Bruges Spotlight: Halve Maan Brewery

Meet St. Arnold. A statue of this 6th century saint is found in breweries all over the world (ever heard of St. Arnold's Brewery in Houston??) to bless their brewery and their beer. The Halve Maan Brewery in Belgium has several, perhaps one of the reasons they are the only remaining brewery in Bruges, Belgium, a city which was once home to 28 large breweries at the turn of the 20th century.                                         I'm not sure exactly why Halve Maan flourished over the other breweries in the precious northern Belgium town of Bruges, but I do know that they do a good job of staying strong today partly due to their fantastic brewery tours. 

Living in Germany, we have been on more than our fair share of brewery tours. Though the Bruges guide books rated a trip to the Halve Maan Brewery highly, we filed it in the lower half of our to-do list when we spent the day in Bruges. After hitting many of the major sights (more to come on those later), we developed a thirst that could only be quenched by a sweet yet potent Belgian Tripel, and honestly, at €7.50 per ticket, it seemed almost like the tour was included with the beer, not the other way around!

Our 45-minute, English tour was led by a hi-larious Bruges native who really knew her stuff and had the whole group (even a hung-over bachelor party) rolling. She was hands-down the best tour guide of any tour I have ever experienced. One of the more interesting tidbits we learned from her is why the Belgian beer is so strong (the Tripel - my favorite - is 9% ABV, but the Quadrupel is a stiff 11% ABV; Budlight is 4.2%, Prosecco is 11%). Apparently when the government imposed the same tax on beer as wine, the brewers were upset: the alcohol content in wine is higher than beer, so people consume less by volume. The tax was disproportionately hurting beer prices. So what is a brewery to do?  They simply responded by brewing beers with alcohol content similar to wine. Another fun piece of Belgian beer history was our guide's account of working in the brewery in the 1950s. Employees were entitled to seven free beers a day. Clearly, it was the place to work in town. 

Another bonus of this tour is the view from the top of the brewery. Patrick and I had just waited an hour to pay €8 each for the privilege of climbing the Belfort's 366 steps for the "best view of Bruges." No one mentioned how the view was obstructed by cages covering the windows at the top. At the Halve Maan Brewery, we were treated to the below view as part of the tour - much better view at a much better price.

Fair warning: we were in Bruges at the beginning of the high season (late May), but we still bought our tickets an hour in advance. It seemed as though they filled up the tours about 15 minutes before hand. If you want to take this tour, the brewery is very close to other sights- I recommend getting your ticket ahead of time just in case! Check their English website for more information. This tour is not to be missed while in Bruges!

Port Destination: Santorini

When I woke up and peered out the window at Santorini, it looked like we were surrounded by snow-capped mountains. After waking up a little more, I realized that the "snow" was actually made up of the beautifully white-washed villages that top the island. We spent our day docked in Santorini in the village of Oia wandering the streets, shopping, and snacking on Greek frozen yogurt. Pictures do this Greek island more justice than I could ever do with words!

We happened upon a great view from a side street on our walk

Church bells overlooking the ocean

Farewell in style on a well-behaved donkey!

650 Years of Amberg Fests

In true Bavarian fashion, a city earns its stripes only when they have their own local fests. 650 years ago, elector Ruprecht I (aka "The Red") gave this right to Amberg.

Photo Credit: Amberger Congress Centrum

To give you a sense of how important these rights were, Ruprecht "The Red" had this on Elector to-do list 22 years ahead of starting the University of Heidelberg! And to put it in perspective for other Americans, the people of Amberg were celebrating the summer season with cold beers and music before Columbus even sailed the ocean blue.
So how do Amberg's 40,000+ citizens celebrate such an important anniversary? With a particularly special kick-off to the Amberg fest season, of course!
This weekend, I had the privilege of seeing the opening ceremonies for the 650th Amberg Dult (aka "carnival" or "fair" in English). Though the Dultplatz (fairground) is actually about a mile down the Vils River, the fest started early Friday evening with free beer from the local brewery, Kummert Bräu. If they were handing out free beer in the city center of any American town, there would likely be a full-fledged mob; however, the people of Amberg were sipping on the special 650-year-anniversary brew as if it were any other day. Needless to say, I was enthused.

Freibier (Free beer is easy to translate!)

After the music stopped, 60 people, eight kegs, two tubas, and a basket full of pretzels loaded on two long boats for the trip down the river. The music played as people sipped on freshly tapped beer. They unloaded at the Dultplatz and set up for the evening tapping of the first Dult keg. After several hours, the whole city enjoyed a 15-minute fireworks show signaling the start of Dult week.
If you are around Amberg, the Kummert Bräu free beer cart has been spotted since: they were playing music and handing out fresh, cold beer at 10:00 am in the marktplatz the next morning. I recommend keeping an eye out for it! More importantly, the Amberg Dult runs through June 15th at the Dultplatz on Bruno-Hofer-Straße.

For those of you who are not able to make it to the Dult fest, this is just the first of three fests that were granted to the city of Amberg 650 years ago. There is still plenty of time to catch the Mariahilfbergfest from June 28 through July 6, the Altstadtfest July 19 & 20, or the fall Dult September 26 - October 5. 

