July 9 – Returning to Valkenburg gave us a sweet sense of deja vu – this is the town where we holed up for eleven days while recovering from COVID way back in 2023. We stayed longer in this town than just about anywhere we’ve ever been. We walked every corner of Valkenburg while regaining our strength.
Here is where we learned to love Albert Heijn supermarkets – Jim has carried his Albert Heijn discount card in his wallet for two years, and was so happy to use it again!
So we didn’t feel the need to explore this lovely town, filled with sidewalk cafes and bustling with tourists. For us it felt like coming home.
We stopped by the Marx Motel, just to make sure it was still there I couldn’t stop myself from snapping away at the old wall ads on every street Hello, old castle ruinHello lions!Hello family statueI see they still haven’t refurbished all the wall artHello flying goat!…and the mosaic bench in front of the library It was a lovely trip down Memory Lane, and yes, we did visit the Albert Heijn. We are feeling nostalgic – our Pieterpad hike ends tomorrow.
July 8 – We had an early breakfast and hit the road for our penultimate hiking day. The weather continues cool and cloudy. 15.5 miles planned.
Navigating out of the city – here’s our trail signWe were immediately climbing a shady, quiet road that featured the stations of the cross on both sidesAnd then it was back out to the farm fields. Who knew Holland grew so much wheat?…and potatoes and beets?Now, here’s a crop we haven’t seen – cabbages!Oh my goodness – an animal carved out of a fallen tree trunk. What do you think it is? A boar? A badger?And here’s another – a large chipmunk, or perhaps a small bear?I guess you figured out that I love sunflowers That church spire means we’re passing the town of Puth – we won’t actually go through it, but it lets us know we’ve gone 4 milesLovely view We walked beside a busy highway for a while…then back to the fields. More wheat!I like the stripey effect of this houseHmmm… a dead tree, filled with……witches!A shady lane…then back into the woods A larger than Harvey sized rabbit in a field of potatoes. Thanks to whoever took the time to carve these along the roadside for our amusement!The little mayor welcomed us back to Valkenburg…home of pretty canals…and lots of wall artI’ll tell you more tomorrow…
July 4 – Another clear and cool day, with temperatures again in the ideal 70s. 14.6 miles planned today.
The nice thing about our customized app is that you know your exact mileage right up to the door of your lodging, instead of a guidebook’s mileage to the town center, plus who knows how much longer til you can actually put your feet up! I’m liking the GUIBO app.
Walking out of townInto the woodsWhat’s this? A fort?Is the corn as high as an elephant’s eye on the Fourth of July?Pretty wildflowers We had to walk along the road for a while in an industrial areaThe first sunflower we’ve seen, all by itself This man was looking for buried treasure with his metal detector and a spade. He said he was searching for ancient Roman coins, but all he was finding was old bullets.Swans!In the distance, we see church spiresIt is the Basilica of St. Odilien, but it was not open for us to visit Near the church is a memorial for those from this town who “died due to war violence”. Many of the names are female. Were they victims of a bombing? Killed for resisting? Sent to a camp? We’ll never know.This farmer really loves to sculpt his shrubbery Are these dahlias?We came to the place where a treasure trove of Roman coins were found. It is thought that a Roman soldier buried them for safekeeping, then never returned.And now we are in Montfort. Here is the only wall art we found…and here is a statue of a man and his dogAnd now we are at the B&B Botervleig, where we will sleep for the next three nights. Our host Marijke met us with homemade lemonade and a huge slice of gooseberry pie. I think we’re going to like it here!
June 28 – Today is a planned zero mile rest day. The pretty little town of Gennep deserves to be seen in great detail.
