(Editor’s note: This post is part of our “Things We Love” series of random people, places and moments from the past couple of years that make our expat lives more fulfilling.)
As you go through life, there will be a lot more small moments in unexpected places than big life-changing climaxes atop Mt. Everest. We expats spend so much time overseas we tend to look back and remember the quirky things we love: “Remember when we used to stay at that little B&B outside Basel on the French side?”
We tend to stumble into places that just do it for us … not the flashy hotels or the Michelin-starred restaurants, though they’re nice. No, it’s the simple “bubbly pot” restaurant in Turkey or the place you stay in France where you become friends with the owners. Or the vintner on the wine road in Alsace where you return year after year because she has the best Riesling.
Here’s our latest aggregated list of things we love:
Cigar stores
This is the last bastion of the 20th century man … we Don Draper wannabees. But cigar shops are also a great place to hang out with people like you. Now, you would think in 2024 these would have been legislated out of existence by well-meaning health advocates.
They have not.
Every city we visit, I can always find a great cigar store. The best is in Aachen, Germany. Schneiderwind is not just a cigar store, though they do have one of the largest walk-in humidors I’ve seen in Europe.
No, it caters to all the vices, with a great selection of wines, whiskies and liquors.
Basically, this is a luxury quick-stop where you can buy expensive watches, expensive cigars and expensive wines all in one place. BUT, as a cheapskate, I love Schneiderwind because their house cigars are excellent and not 50 euros per, but 5 euros! Plus the people here are really nice.
Crazy rich Europeans on Königsallee in Düsseldorf
This is one of the most expensive stretches of real estate in Europe, lined with luxury goods stores such as Gucci. Hermès and Prada. But it costs you nothing beyond the 7 euros for an Apertivo to sit at a café and people watch and dig on all the Lamborghinis and exotic Porsches cruising by. And it still has the class the Champs-Élysées lost years ago.
As I wrote after our first visit to the KÖ in 2019, “Dear lady in that crazy colorful coat who kept strutting up and down past the Armani store: You rock!”
Movie theaters
In this day of streaming, one of our favorite nights out is going to the movies at a great Dutch movie theater. The best of them all is the Pathé Koninkslijk Theatre Tuschinski in Amsterdam. I don’t even remember what we saw a couple of Christmases ago, but there’s nothing like watching a movie in an Art Deco movie theater from the 1920s.
Bowling in Maastricht at Oloround
There’s an old adage that Jews don’t bowl. Let me tell you, my last outing at Oloround I was rollin’ strikes and spares like The Jesus in “The Big Lebowski.” This next-gen bowling alley has great snacks and beers, but it’s always booked up … and you have to make reservations. The Oloround in Maasticht is open till 1 a.m., which is unheard of in Europe.
The rooftop bar at the student hotel in Maastricht
The Bold Rooftopbar, perched atop the historic Sphinx factory in Maastricht, has a panoramic view eight floors above the city, and the drinks are pretty good. Our go-to place to celebrate birthdays, graduations or just life.
Taking photos at dawn in Florence
I get up early every morning to take a long walk while the rest of the world sleeps. It’s the time of day I reserve for myself, and I haven’t missed a morning walk in many, many years. In September 2021, I went on my first “girlfriend” trip to Florence. I hadn’t spent any time in Italy and was excited to visit all the hotspots. But what I secretly was most excited about was taking my morning walks along the Ponte Vecchio and the Arno River and taking photos of a city just coming awake.
The first day I left the hotel in the dark. I took some dramatic photos of empty squares filled with fountains and statues and their accompanying shadows. Then I got smart and swapped my schedule, working the first hour at the hotel, then catching the sunrise in Florence. That’s when the magic happened.
That’s when I fell truly, deeply in love with Florence.
– Cheryl Boyd
That Airbnb at Como with the huge balcony overlooking the lake
A couple of years ago, we roadtripped to Lake Como kind of on a lark. Our friend LeAnne had picked the Airbnb in Italy, where anything can happen. It turned out be a huge, yet affordable, apartment with balcony overlooking the lake. It had seen better days, but that was part its charm. A once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Buying books along the Seine
The bookstalls along the Seine down by Île de la Cité have been there for at least 100 years. There’s only one place in the world this elegant and intellectual. Don’t forget to stop for a snack at the Tour d’Argent. (Just kidding unless you’re a billionaire.)
Ferries on Izmir bay
We just got back from Izmir where we spent a lot of time on the ferries. They’re really the only practical way to cross the huge bay that separates the ritzy neighborhood of Alsancak to the south where we used to live, from the dense communities of Karşıyaka and Bostanlı on the north side.
The 15-minute crossing is, as John Cheever once wrote, a journey of little import. But the open space on the stern of a ferry gives you view of this uncelebrated city – the sea, sky and mountains – that makes you wonder how the rest of the world can still ignore Izmir.
Best Mexican restaurant
Nico’s Mexican Restaurant might be the only authentic Mexican place in the Netherlands. Maybe Europe. It’s just so much like the Mexican restaurants back in our hometown of Louisville, which are the real deal – gooey, cheesy and delicious. And prices are reasonable, with most main dishes in the 12 euro range.
Here’s the menu. Try the chile relleno ….
10 euro wine in the grocery that would sell for $50 in the US
One indulgence we have here in the Netherlands is grocery store wine, which can range from awful to shockingly good. When we lived in the US, we used to get our millionaire friends to chip in a few bucks on Saturday nights so we could go to Costco and get a bottle or two of Stag’s Leap, which started at $50 in those days, and $80 now. Here in our HQ of Eindhoven, we could stock our cellar for $80. Our favorites include Second Fleet, which Lidl groceries sell for about 7 or 8 euros. Another is Three Thieves, which Jumbo has for about 10 euros.
Not $80. The down side is, they run out fast and don’t restock for months. So grab those reds when you see them.
There’s so much more … and every day reveals some new, fabulous place. So stand by, fellow expats.
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See more “The Things We Love” posts here in Dispatches’ archives.
Co-CEO of Dispatches Europe. A former military reporter, I'm a serial expat who has lived in France, Turkey, Germany and the Netherlands.