Mykonos Spotlight: Petros the Pelican

If you ask people what to do on Mykonos, you will probably receive the same answer repeatedly: "just get lost!" But what do you do when you are not a wanderer by nature? Set a moving target: find Petros. 

Petros the Pelican has been the official mascot of Mykonos since 1954. After a storm, a lone, wounded pelican made his way to the island. After the locals nursed him back to health, they named him Petros and adopted him as their mascot.

I bet you didn't know that pelicans live 60 years! That is because they do not. Sadly, Petros was eventually faced with his mortality and passed away in the 80s. The people of Mykonos had taken to him so well and were so upset with his death that they decided to continue his legacy. Of course, no one pelican was as good with the people of Mykonos as Petros, so they replaced him with three pelicans who still roam the streets today. 

Below is a photo-album of our pursuit of Petros:

First we walked up to the top of the city to try and spot him. While we had no luck (unfortunately he blends into the local architecture), we did enjoy this unobstructed lookout point right above a field of power generators.

Next, we looked around the beautiful blue-domed churches. Though he was not around them, they were pretty spectacular. Most of the churches were open to look inside at the Greek Orthodox interiors. 

After a few hours we had to stop for a break. Frozen Greek yogurt with honey seemed like the perfect bait. Unfortunately it didn't last long...

Apparently Petros doesn't hang out next to the famous five windmills. Note to future travelers: the fact that the city has windmills should be a hint that it is VERY windy in Mykonos. Skirts and dresses are an absolute no if you want to walk along the coast at any time. Also - a hair tie would have been a smart thing to bring...

Sweet success! Though Petros is actually a Great White Pelican, we were surprised to find that he is actually light pink! Just as we were told, Petros was very friendly and clearly used to tourists cozying up to him. A perfect Greek gentleman. 

Athens Spotlight: Segway Tour

View of Athens from the Pynx

Segway smooch under the Arch of Hadrian

We were recently tasked with making the most of our seven-hour stop in Athens. Though the Plaka (old town) is small, it was 90° (as it frequently is in the summer), and we were having a hard time deciding between which sights to see after the Acropolis. We wanted to see the ancient ruins: hike up Mars Hill, appreciate the Kerameikos ruins, see the remains of the Temple of Zeus, stand under the Arch of Hadrian, soak up the birthplace of democracy at the Pynx, and even peek into the remains of the first mall in Agora; but also the newer sights: shop in the Monastiraki flea market, have a snack in the main square, check out the Zappeoin (1896 is new in Athenian time).

Believe it or not, we found a way to do all of this with time leftover for some frozen Greek yogurt. How? A segway tour!

Zipping through the
Monastiraki flea market

After some research, we opted for the Athens Segway Tours company. We took the 10:00 am tour and were lucky enough to be the only ones who could make it out of bed early enough. Our own local tour guide (who spoke perfect English) was helpful and flexible. We laid out our priorities and she made sure to hit them. I had never been on a segway before but absolutely loved it. We zipped through the pedestrian areas with no problem, and saw everything we wanted to see plus some sights that were not even on our radar.

The Parthenon on two feet, no wheels (still awesome)

Segways are not (yet) allowed in the Acropolis, so we enjoyed that sans-wheels, but the two hour segway tour was perfect for perusing the large number of important ruins Athens contains in their old town. It was efficient, breezy, and most of all hilarious, and I cannot recommend it highly enough!

Würzburg Weindorf

Bavaria is synonymous with beer... right? That's what I previously thought driving around the state through endless fields of hops and banners for beer fests in every tiny town. This weekend, however, we experienced another, sweeter side to Bavaria: the wine region of Franconia.

Würzburg is the capital of Lower Franconia (the region is split into Lower, Middle, and Upper Franconia), which, though geographically in the German state of Bavaria, is culturally a very different entity. Not only did Franconia not become a part of the state of Bavaria until 1803, but instead of fields of hops taller than a San Francisco town house, the city is covered in beautiful vineyards. Even the back of the train station is one large grape vine grid, just in case you need reassurance that you're in a different neck of the Bavarian woods. Franconia is known for their dry, white wines poured out of short, wide, flat bottles known as Bocksbeutel. But how can you possibly sample a variety wide enough to decide which bottles to buy and carefully stash in your backpack? The answer: The Würzburg Wine Village (Weindorf).

Würzburg Marienkapelle - the backdrop to the event

For two weeks, in the heart of Würzburg, beneath the wooden huts and tasteful tents in the markplatz lie vendors selling over 100 different Franconian wines. Full disclosure: this is not a traditional German fest. Though there were plenty of fest tables and clearly the alcohol was flowing, the Weindorf seemed to have a slightly more subdued atmosphere than the traditional stadtfests. We all tried different types of wine while munching on cheese platters and bratwursts. The Weindorf also stops serving at 11:30 p.m., so the table dancing and stein pounding was notably absent. Regardless, it was a great weekend with great wine.

Whether you have been reluctantly grimacing through beers throughout your stay in Germany, or you are just looking to experience a different aspect of German culture, the Würzburg Weindorf is a great option. For 2014, it runs through June 9th. Reservations are not needed for regular-sized parties - we found a full table with no problem. If you can't make it this year, no need to fret. The Wine Village is in its 28th year, and with over 100,000 visitors each year, it shows no signs of slowing down!

Website for the fest is available here - make sure your browser's translator is turned on)