Tag: hiking

Discovering Sicily the Eco-Friendly Way: An Adventure with Public Transport and a Toddler

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Earlier this year, we embarked on a month-long journey to navigate some tough personal circumstances. Despite being a last-minute decision, it turned out to be a wise one. In this blog post, you’ll discover how we traveled with our 2-year-old without flying or taking a car for a full month, using only four light travel items.

Exploring Sicily Sustainably

While most people opt for rental cars to explore Sicily, we chose a more climate-friendly and adventurous route: public transport. Focusing on trains, boats, and buses when necessary, this mode of travel brought us joy and countless memorable experiences. We met locals, received insider tips, and embraced the slow travel mentality, allowing us to fully absorb and enjoy our surroundings.

We rarely booked local trains or buses in advance, buying our tickets at the station an hour or less before departure for very reasonable prices (10-40 euros per person max).

Balancing Work and Travel

Traveling for a month in the middle of the work season meant I had to keep an eye on some ongoing projects. We agreed that I would work two half-days per week. I reserved slots on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, starting at 7:00 and working until 11:00 or 12:00 before joining Tine and August in our activities. The colleagues were informed, ensuring deliverables were ready by Monday evening so I could review and steer the projects during my dedicated work hours. This schedule allowed me to disconnect for five days each week and fully recharge for the next working slots.

Our Eco-Friendly Sicily Itinerary

Our travel loop around Sicily included staying at least 2-3 days in each location. For detailed tips on traveling from Brussels to Sicily by train, check out our separate blog post (link here).

  1. Taormina – Coastal mountain city with views of Etna
  2. Catania – Busy city life
  3. Etna – Impressive natural beauty
  4. Catania – Train around Mt. Etna
  5. Siracusa-Ortigia – Historic peninsula
  6. Noto & Avola – Historic village in the hills
  7. Vulcano – Volcanic island vibes
  8. Cefalu – Luxury and historical charm
  9. Palermo – Rich cultural life
  10. Agrigento – Ancient temples
  11. Favignana Island – Nature and slow island life
  12. Trapani – Historic city
  13. Palermo – Preparing to return

Tips for Traveling Light with a Toddler

Traveling for a month without a car meant packing light was essential. We managed with:

  1. One big hiking backpack for our clothes for a week, books, and toiletries.
  2. A child carrier backpack for August’s clothes and supplies, including diapers and milk powder.
  3. A sleeping tent for August, including his teddy bear.
  4. A foldable stroller for easy carrying and occasional groceries.

For more tips, check out our blog post on traveling by train with kids.

Scoring Last-Minute Hotel Deals

Traveling in the low season allowed us to capitalize on last-minute hotel deals. We found great rates by booking after 16:00 on the same day. Starting our search at that time, we would call accommodations and negotiate prices, leading to stays ranging from 45 to 150 euros per night, including breakfast.

Highlights of Our Step-by-Step Itinerary

1. Taormina – Coastal mountain city with views of the Etna

  • Transport & accommodation: We got off the night train from Milano in Taormina and hiked up the hill to the village, where we stayed at a B&B.
  • Activities: visit the Teatro Antico de Taormina, have an aperitif on the terrace of Belmond Grand Hotel Timeo or Piazza IX Aprile in front of the church. We hiked through a beautiful GR route to the neighboring village Castelmola, first passing a castle and the Chiesa Madonna della Rocca chappel, and on our way back we had dinner with spectacular views on the Etna in Al Saraceno

2. Catania – Busy city life

  • Transport & accommodation: We took the train from Taormina to Catania, with the only purpose of staying overnight and taking the normal bus to the Etna the next morning. There’s tours to visit the Etna, but they stay only a couple of hours, while we wanted to sleep on the Etna.
  • Activities: We visited the old city center with some beautiful historic buildings and had dinner there. Next to the usuals, our recommendations for Catania are the view from Chiesa della Badia di Sant’Agata church, the Benedictine Monastery of San Nicolò l’Arena, and the roof of the Chiesa di San Nicolò l’Arena just next to it. The Bellini Gardens with a viewpoint on the Etna were also definitely worth it, and we had lunch in a good Sicilian restaurant next to it called Putì

3. Etna – Impressive nature

  • Transport & accommodation: To take the regular bus to the Etna was quite an adventure. I went the day before, but could not book it. They told me to come back at 7 am to this bar called Nafè close to the central station, where they sold us the tickets, while the bus to Rifugio Sapienza was leaving at 8:30. There were more visitors than spots on the bus, so quite some people were disappointed and had to still book a tour to the Etna to get there. Hotel Villa Dorata was impressive, we only paid about 65 euros per night including a good breakfast, for a nice room with a mountain view.
  • Activities: there are different options, but you surely want to take the cable car up, and either do a small walk on your own or take a guided walk that you book at Etna Esagonal Trekking Tour next to the cable car. The two small old craters are also worth walking around as a start but are of course less spectacular

4. Catania – Train around Mt. Etna

  • Transport & accommodation: We fetched a ride back from the hotel to Catania with the lovely owners of the hotel on the Etna.
  • Activities: There’s a beautiful train driving around the Etna on weekdays and some weekend days (check the timetable!). They leave from Ferrovia Circumetnea Stazione Borgo. We got off the train in Randazzo for a walk but did the whole train ride in one day. If time allows, you can surely split it in two days as well. The train does not do a full circle, but you can switch stations at walking distance to catch the normal train back to Catania from Riposto. For more things to do, see 2. Catania busy city life.

