We decided to discover the city center of Liege by bike with a guide! How to plan a visit with a bicycle guide: contact Liege city tourist office, where you can also book bicycles. Ours weren’t electric: if you’re not used to cycling, prefer electric bikes because the distances are long and sometimes your guide can be in a hurry (lol!). What a fantastic breath of fresh air! Starting with the historic center, then its canals and parks: mixing history and nature! After the guided bike ride, we choose to continue alone “on a bicycle”.
We stopped for a long time at the museum of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. Fascinating: galleries with large mammals! Then we went to two exhibitions in different areas of the city, including one at La Bouverie, the modern and contemporary art museum. And if you want to extend your long day in Liège, with a short romantic weekend: here is a very very charming boutique hotel, the Hotel Neuvice. Beautiful modern decoration in a historic residence, with an efficient and very friendly team.
This hotel has that “je ne sais quoi” that I really liked! The constructions of the Al Seef district are recent constructions inspired by the historic pearl fishing port at the origin of the Dubai Creek. The Al Seef Heritage Hotel extends over a dozen traditional Arab houses (bayts), with all modern comforts. A small walk from the reception desk to access the bayt in which our room is located. During the day, the souk is quite touristy, but not crowed. And in the evening it is even more pleasant.
Our room is large with character without being stuffy or maximalist. I really liked the heavy wooden doors. From our balcony we have a wonderful view of the river’s banks. The bed is very comfortable and the bathroom very practical with a drying rack. Like the feeling of being in a setting of 19th century writers, poets and travelers, or even orientalist painters. Here and there, antique objects.
We took our breakfasts and almost all our dinners at the hotel, because we often come home late. The restaurant closes at 11 p.m.: very very pleasant to be alone, sit down and enjoy the coolness on one of the terraces (photo below). Eat meze and a chicken or beef shawarma. Then stroll through the narrow streets that are less and less crowded as time goes on. Some merchants leave their products outside overnight, apparently there is no problem with theft.
Hotel Riu Dubai
To swim in the waters of the Persian Gulf
Different neighborhood, different atmosphere. For the end of our Dubai getaway, we just wanted to swim in the emerald waters of the Persian Gulf and stay in a beach hotel in a “desert “area. The Hotel Riu Dubai shares this long wide strip of beach with a single neighboring hotel. And from the balcony of our suite, I could spend hours and hours contemplating the sea, if the wind wasn’t blowing.
Cold at first, the sea water is very salty and there is current. The perfect conditions to encourage you to swim in sport mode. The swimming area is delimited by buoys and under the supervision of a lifeguard. After the effort, the comfort with the very good lunch and dinner buffets. A festival of flavors we enjoy on the terrace of the main restaurant, overlooking the swimming pools and gardens.
For a short weekend, we felt like we were on vacation, after rushing around Dubai. Although the hotel has 750 rooms, we managed to find islands of calm and tranquility, where to read a good book, daydream in the shade of a palm tree during the hottest hours and above all swim! In the suite, I really appreciated having space: a comfortable dressing room, spacious bathroom and good bedding.
How to discover this destination with a mining tradition which this year is the European Capital of Culture? For a weekend, visit the third city of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette. The first day: consult the cultural program of the week on Esche 2022 and put on your most comfortable sneakers to attend the exhibitions, events or concerts that take place in the different districts of the city.
As examples : on the “Day 1” photomontage (below), 1., the rehearsal of a show at the National Museum of the Resistance, with its impressive architecture which will reopen at the end of April. 2., the Escher Theater. 3., 4. and 5., frescoes and graffiti in and near the cultural center Kulturfabrik, where you can also attend concerts. The second day: nature and history with the visit to an old mine and train museum at Minett Park Fond de Gras. From May, you can experience the Train 1900 (from Pétange to Fond-de-Gras and vice versa) or the Mining Train ‘Minièresbunn’ (Fond-de-Gras – Lasauvage – Fond-de-Gras).
Here is an original accommodation, the Château de Clemency: an unusual warm guest house in a small castle from 1660 that will delight decor maximalists. The Sherlock Holmes suite looks like a film set: with its living room like a cabinet of curiosities including a collection of pipes, stuffed animals flying over the room and in the entrance, the coats and caps of Holmes and Watson. A journey through time ! 18 Rue de l’Eglise, 4965 Käerjeng, Luxemburg, Phone: +352 51 26 52 60.
