Capitolo 2: La tempesta sta arrivando!

Click here for the english version!

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Hey!

ecco a voi il secondo capitolo del nostro tour nei Paesi Bassi.

GIORNO 2

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Arrivederci Leiden!

Dove eravamo rimasti?

E’ mattina, Rotterdam da raggiungere, biciclette e pioggia a farci compagnia.

E come direbbe Clooney, What else?! 😀

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Scheveningen

L’obiettivo del giorno è quello di raggiungere Rotterdam passando per Scheveningen, una della spiaggie più famose dell’Olanda e Den Haag, più comunemente conosciuta in Italia come Aia.

Dopo una rapida colazione ed un ultimo sguardo alla città, siamo ripartiti accompagnati da una dolce pioggia! 😀

La spiaggia non è molto lontana da Leiden, circa 20km. Per raggiungerla siamo passati attraverso la Meijendepark, la più grande area dunare del sud d’Olanda.

Dune di sabbia,laghi, foresta: Un MUST per tutti gli amanti della natura.

Finalmente scorgiamo il mare!

Magicamente, una volta raggiunta Scheveningen, ha smesso di piovere e ciò ha dato una  forte scossa al nostro umore: abbiamo corso fino ad arrivare in acqua. vestiti 😀

DFGDFGDF

Il mare del Nord è freddo, molto freddo. Siamo rimasti qui per circa un’oretta, assaporando la pace che solo il mare può trasmettere.

Eravamo così felici di vedere il mare che Bruno ha dimenticato la sua Action Cam accesa sul manubrio della bicicletta! (ringraziamo ancora il senso civico olandese).

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Den Haag

Dopo soli 5km eccoci in Den Haag.

Purtroppo avevamo soltanto il tempo di pranzare e di un piccolo giro del centro, ma questa città merita più di una giornata per essere visitata.

Semplicemente MAGNIFICA!

Sai, capita davvero raramente di innamorarsi così velocemente di una città, ma qui si respira un’aria davvero positiva, un’aria cosmopolita!

Se stavi pensando di visitarla non perderti assolutamente lo shopping district ed i musei: da Rembrandt ad Escher, dal palazzo reale al Gementemuseum, dove puoi trovare la collezione d’opere di Piet Mondrian.

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Rotterdam

Sfortunatamente non potevamo stare lì per sempre, Rotterdam ci attendeva ed indovina un po’ chi bussava alla nostra porta?

Nuvole, delle belle e imponenti nuvole grigie, accompagnate da un vento killer.

Sul percorso Den Haag-Rotterdam si passa attraverso Delft, una piccola cittadina famosa per la sua porcellana blu conosciuta come Delftware e perchè Vermeer nacque qui.

Difatti a Den Haag puoi trovare la sua opera “Ragazza col turbante”, conosciuta anche come Ragazza con l’orecchino di perla.

Ma torniamo alle nostre nuvole, tanto amate nuvole che portano pioggia, la tanto amata pioggia.

Siamo arrivati all’ostello completamente fradici ma felici e divertiti. Magari Bruno un po’ meno perchè durante la tempesta il suo cellulare ha deciso di volare e disintegrarsi contro l’asfalto.

Rotterdam si discosta dal modello di città olandese che abbiamo visitato fino ad ora: Dopo esser stata distrutta durante la seconda guerra mondiale è stata ricostruita da svariati architetti, donandole così un mix di stili da renderla unica.

Cosa non vogliamo assolutamente dimenticare? uno dei più bei tramonti di sempre!

Mmmmhh…non vi diremo cosa abbiamo mangiato.

Capiteci, siamo italiani, lontani dalla patria, in astinenza da carboidrati, e poi abbiamo scoperto che la pizzeria di Leiden era una catena.

Tempo di dormire, l’indomani ci aspettava lo step più lungo del nostro viaggio:

Da Rotterdam ad Utrecht.

A breve disponibile il terzo capitolo 🙂

Mai smettere di pedalare!

 

Arthur And Bruno – BikesPhilosophy

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Capitolo 1: Trema, Leiden!