5. Siracusa-Ortigia – Historic peninsula

  • Transport & accommodation: We took a high-speed train from Riposto, after getting off the Ferrovia Circumetnea, to Siracusa. We stayed at Hotel Gran Bretagna with decent rates and a good breakfast. Some nice restaurant recommendations are Area M, aLevante, and A Putia
  • Activities: Siracusa and Ortigia are spectacular to hang around in the little old streets, and swim in the sea at one of the small beaches like Spiaggia di Fonte Aretusa or Cala Rossa Beach. A must-visit is the Parco Archeologico Neapolis with the Teatro Greco.

6. Noto & Avola – Historic village in the hills

  • Transport & accommodation: To go to Noto we took a bus from Siracusa station. We stayed at The Mandorleto Resort and B&B a “kind of” agriturismo along the way, but there’s ample accommodation in Noto as well. It was a very long hike of more than an hour to get to Noto or Avola, so this location was not ideal without a car. Nevertheless, we had a studio with a kitchenette for 45 euros per night, including a very decent breakfast. Price-quality it was spectacular ;-). We had a very good lunch in Nachè.
  • Activities: We hiked to Noto and visited the churches, took the little tourist train with August, went to the barber,… chill life in a spectacular historic setting. It’s worth visiting the rooftop of Chiesa di San Carlo al Corso. Tine did some running back, while I fetched a ride back with August to our B&B.

7. Vulcano – Vulcanic island vibes

  • Transport & accommodation: To get from Avola to Vulcano is quite a journey. We took the bus bus from Avola to Siracusa, and the train from Siracusa to Messina… with a very very short transfer time of less than a minute we made it on the train to Milazzo from where we shared a taxi with other people heading from the railway station to the boat… and were just in time for the last boat to Vulcano! We booked the ferries online via our smartphone. We stayed a bit outside the center for a very affordable price in Holiday Eolie Village, but a bit more into the season, there are surely other places to stay with higher. In April most hotels were still closed.
  • Activities: Vulcano is a beautiful island for swimming in la Baia Negra and hiking up the Vulcano volcano, which is possible on your own. Do check the traffic lights so you don’t get fined ;-). The island used to have hot springs in Spiaggia delle Acque Calde but these have been closed for construction permit reasons and “health reasons”. You can still swim in the sea in front of the hot springs and find some spots with warm water smelling like sulfur, but be aware it’s not very healthy to breath this mix of vulcanic gasses coming out of the water. We also rented a little car with an open roof for an hour to drive to Belvedere Capo Grillo.

8. Cefalu – Luxury and history

  • Transport & accommodation: A ferry, taxi, and train ride later we arrived in Cefalu. Since it was low season, we managed to book Hotel Le Calette for 150 euros per night. We got an amazing upgrade to one of the suites and stayed for 3 nights in a room that normally costs +1000 euros per night. The tricky consequence is that the restaurant in the hotel was quite exclusive with a dinner menu of 95 euros per person excluding drinks. But clearly, the whole experience was spectacular and the personnel was extremely friendly. We arrived in the rain and were welcomed with towels and a glass of champagne, we got private use of the spa for free for half an hour, and the breakfast was breathtaking,…
  • Activities: Cefalu is a beautiful village to stroll around. We climbed to the top of Castello di Cefalù and had picknick there, the small entrance fee was worth it.

9. Palermo – Rich cultural life

  • Transport & accommodation: Palermo is only a simple train ride away from Cefalu. In Cefalu we were joined by our friend Sarah, so we booked a super beautiful Airbnb “blue apartment” in the city center in the building above a bar called Ferramenta. As a recommendation for vegetarian brunch Ecologica bio shop & bistrò. For I Segreti del Chiostro, expect to queue for a while. Other nice places: Graziano al mare, Nautoscopio – NAUTO,
  • Activities: You can easily spend four days visiting Palermo. Our highlights were the Palazzo dei Normanni, going on the roof of Cattedrale di Palermo, Orto Botanico, the market around Chiesa del Carmine Maggiore

10. Agrigento – Ancient temples

  • Transport & accommodation: To get to Agrigento there’s a direct train from Palermo, with impressive views of the inland of Sicily. If you’re on time, try to book Hotel Villa Athena just next to the archeological site. For a good restaurant, reserve at Sala8.
  • Activities: The one main reason to come to Agrigento is the Valle dei Templi. Talking about impressive history, this is your thing. You can easily spend half a day strolling around. Make sure your phone is charged so you can listen to the audio guide. If you start on time, you have the chance to visit the gardens as well that seem very beautiful. We were just too late and the gardens had already closed. We also visited the Museo Archeologico Regionale the next morning, which put a lot of good context to the overall site and history of the excavations.

11. Favignana island – Nature and slow island life

  • Transport & accommodation: We took the bus from Agrigento to Marsala, which was a bit of an adventure. It was very unclear how to buy the tickets, and in the end, we paid in SAIS Trasporti Biglietteria Agrigento even though we were traveling with another bus company. The bus dropped us off in another location than foreseen, on the outskirts next to a hospital. From there we had to hitchhike to the port to catch our boat to Trapani. We booked the ferries online via our smartphone. Have breakfast in Bar Europa, lunch in Magneva, and dinner in Osteria del Sotto Sale.
  • Activities: on Favignana, we went swimming in Cala Rossa, Spiaggia Bue Marino and we visited the old site of the former tuna factory Ex Stabilimento Florio delle Tonnare di Favignana, the city museum Palazzo Florio house. We also rented bikes and cycled around the island while visiting the Giardino dell’Impossibile, a lovely garden constructed at the bottom of the old stone quarries with an audio tour all around the gardens. We also recommend climbing up to Castello di Santa Caterina.

