Places like Asia and Europe has always called me more attention, but my wife always wanted to go to United States, especially for Disney.
This year I had no way out and went to the land of Uncle Sam, starting in Las Vegas and ending in Orlando.

What is Las Vegas ?

Basically, Las Vegas is the idea of ​​a mad-genius named Bugsy Siegel, who worked for the mob.
One day driving through the desert of Las Vegas in the 40s he had a great idea: “Why not make a super hotel/casino in the middle of the desert”???
And so he created the first hotel in Las Vegas, the Flamingo.

Bugsy was murdered by the mob a few years after the opening of the Flamingo for failing to pay the 5 million dollars loan.

A great film about Bugsy’s life and the creation of Las Vegas

In the garden area, Flamingo did a tribute to Las Vegas’ creator with a plate telling his history.

Viva Las Vegas!

Not only Elvis Presley uttered the words “Viva Las Vegas!” Vegas was created thinking of a place where people can gamble, party, getting married drunk and do all sorts of madness, recalling the famous saying: “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas“.

The image I always had in mind about Las Vegas is what films shows: A lot of people screaming, having fun, several model-like prostitutes in a very crowded place. The reality is much less fun.

Actually, I found the environment of several casinos depressing, with an excessive smell of cigarettes, too many “down” people, drunk and melancholy. I didn’t see the model-like prostitutes, just the average ones.

The thematic world

There is no denying, Las Vegas does not really exist.
All that is there was done by copying something famous, but that does not mean that it loses its authenticity.

The hotels are the big draw in Vegas, they all have casinos and several other major attractions such as concerts, theaters and zoo.

Caesar’s Palace – Mention to the Roman empire

Gondolas at the Venetian, mention to the famous canals of Venice

Caesar’s Palace

Paris Hotel, where we stayed

A gastronomic tip:
In the U.S., there is a franchise called Cheesecake Factory.
No, not like that which appears in the Big Bang Theory, is far more sophisticated, with good food and even better desserts.
In Las Vegas, at Caesars Palace there is one and as the name implies, they are specialized in Cheesecake.

The best cheesecake you will ever had

Shows

The best shows in the world are in Las Vegas.
Here in Brazil we have Cirque Du Soleil just a few times a year. Las Vegas has seven Cirque Du Soleil shows in different casino 7 days a week.
See the difference ?

You can get an idea of the quality of the show and its price, by the hotel where the show is presented.
We saw “O”, aquatic show from Cirque du Soleil, which is presented at the Bellagio.
Fabulous.

Bellagio fountains

A remarkable spot is the water fountains that are in front of the Bellagio.
From time to time a song starts playing and the fountains dance to the music.

http://www.bellagio.com/amenities/fountains-of-bellagio.aspx

The video below shows a recording I made they played Con Te Partiro.

This is another video, which gives an aerial view to get an idea of the majesty of the fountains:

Las Vegas is also very good for shopping, with outlets and shops true with trifles.

Beer

It was very interesting for beer, I tried my first american beers there.

A classic american craft beer, Samuel Adams Boston Lager. Pretty basic, but classic is classic

In addition to bars and restaurants, I went to Whole Foods supermarket, which is a paradise for those who like beer.
I found many Belgian and American craft beers, bought some from Sierra Nevada, Stone, Lagunitas and many others.

Many of these came com Whole Foods

Veredict

Las Vegas is a hot place… REALLY HOT!
During the day, the city is calm, but around 18:00 people go to the streets and it is when Vegas shows why it exists: Sex, get drunk and great shows.

The Strip, Las Vegas’ main avenue

Are you going just you and your wife/girlfriend? It’s a nice place.
Are you single and going with friends or more couples? It is fuc**ing awesome place!

My impression is that Las Vegas has only these two types of audience. Either you’re going to fool around or you go there to see the best show in the world who are not cheap.

It’s a nice place, unlike anything I’ve ever seen, but still not the kind of place that attracts me to a return visit in the near future.
Overall, I expected more, but writing this brought me good memories …
Maybe when I got some good extra money, I’ll be back to Vegas to party at The Hangover style.

You can’t miss the most famous sign in the city

In addition to my visit to Brussels and Brugge in Belgium, I made ​​a visit to the cities to my beloved namesake beers: Rochefort, Orval and Chimay, to learn more about the world of  trappist beers.
In this post I’ll talk about Chimay.

My initial plans were to also visit the Abbey of Saint Sixtus, which makes Westvleteren, but I think you have read about my failed attempt.

Itinerary

I rented a car in Brussels and made the trip to all the abbeys on the same day. It’s easy to do everything in one day, and from what I can see, there is not much to do in these cities apart visiting the monastery / brewery / pub.
All of them are set in remote areas, almost rural, so do not expect to get there by public transport easily.
Rent a car with GPS and be happy.

My itinerary was:
1 – From Brussels to Rochefort
2 – From Rochefort to Orval
3 – From Orval to Chimay
4 – From Chimay to Brussels

I chose this route mainly because all these cities stand in southern Belgium, and it is easier to do everything in one day.

Arriving in Chimay

I left Orval feeling pretty good, it was really wonderful, but one more surprise was to come … a visit to the famous Auberge de Poteaupré in the town of Chimay.

Deck inside the bar

The Auberge de Poteaupré is a bar/restaurant/hotel that is maintained by Chimay, where they offer all its products, including cheese, beer and meals.

I wanted to visit the abbey itself, but as they informed me, it was not possible.

