Groningen!
 

Hello Fodorites!

Previously I had asked about day trips from Groningen for our grad student daughter who is spending the summer working on a project with colleagues at RGU, and you all came through. :clap:

I can't imagine that any of you follow my U.S. Forum comings-and-goings, but the last week has been rough for this Mom. Both DH and I were to spend a week in Seattle to celebrate DD's successful Oral Defense ahead of her dual PhDs, and do some PNW touring, when lack-of-dog-sitter woes befell us. I sent DH to Seattle and have been armchair traveling with them (DD promises a trip report. We shall see.)

So I've decided to hop across the pond to visit DD as well as tour the surrounds. I have 4 full days outside of travel (17-20 July) and plan only to use public transportation (flying IAD-AMS). On the two weekend days DD and I plan to visit Wadlopen and Bourtagne. Add to that 1+ day for me to explore Groningen, and that leaves me with 1 free day. How do you suggest I spend it? I'm outdoorsy, love food and museums and cultural attractions and history (though I think the Bunkermuseum is more in DH's wheelhouse.)

I have a cozy flat booked in the Binnenstadt (it's probably the size of our walk-in closet, but the location and the price was right.) Restaurant recommendations, please? We're omnivores and eat across all price points if the meal is worth it.

Thank you!

Hm, interesting problem to have. I'm not sure. You could probably do Groningen in a day and stretch it to two if you do a bit of shopping and a couple of longer lunches. There is a little self-guided walking tour you can do of the town and we interspersed it with ice-cream stops as it was a day over 30C. What about Leeuwarden - I remember getting out of the car there on the way to Germany from Amsterdam once and there is some unique Frisian architecture there. Or Emden, you could cross the border into Germany to visit there. I visited Emden for a few days when I had a friend who was researching in the Church library there. It is a charming town with a small harbour and it is home of the comedian Otto Waalkes who has a tourist attraction there, Dat Otto-Hus. I don't think I went in, but I remember it has his symbol of an elefant (Ottifant) outside. My visit to Groningen was about 16 years ago and my visits to Leeuwarden and Emden would have been around 25 years ago (not the same trip, but around the same time), and doubtless Emden will have changed a bit since then. I don't remember enough of Leeuwarden to say much more about it, but perhaps someone else can comment here. Hetismij2 lives not far from Leeuwarden, she might be able to colour in some of the picture.

Lavandula

I might add that when we visited Groningen we were staying in Bremen. I was there to visit the university and we had a fortnight there, with trips out on the weekends to Cuxhaven and Göttingen. Bremen is a big city and there is a lot more to do there. I think the drive was about 2 hours from Groningen. It probably eclipses what you can do in your extra day, but if you had a car you could certainly go there. There is the charming Schnoor-Viertel, and a significant art gallery, as well as Beck's brewery. Nice city, worth a look-in.

Lavandula

Just to add: we ate lunch at the News Café in Groningen because they had high chairs there. It is a modern café with just modern kinds of food (burgers, chips, etc). I really had wanted to eat at a more atmospheric place around the corner, or perhaps somewhere with Dutch food (which BTW is hard to find in the Netherlands, traditional food is what gets cooked in the home, restaurants have other kinds of cuisine), but they sent us to the News Café instead for the chairs. The food was fine, it was nothing exceptional. We also had a coffee the next day in a café next to the Martinikerk and watched the finishing line of a bike race. There was a market in the square on the Saturday. One meal we had was in the hotel. We had a car so we opted for a place on the outskirts which did not charge for parking, and I think that hotel has changed hands now so I am not sure what it's called nowadays. My memory is less of the food but rather that our daughter, who was under two at the time, was raining food down onto the floor in this very elegant setting, but the staff took it in their stride. Sorry I cannot remember more, but I would encourage you to look further afield than we did!

I just found this from 2010: https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...g-long-847629/

Lavandula