Will you Travel for Beer(s)?

Growing up in a house where wine was the king of the table, beer was hardly of interest for my taste, until I made, at 18, a round-country trip to Bulgaria. It was summer and beer was within my budget, so allowed me to have more than one sour yellowish drink. I was not impressed, and I am still very selective when it comes to it, but as I live in a country whose brand is associated with beer, I am trying to be more tolerant towards it. Like trying to diversify my palate by tasting regional sortiments or some international strange combinations - chocolate beer, anyone? After all, even some doctors recommend it as a natural kidneys cleaning method, so I challenged myself to keep being curious.

As a travel blogger with a passion for food and quality drinks, I couldn't resist staying out of the local trends. The best overview of the industry I got by visiting at the beginning of August the 21st International Beer Festival, in Berlin displaying around 2,400 beer specialities from all over the world. Three days are not enough to try only 10% of it, and I am generous with the percentage, but at least I updated the precarious knowledge about the drink which in Germany is regulated by a special 'beer purity law' (Reinheitsgebot).

Nowadays, it seems to be no limit when it comes to beer tastes. This is one of the best things about festivals: they bring you a taste of far away lands and food innovations which can be reasons enough to visit a place. Otherwise, how would you know that Africa is a big beer producer, with a tasty variety of beers having as main ingredients mango, banana, ananas, pineapple, passion fruit or palm? Unless you know already that on Ku'damm 100, in Berlin, you can taste some of them at The House of 100 Beers. 

I had more than once a DjuDju beer and I might say it suits perfectly my tastes in beer. If served cold, it doesn't have a strong malt taste which is nicely balanced anyway by the fruity note. I had both pineapple and banana but the latter was my favorite so far in terms of richness. I bet the real beer purists will give up reading my article from now on...

But you don't have to go to Africa to have some exotic beer tastes. It is enough to travel to Belgium, a country with a centuries-long tradition of producing the most interesting beers, started in the local abbeys and monasteries. The country has over 180 breweries and its beer was recently included on the UNESCO heritage list. I discovered their flavored beers during my trips to Belgium and I am always ready to have a glass of it at the end of a busy week. When I cannot find my favorite La Mort Subite, I can accept a cherry-flavored beer. 

As in the case of wine, the culture of beer brings on a large array of food habits. The usual food pairing, especially in Germany, involves a lot of meat, especially the beloved würst and burger, but it can also go well with salted nuts, cheese, chips or even some dried fruits. 

I personally love to have a glass of beer with a fish-based meal, preferably outdoors with a view over the sea - eventually in one of the Greek islands, why not?

Compared to wine, beers are most likely to be drunk together, in a pub, with friends, in the evening watching together a soccer game. In order to answer specific travel needs, in many cities special tours were developed. In Berlin, for instance, you can book a tour where you can gather around a round barrel and bike around the city while sipping beers. Or you can have a complete beer and food tour, where your beer is paired with another German food icon: curry wurst. 

The beer fashion is taking over the entire Europe, becoming popular even in places not so famous until now for their beer production. In Budapest, for instance, it is possible to have a Craft Beer Tour&Pub Walk with AllNightCrash. With a menu including the tasting of 10 Hungarian craft beers and a visit at three local micro brew pubs, the tour offers also the experience of the bubbling Budapest night life, a city struggling hard to be one of the top party capitals of the world. 

If you are looking for a serious reference for planning a travel adventure exploring the tastes and flavours of trappist beers, I strongly recommend to spend some time reading an excellent book: Trappist Beer Travels, by Caroline Wallace. 

What about you, would you travel for beer(s)?

Beelitz, beyond the spargel plate

Beelitz is usually associated in the Brandenburg area, with the famous German national spring food - asparagus/spargel - the kind of meal that I'm still doing my best to cook and maybe like it too - one day. As one of my biggest challenges when I travel is to go beyond stereotypes and too-much-beaten paths, two summers ago I visited this city trying to find more than a bundle of spargel. We arrived quite fast by bus, via Potsdam, on a sunny day, enjoying the green scenery and the quiet streets.

