Dutch/Belgian border at Baarle-Nassau

The famous café lying on the border.

Ever seen those famous pictures of a nice café lying just right to the Belgian-Dutch border, noted by a row of crosses? Well this place is no hoax and is located in the Dutch province of North Brabant but is a bit more complicated than simply the "Dutch-Belgian border".



The map-red is NL, yellow is BE-

So inside the Netherlands there are a few pieces of land that are actually Belgium (exclaves). Most of them are located some 5km from the Belgian border but a few are further inside. They belong to the Belgian Baarle-Hertog municipality bordering with the Dutch Baarle-Nassau municipality. But it gets even more complicated. The Baarle-Hertog is not a single piece of land but more than 30 of them scattered all over the North Brabant province! There are a few Dutch pieces of land completely surrounded by Belgian and all located in the Netherlands. In the picture to the left, the yellow parts are Belgium, the red Netherlands and everything around them, Netherlands.




The complicated border line

Tobacco store

 What looks like a mess, is apparently the result of land exchanges and treaties that go way back to the middle ages. The borders as they are today were defined by the treaty of Maastricht of 1834. There have been several attempts throughout the centuries to simply swap pieces of land between the two countries but all have failed.

Today I am pretty sure that no-one is trying anymore as the town is a tourist attraction and created many jobs. On my walk to the Belgian territory I couldn't help noticing the many Tobacco shops (apparently tobacco is cheaper in Belgium) and the many shops selling fireworks (!). I guess its not legal to sell that stuff in the Netherlands.


The easiest way to reach Baarle-Nassau in the Netherlands, is by car. By public transportation, take a train to the city of Breda and then bus 132. It is more than 2hr from Amsterdam.

Apart from walking around in the town in and out of Belgium and Netherlands, the place is full of nice cafes and restaurants. Depending on which side you come from, you can find products to buy at cheaper prices.



Crossing the border

Fun facts

- Few years ago Netherlands and Belgium had different opening hours for restaurants and bars. So places that lied in both countries simply closed the part belonging to the country closing earlier and moved customers to the other that stayed open

- One of the commodities illegally smuggled between the regions was butter, which women put in their dresses. In order to cope with that, the authorities made the border checks next to …furnaces!
- When in 1996 the border was slightly redrawn, one house changed countries. Because the owner did not like that, simply moved his front door to the country of his preference (apparently each house belongs to the country where your front door is located)
- A similar situation with complicated exclaves can be found in the India-Bangladesh border, at the district of Cooch-Behar
 

Some pictures



Borders

Dutch house numbering




Built in two countries

Store in two countries

Sources:
http://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith/baarle.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarle-Nassau
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarle-Hertog
google maps

Wadlopen (Mudflat hiking) in the Wadden Sea, Netherlands

Wadlopers

Wadlopen is something I wanted to do ever since I arrived in the Netherlands. This beautiful northern European country, lacks the wilderness and the feeling of being in the nature that other countries like Sweden and Greece offer. But still wadlopen is something unique and I felt it is one of the most wonderful activities in  nature one can do in this country.

So what is wadlopen? As the English translation implies, it is walking in the mud! Yes, thick, watery, black mud. Sometimes you get to walk inside sea water but most of the route is on mud. And this occurs because when the tide is low between the Dutch mainland and the Wadden sea islands, paths form where actually one can walk. Not all islands can be reachable by walking, either because they are too far and in the duration of a single tide it is not possible or because the tide does not create those paths. The waters in the Wadden sea (that is the sea between mainland Netherlands and the islands) in low tide retracts up to 2 meters.

Follow your guide! Step where he steps..

We had decided to walk to the island of Ameland, the fourth of the West Frisian islands. There are many different option to choose from (either walk to another island or simply walk around returning to the same starting point). The tour started on the same pier where ferry boats leave for the islands, near Holwerd. It was kind of a surprise to see boats going even in low tide. Apparently they follow a designated path which takes them only through deep waters. Anyway, having done some research before booking a tour, I found that there are many groups organizing wadlopen and I decided to go with fryske waedrinners simply because the guy was fastest to response to my email! Yet, the organizer was very helpful and polite. The price is around 25 euros and includes the ferry return ticket.

mud!

