June 2017

We were in Skagen in 2014 on our way to catch the ferry to Gothenburg, Sweden. I thought Skagen was just a name of a watch company, then I discovered it actually was a town at the land’s end. If you Google Skagen, the watch comes up before the town, though.

We drove past the ferry port in Frederikshavn and drove up north as much as we could. There was nothing much too see, thus, we turned back and stopped in Skagen. We did not spend a lot of time there. It just looked like a sleepy little town with nothing much going on.

We were again in Skagen in June of 2017 as a cruise stop during our Baltic cruise. This time we walked off the ship and walked for about 15 minutes or so to get to the center of the town. The town turned out to be much bigger than we first thought. The main shopping street was filled with shops, and side streets were filled with cafes and restaurants.

We had to have seafood for lunch. We walked over to the dockside from the shopping area and went into one of the restaurants there. We ordered fish & chips and some beer and ate at a picnic table outside. It was a pleasant afternoon as long as you could forget about the money you were paying for an essentially fast food lunch.

June 2017

We’ve been to Amsterdam 3-4 times, and, it rained every single time. As a result, our hope of exploring this city on bicycles has not been realized. The whole concept of bike share was born in Amsterdam, yet, there is not a public bike-sharing program in place.

Amsterdam deserves at least 2 days of your time in my opinion, and there will be enough to do if you want to stay longer. Due to the narrow streets and the canals, you will end up walking a lot even if you used the trams and the buses. Try renting a bike (8 – 10 Euros/day) if the weather is nice enough. As you can see in the pictures below, Amsterdam locals do use bikes to get around. A 24-hour transportation pass costs about the same as the bike rental.

The central Amsterdam is not that big, and it does not matter where you stay because you can get to most places by the trams and the buses within 20-30 minutes. I liked the canal areas on the west side around the Anne Frank House where you see lots of hipster cafes and restaurants and the southwest areas around the Voldelpark and Willemspark where you live among the locals and eat at neighborhood restaurants.

One can visit the north side of Amsterdam across IJ River by hopping on the free ferry from the docks behind the Central Station. We went to NDSM Wharf and had lunch at Pllek, a beachside bar & restaurant made of used shipping containers. Pictured above.

Amsterdam is a kind of place where you just walk around and discover things. Because the canals tend not to be in straight lines, it is easy to get disoriented and lost. Don’t worry, though. You will find your way soon or later by recognizing the familiar landmarks or stores.

It is wise to get tickets online in advance if you are planning to visit the museums. We did just that for the Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House and cut the long long lines. Having to wait in line for these two places will be well rewarded if it comes to that.

Now stop listening to me and go out there! Go to Amsterdam and get lost. You will have fun finding your very own experiences! (They charge you 1 Euro for the tourist map at the “I Amsterdam” office. This can be a good investment.)

General Information

What to see: Rick Steve’s Advice (click “At a Glance”)

Cool Amsterdam: link

March 2017            Itinerary Link

Seville (population 700,000) is another one of those livable, attractive, laid-back cities of Spain. When we drove into this city, we were not sure whether we would be able to find a parking spot. I picked an Airbnb room near Las Setas de Sevilla mainly because a parking lot was supposed to be nearby even though this was a central location. As we were trying to find our building, a parking spot opened up, and we grabbed it so we could unload our bags. It turned out that was our luck of the day! The spot was good for our entire stay, and it was free.

The Old Town area of Seville is only about 4 square kilometers and totally walkable. In fact, it will be crazy to drive because there are so many alleyways and one-way streets and pedestrian streets. This area contains three UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the Alcázar palace complex, the Cathedral and the General Archive of the Indies.

From our Airbnb building, we basically walked south first toward the Cathedral, then to Plaza de Espana and Royal Alcazar. There was no shortage of interesting looking streets to take to come back to our apartment.

We ended up eating twice at a taberna near us called Los Coloniales because the food was so good and so cheap as shown in the pictures above. The receipt included a bottle of wine.