I have already mentioned in another post about the beers of Chimay, they have three main beers:
Chimay Première (Rouge) – Dubbel style beer with an alcohol content of 7%
Chimay Cinq Cents (White) – Tripel style beer with an alcohol content of 8%
Chimay Grande Reserve (Bleue) – Dark Strong Ale style with an alcohol content of at 9%

However, inside the pub is possible to drink a forth beer that is only available on tap there, the Spéciale Poteaupré.

To try this one, only going there!

Unfortunately, this beer does not feature the same line of the other Chimay beers, it is a little softer and lighter in body, but it’s still a good beer.
It is a pale ale, with an alcohol content of 4.8%.

At the menu you can choose different kinds of pleasures, like a “tower tasting” of all beers, specialty cheeses, desserts and the main courses.

While I was excited with the options in the menu, I started taking pictures of all pages and a very polite lady came talking in a language I did not understand, was not English nor French, apparently was Flemish. After about five minutes, she pointed me to a place on the menu that was written in French: “If you want to, take this menu as a souvenir of your visit.”
All this time she was trying to say something like, “Hey pal, stop taking photos of the menu, it is a souvenir!”
So, I took this beautiful souvenir as a memento of the visit.

Click here to see the latest version of the menu that they have available online.

Chimay menu

Take a look at the promotional video of the place

Following the tradition of other Trappist monasteries, Chimay has five types of cheeses to pair with their beers.
They offer a tasting table with all the cheese in the house. The last cheese of the photo below is in my opinion the best one, is a long time matured cheese, very strong with almond tones, pairs perfectly with a Chimay Grande Reserve.

Tasting table of the trappist cheese

Promotional poster of the Capitale Du Fromage

Meals are great, they have snacks, sandwiches and more refined main courses.

I got a steak with Chimay bleue sauce and french fries

Roberta got a mix table with cheese, quiche, croquette and smoked ham

The view is a show piece, in the outside, you bump into an open area with many trees, very green and cows everywhere. The typical place where you arrive at 12:00 and goes until midnight, eating good food, drinking the best beers in the world, eating desserts and getting to know people.

The view from inside

A video outside

That was how I finished my tour for three Trappist abbeys, Rochefort, Orval and Chimay.
Too bad I didn’t have time to visit all but certainly soon I’ll make a visit the other Trappist monasteries: Achel, Koningshoeven (La Trappe), Westvleteren and Achel.

I met monks, visited monasteries, breweries and ruins, I experienced the hospitality of southern Belgium and I could still drive 600km in one sunny day, with a landscape full of windmills, cows and vast green fields, where there is no pollution, traffic or noise.

Whether you’re a beer connoisseur or not, this is something that marks you for life.

Saying goodbye to my Trappist day: slightly drunk but completely happy

In addition to my visit to Brussels and Brugge in Belgium, I made ​​a visit to the cities to my beloved namesake beers: Rochefort, Orval and Chimay
In this post I’ll talk about Orval.

My initial plans were to also visit the Abbey of Saint Sixtus, which makes Westvleteren, but I think you have read about my failed attempt.

Itinerary

I rented a car in Brussels and made the trip to all the abbeys on the same day. It’s easy to do everything in one day, and from what I can see, there is not much to do in these cities apart visiting the monastery / brewery / pub.
All of them are set in remote areas, almost rural, so do not expect to get there by public transport easily.
Rent a car with GPS and be happy.

My itinerary was:
1 – From Brussels to Rochefort
2 – From Rochefort to Orval
3 – From Orval to Chimay
4 – From Chimay to Brussels

I chose this route mainly because all these cities stand in southern Belgium, and it is easier to do everything in one day.

Arriving in Orval

Going to Orval, I thought, “Gosh… I started with bad luck, Westvleteren was closed, then I went to Rochefort and was also closed.”
Ohhhh my friend … My luck was to come!

Orval opens its doors to visitors only 2 days a year and guess what??? It was open that day!!!!! \ o /

Just when I arrived at the Abbey I had a surprise: The beauty of this abbey is unique, reminiscent of a castle!

Bienvenue!

Arriving there, I realized that I had to have registered at their website and I had not done it, so I humbly speak to one of the monks who were at the entrance and like other monks I met, he was extremely friendly and let me enter.
And that was not all, they gave a bottle opener to each one and a ticket to drink beer and eat cheese, all for free!!!

The tour began at the beginning of the production line, at the mashing tuns

This is the fermentation area, note the bottom of the cylinders that are at the top. This bags on the right are whole-leaf hops

During all the tour, pictures illustrates the production process

There was some problems on the filling/labeling area, so I could not see the production line running, but the videos below gives you an idea:

After the tour at the assembly line, we went to the bar, where we had Orval and Trappist cheese! \ o /

If you never had an Orval, you may not understand my passion for this beer, which in my opinion is one of the best in the world.
It does not fit into any specific beer style, so it fits in Speciality Beer category.
It is refermented with Brettanomyces, which gives a very distinct aroma and flavor, as well as dry hopping, which is not common on this side of the world.

Do you have Orval my monk brother ?

Courtesy of the monks, Orval and a personalized bottle opener

Outside, they improvised a bazaar, where they sold the glasses, beers, cheeses and collection items such as larger bottles, books, plates and trays.

Trays, buckets, books and a huge Orval

In addition, they were selling several cheeses. The beer cheese is the best I’ve ever had.

Finishing with a perfect pout, at the right temperature, the right chalice, by the right person!

The Orval monastery is the most beautiful I have ever visited. The old building has an medieval look like a castle and is situated in a vast field, pretty much everything that blends high-tech brewing equipment with the rustic and provincial site.

