What to do in and around Dresden, Germany?

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Dresden, the capital and heart of Saxony in Germany completely took me by surprise.
It's a city with two hearts beating as one.

What to do in Saarland, Germany ? Local tips 😉

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Saarland is known for it's coal mining industry but I didn't have to dig deep to find some epic places to visit! I've been 3 times already to take on Destination Challenges and the region always managed to surprise me.

Let me share with you what I discovered with the help of friends and followers on Facebook and Instagram.

Awesome places to visit in Germany: North Rhine-Westphalia

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NRW aka the North Rhine-Westphalia region in the West of Germany is known for it's historical cities like Cologne and Dusseldorf but it has so much more to offer.

I discovered that while I was tackling Destination Challenges in the region...

Nationalpark Eifel ranger walking tour

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Looking for a nice place to recharge your batteries? Nationalpark Eifel in the NRW region at the border with Belgium and Germany is the perfect place to disconnect from everyday life and reconnect with nature and yourself.

I went on a ranger walking tour through the nature park with ranger Sasha and had such a fun time ! You can do all kinds of fun activities while making your way through the forest. Just follow the path and at the very end of it you'll be rewarded with a stunning view over the Rursee lake.

Join Sasha and I for a walk through Nationalpark Eifel in the vlog I made for you below...

Drachenburg, legendary castle of dragon slayer Siegfried

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Ever heard the legend of Siegfried the dragonslayer? He became invincible after slaying a dragon and bathing in its blood. He only had one weak spot on his body because part of his skin was covered by a leaf while he was bathing in the dragon's blood. This would also lead to his demise.

Now the place where all this happened was on the top of Drachenfells rock which you can find in Königswinter. On this hill you will also find the magnificent Drachenburg castle. Absolutely one of the most impressive castles I've seen in Germany.

I discovered it via my Destination Challenges in the NRW region.

Watch my vlog about it below and discover some more photos of this stunning place.

Freudenberg: The cutest half timbered houses town in Germany

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I'm a fan of fachwerkhaus aka timber framing houses!

They have a certain charm about them and via my Destination Challenges in NRW I discovered a whole bunch of them on a cute little hill in Freudenberg, Germany. Really the perfect spot for a romantic stroll through its narrow streets.

Let me show you how it looks. I took some photos ;-)

Looking for Wisent aka European Bison 'in the wild'? I found some in Germany

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Little did I know that there were still bison in Europe...
My Destination Challenges in the NRW region made me realize I was very wrong.

The European bison is actually referred to as Wisent and I found them at the Wisent Wildnis am Rothaarsteig. It's a big nature area where the bison can roam and be admired.

Check out the video about my visit to the Wisent Wildnis below

FUN outdoor activities to do in Sauerland, North Rhine-Westfalia

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Looking for nature and fun outdoor in the NRW region? Then Sauerland is the place to be !

My Destination Challenges in Sauerland helped me discover the beautiful lake 'Möhnesee' aka 'Westfalisches Meer' and the hills of Winterberg where I went mini golfing and mountain biking at Erlebnisberg Kappe.

It's needless to say that I spent an active day.

The coolest public transport system in the world: The Schwebebahn in Wuppertal

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Little did I know that Wuppertal had such a fun surprise in store for me.

Wuppertal is the home to a suspension railway referred to as the 'Schwebebahn'. It's basically a 13 km metro system that floates mainly over the 'Wupper' river.

It's said to be the safest and in my opinion also the coolest public transport system in the world.

Let me take you for a ride in the video below ;-)

The Ruhr district Halde art installations

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Fan of art and hiking? Then you'll have an amazing time in the Ruhr district in North Rhine-Westphalia. You can find a bunch of enormous art installations on top of mountains aka 'Halde' in different places across 'Das Ruhrgebiet'.

My 4th Destination Challenge in NRW was to find 3 of them and to pay them all a visit.

Here's what I found...

Exploring the castles of Münsterland in NRW

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Little did I know that there are so many castles to be found in the Münsterland region of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. On my 3rd Destination Challenge in the region I had to find minimum 5 different castles.

I quickly got a list of locations on Facebook so Rose and I went on a little castle hunt around Münsterland. Apparently the region is sprinkled with over a hundred castles.

Find out which castles I found below...