Click here for the english version!

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Ciao lettore!

Siamo pronti a parlare del nostro cicloviaggio nei Paesi Bassi.

Siamo stati in questo favoloso paese per 5 giorni e divideremo l’esperienza in 5 post, uno per ogni giorno in cui abbiamo viaggiato ed un ultimo che riassume il  viaggio e le nostre riflessioni:

• 1° Da Amsterdam a Leiden;
• 2° Da Leiden a Rotterdam;
• 3° Da Rotterdam a Utrecht;
• 4° Da Utrecht ad Amsterdam;
• 5° Sintesi finale e riflessioni sul tour.

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Amsterdam

sveglia prima dell’alba per prendere l’aereo direzione Amsterdam: era presto, molto presto, troppo presto.

Una volta raggiunta la “Città dello svago” abbiamo noleggiato subito 3 biciclette e girovagato per tutta la città.

Amsterdam è una città favolosa e c’è il rischio di “perdere” ore ed ore solamente a seguire l’incredibile rete di canali ed i tanto caratteristici vicoletti.

Siamo qui per aiutarti! Se hai pochi giorni da dedicarle, non puoi assolutamente perderti:

• Museumplein: la famosa piazza dei musei, se cerchi l’arte dei nel posto giusto! Concediti una visita al Rijksmuseum se ami l’arte fiamminga, allo Stedelijk Museum basato sull’arte moderna e al Van Gogh Musem per ammirare la vita di Vincent, dalla nascita alla morte;
• Dam: la principale piazza della città, composta dal “Nationaal Monument“, l’obelisco alla memoria dei soldati caduti, il Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, il Royal Palace e il Nieuwe Kerk (Chiesa nuova);
• Canali: Si. Sono magnifici, bellissimi e lunghi più di 100km!

Non ti diremo che dovresti girovagare per la città in bicicletta, oh no, tu DEVI farlo! 😀

Ti sentirai come un vero cittadino.

Pensa che dalle ultime statistiche si contano circa 850.000 abitanti e 847.000 biciclette ed ogni anno circa 15000 biciclette vengono ripescate dal canale. 🙂

Inoltre la magnificenza delle piste ciclabili nei Paesi Bassi è incredibile, ci sono più di 32000 km di pista ciclabile: puoi andare praticamente ovunque senza mai ritrovarti in strada.

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Road to Leiden

Tempo di pedalare! Salutiamo Amsterdam passando attraverso il VondelPark e l’Amsterdamse Bos, due dei più grandi e suggestivi parchi della città. Per raggiungere Leiden abbiamo incrociato il Westeinderplassen, un complesso di laghi appartenenti al territorio dell’Alsmeer, città che ospita il più grande centro commerciale di fiori e piante del mondo.

Pedalare in questa nazione è davvero semplice e sicuro grazie alle piste ciclabili che ricoprono tutto il territorio. Ti basterà seguire la LF routes per raggiungere qualsiasi posto o città tu voglia visitare.

Il territorio è costantemente pianeggiante, pieno di bellissime abitazioni, distese di campi verdi, mucche e canali.

Dopo 45km abbiamo raggiunto la nostra destinazione: Leiden.

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Leiden

Eccoci qui! 😀

Leiden è una piccola e graziosa cittadina universitaria ricca di storia: l’università più antica di tutta la nazione si trova qui, costruita nel 1575, Einstein insegnò qui ed i padri pellegrini vissero qui per un periodo prima di salpare con la Mayflower.

Il centro città è davvero romantico ed è l’ideale per una coppia, oppure per del sano relax tra amici.

Da italiani pensavamo che la passione per il calcio fosse certamente minore qui nei Paesi Bassi, ma quando l’Ajax durante la semifinale di Europa League “Ajax-Monaco” segnò, abbiamo cambiato idea.

L’intera piazza TREMAVA!

Abbiamo riso per 10 minuti e tutt’ora ridiamo ripensando a quella scena!

La passione è passione, dovunque tu vada.

