Category: France

A magical winter getaway: Hotel 48 Nord

Are you looking for a magical winter weekend getaway that isn’t too far? Stop scrolling and let me tell you more about the beautiful region of the Alsace in France. Last year Valerie invited me for a stay at Hotel 48 Nord in the Alsace. A beautiful four star hotel located in Breitenbach, France. A landscape hotel, where nature and comfort go hand in hand.


Hotel 48 Nord

Hotel 48 Nord is located in the beautiful region of the Alsace. Where you will find the most picturesque towns and beautiful vineyards. A place where you can still enjoy complete stillness and watch the stars right from your hottub or private sauna.

Hotel 48 Nord isn’t your typical hotel. It features 14 cabins, scattered on their grounds. Where you will head down to dinner with a night lamp. One of the unique experiences of staying at this beautiful hotel.

Even though you will be staying in one of the cabins, you won’t have to turn down on any luxury. As most of the cabins are equipped with their own sauna or hottub.


A culinary treat

If you are anything like me, you love to eat. Well, while staying at Hotel 48 Nord, you won’t have to leave the hotel to enjoy the most amazing food. All the food is grown in their own organic vegetable garden, or is locally sourced. A fully vegetarian meal is even possible. As a non-vegetarian I loved their vegetarian dinner.

Their breakfast buffet is also incredible, with an incredible assortment of different sorts of breads and lots of fruits and vegetable options.


What to do while you are staying at Hotel 48 Nord?

The weekend we stayed at Hotel 48 Nord, we had the luck of witnessing the first snow fall of the season. In my opinion there is now better snowfall than the first snowfall. It just holds something magical. The entire world is covered in this beautiful white dusting. Ofcourse we couldn’t visit the Alsace without going for a hike, but with the snow, a regular hike wasn’t possible on top of the mountain. So we headed out with our tour guide to go snowshoeing. It was the first time ever for me, but it was the most incredible experience ever. At first it is a bit awkward to walk in snow shoes, but as soon as you get the hang of it it is incredible. We did an entire loop on the mountain, where the hotel is located, which was absolutely stunning. I would highly recommend heading out with a guide.

Riquewihr, a Disney village

As I said earlier, the Alsace is known for it’s picturesque villages and their vineyards. We visited one of the most beautiful towns while we were there Riquewihr. Which the hotel owner Emil, described as a Disney like town. And this couldn’t be more true. It is truly a magical village. Especially around Christmas time, it is worth a visit.

As you can imagine it was a weekend worth remembering in one of the most beautiful hotels. This hotel is truly unique with it’s beautiful cabins, with the most beautiful view of the Alsace. A place to discover and come back to enjoy comfort and peace amongst nature’s beauty.

Lac Blanc

Last August we went to France for another camping trip. This time our destination was the Mont Blanc region.

One of the things I had put on the list to see there was Lac Blanc. So we asked at the campsite how to get there and set out early in the morning.

We parked our car at Trechamps. There is a map at the parking lot and the route up has really good signs. So we set out with just the map the campsite owner printed for us. Keep in mind that this is not an easy trail. You will be climbing from 1400 meter elevation to over 2000 meters.

The entire hike to the lake is a climb, you will even encounter a couple of ladders and ledges. Since I am afraid of heights this wasn’t my favorite part of the hike and I was happy to leave the ladders behind me and set foot on a regular mountain trail again.

If you want to avoid the ladders I would recommend taking the lift all the way up to Flegere and hike from there to Lac Blanc instead. Just keep in mind to make sure you are back in time for the last lift down, which was 15.30 when we were there.

Before you reach Lac Blanc you will come across Lac des Cheserys, which for us was our final destination. As the hut at Lac Blanc was closed and it was extremely crowded on the trail as soon as we crossed paths with the trail coming from the lift. So instead of climbing more ladders for about 20 minutes we enjoyed the incredible view of the Mont Blanc from Lac Cheserys.

After resting up and putting our feet in the lake, which you can imagine was heavenly after hiking in 25 degree weather in the heat of summer. We started our descent back to the car. The first part of the trail you will follow the same one back as you went up, but unfortunately the pass going back down to make a circular route was closed off so we had to take the same route back.  Which meant taking the ladders back down. Fortunately there was only an older couple behind us so I could take it easy getting on and off the ladders. There were even hikers so friendly to make sure my hiking stick was securely fastened to my backpack.

After the ladders you will come back to the regular trail where you can enjoy the views of the Mont Blanc one more time before you get back to your car.

It wasn’t an easy hike, but the views of the Mont Blanc made up for it every second of the hike. The total trip took us about 6 hours.

 

Our 5 roadtrips essentials

Roadtrips are by far my favorite way to travel. You can take in all the sights at your own pace. And stop wherever you want to. Or just stay one day longer. We barely ever travel with a set plan. Which makes roadtrips the perfect way for us to travel, because you don´t have to keep to a set schedule. I especially love to combine roadtrips with camping.

So what are our 5 roadtrip essentials?

