Bruges – Belgium

Bruges’ history stretches back to the 9th century when it was founded by Vikings. The name Bruges is thought to derive from the old-Scandinavian word 'Brygga' meaning 'harbour' or 'mooring place'.

In the 14th century, Bruges developed into the warehouse of the North-European Hanseatic cities. Several countries, such as Italy, Germany and Spain, had their own representation in Bruges, making it a truly European centre where different languages could be heard daily and where exotic products could be found.

Bruges' wealth started to decline in the 15th century, when the larger harbour of Antwerp came to dominate and the cloth industry fell into decline. Art and architecture continued to flourish, however, with the construction of splendid late-gothic buildings and churches, and the Flemish painting school (including Anthony Van Dyck and Hans Memling) producing great works.

By the middle of the 1800s, Bruges was the poorest city in Belgium. The 20th century, however, brought new life, when the city became an international tourist destination and Bruges’ medieval heritage turned out to be a new source of wealth for the 'Venice of the North'.

Mediaeval Street

La Grande Place

   

Hotel sign

Rozenhoedkaai

      

Burg Platz

 

Plenty of tempting things in the shops

 

Ezelpoort – town gate

 

We stayed at Camping Memling on the edge of Bruges. We had heard the facilities were iffy, but it looks as though they have been renovated and is now of a good standard. From here we could take the bus in. In Belgium it is best to buy your bus ticket anywhere, but on the bus. We bought ours at the petrol station, near the bus stop, for €1.30 whereas on the bus it is €2. It does speed things up. It also looked as though there were plenty a chancers who didn’t pay at all!

  

Art Deco house

 

Afternoon refreshment

Sue waiting for the bus

 

Three windmills to the east of the city centre

 

Potterierei - The street takes its name from the Pottery Hospital.

The Begijnhof  -  The Beguines were a religious movement of single or widowed women who wanted to live in a pious way, but outside the walls of a convent or monastery. So in many north Belgian and Dutch cities so called Begijnhofs were set up where these women lived and prayed.

 

Not a good day for a canal trip

I couldn’t decide where to start

End of the holiday – last beer – cheers!

We left Bruges at 0715 in the morning - managed to get an earlier ferry and we were home at about 3pm. An uneventful trip.

Utrecht, Amersfoort and more

We were staying at De Krakeling on the edge of Zeist about 5 miles from Utrecht. This was the best and cheapest site we stayed on in Holland. Below you can see Sue with her afternoon snack – bread, butter and chocolate hundreds and thousands. Healthy eating ?

 

Our one and only visit into Utrecht was fraught with problems. The Park and Ride we went to didn’t take cash and wouldn’t accept our credit card. Sue spoke to a guy on the intercom and he couldn’t help so we had to reverse out and go elsewhere. We ended up parking near the university and taking the bus in.

   

One afternoon we drove to Wijk bij Duurstede (try pronouncing it – I can’t) situated on the banks of the River Lek. This is a very pretty town and is popular with the tourists, especially those on river cruises.  Below you can see the nearby castle once lived in by the Bishop of Utrecht. The windmill at the other end of the town is the only drive through windmill in the world!

 

Relaxing after walking around the town.

We were joined by Joan and Udo at the caravan site for 3 nights. Here we are on one of our geocaching forays. The ladies went into Zeist.

Another day and a trip to Amersfoort and Spakenburg with Joan and Udo. This is a photo of their mission control – NASA would be proud of their set up.

 

Evening meal on the caravan site.

We really liked Amersfoort – it has lots of character.

  

Sue and Joan

Canal side close to the centre

 

I was demonstrating the panoramic feature to Joan –
I think she was impressed

Spakenburg Harbour

     

Working on wooden boats

Lady in traditional dress

 

Advertising for floating houses – could be useful in Somerset!

We stopped for ‘vissticks’ fish fingers

 

More retail therapy

 

Holland – Oude Maas & Amsterdam

At the beginning of the trip we didn’t see a lot of sun and blue sky so I thought this photo would be a good substitute.

We spent a day at Kinderdijk where there are 19 windmills in close proximity.

‘The Kinderdijk windmills are considered a Dutch icon throughout the entire world. The seventeen windmills that were used for water drainage were built between 1738 and 1740. Before then, the area already had polder mills, two of which can still be seen. For many years, these windmills kept the low-lying, peat land of the Alblasserwaard dry. This land was continually threatened by floods and soil compaction. In Kinderdijk, the almost one thousand years of 'battling the water' is still visible in the polder landscape. It’s with good reason, that the Kinderdijk-Elshout windmill complex was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1997.’ text from the internet.

      

   

   

  

Our caravan site was on the banks of the Oude Maas near Barendrecht Holland. In the evenings it was a very short walk to go and watch these huge ships passing by.

‘Foresight’ registered in St. John’s gross tonnage 9611t as I write it is en-route to Singapore – passing the end of the caravan site!

Next stop Amsterdam: We went into Amsterdam twice, but had expected to go in more often to see the museums and galleries. Our first foray to the Rijksmuseum was thwarted by the length of queues for  for tickets and then to get in. We walked around the canals and other sights instead.

       

This magnificent building is the Central Station

 

Now – where did I leave my bike?

I did quite a few bike rides from the caravan site and this included some geocaches as well. It was a geocache that brought me to this memorial for the 6 crew of the Wellington Bomber.

Over the water from the site is the nature reserve Het Twiske. There were lots of cycle and walking tracks throughout the area. These two photos were taken from reserve towards Landsmeer.

 

More to come. Watch this space!