Saying goodbye after a nice visit, full of Orval and cheese!

Next post: Visit to Chimay!

In addition to my visit to Brussels and Brugge in Belgium, I made ​​a visit to the cities to my beloved namesake beers: Rochefort, Orval and Chimay


My initial plans were to also visit the Abbey of Saint Sixtus, which makes Westvleteren, but I think you have read about my failed attempt.

Itinerary

I rented a car in Brussels and made the trip to all the abbeys on the same day. It’s easy to do everything in one day, and from what I can see, there is not much to do in these cities apart visiting the monastery / brewery / pub.
All of them are set in remote areas, almost rural, so do not expect to get there by public transport easily.
Rent a car with GPS and be happy.

My itinerary was:
1 – From Bruxelas to Rochefort
2 – From Rochefort to Orval
3 – From Orval to Chimay
4 – From Chimay to Bruxelas

I chose this route mainly because all these cities stand in southern Belgium, and it is easier to do everything in one day.

Arriving in Rochefort

From Brussels to Rochefort is around 120km, and it took just over 1h and 40m to get there.
Talking a little about this beer, I remember the first time I experienced a Rochefort 10. A quadrupel beer, dense, full bodied, a gift from the monks. I dreamed of that beer that day. Seriously.

Since the first time I saw the beers of Rochefort, the simplicity of its label caught my attention. Its simplicity and reliability are a sense of maturity, of a product made in detail, without haste, driven to perfection.
They achieved perfection.

Rochefort 6

The “weakest” of all beers from Rochefort, it is a dubbel (some guides put it as  strong dark ale).
7,5% ABV.

Rochefort 8

The intermediate, a strong dark ale.
9,2% ABV.

Rochefort 10

The Rochefort masterpiece, the strongest one, full bodied and very aromatic. It is a quadrupel.
11,3% ABV that are extremely balanced.

It’s even hard to put all the sensory experiences of the Rochefort beers, even the 6 which is “simpler”, has an intense aromatic sensation, very strong.
Drink all of them that will understand what I mean.

The visit to the abbey

I didn’t got much information about the opening hours of the abbey, I just got the address and went there. Guess what ?
IT WAS CLOSED =/

In fact, according to the monk, the brewery is never open for visitation, but in that day even that abbey was closed. The only possible thing for me to do was to buy some beers and the trappist chalice. As I had already bought some Rochefort beers, I just bought the trappist chalice that was given by the monk himself.

The abbey stands in a beautiful place, surrounded by several trees. Take a look at the video:

At the end of december, a problem in the energy generators caused a fire at the abbey, but luckly, just a little part of the 15th century monastery was compromised.

In front of the abbey, after discovering that I wouldn’t be able to visit the brewery

Even without being able to get a closer look to this abbey, it was a great time talking to the monk who spoke only French.
He was very gentile, did everything to make us feel good, actually the Trappist patience reigned

At the front chapel

I’m glad that I had the opportunity to visit the beautiful place before the fire.
In the next post, visit to Orval!

Estou reproduzindo este texto do blog do cervejaso do Ricardo Amorim, pois ele mostra uma luta que precisamos vencer para que nosso crescimento seja condizente com nosso âmbito.

A diminuição dos impostos das micro cervejarias possibilita o crescimento da cena cervejeira no Brasil.
Hoje, o mercado de cervejas artesanais e micro cervejarias é apenas de cerca de 0,3% de todo volume produzido em território nacional.

Temos muita cerveja boa minha gente, vamos apoiar esta causa para que num futuro próximo, possamos ter cada vez mais cervejas de alta qualidade com aromas e sabores que uma cerveja de verdade deve ter.

Daqui pra baixo, são palavras do Ricardo Amorim e a carta criada pelo concurso nacional.

Menos impostos para as microcervejarias

Nos últimos dias 23, 24 e 25 de junho aconteceu em Florianópolis (SC) o VI Encontro e Concurso Nacional de Cervejas Artesanais, que reuniu cervejeiros do país inteiro. Um dos resultados do evento foi um documento conjunto que pede a inclusão das microcervejarias na categoria de empresas que podem aderir ao SIMPLES, reduzindo a sua carga tributária. Apoio a iniciativa e reproduzo abaixo o documento.

CARTA DE FLORIANÓPOLIS.