The toy store sells a wooden jigsaw puzzle featuring the town, with customized puzzle pieces. If Icould fit this in my backpack, I would buy one.Good looking dogsLots of bikes, as throughout the Netherlands, but this is the first tricycle-built-for-two that we’ve seenThe town hall has a carillon of 25 bells that tinkle sweetly several times an hour – selections range from Ode to Joy to the Yellow Rose of Texas, with a lullaby the last song of the eveningA nice shopping streetWe learned as much of the town history as we could figure out out without English signageThis is the original water spigot that the townspeople used to draw their water, for a feeThe Protestant church was open – very plain inside. The man we spoke to said the church is of the Calvinist tradition, but not especially strictMosaics in the square commemorate the 22 Jews who “left” during WWII and never came homeThis tower is all that remains of the Roman Catholic Church that was bombed during WWII. We climbed to the top to see the viewThere are murals painted inside the tower – see the Pieterpad hiker?The murals were done by the same artist who painted the overpass on our way into town. I recognize the badger!The top of the tower didn’t provide a view, but a reminder of the American pilot who died here in WWII. He thought he had crossed the border into Germany and dropped his bombs too soon, then was shot down and died in the crash.This wall contains insets of some historical buildingsThe River Meuse runs along the old city wallThe Good Samaritan A lovely day in a pretty town – tomorrow, we walk!
June 27 – We heard rain early this morning, but it stopped by the time we finished breakfast. Twelve miles planned for this cool and cloudy day.
Programming my phone for today’s itineraryGood morning, masked horses! The masks help keep the flies out of their eyesThe way markers seem clearer today, or maybe we’re getting smarter? The Pieterpad marker is the red and white in the middle.A nice shady pathA bit of road walking, with a decorated overpass…painted on both sides!Take care – chicken crossing ahead! We did not see any chickens…A big field of wildflowers This was the only cafe we passed by today, but we had already eaten our lunch with a pot of Jim’s good coffee, so we didn’t stop in.Now, here’s a sign you don’t see every day! An unusual way to alert folks that there is a ferry crossing ahead.Sitting and waiting for the ferry – how often does it run?It runs about every five minutes, taking pedestrians, bicyclists and cars across the Meuse RiverThe ferryman collected one euro from each person, and before we knew it, we were on the other side.Some more good signage – don’t take this path!Look in the distance – that must be Vierlingsbeek!We walked into town and waited on the church steps for Nena from the Hotel de Kroon to come pick us up. The walk to Meerlo is too long for us old folks to complete in one go (24 miles and a bit) so our travel company split it into two 12 mile walking days with a rest day in between. This is the good life!
June 22 – This morning we took the metro back into Frankfurt, a long train to Duisburg and a short train to Xanten. We were met at the station by Jim’s dear friend Boris and his daughter Sofia. We are here for just a few days so that Jim and Boris can catch up. Then we will start our Pieterpad hike.
Boris and his wife Anke treated us to a wonderful barbecue with grilled eggplant and mushrooms, shish kebab, and all kinds of meat – steak, chicken and sausage. Their son Louis (17 and a student) speaks excellent English, as does Boris and Sofia (23 and a pediatric nurse). Little Emily (6 and just completed kindergarten) was cute as a button.
Boris and JimXanten is is pretty little town with interesting shops…a pedestrian shopping street…stately buildings …historical buildings…an old church …kitschy house decorations …and wall art!Beautiful flowersWe had a wonderful time visiting with Boris and his family!
June 19 – After a rocky attempt at a night’s sleep, we thought a nice walk in the sunshine would help reset our internal clocks. We ate our breakfast of fruit, yogurt, brown bread and cheese, downed a few cups of strong coffee, and set out toward town.
The first thing we noticed was that the supermarket we visited yesterday was not open – unusual for a Thursday, don’t you think? As we walked along, the streets seemed very quiet. As we approached the center of town, we saw that all the stores were closed. What’s up? Time to consult Google!
It turns out that today is the state holiday of Corpus Christi (body of Christ), a celebration of the Eucharist by the Roman Catholics here since the year 1246; always falling on the tenth day after Pentecost.
We made our way toward the cathedral, figuring that is where the action would be, and we were right.
