Goes to Domburg

Last Wednesday, Mom, Tony, and I met our old neighbor, Myriam, in Goes for lunch. We walked through the city and by the harbor to her house, where she treated us to a wonderful lunch of goat-cheese, honey, and roasted pine nut sandwiches. After lunch, she took us around the peninsula in her car, stopping at interesting sites along the way.

Our first stop was in Yerseke, where we got to see the oyster pits and fishing boats docked in the harbor.
Next we stopped in the picturesque village of Veere. We enjoyed an ice cream cone as we walked along the water and down the main street. Our tour ended in the seaside village of Domburg.
We dropped our bags off at the Kasteel Westhoven, where we would spend the night, and headed into the small village for a bite to eat. After dinner (and a rain storm), we walked back to the castle along the ocean and through the dunes, being very careful not to step on one of the frogs we passed along the way.

Bike Ride #2

On Sunday we took another bike ride through Limburg. We took a 40 km loop from Maastricht through Eijsden to Libeek and back to Maastricht.

We stopped just outside of Eijsden to wander around the grounds of the Eijsden Castle.

It took us an hour to ride uphill from Eijsden to Libeek. We wanted to see the vakwerk houses - the German style houses with the exposed dark beams and white-washed walls.

After looking at the houses we returned to Eijsden - in less than 15 minutes. It was all downhill on the way home. After coasting down the hills, we returned to Maastricht alongside the Maas River.

The rest of the pictures from the bike ride can be found here.

Driving through Ireland

And now back to Ireland...

After enjoying a full Irish fry for breakfast (AKA a heart attack on a plate), we were ready for more exploring. Our plan for Sunday was to slowly drive back to Dublin, stopping whenever we saw something that caught our eye.

The view of the Burren from Corkscrew Hills

We stopped for a pint at the oldest pub in Ireland (c.900 AD) in the city of Athlone

An old castle just before Bell Harbour

Matt climbing on centuries old ruins

The ruins were like our own personal castle playground!

An abbey just outside of Bell Harbour

An out building from the abbey

We stopped in Trim to see the large castle ruins in Ireland

As if one castle wasn't enough, there were ruins of a second castle in Trim just across the river in a city park

Our last stop for the day was a ruined monastery/cemetery on the outskirts of Trim

The Celtic crosses in the cemeteries were beautiful

The rest of our pictures from this day can be found here.

Burren

We spent Saturday morning lazily driving through the Burren. With the benefit of having a car, we were able to slowly drive through an area, pop out of the car for photos and small hikes, and enjoy the scenery from Athlone to Doolin. The Burren is an area in western Ireland that has a unique landscape made up of a limestone plateau that is covered in flora. Also dotting the landscape are hundreds of Norman ruins, dolmens, wedge tombs, rock walls, and lots and lots of sheep.


The rest of our photos from this morning can be found here.

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene...

Verona, a short day trip from Milan or Venice, should be visited for so many reasons that have nothing to do to with Romeo and Juliet.

1. The train ride through hundreds of acres of vineyards and beautiful countryside


2. Roman Ruins - city gates, an arena, and a theater
   

3. Beautiful Bridges with lovely views
   
4. Picturesque squares with plenty of sidewalk cafes to enjoy the local wines: Amarone & Soave
   
5. Sweeping views of the Italian countryside from the handful of towers
   
6. Walks down narrow cobblestone streets and staircases
   
7. The castle on a hill
   
8. Stunning and diverse architecture
   

Montreux

On the way from Gryon to Geneva we hopped out of the train in Montreux to visit a castle and see more of the Swiss Riviera. Montreux is a beautiful lake-side resort town full of beautiful buildings, green parks, and - apparently - artists and musicians.


We started our visit by walking the 3km lake-side path to the Chateau de Chillon. The path was flanked on both sides by trees, flowers beds, greenery, and trolls. Yes, that's right - trolls. Every hundred meters or so a scene of trolls was played out in colorful topiaries. We are not sure why they were the mascots of the path, but they were a fun addition to the walk. Also along the way, we past the Casino de Montreux (which burned down in 1971 and inspired Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water), a statue of Freddie Mercury, and the vineyard that supplies the grapes to the castel winery.
The Chateau, or castle, at the end of the walk was our first look at a real medieval castle. The whole castle was open to visit and we wandered through cellars, prisons, bedrooms, dining halls, lookout towers, and interior couryards.


After our tour, we hopped on the tram back to town and visited the artists and musicians garden outside the building that holds the annual jazz festival. We were greeted with statues of B.B. King, Ella Fitzgerald, and Ray Charles, just to name a few.

Then it was back to Geneva to discover more of the old town. To see the rest of the pictures from Montreux, including more trolls, click here.