A Farewell Food Tour Through Northern Europe

Upon leaving Turkiye, the plan was to go to my favorite comedian in the UK, and make our way to Amsterdam to catch our flight across the pond. Along the way we were lucky enough to catch up with a few good friends we met earlier in our journey. We also managed to eat our way across a few new cities and reminisce about all the places and dishes we have enjoyed this year. While the last two posts might have been a bit more history heavy, I hope you don’t mind a return to the food blog this week! Enjoy!

Third Time is the Charm in the UK

Our flight from Istanbul arrived in London in the evening and we made our way to the hotel near St. Pancras Train Station. We just got a bit of pizza for dinner at the hotel’s restaurant and relaxed. The next day we found a nearby coffee shop to have some pastries and caffeine for breakfast before heading back to the hotel. We’ve both been to London a few times, Mr. Wander having lived there for a few months a decade ago so we didn’t feel the need to sightsee, and our main event while here was to visit our friends we met in Egypt!

A few hours before we were to meet up with them after work, we took the tube to Green Park we walked around until we made it to Buckingham Palace. So far I’ve visited this every time I’ve been to London, but two years ago we were lucky enough with our timing to be able to tour the inside.

We walked down to Victoria Station and relaxed with a few pretzels until it was time for our train out to Kent, it was about a 50 minute ride. They met us at the train station and once again we just started chatting nonstop! It was so lovely to catch up with these two! We got to see their adorable house that is 300 years old, if I remember correctly! They gave us some tea and biscuits before giving us a tour around the little town, including the church. It is so funny how when you walk into these small churches in different parts of the world, and they just smell the same! I think it’s the wooden pews, let me know if you know the smell just by looking at the pictures.

We walked back along a path through the woods, chatting away, until we got to one of their neighborhood pubs for a pint. Then we hopped to their other favorite haunt for dinner and had absolutely delicious fish and chips.

Time was flying by and before we knew it, we had to start making our way back. We stopped off at their house for some tea and biscuits and then they walked us back to the station to catch the last train headed to London that night. It was such a lovely evening, but way too short!

The next morning we slept in a bit and got a late breakfast at the train station before catching our noon train to Leicester. We had a bit of a walk to our hotel, where we rested until it was time for dinner. There was a little burger place that was really busy but we managed to get a table for some burgers and shakes. Finally it was time for the show!

I tried getting tickets to see Sarah Millican throughout the 2 months we had already spent in the UK but her shows were all sold out since I didn’t look for them too early. It was a great show, she was hilarious, per usual, and we all got to pick a pin to declare whether we were a “Late Bloomer” or an “Eager Beaver”, based on the criteria she gave in her set.

The next morning we had two trains which took us through London to get to Dover. Mr. Wander has been wanting to see the white cliffs since he lived there but never made a special trip! We had one full day in Dover where we walked by the castle and to the National Park to see the Cliffs. I was feeling a bit run down so we didn’t make it all the way to the lighthouse but we had some really excellent views and had already walked near 5 miles before we even got there!

To reward ourselves we visited a dessert shop on the way back to the hotel. I tried getting bubble tea but they were out of the normal tapioca bubbles.

A Transit Through France

The following morning we were up early for a walk to the passenger ferry terminal. Not all the ferries allow foot passengers, although they will usually allow bicycles. I think it’s just the infrastructure doesn’t work to have people walk on, but this one company put us all on a bus and take us through customs and security screening, then drives right into the ship with the other cars where we get off. We finally made it on the boat and were surprised to see so many families and a few busloads of school kids possibly headed for Disney in Paris based on the matching sweatshirts. I didn’t envy those chaperones!

We found a snack on the boat and enjoyed the sunshine as we made the short 2 hour crossing to Calais, France. Since we already did the entry into the EU on the UK side, we just had to wait for all the cars to get off the boat before they could load the bus that would take us to the terminal. As it was Sunday, however, the normal city bus was not running so this bus actually took us all the way into the train station, so that was very handy. I didn’t realize it’d be so easy otherwise I would have booked an earlier train. Instead we had plenty of time to kill, so we found a sandwich shop and enjoyed walking through a park and admiring city hall until our train in the late afternoon.

Our first train took us to Lille, where we had to change to the Eurostar station. We enjoyed a simple dinner and then boarded the Eurostar for its last segment to Brussels. There were local trains we could have taken but they would have been over 2 hours instead of an easy 30 minutes. We had a short walk to our hotel from the station and were finally able to rest after a long day of boats, busses and trains!

Belgium

When you think of Belgium what food comes to mind? Waffles, Fries, Chocolate, and Beer, which was our agenda for the day! I hope you’re prepared for a few food pictures, perhaps this is a food blog after all!

I identified a few spots on the map for points of interest, so we found a nice cafe on our way to the palace to get some breakfast. I of course had to start with waffles and Mr. Wander opted for a sandwich.