The walk to Ameland is almost 13km and takes around 3:30 hours. Depending on the tide, tours can start anywhere from 6:00am to 17:00pm. So each date there is a different tour. We got to start at 9:00am with light rain which was still ok. Our tour took us through mud, water, shells and of course on dry sea bed. Most difficult of all those kinds of terrains admittedly is mud. And because it did not yet have a chance to fully dry, we would get deep into it. To my surprise water was easier to walk in. At one point we got water above waist level and had to walk a few hundred meters in it. And it was not as cold as it might sound. The feeling walking on thousands of shells is also strange. One wrong step and falling on them results in bad injuries.

Walking in water

Arriving in the island of Ameland after 3:30 hours of trekking in the kind of terrain described above and feels kind of rewarding to have made it! Yet, upon hitting the beach, there is a 20min walk (on dry land!) to the facilities where we could wash and change our clothes. We had arranged bicycles to wait for us which we used to wander on the island until the last ferry.

Reflections

The whole walk is not extremely difficult but one needs to be quite fit and be accustomed with water. Swimming is not required (otherwise it would be called Mudflat hikingswimming :-)) but you must not be afraid of it. According to Dutch law no one is allowed to wander around in the Wadden sea and must always be accompanied by a guide holding a special license.

Trip to Japan

Japan is awesome! Well I guess you have heard that from many people who have visited the island of the rising sun. Well, it simply is! When we had already planned our trip and started asking around, we got the same response. Because our expectations were so high that we thought it would not be possible to be so good, we simply stop asking so we would not have any expectations!

We flew in to Narita, the main Tokyo airport. The first person we encountered, even before the passport control simply confirmed what we had been told. Japanese are extremely polite and helpful. After the formalities, we exchanged the JR Pass obtained in the country of origin, with a special permit that allowed us to travel unlimited on all the rail network run by JR plus a few more services. 

Nagoya

Tokyo was the last part of our trip so when landing we took the train to the city of Nagoya, some 350 km south of Tokyo. Nagoya is kind of the Detroit of Japan, the city where major automotive industries have their premises. The first building of Toyota (producing looms) is located there. But having no time to visit that, we wanted to get a feeling of the city and of course the castle located at the center. A convenient bus service takes tourists all around the major attractions. In general Japanese don’t speak English, but signs, maps and instruction leaflets make sure that you are never, ever lost! And if you ask someone for help or directions, chances are that they will get out of their way to help you or go find someone that will.

Kanazawa

The second stop of our trip was Kanazawa, a lovely provincial town on the Eastern Sea (that is the one between Japan and China, the other side being the …Pacific!). What strikes most when arriving in Kanazawa, is the amazing train station. Big and impressive, it uses many inspirations from local architecture, like the giant wooden torii.

Arriving at the hotel, the receptionist was the first person we noticed that bowed. Deep bow like we were the emperors or something. We realized what we had read that all Japanese do that. Also when passing something to us (from a few coins to a large package) they always hand it using two hands, never one. 

Kanazawa itself is a lovely and quiet for Japanese standards, town. Worth visiting are the Kenroku-en gardens, one of the best in Japan. It is important to know, that entrance tickets to attractions in Japan (museums, gardens, temples) are very cheap, compared to European standards. We never paid more than 9euros for entrance. Must visit is also the old part of the city or the Geisha quarters, where a number of traditional wooden and paper houses remain, some open to the public. For bike fans, Kanazawa has a bike system, similar to the one found in many European cities (like Velo in Paris). There are many stations around the city, and unlocked a bike from one, go to another station, leave it there etc. This is the only Japanese town where we found that system and we simply loved it! Note that in Japan it is perfectly normal to cycle on the pavement... 