12. Trapani – Historic city

  • Transport & accommodation: We took the ferry from Favignana to Trapani. Tine stayed for two nights in an Airbnb, while I left a day earlier to catch the night train from Palermo to Milano.
  • Activities: The city is beautiful, with its esplanade where we had dinner with sunset views in MOAI Sunset Restaurant. In the morning I went running to visit the salt planes of Saline di Trapani.

13. Palermo – Preparing to go back

  • Transport & accommodation: I took the bus from Trapani to Palermo, there’s multiple buses per day, so I took one where I would be on time to still stroll around the market streets, buy some food and drinks and have an extensive lunch before boarding the night train to Milano.

Final Thoughts

Our month-long, car-free journey around Sicily was an enriching experience, filled with cultural encounters and beautiful landscapes. We hope our eco-friendly travel tips inspire you and your family to enjoy similar adventures!

Discovering Paragliding in Bassano del Grappa

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Many people dream of flying, and there are various ways to achieve it: skydiving, getting a helicopter license, obtaining your Private Pilot License, or learning to fly a glider or paraglider. Paragliding is one of the most eco-friendly and cost-effective ways to experience the thrill of flight by consuming the least fossil fuels.

My Paragliding Journey

I had dreamt of paragliding for years. To start, I took “ground handling” courses with Airsport.com in the Ardennes. After three sessions and the instructor’s approval, I booked a week to take my first real flights.

That week was incredible! We had the best teachers—Jeff, Christa, and Robin from Airsport. The weather was perfect for beginners, and our group was eager to maximize our flying time. The result? Seventeen solo flights in just one week! We practiced many safety exercises and built our confidence and wing-handling skills step by step.

Why Treviso and Bassano del Grappa

Treviso, near Bassano del Grappa, is an ideal spot for learning paragliding. It’s popular with schools year-round due to its good weather conditions and four different take-off locations catering to different skill levels and two major landing sites. Our flights started at Decollo Metri 700 and Tapetti take-off.

Paragliding inspiration

Practical Tips

  • Schools: Multiple schools offer paragliding lessons here. Ensure you choose one that teaches in a language you’re comfortable with. Airsport and Paragliding België Holland are great options if you’re based in Belgium or The Netherlands and speak Dutch.
  • Duo flights: While Tine was not taking a paragliding course, she could just book a duo flight on the spot by asking around and enjoy the views and thrills of flying as well.
  • Transport: We carpooled with the Airsport school van to reach Bassano del Grappa. On the way back, I took the train from Bassano del Grappa to Milano, then to Paris and Brussels. Be prepared for last-minute changes based on the weather, with final decisions made the Wednesday before departure.
  • Accommodation: We stayed at Tillys Locanda, a cozy place aligned with our paragliding school. There’s also a campground for campers in the village and other good hotel options like Garden Relais.
  • Local Logistics: A van is necessary to transport to the different starting locations. Some paragliding spots in Spain, France, and Switzerland offer cable cars to return to the top, making it an even more environmentally friendly sport.

Additional Activities in the Region

We visited in February, and the weather was fantastic. Besides paragliding, the surroundings are perfect for:

  • Hiking: Beautiful trails for all skill levels.
  • Cycling: Scenic routes through picturesque landscapes.
  • Culture: Visit the iconic bridge of Bassano del Grappa, the Palazzo Roberti bookshop and explore local historical sites. Have lunch on the terrace of Danieli.

We also combined this trip with a long weekend in Venice—stay tuned for another blog post on that adventure!

Discovering Sächsische Schweiz: Night Train Adventure from Brussels

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A couple of weeks ago, I discovered an impressive piece of nature only a night train away from Brussels—perfect for a long weekend trip immersed in breathtaking landscapes.

Have you ever heard about the National Park Sächsische Schweiz?

It’s a vast, mountainous forest filled with dramatic rock formations and stunning views at the German-Czech border. Let me take you there for a moment!

Family-Friendly Adventures and Thrilling Hikes

Visiting with Kids: There are plenty of charming, family-friendly routes to enjoy with the little ones. However, for those who crave adventure, I took a more challenging trail featuring metal ladders, narrow passages, and dramatic cliffs. No climbing gear is required! Here’s the GPX track I followed: Komoot Track

Safety Tips: If you choose one of the family routes, always keep your kids close, especially at the viewpoints. There are no fences, so hand-holding is essential.

Another great way to explore the park is by cycling—just remember to park your bike and take small hikes to reach those breathtaking viewpoints.

I took the walk during a Tuesday in June and was hoping to refill my water at a bar in the park… but found a closed door. Quite a disappointment since I finished my water at noon and did a detour of an hour hoping to refill at the refuge that was closed.

My 3-Day Ecological Travel Itinerary

Day 1: Departure from Brussels

  • 19:22: Board the European Sleeper night train, heading to Bad Schandau.
  • Accommodation: I stayed in a 5-bed couchette for around €125-€150 one way.

Day 2: Arrival and Hiking

  • 08:30: Arrive in Bad Schandau and grab picnic supplies at the railway station or supermarket accross the water.
  • Hike: An 8-hour hike through stunning spots like Carolafelsen, Panorama Heringsgrund and Goldsteinaussicht.
  • Accommodation: Found a cozy €35 cabin including breakfast at Zur alten Schule. Cancelled my €150 hotel room—great value for money!
  • Dinner: Enjoyed a vegetarian 4-course menu at Bio-Restaurant StrandGut.
  • Swim: After dinner I took a swim in the Elbe a couple of meters downstream from where the little ferry leaves. Beware there’s quite some current, which can be dangerous… but also nice so you can swim against the current and stay in the same spot for as long as you want.

