We had two spare 1 day travelcards, and last Saturday was the last day we could use them. We wanted to make good use of them and travel as far as possible. So we chose between Liège in Belgium, or Groningen in the NL, but eventually decided we wanted to stay in our own little country.
After an exhausting 3,5 hour train ride we finally arrived in Groningen. Groningen is a university city (lots of bars and cafés!) and the largest city of northern NL. That day was the last proper day of 'winter' by the way (on Sunday temp was suddenly 7°C instead of -5°C) so that meant LOTS OF SNOWFALL which isn't really nice if you want to enjoy a city outdoors.
I am a sucker for churches, so obv had to visit the Saint Joseph cathedral.
It is a lovely brick cathedral by architect Pierre Cuypers, who is famous for Amsterdam Central Station and the Rijksmuseum.
You can see the hexagonal shape of the tower, allowing you to see three clocks at the same time (fairly unusual for church towers). It's called the drunken tower because of it.
It is a lovely brick cathedral by architect Pierre Cuypers, who is famous for Amsterdam Central Station and the Rijksmuseum.
You can see the hexagonal shape of the tower, allowing you to see three clocks at the same time (fairly unusual for church towers). It's called the drunken tower because of it.
But when we went to see another church, the Aa-church, we stumbled upon a little shop called Hanze Huis. It was now snowing pretty hard (making it impossible to see anything), so we gladly walked in.
Hanze Huis is a pretty unique shop, because they sell ONLY (fine food) products from European companies that were founded at least 100 years ago. Just to make sure the product is legitimately the best product around (because companies probably wouldn't last hundreds of years if they made bad products). I mean, there are companies that were founded in the late 1300s.
So, if you're into high quality and traditional products, this is definitely the place to be.
So, if you're into high quality and traditional products, this is definitely the place to be.
They have everything from nougat to sardines to Italian dessert wines to bath salts. Perfect place to buy gifts - for loved ones, or just for you ;) I wanted to buy the whole shop, but settled for nougat, porter beer from Zwolle and some chocolate.
The nice gentleman at Hanze Huis also made us try a glass of 'kwast', which is basically lemonade syrup mixed with boiling water. The Dutch drink this after a nice cold day of ice skating or when they're feeling a bit under the weather. I had never heard of this Dutch drink, and the idea put me off a little to be honest. I hate lemon tea, and the thought of hot lemonade didn't really sound right to me. But I tried anyway and was surprised! It tasted good! We were freezing when we came in, but after a glass of kwast not so much anymore. So def worth trying. I really did feel better after drinking kwast.
So if you ever happen to be in the neighbourhood of Groningen (or Zwolle), Hanze Huis is a great little shop to visit. They also have a website you can order from, but I think the shipping costs are ridiculous. I mean 6,75, really? Damn. But it does save you a 3,5 hour trip though.. :)