In April, 2025 Grace and I went for a three-week trip to Belgium and Netherlands. We rented Airbnbs in three cities (Bruges, Utrecht and Haarlem) for about a week each. For the last week in Haarlem we rented a car, which enabled us to explore some of the Dutch countryside. Grace’s main target was to see the flowering tulips while I was looking forward to sampling the beer.

Bruges

Both of us had been to Bruges before and had pleasant memories of the picturesque city. However, this time there were disappointing aspects: the beautiful central square Grote Markt had a hideous amusement park dominating much of the formerly quaint square and the busloads of tour groups did not add to the city’s charm.

Panorama of the Grote Markt taken over by an amusement park!

The famous Michelangelo marble statue known as the “Madonna of Bruges” in the Church of Our Lady. This is one of the two works featured in the “Monuments Men” story (see below)

Jan van Eykeplein from the canal. We walked by the statue of the famous painter everyday because it was on the path between our Airbnb and the Grothe Markt.

The horse-drawn carriages are popular conveyances

Chimney decoration marking an architect’s house

View from the top of the Concertgebouw in Bruges. The towers in the distance are from left to right: the belfry, St. Salvator's Cathedral, and Church of Our Lady .

Ghent

We met up with our good friends Philip and Christa in Ghent, approximately half-way between their residence in Leuven and Bruges. Aside from sharing two meals with our friends, the highlight was to see the famous altarpiece The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.

The altarpiece of the St. Bavos Cathedral in Ghent is a large, complex and famous masterpiece of 15th century Belgian art by Hubert and Jan van Eyck completed in 1432. It is often called Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, or in Flemish Lam Gods. It consists of 12 interior panels (shown below) and 5 back panels which are seen from behind or when the panels are closed. The altarpiece is considered to be one of the most well-known and important artworks in the world. It has been described as the first major oil painting. As such, it also has the dubious distinction of being the art work most stolen in world history and has had a fascinating history. It is one of the featured art works, along with the Madonna of Bruges (see above) in the Monuments Men saga.

Briefly the Monument’s Men were a cadre of mostly art historians who were commissioned by FDR in 1944 to find and rescue the famous art works that were stolen by the Nazis when they occupied Western Europe. The book and movie (directed by George Clooney) feature two art works: the Madonna of Bruges and the Ghent Altarpiece. So we coincidentally saw both pieces on this trip. Before coming, I had not heard of this important WWII story. Travel can be very enlightening!!

In 1934 two of the panels were stolen though one was returned by the unknown thief. The remaining panel “The Just Judges” (lower left of the bottom row) has never been recovered and has been replaced by a copy. The present location of the original has been a mystery with many different claims. One of the more intriguing claims is that the panel is buried at a specific point in Ghent based on words scribbled on the last of a series of ransom notes found after the death of a local. Coincidentally, there was a story about the painting in the news the morning after our visit: the Ghent fire department did a parody on the painting to raise money calling it Flam Gods (Flame of God).

The Ghent Altarpiece or Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (*Lam Got*).

Posing in front of the St. Bavos Cathedral

Carillon drum in the Belfry Tower in Ghent

Utrecht

Utrecht is a charming university town that has an unusual canal system. The canals have two levels: a lower water level and an upper one at street level. In the olden days, the structures at the canal level were warehouses for storing the merchandise shipped on the canal. But now, the only thing on the canal are tourists so the warehouses have largely been converted to cafes.

By far our favorite Airbnb on this trip was the one in Utrecht because it was right on the canal and at water level. On the nice days we could sit in our living room and watch the kayakers and boats go by. Unfortunately the weather was on the cool side.

The view out of the front door of our Airbnb. Note the small incline (blow up below) on the bank across the canal, which, surprisingly, functions as a ladder.

Make way for ducklings

Ducklings are not able to fly up from the water onto the ledge so the Dutch have provided ladders. Only in Holland would you find such kindness!!

The alleyway to our Airbnb, just wide enough for a bike.

We learned from Philip that an old academic colleague Marcel lived in Utrecht. So I contacted Marcel and we spent a wonderful afternoon with him and Natalie for coffee followed by a walk around town and then dinner. He also gave us a comprehensive list of sites to visit in the area as well as places to eat. On Marcel’s suggestion we had dinner at a great Indonesian restaurant (Restaurant Blauw) in Utrecht (my one and only Michelin experience!!) and enjoyed a marvelous Rijstafel (rice table) meal. Wonderful!!

Paddling along the Oudegracht in Utrecht

Domplein of St. Martin's Cathedral from the Dom Tower in Utrecht. The open area between the Cathedral and Tower previously had the nave of the church, which was destroyed in a tornado in 1674 and never rebuilt.

Mimbre: a specialty Spanish ham shop

On our first day in Utrecht we were walking around the area of our Airbnb and saw a small store which seemed to be selling Spanish ham. Sure enough, when we checked it out there was a ham (Iberico?) on what looked like a traditional Spanish ham carving stand. We decided to buy some ham to use for picnics and got into a discussion with the owner about Spain, life, and ham. When he prepared to cut our ham slices, he asked if we wanted it with music. Of course we said yes and the video below shows the result.

He also serves a paella meal one night a week but we were not able to go. Several days later while we were walking along the canal in Utrecht, a car pulled up alongside us, slowed down, and the driver waved at us. It was our friend from Mimbre!! I am always amazed when such things happen when you are traveling: you only know a single or a few people in a city of several hundred thousand, and you run into that person randomly on the street.

In this area near downtown most of the canal level houses have been converted to cafes, which are crowded with people when the weather is nice.

We saw a lot of unusual bicycles in Holland but this was probably the prize winner.