Xanten, a Roman settlement by the Rhine

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Xanten in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany is home to one of the most important Roman settlements by the Rhine. You'll find an open air museum (LVR Romermuseum) that has the actual size of the former Roman town 'Colonia Ulpia Traiana'.

As part of my Destination Challenges in NRW I had to figure out where I could find this 'Colonia Ulpia Traiana'... Many people thought it would be Cologne but it turned out to be the medieval city of Xanten.

Parts of the Roman settlement where once 10.000 people lived are recovered or reconstructed. You can literally take a step back in time and learn all about the Roman way of living.

Let me show you around... ;-)

In the footsteps of Charlemagne in Aachen

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I kicked off my road trip adventure around Europe in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany. It's just over the border with Belgium and my first stop was Aachen where I'd have my Destination Challenges kick off in the region.

My challenge was to find 4 places that are related to 'Charlemagne' aka 'Charles The Great' who was king of the Franken and later even got the title of Roman Emperor. It is said that he was the great uniter of European people in West and Central Europe.

Sounds like a social guy... :-)

2017 Photo Diary

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2017 has been absolutely spectacular!

I got to experience many road trip adventures with new found friends, visited 13 countries on 3 continents, tackled 55 Destination challenges in 6 countries, found love in Belgium with Babette and shipped my 'other love' Rose :-) to Belgium so we can road trip around Europe in 2018.

For your viewing pleasure find my 2017 photo diary below ;-)

Wishing you much love and travel adventures for 2018!

4 Christmas Markets to visit in Germany

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I paid a visit to 4 Christmas markets in Germany. The Christmas markets of Freiburg, Baden-Baden, Saarbrücken and Trier. 

The cool thing about it was that they all had a different vibe and atmosphere...

Watch my Christmas markets in Germany recap video below ;-)

Goethe in Frankfurt

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My final Destination Challenge in Germany transformed me into Goethe for a day and that was the start of a wonderful adventure around his hometown Frankfurt.

You probably know Goethe, as a passionate writer (and lover) :-). His most famous work would be FAUST. 😈

It was such a pleasure to follow into his footsteps from his birthplace 'The Goethe House' to places where he fell in love, got inspired and wrote. 

Let 'Goethe' show you around... 😉

Steinau an der Strasse, home of the brothers Grimm

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Once upon a time 'Roos' and I ended up in a cute little town called Steinau an der Strasse, home of the brothers Grimm.

Visiting the town is like entering the fairy tale world of the brothers Grimm. You'll find famous fairy tale characters everywhere you look and at almost every corner I got catapulted back to my childhood bedroom memories.

Truly a magical place!

Did you know that the brothers Grimm didn't write the stories themselves? They basically collected legends and stories that were told in different German villages and beyond. They did this because they were afraid that otherwise these stories would get lost over time. They were responsible though for shaping the stories in a consistent ways and coined phrases like 'Once upon a time' and 'They lived happily ever after'...

For my destination challenges in Steinau an der Strasse I played the Spessart Im Glueck discovery game. How it works is that you visit the following website (https://blog.spessart-tourismus.de/zufallsreise/) where you then generate your own fairy tale adventure.

Give it a try it's loads of fun :-)

For my Spessart im Glueck adventure I had to find minimum 6 items related to the 'Puss in Boots' fairy tale in Steinau an der Strasse.

Find out about my fairy tale adventure below...

Mainz, the City of Knowledge by the Rhine

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Mainz am Rhein aka the city of Knowledge, is a vibrant city by the Rhine that decided to put me and my community of friends and followers to the test with Destination Challenges.

I got 5 little tasks to solve and they took me all around the city...

With a steam train to the heart of Harz

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One of the coolest experiences in the Harz mountain area was taking a steam train to a place called Brocken, the very top of the mountain range in the heart of Germany.

You hear the train approaching from far and you just get overwhelmed with joy when you finally see it. It's like stepping back in time and boarding for a magical adventure to the top of Brocken which was a place where witches held a yearly gathering... How cool is that!

Exploring the Medieval town Quedlinburg

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In search for a medieval fairy tale like town in Germany? Look no further!
Quedlinburg is the place to be ;-)

It's here that I kicked off my Destination Challenges in the Harz region.

On arrival I got a bunch of questions that I needed to find the answer to in this cute little town...