1. Good music

We absolutely love music and there isn’t a day that goes by that we don´t listen to some of our favorite artist while at home. So what better way to start a roadtrip, then with some of our favorite artists. That is why music is essential to us for a good roadtrip. We will always bring our ipod and a bunch of cd´s.

Especially driving through France, it is a good thing to bring your own music. Unless you want to listen to French radio all day. It might be a good idea though if you want to learn French.

2. Food

Whenever we go on a roadtrip, I make sure to keep some food handy. You never know when you might get stuck in a traffic jam or just want to eat something. So we always bring a lot of food.

3. A map

Even though we all have 4G internet on our cell phones these days and navigation, we always make sure to bring a map on a roadtrip, especially going to remote places you might run out of a signal.

4. Your camera

As a photographer I obviously always bring my camera everywhere, so I will also bring it along on a roadtrip.

5. Comfortable clothes/blankets/pillows

When I will be in a car for a while I always make sure to wear comfortable clothes, like a sweatshirt and leggings. Nothing worse then being stuck in a car for hours and not being comfortable.

We also always bring blankets and pillows. We always start driving in the middle of the night, so I will sleep in the car for a while. So we can switch places driving.

What are your roadtrip essentials?

Puy de Dome, France

Two years ago, in 2016, we went on a 4 week roadtrip through France. Which took us to many incredible places and hikes.

One of the places we decided to make camp at was the Auverge. The Auvergne is a beautiful part of France, and luckily it isn´t yet overflown with tourist. Which for us was a big plus. If you love nature, the Auvergne is definitely the place to be. The Auvergne is known for it´s volcanoes.  One of them is the Puy de Dome, which is the most famous volcano of the region.

The Puy de Dome is a very popular destination for paragliders, but it is also a beautiful place to hike.

Our never ending wanderlust Puy de Dome-0369There is a big car park at the foot of the Puy de Dome, from where you can either take the train up to the top or you can hike, ofcourse we decided to do the hike.
Our never ending wanderlust Puy de Dome-0260
The first part of the trail will take you through a forest until you get to the start of the trail going up the Puy de Dome. From there it is a long trail going up and up and up, until you reach the summit at 1415 meters. There are benches along the trail everywhere, so you can enjoy the view of the surrounding volcanoes.

Our never ending wanderlust Puy de Dome-0300
Our never ending wanderlust Puy de Dome-0335
Our never ending wanderlust Puy de Dome-0323
When you get to the summit you will find a restaurant, where you can have a bite to eat. There are also benches where you can eat your own sandwiches.


When you want to head down, you just follow the train for the first few meters. After a couple of hundred metres you will find the entrance to the trail down. There are stairs to take you back down to the car park and this part of the trail will take you through an incredible landscape. I was waiting for the hobbits to pass me on this part of the trail.

 

2017 a review

Since 2017 has almost come to an end, I decided it was time to look back on our year. It has been a crazy year, that is for sure, but an amazing one.

2017 was the year that we sold our house and bought a piece of land to build our own home.

It has also been the year were we had to cut back on travel due to work, but even though we had to cut back on travel we did get out and travel as much as we possibly could. Even if that meant staying closer to home.

It was also the year that I decided to become a tourist in my own country, The Netherlands, because there are so many places that I had never been and still haven´t  been.

It was the year we fell in love with the Basque coast and in particular with the beautiful city of Zumaia.

So let me tell you about our top 5 moments of 2017.

1. Selling our house
We listed our house for sale in 2016 and we finally sold it at the beginning of 2017. For us it was a huge step, because it was our first home as a couple. We decided to take a leap and buy a piece of land, so we could realise our dream of building our own home.

2. A two week roadtrip to the Basque coast
This year we went on a two week camping trip to the Basque coast. We were planning on moving around, but we fell in love with the area near Ixtaspe so much that we decided to stay there for our entire vacation. It was a choice I haven’t regretted. We enjoyed all the delicious food, went on some of the most incredible hikes, and we just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful views.

3. A weekend get away to the Speulderbos

The last weekend of September we took a much needed trip to the beautiful Speulderbos in The Netherlands. Where I participated in a photography workshop about forest photography. The first day we were there we did a hike in the Speulderbos and the second day I had my photography workshop. We got so lucky this weekend, because the weather was so incredibly beautiful for the time of the year. We had sunshine, fog and no rain at all.

4. A day trip to Cap Blanc Nez and Cap Gris Nez in France
In November I went on a day trip to the Cap in France to photograph. The weather was incredible and the views and the food were amazing. I had never been here, even though it is only a two hour drive from where I live. Hence the fact I need to travel more in my own back yard.

 

5. All the trips to the forest
In 2016 I started with photography classes. I have loved to photograph ever since I was a child, but due to study and work I never had the time to take photography classes. After I had finished college in 2015 I decided in 2016 to finally take those photography classes I had always wanted to take.

