The Netherlands, also known as Holland, is a densely populated country in Western Europe. Population: 17 million The official capital of the Netherlands is Amsterdam, as specified in the Constitution. The Hague is where the government is seated, including Parliament, the monarchy, the high courts and foreign embassies. The four largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht.
Flag of the Netherlands
On this trip we stayed in Haarlem the old city. Haarlem had a population of 155,758 . It is a 15-minute train ride from Amsterdam, and many residents commute to the country’s capital for work. It is a beautiful area, with its many historic buildings and beautiful old squares. It is wonderful to stroll through the narrow streets. The number one form of transport is cycling, (and not one piece of lycra to be seen) from new babies being carried in special made bike chairs, to ninety year olds still cycling with no problem at all. I noticed a lack of large people around, I am sure it is because of the cycling, as they are all well able to eat and drink. It was great to see the canals being used so much. They look so beauty on a sunny day. The Airbnb we stayed in was great, it was on one of the small narrow streets, and had a lovely local pub just on the corner. Our favourite restaurant in Haarlem was La Foule it is a French restaurant, the food is great.
Haarlem, the iconic Windmill
The carrier on the bike below is were two or three children sit.
Our Airbnb and street we stayed on.
The old gate house of the city
Views from our accomadation
We had a few trips into Amsterdam city, although we had been here before it was nice to visit again. We had seen Ann Franks house on a trip we did 27 years ago, it seems to have become more touristic and now there is a museum attached as well. We did visit the Van Gogh museum it was interesting to see how many different styles of painting he tried as his life of an artist.
Van Gogh Museum
Ann Franks House
I love old homes so we went to visit, the Museum Van Loon it is canal house where the museum resides was built in 1672. From 1884 to 1945 the Van Loons lived in the house. The original façade of the house with the statues on top, is still in place the interior was changed after 1757 to the Louis XV style which can still be seen today. The house is beautiful, the garden room was my favourite, as the gardens are lovely to look out on and it is a nice bright room. I often find these old homes can be quite dark. It is definitely worth a visit.
We spent another whole day in the Rijks Museum The Rijksmuseum is a Dutch national museum dedicated to arts and history in Amsterdam. The artwork ranges from 1600 to 1950. It is an amazing place, we enjoyed seeing paintings by Vermeer, Rembrandt and Van Gogh and plenty of others.
Rijks Museum
Zandvoort Beach
As I wanted to have a swim in the north sea we spent an afternoon at Zandvoort beach. It is about 15min on the train from Amsterdam, although the weather was not very good there was a lot of activity on the beach, kitesurfing, sailing, swimming, soccer and people relaxing. The sea was a lot wilder than I expected, but I enjoyed the swim none the less. It is hard to beat the beaches in Australia, but I was impressed with all the different activities going on. Really have to try that Kitesurfing !!!!
We need these wind breakers on the beaches in Ireland
We had a wonderful time in the Netherlands.
Belgium
officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people.
elgium Flag
We got a bus from Amsterdam to Ghent in Belgium, we decided to stay in Ghent as it is between Brussels and Brugge, two cities we wanted to visit.
Ghent itself is very nice, we stayed in the old town, it has the most churches in one area I have ever seen. St Bavo’s Cathedral, St Nicholas Church, St Michaels Church, St James Church, and our lady of St Peters Church. All very beautiful. The city is full of history. The bars and coffee shops are great, but one word of advice (do not eat Thai food in Ghent), well not if you are from Australia. Australia has great Thai restaurants, on trip advisor the Thai restaurant we went to was supposed to be the best Thai restaurants in Ghent. But it was terrible.
Pictures of the old town of Ghent
We had a wonderful day in Brugge, Brugge it is just beautiful, we agreed that so far on our trip this was the most picturesque city we have been in. We climbed the Belfort Tower that is in the movie Brugge, the tower is over 83 meters tall, it has 366 steps to the top and has a very impressive clockwork mechanism and a Carillion of 47 bells. At the top is a breathtaking view of Brugge and the surrounding countryside. You can really see here how flat the land is. Hence everyone cycles.
Belfort Tower
Some of the 47 Bells
View from the top of the Tower
We visited the Basilica of the precious blood, this is a church that has a sacred relic that contains the blood of Christ, I did not realise that blood from Christ still existed. Very interesting.