Leiden

On Marcel’s suggestion we took a day-trip to Leiden using the very convenient train system. We visited the Boerhaave museum, the fort, and the Botanical Garden. The Garden is famous because it is here that the tulip was introduced to the Netherlands from Turkey in the 1500s by Carolus Clusius, who was the first prefect of the University of Leiden Botanical Garden. He is credited with laying the foundation of the tulip industry in Holland.

There is an impressive collection of carniverous plants in the Botanical Garden.

Haarlem

We took the train to Schiphol Airport to rent a car and then drove to our Airbnb in Haarlem. Having the car made the day trips described below much easier but parking the car at night was a bit of a problem. Our Airbnb was close to the central square so there was no parking available nearby. We had to go to the outskirts (3 canals away, about 20 minute walk) every night to find a parking spot. The main problem was remembering in the morning where we parked each night.

One day we drove to the coastal town of Zandfort to see the beaches and resort town. We had good luck that night with finding a restaurant. Since Zandfort was a traditional fishing village, I thought there ought to be a nice seafood restaurant. Sure enough we found one that looked good (De Meerpaal) but when I called, they were booked for the night. Apparently one usually needs to make reservations several days in advance. But luckily we were inquiring rather early in the evening so they said that if we could get there right away, we could have a table until 7 PM. So we hurried to the place and had a delightful meal in a charming venue, one of the best meals of the trip. The dinner was so good that we tried to go there on another evening, but they were not open that night.

Blue hour at the Grothe Markt in Haarlem. The weather had turned warm and the cafes were lively and crowded. This was true throughout Belgium and Holland which gave the city a delightful atmosphere.

Alkmaar

We drove to Alkmaar on Friday morning to see the historical and lively Cheese Market which has been held since the 1600s. Workers are dressed in traditional costumes and use the traditional implements to weigh, transport and sell the cheese. It is a lively and fun event to witness.

The women sell packets of cheese to the tourists.

The sea gulls are also interested in the action.

The color of the hats designate which cheese guild they belong to.

The Cheese Market has been going on for a long time!

Zaanse Schans

An old preserved town that is famous for its windmills. However, its popularity has detracted from its quaintness as the crowds of tourists have made it very commercial.

Madurodam

We drove to den Haag to visit Madurodam, the famous miniature displays of well-known sites in Holland.

The depiction of the Alkmaar Cheese Market in Madurodam

Olde windmills at Stompwijk

For photographic subjects in Holland, olde windmills were high on my list of targets. We had gone to Zaanse Schans expressly to see the windmills but that was like going to Disneyland to photograph Bambi in the wild. While the windmills were indeed old, it was just too commercial. We also saw a windmill or two in Haarlem and Leiden.

On the drive back to Haarlem from den Haag, though, Grace spotted 3 traditional olde windmills off in the distance as we were driving on the A4 Expressway. After a moment’s hesitation I decided to leave our GPS-directed path to try to find the windmills since it was near sunset and the light was good. However, we didn’t have any idea of exactly where we were or where the windmills were. After driving around rather aimlessly and without seeing any windmills, I was about to give up when Grace suggested using Google to help. So looking for “old windmills near me” struck gold during the golden hour! We managed to find what are called the Molendriegang (three windmills, duh!!) in a small town Stompwijk. Photographically this was one of the highlights of the trip.

Koningsdag

The day we went to Madurodam happened to fall on a big Dutch holiday, Koningsdag, or the King’s Day. Everywhere there were decorations (orange!!) and in the evening wild parties. We decided to stop in the university town of Delft thinking it might be a bit quieter in a university town. But no, Delft was just as riotous as everywhere else.

Noordoostpolder tulip fields

We drove from Haarlem north to the Afsluitdijk dike that spans the North Sea for 20 miles and connects to the Flevoland, the northeastern part of the country. Our friend Geke had recommended driving out here to see the tulip fields, which we had not seen near Haarlem.

The Afsluitdijk is a 32 km long dike that separates the Wadden Sea from the IJsselmeer in the Netherlands. Built largely by hand and completed in 1932, it is one of this country's engineering highlights. The Afsluitdijk has been protecting the Netherlands from the sea for 90 years now.

Tulip Festival

Beginning in Emmeloord, we followed the route of the Tulip Festival which took us to the towns of Espel, Creil, and Rutten, among others. There were places where the tulip blooms seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see.

Back to Haarlem

St. Jacob church in Haarlem. Note the sunstar in the tree

Texel

Geke’s brother Rint and his wife Tjit live and work on the island Texel north of Amsterdam. I had met him once in Madison when he came to visit Geke. We met on the ferry boat and spent a great afternoon having lunch and exploring the island.

With Rint and Tjit at lunch. Note my hat.

Rint worked on the ferry so we had access to see the cockpit. This is the one at the rear of the ferry, so not in use in this leg. We also took a look at the one in front.

Rint and Tjit took us for a tour of the very impressive waterworks (dikes) of the island.

Kuekenhof

On a trip to see tulips in the Netherlands, the famous Kuekenhof Garden is unmissable. I had never seen it but this was Grace’s third time. The weather was warm, it was pretty crowded. and the tulips were spectacular though I have to admit to have been a bit “tuliped out” by now.

Amsterdam

On our final day we took the train from Haarlem to Amsterdam. Unfortunately, this simple trip was a bit of a hassle because they were fixing the train track. We had to take a bus out of Haarlem, which took us to some transfer station where we boarded the train. This should be a simple 30 minute trip but ended up taking an hour.

In Amsterdam our main goal was to visit the Rijksmuseum and to take a canal ride. We also had a bit of bad luck in that the Night Watch painting by Rembrandt, the jewel of the Rijksmuseum, was being retouched, so the image was blocked by some fancy machinery.

Amsterdam Centraal Station from the canal ride

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Jul 17 Belgium and the Netherlands

Bruges

Ghent