On Day 4 of our Eurotrip last summer, we crossed the borders between the Netherlands and Belgium, and Belgium and Luxembourg. It was my second time visiting the UNESCO WHS of Kinderdijk, and my second time in Belgium, while Luxembourg was a new addition to my “been-to” country list. We also checked out Antwerp (although I didn’t buy any diamond there), and had lunch bby the Arenberg Castle in Leuven. 🙂
Here’s our route for the entire trip:
We had pretty okay night at Hotel de Hoeve van Nunspeet, although this was my review: “Chatty atmosphere, surrounded by trees. Room ok, but with funny smell. No fan, so we left the window open at night (which didn’t help much), and we woke up to insect bites. Crowded parking lot!” The breakfast was decent, and before we knew it, we were back on the road again.
We were kind of spontaneoud the whole time during the roadtrip.. And we didn’t really have anything specific that we wanted to visit in the Netherlands. So, we just chose an attraction that was on the way to Belgium. But that doesn’t mean that Kinderdijk was not worth a visit! Because, really, it’s one of the most interesting sights in the NL.
The country is situated below sea level, so in ancient times, it was plagued by floods. So, Dutch innovation led to utilizing windmills, waterways and canals to their advantage. There are many windmills in the country, but Kinderdijk is special. It consists of 19 windmills, built in the 1700s. It’s designated as a UNESCO WHS in 1997.
To learn more about the place and the funny (possible) origin of the name, visit this site: https://www.kinderdijk.com/discover/the-story/history/.
There’s a cafe in the visitor center, so we enjoyed som delicious apple pie while I write some postcards. 🙂
We left Kinderdijk at around 11:30 am, and a little before 1pm, we arrived in Antwerp, Belgium. The last time I was in the small country was in 2014, and I visited Brussels and Maastricht with a friend. Now, we visited the diamond capital of the world, Antwerp or Antwerpen. I actually didn’t know then that it’s a diamond haven.. but according to Wikipedia, 85% of the world’s rough diamonds go through Antwerp annually.
The city sits by the river Scheldt, and is the largest and most populated city in the country. More about Antwerp here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwerp. We saw beautiful architecture – it was like getting transported to the olden times. Here’s the official tourism page: https://visit.antwerpen.be/en, with suggestions for things to do and see.
After buying some postcards, we left Antwerp and moved to a smaller city, Leuven, known for its breweries. There, we had lunch in a restaurant close to the Arenberg Castle, or chateau. Arenberg was founded in the 14th century, and was later donated to (or acquired by) the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven), a Catholic research university, by (from) the Duke of Arenberg. It is currently the main building for the Faculty of Engineering and has lecture halls for other courses. Imagine taking your classes in a castle 🙂
At around 6pm, we reached the border to Luxembourg. It was so exciting! We saw a motorcycle man taking pictures in the border, so we stopped the car and followed suit. hehe
We stayed in Hotel Restaurant Lamy in Troisvierges – all tired, but very looking forward to what Luxembourg has to offer 🙂 That’s Day 4. Until Day 5! 🙂
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PinayOdyssey 