Castle de Haar

17 June 2017,

It was very easy now to go to Castle de Haar by public transport. From Den Haag, we took direct train to Vleuten. Next to Vleuten train station, there was a bus terminal where we can take bus no. 111 to Castle de Haar. The bus stopped in front of the castle.

Since we got off the bus, the castle was already impressed us. The wall, the moat and the bridge were beautiful. We went to the ticket office to get the tickets. Since we had Museumkaart, we can get inside for free. If not, we should buy the tickets and they had a separate ticket for garden only or with the castle.

Muiderslot

11 June 2017,

Muiderslot is one of the most beautiful castles in Netherlands. Located in Muiden, only 50 minutes drive from Den Haag. Since parking lot near the castle was limited, we parked our car on the street, not far from the castle.

This medieval castle was built by Count Floris around 1285. He had many enemies, and one of them was Willem van Mechelen from Utrecht. His enemies kidnapped him and held prisoner in his own castle. Later, they took him away from castle and killed him. After his death, the castle was taken over by the Willem van Mechelen.

Ghent and Dinant

4 June 2017 ,Ghent

We drove from Den Haag to Ghent. It only took 2 hours to reach Ghent. We parked our car in Ibis Hotel Centrum Opera. From there, we can easily walk to old town.

First thing we saw is the magnificent St. Niklaaskerk. It is one of the oldest buildings in Ghent. Built in 13^th century, it is a beautiful Scheldt Gothic example. St. Niklaaskerk is one of the famous three towers of Ghent. We can enter the church for free.

Romania and Bulgaria

25 May 2017, Bucharest

For this spring break, we chose to explore Eastern Europe. And the country that came to our mind was Romania. It is famous for its natural beauty and also the Dracula story. We took the  09.30 am flight from Amsterdam. We arrived at 13.15 at Bucharest Airport. From the airport we took the bus no 783, it cost 7 Lei. The bus stopped at Piata Romana and from there, we walked to our hotel, Berthelot Hotel. There were many hotels in this area since the location are good, close to many attraction.

Norway in Four Days

26 April 2017, Bergen

We took the 08.25 morning flight from Amsterdam to Bergen. It took 1 hour 40 minutes. From the airport we took flybuss to the city center. The bus stops at several bus stops. We got off at bus terminal/train station stop. From there we walked around 10 minutes to our hotel, Marken Guesthouse.

Road Trip to Germany

15 April 2017, Bonn

Our first road trip in Europe! We rented the car from Hertz, since they had an interesting promotion, which was for three days, we only pay EUR 80. We went to their office and had a smooth procedure. We got a good and clean car. First, we (Hertz and I) both did the check list for all the damaged that already in the car. Then, off we go!

Iceland

 
24 February 2017: Amsterdam – Reykjavik

Our flight was delayed for two hours due the weather condition in Reykjavik. We arrived at the airport in late afternoon. From the airport we took flybus to city center. The bus stopped in front of our hostel, Reykjavik Hostel Village.

Luxembourg

 
 18 February 2017, Luxembourg City

We took train from Den Haag Centraal to Luxembourg. It took 5 hours 30 minutes with an exchange at Brussel Nord. We departed at around 7.30 am from Den Haag Centraal.

Jordan

20-25 December 2016

Day 1 : Amsterdam – Amman

Try to escape from cold, for this winter holiday we were going south. As we didn’t have much time to arrange for visa, so we searched for counry that no need visa or only need visa on arrival. Jordan is one of the country that give Indonesian visa on arrival. So, Jordan was the country we spent our holiday.

Christmas Market in Netherland

Christmas Market in  Netherlands  


Maastricht, 31 December 2016

 With theme Magical Maastricht, Christmas Market in Maastricht was one of the Christmas Markets that open until end of December.

Besides all the stalls, they had some areas for children. The main attraction was the Ferris Wheel, which we can get a nice city view from top. They also had ice skate ring complete with the skate rental.
 

Den Bosch

04 december 2016

Though it was 5^o C but because it was a sunny day, we decided to go outside Den Haag. There are some towns that not far from Den Haag that we want to visit, such as Breda, Dordrecht and Den Bosch. But because we plan to visit Dordrecht when it has Christmas Market (which is 2 more weeks) and Breda is smaller than Den Bosch (maybe we can combine Breda with another town), so we decided to visit Den Bosch.

Peru

17 August 2016, Santiago and Flight to Lima, Peru

In the morning we went to Mercado. Mercado is a big market that sell almost everything. It had a “tourist” section that sell souvenirs and seafood restaurants. It also had some counters that sell tour packages. We didn’t spend so much time here. After bought Moai (easter island statue), we decided to back to hotel and get our luggage. We took turbus from Alamameda bus terminal to Santiago Airport. Our flight by Skyairlines from Santiago, to Lima was at 15.10 pm.