The streets kept quiet for the most part of our stay. Either we headed to the center or explored small streets we rarely had any encounter with the local people. In addition to the classical fast foods and local bakeries, a restaurant serving a variety of Balkan cuisine caught our attention.

Once part of the then GDR, with a significant Soviet present nearby for decades, Beelitz was still looking at the time of my first visit for for its post-Cold War identity, with many buildings left from the war times waiting for a new yet unknown destination.

Walking more, we discovered that the traditional spargel gardens are a relatively 'new' reality - in historical terms, being created only in the 19th century, by Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Herrmann, a local personality whose memory is reminded with a simple statue placed in a square.

The quiet streets allowed us to observe more of the city. It looks like time stopped here a couple of decades back, with many small traditional shops looking as back in the 1970s or 1980s. In the era of photo sharing and electronic devices, this photo atelier with old photos displayed in the windows makes a big difference.

The same for the small door that makes as stop for a while thinking about the impressive model-size of the inhabitants.

Two years later, I am back in Beelitz the last week, this time in spring, the high spargel season. I took the train and stop at Beelitz-Heilstätten, near the historical military sanatorium. The connection to and from Berlin is every hour and it takes around 30 minutes. Prepared to explore the ruins of the sanatorium, I was pleasantly surprised to encounter the modernist perspective of the glass and wood tower of the local fire brigade. This community service has a long tradition in Beelitz, with a special volunteering service that probably explains the architectural special identity and high-profile.

As in the case of the historical city we visited two summers ago, the streets are quiet again, with a discrete bus commuting every 30 minutes. Private owners are ready to rent their houses to holiday refugees from the city and there is probably a high promise of enjoying a very reality disconnected holiday.

Since moving to Berlin, I explored frequently ruins and abandoned buildings: the former Iraqi embassy or the former CIA listening station on Teufelsberg, among others. Fantastic historical sources once, especially if visited in the fist post-unification years, but nowadays a mass of wreckages. The Beelitz military hospital entered my travel agenda at a time when I lost curiosity for such experiences, but also when the building itself is in an advanced stage of deterioration that makes such an adventure risky. Thus, I limited my adventures to taking pictures from outside and observing the architecture, without jumping inside.

The huge complex, situated in the middle of a green area acquired in decades by the diverse administrations of the hospital, was created starting with the end of the 19th century, when the newly-born health insurance society of the newly united Germany was looking to create a tuberculosis station and a nursing home. In 1902, the Beelitz facility was opened, with a 600-bed capacity, open to both men and women. The architecture reminded me other medical facilities I visited in Berlin recently, such as Charité and Westend hospitals, created around the similar period.

During WWI, most of the facilities were operated by the Red Cross that increased the capacity to more than 1,500 beds. Over 12,586 persons were treated here, among which the maniac who will lead Germany to destruction during WWII. The hospital returned to the usual civilian use in 1920. One of the most sought speciality for a long time will be the lung treatment, that included also long relaxation and walks around the newly acquired green area. As I was walking from a building to another, I was feeling the fresh air maintained by the green trees. But as far as I was getting closer to buildings, the smells and the swarm of flies kept me away.

Many of the 60 buildings part of the complex are vandalized and covered by many layers of paintings and graffiti. During the Cold War, the Soviet Army turned the sanatorium into the largest Soviet military hospital outside the USSR, and it kept this status till 1994, when the Russians left Germany. While walking, was trying as much as possible to do not get lost. The idea of spending more time that I need around, wasn't on the to-do-list of the day. Regular tours are organized in the area, with in-depth explanations about the architecture and history, but I feel at a certain extent for me it was a one time experience.

In December 1990, another German dictator, Erich Honecker, the GDR president, was treated here for liver cancer. The red-bricked buildings hide many state secrets probably, but from a dead world. In 1997, part of the buildings were reopened for medical use, with the creation of a special facility for Parkinson disease and neurological disorders. As it is listed as one of the largest historical sites in Brandenburg, assigning a new destination or the simple destruction is not possible.

Being far away from the ruins was a good feeling, and I kept walking around the green area, breathing deep the fresh air. The doctors were right, again, there is a special air quality that makes the place so healthy and relaxing.

