On every trip I took from Maastricht up north to Utrecht or Amsterdam there was a stop called ‘s-Hertogenbosch. How to even pronounce that? I thought, but it’s pretty straightforward if you use the short Den Bosch, a little gem
Visions of Wurzburg : Germany
Würzburg is a lovely town in northern Bavaria, a quick getaway trip from Frankfurt or Munich. It has a very picturesque old town next to the wide Main River, with the imposing Fortress Marienberg, reachable by very old bridges from
Visions of Poznan : Poland
It’s been 20 years since I last visited Poland under very different circumstances in a time following the Soviet collapse, so I’ve been wanting to go back and visit for quite some time. Looking for a quick weekend getaway, it
Visions of Girona : Spain
Girona is a charming often overlooked town. I wasn’t planning to do anything much there myself, but my cheap RyanAir landed in that airport, and I heard it has a charming old quarter and great views from the university and
Visions of Belgrade : Serbia
I did a crazy 10 days tour of the Balkans a few years back, but have not made it to Serbia, and so decided to take a weekend to go and visit. Since it was very short, I could only do
Visions of Valkenburg : Netherlands
Netherlands is filled with surprises. Just 20mins by train or bus from Maastricht to the east in the Limburg province in southern Netherlands, is the lovely town of Valkenburg. It has, TA-DA, hills! hills so high (compared to the rest
Visions of Lisbon : Portugal
During the one week off for carnival in the Netherlands, I took off for a first visit to Portugal. I knew very little about Portugal, and had absolutely zero expectations. Despite rainy gloomy weather most days I visited, I can
Visions of Delft : Netherlands
Last newyears I stayed in the Hague-Rotterdam area and was looking for something to explore in the area. Although I haven’t heard anything about Delft from anyone, it showed up on the map between the two main cities so I decided
Visions of Rotterdam : Netherlands
Around newyears time I was visiting the Hague area and had a chance to drop in to the nearby Rotterdam for the first time to see the city in the freezing cold following a night of buzzing and partying. The
Visions of Valencia : Spain
Valencia may have been just another Spanish city with a nice old city center, but just before saying my goodbyes I went to see the new City of Arts and Sciences and was in for a big surprise. I heard