As Microcervejarias e cervejeiros caseiros, reunidos no 6º Encontro Nacional de Cervejas Artesanais, nos dias 23 a 26 de junho de 2011, na Cidade de Florianópolis, querem se manifestar sobre a alta tributação do setor:
Nos últimos 8 anos vivemos o renascimento das cervejas artesanais no Brasil. Hoje, o País tem mais de 200 microcervejarias espalhadas por todo o Brasil.
As microcervejarias se caracterizam por produzir cervejas regionais, em pequenos volumes, muitas vezes refletindo a cultura da região e explorando sabores e estilos que não são produzidos pelas grandes indústrias cervejeiras.
Estamos vivendo o renascimento desta cultura no Brasil, inclusive criando uma nova escola cervejeira que já é reconhecida no mundo pela sua qualidade. Isso é resultado do trabalho e dos investimentos das microcervejarias e dos cervejeiros caseiros que colocaram o nosso país no mapa das cervejas artesanais de qualidade. Isso é comprovado pelo reconhecimento internacional, nos últimos anos, através dos vários prêmios conquistados nos cinco continentes pelas cervejarias artesanais brasileiras. Ou seja, o Brasil está sendo reconhecido pela qualidade das suas cervejas – principalmente pelas artesanais.
Entretanto há um paradoxo: o setor enfrenta um grande desafio para se manter e até se expandir, que é a tributação. Hoje 2/3 do preço de uma cerveja artesanal é composto por tributos. Como a estrutura das microcervejarias é a de pequenas e micro empresas, não tendo ganho em escala, o empreendimento se torna inviável.
Para se ter uma idéia do que representa essa carga tributaria, se uma cervejaria produzir 10.000 litros por mês, ela paga de tributos o referente a 6.000 litros, sobrando 4.000 litros para pagar matéria-prima, funcionários, instalações, remuneração do investimento, etc.. o que torna inviável o negócio.
Na microcervejaria, os custos de matéria-prima são muito mais elevados do que nas grandes cervejarias, pois aquelas se utilizam apenas de materiais de qualidade, adquiridos em pequenas quantidades e quase sempre importadas, já que os nacionais são monopolizados pelas grandes empresas do setor.
Apesar de as microcervejarias se enquadrarem perfeitamente como micro empresas e empresas de pequeno porte, elas são impedidas de optarem pelo Sistema Tributário “SIMPLES”, da mesma forma que as distribuidoras de cerveja, prejudicando mortalmente a sua sobrevivência financeira.
Hoje o mercado das cervejas artesanais não ultrapassa 0,04% do total das cervejas vendidas no país, ou seja, um beneficio fiscal não representaria perda de arrecadação, pelo contrario, iria incentivar o setor a aumentar a produção. O exemplo é o Estado de SC que, apesar de reduzir a alíquota de ICMS, arrecadou R$ 336.000,00 de ICMS no ano de 2006 e já no ano de 2010 atingiu a cifra de R$ 800.000,00.
Outro forte argumento é a empregabilidade. As pequenas cervejarias geram muito mais postos de trabalho que as cervejarias de grande porte. Enquanto em uma microcervejaria é gerado um emprego para cada 50.000lts produzidos por ano, nas grandes cervejaria é gerado um emprego para cada 1.000.000 de litros ano.
Alguns olham o setor de forma equivocada, achando que conceder benefícios fiscais significa incentivar a bebida alcoólica, um produto politicamente incorreto. Mas é importante frisar que as microcervejarias não estimulam a ingestão de quantidade, e sim de qualidade, fato similar que ocorre com a indústria do vinho. A cerveja artesanal é, em geral, mais cara que uma cerveja comum porque seus custos de produção são diferentes, o que cria uma barreira natural ao consumo em grande quantidade.
As microcervejarias estão gerando uma cultura cervejeira no Brasil, retomando a história que foi interrompida há algumas décadas quando os grandes grupos adquiriram as pequenas cervejarias. As microcervejarias artesanais proporcionam o incremento da indústria do entretenimento, hoteleira, gastronômica, turística, etc. Muitas cidades têm orgulho de terem uma microcervejaria hoje em dia.
Não há como contestar que a cerveja tem acompanhando a humanidade há mais de 6.000 anos, tratando-se da terceira bebida mais consumida no mundo – atrás da água e do chá – mas é considerada como alimento, devido ao seu alto teor de carboidratos, sendo por isso intitulada pão líquido.
Ao contrário das grandes cervejarias, as microcervejarias têm sua produção artesanal, algumas com estrutura familiar, personalizadas, com a criação e desenvolvimento de estilos e receitas próprias.
Outra diferença é a variedade de sabores e tipos de bebida oferecidos pelas microcervejarias. Trata-se de produto único, que tem um público específico voltado à gastronomia, além de fomentar a economia e promover a geração de empregos, pois a relação pessoal empregado pelo volume de produção é muito superior nas microcervejarias.
O setor das Cervejas Artesanais também desenvolve o setor da indústria de equipamentos, distribuição e revenda de bebidas, além da criação de cursos profissionalizantes de técnicos cervejeiros, mestres cervejeiros, beersomelier, etc. Ou seja, existe uma grande cadeia econômica beneficiada.
Sabemos que o mundo da Cerveja Artesanal é desconhecido para uma grande maioria das pessoas do nosso País, mas para desenvolvê-lo com qualidade é necessário a redução da carga tributária. Para a sobrevivência do setor, o primeiro passo seria a abertura da opção pelo regime do SIMPLES para o mercado cervejeiro (fábricas e distribuidores).
Pela importância econômica e cultural do setor, vimos por meio desta solicitar a atenção de vossas senhorias para que as Microcervejarias sejam incluídas no SIMPLES, para que assim possam ter uma carga tributaria justa.

Two words never gone so well as travel and beer when it comes to Belgium.
Thanks to Belgium I named this blog as Travel & Beer.

Of course that as a good beer enthusiast I had plans to visit Belgium, but even before knowing their famous beers I had heard nice things about this country.

In addition of being home to many of the monasteries that brew the trappist beers and the beer that is considered the world’s best beer, Belgium has that traditional European style, showing a country that knew how to combine the modern with the rustic, creating a beautiful nation without losing its roots.

It is a small country with about 11 million people who officially speak 2 languages​​, French in Wallonia (southern part) and the Flemish in Flanders (northern part).
The Wallonian French has some differences from the French of France, mainly in accent, but if you speak French you will have no problem. The Flemish is a close variant of Dutch.
A small part of the country also speaks German.

Belgium has great attractions, but still I was surprised by many things

Chocolate!

If you think the best chocolate in the world is the Swiss, you need to go to Belgium my friend. Of course, Swiss chocolates are wonderful, but in my humble opinion, the Belgians are better.

Belgian Truffles

The beloved praline was created in Brussels, at the beginning of 1900, and the Belgian praline means quality worldwide.

