Sept 12, Amsterdam to Bruges

By patmarkovich201558 minutes ago

Our day started with sunshine and promise. It was certainly sad to leave Amsterdam, but we had our next country picked out to explore.

The view across the road from our B and B on the Herenstracht Canal in Amsterdam

Loes, our host in her kitchen. Always helpful and caring!

After Breakfast, Dan and I walked back to the garage to retrieve our car for the princely sum of 100 Euros! Yes 50 Euros a day to park within walking distance of our B and B in the heart of Amsterdam. We could have parked further out and taken a train or trolley into town, but the convenience was great!

We were soon off on our journey. With no real plan in mind other than arriving in Bruges after 4 pm, we decided to take a very scenic route along the coast. This avoided the busy ring road an=round Antwerp and took us through the Delta works, directly over the massive storm surge barriers. What an engineering feat!

Pastoral countryside along the way reminding us just how flat and close to sea level this country actually is!

One of many pumping stations along the dyke system, powered by huge modern day windmills. ( and yes, bikers are everywhere in this country!)

A grouping of windmills off in the distance as we drove along the Dyke wall.

Once off the delta dyke structure we headed for Middeburg, a small historic trading town in Zeeland with cobblestone streets, and fantastic seafood lunch spots.

Kibberling and Frites with their special sauce ( mayo, curry sauce and fresh sweet onions). Kibberling is a white fish, lightly dredged and deep fried. Truly amazing!

After a quick visit to Middleburg for lunch and a short stroll through the market we got back on the road and headed towards Bruges. Only before we got there, we went through Westerschelde Tunnel. This tunnel is 6.6 Km long and runs under the sea. Once through it, we were a short drive from Bruges.

Nice to see the light at the end of this tunnel!

As we approached Bruges we made a quick stop at a grocery store to provision ourselves for breakfasts and some lunches for the next few days. No Loes to cook for us in the morning anymore!

Our AirBnB in Bruges is lovely. It’s on the ground floor (no steep spiral staircases to navigate our suitcases) and overlooks a lovely canal which I can only assume was once the moat outside the city walls.

Our view across the street from our apartment.

Once we got ourselves settled, we decided to head into town for a late dinner. Just a 100 m from our front door we entered the old town, through one of the last surviving gatehouses.

Stepping through this really felt like stepping through time.

We did a brief exploration heading towards the centre of town when we saw a cute Greek Restaurant and decided to try it. After a lovely dinner we thought we might walk further towards the market, but the rain and late hour turned us towards home.

Dan relaxing in our front room enjoying a well deserved wee dram after driving most of the day.

It’s been along day of travel, seeing some interesting sights that were very much unplanned for this trip. All in all a good day, and hoping that tomorrow brings an even better one (although there is rain in the forecast!). Until then!