Taking the advantage of a sunny day, I continue my exploration by foot for another one hour direction Fichtenwalde. Riding by bike is also a good idea. Once arrived in the small village, with colourful flower gardens, I entered again the quiet spirit of Beelitz. Local products, as honey, are on sale, colourful billboards inviting you to go home with some natural healthy souvenirs.

Another consequence of spending so much time in open fresh air, I got hungry. Back in the sanatorium area, I stop at the restaurant of Landhotel Gustav that I spotted before. Besides the big pieces of naive sculptures in the yard, following the basic advertising made by a big black board announced with chalk hand written words that they serve - what else? - various specialities of Beelitz spargel. I followed the curiosity and entered. The place is hosted in a construction built in 1902 for the use of the sanatorium. Many years after the Russians left, the building was turned into an accommodation facility, with a beauty saloon and a restaurant. The interior is crowded without a special style line with various old pieces of furniture, mirrors and even some toys. It also has some tables outside, a good choice for the sunny days.

The service was too slow for my taste, although there were only two more customers in the restaurant. I ordered a classical spargel with season potatoes and sauce Hollandaise, a simple countryside meal. The spargel was smooth and well boiled and the sauce brought some special flavours and taste. A good healthy meal, but not necessarily my style of menu.

Near the sanatorium buildings currently used for medical purposes there are more abandoned buildings, in a better state, but still marked by the traces of decay.

What the future of the former sanatorium buildings will be, is not yet clearly known. The ruins are not only very popular among tourists and travel adventurers, but were also chosen as filming locations for movies such as Operation Valkyrie and Schindler's List.

I left Beelitz again, this time curious to return sooner than two years to check what the whole area will become. With so many histories and secrets hidden behind old walls, it seems that this place has more stories than spargel recipes to tell.

For more Beelitz insights, have a look at the dedicated Pinterest board: http://www.pinterest.com/ilanaontheroad/beelitz/

A day at the dairy farm Gläserne Molkerei Münchehofe

As I child, I visited a lot of factories - including chocolate and icecream factories -, dairy farms and even vineyards - without tasting, of course, and as a curious person, I enjoy understanding what I wear, eat or drink. I found always interesting the small details of the preparations and now, as a grown-up adult, I love to see with my own eyes the mysteries revealed. As a frequent visitor of the Bioladen - bio/ecological shops - in Germany, I noticed various advertisements for tours of Gläserne Molkerei Münchehofe, and after a while, I decided that I should pay a visit myself to this dairy farm, not that far away from Berlin, in the green Spreewald area of Brandenburg.

Dreaming is one thing, making it real might take a bit longer. Used so much with the precision and failure-free transportation connections in Germany, I disregarded a highly important aspect, well known by the local, but not too much disclosed to the wide public: from Königs Wusterhausen, S-Bahn station, there is a bus that connects Münchehofe, maybe once or twice the day. From Halbe, where I stop following the recommendation of some Deutsche Bahn employee, there are around 12 kilometres that without any proper wheel-propelled transportation, must be made by foot. With a lot of optimism and a good weather as trustworthy company, I started my walking journey.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, everything looked fresh, with some last traces of the fading summer stubborn enough to still kept being around. Fresh air, flowers and colourful mushrooms diminished my lack of mental preparation for such a sudden early long walk.

Accompanied by the silence of the woods, I made it relatively fast till the Märkisch Buchholz, near the Dahm river. With not too many people on the streets, except the one who brought me the bad news that there is no bus connection till the dairy farm and eventually I should keep walking and walking, I suddenly started to worry. With my appointment at the farm for a guided tour starting in less than 30 minutes, I was not able to be in time, unless will find some unconventional transportation way: hitch-hiking that I haven't done since my final high-school years, when I went through Bulgaria for one week with only 100 USD in my pocket.

I think more than twice, pondering all my blogging priorities, especially the need to keep my word and be in due time at the appointed schedule. I set myself on a place near the main road, from where I can eventually grasp instantly the reliability of the driver. After a couple of minutes, a nice local old man stops, and in less than 10 minutes I'm there. Was simple, although my heart went as small as a sparrow.