The entire square was filled with folks participating in an outdoor mass, with dozens of priests handing out communion wafers.Parades of priests, acolytes and musicians worked their way through the crowdsLots of nuns in different colors The shops were closed, but the buskers were out to entertain This guy was whistling behind his happy mask They have wall art here!Happy monksYou may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one… We had enough excitement for one day, so went back to relax at our tropical hotel. More tomorrow!
Feb 23 – So, for our last days in Puerto de la Cruz, we walked along the beach, browsed in the shops, visited churches, ate good food, and acted like the tourists that we are.
More of the lovely carved wooden balconies This statue of a fishmonger at the water’s edge reminded me of my Irish Grandpa singing Sweet Molly Malone…crying, “cockles and mussels alive alive oh!”When we turned the corner, I saw that I wasn’t the only one who was thinking of Molly MaloneThere are armaments to defend the Puerto…and a seaside museum of ship photos and modelsIn the same museum, we came across another image of a seated, tired JesusFaces in the streetIn the Iglesia de San Francisco……another seated, weary JesusA busker playing marimba…and one dressed like Elvis (?) singing Johnny CashAt the supermarket, the lady in charge of slicing the Iberian ham would not let me take a picture of the hams, so I had to sneak around the corner and snap surreptitiously!We watched the paragliders swoop overhead …until one landed right on the sidewalk, to the amazement of everybody A metallic palm treeAnd finally, all the way across town, wall art!And whale art!The little images are Bo Peep and her sheepThe city is setting up for Carneval celebrations – see El Teide in the background?…so it must be time for us to go home.Feb 26 – 90 minutes on the bus got us back to the southern part of the island where the airport is. We had a no-drama flight to Newark and actually caught an early flight home to Virginia. Our dog still loves us. We loved Tenerife!
Feb 13 – today was a hassle-free travel day. We had a lucky breakfast (with two double yoked eggs!), locked up our very nice apartment in Vilaflor and strode confidently to the bus stop.
How often have you cracked three eggs and gotten five yolks? It’s gonna be a lucky day, for sure!
We rode without incident an hour back to Los Christianos, then pushed our way through a crowd onto the next bus (not everybody made it on, but being a New Yorker had advantages here). An hour of traveling north, with the Atlantic in view for the whole trip, brought us to the city of Santa Cruz.
The bus let us off in the heart of the bustling seaside tourist zone. This is the African Market, which sells, food, meat, and all manner of trinkets.Tribute to the Chicharrero, the native fishermen of Santa Cruz, is right outside the African MarketHow the Chicharrero dressed, back in the dayWe strolled down the busy streets toward our new apartment. Lots of restaurants and statues and flowers.These have leaves like geraniums but flowers like tulips? If Eliese was here, she’d tell me what they are!Wall art!An old advert for Cod Liver Oil – a universal remedy!Santa Cruz is a major shipping port, and also hosts German and English cruise shipsThis monument to General Franco is impressive So here we are in our new, very modern apartment, on the sixth floor overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. There is a big supermarket and lots of restaurants nearby. Jim is making us a pot of chicken vegetable soup. Our terrace faces east, so we will wait for the morning for a view of the sunrise. I think we’re going to like it here!
Sept 6 – What do you do when you just can’t swim and sleep anymore? Walk into town, of course, where you can:
…find flamingo wall art…and pirates…and Frida Kahlo…hummingbirds and jaguars…and everything Yucatán …a statue of Pancho Villa…admire the lighthouse, which is not on the shore, but blocks back into the town…and a tribute to kids and their cellphones with the long pier in the background Walk all the way to the end of the malecón to admire the world’s longest pier – 4 miles long, as the water is too shallow to allow large container or cruise ships to dock any nearerWalk under the pier to the old wooden boardwalk Sassy gulls and pelicans hereThis end of town looks more like an old fishing village Pelicans looking for dinnerBack on the malecón to look for beach souvenirs……and find a place for a seafood lunch – we eat seafood every day when we’re at the beach Interesting appetizers – papaya with hot sauce, hot dogs in French dressing When you order coconut shrimp here, you get the coconut!Would you like one more sunset? Here you go! Thanks for the R & R Progreso, best beach ever!