Ora di cena, cosa possono mangiare degli italiani il primo giorno all’estero? La pizza ovviamente, come possiamo resistere senza pasta/pizza almeno una volta al giorno? 😀

Tuttavia nemmeno il tempo di accorgersene che ha iniziato a diluviare: immagina 40 persone correre verso il locale cercando di far da scudo a pizza e bibita 😀

Il tempo in Olanda a volte è imprevedibile, davvero imprevedibile, ma non è anche questo il bello di un viaggio?

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Dopo aver riposato e fatto un’ottima colazione vicino alla stazione centrale, siamo pronti per raggiungere Rotterdam, passando per Scheveningen e Den Haag, conosciuta in italiano come Aia.

Il tutto è riportato nel secondo capitolo, CLICCA QUI per leggerlo.

Have safe and great trips!

Arthur and Bruno – BikesPhilosophy

Netherlands in a Nutshell

Hello people!

Here we are, it’s been seven months since our first real trip and we have not tell you about our wandering yet. So here is our Netherlands in a Nutshell!
When you image a idyllic bike travel you certainly dream a combination of nature and cities linked by a network of cycle paths, add canals, cows, cinnamon aroma in the air and local people hospitality and you will have The Netherlands.
The great accommodations and the incredibly well-linked network of cycle paths, that facilitates traveling all over the country, make of this nation the ideal first bicycle trip destination.

In this post we will give you some generals advice based on our travel experience:

• From Amsterdam To Leiden;
• From Leiden to Rotterdam ( Via Den Haag and The Scheveningen);
• From Rotterdam to Utrecht (Via Gouda and its cheese);
• From Utrecht back to Amsterdam (Via Hilversum and the lovely Naarden).

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Cycling in The Netherlands

We will never get tired to repeat how visiting The Netherlands will make you understand what really means to love bicycles.
The greatness of the bicycle infrastructure is unbelievable, they have more than 32000 km of cycle path: you can go everywhere you want!
The cycle path network is organized around crossroads called knoopunts, marked by signs for every direction, making it really hard to get lost! Also you WON’T HAVE TO WORRY about cars: drivers totally respect cyclists.

The only advice we really want to share with you is to respect the following simple rules:

1. PAY ATTENTION to scooters! they are allowed to use the cycle lanes;
2. If you have a faster cyclist behind your back LET HIM GO unless you like a symphonies of bells and yelling! 😀
3. DO NOT walk on the cycle paths because it’s really dangerous. It’s like to walk on a highway!

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Getting to The Netherlands by plane

“Amsterdam – Schipol” is the principle airport of the nation: The fourth for importance in Europe and the most relaxing.
Eindhoven Airport is a low cost alternative but it’s far away from Amsterdam (which is the best city in which start your trip).
SHOULD I BRING MY BIKE OR SHOULD I RENT IT?

In The Netherlands the territory is mostly flat. Rent a bike it’s not a bad idea.
We rented two bikes at “Mike’s bike” at a really good price (22€/each for 4 days) considering that it includes back bags and a theft insurance.
We suggest to rent a classic holland bike! It is the most used and perfect for medium distance (40-70km)
In alternative you could bring your own bike by plane but it gets more expensive (The cost is around €120).

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Shops and Restaurant

The shops usually open at 9.00 and close at 18:00 while the kitchen of the restaurants usually close around 21:00/21:30. So, if you use to have dinner late, CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE ! 😀
Or, you know, Mc’Donalds will be your only choice left 😦
Don’t miss the Gouda cheese, Stroopwafel and the fabulous cinnamon biscuits, this goodies really deserves to became a world heritage!
Other typical dishes are soups and seafood like smoked herrings.