Chile

12 August 2016, Amsterdam to Santiago, Chile

We took evening flight from Amsterdam to Santiago, Chile with 3 hours transit at Paris Airport. We departed at 18.45 pm from Amsterdam.

13 August 2016, Santiago

We arrived at Santiago Chile Airport at 08.00 am. We followed the sign to the gate where the bus to downtown would stop. We found the bus ticket counter. There were two bus operators, Turbus and Centropuerto. We chose Turbus because it was clear that the bus will stop at Alamada Bus Terminal. The price was CLP 1700 per peson one way. The bus stopped at several bus stops, including Pajaritos Bus Terminal. The last stop was Alameda Bus Terminal. We got off here, and walked less then 3 minutes to Ibis Hotel.

Nijmegen

13 August 2016, Nijmegen

We arrived at Nijmegen train station, it took only 15 minutes from Arnhem central train station. Nijmegen is the oldest city in the Netherlands. Like the other cities in Holland, the old town was close from the train station. We just followed the clear sign to centruum. The first place we see was the Grote Markt. In this square, we saw the Waaggebouw (weighing house), the beautiful old renaissance building from 1600 and now it serves as a restaurant, the bronze statue of Mariken Nieumeghen, a chief character from 15^th century and the entrance to the St. Stevenskerk, a Romanesque Gothic church. The church was already closed when we arrived, so we just can admire its beautiful façade.

The Holland Open Air Museum (Nederlands Openlucht Museum) Arnhem

13 August 2016, The Holland Open Air Museum (Nederlands Openlucht Museum) Arnhem
We took train from Den Haag Central Station to Arnhem Central Station. From there we continued by Breng (name of the bus in Arnhem) no 3 direction Burger’s Zoo and we stopped at Burger’s Zoo bus stop. From there, we walked to the museum.

Ticket to enter this museum was EUR 15 for adults and EUR 11 for child 4-12 years old. As we have Museumkaart, we got free entry. First, we entered the entrance which also a museum shop. It’s a small shop that sells some things especially for children. Also we can buy some snacks and drinks here. The Museum opens from 10.00 am to 17.00 pm.

Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest

28 July 2016, Vienna
We took morning flight from Amsterdam to Vienna. We departed at 07.00 am and arrived at Schwechat Vienna Airport 08.40 am. From airport we took train (we bought train ticket at the airport for EUR 3.9 per person) and stopped at Praterstern. From there we walked to our hotel, Ibis Hotel.
When we reached Ibis Hotel, we just knew that there was a metro station near Ibis Hotel, Vorgartenstasse Metro Station. It less than 5 minutes walking, so it was very convenient for us to use the metro services.

Hoorn, Netherlands

25 June 2016, Hoorn

Hoorn, a city in  the North Netherlands. It was one of the centers of VOC, the Dutch Indies Company which had Batavia (Jakarta) as one of its important trading posts. It was easy to reach Hoorn since it has its train station. From Den Haag to Hoorn took about 1 hour 30 minutes, including transfer in Amsterdam Sloterdijk.




 



 

Gouda

 
09 June 2016


Gouda is a small town famous for its cheese. It was very easy to reach there, only 20 minutes from Den Haag by train. The town can be explore by foot from the central station. There were some beautiful old buildings that we can visit. Sint-Janskerk is a church with its beautiful stained glass windows is one of them. St Janskerk was originally Roman Catholic Church, but now is a Protestant Church. Just across the church, we can also visit Gouda Museum, where we can see many collections from 16^th century, such as ceramics and paintings.


 

Greece : Athens, Delphi and Meteora

Greece

28 May – 01 June 2016

28 May 2016, Fly to Athens

We took evening flight from Amsterdam to Athens. We departed at 08.35 pm and arrived at 00.25. From Airport we took taxi directly to our hotel, Astor Hotel in Syntagma Square area.








 

Copenhagen, Helsingor and Hillerod - Denmark

Copenhagen, 5-7 May 2016

5 May 2016

It’s a long weekend, time to pack our luggage J This time we chose Copenhagen, only 1 hour flight from Amsterdam. We had morning flight at 8 am. We deciced to stay at airport hotel, Park Inn Hotel which is located only 2 stops from Airport by metro. First, we bought 1 day pass (DKK 80) at the airport, then took M2 metro and stop at Femoren Stop. From there, we already can see the hotel. Lucky for us, that we can get our room before the check inn time, so we had some times to freshen up.