We wandered past the Royal Palace of Brussels, through the lovely park with a great view of the palace down the main thoroughfare with beautiful fall colors, past the St. Michael & St. Gudula Cathedral, and eventually found ourselves ready for more snacks!

On the way to find food, we found the Royal Gallery of Saint Hubert which is home to so many fancy stores and delicious chocolate shops! Belgium is known for inventing the praline in 1912, which is a hard chocolate shell filled with flavored creams or various nut pastes. There are just SO many to choose from, we ended up purchasing an alcohol one and thought it’d have alcohol mixed into the creams, but instead it was like a mini shot of cordial encased in chocolate! Honestly not my favorite and will stick to cream or nuts next time!

Before I purchased every chocolate in the mall we figured we should find some more snacks. We picked out a local place called Fritland, they seemed to have a line grow pretty quickly so we hoped it was good. I decided to try the sandwich that was covered in fries and sauce of my choice and Mr. Wander got a chicken and cheese fried stick. We weren’t really sure what we were ordering at first but figured we would just try it, like a true adventure.

Both were pretty good, and I’m glad Mr. Wander got something small to help me with the fries. I tried the Andalouse sauce, which is a mayo based tomato and pepper sauce. They really put it on thick so it wasn’t my favorite by the end but overall I enjoyed the fries.

Our next stop was Grand Place, which is a market square that really reminded me of the square by the Glockenspiel in Munich. There were several unique buildings around it, especially this gothic style building that is the Brussels Town Hall. Mr. Wander was up for some dessert so we found the waffle factory to try a few more waffles.

Not only did we get to try a few different toppings, but we also tried the two styles of waffles, Brussels and Liège. Brussels is a very light yeasted batter that has deep pockets, but isn’t as filling. Liège is closer to waffles I have had before, with more of a brioche dough. I think we both gravitated towards the Liège style better. Finally we went to wash it down with some Belgium beer!

It was such a cool atmosphere, and since it was early afternoon on a Monday, we basically had the place to ourselves. We were able to try a few Trappist beers, which means it has been brewed by monks in an Abbey. We tried a blonde, a tripel, quadrupel, and a lambic. I wish I could have tried more, but we were tired and way too full so we decided to head back to the hotel and call it a day. The next morning we took another train and found ourselves back in the Netherlands!

Munching Through The Netherlands

We decided to start with Rotterdam, which is one of the major ports and train stations for the Netherlands. We had heard from a few people from the Netherlands that Rotterdam wasn’t worth it (after we booked it of course) but I think it was way better than people think.

The hotel we stayed at was probably the most funky, after all, it was called “hotel not hotel”, with themed rooms and common areas. In our room we only had one window above the bathtub leading to the main area! The hotel also had it’s own restaurant called “kevin bacon” that was of all things a Thai restaurant. It was pretty tasty food wise, and the cocktails were unique, and of course we had to have some Pad Thai.

Our full day in Rotterdam was spent mostly at the food hall that was a short stop away on one of the sprinter trains. It was a great tour of many of the cuisines we have enjoyed over the past 10 months of travel, plus several we hadn’t visited yet from the southern hemisphere. We started with a Vietnamese corn dog, Mr. Wanders was just a cheese filled breading without sausage, but with a dusting of sugar, mine was a hot dog covered with fried potatoes and Parmesan cheese. Mine would have been better with one of the creamy sauces but based on the picture I didn’t realize the potatoes were so big! Mr. Wander’s was the favorite of the two by far! While we waited for these to be cooked Mr. Wander went to a nearby booth to get us our first, freshly made stroopwafel, and oh was it wonderful! Little did we know, this would be my favorite stroopwafel out of the 3 we found during our time in the Netherlands.

We got some bubble tea to wash it down and ate our goodies on a bench outside, trying to keep away from the pigeons. We walked around to these cube houses that looked really cool. We saw a tour go inside but I was happy to just see them from here, and thought they looked cooler.

We walked around the neighborhood and I really loved just how every building was slightly different, it wasn’t just all the same square building. I think the reason why people don’t find it interesting is because it was completely destroyed in WWII so the older buildings no longer exist. Honestly it could look way more boring with just a bunch of metal or concrete blocks like I see in so many cities, and I appreciated how unique they were, but these pictures don’t do them justice.The rounded building you see from both inside and out is actually the food hall. And just check out that bike parking!

We went back inside to try a Dutch version of a croquette (or Kroketten), with Rotterdam cheese and a traditional beef that was nicely flavored. The cheese was so delicious, mellow but a really nice flavor. We found a few desserts with Gelato, cannollis, and a local brew before heading back to our hotel.

Next day was a quick 40 min train to Utrecht but we had time to waste until check-in, so we walked through the older part of city and got some pancakes. We learned later these weren’t the proper dutch pancakes but we still tried a few times in Utrecht. I was very tempted by fabric store but I held back knowing we still had several weeks of carrying our bags around the world. We found a cool church tower along the way but didn’t try to go inside since we had our packs with us.