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Where to Sleep

There are different types of accommodation for each budget:
You will be able to choose from camping, hostel, hotel or other kind of accommodation as AirBnb or Couchsurfing.
For those who don’t know AirBnb, thought this service you could stay in local people’s houses. It allows you to choose the best kind of accommodation for your needs. It is usually cheaper compared to a hotel.
Couchsurfing is almost the same thing but you don’t have to pay for every night but just an entrance fee at the subscription. However you will have to spend a little time with your hosts and usually it is required to do something for them such as cleaning, hanging out or cooking something. This are all good ways to make new friends and great opportunities for a full immersion in the culture of the Couchsurfing host country. How about that?
This was our first trip and we have chosen to stay in Hotels and Hostels.
Down below the list of our overnights:

• Leiden – Ibis hotel: really close to the city center;
• Rotterdam: Stay Ok Rotterdam – Design hostel near the city center (nice and cheap);
• Utrecht:
  – Stay Ok Utrecht: nice hostel in the city centre, recommended for young people!
  – Nh hotel: 1 km from the city center. Cozy rooms and very professional service;
• Naarden: Nh Hotel: 1,5 km from the city center. Cozy room and very professional services;
• Amsterdam – Atlantis hotel: clean and well positioned just outside the city center. It is based in De Pijp quartier that in our opinion it’s the most suggestive of the town.

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Weather Conditions

The best period to visit The Netherlands goes from the second half of April – when the tulips discloses and fields will be shining and colored – to the first days of October.
This is the country of windmill so it could be rainy and windy.
We have been 2 times in The Netherlands but fortunately it rained only 2 days out of 10.
We do not recommend a winter time tour: temperatures could drop at 3°C and you won’t be able to enjoy the beautiful landscapes that otherwise you could enjoy during the other more sunny and colorful seasons.

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If you want to know something more about our trip in The Netherlands all you have to do is select one of the following link:

• Chapter 1: Trembling Leiden
• Chapter 2: Storm is coming!
• Chapter 3: Here we are Utrecht!
• Chapter 4: Back to Amsterdam!

If you have any question or tips don’t hesitate to contact us!

Arthur & Bruno

Chapter 4: Back to Amsterdam!

Hey guys!

Last chapter of the Netherlands tour! 

Day 4

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Utrecht.. We Love You!

Utrecht: time to leave. Why is life so cruel? 😀
Could someone give us his/her house for free? 🙂 Or just host us for a period that goes from now to eternity? 😀

We left Utrecht but not until we had had two breakfasts. The first at the Hotel and the second one in a cozy franchise bakery named Stach. You can find it in every city of The Netherlands.
Have you ever been there and tried their lemon cake? You will dream about it at night, I’m telling you.

Goodbye Utrecht, you will always be in our heart! ❤

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Road to Amsterdam: Hilversum & Naarden

To reach Amsterdam we decided to follow the same route we did in October: a little stop in Hilversum and lunch in Naarden.
The route from Utrecht to Hilversum is surrounded by nature. Green fields and blue sky, weird pigs and cows everywhere. A special mention to the last stretch of the way fully immersed in a kind of wood that hides some of the best houses we’ve ever seen.

Once we arrived in Hilversum we noticed that something was changed in the General Market square where we stopped to eat a weird but tasty sandwich with fried shrimps in October. A little bit shocked we asked to a local if something has changed in the last six month and he confirmed that the square was been renewed. We don’t know why but this thing shocked us.
It was a quick stop, so perfectly on time we started pedalling toward Naarden to eat in a local restaurant named Het hert.

Yummy hamburgers there! 😀

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Naarden

There’s a lot to say about this town. Naarden is a little beautiful city famous for its star shape and because is one of the most preserved fortified city in Europe.
According to Wikipedia “is an example of a star fort, complete with fortified walls and a moat.”

Indeed, one of the attraction is the Vestingmuseum located on one of the six bastions that gives to the city its distinctive star shape. If you want to discover the story of this fortress and the economic importance that this city had till the recent past you should not miss it! You will find a brochure in Dutch and English. Don’t make our same mistake: Arthur asked for the english part when the entire page was in English. LOL

 

October in Naarden

Vesting Museum

Dutch Kindness
The first time we went there we could taste the renowned Dutch Kindness.
We were two runaways adventuring with bikes in a land that is not Italy, where people do not speak our language and we don’t speak their, just few words in the same shitty english that we’re using to write here 😛
Anyways, we were in trouble to find a hotel for the night when we decided to ask to the girl at the reception of the museum for help. We couldn’t imagine that she was going to make a quarter of hour phone call just for us and showed us the way to reach the hotel! Amazing.
Another memories was a group of guys. “. We asked for something to do in the City and they literally started to run to bring us to “the best brewery in Naarden“. Wow!