Hiroshima

Moving on, we took the train to Hiroshima. I had read so much about the bomb, the history, the survivors and visiting this place was a childhood dream. I have to admit I shed a tear or two when I first saw the A-bomb dome, a symbol of nuclear destruction. But apart from that and the museum about the bomb and the Peace memorial park, Hiroshima is a vibrant and modern city. Having nothing traditional to show, the Japanese rebuilt part of the Hiroshima castle, which we did not miss. Like Nagoya, a tourist bus (free with the JR pass) took us around the major sights. We used it for the far away ones (like the amazing Manga library which is located in the mountains) and we experienced the city on foot, as every proper visitor should!

 

A taste one should not miss in Hiroshima is okonomiyaki. A local specialty made of noodles, eggs, bacon pancake and iceberg, it is prepared in front of you in a large metal plate. It is very social thing where many customers sitting around a bar like metal plate have a chance to watch the “chef” preparing the okonomiyaki. For us it was a good chance to meet locals who were curious about where we come from and how we like their country and also for us to ask about their city.

Miyazima

 Close to Hiroshima, is the island of Miyazima, one of the most touristic places of Japan which is accessible by train and then boat (all covered by the JR pass card). Famous because of its large torii, which you can walk or go by boat, depending on the strong tide. We decided to follow the path to the top of the island, some 500m above sea level. The top is also accessible by cable car but for the fit enough, the walking route is strongly recommended. Walking in a beautiful forest, we saw many shrines and dears, which are everywhere on the island! The view of the Pacific and Hiroshima from the top is stunning. Coming back down, near sunset we enjoyed the full colors around the torii. The site is beautiful even at night when the street lights are lit and certainly worth waiting until then. Anyway, ferries and trains run until late. Miyazima is also famous for holding a world record of the largest spatula in the world. To be honest the rest of the sites on the island are far more important, but just mentioning..

Kyoto

Before visiting Tokyo, we stopped for a few days in Kyoto, the old capital of Japan a city rich in attractions. Sparred by the American bombs during WWII, has a huge number of lovely neighborhoods, temples, gardens etc to visit. The sites are all over the city so make sure when arriving at the train station to pick a copy of the bus and metro maps. Being fans of “over ground” rather than “underground” we used bus which is cheap, easy to use and can get a daily ticket right from the hotel reception.

Gion district, Pontocho, the golden pavilion, the silver pavilion, the Philosophers walk are all lovely places to visit. We were lucky enough on a warm night to wander around and find the Kodai-ji gardens open for visit. It was some light festival which we did not know about. Slightly hesitant to visit we decided to give it a go. Wondering around in the garden was one of the most beautiful places I have seen in my life. So peaceful and beautifully lit we did not want to leave the place. If you are lucky enough and it is open when you visit, don’t think twice about entering the gardens. The rest of the attractions in Kyoto are easy to find but be warned that you will face hordes of tourists!

If you plan to shop in Japan, do it in Kyoto. It has everything! Clothes and electronics stores are located in and around the massive train station. We were lucky enough to experience the Japanese attitude towards customers when buying some clothes, the girl at the counter simply did not let us take the bag and go but rather accompanied us with our purchases to the exit of the shop where she handed the bag!

A stone’s throw away is Nara another place full of nice Buddhist temples scattered in a park among hundreds of deer. Most famous is the Todai-ji, built around a Buddha statue of giant proportions. A lovely place to have lunch in Nara is Edogawa, a little old restaurant at the end of the Naramachi shopping arcade. Serving mainly eel it is run by a family (the grandfather welcomed us and daughters served us!) and retains the characteristics of an old Japanese house (wooden, paper windows, tatami).

Also located near to Kyoto and must visit, is Fushimi Inari. A series of torii’s donated mostly by businessmen, they run up on a mountain. The tori are so many and close together that create an excellent path to walk under. Starting at the bottom of the mountain it is extremely crowded but the higher you get the fewer the tourists and can actually enjoy it better.