Day 3: More Adventures & Travel to Prague

  • Hiking: Explored more of the park, with options including hiking, canoeing on the Elbe, and the tram ride into the forest. I took the ferry to cross the Elbe and hiked for an hour and a half from Schmilka to Bad Schandau’s railway station where I started the journey.
  • Swim: To cool down before getting into the train, I took another swim at the small Canoe beach just in front of the railway station.
  • Travel: Took the train to Prague, but you can also return to Brussels at 19:59, arriving at 9:30 the next day.

Schmilka is a tiny but beautiful village positioning itself as eco-village. There are multiple biological hotels and restaurants, a biological educational garden along the Elbe, eco-sauna, and hot-tubs, … we found the concept to be very appealing. Nevertheless, most of the initiative is driven by one entrepreneur that supposedly owns 40 of the 80 houses in the village, where he made hotel rooms or houses for tourism purposes. Still, its inspiring to see the business model seems to work.

Cycling the Dolomites with kids

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The best memories are made in nature. Spending time slow-traveling with our toddler in the Dolomites was amazing. When researching for this trip, I stumbled upon someone making this comparison list: Himalaya – Andes – Dolomites. I had to laugh since I thought it was slightly exaggerated to put the Dolomites on that list… but after the trip, we fully agreed!

This post is split in 4 parts:

  1. The route through the dolomites
  2. Musts when cycling with kids
  3. Our daily routine while cycling
  4. A day-by-day detail of the itinerary

1. The route through the Dolomites

We traveled by bike a couple of times before, e.g. during our summer trip along the Rhine and through the Black Forest, but never with August. In this post, you’ll find some honest parenting details on how we survived this trip with our 2-year old.

Disclaimer 1: Doing this beautiful bicycle trip with a kid is ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE without an electric bike! There were many moments when we had a tough time cycling up the passes, even with help of our electric engine. At moments, we would get out of battery and sweat or hardly make it up the 1000m climb.

Disclaimer 2: we did not find a train alternative to get to the Dolomites with our two-year-old todler & two adults; two electric bicycles; a bike trailer and camping gear for all of us. Without a toddler and bike trailer it would have been possible to get to Bolsano and start cycling from there, so let me know if you are planning to do so!

For the route we practically merged the below two routes to create a loop and get back to where we left the car: Dolomites from West to East and Dolomites from East to West (returning via different valleys). We switched from the first to the second route in Cortina.

2. Musts when cycling with kids

If you’re planning to go on a cycling trip with a toddler, this is what you certainly need, on top of the usual kids’ stuff that you would take on any trip:

  • Seat & bike trailer: Bring both a child seat in the front and a Thule bike trailer behind one of the bikes. We switched all the time since sitting in the front allows us to look around, sitting in the back is more for playing and taking a nap.
  • Baby carrier: Take a light baby carrier backpack for short hikes in the mountains where the bike trailer cannot be used as a stroller
  • Baby sleep tent: We put the little tent inside our tent at our feet at night time. He got so used to it that he sleeps as well in the tent as in his bed at home. See the third tip for more details on our previous post on kids on trains where we tell you a little more about the tent.

For the dutch speakers: one of our biggest inspirations was this podcast of Grensverleggers – two months through Sweden with kids

3. Our daily routine while cycling

While cycling, our typical day routine with 2-year-old August would be as follows:

  • 5:30-6:30 Louis sneaks out of the room, goes running, reading a book, journaling
  • 7:30-8:00 Wake up & milk for August (he drinks his milk cold – makes life easy while camping), get ready for the day
  • 8:00-9:30 Breakfast
  • 9:30-10:00 Pack our stuff
  • 10:00-11:30 Start cycling or if we stayed in the same location, one of us would take 2 hours of me-time and the other would make a hike. We often started with August in front of Tine’s bike so that August could look around (and does not yet fall asleep).
  • 11:30-13:00 Give August his lunch while taking a break… change his diaper and then he slowly falls asleep in the bike trailer behind Louis’ bike around 12:00 or 12:30.
  • 13:00-14:00 Tine & Louis have lunch while August is taking his nap – we take the bike trailer as a stroller onto the restaurant terrace. Warning: we had to be inventive to keep August out of the sun while sleeping…not easy when the roads are curved and the sun comes from a different side every couple of minutes. When he woke up after 2 hours nap we would give him some more of our food or fruit.
  • 14:00-17:00 Visit or cycle: often we would either cycle a bit more, visit a city, do a hike in the mountains, or plan shifts taking me time to read/chill/write.
  • 17:00-18:00 Find a good camping spot or hotel. We traveled in July and August which is high-season, but we did not reserve any hotel or campground in advance. We would often call the day itself either in the morning or sometimes just half an hour before knowing if we would make it to that city or want to stop earlier (in case of August being unhappy on the bicycle or bad weather).
  • 18:00-19:30 Get installed, have dinner together or if there’s a nice restaurant in the hotel we would already give August his dinner and after that put our phones on WhatsApp as baby phone while August is sleeping and we’re having dinner. We would often wash out August’s re-usable diapers by hand in the shower, and let them dry during the day in the bike trailer. More on travelling with re-usable diapers in a seperate blogpost – coming up.
  • 21:30-22:30 Tine & Louis sleeping time

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4. A day-by-day detail of the itinerary

Day 1: start in Castello-Molina di Fiemme to Pozza di Fassa

On the first day, we started slowly after having spent the night in Hotel Italia. We cycled past the waterfalls – Cascate dell’Avisio di Cavalese, where we had heavy rainfall and stopped cycling for an hour.

