August-September 2014 we traveled to Europe to attend the Formula 1 race at Spa, Belgium. Pics for that event can be found here. Following the race we journeyed up into Denmark, returning to Germany for a final night and then flying off to Portugal for a few days of true holiday relaxation. The Denmark-Germany portion of this trip involved a lot of driving, just popping into mostly small towns to sample the local foods, see some scenery, and do some recon on places we might want to spend more time in.
Aachen, Germany
We used Aachen as home base for the race. As most of the day light hours were spent at the track, we didn’t have much opportunity to see much of the city. Mainly sampled the restaurants and the beers. Too bad too, because there were some things I would have liked to have done, like stand at the intersection of Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands, or the tomb of Charlemagne.
Nevertheless we had some fantastic meals. Had tomato soup four nights in a row, and they were different each time, loved it. The salads were another treat and one of the best pepper steaks ever.
Odense, Denmark
After the race weekend we jumped into the car for the 8hr., 500 mile drive to Odense, birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen. Apparently, even though it was still August, we missed the summer weather. It was a little on the chilly side with scattered rain. Nothing too serious, and not enough to stop us from doing what we wanted to do. We (mainly me) got caught out in the cool evenings in shorts, but a few beers dulled the chill easily.
The first evening was spent wandering the small, clean, city center (pedestrians only, although still a lot of cyclists) in search of food and drink since we hadn’t eaten all day.
The next day we took a short drive out to Egeskov Castle. The castle (more of a palace really), was nice. Too many dead animals on the walls for me, and everything was fairly contemporary (1800-1900’s). Highlight for me was a motorcycle museum on the grounds, and above that in the attic, a treasure trove of dust covered antique cars, motos, sleighs and a couple of bomb casings (go figure). A smaller, but still nice museum of fire trucks was attached. Very bizarrely, was a very dark room off the motorcycle museum that was identified as Draculas crypt, complete with a sarcophagus and dummy of Dracula. I have no idea what this was doing there. The castle grounds had some very nice gardens and loads of things for kids to do.
Returning to Odense, we went over to the HCA museum and birthplace. Then over to one of the larger churches in the town center. At the recommendation of our hotel host, Kenneth, we headed over to the Cro’n, for a traditional Denmark dinner. We totally screwed this up. We were both in the mood for the same thing and ordered the same meal. We should have arm wrestled for the right to choose, and made the loser order something different, because the meal was fantastic, and at least we would been able to sample different dishes.
All in all, saw quite a bit of the town, and enjoyed it very much.
Copenhagen, Denmark
From Odense we head off to Copenhagen for an afternoon and evening. This wasn’t meant to be an extensive exploration of the city, more of an exploratory trip. How much can you really tell about a place in 18 hrs? But we packed it in nonetheless. Didn’t see or visit too many of Copenhagen’s numerous sites, but we still had loads of fun, walking around, dodging the bicyclists, sampling the beers and Aquavits’, and just enjoying the weather.
Ribe, Denmark
Blast back across Denmark to Ribe. Described as the oldest town in Denmark. Being the end of summer (really early fall in Denmark) the town was very empty and quiet. We walked the deserted streets checking out the architecture, visited a local Viking museum, and tried a few of the restaurants for the local cuisine. It seemed like every house was a B&B . There must be some period when Ribe is a very popular place, just not early September. Definitely worth a short visit though if you like old buildings. The town was very clean, and well maintained.
Quedlinburg, Germany
We choose Quedlinburg because it’s “all things broomstick” and only a 4 hour drive to the Frankfurt airport. However to get there we have to put in a 7 hour day (should have been 5, but traffic was terrible, there was loads of construction zones and then a massive accident). So, like several of our stops, we only have an evening to explore. Since we frequently use Frankfurt as our point of entry into Europe, we will definitely come back here. It deserved at least one full day, and two nights, and there were a couple of restaurants that looked intriguing.
Lousã, Portugal
Two and one-half hours north of Lisbon, Lousã, lies fairly close to Coimbra. We choose Lousã, because it was close to a couple of properties we were looking at and were going to be touring with a realtor. We pulled into town and found it nearly deserted, and an unarrested state of decay. Pulling up to our hotel, it doesn’t look anything like the pics on the web (or at least what we remember of them). Since it’s been a long day, and we have few options, we elect to bite the bullet and check in for the evening. We then have to drive up and around the block, and down a hill to the hotel parking lot. From here we can see the hotel from the backside, and it was everything the web pics had promised. So we went from apprehensive, to the next morning we were extending our stay and loving it (hotel, the staff, the town and the surrounding countryside).
Turns out we had entered town from the “wrong” direction, as north of our hotel, it was very nice, populated, loads of shopping and restaurants.
First morning we take a short 15 minute drive up into the hills to a castello, and then hike around the area to a church, and one of the many river beaches popular in the area. We return the hotel in the afternoon to lounge around the pool, and drink too many beers. Later that evening a fantastic dinner at the hotel.
Second day was spent driving the area looking at the properties. Won’t bore anyone with that except to say we saw some very nice, large and reasonably priced properties. Evening spent swimming and drinking (this time mostly the local wine).
Third day we head off to Lisbon for some short business meetings, and then just wandered around Barrio Alto and Alfama,
Wellbredred and Littlebeast 
[…] Germany-Denmark-Portugal 2014 […]
Very nice you two! Thank you for sharing!