Vielsalm, Belgium

We had a random long weekend and decided to drive up to Belgium. We have visited Belgium once before, but it was quite awhile ago. On our previous trip we stayed in Bruges which would be great to visit again, but we did not want to drive quite as far on this trip. 

Originally we were looking at visiting Liege, Belgium. Have you heard of liege waffles? Yup... same liege. After searching the map on Airbnb, though, I found this converted military bunker and thought it would be a neat place to stay. 

And now Suzie has visited six different countries!

We're not sure what the metal piece on the top means, but we joked that the place is owned by the Illuminati. 

The location of the Airbnb was so idyllic! We were surrounded by fields. It was exactly the peaceful and quiet location I was looking for. 

This general area of Belgium is significant in WWII history, specifically because of the Battle of the Bulge. There are museums dedicated to this history in the area, but we did not visit any. On our hike, though, I felt like I was in scenes from Band of Brothers. 

Adjacent to the town center was a lovely promenade around the lake. It was the perfect spot for an evening stroll!

Vielsalm is also known for its folklore, especially their witch history. The town has a museum and annual festival dedicated to it. We did not visit the museum since I could not tell from the website if the displays were in English, but we found this broom on our stroll. 

Vielsalm ended up being surprising. I was expecting a sleepy town in the middle of nowhere, but the town had quite a lot going for it! You could tell that it is a popular place for hikers and the town had a variety of restaurants. It was perfect for a weekend getaway!

Sunflowers, Lavender and Aix-en-Provence

Not only can you find fields of lavender in Provence, but also fields of sunflowers! This one was up the road from our Airbnb so on our last night in Rians we drove over and took pictures. 

On another evening we drove out to Valensole to see if we could find these famous fields of lavender. Upon arrival, we discovered that most had been harvested already. We saw only one field that still had blooms. I was prepared for this, especially because it had been a hot summer already. It was still a bit of a let down. 

But before heading home, we found a spot with a great view. 

I did not see a lot of street art on this trip, so I had to snap a photo of this one.

The final city in our tour of Provence was Aix-en-Provence where we booked a food tour through Airbnb. Charles and I agreed afterward that it was our least favorite food tour out of the few we have done since being in Europe. The food was pretty good and our tour guide was friendly, but it did not provide a lot of detail about the city and why we were eating the things we ate. The French desserts were tasty, though!

Aix is known as the city of fountains and they were EVERYWHERE! Thank goodness, too, because it was soooo hot. We splashed water on ourselves from just about every fountain we came across.  

Gorges du Verdon and Moustiers St. Marie

A highlight of our trip to France was a visit to the Gorges du Verdon. When I saw pictures of the Gorges during my research phase, it looked too good to be true. I have learned that many bloggers edit photos to look more amazing than the locations actually are. But in this case, it was just as impressive in real life. 

A popular activity is to rent a boat and cruise along the water. You can rent a paddle boat, kayak, canoe or an electric boat. Because it was ungodly hot, we opted for an electric boat to reduce the amount of effort we would have to exert. It turned out even better than we thought because the electric boats have covers unlike the other boat options. This is a win for us pale skinned folks!

In anticipation of this trip, I searched out tips on how to pose in pictures. This is my attempt to be more "Instagram worthy". The water was a beautiful turquoise color! 

If I am correct, this was a first for Charles--driving a boat. It was so easy and relaxing. 

These sandals are amazing! If you need some cute, but super comfortable sandals for walking, check out Ecco! 

After our boating time came to an end, we visited the nearby town of Moustiers St. Marie. We parked below the town in a lot off the main street and took a little train up to the town. It was perfect because it was hot, hot, hot! Luckily there were fountains scattered throughout the town. We splashed water on ourselves to try to stay cool. 

The town was adorable! We stopped for cool drinks at a café and had gelato at another place. 

If it had been cooler, we probably would have spent more time in town. But it was just ridiculously hot and uncomfortable. Before heading out, we did stop at a market vendor selling pottery. Charles picked out a mug and we chose a cat figurine to add to our little collection.

Airbnb in Provence

Visiting Provence during lavender season has been on my wish list after seeing the amazing pictures of the area. When researching where to stay in the region, it was hard to choose! The area is pretty expansive with a lot of cute small towns, but as soon as I saw the listing for this Airbnb I was sold. 

