Journey Around The Globe
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Miracle Inside Shenandoah Cavern in Virginia
SHENANDOAH CAVERNS, VIRGINIA: Surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah Valley is a fantastic getaway for the locals and tourists. This is a place for the nature lovers, photographers, hikers, bikers, campers, or just curious minds.
We have been to Virginia’s famous cave Luray Cavern quite a few times. When my sister bought the tickets for this Shenandoah Caverns, we thought they were the same place. But luckily that wasn’t the case. Shenandoah Cavern is a different site which even many locals don’t know about. It was good because we’ve never been to Shenandoah Caverns before and I was eager to see something different.
TIME of TRAVEL: It was the mid-July of 2014 when we moved back to The States from Europe after three years. We stopped in Baltimore to my parent’s before flying to Oregon. Drive from Baltimore to Shenandoah was close to three hours. After entering Virginia, you slowly see the curves of Blue Ridge Mountains and the small valleys. It was a nice scenic drive all around. It was initially a nice day when we started driving towards the cave but turned to a gloomy day at the end.
PLACES WE’VE VISITED: Shenandoah National Park is probably one of the major attractions in this region. If you take the Skyline Drive towards Luray Cavern, you get a fantastic view of the valley and surrounding Blue Ridge Mountain range. But if you are like me who has been to Luray Cavern many times, maybe next time you can try Shenandoah Caverns.
– SHENANDOAH CAVERNS (Family of Attractions): Shenandoah Cavern is an underground world of wonder and excitement for children and adults. Every “chamber” of it has breathtaking spots and miracles. Many of the geological formations have been named and are displayed with different types of lighting. This is the only cave in Virginia with elevator service and therefore, tourists in wheelchair can roam most of its sections without any problem.
The cave was discovered in 1884 and was open to the public in 1922. The deepest point of this cave is 220 feet. Last major earthquake inside this cave was around 7,000 years ago which changed some shapes of the rocks and formations.
Shenandoah Cavern tour is a mile long walk with a guide. Small pools, wishing wells, stalactites, stalagmites, popcorn rocks, high ceilings, and different sizes, shapes, and colors of rocks will make every tourist to gaze at these beauties in awe. One of my favorite spot was the Reflection Pool with rainbow lightings…absolutely looked like a fairy-tale scene out of a book.
Ticket to Shenandoah Caverns Family of Attractions is $23 per adult and $10 for children 6-14 years of age. This is a package price for the cave, American Celebration on Parade (Parade Float Museum and Model Train Exhibition), and The Yellow Barn for daily wine tastings, agricultural exhibitions, and seasonal live beehive.
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Legoland Billund in Denmark
VEJLE and BILLUND, DENMARK: Vejle and Billund are two separate cities in Denmark, may be an hour drive from each other. Billund is the home of LEGO and Vejle is another city where we spent a night before heading to Legoland in Billund. There aren’t much to do or see in these cities other than visiting some nearby scenic fjords or Billund’s Legoland…Denmark’s most visited attraction outside Copenhagen.
TIME of TRAVEL: It was the 3rd week of July, 2012 when we made a road trip to Denmark along with Hamburg and Bremen (Germany), Copenhagen (Denmark), Malmo and Lund (Sweden). Legoland in Billund was our 2nd destination after Hamburg. It was a gorgeous day when we visited Legoland, but a bit cold after evening.
OUR HOTEL: There are hotels and hostels inside the Legoland Park, but my husband booked a hotel in Vejle which was setup more like in a remote countryside area with a breathtaking view of Vejle Fjord. The name was Munkebjerg Hotel and it was a delightful experience staying here for a night. The best part was our buffet breakfast venue of the hotel from where we could get a view of Vejle fjord.
EATING and SHOPPING: Legoland Billund has plenty of fast-foods, restaurants, snack or juice bars. But be ready to stand in lines for a while in any of these places, especially in summer.
For souvenirs, the store inside the Legoland Park in Denmark is known to be the biggest Lego shop in the world where you will find ultimate selections of Lego sets with some exclusive collections.
