Day 135 : BlaBlaCar Ride – Brussels to Luxembourg

It’s my 1st time taking BlaBlaCar, and what a great experience! 

In case you have not heard of BlaBlaCar, it is an app that connects drivers who are willing to offer seats in their vehicle between Point A and Point B (ie. carpooling), and passengers can choose to travel on any of these offered seats at a reasonable price, which is often a lot cheaper than travelling on trains or buses. 

My first ride took me from Brussels to Luxembourg, and I had secured a seat with Alexis vehicle, a Renault Clio.  Alexis is a French guy and in the car was also his girlfriend from Greece and another passenger whom they had picked up earlier, who was from Croatia. Truly multinational ride! 

The journey took about 2.5hrs. Great conversations and the people in the car also gave great tips on where to go in France and also around Luxembourg. 

It was through Alexis girlfriend, that I heard about the video spinoffs that the other EU countries made after the Netherlands video came out, and Alexis girlfriend showed me Germany’s creation which was hilarious. 

Coincidentally, the Croatian guy and I were both staying in the same hotel so Alexis made a slight detour and drop us off round the corner from the hotel, and was particularly helpful as it was pouring heavily when we arrived. 

Will definitely do BlaBlaCar again!

Day 134 : Ghent

Ghent is a 30 minutes train ride from Brussels city, located between Brussels and Brugge.

The train station is about 30 minutes walk to the city centre of Ghent.  Once within the city centre, it is easy to walk around and explore the city. 

Ghent is also a vibrant student town, thus I felt there were more life in Ghent, and felt more authentic than in Brugge (which felt more touristy than authentic).

Exploring Ghent will lead you through numerous winding canal side pathways, lined with beautifully preserved medieval buildings.

Day 132 – 134 : Brussels

After an impressive train station architecture I saw in Antwerp, I was looking forward to seeing more in Brussels. What I arrived into was a plain boring building

First impression upon arrival into Brussels were that the train stations weren't very mobility friendly. There were no lifts, and no downwards escalator, which meant I had to lug my now-extremely-heavy luggage down a few flight of stairs. 

There were also a number of beggars and homeless people on the streets, so it didn't feel as pleasant as a few of the other cities which I had earlier visited in Europe. 

However after spending a few days in Brussels, Brussels is a lot nicer than my 1st impression.  There are some extremely nice spots around Brussels, particularly in the city centre, with beautiful architecture, such as the

Grote Markt (Main square with elaborately designed buildings in gold trimmings)

Brugge

I’ve got different people telling me how the name of this city should be pronounced - "Bru-her", "Bru-ger", "Bru-uch". 

Located about 1hr 10mins by train from Brussels,  I made a day trip to the city of Brugge.

It's one of the very few days on my trip where I had not so pleasant weather exploring sights, with grey skies and occasional drizzle. 

It also seemed that I picked the wrong days to explore the various towns in Belgium, as quite a number of the shops and restaurants were closed on Wednesday (many places were closed in Antwerp when I was there on a Monday). There were still a number of things opened around the city centre though. 

The main sights were circled mainly around the Markt place, with the Belfry Tower looming over the centre of the town and beautiful buildings surrounding the square. 

Day 130 & 131 : Antwerp

According to the legend, the giant Druoon Antigoon was asking taxes to sail on the river.  The people didn’t like having to pay taxes, so the local hero Brabo cuts off Antigoon’s hand and throws it away.  Throwing away a hand = ‘hand werpen’ in Dutch.  And that was how it was said the city “Antwerp” was named! 

How fun!

Arriving into Antwerp, it felt more gritty than Netherlands, and the cloudy weather that I had when I arrived in the city didn’t help with the grittiness. 

There are a few exceptionally interesting buildings and sections, but in my opinion, lesser than what I saw in Netherlands. 

Here’s my personal recommendation of must do and see in Antwerp :

1. Grote Markt and the Stadhuis

The statue in front of the Stadhuis is the infamous Brabo, still deciding where to throw the hand of the giant Antigoon!

