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| Random little tower popping up over the trees-just like a fairy tale |
The brewery,
the Belfort, the windmills, a church or two and the canal trip were all must do
tourist things we covered and all showed us just how beautiful this old
medieval town is. *Note to all potential
Bruges tourists-lots of places are closed on Mondays as we discovered. Julian was bitterly disappointed to not be
able to go into Bruges’ oldest pub or a little alleyway beer house offering a
selection of over 400 beers*
We did get to
try two local delicacies however, which made up for the closures. Frites also known as 1cm thick French fries
(without mayo for Julian) and chocolate-mmm, yum yum in our tum!
After a
couple of days in Bruges we moved onto Brussels- the ugly red headed step son
of Belgium-to quote a fellow traveller! In fairness, it wasn’t as bad as people
had made it out to be. It was certainly
busy and culturally diverse but it kept us busy for a day and half.
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| Intricate carvings on amazing buildings |
We went to another brewery. One which makes
traditional ‘Lambic’ beer unique to the country due to its spontaneous
fermentation process, something to do with yeast in the air. Certainly an acquired taste unlike waffles,
another Belgium delicacy which was very easy on the palate. We tried these a few times just to make sure
they were worth the effort! We thought
we best go to the chocolate museum to learn about the process and do the
all-important tasting seeing as Belgium is the king/queen of chocolate.
Aside from another church (oldest in
Brussels), viewing platform (elevator for this one, no stairs) and some
beautiful buildings (so much intricate sculpture) the best bit was discovering
the quirky side of Brussels by following the comic strip trail which wound its
way through the streets of the city, taking you to various mural scenes painted
on walls depicting famous Belgium cartoons including Tin Tin &
Asterix.
We had a lovely catch up lunch with family in Amsterdam-sunshine, wine & wandering-a good introduction to the city on our first day. To top it all off we had received a free upgrade of accommodation putting us into a room well out of our price range and exceeding all expectations. Think king-size bed, fluffy robes & slippers, his & her basins, remote control curtains, Nespresso machine and the icing on the cake FREE MINIBAR! (Replenished daily)
The next day
was very busy-Julian took us on a self-guided ‘Canal appreciation’ walking tour
around some of Amsterdam first thing in the morning, thus avoiding peak hour
cyclists-what a hazard! (Or perhaps,
more correctly we’re the hazard as wandering tourists!)
After this tour though, we really did become
the hazards, opting in on a cycling tour of Amsterdam and the nearby
countryside. Once we had dodged the
trams, pedestrians, cars and other cyclists in the city, we meandered on a path
alongside the Amstel River for a while, stopping at a working windmill and then
a farm owned and run by a crazy cheese making, clog carving Dutchman. After lunching on cheese (surprise, surprise)
we took a different route back to the city, cycling past lush green fields and
through expansive parks, all the while trying not to get in the way of much
more experienced local cyclists.
To add in a
bit of culture to our Amsterdam stay we visited FOAM, Amsterdam’s photography
exhibition space as well as the Van Gogh museum (along with every other tourist
in Amsterdam!) and the obligatory walk through the Red Light District.
More photos have been put on the Photo Links page
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