The most beautiful girl (Roberta, my wife), in front of the traditional Belgian chocolatier Godiva

Waffles

No one knows for sure what is the origin of the waffle, but according to studies, it was created in the middle ages in the region that includes Germany, Holland and Belgium.
Regardless of being a creation of the Belgians or not, the Belgians are considered the best when it comes to waffle. I agree with that.
They have a huge variety of toppings and formats, all at a very good price

The best waffles you can eat, trust me.
Picture taken from Tevan Alexander

French fries

You should know that french fries was created in France, right?
WRONG!
The french fries, or frites as it is called, is a Belgian creation.

Roberta and the traditional frites cone in Brugge

Beer

Do I need to say something about the Belgian beers? Ok, I’ll talk some more.
Unlike many countries that are major producers of beer, Belgium do not treat beer just as a product, beer is part of their culture.

There are things that only happen in Belgium. The video below for example, where a documentary begins by showing that once a year on the first Friday of September, there is a ceremony in the cathedral where they bless a wooden barrel of beer.
This kind of passion with the beer my friends, you will only see in Belgium.

This video is part of the “Beer Amongst the Belgians” from Taylor Brush. He shows the passion and why Belgium has such an affinity for beer.

In my opinion, Belgium makes the world’s best beers. Why? Well, simply because the Belgians have no limit.
You will not find such a large variety of beers anywhere else in the world.

The famous Pauwel Kwak on tap

The Belgians have a very old history of beer production, that was born in medieval monasteries and became famous for full-bodied beers that were used as part of the everyday meal.
The trappist beers are the greatest legacy of beers brewed in monasteries(ok, the Weihenstephan in Germany is also a great example).

Furthermore, Belgium has several other monasteries that make beer (and are not Trappist) and breweries that make beer in the style of the monasteries as the Abbaye de Leffe(Leffe), St Bernardus, Het Anker(Gouden Carolus), Val Dieu, and others more.

Besides the religious heritage, the Belgians brew beer with spontaneous fermentation, beers aged in oak barrels that have a guard time of more than 20 years, fruit beers, beers with spices, beer with champagne yeast and a myriad of other styles.

Belgian beer glassware

And I’m not talking just about the beers in itself, the Belgians take seriously the design of the glass(or goblet/chalice, as they like to call it), where every beer is served in its proper glass to make the sensory experience the best as possible.

Brussels

Brussels is the capital of Belgium and is the only city officially bilingual, speaking French and Flemish, but you’ll probably hear more French than Flemish there.
Brussels is also the official capital of the European Union, being an important milestone in the continent.

Charming restaurants in the outskirts of Grand Place in Brussels

I try not to talk about beer, but in this country is impossible!
In Brussels, is situated the bar with the highest card of beers in the world, the Delirium Cafe.

The facade of Delirium Cafe

The Delirium Cafe is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the bar with more beers in the world, totaling 2,004 beers.

2004 beers is enough for you ?

The proof

For those unfamiliar, Delirium is a very famous beer brand in Belgium and it is famous for the pink elephant, that is in all material around the brand.

Delirium Tremens on tap, inside Delirium Cafe

Roberta took seriously the Delirium idea with that hat

Cuisine in Brussels

The cuisine in Brussels is wide and has a strong French influence, as well as much of Belgium, mainly in Wallonia.
Besides the sweets which I already spoke and the french fries, Belgian cuisine is rich in its diversity and (again I speak about them) harmonization with beer.
It is very common to find dishes made ​​with beer and beer suggestions for pairing each chosen dish, including dessert.

The moules frites are perhaps the most famous dish of Belgium. It is based on mussels with white wine accompanied by french fries.

Roberta approved the moules frites(isn’t she the most beautiful one ?)

Tourist site in Brussels

The most famous sights of Brussels are likely to be: The Grand Place, Manneken Pis and the Atomium.

The Grand Place is the central square of Brussels, in addition to housing the museum of music and beer the museum, the Grand Place is the place for events, celebrations and commemorations. The initial photo of this post is an aerial photo of Grand Place at night during a celebration with the famous “flower carpet”.

Romance at Grand Place

The Manneken Pis is a statue of a boy holding his joystick.
Nothing special, but they always put clothes on him and it became a traditional landmark in the city.
There is a legend that during one of the battles that Belgium faced, a great general was killed in battle. His son who was close, seeing his dead father, in an attitude of contempt he pissed on the dead body of the soldier who killed his father. Because of this, they decided to make a statue that stands today in Brussels.

The famous pee boy(not me, the statue)

I did not get to visit the Atomium, but is also a famous tourist spot.

Atomium
Image taken from: www.earthinpictures.com

Brussels has many attractions, museums and places to visit, but the most enjoyable in Brussels is getting around and knowing the narrow streets and small restaurants.

Brugge

Brugge is a city located in northwest Belgium, with just over 110,000 inhabitants. Its official language is Flemish.
Brugge has a medieval architecture like the Hollywood movies.

Brugge at night

Brugge is known as the “Venice of the north”, due its channels similar to Venice.

The first Gueuze we never forget! Tasting this wonder for the first time in one of the inumerous restaurants in Brugge.

I commented on another post about the Trappist Westvleteren that there is a shop in Brugge called 2 Be. It is the biggest beer shop I ever seen, look at some pictures here.
Beside this shop, there is a corridor known as “The Beer Wall” and has several brands of Belgian beer.

Here two videos I made there:

The beer wall!

Besides being a must have for any good beer lover, at the end of 2 Be has a bar which has a magnificent view of the channel.

