Zeeland

The Delta works at Neeltje Jans. Though Zeeland is the region in The Netherlands most close to us, it was a region we hadn’t discovered yet. Maarten’s mum turns 70 soon and so the whole family set out for 5 days to explore Zeeland together. We must say that we were pleasantly surprised by the …

Pula, a bit of Rome in Croatia.

I’ve always had a keen interest in ancient culture, especially when it’s really really old. Whether it’s prehistoric, Egyptian, Persian, Greek, Etruscan or Roman (or anything inbetween), it has an extraordinary appeal to me. I really like old temple complexes, multicolored frescoes, sculpted pillars and weathered statues. Is it the mystery, the uniqueness, or just that it …

Most impressive cave contest: Postojna Cave vs. Škocjan Caves.

Recently, we shared the story of our visit to the astonishing Postojna Cave (Postojnska jama), in our quest to find the most impressive cave system of Europe. Even though we haven’t visited many caves before, we consider it nearly impossible for any other cave to be as fantastic as those we visited in Slovenia. The Postojna …

What is the most impressive cave in Europe? Part 1.

Last year, we went to the caves of Han-sur-Lesse in our home country (Belgium) and although I’ve been there several times before, I was surprised how beautiful they actually are. I can’t say we’ve visited many caves during our travels, but those in Han-sur-Lesse are really worth a visit! In retrospect, I also remember that, in …

The nuraghi of Sardegna…

Despite its rather isolated position in the Mediterranean (together with Corsica), Sardinia (Sardegna in Italian) has a long history of human presence. First settlement occurred somewhere between 450000-150000 years ago, by people from Tuscany, by a landstrip via Corsica. The first significant Sardinian civilisation was the Nuragic civilisation, which existed between 1700 BC and 500BC …

The delicious tastes of Sardegna

Since we’ve returned from Sardegna (Sardinia) in 2013, and since we’ve bought a (Dutch) cookbook with recipes from Sardinia, we frequently make a Sardinian dish at home. Our favourite is definitely the outrageously tasty (but pretty high in cholesterol) “Malloreddus alla campidanese”, a primi piatti with shell-like pasta, called malloreddus. We brought some malloreddus home …

When…

When you see numerous bullet holes in road signs… When you get stuck in a flock of sheep each time you go grocery shopping… When you see village walls beautifully covered with huge murals… When you encounter traditional (carnival) festivities or a shop selling the associated costumes… When you frequently come across round prehistoric structures, …