11^th October 2020, Karkrade The Netherlands: After some successful tours during the summer ‘fancy car tours’ decided to organize a culinary tour, where participants had to opportunity to drive to 4 different castles and enjoy some culinary delicacies in the South of Limburg.

Text: Erwin Nandpersad

Pictures: Thijs Hermans, Provided by Fancy Car Tours.

The fancy car tour team (www.fancycartour.nl) is trying to pick the best car routes in Belgium, Germany and of course The Netherlands. Due to obvious pandemic reason, the tour remain in the Netherlands this time and started in Kerkrade at; Castle Erenstein. The Castle has been built in the fourteenth century and since 2010 it is part the fletcher Hotel group. Castle Erenstein is a really nice location for a daily dinner, or just to walk around. The castle has something special. Its hard to explain in words, for those who been there will know exactly the feeling!

The Fletcher team reserved a special area where all the car tour participants could join the fancy team for a get together and enjoy some delicacies. Although it wasn’t a royal dessert menu, as you would expect from a Castle, but the location made the picture complete.

After quick introduction at Castle Erenstein the group started their journey to the next castle in a bright & sunny morning blessed by the weather gods. Normally the month October doesn’t include many sunny days. It was fourteen degrees, therefore good enough for some participants to take the roof off.

The next stop ; Castle Wijnandsrade. A sixteen century castle located in the village of Wijnandsrade in the southern of the Netherlands (Limburg). The group drove through Valkenburg and some really nice viewpoints (which included some routes of previous Heuvelland tour) which took about an hour to reach Castle Wijnandsrade. A beautiful location, with a breathtaking garden, which brough the fancy tour participants all the way back to the mid-century.

From a mid-century welcome to a mid-century lunch. All participants were delighted with some homemade pumpkin soup and sandwiches. After the lunch all participants had some time to a tour around the Castle and it’s garden. And this occasion could go without a group photo!

Next stop; Castle schaloen. The first part of this castle has been built in the twelve century and sections had been added up to the sixteen and nineteen century. The tour in between castles took about an hour. Here the group could take some rest and got a royal treatment from the castle staff, enjoy some appetizers and enjoy the view. Due to pandemic regulation it wasn’t possible to sit inside, but the weather was too good to stay inside anyway. By the way, for all interested in owning their own castle, this one is for sale! Castle Schaloen is for sale for just under five million euros. What a bargain!

The last stop was Castle Vaeshartelt in Maastricht. A fifty minutes’ drive through the city of valkenburg and some other small cities and villages in the heuvelland. On arrival at Vaeshartelt all participants could enjoy some snacks; like ‘Limburgse zuurvlees’, fresh ‘Bitterballen’ and other limburg delicacies.  For the ones who don’t know what ‘zuurvlees’ is: “Zuurvlees is meat with a sauce which is made from gingerbread. This is put on top of some french fries.”.  this isn’t made for everyone, but if you are from Limburg you will definitely like it.

The tour ended at 18:00 in the afternoon and all participants had a wonderful mid-century tour, some fancy food, enjoy some your own car and relax, meet nice people and enjoy castles with beautiful viewpoints. Overall a great success!