PLACES WE’VE VISITED: We really didn’t spend much time in Vejle, just enjoyed our hotel, its surroundings, and the view. But for Legoland, we were there for a whole day until closing but we still couldn’t explore all the sections. But it was a treat for our girls and they loved every single bit of it.
– LEGOLAND BILLUND: This is one of the main attractions of whole Denmark you can say. When we visited Legoland in 2012, there were more than 50 rides and activities for the kids and lots of areas to look around for both young and adult visitors. One of my favorites was the miniature section which consists of famous buildings and places around the world that were made up with more than 50 million Lego blocks.
Here are some pictures from our trip to Legoland Billund.
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Our village – Tervuren, Belgium
TERVUREN, BELGIUM: Sorry but Tervuren is not a world-famous city in Europe or even Belgium, like Brugge or Gent. This is just a small village where we spent 3 years of our time as ex-pats. This is where my elder daughter has been going to school for the past 3 years and my little one started her education-career 6 months ago. After countless long trips and journeys, our home in Tervuren gave us the cozy feeling for the past 3 years. We have become very fond of this little place, especially our Village of Vossem within Tervuren.
Tervuren is a little Flemish town about less than 30 km away from Brussels. The village is pretty well-known among the foreigners for housing many ex-pats families from different countries, especially from the USA and Great Britain. There are two British schools here where hundreds of ex-pats kids come and leave every year.
EATING and SHOPPING: Tervuren City Center is probably where most of the restaurants and good stores are in this village. It’s a shame but we’ve only eaten there once in a pizzeria. But the Friday morning market is a place where I went few times and loved every moment of it. I did my weekly groceries, like fresh produce, cheese, olives, fish, eggs,…and chocolates from here. It’s a beautiful environment and I got to meet locals as well as other ex-pats.
PLACES WE’VE VISITED: We visited almost whole Europe but didn’t even get the chance to properly visit our own village…this is what happens when you procrastinate. But we all will miss this little town very much once we leave Belgium in just a couple of weeks. Hope our daughters will one day come back here again and can remember our old house, their old school, and the neighborhood.
1) CITY CENTER: Tervuren City Center is small but a perfect place to hang around for shopping or meal. I have never been inside Tervuren Church, but it looks pretty old and a historic building here. The new modern City Hall building is located across the church.
2) ROYAL MUSEUM of CENTRAL AFRICA: This is one of the main highlights of Tervuren. Since Congo was by colonized by Belgium at one point and there was a dominance of Europe over whole of Africa, this museum carries stories of Africa, especially highlighting on Congo. Different sections and displays share the brief period of the history of that colonization of Congo by Belgium. Many paintings, statues/sculptures, photos, artifacts, and life-size animals (not alive) are there to enjoy for both children and adults. There is also a small section for children to do some hands-on-experiments.
The building of this museum itself is very grand and royal-looking. Tervuren Park is located right opposite of the museum on the other side. There was a temporary exhibitions going on when we were there in the Royal Museum. It was called “Spiders Alive” where a whole room full of different species of spiders were brought in glass boxes. The kids had a blast in that room and learned a lot too.
The museum has been closed for renovation since last year, summer of 2013 and as planned, it will open to the visitors in 2016. When we were there last year, the ticket was 3 euros per adults and kids under 6 were free. Not sure how this is going to change once the renovation is done and the museum has more rooms and displays in the coming years. At that time there was nothing written in English, all in Dutch and French. It took little more than hour to look around the museum. There is a train station across the museum and also a nice big parking lot for cars.
3) TERVUREN PARK: We have been to Tervuren Park only a few times, but the best one has to be when my elder daughter and I went there on an early morning of fall (in 2012). I don’t think I have ever seen such beauty of fall colors before. We were there a little before sunrise. All the park benches, fallen leaves, and sculptures were wet with morning dew. Different shades of orange and yellow colors of the leaves started shinning and sparkling with the first ray of dawn. It was a fantastic experience for both my daughter and I.
Sonian Forest is a big forest area (if not the biggest) in Belgium. Tervuren Park has a small portion of that forest surrounding it from every direction. It’s a nice getaway to the forest and majestic oaks, elegant French gardens, ponds, and flower beds. There are some historic buildings in or around this park – one is Spanish House and the other one is Royal Palace. I have been to none of them actually, just saw the Royal Palace from distance which hosts concerts and big events in this area.
