NWTraveler

Home of the bacon-tini – both as gross and as yummy as it sounds. A heart attack in a glass but good in an awful sort of way…

This yummy little hole in the wall opened a few months ago, and I’ve been hooked from the start. The appetizers are especially good – the scallops kypshelly are to die for, and I’m also partial to the octopus and crab dip (loads of crab meat with mild green peppers and cheese). The menu has all the expected Greek favorites, and many of the dishes can be made vegan (though most contain meat). It’s quite reasonably priced – the most expensive entree is about $14 and most hover around $10.

The restaurant itself is a tiny little space with only three tables. The business is more focused on catering than the restaurant right now, but there are plans to expand the seating and add a small bar soon. The couple that own the restaurant are very welcoming and chatty – it can sometimes feel like you’re having dinner in someone’s home. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by for a retsina and meze and say hi to Chef Eleni!

A cook’s paradise! Tony makes fantastic spice blends and sells them by the ounce (about $3/oz, which is a good little amount). I have about a dozen of those little bottles lined up in my kitchen cabinet…

This little museum tells the history of the Boomsma company, makers of traditional Dutch liquors. There’s a shop, a small, interesting display of old distillery equipment, a short video that is interesting though only in Dutch, and a wonderful, warm tasting room where you can try most of their products for free. I took home bottles of Berenburger (an herb bitter) and Hagel & Donder (anise-based brandy), and am dying to find some way of getting more here in Seattle!

I had no idea what to expect when I heard rumor of an eighteenth-century planetarium in Friesland, so of course I had to hop a train and check it out. The museum is a small house with exhibits about planetary matters and a short video describing the man who built this place.

The planetarium itself is one of the strangest, most wonderful contraptions I’ve seen. Essentially this amateur astronomer built a working map of the solar system on his bedroom ceiling that moves the planets in an accurate orbit over time. He also built a series of clocks that display the current day, date, and movement of heavenly bodies. The extraordinary thing is that he accomplished all this with rather rudimentary mechanics – pulleys and gears in a giant sort of clock in the attic keep all this running constantly. I visited with an astro-physicist who marveled that the orbits seemed accurate…

Definitely worth seeing if you find yourself in Friesland!

Zuidhorn is a small village one train stop away from Groningen, with a row of historic mansions and a small center. It’s worth hopping a bike and going if you want to ride out of Groningen for an afternoon, though there’s not a lot to do here.

Winsum is a typically cute Dutch village a bike ride away from Groningen. I wouldn’t make a special trip here as part of a vacation, but if you live in Groningen it’s a wonderful bike ride through the fields, and plenty of places to grab a beer and a tosty when you get here.

This is the only place in Seattle I’ve ever seen with Maredsous 10 on draft – that alone would make a trip here worth it! Not to mention 50 other beers…

When I first landed in Seattle this was the first place I lived – a block down John off of Broadway in a roach-infested hovel that I didn’t really mind because I was always out of the house, taking in Broadway with wide-open, fresh-out-of-the-suburban-South eyes. Twelve years later I’ve lived all over town but Capitol Hill is still the heart of my city. Though I spend much of my time in other neighborhoods, walking down Broadway never ceases to feel like a little homecoming.

Blagaj is probably 15-25 miles outside of Mostar, and worth visiting to see the Dervish House. The village itself is small and not particularly touristy, which is a welcome respite from the nearby city and crush of tourists in Mostar.

I got here by city bus from Mostar which was an adventure in itself – it can be very difficult for someone who doesn’t speak Bosnian to figure out the bus schedule (bus stops are largely unposted and written schedules are scarce) and it took almost two hours of waiting and asking to find the right one. The ride itself was only about 30 minutes, and the scenery is nice. But be sure to get return information from more than one source – the bus driver gave me the wrong information about return times, and a British bloke I met while waiting for it and I compared notes and realized we were in for a two hour wait to return to Mostar.

But that just gave us an opportunity to walk a bit more and chat over beers in a nice little cafe. Travel in Bosnia can be a bit challenging, but as long as you’re in no hurry, visiting places like Blagaj are well worth the effort!