The only place we did not like during our trip was in Kyoto and it was a theater called “Gion corner”. A huge building in the Gion district, it promises traditional Japanese acts. The acts itself are not bad but the people running the theater make a grave mistake: they encourage tourists to take pictures! For those who just want to watch the show it is impossible. In front of us a bunch of Italians and Chinese (no offence!) where waiving their massive DSLRs, shooting hundreds of pictures with flash. Multiply that by 50 and you get so much noise and flashing that it is extremely annoying. Anyway, this is the only thing I would NOT do in Japan if I would visit again.

Tokyo

Our last destination was Tokyo, a huge city and the largest metropolitan area in the world (35mil!). While being there it was a public holiday so, to be honest, we did not encounter the crowds we were told about. Heavily bombed during WWII, it has no old town or traditional houses (like Kyoto does). Neon covered buildings, shopping arcades and skyscrapers co-exist with humble homes and beautiful parks.

Tokyo metro is complicated but once you get it, it is easy to move around. There are different companies that run different lines, there is metro and train network (but never on the same map) and a number of different tickets. Good news is that JR pass can be used on the JR network (which does not include the subway). Bad news is that we asked around to rent a bike and no one knew where or how.

In Tokyo you should not miss the Ginza shopping area (although I have the impression is not for those on a low budget), Shibuya with the famous neon lights, Shinjukuwith all the skyscrapers but also the busiest train station in the world and of course taking a walk around the Imperial palace. Akihabara neighborhood, which is a heaven for gadget and electronics fans, is a must visit. All the latest and weird gadgets can be found there. Best visited on a Sunday when the stop the traffic on the main road and makes it easier and nicer to move around. Prices in modern electronics and cameras are not any different from those in Europe. Second hand staff is sometimes ridiculously cheap. Good thing is that when buying something tax free, the tax is removed right there and then. Don’t have to wait until the airport. By the way, VAT in Japan is just 8% (compare with 23% in Greece…).

Last day before returning the Netherlands we had the opportunity to visit a traditional Japanese home and eat with Japanese. Located in the mountains some 1,5hours by train from Shinjuku train station we ended up near Kawai the heart of a Wasabi producing community. It was certainly a privilege and a lovely experience to be among locals, eating like locals do in a part of Japan we would otherwise never visit.

Leaving this lovely country but most important, the beautiful people was hard. But Japan is always there and certainly in the near of far future we will have the chance to visit again..

Trip to Poland (Warsaw, Krakow and surroundings)

This is the first time i visited this beautiful country with lovely people, rich and quite sad history, at least concerning its recent past. Located between Germany and Russia, during the second world war it suffered greatly mostly from the Germans but also from the Soviets. After the end of it

Palace of culture and science

 the Soviets, which actually came as liberators, stayed and installed a communist government which lasted until 1989 when it  collapsed and free elections were proclaimed.

Since then the country has gone through a huge transformation process and the results are visible to the visitor instantly. Being a member of the EU, the Poles are quickly building a country which will soon have nothing to envy from other Northern European nations!

I flew to the Warsaw Chopin main airport with Ryanair from Eindhoven, Netherlands. Despite from what i had read about Ryanair, their service is just fine and their prices unbeatable. I even booked with my name misspelled and when i called them they changed it in 5 minutes free of charge (stating on their website that such an error costs 80euros!).

Warsaw Old town

Upon arriving at the airport there are a number of ways to reach the city center, easiest one being the train. The ticket costs less than 1 euro (4.4 zl) and can be purchased at the special machines. The trip lasts approximately 20minutes.

Warsaw was completely destroyed during the Second world war mostly by the Germans but also the Soviets so whatever the visitor sees is pretty much built after that period. Even the so called Old Town is not actually old but it was re-built after the war to resemble the original. One cannot fail to miss the combination of various architecture style dominant in the city such as soviet type apartment blocks, modern skyscrapers, baroque style etc.