After lunch we were a little bit sad, our journey was going to end but at the same time we were really happy because of what we did: we were thinking to all the people we met along the way and the support that they gave us, to all the smiles.
Biking is freedom for us, it enables you to feel life as the way you feel it when you are child. It allows you to keep the contact with the people, to watch the world from another point of view, to feel every kilometre you ride.

With these feelings and thoughts we were leaving Naarden when a fabulous storm came to remember us that feelings are for weak and if you don’t want to drown under the rain you should pedal and shut up 😀

Sooo under the heavy rain we started to sing loud and out of tunes italian songs and pedal to reach Amsterdam.

Have we already talked about green field and blue sky? Cows and sheep? Green fields and Blue Sky? 😀

Just outside Naarden, after riding along a part of Ijmeer, a lake that we thought it was the Sea, a twenty kilometres path in the pure nature extends to Diemen, a town 6 km before Amsterdam.

 

What is happened along this road it’s unbelivable! And we have a video to demonstrate it.
We were resting  along the way: you have to imagine three young guys, talking and walking when a man that was walking behind us farted passing us. Birds singing, green trees, blue river and a farting man. We laughed for two weeks about this..

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We are back, Amsterdam!

Last stop: Amsterdam.
Once we arrived we went to the hotel to finally have a shower and then we passed all the time wandering around the city. After those km by bike we weren’t tired so we decided to eat something in the city center and then explore the surrounding of the HarleemmerPoort.
The day after we did the same of the night before, we returned the bikes and had a little walk in the city to buy some souvenirs for our families.

Thanks again to all the people that helped us during these trips, the one in october and the one in may.

Just few words to end this post, just a promise to us: next time we will stay in this country for more time because it really deserve it.

See you in next posts guys!
Enjoy your rides and keeep pedaling! 🙂

Arthur and Bruno – BikesPhilosophy

 

 

 

Chapter 3: Here we are Utrecht!

Heeeey guys,

Welcome to the third chapter of our tour! 🙂

Day 3

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 Goodbye Rotterdam!

Breakfast time, crying time. I don’t know why but we never get used to English breakfast. We’re grown up with Cappuccino and Brioche or Latte/Tea and Biscuits and the very idea to eat an egg or some beans at 7.00 am kills us. But it’s okay, to travel is to discover new thing, new people, new culture: okay we’re jocking, we found bread and marmelade 😀
Before to leave Rotterdam we wandered around and again, the first thing you can notice is multi-culturalism.
We have a lot to learn from Rotterdam: about one third of its inhabitants is of foreign origin and the mayor is from Marocco. We can say that Rotterdam is one of the most multicultural city or maybe the first of holland and this is due to his port, one of the most important in the world.

We saw a lot of Feyenoord’s flag in the city and we remembered that the society has here.

For a casuality we watched a video on facebook that speak about the winner of the Eredivisie title: The Feyenoord! Wow, that was the day before we reached the town! After 18 years they won the title! Is it because we were going there?! 😀

We left Rotterdam with the promise to come back and dedicate more time to the city.

 

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Road to Utrecht: Gouda

On our way to Utrecht, we decided to stop and visit Gouda, a small city famous for its craftworks and of course cheese and stroopwafels.
We really suggest you a day trip to this city. A lot of old buildings and pretty canals. Plus the city is totally cyclable with the exception of Kleiweg and there is a lots of parking for the bikes.

So, after a very tasty hambugerandGoudacheese-based lunch and a quick stop at the AlbertHeijn to buy some biscuits ( biscuits with cinnamon = life), we left Gouda to reach one of our favourite city of holland: Utrecht.
We don’t know who we have to thanks (really??) but from Rotterdam to Gouda the rain has stopped and an incredible heat killed us 😀

We have a funny video where we stretch out the sweat from our t-shirt 😀 A must see!