We booked an (expensive) camping in Pozza di Fassa: Camping Catinaccio Rosengarten. Since August went to bed around 19:30 we did not have the time to go to a restaurant and had takeaway pizza in front of our tent… in between two rainfalls.

Day 2: to Passo Fedaia

The second day started very beautifully, with views of impressive mountain ranges and a steep climb. We took a break to have lunch in the restaurant La Maison Fredarola while August was sleeping in his bike trailer.

When we wanted to hit the road for the second part of the climb and after having charged our batteries, we found Tine’s bike with a flat tire. When I pumped it up again we noticed it only went flat very slowly… so rather than spending an hour there trying to fix a flat tire of an electric bike, we inflated the tier every 20 minutes. With only a big hour of climbing the Passo Fedaia, we made it to Rifugio Capanna Bill. For the last part of the road we took a little closed-down road next to the hydro reservoir.

Day 3: we stayed at Passo Fedaia in Rifugio Capanna Bill

With beautiful mountains surrounding the Passo Fedaia, we decided to stay for two nights and go for some hikes. In the morning we took turns of 2 hours each to go for a hike with August while the other had some me-time. In the afternoon we took the cable car and went for a hike higher up. The Rifugio had a restaurant so we could have breakfast and dinner there. For lunch, we always had a good stack of food with us in our bags.

Day 4: to Agordo

And guess what… rather than fixing the flat tier, we decided to inflate it every 20 minutes and cycle to a bike repair shop where they fixed it for 10 euros. It saved us a lot of frustration and clumsyness on the road.

We had lunch in Agordo, visited the city, and decided to cycle a bit more uphill before searching for a camping spot in the wild. We were unlucky: The local multinational had organized their international family day in Agordo and fully booked all hotels in the surroundings. Our first pick to camp was in the garden of the school of a small village called La Valle Agordina. We filled our water bottles at the little fountain, and enjoyed the local playground, but we could not find any electricity to charge our bicycle batteries… and with more than 1000m climbing foreseen for the next day, we sure needed that.

After talking to some people in the village, they showed us their little forest and field where we could camp and offered to charge the batteries in their house. Tine had fun building a bonfire and August slept super well in his little tent, inside our bigger tent.

Day 5 to Villa Chele in Pralongo – Val di Zoldo

We climbed the mountain until Rifugio Passo Duran where we had lunch. We were rewarded by the impressive views of Chiesa, a beautiful old village with many charming wooden houses.

After that, we continued cycling downhill, with a small climb at the end to reach the charming room we booked with Louisa in Villa Chele. The host is amazing. She immediately volunteered to take care of August while we carried our bags up. We could do our laundry there and she borrowed us her hiking backpack for toddlers to do a bigger mountain hike.

We had dinner in Restaurant El Taier, a couple of 100 meters down from Villa Chele, and enjoyed the sunset from the hill next to the village.

Day 6 & 7 we stayed in Pralongo – Val di Zoldo

The next day she explained she had to take care of her grandkids in Belluno and that we could drive along to the city in her van… so we took a lovely road trip with sixty-something years old Louisa. We talked for hours, where she shared her interesting life story – from Argentina to Germany to Italy – travels by boat – falling in love – … An encounter with a woman full of wisdom. It gave us the perfect “Celestine prophecy” vibe full of magic. If you haven’t read the book yet: this is your call!

In the mornings, Louis would sneak out of the room and go for a long run in the mountains and read his book, while August and Tine would be calmly sleeping. On one of the mornings in Villa Chele a group of women hikers was preparing to head for the mountains, while one took out a box of cards called: “Nature meditation cards”. We bought the same deck and still enjoy it once in a while, a nice gift idea!

Day 8 to Cortina d’Ampezzo

This was a legendary day: we had to take a good 1000m climb again, The majestic roughness of the mountains is impressive, and while cycling you have all the time to enjoy it and look around.

After that, we continued our trip to Cortina d’Ampezzo where we booked a camping ground. We had to go to Camping Cortina, because Camping Rocchetta was already fully booked. The latter is a nicer campground according to the reviews… but the Pizza at Camping Rocchetta was good and August enjoyed the playground a lot.

Day 9 to Cinque Torri and San Ciascian

Before continuing our trip, we visited Cortina and had breakfast there.

While climbing up the next col, the views over the Cortina valley are nice, so worth stopping for.

After a couple of hours, we reached the cable car to Cinque Torri. We did not plan all of this upfront, but when searching we saw that it was certainly worth going up for a hike around the rocks of Cinque Torri.

We continued cycling for a little while until we reached B&B Hotel Frohsinn for the night.

Day 10 to Passo Gardena

As we never knew what we would find on our route and had quite some flexibility in our schedule, we would never reserve any hotels or campgrounds in advance… so we were extremely happy to find a free room in Hotel Cir. A very nice place on top of the Passo Gardena, with a good restaurant, nice terras with relaxing chairs, and the most impressive views of the rocks around.

Day 11 we stayed in Passo Gardena – Hotel Cir

Since the hotel was so nice and nature so impressive, we decided to stay a second night and take the time to relax and take half a day of me time each, while the other would take care of August.

Day 12 to Moena

We climbed the Sella Pass before closing our loop through the Dolomites in Canazei, the city where we passed as well on our second day. That night we stayed in Hotel Catinaccio, a nostalgic hotel that had its best days… but the old charm was pretty funny and August enjoyed the pool a lot.

Day 13 to Castello di Fiemme

On our last day, we rolled down the hill, along the river with a day of fully separated cycling lanes to our start location. It was an easygoing day to close this beautiful trip through the Dolomites.

