Hello my lovely Steemies (Steemers, Steemians, Steemites, is there an official term? I've been using all of the above!)

Welcome to my first post in the #bazilwanders series. I hope this will serve as a good introduction to what to expect from my future travel posts. This feature will focus on the Netherlands.

My husband and I took a 10 day trip to the Netherlands in April, the main purpose of our trip was to attend the Roadburn music festival in Tilburg, but since neither of us had ever been to the country we decided to extend the trip in order to do a little exploring! Our itinerary looked something like this: Eindhoven-->Utrecht-->Amsterdam-->Breda-->Tilburg-->Eindhoven

EINDHOVEN

Our first introduction to the Netherlands was Eindhoven, and boy was it not what we were expecting! Our flight got in late, we took the bus downtown to go to our hotel. Neither of our phones had service (even though we signed up for international service before leaving Athens), but luckily I'd downloaded the maps of all the cities we were visiting on google maps before leaving on our trip. For those of you who don’t know about this feature on google maps, it’s a real lifesaver when traveling anywhere with limited internet access!

The bus drops us off at the downtown bus and train station, the hotel doesn't look far on the map, and we like to walk (and be budget conscious!) so we decided to walk with our suitcases to the hotel. Bad idea! Whoever designed the streets of Eindhoven really hates pedestrians. There were no sidewalks or crosswalks, and the drivers are a bit on the crazy side! We had at least two cars that I swear were actively trying to run us over! We finally made it to our hotel. Our room was on the 3rd story up a tiny spiral staircase, the bathroom was on the ground floor. Our Netherlands trip was off to a bit of a rocky start. Luckily that would all turn around the next day in Utrecht.

UTRECHT

Utrecht was everything we were expecting of a dutch town. Our airbnb was located in a quiet and charming neighborhood, our host was absolutely lovely and loaned us some bikes to use during our stay. She also brought us breakfast in bed!!

after refreshing ourselves we biked downtown to take in the sites and enjoy a nice beer or two.

(small church near out airbnb)
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(the DOM in Utrecht)
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For dinner I wanted to take my husband someplace special. He had recently switched to a vegan diet and is a big fan of good beer. Imagine my excitement when I come across an article about a brewery with a vegan restaurant inside close to our airbnb!

(photo from Oproer Brouwerij's facebook, I was so focused on my food and drinks i forgot to take pictures!)

Oproer Brouwerij(http://www.oproerbrouwerij.nl/) is located in a warehouse near a train station. They had an extensive beer selection, and while I am not a full vegan myself, the food was delicious!

Other spots worth a visit in Utrecht:
DOMunder: an underground museum, get your tickets early they sell out quick!
De Vingerhoed B.V.: A nice place to stop for a beer while walking along the canal, nice selection of Belgian beers.
Railway museum
Julianapark: a nice park with a small zoo. A great place to take kids or to just have a nice afternoon walk.

(bicycle parking)

AMSTERDAM

(great blue heron in the red light district)

Amsterdam has a lot to offer for those looking for a little more nightlife and partying in their vacation. Neither of us were really looking for that on this trip though, so we didn’t partake in the coffee shop culture. We do however love a good drink and found a few nice bars.

Some of our favorite bars:
Beer Temple (http://beertemple.nl/): huge selection of international micro-brews, I was especially impressed by the number of great American beers from small breweries, because this tends to be hard to find in Europe and I love a good American pale ale or IPA.

Tales and Spirits (http://www.talesandspirits.com/): a nice craft cocktail bar with a very knowledgeable staff

I'nt Aepjen (https://www.facebook.com/pages/In-t-Aepjen/199958920035317): a dark and cozy bar with a great selection of genever (a Dutch gin with a delightfully malty flavor)

(a glass on genever at I'nt Aepjen)

On our second day we decided to escape the crowds of the city and find some nature. A bit north of Amsterdam is a large park and nature preserve called Het Twiske. We rented bikes in the city and spent most of the day exploring the area. It was beautiful and exactly what we were looking for!

(one of the many bike trails)
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(a boat on the lake in the park)

BREDA

After Amsterdam we headed to Breda, a beautiful and quaint town with a very friendly vibe (our bus driver refused to take our money because we were only going a few stops!).

We stayed at a great Bed and Breakfast called Het Huisje (http://www.huisjebreda.nl/) where we got a cute little apartment with a loft. Most of our time in Breda was just spend sleeping though, during the days we took the train to Tilburg for the Roadburn Music Festival (http://roadburn-festival.com/)

(downtown Breda)

TILBURG

Tilburg is a small college town. Not as pretty as Breda, but with a nice little downtown area. Since we were in town for Roadburn, the entire city was taken over by metal heads. Roadburn is a four day festival with a truly unique vibe. It features dozens of bands playing on 5 stages in different venues (ranging from a giant concert hall to small intimate bars and even one stage in an old church!). The bands are well curated, and there are even art exhibits and panels. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves metal, or just music in general as there were quite a few non-metal bands as well this year.

(ROME playing in the church)
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(Oranssi Pazuzu)
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(Ulver)
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(John and I with Grutle Kjellson from Enslaved!)

We saw lots of great bands, but the highlights for me were:
Ulver(https://ulver.bandcamp.com/)
Zhrine(https://zhrine.bandcamp.com/)
Emptiness(https://emptiness.bandcamp.com/)
Oranssi Pazuzu(https://oranssipazuzu.bandcamp.com/)
Wolves in the Throne Room(https://wolvesinthethroneroom.bandcamp.com/)
Ash Borer(https://ashborer.bandcamp.com/)

While we didn't go out much outside the festival in Tilburg, we did find one great little bar with a nice beer selection and the cheapest prices in the area: Kafee Buitenbeentje (http://www.kafeebuitenbeentje.com/)

(vinyl haul from the festival)

That’s about it for our Netherlands adventure. I hope you enjoyed! Tell me about your favorite spots in the Netherlands in the comments!

For more stories about travel check out the tag #bazilwanders and for more music related content follow #bazilsmetalpicks

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