The pod is located on a farm in Rians, France. There did not seem to be much to the town (but to be honest we did not explore it that much). But immediately upon arrival to the farm, the air was scented with lavender. It was just what I imagined and hoped for! 

We visited a little late in the season for lavender. Most blogs and travel websites say to visit a couple weeks earlier. So I was preparing myself to see zero lavender blooms. I was beyond happy to see our Airbnb location still had several rows that had not been harvested. Our host (who was very welcoming) encouraged us to walk around. Our first evening we walked amongst the flowers and the buzzing bees to snap some pictures. 

This is the view of the lavender from the patio of the pod. We sat here every night enjoying the peaceful location. Can I just move here?

Rose is popular in Provence. Normally I am not a huge fan of rose, but when in Rome (eh...Provence)! The town had a small grocery store where we purchased wine, cheese, bread and some other snacks. We had laid back dinners at the Airbnb and did not stress about finding a restaurant. Can I just say that we'll miss European grocery stores when we move back to the States? Wine is sooooo much cheaper in Europe. 

Our Airbnb host also delivered breakfast in the morning so we feasted on croissants, jam, coffee, juice and seasonal fruit while enjoying the lavender scented morning. 

Monaco

Another goal of our trip to Provence in France was to check off Monaco. Monaco is a very small country not too far from Nice. It was so pretty to walk around, even on an overcast afternoon. 

Can you believe this building is the ocean museum? You have to see the inside, too! I did not take any interior pictures, but the lobby and some of the areas had amazing architectural details. It was so impressive. We enjoyed visiting the museum and seeing all the fish and sea creatures. Plus their gift shop was top notch! They had an amazing selection of home decor and souvenirs. 

Can you visit Monaco without picking out your yacht??? 

Nice, France

A top trip on my bucket list was the Provence region of France in the summer to see the lavender fields. We began our trip by flying into Nice and spending probably less than 24 hours in the city. It was not enough, but such is life! 

If you have followed any of my trips, you'll see a theme of church pictures. We could see this one from our hotel (Holiday Inn Nice).

We booked a walking tour through Airbnb (highly recommend) which brought us to this really great overlook of the Nice coastline. The beach is very rocky (apparently it's covering black sand) and we did not spend any time by the water except to walk along the promenade. But it was lovely to look at!

One thing I really appreciated and loved about our tour guide was he made a point to take pictures for all of us! 

It was very hot during our visit (it was mid-July after all!) and walking by this fountain was like a natural air conditioner. It felt so nice.

We visited this museum at the end of our trip to kill some time before heading to the airport to fly home. Neither of us were familiar with the artist so it was neat to learn something new. The museum had some amazing stained glass and mosaic installations. 

The Nice airport has a food vendor with a super cute logo. We enjoyed iced coffees and a cookie to share before jetting home. A sweet way to end a lovely trip. Stay tuned for more about the rest of our trip to include Monaco and small town Provence. 

Street Art in Sofia

Another highlight from our Sofia, Bulgaria trip was a graffiti and street art tour. Prior to the tour, we assumed that graffiti was legal in Bulgaria, but that's not the case. With that said, there are some workarounds for street artists. 

I don't remember the stories behind all the artwork we saw, but the tour did highlight the importance of turning around. Many of the pieces we saw we would not have noticed if we did not turn around. Our guide was personable, knowledgeable and gave us ample time to snap photos of all the great street art we saw along the way. 

We made a reservation for the free tour, but you can also book a paid version through Airbnb and other websites. I am not sure how much Charles tipped our guide (who is one of the founders of the tour and a street artist himself), but I suggested he tip at least as much as it would have cost if we booked the paid tour through another site. 

This piece is a bit controversial because it shows their patron saint, George, in a different light. There are strict rules about how saints are to be depicted and this does not follow the rules. 

This was my favorite piece from the tour. I love pop art! This piece also gives a nod to where graffiti and street art started with a NY subway car. 

I asked why this piece showed a woman holding an American football helmet. The owners of the restaurant (which our guide recommended, but we did not have a chance to try it out) studied in America and grew to enjoy American football. 

At the end of the tour we were all tasked with creating our own graffiti tag. This is what we came up with!

This was our group for the evening. The lady on the end was visiting from England and the three ladies were visiting from Hungary.