Tervuren Park is a great area for the hikers, bikers, joggers, or for those who love to bring a blanket and basket of food with loved ones and enjoy it beside the lake. I even saw many people sitting by the lake with fishing poles.
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Godfrey’s Bouillon in Belgium
BOUILLON, BELGIUM: Bouillon is the city of Godfrey, a legendary knight of the first crusade from 11th century (remember him from the movie “Kingdom of Heaven”?). This is the “Jewel of the Semois Valley” and a paradise for gourmets, nature lovers, and history enthusiasts.
TIME of TRAVEL: As we are preparing ourselves to leave Belgium in just a few weeks, we are making good use of every weekend and holiday. Last week, on the 3rd Saturday of June 2014, we took a day-trip to Bouillon. It’s about 1 ½ hours of drive from Tervuren, Belgium, may be same time if you are driving from Brussels too.
EATING and SHOPPING: We had lunch at Pizza Hut in a service-inn on our way to Bouillon. We had some home-made gourmet ice-cream after we visited the castle and came down to the valley. And for dinner we sat down in a small restaurant on a small alley parallel to River Semois. Since we are big fans of FIFA World Cup, the restaurant “La Grignotte” were showing Argentina vs Iran match, so we decided to take a table there. It looked like the place is very well-known for their burgers and different kinds of sauces to eat with your burgers and fries. But they also had salad, pasta, sandwich, waffle, crepe, and omelets. But if you want to have your meal by the river-side, Bouillon has plenty of options for that too. There were countless big and small eateries by the river and they were all overcrowded with relaxers and chillers. Pick a place from there and enjoy a lazy meal or a drink by the water.
As for souvenirs or shopping, we didn’t see many shops along the riverside. May be the shopping streets were hiding in the more inner part of the city. However, we did see a tobacco shop where they were selling post-cards, shot-glasses, and other small things.
PLACES WE’VE VISITED: We reached Bouillon right after lunch, around 2pm. Since these summer days are longer, we were able to spend a good few hours here.
1) CHATEAU de GODEFRIOD de BOUILLON: This is the main attraction of Bouillon. Godfrey of Bouillon was one of the heroic knights of the very first crusade from the 11th century and His castle (from the 11th century too) in Bouillon is a major asset and a historic landmark in whole Belgium. The castle is also probably one of the best places to get some thrilling views of Semois Valley, the river, and town below.
We went thru two old tunnels “Pont a Bascule” and “Pont Levis” to come to the main front yard of the château where “Falcone Show” takes place few times a day. This was very exciting for our girls. The show was for half an hour and displayed all sorts of birds of prey. Two hosts were speaking mainly in French and Dutch, so we couldn’t really get the jokes, but really enjoyed the birds’ performance. Godfrey’s Chateau has a huge complex of medieval defense with old walls and stone buildings. All the accessible spots are marked with numbers. There are many underground tunnels that you can explore here with countless stairs going up or down.
Visiting this castle was the most enriching travel through time of crusades in Bouillon. This is one of the oldest and most interesting feudal castles from that era. Visitors follow the footsteps of the crusaders in this castle…a bewitching place of walks and discoveries. There were some small exhibitions all around the castle. You can even see a medieval torture chamber and an underground prison.
Most of the information inside the castle complex is written either in French or Dutch, so I would highly recommend getting an audio-tour. We brought our car to the small hill the castle is on and drove back to the city center after we were done with the castle. There are many parking spots both near the castle and down in the valley. Ticket is 6.50 euros per adult and 4.50 euros for kids. Audio tour is available at extra fee.
2) WALK by RIVER SEMOIS: After we came down to the valley and near the river, we parked the car, and began walking by River Semois. We started from one side, crossed a small bridge, and reached another longer bridge on the other side. We had river on left side and lots and lots of restaurants on our right side. It was simply relaxing looking at the small paddling boats on the river, expressive buildings, and people the cafes having good time.
