Our Travel Blog
Small German towns with half-timbered houses are certainly romantic places to visit. And Germany has an abundance of these. To English speakers, they look similar to ‘Tudor Style’ houses, where parts of the outside walls have wooden beams, but that is where the comparison stops. …
When I lived in the Netherlands, I worked in Rotterdam for a while and saw these Cube Houses being built (circa 1985). I left the Netherlands before they were finished, so it was only fitting we went to check them out during this trip. What …
When you visit Europe you cannot help but notice the cobblestone streets, which you see everywhere – even in the new parts of the city.
When I grew up in the Netherlands, I thought nothing of it, but now, with Linda, I am seeing Europe “through her eyes”. In other words, I now “see” the details that surprise her, things that are “common” in Europe, but rarely seen in the US.
One such occasion happened to us while we were walking through the cobblestone streets of Bruges in Belgium.
We spotted these guys, paving sections of the street that had been opened up for some replacement of underground pipes. I had grown up seeing this all the time so thought little of it. To Linda however, it was “WOW! he is hand laying EVERY SINGLE paver”!
Check out the video on how he was going about it. Note that he was (on the fly) laying them in a pattern while at the same time, placing them so that the road section was slightly higher in the middle (to ensure water run-off). If you look carefully, you’ll see a string down the center of the road. That is the “high point” of the road and each side slopes slightly down from there. It was excellent to see him doing this so effortlessly.
Note that this happens ALL OVER places in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany etc. Not just in older parts of a town but even in new developments. There are different kinds (shapes) of cobblestones and they get laid in a variety of different kinds of patterns.
This is how they build streets, perhaps because the streets are (often) too narrow for large concrete trucks, perhaps it’s just how they like to do it.
Who knows, but it’s pretty cool..
We just had to do Bruges, that awesome (and world famous) Belgian town known for its historic center and placement on UNESCO’s world-heritage list. It did not disappoint. Our AirBnB is right on the edge of the old town center and nothing is more than …
Of all the things that The Netherlands is famous for, canals and windmills are perhaps the most known (tulips too, but that is not part of this blog post 😂). Most people take those two somewhat for granted, but there is a connection between the …
One of the things the Netherlands is famous for is the Delft Blue porcelain stoneware – vases, tableware and many other beautifully crafted items. All feature the distinct “white and blue” designs that over the years has become the iconic look of this kind of stoneware.
So we decided to visit the official Royal Delft Blue porcelain museum, located in the town of Delft, from where the line gets its name.
The museum is called “De Porceleyne Fles”, which translates into “the porcelain bottle”.
The museum is super interesting and offers a self-guided tour. You get a headset, that when held against the various hotspots in the museum, tells you about the item on display in that part of the museum. The headsets come in a variety of languages, so is truly a multi-cultural experience.
We learned about the history of this earthenware. Its roots lie in the Dutch appreciation of Chinese porcelain, which also featured a white and blue look. Initially, the dutch potters copied that look, but the Chinese imports were still preferred as the porcelain was of higher quality (meaning it did not break as easily). However, when turmoil in China caused the import to dry up, the Dutch potters’ offerings picked up considerably and the increased competition led to a higher quality of porcelain. The Dutch pottery industry thrived and grew to a large number of potteries – 34 of them just in Delft alone!
Things changed however with the French occupation of Holland combined with the the UK-based Wedgwood pottery which was of superior quality and, finally, to the discovery of a clay that that dried to a “bone white” color, thus eliminating the need to glaze the stoneware first, before painting the final designs.
As a result, the Delft Blue porcelain pottery industry collapsed, with the “Porceleyne Fles” being the only surviving pottery in Delft. This was the year 1840 (they were founded in 1653, so was already over 200 years old).
The pottery struggled and changed hands a few times until, in 1876 it was sold to a local engineer with a vision. Under his reign new (and vastly improved), methods of production were introduced, that resulted in superior porcelain earthenware that captured the attention of people around the world.
This period was truly the “turnaround” of the Delft Blue line of earthenware, culminating in 1919, when the term “Royal” was added to the name, making it “Royal Delft Blue”, a name it still has today.
The strength of the line allowed scope for some diversification and new product lines were introduced. Lines like Black Delft pottery and even a line of industrial, architectural glazed tiles were introduced. Collaboration with local Dutch artists also produced product lines for special interest groups, but all had one thing in common; the Baking and Glazing process.