In case you are planning to take this trip, please reach out with any questions! It would be great if we could inspire others to have a similar adventure with their kids.

Brussels-Lisbon by train – seat61.com

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When traveling to the World Aviation Festival to hold a presentation on Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), I wanted to make a statement. That’s where I needed the website of The Man in Seat 61 to guide me towards the best train itinerary to get to Lisbon. For more info on why I was at the World Aviation Festival, check out the video at https://www.green-trail.eu/

I would have taken my first flight in 4 years, only if I could buy a ticket with truly transparent SAF certificates… which was not possible. I tried all I could to buy fuel straight from different producers, but none were capable of selling it to me within the first 6 months. So I decided to go to Lisbon by train!

It took me two full days to go and another two to get back. It was a beautiful trip, but a tiring one. Before Covid, I would have been able to travel to Madrid on day 1, and the same evening take a night train, waking up in Lisbon the next day… but that train has been canceled leading to a hilarious situation: it takes 3 trains with transfers in the middle of nowhere to get from one capital to the next. All details of the trip can be found here on Seat61.com. I took a stopover in Madrid where I slept in the Latroupe Prado hostel and had some good tapas in El Alambic around the corner.

It’s important to mention that for the return journey, the transfer time in Badajoz is too tight with only 10 minutes in between, while the bus-like train that takes you there always has a delay of 10 minutes or more. We were very lucky that the high-speed train to Madrid waited for us and that we arrived just 13 minutes late… since the train would have left 2 minutes after anyway, with no more options to make it to Madrid that night except for a 500 EUR taxi or a hitchhiking adventure.

I went to Portugal for work and spent some days in Ericeira and Lisbon. For 9 days I took a small backpack and my folding bike… and given the many train connections to get, I would definitely recommend packing light. If you are not in a hurry, you certainly want to split the travel into 2 or 3 segments so you can enjoy it more. Possible stops are Barcelona, Madrid, Entroncamento, or Badajoz.

Recommendations in Lisbon

  • Miradouro da Senhora do Monte – nice views for sunset
  • Secret garden – bar with concerts and basic restaurant, just under Miradouro da Senhora do Monte
  • Sao Vicente de Fora – monastery
  • Parque Eduardo VII – a nice big park in the city center
  • Jardim do Torel – also with nice views
  • Viewpoints from Largo Portas do Sol
  • Ruta de Sao Pedro de Alcantara – for the famous tramway going uphill
  • Santa Justa Lift – take cash or you don’t get in!
  • Praça do Comercio – big square on the waterfront

Recommendations in Ericeira

  • Getting there: you can get there easily by taking the direct bus from Lisbon Campo Grande to Ericeira.
  • Selina hostel: If you’re traveling alone, stay in the Selina hostel with yoga in the morning, a small swimming pool, a healthy breakfast, and a good restaurant.
  • Surf: There are plenty of surf schools. Depending on the swell, beginner classes get canceled on some beaches. You might want to consult multiple schools and ask for the maximum number of students per teacher, which should be 4 or 5 max and not 10 per teacher… leading to a lot of frustration.
  • Mountainbike: we rented mountain bikes, and did an incredibly beautiful tour with a guide from Take Off e-bike for 35 euros per person only.
  • Skatepark & halfpipe: Boardriders Quiksilver Roxy flagship store has its own huge halfpipe and skatepark. They also offer all kinds of surf and skate courses.
  • Sunset locations:
    • Mar das Latas – wine bar with perfect views for sunset
    • Praia da Empa / Pedra Branca reserve – views from the top of the rocks for sunset
  • Restaurants:
    • La Popular Taberna
    • Mar d’Areia – fish restaurant
    • Howm by Maikai
    • Mar das Latas – need to reserve, always full

So, Brussels to Lisbon by train is an option if you have some time. If you need to rush it in the shortest possible time frame it soon feels like a bit too much. Perfect for a holiday trip, less perfect for work 😉

Nice – Autumn trip to the sun

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You need more sun? Last week we went to Nice by night train for 5 days, to visit my parents and catch a bit of nice weather during these autumn days.

We spent our days watching the sunrise while swimming in the sea, having a good morning run, enjoying some musea during the rain, and lots of lunches and dinners in the port and old city center of Nice.

When you go, you should immediately buy the 15 Euro museum pass allowing you to go into most of the museum for 4 days in a row. Whenever there would be a bit of rain, we would jump inside a museum: Villa Masséna, The Museum of Photography Charles Nègre, Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain, and many more.

To get to Nice, we traveled by Eurostar from Brussels to Paris after work on Tuesday evening, and jumped straight on the night train to Nice where we arrived on Wednesday morning around 9 am. With an early check-in in our Airbnb by the port and late checkout on Sunday we could really take the most out of it. We took the night train back on Sunday evening around 19h to Paris. On Monday morning we switched stations to Paris Gare du Nord (by taking the subway with a direct line for 15 minutes) and were back in Brussels by 10:30. If you go with a stroller, we do recommend taking a practical travel/folding one and not your regular big one which will be too difficult to store on both the highspeed and the night train.