Having said that, one of the most interesting attractions is the city itself. It has not yet been

Warsaw Old town

discovered by hordes of tourists and therefore even the Old Town is never crowded. The city center is not that big and actually can be enjoyed on foot. Very safe with constant presence of police i walked all over the place with my camera hanging and never felt any threat. Its worth mentioning that i never saw any beggars which is rather weird considering the large number i encountered in cities like Paris and Berlin.

The big surprise was a bike sharing system, with access point spread all over the city, easy to use and extremely cheap (1,3euros a day - 7zl). The registration process is straight forward and can be completed on site. The user enters the phone number (does not have to be a Polish one) and the credit card number. That's it! You can hit the streets of Warsaw with a bicycle which is highly recommended!

Warsaw has a number of important museums but due to limited time i had only time to visit a few.

• The Warsaw Uprising Museum which is a must for those who want to get an idea of how life was during the German occupation, the events leading to the uprising and the aftermath. One interesting fact to understand how devastating was the war for the city is that in 1939 the city had a population of 1.300.000 and in 1945 around 1000 people were living in what was left of it
• The Palace of Culture and Science a gift from the Soviet union to Poland, once dominated the skyline but now has been dwarfed by the number of skyscrapers that mushroom in Warsaw. Still worth visiting to enjoy the view of the city and some Soviet era style architecture
• The Lazienski Palace located in the park with the same name is a Baroque style palace. There

  

  Lazienski Palace

  apart from the beautiful architecture i enjoyed the quiet park and the company of many squirrels (which you can feed!)
• Finally i visited the Gestapo Headquarters, a small museum located in what is now the Polish Ministry of Education. Very interesting to understand how Nazis interrogated and tortured members of the Polish resistance

Warsaw still has plenty more to enjoy but i had plans to visit Krakow, the Wieliczka salt mines and Auschwitz concentration camp all of which are located in the south of Poland.

Krakow

The train trip from Warsaw to Krakow lasts around 3 hours and tickets can be booked online. Make sure you have the printout with you. In the train there a round of free coffee, juice and water and the ticket costs 30 euros(127 zl) one way.

Krakow escaped bombing during the Second world war and therefore it is preserved at large. Locals have done a pretty good job maintaining their city and creating a very nice atmosphere. It is much more touristic than Warsaw and there is an abundance of things to see and do.

Wieliczka salt mines are a Unesco world heritage site located 30min by bus from Krakow. Bus

Salt mines underground church!

number to take you there is 304 and it runs almost every 20minutes. The entrance to the mine is 17 euro (70zl) plus 2.5 euro (10zl) if you want to take pictures. Believe me, its worth every zloti!

I walked for almost 3 hours in a magnificent network of underground tunnels complete with sculptures made out of salt, amazing halls (up to 35m high!) and a museum displaying the history and details of the mine. This is a highly recommended site to visit but it requires some physical abilities. You will have to decent almost 150 meters into the ground using a staircase and from there it is almost 2.5km walking in the tunnels.

Hope (Auschwitz - Birkenau II)

Next morning I visited the Auschwitz concentration camp, located 1.5hr by bus from Krakow. The buses leave from the bus terminal located behind the station. For some reason there are no frequent buses and the route took us through villages, stopping at each and single one. The ticket price is 3 euros (13zl).

Arriving to Auschwitz after 10:00 and you must follow one of the guided tours. These are offered in a number of languages and are frequent. Entrance ticket is almost 10euro (40zl). From 8:00 till 10:00 you can enter the site without a guide and wonder around at your own pace. If you have plenty of days for the site, visit once with a guide and once with one as you get to see more things.  The guides have to go through extensive education and take a number of tests before they can qualify for the job so be assured that the one that will show you around has extensive knowledge of the historical facts and probably has met some of the survivors.

The tour itself is very emotional and be prepared for disturbing exhibits and images, which

Wired fence at Auschwitz I

unfortunately is history of this camp. As our guide explained, this is not a museum but rather a mass grave site, considering around 1.400.000 people were exterminated here by the Nazi regime. As in the salt mines, be prepared to walk a couple of kilometers.

