Exploring a city by bike in other than Dutch cities? Yes, you can! As we did in Copenhagen last summer and yet again in Valencia last week. Me and my mum love cycling as true Dutchies do. As soon as we arrived, we figured out if cycling back and forth from the beach to the city centre was feasible. It’d be half an hour trip by bike and according to some locals and other Dutchies we encountered, this city is very ‘bike-friendly’. And it sure was, certainly compared to other European cities. ​​Just as long as we followed the red bike paths, we were fine.

​Since March 2017 you can cycle in one of the biggest streets of Valencia 'Colon' which connects the city with a lot of surrounding neighbourhoods. However, I don’t recommend cycling in the inner old city as the streets are very narrow and mostly one-way without any bike paths. We ended up cycling on the crowded sidewalks, quite dangerous to be honest. 

The next stop was supposed to be La Lonja de la Seda (The Silk Market), but unfortunately it closed at 2pm (instead of 3pm according to our city guide…). But the outside is impressive anyway, not surprised at all that this building is declared by UNESCO as part of Humanity's Heritage.

​The day before we explored the little streets around Mercat Central, a must see huge food market. We filled our bellies with delicious haute cuisine style tapas at the Central Bar, owned by Ricard Camarena, a Michelin star Master Chef. 

When you think of Denmark, Copenhagen first comes to mind as the place to be. During my search for other great cities and things to do with kids in Denmark, I came across a Dutch article  inspiring me to find a place to stay via AirBnB near Aarhus (European Capital of Culture 2017) and close to Legoland.

We ended up at a spacious house near Silkeborg, another lovely Danish City located near the beautiful Silkeborg Lakes. Just a 5-minute walk to the lakes and the owners allowed us to use everything at their place, even their canoes and bicycles. As the owners have kids of approximately the same age, our girls had lots of toys to play with.

​Even though it was quite busy, it didn’t feel like an ‘amusement’ park at all. After spending a couple of hours, we took the back door and the girls played for a bit at a playground. Then we climbed up the hill and a huge wind mill and ‘dome’ emerged.

Væksthusene i Botanisk consists of tropical houses where numerous plant collections are presented in 4 different climate zones. Our girls loved every bit of it. The butterflies, the largest water lilies ‘Victoria’ (tropical South American), the beautiful flowers and the big tree house from which you can overlook the entire tropical house. Outside the dome you could see the botanical gardens and the girls climbed a tree right in front of it. 

As we took both of the kids’ stand up scooters the girls didn’t have to walk all the way. It was a great way to explore Aarhus City Centre, the Harbor and the district Latinerkvarteret (‘The Latin Quarter’) where we had a lovely dinner at Olinoco.

​Locals were standing in line to pick up Moules frites (mussels with fries) or fish ‘n chips, so we figured it must be a good place to stay for dinner. We had some fish ‘n chips and I had a lovely menu with figs and cerrano ham as a starter and a ‘kebab’ style main dish which was very tasty. And surprisingly very affordable too as quite a few people warned us about how expensive Denmark would be (only € 45, drinks included!). 

On our way back to the car, we had some delicious ice cream at the organic café/ restaurant ‘Suppestegogis’. After all, a great day, packed with lovely things to do in a very child-friendly city!