Beautiful landscapes: De Hoge Veluwe National Park

I heard about De Hoge Veluwe National Park from a Belgian couple we met here in Premantura. We were talking about Cape Kamenjak, a protected landscape just next to the village; and how cool it would be if the area was closed for cars, and if there were free bikes offered to visitors instead. It sounded so efficient, so sustainable, so northern: they talked about a national park in The Netherlands that had white bikes included in the entrance price and scattered all over the park for visitors to take them or drop them off whenever they want.

I forgot about that story until we ended up roadtripping trough Belgium and The Netherlands last October (I already wrote about sailing the canals of Utrecht in my previous post). After a quick research, I found out that the park is situated just about an hour drive from Utrecht, or more specifically, Zeist, were we stayed in a wonderful AirBnb. Lucky coincidence for us was that (as we found out from our lovely hosts), the park was home to the Kroller-Muller museum, which hosts the second largest Van Gogh collection in the world, some well known masterpieces from modern masters such as Monet or Picasso, and has one of the biggest sculpture gardens in the world. And that was a great alternative to Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam which was vaguely in our plans, but in the end we decided to leave Amsterdam for next time. 

The morning of our daytrip didn't start promising- it was grey and foggy; heavy rain kept following us during the entire drive to the park. And then, as we approached the park, the sun showed up and stayed for a while, perfectly enough for us to take an exiciting bike ride trough the park and enjoy this peculiar landscape covered with everchanging skies. The moment we got off the bikes in front of the museum, the first raindrops fell, but we didn't mind. We had the entire afternoon to marvel at Van Gogh's Potato eaters and Country road in Provence by night, quite a nice collections of Paul Signac (one of Luka's favorite painters) and Odilon Redon (one of my favorite painters); even some Croatian artists, such as Dusan Dzamonja are represented. It is a good place to get to know some of the (not as well known as Van Gogh, but still amazing) Dutch and Belgian artists such as Theo van Rysselberghe, and all in all, it is an impressive collection ranging from modern to contemporary art.

The boundaries between nature and exhibition space are kind of blurred here, with tall glass walls that allow you to enjoy the greenery of the park from the inside and the sculptures that found their place in the sun in the park surrounding the museum. Approaching that museum in the middle of the wood seemed like a treasure hunt to us. 

Visiting De Hoge Veluwe is a combination of spending an active day out in the nature and soaking up the culture in beatiful, natural setting. The cycling roads are paved and used by bikers and walkers only, crisscrossing a diverse and mostly flat (Yay! for a relaxing bike ride) landscape, ranging from yellowish grassland to pine tree woods with rich earthy scent and a lot of mushrooms (we even saw a couple of agarics, which looked exactly like Christmas decorations). Amazing alternative to a day in the city, and you still get that essential Dutch experience!

How about you? Have you ever visited this or some other interesting place where art and nature meet?

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Sailing the canals of Utrecht

About this time last year we did a little road trip around Belgium and the Netherlands. It was perfectly fit for October, filled with hearty food, lovely encounters, autumn colors and murky days. I can imagine Low Countries being nice and sunny in the summertime or flowery in the springtime, but somehow when the weather gets colder, I long for the north, be it that I find medieval streets looking at its best when gloomy and foggy, or that I find stews, waffles, chocolate and beer being especially fit for cozying up after a walk in the rain. 

We enjoyed every bit of our trip, but fondest memories are mostly made of spending time with people that are dear to you. So, for a couple of days we ended up in Utrecht, where our wedding photographers-turned-friends Hanneke and Robert live with their son Loek. They organized a perfect day trip for us, which included the ultimate sightseeing of Utrecht, and that is, sailing the canals of course. 

Since they moved to their new neighbourhood, they got themselves a small boat, which they frequently used before, only not with two more adults. That turned out to be a lot of fun and only a little bit frightening at the beggining, when I was positive that the boat was going to sink under our weight and subtly asked Hanneke what would happened to us if we fell into the water of the canal. Her answer was soothing enough: The swim in the canals wasn't recommendable but we wouldn't die either. That was when I started enjoying the experience. 

After the motor almost bailed on us once, we got to the city center where we had to turn it off and continue on rowing, a task very well performed by Robert and Luka, and also very suitable for enjoying the views and taking many photos. We were visiting Utrecht for the first time, and seeing it from the canals on a gloomy day, with leaves on the trees showing off their autumn colors, and the midweek absence of other merry sailors, was indeed an unforgettable experience. We had some good laughs (mostly teasing the guys and their ability to row), some good talks (catching up while being introduced to the city), and some good cakes and coffee (we bought chocolate cakes in a shop on the canal and had them in a boat accompanied with a few jealous looks of the passers by). 

On our private tour we got to know that all of those bicycles tied to the railings of the canal weren't tied because of stealing but because of possibility of being thrown in the canal at night by drunk youngsters. We also got to know that the Mayor takes a swim once a year in the canals of Utrecht to point out that the water is good enough (I'll never be able to become a Mayor of Utrecht). And that the best netherlandish chocolate is called Tony Chocolonely, peculiar both in flavor combinations and Willy Wonk-ish design (We bought a lot of those later that day). You don't get stories like that on a guided tour. So thank you, Hanneke and Robert.

We ended that day in a best possible way, having dinner that Robert prepaired at their place (it was perfectly baked whole chicken), talking, laughing and getting to know Loek (a very cool little guy who left to bed early without being slightly bothered by us chatting downstairs). With October rolling out to November, I'm not only reflecting these lovely memories, but also daydreaming of going back, while it's still cold.  

What are yours favorite autumn / wintery escapes?

* If you're interested in Hanneke's work (which is pretty amazing, trust me on that), you can check out her website here, even just for lighting up your day with all the brightness she manages to capture.