Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and Ghent & Brussels (Belgium): A weekend city break of museums, beer & chips, any sauce with your fries?
It's been a while since we've been on a plane. In the last two years, due to the pandemic and endless lockdowns, we've just managed two (wonderful) road trips to Spain so it's time to jump on a plane again. We decided to "break the fasting" with a city break, how very European of us. I've been wanting to visit the Rijksmuseum for a while, so Amsterdam seems like the perfect candidate. Of course, knowing us, we can't go straight from A to B without having some detours along the way, so Belgium it is. We have an appointment in Chaves, near Porto airport on the 12th and our 29th anniversary of the day we met is on the 13th, so the date is set. We drive up to Chaves, then went across to Spain to top up our shopping and check in at the Maiahouse. The room is small but nice and clean and close to restaurants and cafes. It's conveniently located very close to the Porto Airport as we are flying out very early the next morning.
We get up at 4am and drive to the Porto Airport to catch our Ryanair flight to Charleroi Airport, in Belgium. We arrive on a very windy day and wait in line for a bus which will never come, as after hours of waiting with hundreds of other people, we found out there's a government bus strike for the day. We have our first cone of double fried chips, no sauce please, manage to buy tickets from a private bus company and finally make our way to Ghent. We walk from the bus station to our absolutely gorgeous hotel,The Mansion. Yes, we deserve some luxury on our anniversary and this place doesn't disappoint. Beautifully renovated and tastefully decorated, highly recommended for a romantic stay in Ghent. Time for sightseeing and Ghent is absolutely gorgeous. With its late medieval architecture and the vibrancy of a university town, this city is pumping on the first warm spring day of the year. It's easy to fall in love with this city, walking in the spring sunshine and watching the locals picnicing on their colourful blankets along the beautiful river that slices through this city. After hours of sightseeing we make our way to a lovely little traditional bar as it's beer time. Paul goes for a Delirium Tremens (5.50 euros), considered the best beer in the world as he had tried it before in Budapest and fell in love with it. Only the best for the best. I try another local beer called Crystal (2.50 euros), absolutely delicious. We then make our way back to our hotel as we're having another early start tomorrow morning.
Once again we wake up at 4 in the morning, walk to the train station and make our way to Amsterdam. After a gorgeous train ride, it's museum time. As we only have a very small daypack each, we decide to go straight to the museum and check in at the end of the day. We bought both museum tickets online, which is highly recommended as it is early spring and they were both already sold out for the day. We start with the majestic Rijksmuseum and its very unique collection of Dutch Masters. The Rijksmuseum is the most important art museum in the Netherlands with thousands of old paintings in its collection including those of renowned Dutch masters Rembrandt, Frans Hals and Vermeer. The neo-Gothic building located on Museumplein was built in 1885 by Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers.The highlight of the museum is undoubtedly Rembrandt’s The Night Watch (Nachtwacht), the 400 year old iconic large portrait of the civic guard. This very impressive work is under public renovation in a project called Operation Night Watch. After a quick break for yet another cone of chips, we make our way to the Van Gogh Museum. One of Amsterdam’s best known attractions, the museum houses the world’s largest collection of paintings by infamous Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh who lived between 1853 and 1890. After two absolutely incredible, unforgettable museum experiences and with our eyes and hearts filled with art and joy, we head to a bar called Cafe P96 where we have lots of fun in the sunshine, catching up with an old Australian friend, who now lives in Amsterdam with her husband. We explore some of the best Dutch beers and try the delicious local croquettes and Indonesian spring rolls then make way to our hotel to fold for the night.
As it's the weekend, we picked a hotel that is not located in town, we both need a good night sleep. We booked two night at The Ramada Inn, OK, we didn't mean that far from town, seriously. As we make our way to our hotel, we do realize it's very, very far from town, a very long bus ride followed by a shorter one. We're so tired by then that we just want to get there. The 4 star hotel doesn't disappoint. It's nice, comfortable and very quiet and conveniently located near the airport, not that we'll be flying out from here anyway. We wake up the next morning and make our way back to Amsterdam Centraal Station. Today we have a day off to just enjoy the sights of this beautiful city. It's important to say that this is the first sunny and warm weekend and we can see the locals excitedly heading to the parks to enjoy the first bit of sunshine after a long winter. We walk around all day, exploring the beautiful parks, canals and all the must see sights. We have lunch at a very average Indonesian eatery and enjoy some fantastic Dutch beers (average 3 to 5 Euros). It's important to be aware that Amsterdam is an almost cashless city, so, whatever you're planning to do, do NOT forget your bank cards. From bars to supermarkets, from museums to gift shops, public transport etc, almost nowhere in town will accept cash.
After spending another gorgeous day walking around beautiful Amsterdam, we enjoy a couple of farewell cold beers and head back to our hotel as we have another early start the next morning. We get up early, catch a train and then a bus to Brussels, Belgium. We just have a couple of hours in town and it's raining and very windy. Well, we can't really complain as this is just a pit stop and we had the most amazing weather for both Ghent and Amsterdam. We walk into a Burger King, just to escape from the rain, and have a combo with their best fries ever, seriously, they really know their fries this side of the world. We walk around for a while then take the train back to Charleroi Airport, then our Ryanair flight back to Portugal, pick up our car from the airport and then, back home, sweet home. Till the next trip, folks!
