevated prices, etc.), but they can also be tons of fun and unique experiences not to be missed. read more