The other interesting place we went to was Sint – Janshospitaal which is one of the oldest preserved hospital buildings in Europe. In the museum, you can learn about hospital life in the past and how the wards would have looked back then. You can also visit the old chemist that was run by the nuns. It has been very well preserved. There are a lot more things to do and see in this wonderful city.
Old Chemist and hospital
We had drinks that evening at Minnewater (lake of love) The lake and surrounding park offer an excellent retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city`s sights and streets. The many resident swans form the finishing touch to this romantic and beautiful city.
Minnewater
We did another day in the city of Brussels. We first stopped in the Grand Place it was historically a market place where traders and citizens traded goods, today it is one of the most beautiful squares in Eurpore with architecture from eras of Baroque, Gothic and Louis XIV. It was listed as a World Heritage site in 1998 by UNESCO.
Next, we moved onto the Royal Place of Brussels, it is a very impressive building with beautiful gardens. It is the King administration residence and his main workplace.
We went to see the famous Manneken Pis and were horrified to see that someone had clothed the little boy, who does that to a famous statue?
We continued to the Antique and Flea markets in Sablon, the Antiques were amazing. Another wonderful day was had by us both.
We took a train from Ghent to Luxemburg, it was a very smooth trip. We could not get an Airbnb in the centre of Luxemburg as there is a real housing problem in the centre of Luxemburg. So we stayed in Mersch, which is a 10min train trip to the Centre.
Flag of Luxemburg
We were very impressed with Luxemburg especially the old city. It has lots of History and is surrounded by an ancient wall. We did a walking tour of the City which was very informative (Walking Tour City Promenade the guide was great). They have done a very good job of blending the old and new architecture together. We stayed in the city that evening and had dinner at the Bei de Bouwen, the walking guide had told us that the food here was very good and the Local Kniddelen was very good here (this is one of the local dishes of Luxemberg) it is similar to Gnocchi but a bit doughier and heavier, but delicious after a few drinks. The locals told us that it is great soakage before a big night on the grog, Very important information.
View of the walled city of Luxemburg
Public Lift to bring you down into the old city
Restaurant Bei de Bouwen
One of the old city gates
Another thing we noticed was a number of painted pianos throughout the city area. We found out that, touring internationally since 2008, Play Me, I’m Yours is an artwork by British artist Luke Jerram. Reaching over 10 million people worldwide, more than 1,700 street pianos have already been installed in over 55 cities across the globe, from London to New York, bearing the simple instruction Play Me, I’m Yours. Located on streets, in public parks, markets and train stations the pianos are available for everyone to play and enjoy. Play Me, I’m Yours invites the public to engage with, activate and take ownership of their urban environment. Decorated by local artists and community groups, the street pianos create a place of exchange and an opportunity for people to connect. We were most impressed that one of the pianos had been painted with Aboriginal drawing, who would have thought that in the old city of Luxemburg that a piano sits, painted to reflect the Australian aboriginal art. Amazing what one can find in the world.
The piano painted in Aboriginal art style
We hired a car so we could visit some of the surrounding area, we went to Beaufort Castle it is dated from the 11th century consists of the ruins of the medieval fortress and an adjacent Renaissance château. It is located in Beaufort in eastern Luxembourg.
Beaufort Castle
Chateau de Vianden was constructed from the 11th to the 14th Century it sits perced on the top of a hill with the small town of Vianden below. It is one of the largest and most beautiful feudal residences of the Romanesque and gothic periods in Europe. Both Castle are worth a visit. They are about a 45min drive from the city centre.
Chateau de Vianden
What a fire place
Martin can sniff out alcohol no matter where he is.
Town of Vianden
As Luxemburg is land locked I was interested to know what they do for relief from the hot summer months, I was told that in summer there are beautiful lakes that everyone goes to, they have all types of water sports on these lakes. We decided to drive out to one of these lakes, (Insenborn) the water was very clear and the park (with plenty of amenities) and town that surrounded the area was beautiful. It looked like a great lake to cool down in the summer months.
We had a wonderful time in Luxemburg and would definitely recommend a visit if you are nearby