We have plenty of recommendations for places to go in Nice, some of our highlights were:

  • Colline du Chateau – nice views and a playing ground. With a stroller, you can go up with an elevator.
  • Le Negresco – you are only allowed in if you consume something: we walked in, asked if they could reserve a table in La Rotonde and walked around inside, with August enjoying the incredibly nice playing cars
  • Villa Masséna – amazing architecture and garden, next to Le Negresco
  • Museum of Photography Charles Nègre
  • Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain – in the park, nice views from the top
  • Walk to Jardin des Arenes de Cimiez – the Cimiez Monastery – Matisse museum = really nice day trip! if you go there, stroll around the Ancien Hotel Regina and all the other beautiful buildings in the neighborhood
  • Stroll around the old city center
  • Walk to Villefranche-sur-Mer via the coastal trail “Sentier du Littoral”
  • Swim at the little beach Plage des Bains Militaires / Le plongeoir
  • Take a morning run along the Promenade des Anglais and a swim in the sea
  • Take a morning run towards Villefranche-sur-Mer via the coastal route “Sentier du Littoral”

Restaurants

  • Le petit Lascaris – a very cozy and affordable dinner
  • Clay – for a fancy brunch
  • Campo Caffe – for a good basic brunch on a nice terrace
  • Little Boho – for a good salade niçoise on a nic terrace
  • Peixes – for amazing fish
  • La Pachamama
  • Chez Acchiardo
  • La Barque Bleue – cozy family dinner
  • Maison F – nice terrace next to the port
  • La Rotonde – for a fancy lunch, allowing you to stroll around inside of the famous Negresco hotel on the Promenade des Anglais

We stayed all together at a very nice 2-bedroom airbnb close to the port, with a big terrace and walking distance from all the highlights.

In general, there’s still quite some sun in November and December, and while bathing in November the sea water was not even cold. So, if you are looking for a good getaway to the sun during wintertime, Nice might be your place to go!

A weekend in Ostend

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Just over an hour away from our Belgian capital there’s a small version of Brussels by the sea: Ostend. A city with a lot of history and a rough edge reflected in its architecture and diversity of people. Expect a bit of old past glory, hipsterness and heritage. There’s a lot of cultural activities: musea, photography exhibitions and a huge number of good restaurants.

It’s the end of the railway line to the coast. It was the place where people stranded from inland or arrived from sea. Stranded people stayed in Ostend, and at some point even an American with a cocain addiction: Marvin Gaye. He’s said to have written Sexual Healing here.

In this article we’ll share some of our personal highlights in Ostend, split in 4 categories: 1. Food & drinks, 2. Cultural highlights, 3. Nature, 4. Sports & relax

I originate from Gistel, next to Ostend, but it’s only in the last years we really started discovering and appreciating the city. Ostend invested a lot in its revival and cultural offering. Since our parents got an apartment in Ostend, we started going a lot. The direct connection from Brussels makes it a relaxing journey. Except during the warmest summer weekends where you can expect queuing and crowded trains… but during those weekends you can expect stressful traffic jams on the high-way as well.

With NMBS you can have weekend tickets (half price) or a 10 pass card so that going to Ostend and back should cost you no more then €17. Perfect for a day trip or weekend, both in winter and in summertime.

1. Our highlights for food & drinks:

  • Brasserie Albert – for fish and beautiful architectural heritage (€€)
  • Terras Venetiaanse Gaanderijen – for a beautiful lunch setting and good fish (€€)
  • Albrecht – for brunch (€)
  • Frenchette – for a fancy dinner (€€€)
  • Mosselhuis – for a cosy place and good basic food (€)
  • De grote post (€)
  • Kaap – bar next to the beach (€)
  • Hotel du Parc – for shrimp croquettes (€)
  • Bistro Mathilda (€€)
  • The Catch (€)
  • Chamonix – for waffles and pancakes in an old American diner style interior (€)
  • Lizette (€)
  • Passe-vite (€)
  • Oesterput (€€€) – for oysters, lobster and other good seafood
  • Vistrap to buy fish or shrimps (not to eat there)
  • Et Alors (€€) for brunch

In general you need to reserve in advance for almost all of the above restaurants.

2. Our cultural highlights:

  • Muzee
  • James Ensor museum
  • The Crystal Ship – wandeling met street art
  • De Grote Post
  • Mercator
  • Atlantic wall & vissersdorp Anno 1465
  • Venetiaanse galerij met wisselende foto tentoonstellingen
  • Midnight Love Tour van Marvin Gaye – wandeling met app

3. Our nature highlights:

  • Fort Napoleon & Oosteroever – take the little free boat crossing the harbor
  • Japanese garden
  • Cycling het groen lint
  • Atlantik wall
  • Duinenkerkje in Mariakerke – with some dunes, the grave of James Ensor and a lovely little chapel
  • Maria Hendrikapark

4. Sports & relax:

  • Running on the beach
  • Swimming in the sea
  • Gokart = billekar – for rent in many places at the seaside
  • Qi Gong – Sundays / Wednesdays on beach
  • Massage & meditation
  • Zwembad Brigitte Becue
  • Blokart / landsailing

If you enjoy seeing the glory of Ostend in the old days when it had a busy harbour with boats leaving to the UK and some glory of the past, then have a look at the digital image database here.

A small selection from “beeldbank”:

So if you’re looking for a fun and diverse day or weekendtrip from Brussels, you definitely need to visit Ostend!

Sevilla by train from Brussels

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In September we attended the wedding of our good friends Victoria & Karel in Sevilla. The obvious transport mode would have been the airplane, have tons of delays and cancelations and arrive all stressed out. Instead we adventured the other option: going by high-speed train, enjoying the scenery of France, from mountains to the mediterranean and all the way south through Spanish nature. We read books, played with August, slept, ate our picknick, meditated, talked, played games and dreamed away…

The trajectory was simple but expensive: 275 EUR per person one way.

