This trip was a big one – five weeks. As Covid expanded so did my itinerary. If you have read my other blogs you know that I do not limit myself to wine, especially when in beer or tequila country.
The original trip was planned for the Mosel but due to COVID and a mix-up we did the Netherlands and Belgium instead. The Netherlands and Belgium were seen on a bike and barge tour. If you are an active person, I highly recommend Boat Bike Tours. Not only do you get exercise but you get to see the countryside at 10 to 25mph not 60. We spent a few days in Amsterdam getting over jet lag and reacquainting ourselves with this unique and wonderful city before boarding our boat. We stayed in De Pijp (pronounced “De Pipe”) a quiet neighbourhood close to the museum area. We loved the Honey Blonde beer from Troost – a brewery in De Pijp. It was a nice treat to be able to board the boat in Amsterdam and not have to worry about another plane or train. The Holland countryside was beautiful with little canals draining the fields, windmills, birds and stately Flemish country houses. Belgium had some beautiful towns and cities as well; Ghent and Bruges being our favorite. The boat is actually a converted barge, but what a conversion; it was well laid out, nicely decorated and very comfortable. Having been on a high-end river cruise, Boat Bike was one notch down on décor. However regarding food Boat Bike was as good as the river cruise. We were blown away how the chef kept the quality up meal after meal.
The boat tour ended in Bruges. We heard great things about Bruges from 2 of our sons and it exceeded my expectations. Yes I expected a quaint town centre and good beer but I did not expect the food to be as good as it was. Here are the must trys according to me:
- Waffles – yes they are spectacular (nothing like these in North America). I preferred the Brussels waffle – which is light and crispy. My wife preferred the Liege waffle – which has a denser texture and sugar pearls baked into the waffle.
- Chocolates – Yes they are world class but thanks to our own Belgian (Bernard Callebaut), Calgarians have been able to get world class chocolate for years.
- Moules et Frites (Mussels and French fries, OK OK Mussels and Belgian fries) – we just came back from the Cdn Maritimes and I have to say the Belgian mussels were bigger and juicier. The best I have ever had.
- Carbonnade – this is a rich hearty stew made with beef and beer. If you like your flavours to hit you in the face then pucker up.
So now to the Belgium libations. Belgium is the Holy Grail of Beer – just drop into the beer museum and stroll past the beer wall in Bruges to see the mind-boggling variety. Further proof is the fact that every beer has its own glass, which completely blows my mind. We visited the two breweries in Bruges. De Halve Maan – means the half moon – we did a tour here (book ahead) mainly because of their famous beer pipeline. Although it was interesting you only get one beer to taste. We enjoyed Bourgogne des Flandres more because we sat by the canal and got a tasting flight. I was expecting wild and crazy beers, but they were pretty traditional ales; of course we now take these ales for granted with the explosion of craft brewing around the world. Although they may not have been unique, they were very tasty.
The next leg of our trip was all about WWI & II. We did a WWI tour with Quasimodo and hit southern Belgium (Ypers area). We then drove down to Juno Beach – to see the world class museum, the beach and a German bunker. Every Canadian should visit this place, from some advertising I saw the American exhibit at Omaha Beach is also exceptional. It is very moving. After that we went up to see the Vimy monument and Carrier Wellington Museum (an amazing network of tunnels and old underground quarries used by the Allies in WWI). The Vimy monument was completed in 1936; I cannot figure out why I was not told about this in school. We did various things for Remembrance Day but nothing about what the Great War was like. I guess I have to thank Hollywood for my initial education.
We spent a day in Brussels and a day in Paris enroute to Alsace. Brussels was underwhelming, it just didn’t have any charm.[Pro Tip – car rentals are much less if you drop off in the same country, since we rented in Bruges we dropped off in Brussels thus avoiding the high penalty] . Having seen many sights in Paris on previous trips we opted to climb the Eiffel tower this time – apparently you need to book well in advance if you want to take an elevator to the top.
Alsace is a world class wine destination that checks all the key boxes – great wine, great food and great towns/sights. First let me tell you about how we did our touring. It was on an ebike – it was over 30C, so we elected to use an ebike to conserve our stamina. Our guide was Glenn Ford at BicycletteGo a very personable Brit who has been living in Alsace for many years running tours. Glenn met us in Colmar the day before our bike touring to give us a walking tour of the town – it was great to hear the stories behind some of the small but interesting sights. The agenda for the 2 days of riding was Pick-up in the morning, cycle some countryside passing the Grand Cru vineyards (designated by Hollywood style signs), tour some lovely towns (2 were awarded the “most beautiful town in France” (an annual award), then have lunch, then more vineyard cycling and finally wine tasting. The towns are magical, I was expecting to see Belle (from Beauty and the Beast), with birds flying around her head, swaying down the street in front of gorgeous medieval half-timbered houses
Another magical experience was tasting the wine. All the Alsatian wine I had tasted before was bone dry. I much prefer off-dry Rieslings and Pinot Gris, as some residual sugar brings the fruit out. The first winery Cattin was walking distance from Glenn’s place. The wines were delicious with the perfect amount of sugar to bring the fruit forward but still not tasting sweet. The prices were insane for this quality with many under 10 Euros. The second winery we visited was Francois Baur. I mentioned to Glenn we were interested in this winery since the sommeliers at one of our favourite wine stores had visited it. The prices were higher here because their top end wines are Grand Cru – Brand vineyard. The Grand Cru Riesling had a bit more elegance to it. We were unable to taste the Grand Cru Pinot Noir due to small quantities, but we did taste the regular Pinot. It was perfect for my palate in that it had great red fruit flavours – I am not a fan of Pinots that taste like a glass of dirt (like Burgundy). So I highly recommend you visit Alsace and Colmar if you like fruit forward Riesling, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir; see some of the small towns in the area and try the Tarte Flambe (French pizza) at La Soi in Colmar it will blow your mind and taste buds.
Finally, we visited Berlin to finish off the World War history and its aftermath, the Cold War. Our sons had visited Berlin a few years ago and loved it. I can see why, there is an energy in this town, at least where we were staying in Prenzlauer Berg. Tons of restaurants with lots of patrons. It supposedly has a vibrant nightlife – as vibrant as we got was staying up till 10pm reading a book. Lots to see about WWII and Hitler including the Sachsenhausen concentration camp north of the city. Almost as brutal as WWII the cold war and its infamous wall separated German families overnight. I know of no where else that airs its dirty laundry like the Germans do – “lest we forget” – it is highly admirable. Not only do they air this dirty laundry, they encourage it with free admission to all the government museums. After our touring which was often quite sobering, it was time for a rest (30C heat will tire you out) then out to dinner. We ate at Asian, Italian, Middle Eastern and a couple of German restaurants. The best restaurant we went to for both the food and the beer was Leibhaftig. I had a pork cut braised in their lovely Dunkel beer – served with a dumpling, so good. My wife had a Dumpling meal – with 3 or 4 dumplings, so good. We liked it so much we went back another night and had their Bavarian Tapas – small bites when you split it 4 ways. Did I mention the Dunkel? If you aren’t aware of Dunkel it’s a dark lager – sometimes a wheat beer (Erdinger Dunkel being the most famous). They are refreshing like a lager but with more flavour. This was a lovely one.
All in all, a great trip. As much as we liked our visits to the major cities like Berlin and Amsterdam it was the smaller towns, like Bruges and Colmar, with their charm that we enjoyed the most.