For the past two weeks I have been on a bicycling trip in Belgium and the Netherlands. Cycling in the Netherlands, my favorite country, is something I have done for the past nine years. Most of the time Mr. Right goes with me, and we have even been joined by Jordan and her husband and by our son in the past, also. We have always done a bike and boat trip which is a great way to go.
This year I flew solo into Amsterdam and took a train to Bruges, Belgium where I met the boat. We slept, and ate breakfast and dinner on the boat, which held 24 people in 12 cabins with private baths. The group rode most of the time in the countryside but spent nights docked in cities like Ghent, Antwerp, and Amsterdam.
I love charm, and these biking trips are loaded with charm. Our dear friend Francien was the tour guide (she has been our guide every time), and she knows charm is my thing. After spending a week on the boat, I went to Rotterdam, which is Francien’s hometown, and spent five days riding and touring with her and experiencing day to day life there.
The thing that always amazes me about Europe is that they have buildings much, much older than our country.
I am also amazed that you can ride around a bend in the road and spot something like this……
…..or this. And we often stopped to walk around.
We stopped at a little family-run cheese farm, and there are always a bunch of these little babies close by. I was definitely more excited to see her than she was to see me.
The canals come in all sizes. Sometimes they were huge and high above us, and sometimes they were right in the middle of a village residential area like this one.
We saw a lot of these little cottage with thatched roofs. Since it was summer, we also saw some repairs being done. Francien said these roofs can last many, many years. Incredible.
Belgium and the Netherlands are the bike-friendliest countries in the world. You can ride from one end of the Netherlands to the other and never leave a bike trail. Just think about that a minute. They have bike trail maps and trail signs. It is its own little inter-country system just like our interstate system for cars.
And here is something else……If there is an accident involving a cyclist and a car, it is the car driver’s fault – no matter what. That makes the drivers proceed a lot more cautiously. And since there are more bikes than people there, those drivers also probably have bikes and respect the cyclists.
These historic windmills are no longer in use. However, they still use wind power in the form of the modern/angular windmills that I think are beautiful, too.
I wanted to see inside this cottage. I wonder is it is as charming on the inside as it is on the outside. And by the way, they wash their windows every week, or at least they try to.
I loved these window boxes. The Dutch have been instrumental in developing growing techniques for plants and bulbs. You will see color everywhere. They have the best at their fingertips.
Nancy says
What a beautiful country! I would love a bike trip like that.
Oh, and washing windows once a week?? Yikes! I have 31, plus 4 1/2 French doors and I would love to have clean windows that often. But that’s never going to happen. I do try to get it done twice a year though. I really enjoyed this post. Thanks.
Janette says
Nancy, their houses are much, much smaller than ours. It all goes back to the religious beliefs of centuries ago. They kept their windows clean and the curtains open so that people could see there was no sinning going on inside. Yikes!! Now, they just keep clean windows and open curtains because of the custom. They don’t think a thing of people trying to see in when passing by.
Lorraine says
Beautiful photos! Our daughter, husband and two little girls are currently in Amsterdam for 2 weeks and then to Paris for another 2 weeks. They are doing a house swap with two families who wanted to visit Toronto. The Amsterdam home is lovely and Lisa told us about all the cyclists. The ones that stuck in her mind: cyclist in suit and texting with both hands; cyclist with baby strapped to his chest and bag of groceries in one hand and cyclist towing a rowboat. Don’t see that in Canada or US that’s for sure.
Janette says
Lorraine, I saw a bride and groom cycling to their wedding. She was a cute blond wearing a short white dress with royal blue heels and blue purse. He was wearing a suit. They rode up to city hall, parked their bikes, quickly had their photo taken by a professional, and went in to get married. It was all very casual yet elegant. It happened so quickly that I didn’t get a photo.
Mary says
Great pictures!
katie clooney says
What an incredible trip. Your pics are positively gorgeous! You should frame them especially the one with the bikes and flowers. Gorgeous!!
Janette says
Thanks, Katie. I could so see you in the Netherlands. It has some preppy going on.
Alicia@ eco friendly homemaking says
Oh my goodness how gorgeous! I can see why you make this trip each year. I remember Jordan’s post from this past year where she was in the midst od thousands of flowers. So beautiful.
Marian@Gathering Branches says
What an adventure! I love the idea of a biking trip. Now the Netherlands is totally on my bucket list. glad you had such a fun experience.