And with that i concluded my trip to Poland. I was lucky cause i had a friend there who knew the whereabouts and that always makes a trip easier. Still with minimal effort one can have a pleasant stay in the country. Poland is a country of nice and very friendly people, a variety of activities and sites worth visiting which i would strongly advice to visit. I will surely do so again in the near future..

Weekend in Brussels

After the amazing trip in Northern Scandinavia, a weekend in the capital of Belgium, Brussels awaited. 

Having heard lot of conflicting opinions about this city we had mixed feelings and, to be honest, low expectations (which i guess always works as an advantage cause one ends up appreciating things more).

Brussels Gare Central

So we had bought tickets a few days ago but there is always a chance to show up at Amsterdam Centraal and buy tickets there. Seats are not numbered, we saw many people standing so i guess there are always available tickets. The journey lasts 2:30 hours and there are trains every hour!

So leaving on Friday evening we could enjoy a full weekend in the capital of Europe! The first impression after coming out the (impressive i would say) Brussels "Gare Central" station is that of an open and friendly city. People were sitting outside, enjoying their drinks and dining in the fine weather! 

The city itself is by no means a place one would call "beautiful" (compared to other Northern European capitals) but certainly enjoys a special character. The "European air" blowing can be felt all around and gives Brussels a special status. Worth paying a visit at the European quarters and the newly opened Parlamentarium for understanding how the European parliament works, what are the foundations of the European Union, key people and even (with the help of technology) participate in one of European Union Parliament sessions! It is for sure a "must no miss" in Brussels and tours are offered in all of the EU official languages. Unfortunately, although we really liked to visit, EU parliament is closed for visitors in the weekend. Promised to visit again on a weekday just for that!

Parlamentarium

No visitor can miss the Grote Markt, the Central square of Brussels which is (totally justified!) one of the most beautiful in the world! It is amazing how the Belgians have managed to create such a nice place but have neglected to update everything that is 5min walk away from that! Possibly Grote Markt raises standard so much that one would expect all Brussels to be like that (and of course are not!). A stone throw away lies a small alley with around 10 Greek restaurants! It surely feels like being to an island. Having tried souvlaki at the one called "Plaka" i can certainly tell that this is nothing compared to what you find in Greece but i am pretty sure it was as good as it can get. What surprised the most is that we met the owner who came to our table, sat with us and even treated us the drinks. It was certainly a nice surprise!

Grote Markt

While researching what to do in Brussels, i had looked up the monuments and came across this church, Sacre Coeur. We had no clue where is was so using our GPS navigator it wrote something around 3km so we decided to walk there. Nice walk to a part of Brussels that tourists seldom will go but we ended at some tiny church which was by no means what we were looking for! Asking locals we found out that the real thing was nowhere close but was at the other side of the city!! We finally visited but it was late and the church had closed long time ago. Even from outside looks impressive!

Atomium (Detail)

Atomuim

Other places worth visiting in Brussels is the Atomium, located outside the city but easily accessible with metro. The monument is pretty impressive from the outside but we decided not to visit as time did not allowed and we had made up our minds to visit Mini-Europe which lies close by. Its an impressive museum that has miniature buildings from all EU countries! Spent a good 2 hours in there before we returned to Brussels for our last stop, the Cinquantenaire park and the Museum of Armed forces. Having built a lot of model planes as a kid this was like a paradise! So many planes i had seen only at a scale of 1:72 or 1:48 all of a sudden were there in 1:1! This brought a lot of memories back but had no chance to complete the tour as the place closed (we entered just 15 before it closed and no-one said anything!).

In the evening after buying a bag full of chocolates and Belgian beers (the best!) we embarked on the train back to Amsterdam! This city challenged us to study and find out more about the EU, its history and the big European family.

Grote Markt

Overall it is hard to say i did not like Brussels. Even as a tourist i have visited cities that i enjoyed but could not live there. Although this was not one of my favorite places, the European Union atmosphere is very appealing and would enjoy going back there again just for that...