  • Brussels – Paris Nord (D1 – 29 EUR)
  • Paris Gare Lyon – Barcelona (D1 – 122 EUR)
  • Barcelona – Sevilla (D2 – 124 EUR)

We booked the trip via sncf-connect.com (where you should get a “carte avantage adulte” to get more discounts!). You can do this exact same trajectory in a single day, leaving Brussels around 6h30 in the morning and arriving in Sevilla around 22pm in the evening. The connections are tight but possible if there’s no major delays.

There’s also an option with a night train between Paris and Perpignan, but since we had August, our one year old baby with us, we chose to split the trip in two each time and stay for the night in Barcelona. It was a good opportunity for Tine to see some friends back and take a rest.

To enjoy the trip we took the baby carrier (draagzak) instead of the stroller. We spent a lot of time in the bar car where August could play on the floor with a couple of simple toys, or sleep in the carrier on our breast.

Since the journey was quite long, spread over two days, we decided to stay longer than just the weekend and added a yoga retreat in Suryalila and a visit to Cadiz. For those who enjoy veggie food, yoga and nature: this is heaven! We stayed in the glamping tents, did yoga every morning at 8am, enjoyed the best all-inclusive veggie buffet I have ever seen, read books by the pool, went for walks and just enjoyed life at its purest.

Our highlights in Sevilla:

  • Real Alcazar
  • Catedral de Sevilla (and the view from its tower)
  • Setas de Sevilla
  • Plaza de Espana
  • Restaurants: El Disparate (& rooftop); Espacio Eslava

Our Highlights in Cadiz

  • Torre Tavira (amazing view and camera obscura guided tour)
  • Restaurante Contraseña
  • Breakfast in Restaurante Café Royalty
  • Jardines de Alameda Apodaca

For August we brought most of his stuff in our backpacks and bought extra milk and food in the local bio stores in Sevilla. To sleep we have a little 2″ baby tent that is way more portable than most of the travel beds for babies. We would certainly recommend this instead of a normal travel bed to anyone that likes to go on adventures. The baby carrier came in really handy, but when we arrived in Sevilla we did have a stroller that my parents brought along in their camper.

Stay tuned for our next adventure: The night train to Briançon with little August along… we are very curious ourselves if August will be able to sleep or will keep the fellow travellers awake all night…

Snow walk in Gedinne

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You want to go for a good hike in the woods (with or without snow)? You’re looking for the magic of the first snow in the Ardennes?

Chances of hiking in the snow are bigger the more you go to the South of Belgium. So in January earlier this year we took a train from Bruxelles-Luxembourg, made a switch in Namur and continued until Gedinne. The switch in Namur was just long enough for Carmel, Hanne and Tine to grab a coffee to continue our breakfast on the train while enjoying the view. The route between Namur and Gedinne is particularly beautiful with views on the Maas and Lesse. Even if you would not get off, it’s worth going just for the sightseeing part from the train.

When we arrived in Gedinne we started walking towards the East, following some small paths that were shown on Komoot (hiking app), towards the “Monument pour les morts de Maquis”. We just tracked time and made a random loop in the woods so that we could do a 3 hour hike and get back at the same station afterwards. It’s best to take a picknick, since we actually did not see a single restaurant or shop for the whole hike. If you make your tour bigger you could build in a stop at one of the gites around, but best to check in advance if they serve food at noon.

It’s an easy and beautiful trip. Make sure to buy the weekend ticket or your NMBS Multi card and prepare a nice breakfast and lunch picknick.

Lustin safari

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Some months ago I booked a surprise weekend in Lustin, close to Namur. To get there we jumped on the direct train from Brussels-Schuman to Lustin and took our folding bikes along. It took only 1h13 minutes to get from Brussels into this lovely spot in nature.

With a weekend ticket you pay only 12,20 EUR p.p. going and back, only downside is that it requires you to leave Brussels after 19pm on Friday evening.

We stayed in La Fête au Palais, a small hotel on top of the hills next to the Maas river. The boss kindly picked us up at the railway station to bring us up the hill (inform him in advance). The hotel is no-nonsense and nice. The rooms with terrace towards the river are a pleasure to hang out and cost 109 EUR/night. You want to reserve well in advance since it’s fully booked most of the year. The restaurant of the hotel has a beautiful terrace so on Friday evening we ate at the restaurant of the hotel.

While going on a hike on Friday afternoon we encountered a small snake and some lovely shiny cockroaches… The big surprise came in the evening in front of our room when we heard some nibbling noises and got to see some beautiful racoons. They are a true ecological problem in Europe since they are an exotic species disbalancing nature by killing too many birds, squirrels and lots of fruits and plants. Apparently there’s hundreds of them in the Belgian Ardennes.

After a good breakfast in the hotel, we filled our Saturday with a nice hike and a long cycling trip along the Maas river. We cycled from the hotel all the way to Namur. Made a stop to picknick, chilled at the local hipster beach bar ‘The Flow‘ and cycled back. In the evening we ate at Pizzeria Venezzia, the local restaurant in Lustin, which is at walking distance from the hotel, following a small hiking trail.

On Sunday we first took a walk in nature, following the local tracks indicated through the woods. In the afternoon we took our bags from the hotel and rolled down the hill by bike.

As you might remember from other blogposts, I enjoy swimming in rivers… The Maas river is a very beautiful and calm river to swim in, with stairs all along the riverbanks.

We followed the Maas river until we got to Yvoir where we took the train back to Brussels (eating vegi takeaway on the train from Jin Xiu next to the station).

All in all, it’s an easy trip from Brussels and a perfect escape into nature both in summer and wintertime. There are also airbnb’s around the railway line from Brussels-Schuman to Lustin. On the hills around the Maas there’s a lot of forests with hiking routes to discover. No excuses to stay in the city!