Bikes on Dikes
Trip Start
Sep 07, 2008
1
21
33
Trip End
Oct 10, 2008
Kinderdijk,
Zuid-Holland,
Netherlands
Monday, September 29, 2008
Today we left Amsterdam in the thick of an incredible fog
Windmills in the Fog
. You couldn't actually see the petrol stations on the sides of the road or read the road signs it was so thick. The whole thing had a very eerie feel about it. It did make windmill spotting a little difficult though. We headed south to a place near Rotterdam called Kinderdijk, or the Children's Dike. Suddenly we had more windmills around us than I had seen in the rest of the Netherlands combined. There is one 3km long dike off the River Lek which has 19 very well preserved windmills that date from 1738 - 1740. It is impossible to describe how amazing it looked, shrouded in mist, with windmills as far as the eye can see. We hired two old-school bikes from the kiosk for a whole 5 Euro for 2 hours for both, and headed off down the dike for a closer look at the windmills. It was like being back on my old treadlie that I had ridden as a child, with just as many rattles and loose bits of mudflaps hanging off the bike. We cruised around on our bikes, on the dikes, for an hour and a half, stopping to snap photos and marvel as what an amazing experience this was. A real highlight of our trip so far. A short drive later we arrived in Brugge at our hotel, exhausted after our late night last night and our unfamiliar burst of exercise this morning. Our hotel is great, yet another great find by Matt off the internet. It is called The Golden Tree Hotel and is just inside the old town of Brugge
The local catch
. It is an old white building with incredibly high ceilings, which has been very tastefully renovated to give a funky modern look to the rooms. The lady at reception was most helpful and gave us a map, followed by an impromptu guided tour on paper of the sights of the town. We could barely stay awake but were determined to get out and see the town that we had caught brief glimpses off as we drove into town. Everything is within walking distance in this town, so we spent the remainder of the afternoon exploring cobbled streets and stumbling across postcard worthy scenery around every corner. Even the shopping seems to rival that of Amsterdam and Munich, but obviously on a much smaller scale.Dinner was at a little restaurant across the square from our hotel at a little restaurant called De Zandloper. Matt couldn't walk past the sign for Moules and frites, the national dish of Belgium. We started with a couple of local beers, Matt trying a dark Trappist beer and myself trying a much more girly option of cherry beer. Both were a hit. The best part about beer in Belgium is not only do they have so many different varieties for you to try, but each beer is served in a specially designed glass for that beer, to best deliver its flavour. They really have perfected the art of the boutique beer in this country. Matt's moules and frites (mussels in white wine with chips) were a big hit and I could hardly contain my laughter when he said quite loudly in the middle of the meal, "For a national dish, this one's a clanger!" You can take the boy out of Toowoomba.... In my opinion the best thing the Belgians have come up with are the waffles with icecream and chocolate sauce we had for dessert.
