Nice restaurants provide a free carafe of tap water on request. This is how the conversation goes: Waiter: Would you like water? You: Yes please. Waiter: Still or with gas? (Almost tricking you into ordering a bottle.) You: Tap water will be perfect thank you, I hear you have wonderful tap water here, I’ve been…
Early spring is tulip time and a fantastic time of year to visit Holland. Keukenhof Gardens is an extravaganza of shapes and colours of tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, orchids, lilies, cherry blossom, apple blossom, wisteria, and a whole lot more too! If you visit Amsterdam in April you really must visit Keukenhof Gardens. People often ask…
Reypenaer Cheese is fabulous. I always describe it as the kind of cheese that Dutch people buy each other for Christmas. They buy really high-quality cheese and they let them age slowly and carefully. If I could only eat 2 more Dutch kinds of cheese in my life, ever, they would be the 10-month goat’s…
Andrea of Budapest guide is the owner/operator of Budapest guide and gives excellent and affordable private tours. Disclaimer: I’ve not actually been on a tour of her’s yet but I added her here as she comes so highly recommended by customers on my tours. Andrea is not only recommended by my clients but also Rick…
One of the great things about living in Amsterdam is being so close to Paris! Lee and I love tours and we make a point of trying other tour companies in different cities. We saw a good deal on the TVG train and hopped on board for a day trip to Paris to try out…
De Belhamel is a long-established and much-loved restaurant in Amsterdam and I don’t know why it took me so long to eat there. Well, I did today and it was fabulous. It is the kind of place you can really push the boat out and have a superb – and to be fair pricey -…
The Zaanse Schans is both brilliant and rubbish. The rubbish part and, in my opinion, a waste of time is the Zaanse Museum (info mainly in Dutch) and the various so-called museums that are actually shops, like the Bakery Museum, the Cheese Farm, tourist traps supreme). What is totally worth seeing are the windmills along…
This is my favorite read about Amsterdam. Mr. Shorto writes narrative history, so picks out lives of people and uses them to illustrate and enrich the historical tale. I cannot recommend reading this book enough, preferably before you visit. It will enhance your stay here and probably get you coming back for more. I cheekily…
Scandinavian Embassy has been on my list as a place to try coffee for ages. Indeed the coffee was super. They have all sorts of fancy kinds and brews but the bog standard late hit the spot with me. What actually got me off my butt and across town on a cold winter morning was…
Greenwoods has been creating happy customers with their all-day breakfast for years now. Above is the always amazing Eggs Royal as well as ‘The Beast’ which is spinach, pulled pork, perfectly poached eggs with Hollandaise sauce miracle and on the specials board that day. Both were delicious. They have full English breakfasts, lunch offerings like…