3) PADDLE BOAT on RIVER SEMOIS: Looking at other people paddling on River Semois, my elder daughter wanted to give it a go. We rode on camels in Giza, rode on donkeys in Petra, did plenty of horse-wagon rides, boat tours, cruising, and stuff…but never tried a paddle boat. So why not? It was a lazy late afternoon and we really had nothing else planned out to see or do. We crossed the small bridge to the other side of the river and rented a small shaded boat to explore pleasant River Semois.
Boat is 3 euros per person for 30 minutes ride and 5 euros for an hour ride. It closes at 7pm in summer. We took a 30 minutes ride and it was enough to go around the river on one side by the old buildings, restaurants, and hotels.
4) UNKNOWN CHURCH: One of the famous churches of Bouillon is Basilique de St. Hubert. We didn’t visit that one, but we found another one that’s steeple was raising high, dominating the old town of Bouillon, very close to River Semois. We couldn’t find the name of this church; tried searching its name in the web…but no luck. But it was a beautiful church outside and inside. There was a service going on when we arrive, so really couldn’t walk around to its dazzling altar that I saw from the entrance.
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2 Hours in Mainz, Germany
MAINZ, GERMANY: Mainz, a delightful German town situated at the confluence of River Rhine and River Main. This is the home of famous publisher Johannes Gutenberg who introduced printing to Europe and the town where one of the Europe’s oldest and largest music publishing house, Schott Music, is located. Old Town of Mainz is a little cozy place to hang out or get together with someone over a meal.
Most of the historic sites are in Old Town and have information boards near them; but they were all written in German, nothing in English. There is a paid parking lot very close to Mainz Dome and the Old Town.
TIME of TRAVEL: We were driving from Belgium to Stuttgart, Germany on the 2nd week of June 2014 to one of our friend’s house for one last time before leaving Belgium for good. We chose Mainz as our dinner-venue and to spend couple hours before reaching Stuttgart. It was already around 6pm when we reached Mainz and we stayed mainly in the Old Town.
EATING and SHOPPING: Old Town has plenty of options for drinks or meal from McDonald’s to decent local or international kitchens (like “Konoba” a Croatian bar/restaurant). We had dinner at “Maredo” right opposite of Mainz Theatre in Gutenbergerplatz. They had many options for soup, salad bar, steak, and scrumptious choices for desserts.
It was already too late to find any store open when we arrived Mainz but Old Town has lots of fashion and other stores all around it. We couldn’t find a single souvenir shop, may be they were on the other streets or further down.
PLACES WE’VE VISITED: City center of Mainz is pretty compact and all the attractions are within walking distance. Here are only few things we could see in Mainz:
1) ALTSTADT or OLD TOWN: As I mentioned before, we mainly stayed in Altstadt of Mainz. This is the place to be on any lazy afternoon or for strolling after dinner or just for some coffee time. It’s lined with some very artistic and gorgeous buildings opposite of Mainz Dome. We sat down in front of a fountain while our girls were soaking their feet and playing in the water. All the stores were closed when we arrived, but I can imagine this place during day time when everything is open and locals are going on with their lives…a fantastic place to be a part of that atmosphere.
2) MAINZ DOME (CATHEDRAL of ST. MARTIN and ST. STEPHEN): The magnificent steeples of Mainz Dome dominate whole Altstadt and can be seen from any corner. Construction of this Romanesque cathedral started in 975 AD (yep, it’s that old), but its current look is from the 11th to 13th centuries. This is one of Germany’s oldest cathedral and a historic landmark of Mainz. It was closed by the time we were there, but still could enjoy its spectacular exterior from every side. Square in front of the cathedral “Markt”, and on the side are really beautiful. There is a miniature version of the dome in Markt.
3) GUTENBERGERPLATZ and MAINZ THEATER: Mainz Theater and opposite of it the statue of Johannes Gutenberg are the highlights of this square. Johannes Gutenberg was a well-known inventor who introduced printing in Europe. His invention of movable type printing is regarded as the most important event of modern printing and publishing. There is also “Gutenberg Museum” in Mainz for those who are interested.
Gutenbergerplatz is surrounded by many cafes, restaurants, and old buildings. Bunch of young people gathered around in front of the theater and were chatting away and laughing. We didn’t go further down the street and stopped here to come back to our car after finishing the dinner. What a short but lovely trip that was!
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