Day 128 & 129 : Rotterdam

Rotterdam Centre is a much smaller city than Amsterdam, and easily walkable.  

Most of Rotterdam was destroyed during the war, so many of the buildings in the city are newly built and some with very interesting architecture, such as the Markthal, a market place with a colourful interior and with apartments built on top of its dome shaped building. 

And the Cube Houses, both located around the train station Blaak.

Day 125 – 127 : Amsterdam

The last time I was in Amsterdam was about 15 years ago.  At that time I was only here for half a day and don't remember much of it. 

Most people relate Amsterdam with windmills, canals, "coffee shops", bicycles, Red Light District, interesting architecture and buildings along canals.  

/Buildings along canals/

 

Zaanse Schans

I was keen to explore Zaanse Schans and Haarlem on a bicycle, while in Amsterdam.

Plotting the routes on Google, it showed it would take 3.5 hours to cycle to those 2 places and back into Amsterdam.  Very doable within a day, or so I thought. 

I had a late night yesterday and had slept in longer than I preferred, so by the time I was ready to get on a bike it was already 12.30pm. 

Abel, whom I had met over dinner and drinks yesterday, had asked me for dinner tonight but I had already other plans fixed. So I invited Abel to join me for the bicycle trip instead, and I was so glad he did! 

Abel told me that the route which Google had plotted to get to Zaanse Schans, Haarlem and back would definitely take longer than what Google had indicated.  Furthermore, the route which Google provided to get to Zaanse Schans was an industrious area and not pretty at all. 

Taking a scenic quick boat ride from behind the train station with my borrowed bicycle, I made my way over to the opposite side of the water where I would meet Abel.

Day 124 : Utrecht

1.5hr from Sittard (near Pieter's work place, and where I said goodbye to Pieter before continuing with my travels) and just a few stations north of Maastricht, I made a day trip and spent a few hours in Utrecht before making my way to Amsterdam. 

It started snowing again today, so I had a nice white view from the window of the train, while travelling towards Utrecht.

I was going to leave my luggage in the lockers at Utrecht train station, so that I could properly explore the city.

Alas, the lockers were about an inch too slim for my fat luggage and I couldn't squeeze it into the door on both the small and largest locker size (all of which had the same door width that didn't help my situation).

It also uses a credit card with pin only system, that doesn't help me either as all my credit cards works with signature and has no pin on them. 

Making my way to the Visitors Information Centre with luggage in toll, I asked the staff for some advice about the town of Utrecht and also asked if there were any other lockers nearby.

They were only aware of the ones at the train station.  Hearing my dilemma and for the short duration I was in the city, they were super kind and allowed me to store my baggage in their office, allowing me to better enjoy their city! 

I promised them I would write a brilliant review on TripAdvisor, so I better get round to that soon! 

Utrecht is a small medieval town and easily walkable.  There's a beautiful canal circle in the middle of the city, with some calling it "Europe most beautiful canal city". 

Day 119 – 123 : Sippenaeken

I had spent close to a week in a small town called Sippenaeken, located in Belgium and close to the border of Netherlands and Germany.



With a population of 250 inhabitants, it's one of the most unexpected places I would had thought to be spending so much time in. 

There is only 1 pub / restaurant in the town, with the nearest shops and supermarkets at least a 20 minutes drive away. 

Oh, and there’s a castle too!



Despite that, I had a wonderful stay here. 

Village Gossip

Being in a small village where almost everyone knows everyone, has its interesting moments.  

A couple of days before my arrival in Sippenaeken, a big fire had engulfed the house of a farmer, with only some parts of the outer structure surviving the effects of the fire.

It was big news and the talk of the town for days, particularly when there was a twist to the story of what had caused the fire.  

Rumour had it that the farmer was secretly growing cannabis in the attic of the house and the fire had originated from there. 

It was a heavily discussed topic when Pieter met up with the locals of the village on the streets or in the local pub, and even when I left, developments to the story were still pending. 

I suppose I will get updates to the story as it develops! ;)