Do not expect major tourist stops in Brugge. Instead of being a city with many tourist attractions, the attraction is the city itself, with its medieval atmosphere, nice people and abundant food.
The day we arrived, there was a party where people wear traditional clothes and various types of food served in tents on the street.

This is the kind of thing that draws attention in Brugge, is undoubtedly the most charming city I’ve visited.

Sleeping in Brugge

In addition to these cities

In addition to Brussels and Brugge, I visited three other cities: Orval, Chimay and Rochefort. In these last three cities, I took a trappist tour to know the monasteries that brew my beloved beers, but I’ll make a post dedicated to it soon.

Everytime I see the pictures and videos of Belgium, it gives a willingness to quit everything and live a simple life inside that piece of paradise =)

At the top of Prekestolen, in Stavanger, Norway

Yes, when I decided to do the hiking to the top of Prikestolen, it was one more episode of “my wife is gonna kill me” saga.
If you didn’t understand , take a look at this post.

As the hiking at the Jostedalsbreen, the track to get to the top of Preikestolen was at my initial plans of natural tourism.

After all, what is the Preikestolen?

Prikestolen in norwegian can be translated as “The pulpit rock” or “Preacher’s Pulpit”.
This is a cliff that is 604 meters above the fjord Lysefjorden, approximately 25 by 25 meters square and almost flat.

Image taken from Wikipedia

Image taken from Wikipedia

Where ?

The Preikestolen is located at Stavanger, the third biggest city in Norway.

This city is famous for being the headquarters of oil company Statoil(Stavanger Oil) which is one of the most advanced petroleum companies in the world. Petrobras often send people there for training and research.

Unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit the city, as we I arrived on the 12th at night, made the hiking at 13th and left Norway at 14th.
We were in Solvorn, so we had to catch a plane with connection in Bergen to get to Stavanger.

Starting the hiking

One more time I need to thank a person for the help in my planing, my American friend Alex Berger. He has a great blog about travel, take a look: Virtual Wayfarer.
Alex did this same hiking to the top of Preikestolen, take a look at his post:

http://virtualwayfarer.com/hiking-preikestolen-aka-the-preachers-pulpit-in-norway/

Well, we started by taking the ferry near the hotel to a village called Tau, where we took a bus to the initial point of the hiking. During the trip we met a nice Malaysian couple who accompanied us throughout the day.

This is the view when the bus left. It looked like a painting!

Starting!

A guide map

Looking at the map above, it seems to be very simple, after all, is just over 3km walk, and if you look at the top right of this map it shows that even dogs can do the trail.
I said to Roberta: “Relax baby, this is easy!“.

The hiking is done without a guide, you just need to follow the trail.

“See Roberta, I told you that would be easy to walk here”

“Hey woman, we walked for 30 minutes and I’m even laughing so easy that it is”

…

Going up

…

And up

…

Peace of cake

…

Damn…. wait!

Damn… not that easy

At first it seems a traditional walk, with some rocks and stuff, nothing difficult, but after a certain point, it starts to get very steep with loose rocks and moist. I came back with some bruises and a torn shoe!

Our Malaysian friends

Every time I reached the edge to take a picture, Roberta looked to me like this

As I said, the path is not so long, a little more than 3km.
With all my naivety I thought: “Well, I walk 2.5 kilometers every day to get to the office and it takes me 30 minutes, so, to arrive at the end of this trail will take approximately 50 minutes“

It took us 2 hours and 30 minutes to reach the top… Epic Fail

If in doubt along the way, just follow the arrows. OK, OK … looks more like a “T” than an arrow, but believe me, they point the way

Have you seen Benjamin Bastian from Germany? This was nailed in a section of the track.

Almost there! At this point, we had already walked for around 3km.

After 2 hours and 30 minutes, weak breath, some bruises, torn shoes and wet socks … we reached the top !

The view up there

The best view possible of the fjord!

Go up there and not be on the edge is unacceptable!

Well, I don’t need to say that Roberta swore at me the whole way, right? OK, I agree that it was not easy and I didn’t thought that the effort would be that much, but it was worth every minute.

The most beautiful and magic about reaching the top of Preikestolen is not just be up there. It is all the effort that you have to go through to see the scenery during the hiking, the lakes that form with the rain, the fjord became increasingly apparent, listen to more than 10 different languages ​​of the people who are hiking with you, and after all that, get up there, have the most beautiful view you can imagine and say “I made it, I’m here”

This my friends, is priceless

We have a new brewery here in Brazil, I’m talking about Wäls.

Wäls got its differentiation by exploring beer styles that are not so common here.
Nowadays, they have a Dubbel, Tripel, Quadrupel and recently, Wäls Brut, a beer made by the champenoise method, that became famous by some Belgian brands like DeuS and Malheur Brut.

Wäls released their Brut in a beautiful box, with a certified signed by the brewmasters and recently the price of this beer got in evidence in the beer community, so Wäls people decided to make an lecture talking about their job and the Brazilian craft beer market.

A astonishing presentation

As I had already talked with Wäls owners, I filmed the lecture and you can take a look below(Portuguese only).

Notes:

- I would like to thank to José and Tiago by doing this lecture, it was a great attitude
- The place was very noise, so the sound is not the best
- Yes, I filmed without a tripod, so it is shaky… sorry folks

Let’s say that my wife is not the kind of person who loves to be in remote regions away from civilization or so-called dangerous extreme activities.

