Europe

The winter season brings with it cold weather and the desire for hot beverages and cozy settings. This week, we will let coffee take us around the world to find the best cup of joe and great cities where it can be found.

Amsterdam, Netherlands is the world capital of coffee shops. With over 300 coffee shops and cafes to choose from, you can decide which is best for you. Young travelers usually search for the shops that offer legal “herbs”, but most coffee shops offer much more than that. Locals enjoy the relaxed settings and warm environments conducive to enjoying a coffee and a good book in the afternoon. To complement these great coffee shops are delicious bakeries–Taart van m’n Tante is a well-reviewed colorfully decorated café with large, ornate cakes luring you in the windows and centered at each table to be enjoyed.

Once you’re ready to start the day, walk through beautiful Vondelpark (complete with lakes, mystical trees, and beautiful buildings and hotels), visit the Van Gogh museum (housing the largest collection of Van Gogh’s paintings and drawings in the world) and Rikjsmuseum (displaying Dutch art and history), take a historical tour of the Anne Frank house (walk on the same floors where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis), and bicycle along Amsterdam’s numerous canals to get the full tour.

Realtraveler cessna152 gives a detailed description of the Van Gogh museum collection. He says:

“The next morning we took a tram to the Van Gogh Museum. The exhibit covered one floor and led us through a complete history of the great man’s work, starting with paintings that looked nothing like what I’d expected. His early work was clearly of the traditional type, showing quite realistic scenes of various descriptions. Before long though we were gawping at the work he became famous for, including The Potato Eaters and the world-famous Sunflowers.”

Walking the city will allow you to find great little neighborhoods and a relaxed and eclectic Amsterdamian culture. Walk into a street art fair, world music shop, unique clothing boutique, or dimly lit restaurant on your city tour.

Discover Amsterdam as other realtravelers had and find the beauty and warmth within it. Sus and Pete did and reflected this:

“Amsterdam is an amazing city, we had no idea how beautiful it would be. There is a Venice like canal system that flows though the city with a number of small bridges connecting the streets. Because the streets are so small almost everyone gets around on old bicycles. We spent hours walking the many canals and found time to visit the Heineken Brewery and the Van Gogh Museum. We really had a blast.”

Enjoy the aged, beautiful buildings, deep canals, rich wooden interiors and friendly crowd as you make your way to the coffee shop capital.

To plan your visit to Amsterdam, visit:

Amsterdam Hotels
Amsterdam Attractions
Coffee shop guide: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2007/sep/26/amsterdam.travelfoodanddrink?page=3

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Stock up on items from music to jewelry (and everything in between) in the tax-free country of Andorra. In this quaint small principality located between France and Spain, visitors outnumber residents to take advantage of tax-free shopping, great ski resorts, and the beautiful mountains, lakes, and valleys planted in the middle of the Pyrenees.

Real Travel bloggers enjoyed Andorra’s hot springs, cheap drinks and night life, dramatic scenery, and outdoor activities. Andorra’s capital is Andorra la vella, the largest city with the highest concentration of the country’s 2000 shops. As the Journeyers, put it: “The place is clean, pretty, and unbelievably full of stores.”

Other Real Travel bloggers suggest drinks at El Cau in the Andorran village of Arinsal, Anyos Park where the locals are extremely friendly to kids, and skiing wherever you see fit.

Here’s what Mikey 08 had to say about his outing in Andorra:

“After a drive from Avignon, and a lunch pit stop in a village in the foot of the Pyrenees, we traveled up through the beautiful mountains, until we reached the tiny principality of Andorra. It has a Swiss feel about the place, and also reminds me of Aviemore in Scotland. Our campsite it wedged at the foot of a steep, high mountain, with only a river and road, before another steep mountain goes up the other side. It´s very cloudy here and also rains a couple of times. After pitching our tents, I venture into the local area for a look around. There are houses perched on top of the mountains, and I have no idea how they get into town for the shops. Maybe they abseil? There´s a local pool, so I spend the early evening going for a swim. Our group went out for dinner at a lovely little Andorran restaurant. How many people can say they´ve been to one of those?”

Do some shopping and embrace the small villages of Andorra on your next drive through the Pyrenees mountains.

For more trip information, visit:

Andorra Hotels
Andorra Attractions
www.cyberandorra.com

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