This baking and glazing process is still a very “manual” one, honoring the time-tested methods that gave the line its reputation. Molds are made by hand, the clay mix is prepared by hand, poured into the molds by hand, placed into the ovens, one-by-one, by hand, painted by hand, then backed again and, finally, manually inspected before deemed to be “perfect” for sale. Needless to say, this manual process makes the pieces expensive, partially due to the time and number of people involved, but also because this process limits the sheer number of pieces that can be made. Each mold can only be used between 80 and 100 times.
Quite a fascinating history of rise, collapse and comeback, mostly thanks to one man with a vision and some natural marketing instincts. The Royal Delft Blue Porcelain is a great Dutch “success story”!
We rode the Jacobite Steam train when in Scotland. This train was made famous by the Harry Potter movies, where it was featured as “The Hogwarts Express”. In fact, the train was featured in TWO of the Harry Potter movies, the first, “Harry Potter and …
Applecross is a small community on the far western shores of Scotland. It’s “claim to fame” is the road in and out. This road to Applecross takes you through some of the most desolate parts of Scotland, on one of those single-track roads I …
On occasion, Linda and I both enjoy a glass of Single Malt Scotch Whiskey so we were determined to visit at least one distillery when in Scotland.
A natural choice was the Dewar’s distillery as it was close to the AirBnB we were sharing with my sister.
Alas, it was closed so we started to look for others that were not too far away to drive to. As it turned out, The Glenturret Distillery, Scotland’s oldest whiskey distillery was less than one hour away! We booked for the tour and off we went.
The tour was awesome!
The tour guide explained that the Glenturret distillery still operates with the original equipment and “only” produces 200,000 liters of whiskey per year, way less than some of the larger, better known, brands. They like it that way though, as it allows them to maintain a more, “hand crafted” approach, honoring the traditional distilling methods that are hundreds of years old. They even measure their alcohol content without any modern devices, instead using a method with water and glass tubes. Many of the other (perhaps better known) distilleries have had to automate these processes in order to speed-up and increase their production.
The Glenturret Distillery also, quite proudly, announced that just earlier this year several of their whiskeys had won awards. In March 2023 The Glenturret Triple Wood received the International Wine and Spirit Competition’s (IWSC) highest accolade with a score of 99. Then, in April 2023, two of their other whiskeys were awarded the Grand Gold Award at the International Trophy Awards. The winning whiskeys were The Glenturret 10 Years Old and the The Glenturret 15 Years Old, very prestigious labels they have achieved multiple times.
When touring the plant, it was very evident this was a traditional and small distillery. There was only a single still and the roasting machine (for barley) was 126 years old and still in use. They made the comment that the original manufacturer had gone out of business, simply because their machines never broke down – not surprising, but quite amazing.
They get their water for the distillation process from Loch Turret, not the river Turret that runs right past the plant. The main reason they don’t uses that water is the amount of sheep in the pastures that the creek runs through.
By the way, “Glen” is the Scottish word for “Valley” so the distillery’s name literally means “Valley of Turret” and the distillery lies at the entrance to the valley.
Needless to say, the tour ended with a tasting. We got to sample two different whiskeys, their “10 year old” version and one with a hint of “Peat”, a smokey flavor that comes from toasting the barley with heat from burning Peat, the locally sourced organic material that, when dried and turned into briquettes, burns nicely, very similar to coal.
We really liked the peated version, so much so, we ordered a bottle online, it will be delivered to my sister’s house in Gouda, the Netherlands where it will be waiting for us when we get there.
As a small side note, the Glenturret distillery used to have a cat, to get ride of the mice that inevitably will enter the rooms where the barrels are left to age. This cat, named Towser, was entered in the Guinness Book of Records for having caught the largest number of mice ever caught by a cat. No idea how they counted this cat’s conquests, but the book of records state it was a massive 28,899 mice in her lifetime. She lived until the grand old age of 24! There is a statue with a plaque of her in their courtyard.
Now we can’t wait until we get that bottle when we next see my sister.
The Isle of Skye has has been occupied in prehistoric times and was originally settled by the Gaelic-speaking Scots from Ireland during the first centuries BC. Norsemen ruled the island from the 9th to the 12th century. More “recent” history sees the island as the …