Some years ago I heard about the omnipotent Jostedalsbreen Glacier, the largest glacier in Europe. Early in the planning of the trip I put it in the plans and showed the photo above to Roberta and said:

“Honey, what do you think of a hiking in Europe’s largest glacier in central Norway? For that we only need to take a flying close to the fjords, down from an airport that sits on the edge of a mountain, and stay a few days at a hostel in a city that only has 200 people. What do you say? “

Imagine her reaction…

This was the most laborious part of planning throughout the trip.
The problem is that the glacier Jostedalsbreen lies in a region almost rural, and none of the cities that were on my schedule were nearby.

Well, I made several routes, but what really helped me was this thread on TripAdvisor
For those who do not know, TripAdvisor is one of the largest sites/forum for the travel industry, very good for when you want to build plans for places that are not very popular.

I had two things in mind in that part of Norway: Visit the world’s oldest Stave Church (wooden church) , located in the village of Urnes and do the hike in the glacier. I wanted to climb the glacier, not just make a hiking, but Roberta almost killed me when I told her that.

Hot to get from Bergen to Jostedalsbreen region ?

Take a look at the map below, I needed to go to point A to B

My plan was to stay in the city of Solvorn, where they have a bus that goes straight to the glacier, but you can not go straight to Bergen to Solvron, so you need to first take a domestic flight with Widerøe to a town called Sogndal.

Widerøe plane

The journey from Bergen to Sogndal is fast, lasts about 40 minutes and is at least exciting, but spectacular.
Exciting because small aircrafts like this are very turbulent and make very abrupt changes in altitude, the landing is a thrill to go!
Spectacular because this type of plane don’t fly too high, so the view is a show piece. Further the villages, is possible to see the fjords and forests.

Roberta thought the plane was falling when landing!
And believe me … I would die happy there. Sogndal airport sits on top of the fjord, then imagine yourself flying over Norway, those magnificent landscapes that lovely sea, suddenly the pilot points to the mountain and goes down abruptly to a micro track near the trees. One of the most beautiful landscapes I ever seen.
Sogndal Airport is also the smallest I’ve seen. Has only two rooms, one for departures and another for landing.

Outside, only a bus stop and a parking lot. In the same place, we took a bus to the center of Sogndal where we waited for the bus to Solvorn, where we stayed.

Solvorn

Solvorn is a very populous village … has 200 inhabitants!
Roberta asked me: “Why the hell would you want to stay in a town of 200 people in the middle of nowhere ?“.

For two reasons my love:
1 – I wanted to visit the Urnes Stave Church, the oldest in the world
2 – It is a city that has direct bus to the glacier.

For that, we stayed in a hostel in Solvorn.

Eplet Hostel – Bed and Apple

Eplet Hostel

Take a look at Eplet’s website – http://www.eplet.net/
Eplet is a hostel different of the traditional hostels we are used.
Take a look at the text written by Trond(Eplet’s owner) that is in the homepage:

“Eplet Bed & Apple is a small & friendly guesthouse near the head of Sognefjord, Western Norway. We opened in 2005.

After many years of travelling by bicycle around the world, I decided to settle at the innermost part of the fjords of Western Norway to create a home for travellers from all over the world. So far we have had guests from 60 countries.

My aim is to give you affordable Norwegian modern farm tourism with a unique family atmosphere where everybody can feel at home; The hidden Pearl & Perfect Base Camp. No luxury, but a lot of charm. The atmosphere at Eplet is a mixture of a small family run guesthouse and a modern hostel with ambient music and exchange library.

Eplet Bed & Apple is located in the middle of a fruit orchard where we pick fruit and berries, while having the most amazing fjord view in Norway. In the basement we have a working juice factory, and the products are sold to local cafes and restaurants.

In the garden there are hammocks for you to relax on for free and a nine hole croquet golf course. Down by the plum tree we have lamb that we feed every evening. In the garage there are mountainbikes that you can borrow for free to go on the romantic road on the other side of the Lustrafjord. To visit waterfalls, Unesco Urnes stave church or to go on a seal safari by kayak on Sognefjord – the second longest fjord in the world.

Does all this sound like a small paradise? Come and see. You are very welcome.”

To better understand what Trond wants to tell, see the picture I took of their garden (Click on image for full size)

Eplet’s view

Even as a hostel, we stayed in a private room but the bathroom was communal. Just when you arrive at Eplet, you should take off the shoes and walk barefoot or in stocking. Trond’s words: “That way we can get more time chatting with guests and less time cleaning the house. ”

Very cleaver my friend.

The astonishing view from our bedrrom. We even received a bottle of their own juice!

All very nice and neat.

Despite being a hostel, no TV and a being a city that has only 200 people, they had a computer with internet. 20 NOK for 30 minutes. You do not buy a ticket and there is no control of the minutes used. You go there, use the computer and my friend Trond trusts that you will pay what you owes.

Trond words: “Our house is built on trust, everyone here is one big family”

I paid

Contact with nature is intense in Eplet, you can go feed the animals, playing with bunnies or maybe even reap some fruits.

Happy sheep!

Urnes Stave Church

Visit this church was not in my initial plans, but as it is very close to Solvorn, I decided to go visit it.

I had already visited a stave church in Oslo, I wrote about it in this post.

The Urnes church is considered the world’s oldest Stave Church, around 1000 years old. To get there, you need to take the ferry in Solvorn and a short steep hike to the top.

Like many things in Norway, the “middle way” struck me as much as the main destination. During the ferry, I was talking to the a nice lady who organizes the cars and pick up the tickets inside the ferry.

I started saying that I’m from Brazil and I was loving the whole experience, and she said: “You must be the first Brazilian here this year“. Well, you might expect this in such a small town!

