Quick summary of our Bike and Barge Trip in 2013. A week between Brugges and Amsterdam, in celebration of Eleni and Taylor’s graduation from University of Colorado that year. A great trip.
Booked this trip through tripsite.com. We were on the Magnifique Barge with about 32 other passengers and 5 crew members. We started in Brugges where we stayed for 2 or 3 nights in a bed and breakfast. Each night we stopped at small towns along the way. We finished the tour in Amsterdam where we spent one night on the boat and then 3 nights in an airbnb apartment.
The other passengers on the boat were German, American and Canadian. Each day we rode from about 9 till 4 with plenty of stops to sightsee and have lunch, beer, coffee. Riding was easy, very flat and a combination of rural and towns. We rode with the group and the guide most of the time. We’d meet the boat in the next town in the afternoon, take showers, have happy hour and then sit down to dinner. After the meal the guide would have a short presentation on the next days’ itinerary and then an optional walking tour of the town we were moored at. The next morning, breakfast was provided as well as fixings for a bag lunch.
Here are the highlights of our trip. The route we took is a bit different than the one the website shows.
Other highlights of the trip included:
- chocolate in Belgium
- museums in Amsterdam – Rijks, Ann Frank, Van Gogh
- a night in red light district in Amsterdam
- cheese farm stop
- beer in Belgium
- our impromptu happy hour on the boat during our stop in Vianen
- gaining confidence in riding a bike through a busy city
- whenever the sun came out
- unexpected detour to Williamstad because of the weather
- The jewelers shop in St. Amands
- The crew’s surprise little party for us at the top of the museum in Antwerpen