Since I love to be outdoors and I love to go to the forest, I found my love for forest photography in 2017.  Which leaded to a lot of day trips to the forest in 2017 and even a photography workshop. Pretty much all my spare mornings were spend in the forest and I loved every minute of it. Most of the time I will head out by myself, because I am seriously no fun to go with when I photograph, but I love to be out there by myself, just taking in all the beautiful things the world has to offer.

I hope 2018 will be an equally amazing year as 2017. It will also be a crazy year, since we will start building our home. I hope we get to travel as much as possible, but we already have a three week roadtrip planned. So I can´t wait for all the beautiful things 2018 will bring us.

I hope your year has been as amazing as ours and I wish you a happy new year!

Cap Gris Nez France

Like I wrote in my blog on november 30th I went on a day trip to France to both the Cap Blanc Nez and the Cap Gris Nez at the end of November. We spend the day at Cap Blanc Nez and headed to Cap Gris Nez for sunset. And let me tell you, what and incredible sunset we got to witness there.

Ourneverendingwanderlust Cap Gris Nez-4383

 

Cap Gris Nez is situated only 50 meters above sea level, where as Cap Blanc Nez is situated at 134 meters above sea level. Here you will also find a lot of hiking trails, so this is an amazing place to visit if you like to hike.

There are three different view points up at the top and there is a light tower, so there is plenty to see. When the tide is low you can also go on the beach at the foot of Cap Gris Nez. When we got to Cap Gris Nez the tide was high though, so we couldn´t get on the beach anymore. Which means I have to go back another time, so I can go down to the beach.
Ourneverendingwanderlust Cap Gris Nez-4418
When we were here it was only 5 degrees Celsius out and it was wind, which is normal for the Cap Gris Nez. I seriously had trouble to hold my camera still, because it was so windy.

I would take a chilly and windy day everyday though if I get to spend it in a place like this, I mean look at these pictures.

 

 


At Cap Gris Nez the sun sets right in front of you over the sea. We got lucky with the sunset, because it was cloudy that day and the sun treated us to a spectacular sunset with sunrays. The sunset even lighted up the white Cliffs of Dover in the United Kingdom. The sun was reflected on the Cliffs, which turned them bright orange.

Do you ever take day trips?

Ourneverendingwanderlust Cap Gris Nez-4442

A day trip to Cap Blanc Nez France

 

This year I have vacation in November and December, because we are building a house and it is just just me, myself and I, we didn’t book a vacation. At least not yet. So instead of a big trip I have been planning all kinds of day trips. Cap Blanc Nez and Cap Gris Nez was one of those day trips. And let me tell you they didn’t disappoint as a day trip.

The past two years I have been taking photography classes and together with two other ladies from my photography class we headed to France. Cap Blanc Nez is only a two  hour drive from where I live, so we left early in the morning to head to the Caps.

Ourneverendingwanderlust Cap Blanc Nez-4148

The first thing we did when we got to France was have a breakfast at a little B&B. The breakfast ofcourse included a fresh baguettes and lots of French cheeses. I aboslutely love goat´s cheese, so that is what I had on a fresh baguette.

After breakfast we  headed to the Cliffs at Cap Blanc Nez. We were Lucky, since we could see across the Canal. From Cap Blanc Nez we had a beautiful view of the white Cliffs of Dover in the United Kingdom. The view of these Cliffs sparked the idea to head out to England for a day to!

We parked the car at the top of Cap Blanc Nez, where we walked around the top. There are a lot of hiking trails in this area, which you can easily start from the parking lot at Cap Blanc Nez. The hiking trails will take you in all directions. One of the trails will lead you from the top to the beach, but you can also take the car and park the car at the beach.

If you want to do both Cap Blanc Nez and Cap Gris  Nez in one day you can also hike from Cap Blanc Nez to Cap Gris Nez, which is 16 kilometers to the south. It is a 32 kilometers round trip. You can hike there along the beach and back over the Cliffs.
Ourneverendingwanderlust Cap Griz Nez-4058
The view from the top of Cap Blanc Nez was incredible. The top lays at 134 meters above sea level. In the surrounding hills you will find craters, whic hare caused by bombs in the Second World War.

After the top we headed to the beach. The Caps have a tide and when the tide is high you can´t go onto the beach, because the water will come up to the Cliffs. So make sure to check the tide before you head out there. While you are on the beach during low tide also keep an eye out on the tide, because you don´t want to get closed in by the tide.

We spent most of the morning photographing at the beack. The Cliffs towering over you are really impressive and there are so many photography opportunities.

In the afternoon we headed out for lunch. When you head out for lunch in France make sure you get there before 2 in the afternoon, because restaurants will be closed beween 2 and dinner time. I enjoyed the catch of the day at lunch, since we were so close to the sea it is impossible to not eat fish. You will find a lot of sea food restaurants in the surrounding villages, where you can get all kinds of fish, even crab.

After lunch we headed to Cap Gris Nez for the sunset, but more on that in a next blog.

Ourneverendingwanderlust Cap Blanc Nez-4162