Zwolle and Bruges

Zwolle

Some of you may be aware of my ancestry. Nana and Grandad emigrated to New Zealand from the Netherlands sometime in the '50s, from a city called Zwolle to a city called Nelson, so since we were on the correct continent, I felt like it might be nice to visit their old stomping ground.

For various reasons, we weren't able to stay with my relatives, so we found a place on AirBnB, and took the train into Zwolle.

First thing we noticed: It's not a very big place. It's not tiny or anything, but it definitely had that small town feel about it. Many observers have talked about all the bicycles in the Netherlands, but no amount of knowledge on that subject readies one for the actual experience of seeing at least five times more bikes on the road than cars. The footpaths were cluttered with the things.

Bicycles.

We arrived in town just as the Zwolle festival was winding down. In case you're wondering, no we didn't plan our visit to coincide with the festival, but we're glad it turned out that way.

After checking in, and carrying our bags up the ridiculously steep staircase, we went out to see some of the festivities.

Stairs.

There was an orchestra on a bridge over one of the canals in the old town, and both sides, and the next bridge down were filled with people enjoying the music. Nana would have loved it. The canal itself was filled with little boats which were in turn filled with people who were filled with glee.

The orchestra played some classical pieces, putting their own spin on some, with the inclusion of modern drums and guitars. While this type of shenanigans is anathema to some, I felt that it was appropriate. Heavy metal/Vanilla/Electronic versions of Rossini, and some sing-along parts made it quite memorable.

There was a short interlude and then a group of girls on a boat floated slowly down the canal singing along to a guitar. I assumed that they were going to take the stage, but they just hung out on the boat once it got to where the stage was, singing folk songs, and some modern pop songs. It was a unique performance - a cool use of the river.

Then the band started up again with more classics, including a sing-along version of Blue Danube. Bizarre, but bizarrely enjoyable.

So many tall people. Sometimes I felt short.

Everyone lining the canal.

The next day, having failed to find an English speaking church, we decided to try our hand at a Dutch one.

It turns out that Dutch and English are related closely enough that we were able to pick up a bit of what the sermon was. I think it was about Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, but also about when he said “Before Abraham was, I AM.” We were able to sing along with a song we both recognised though, which was nice, although from now on we'll probably stick to English speaking churches when they're available.

Most of the shops were closed on Sunday, but we found a Vodafone shop. We needed SIM cards because you need a UK credit card to purchase credit for our Three SIM cards (Three the company, not the number), or you need to get a top up which you can only purchase from shops in the UK. I digress. Vodafone has what we needed, so we got that. We also got served by the friendliest and most helpful shop assistant ever.

Our AirBnb hosts were a nice young couple who plan to visit NZ some time next year, doing a sort of OE. They had a theory that everyone speaks such good English in the Netherlands because movies that have been dubbed into Dutch are hard to come by, so mostly they use Dutch subtitles while the English still plays in the background. Anyway, they provided us with lunch for one of the days.

Chocolate sprinkles on bread. Mmmmmm. I didn't realise this was actually a Dutch thing, I thought it was a Nana thing.

Some of the highlights:

Spaceship on top of the museum.

Sassenpoort.

A church.

It's nice to see a fully clothed statue, even if it is made of glass and has wings.

More bicycles.

We were able to see a little bit more of the Netherlands on the train as we left, and on the ferry across to Zeeland. I really liked Zwolle. It felt more like a holiday than many of the places we've been. It's not exactly the action capital of the world, but sometimes that's nice. 10/10. Would recommend.

Bruges

We'd been told that Bruges was the place to go in Belgium, so off we went.

We arrived in Bruges in the late afternoon, and after checking in decided to have a wander around the city. The streets were quiet, and after looking at all the restaurants around the main square we were able to find a takeaway stall that wasn't selling ridiculously expensive food. It was perhaps the tastiest takeaways we've had, too! We were most impressed.

A whole row of restaurants.

It was a nice place to be in the evening with the streetlights and atmosphere.

The next morning I had to walk to the supermarket twice, since the first time I left my wallet at home, so by the time we actually decided to do things I was tired and slightly grumpy. Not a good start.

Belgium is famous for chocolate, beer, waffles, the neutrality which Germany violated to get to France at the beginning of the Great War, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Tintin. Of the aforementioned list, we did enjoy a proper Belgian waffle, one with cream (actual proper cream that had been whipped, not out of a can, and not tasting like marshmallow). I had a beer. We visited a comic shop that was selling Tintin prints which were out of my price range.

Some canals.

This fancy building...

and from the other side.

Bruges has a rather large old town area; almost all of the winding streets are cobbled, and narrow footpaths cosy up to the old brick and stone buildings. All very nice and picturesque. Hordes of tourists agree with this assessment. Hordes. Mostly over forty, camera-wielding tourists. You know the type. The ones that walk slowly (or not at all) while using the whole footpath, causing others to have to walk on the road to get past. I think we overtook some people who were overtaking some people who were in turn overtaking someone who was standing there looking at waffles or chocolate in some display window. That wouldn't be too bad normally, but the roads weren't closed to traffic, so we had to constantly listen out for the clipping and clopping of hooves on the cobblestones. I think during the day there were probably as many of the horse and cart tours on the road as there were cars.

Normally we don't mind touristy areas; the crowds are there for a reason, and it means that you don't stand out as the only tourist, and that there's always someone else who would make a better target for pickpockets. In this case though, there wasn't really the room for everyone, and it became a game of dodge the pedestrian while simultaneously dodging horses and the things that horses leave behind.

Perhaps that's why we didn't really dig it. To be honest, if you want to visit a medieval town, go to Zwolle. It might not be quite as large, and it's not exactly set up for tourists, but that's part of its charm.