 

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Utrecht

Before this trip we did another one a little bit smaller in October: Amsterdam-Utrecht via Breukelen and Maarssen and Utrecht-Amsterdam via Hilversum and Naarden.
The first time we have been in Utrecht we stayed at the Stayokay hostel in the centre of the city. This hostel have a privileged view on the medieval centre and is perfect for who is traveling on a budget.

Why we love Utrecht so much , one of the most unsung city according to Lonely Planet?
We don’t really know, maybe for its central canal, the oudegracht, the Dom tower wich is the tallest of The Netherlands, or its houses. It’s a weird feeling, in italian we use to say that this city is a “bomboniera”, a bombonnière, for the charm. You can walk and get lost in its cozy shops, small streets or in its unparallel “movida” in the city centrek.
As we were saying, we arrived in Utrecht around 6.00 pm, but this time we booked a room at the 13th floor of Nh Utrecht Hotel. The view was amazing, we could see Utrecht from the top at one km of distance.

Dome tower

Canal in Utrecht

The OudeGracht

 

Time to sleep now,
see you next week guys, stay tuned for the last chapter of our trip: Back to Am via The lovely Naarden!
Wish you good trips and nice rides! 🙂

Byee,
Arthur and Bruno – BikesPhilosophy

 

Bruno is starting to hate the rain (Gouda)

Bruno and Arthur are starting to LOVE the rain (Gouda)

Relaxing before to reach Utrecht

Selfie (From the left Pietro, Bruno and Arthur

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2: Storm is coming!

Click here for the italian version!

Hey!

This is the second chapter of our bike trip in The Netherlands.

DAY 2

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Lefting Leiden

So, where were we?

Morning, Rotterdam to reach, bikes and a lot of rain.

What’s better?! 😀

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Scheveningen

Our goal was to reach Rotterdam via Scheveningen, one of the most famous holland shore and Den Haag.

After a quick breakfast and a look around, we started pedaling toward Scheveningen under the rain .

It isn’t too far from Leiden, around 20km. We passed through Meijendepark, the largest dune area in South Holland.

Open dunes, lakes, forest: a MUST for who loves the nature.

Finally we saw the sea!

Magically, once we arrived in Scheveningen, the rain has stopped and this boosted our spirits: we decided to get off the bike and run into the sea. Dressed 😀

DFGDFGDF

North Sea is cold, really cold and we rested for a while there to enjoy the peace of the ocean.

We were so excited that Bruno forgot his action cam on the bicycle bar! (glad to have found it on the bike after 1 hour)

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Den Haag

After just 5km we reached Den Haag.

What a pity we just had lunch and a little walk around, because this city deserves more then a day to be visited. It’s simply WONDERFUL!

You know, this happen very rarely to fall in love so fast, but you can breath a really positive air, a cosmopolitan air!

 

As a metter of fact the International Court of Justice is based here.

If you are planning to visit Den Haag we really reccommend you the shopping district and the museums: from Rembrandt to Escher, from the royal palace to the Gemeentemuseum where you can find the unique collection of Piet Mondrian’s artwork.

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Rotterdam

Badly, we couldn’t stay here forever, Rotterdam was waiting us aaand guess who’s knocking at the door? Clouds, very big grey clouds and a killer wind asking for our blood.

On our way to Rotterdam we passed through Delft, a pretty city famous for his blue porcelain known as Delftware and because Vermeer was born her.

You can find his “Girl with a pearl ear-ring” in Maurithuis in Den Haag.

Ahh clouds, clouds clouds and rain, it had rained so much that we arrived in Rotterdam soaked to the skin but we were so happy and satisfyed that wasn’t a problem for us, and hope so for the kind girl at the reception of our hostel 😀

We don’t use to watch the city on google view when we plan our trips so, Rotterdam was a good surprise for us: after being destructed during the second war it has been reconstructed unleashing the fantasy of the various architechts.

