Netherlands | Belgium | Germany

Amsterdam ~ Antwerp ~ Cologne

kolesarja popotnika 594 km
June 2019 : 8 days
Welcome on board. Prepare for takeoff ... from Ljubljana to Amsterdam. 2 hours later: »Aleks, do you know where are my bike pedals?« We successfully assembled our bikes and rode into the heat. <strong>Goedendag!</strong> We started exploring the Venetian corners of the city of Anne Frank. Dad, was that the famous red quarter behind us? A flashy elevator took up to the top of Amsterdam. For the best experience it took us even higher. Aleks swung over the city, but I enjoyed the swinging beam. The 18 hours long day full of logistics, adrenaline and tour management is behind us. I need to relax and drink some substance. We chose our route acordingly to the direction of the wind. You see too many cars over the world. The problem in the Netherlands is that there are too many bikes. Wherever you look you only see bikes, most of them are worth that much that they don't want it at the junkyard. This mountain is only a few meters away from the sea. »Aleks didn't you learn at geography that the Netherlands are completely flat?« The calm sea here is ideal for wind kite surfers. Dutch are the highest people in the world. Scheveningen. Because we are so far north it gets completely dark at midnight. Although it isn't the capital of the country, there is the seat of the Government, Parliament, Supreme Court and embassies. In this palace they judge the famous bad guys from all over the world. You can choose between a shorter and faster route (red sign) or an interesting and relaxing cycling route (green signs). It doesn't matter which route you choose you always get to your destination safely. Crossings and turns are marked with numbers. It's useful if you have a marked map. There are bikes everywhere you go. »Aleks, do you see where I parked my bike? Oh and I have found my pedals.« City with the surrounding countryside is the biggest harbor in Europe. What they import with ships from all over the world they sell in this indoor market. In the evening at the reception: »Do you have warm showers, clean toilets, safe playgrounds, animation for adults, spa for me, ...?« This is terrible! WiFi only works at the reception. So boring! OK, we know that there are more bikes than people, but what we didn't know that there are big cargo ships in every pond and brook. They lift the bridge and the ship continues. If you speak German and English you can easily understand dutch. Eet smakelijk! World war II bunker. Animation for young and elderly. Tip #1: If you would like to travel by bike only once in your life, choose the Netherlands. Tip #2: If you would like to travel by bike multiple times, choose the Netherlands as your last destination. The cycling infrastructure is really amazing. All the countries near (except Denmark) are many years apart. We thought we had more time because it wasn't dark yet. So we ate typical dutch food very late at night at an Egyptian restaurant. We weren't paying attention to the road so we got lost. Instead of 4, we made an extra 25 km around. At the Netherland-Belgium border at midnight we found out that we weren't going in the right way. We arrived at the camp at 1 AM. After a short night ... everything was back to normal. ...After 25 kilometers: »Weren't we here last night?« »Sshhh! We will have to share our kindness with them.« You weren't completely silent, well now we have to feed them! Some goats came asking for food as well. Country of the nord Belgium (1/3 area of the country) is called Flanders and they speak Dutch. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all? Famed is the beauty, but hold a lovely Porthouse I see. Antwerp is the second biggest European harbor. Even with the standup performance the 130 km long Albert Canal was still boring so we skipped it with a train ride. We are self-sufficient. With a powerful powerbank we can charge our phones multiple times. Can you guess which part of the road is in the Netherlands and which in Belgium? Birthplace of the European Union and Euro. We reached the very distant and steep part of the Netherlands. Yesterday a retro DJ played songs from vinyl records, today there is a lot more wind musicians. Ahh ... some city in Germany? The end of the last dat in Germany: we have seen and experienced many new things, but our journey could have been a couple days longer and bit more layer back. We had 4 heavy locks with us for the whole (almost) 600 km and now this. The next day we were returning home to Slovenia by train. Close to Munich a train hit some unlucky person and in a 300 km radius every train stopped. The train stopped in Klagenfurt instead of Ljubljana. We came home with a car.

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