She asked if I liked Oslo, I said yes, she said “I don’t like it, I was there about 3 years and don’t want to go back there, too crowded for me, a lot of mess” Indeed, Oslo is an advanced metropolis, a city that never sleeps, but I’m already used to this kind of place.

As I talked with her, the birds were on the edge of the raft and she was throwing bread for them … I asked, “Don’t you miss the big cities? Isn’t here too calm ? ” and with a greater simplicity she said, while feeding the birds: “Look around … look at this fjord André, look at that sea, look at the birds, look at the forest… in my work I meet different people like you, I can breathe this air and have a wonderful quality of living that looks like a postcard …. do I need anything else?”

I was totally speechless…

Sometimes we give so much value to material things that we forget how important it is to have a good quality of living.

Stave Church of Urnes

Detail of the art made in the walls of the church. This symbol is an NOK coin

Unfortunately it is not allowed to film inside this church, but is absurdly GORGEOUS! Unlike Gol Stave Church that I visited in Oslo, Urnes is very well preserved, has an altar, benches and a closed area that was intended for the nobles of the old times. It is even possible to do a wedding there, but I think it should not be cheap.

Glacier Bus

September 11th in the morning we woke up and took the Glacier Bus, which is a bus that makes only one trip per day through various town and ending at the glacier. The itinerary: http://www.jostedal.com/brebussen/eng-sogndal.htm

The bus don’t go directly to the glacier, it stops at a museum, which is close to the mountain and wait there for half an hour to leave you in the front of the glacier. Like all the places we got transport in Norway, the view is fantastic. The river in the video below, come from inside the glacier. I’ve stood in front of the bus where I had a privileged view of the trip.

Roberta enjoying the view

Inside the Breheimsenteret museum, you can buy tickets for the hiking(assuming it is already booked), visit the gallery of pictures, buy souvenirs and grab a bite.

It was a opportunity to try a local delicacy, a sweet dough with very fine layers, very yummy!

Waiting for the bus, with the glacier at background

The hiking

Well, enough of talk and lets get to the glacier tour.

To do this hiking, you need to go accompanied by a guide, there are some companies that make these tours, the most famous are IceTroll and BFL.
There are tours ranging from 3 hours to several days, depending on your level.
I was going to do with IceTroll, but the timetable was not good for me, so I opted for the Blue Ice Trip of BFL. If you want more information, take a look at this link: http://www.bfl.no/blue-ice-trip.html

In this part, I must thank my friend Meeta. She has a great blog about cooking, travel and photos, take a look: What’s For Lunch Honey?
She helped me in planning this part. She made a nice tour in Norway too, take a look at her posts about Norway:
http://www.whatsforlunchhoney.net/2010/07/serendipity-in-norway-part-1-mandal.html

http://www.whatsforlunchhoney.net/2010/08/part-2-serendipity-in-norway-bergen.html

We started by taking the bus from the museum to the lake right in front of the glacier. About 10 minutes to get there.

Initial point of the hike, we went by boat to the foot of the glacier

A hint that such as a first-timer, I learned the hard way: Go in pants and blouse (preferably hooded) waterproof, boots and gloves tracking …. do not forget the damn gloves!

As we didn’t bring gloves, we were blessed with these wonderful bricklayer gloves

And to match the gloves, they gave me these comfortable lumberjack boots

Ready for action!

The instructor taught us to tie the spikes in the boots, with them you have all steps firmly. Roberta disagree with that.
Like I said, it is just a hiking, you don’t need to climb anything , but if you’ve never done anything like that, it may require a certain physical fitness.
We started climbing a stair which was carved in the ice and from that point on, it was just mother nature showing us the way

I noticed that Roberta began to get tense when we saw a small crack in the ice and our instructors went alone up there and said, “I will break a piece of ice and listen when it falls in the ground to know if this gap is profound” He broke … 1 … 2 … 3 … 4 … BAM! The piece took 4 seconds to reach the bottom. H e said that it was probably more than 100m that little crack! Roberta’s eyes started getting red like a child who takes a fright …

We walked around 40 minutes until we get to a ice cavern where we got in and took some pictures:

The blue cave

Do not let that smile fool you … she was furious with me!

Roberta had a sweatpants, but had a waterproof hooded sweater and I was with a waterproof sweater but without hood, I was using just a beanie , and guess what? RAAAAAIIIIIIINNNNNNN!!!!
That was my bad, they said before that the climate change in the mountain is very abrupt, when we arrived was sunny, when we started it was cloudy, then rain .
I didn’t filmed much during the hiking because with one hand I held the hammer and the other I held the rope. I thought: “Will I record or try not to fall in those huge holes in the ice???” But I managed to do some recording … watch the video below, notice the lack of physical condition of the poor bastard and the killer look that Roberta did like a lion staring at the prey:

Although I felt at the sight of a rifle all the time that Roberta looked at me, it was a wonderful adventure, to see that blue water coming out of the ice, entering the ice caves, and even with the rain, have a breathtaking view there above. I cannot demonstrate even 10% of which was this kiking, it is hard to take pictures and videos during the walk, but the entire route was about 4 hours, and 2 hours and 30 minutes of that time was on the ice.

My goal was just to make the hiking on glacier, but thanks to that we had wonderful experiences and getting funny twin-engine aircraft, accessing remote areas, staying in town with 200 people visited the oldest wooden church in the world and meeting people extremely passionate with what they do and loves nature and their quality of life.

Without a doubt, these are timeless memories that I hope to repeat it one day, and surprise myself with everything one more time!

Perfect picture to finish this post