As I arrived a bit earlier - a deep sigh of relief after so many worries within less than 2 hours - I am using my time for getting to know the neighbourhood. Quiet, populated mostly by cars coming a going, the traditional Brandenburg country life.

When it is about time to go, I go through the green alleys, bordered by happy relaxed wooden cows - it is a bio dairy farm, after all - and I'm ready to join the other members of the guided tour. The visit can be done only as part of such a tour, and dedicated tours for children of various age categories are also available by request.

The dairy farm is hosted in a very modern looking building, that replaced the former communist Germany construction. A similar farm was created in Dechow, in the Mecklenburg Pommern.

In the lobby, old wooden instruments, from the old times are only used as didactic material. Everything is mechanized now. The downside of a visit in a normal day of work can be that some of the machines must be under revision at certain times of the day, so during the tour, we did not see too much from the real processes that lead to the creation of the delicious dairy products - cheese and milk, especially.

However, we are lucky enough to have a good guide - in German - that explains in the smallest detail everything related to the quality of the milk used - bought from producers, after a careful verification of accomplishing the standards requested by the bio production. Mostly, the animals should live free and not be treated with antibiotics. There are three main types of milk produced here: the pasteurized one (the green package) - which has a sour-cream like taste but the normal milk consistence, the usual milk - from the light blue packages - and the one meant to last longer - from the dark blue packages. After the presentation, I can test all of them, but it's a bit difficult to make one and final choice, as all of them taste fresh and ask you for one more glass, and one more glass. And this comes from someone not so keen to drink too many glasses of milk per day. Wish my mother is still around to read this!

The most spectacular view is in the front of the windows leading to the cheese production section. Almost 6,000 liter of milk are used, in order to produce around 600 kg. of cheese. The big bathtube-like made of copper, produced by a Swiss company offers the guarantee against microorganisms and also keep the composition warm as long as needed before the final production.

Besides the impressive number of cheese produced daily, there is also a significant production of curd, with different fat concentrations. Our guide explains in detail about the salts used, and their qualities in creating various tastes. Except for the production of butter, which needs more human involvement, everything is mostly done automatically by the machines. The 1o0,000 liter of milk produced daily, for instance, is packed by the robots. The local laboratory keeps an eye on the daily quality of the mixtures, which the level of humidity is checked twice the day, in order to be sure that no additional micro-organisms are produced.

At the end of the tour, after resisting heroically and some even taking notes in an ambiance calling for lunch, brunch and dinner, we are invited to spend some extra time testing and tasting the various types of cheese we've been explained about. Except the classical bio stores, the milk from this dairy farm can be found also at the classical German supermarkets. A stamp on the right side of the upper side of the package indicated when and where the milk was produced. With the cheese as a common topic of conversation, I am improving my language skills talking with the tour companions about the different qualities of different pieces of cheese and milk. Everything is delicious.

Outside, some lazy cows are enjoying their day out. During the production process, mostly milk from Germany - Mecklenburg Pommers and the Southern part - is used. Also, certified milk from Denmark, Poland or the Czech Republic can be employed for covering an over-increasing need. Outside the farm, I walk a bit across the small garden, with some veggies and colourful flowers.

Outside, on the streets, the same quietness and emptiness, except a postlady, with a minivan, who is running from a house to another to deliver the mail. Now, that my journalistic mission was accomplished, it is about time to think how to make my way back to Berlin.

This time, I'm luckier, as I am around for one of the 1-2 regular bus rides. A classical car, maybe from the old times of the DDR. My adventures on the road put aside, I had a very useful experience, learning about cheese and milk. Now, that I've seen with my own eyes and heard with my own ears how everything is produced, I might be tempted to increase the consumption of milk in the house. The knowledge I got through my travels can lead me in the most unexpected places...

Disclaimer: I was offered a free tour of the Gläserne Molkerei Münchehofe, but the opinions are, as usual, my own.

For more pictures and impressions from the dairy farm, check the dedicated Pinterest board