ÓBIDOS, PORTUGAL - The blackened oak doors of the 14th century Bar Ibn Errik Rex are closed the day we arrive with a local man named Luis Garcia.

WARSAW - It’s a bright July morning, and we’re picking out a crate of plump raspberries at Hale Mirowskie market when one of the vendors, a wiry woman with a grey-blond ponytail, leans over and abruptly asks, “What are you doing here?”

LISSE, THE NETHERLANDS - Holland looks good any time of the year but it’s especially beautiful in the spring when the national flower, the tulip, blooms in a rainbow of colours and blankets farmer’s fields and gardens throughout this incredible land.

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands - Public markets in Europe are as common as grains of sand on a beach. So what’s the big deal when a new one opens?

ARNHEM, THE NETHERLANDS - The old soldier, aided by his proud family, shuffles toward the granite monument and with trembling hands salutes his fallen comrades for whom the monolith honours.

THE HAGUE - Their names are not as familiar to me as their Dutch counterparts Rembrandt, Vermeer or Van Gogh, but their art is admired equally.

ROTTERDAM - Looking out over this city’s glass and steel skyline, it’s hard for me to imagine that such a futuristic-looking city has an ancient past.

ROTTERDAM - Our water taxi cuts through a foggy mist and bounces off the choppy surf while making its way across the harbour to Kop van Zuid, this city’s trendy entertainment district located on the southern bank of the River Maas.

AMSTERDAM - Old Amsterdam is so beautiful, especially when you’re looking at the 12th and 13th century doll-house homes, cathedrals and museums from the seat of a canal tour boat.

AMSTERDAM- It's early morning and as usual Amsterdam Centraal is crowded with commuters. Each day, more than 300,000 people pass through the castle-like railway station and it seems like all 300,000 are huddled together on the main platform as I exit the train from Schiphol Airport.