What we won’t forget? One of the stunning sunset ever 🙂

 

Ehmmmm…we won’t tell you what we eated. We’re italian.. again 😀 But it wasn’t our fault, we were too hungry and all the restaurants were closed.

Time to sleep, we went back to the hostel to rest for the next step of our journey: Utrecht via Gouda.

Stay tuned  for the third chapter 🙂

Have a nice day and safe ride to everyone.

Byeeee

 

Arthur And Bruno – BikesPhilosophy

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1: Trembling Leiden!

Click here for the italian version!

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Hi guys!

We are going to talk about our bike trip in The Netherlands.
We stayed there 5 days and we’ll divide it in 5 posts, one for each day that we traveled and the last one that summerise our tour:

• 1° From Amsterdam to Leiden;
• 2° From Leiden to Rotterdam;
• 3° From Rotterdam to Utrecht;
• 4° From Utrecht back to Amsterdam;
• 5° Netherlands in a nutshell.

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Amsterdam

Early, early in the morning, but we mean very early in the morning, we woke up and took a plane to reach Amsterdam.
Once we arrived in the city of freedom we rented 3 bikes and started to have a look around.
We’ve been many times in Amsterdam, but if you don’t have many days to dedicate to the city, you must visit the following main places:

–Museumplein: Here you can find the Rijksmuseum,in which you will see a lot of artworks of the Flemish art, the Stedelijk Museum, based on modern art and the Van Gogh Museum, in which you can admire the life of Vincent, from the start to the end;
–Dam: A beautiful square composed by “Nationaal Monument“,the obelisk in memory of the fallen soldier of the second world war, the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum,the Royal palace and the Nieuwe Kerk( new church);
–Canal System: yeah. It’s great, beautiful and long more than 100km!

We’re not going to tell you that you could visit the city by bike, oh no, you  MUST do it! 😀
You will feel like a real citizen.

According to one of the last census, the 850.000 inhabitants owns 847000 bikes and every year around 15000 bikes are fished up from the canals. THINK ABOUT IT! 🙂

The greatness of the bicycle infrastructure  in The Netherlands is unbelievable, they have more than 32000 km of cycle path, so you can go everywhere you want as we did.

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Road to Leiden

IT’S PEDALING TIME! Once we moved out from Amsterdam passing through the green VondelPark and the Amsterdamse Bos, two of the biggest and suggestive parks of the city, we headed to Leiden, crossing Westeinderplassen, a complex of lakes belonging to the territory of Alsmeer, a city that hosts the largest flowers and plants trade centers in the world.

Cycling around holland is really easy. As we said before, cycle paths cover all the territory. You can follow the LF routes to reach every place or city you want.

The territory is almost flat, full of beautiful houses, green fields, cows and canals. After 45 km of this beauty we reached Leiden.

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Leiden

Here we are, Leiden! 😀

Leiden is a beautiful small town full of history: the oldest university in The Netherlands is here (built in 1575), Einstein taught there, and the pilgrims lived here for a while before to get on the Mayflower.

The city centre could be really romantic if you go there with your partner or just relaxing if you are here with your friends.

Coming from Italy, we thought that here the passion for football was certainly smaller, but when Ajax scored against Monaco in Europa League semifinal, we have doubted it.

The entire floor trembled!

Wow, we laughed of that for about 10 minutes!

Passion is passion, wherever you go.

We were eating pizza (yes, we are italian and we CAN’T survive without  pizza or pasta once a day 😀 ) on the canal and it started to rain cats and dogs: we ran inside as fast as lightning with our lovely food!

So be aware of the climate and don’t forget your meal on the table. Please.

If you don’t have time to visit every single attraction, we recommend you to visit the centre and just get lost in the quiet streets of the city.

We rested in an hotel near the central station and after a good breakfast, we were ready to reach Rotterdam via Scheveningen and Den Haag!
We talk about it there: 2° From Leiden to Rotterdam;

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If you have questions about our trip you can contact us! 😀

That’s all for today.

Have safe and great trips!

 

Arthur and Bruno – BikesPhilosophy