Finally we checked into the hotel and enjoyed delivery pizza and a few brews from the bar downstairs. The hotel attempted a Halloween party but as the Netherlands celebrates St. Maarten on November 11th, where children go door to door with homemade lanterns and sing songs in exchange for candy.

We had planned to visit castle next day on bike but it was a really wet day and opted to relax instead, enjoying bagels and other tasty food from nearby. On our way to the train station the following day, we tried one more pancake spot but still wasn’t quite right, but was very delicious!

We enjoyed taking pictures along the canal and even went into the church, which surprisingly was also hosting an art exhibit. Just before we left, we got a few beers and ordered what we thought was fried cheese but turned out to be cut cheese blocks, but it was served by the most delicious mustard and mayo sauce! It reminded me so much of the sauce for my family’s potato salad! It was lovely sitting out in the sunshine and soaking up it’s warmth on the cool fall afternoon.

We made it to Amsterdam that afternoon and enjoyed relaxing and tying up some loose ends of our future travels. Our second evening we got together with a friend we met on our bike adventure in Wales! We were meeting her in the center of town for an all you can eat Japanese restaurant so we decided to walk around for a few hours to work up an appetite. We wandered by Anne Frank’s house, and went up and down a few canals on the western side of the city center until it was time to meet up.

The Japanese restaurant was amazing, it was so fun trying several types of sushi rolls, and having gyoza and other dishes that reminded us of our time way back at the beginning of this journey! We had two hours of eating so many plates and enjoying several glasses of wine and beer!

After dinner we decided to walk around so we could keep chatting, and she had time before her last bus. Her favorite area is Chinatown so she led us that direction, and ended up walking right right through the middle of the red light district! It’s not really a place one can take pictures so instead I will show you this shop that was nearby.

Once we walked into Chinatown I was immediately hit with delicious aromas, which was coming from her favorite restaurant in the area. We took note for the next time we were in town! Then we made our way back to the station to catch our respective transports and said goodbye. What a lovely evening and an absolute gem of a human, I am so glad we were able to catch up!

The next day we took it easy and went to a proper pancake place in an old carousel, thanks to our friend’s recommendation. The pancake itself was so tasty! Since I was already hurting a bit from the wine the night before I figured I might as well try some liquor on my pancakes. So I got Cointreau, but I should have gotten the one with ice cream as well to mellow it out. I might have to learn how to make those pancakes someday it was such a nice flavor by itself. Mr. Wander went savory and had bacon and cheese on his pancake.

We next ventured over to the original Heineken factory, for a tour and a few tastings, including an experimental foam infusion on the rooftop. It was nice that we could buy tickets and pretty much get right in, they have timed releases of tours every 15 minute and it’s at your own speed but you can stop and listen to someone tell parts of the history or how to make beer. One thing I learned was that they were the imported beer to make it to the US after prohibition was lifted! No wonder it’s so prevalent in the US.

They had a lot of interactive things too like you could bike to power your own karaoke, we did a photo booth, there were things about the football (aka soccer) and formula one teams they sponsor, a somewhat virtual reality journey of the beer through the process, and finally ending with tastings at the bar. If you wanted to though you could walk through and get straight to the bar, the apparent fastest time for that day was 10 minutes, ha! Part way through our time in the bar, someone in our group went up to Mr. Wander and asked him if he’s responsible when it comes to beer, when he said yes she gave him her extra coupon, saying “If only it was whiskey or wine”.

After the obligatory gift shop section we made our way to the rooftop for the blood orange or passion fruit guava infusions. Blood orange was far superior but the other was still refreshing. We took a few pictures from the roof, enjoying the sunshine and views of the city.

I had heard online that this was the best place to get stroopwafels and to not get ripped off like at many of the tourist spots closer to the center of the city. It was just a few blocks off from the brewer so we made our way down and waited in line. We got to watch them make the waffle part, cut them, and fill with molten caramel. They tell you to hold it flat so all the caramel doesn’t seep out before you get a chance to eat it. They were very good but I think the one in Rotterdam was better, but you honestly cannot beat 2.50 Euro per stroopwafel!

Our last day we took the train north to the Zaanse Schans to see the windmills. This was on our list the first time we were in Amsterdam but it was either too rainy or we were too sick to venture that far from the hotel. It was really pretty but way more full of tourists than I would have expected for a chilly November! It was nice to enjoy the sunshine and we got a few fun pictures with the water. My only disappointment was giving into having one last stroopwafel, but as it was a super touristy area it cost 3x that of our last one and wasn’t even warm! The rest of our evening was finishing up a post and getting packed before our morning flight across the Atlantic!

Next Time

With only a few days left in our EU visa we needed to get off the continent. We knew we wanted a spot in the Caribbean, but we picked Curacao because I could find a good point redemption with a direct flight from somewhere in Europe. As Curacao used to be part of the Netherlands (Antillies) until 2010, their national carrier, KLM has direct flights. This is actually my first time in the Caribbean and I’m looking forward to a little sun and warmth after the last few weeks of chilly temperatures! Until next time, Afscheid!