Netherlands

Self-supported bicycle trip in

The Netherlands - 2023

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Day 10 - Friday

We rode 16 miles today from Amersfoort to Utrecht

We got up to go to breakfast at the hotel at 8:00. I was suprised to see the marketplace filled with vendors when I pulled back the curtain from our window. But Steve knew they were there because he heard the trucks pulling in and setting up around 5:00 a.m. But he said they were much quieter than the partiers leaving the bars around 2:00 a.m.

After breakfast, we brought our packed panniers down to the hotel reception area and left them there while we walked down the street to fetch our bikes from the bike garage. Yesterday, when we left them there, we used the bicycling railing alongside the staircase to roll them down a track, and this track had the added touch of two sets of brushes that cleaned our tires as the wheels went down the track. On taking the bikes back up, we used the track on the other side, which was a sort of bike escalator, i.e., a moving conveyor belt. We simply had to hold the hand brakes to keep the wheels from turning, and the device moved our bike up the track without our having to push it.

Back at the hotel, the hostess was just as friendly and helpful as her colleague had been the night before. She helped us carry our panniers out to the bags and chatted with us for a bit about where we were from, what our trip had included and where we were going next.

We walked our bikes through the marketplace, looking at some of the vendors as we passed, and headed out of town.

For people who are aware of WWII history, the name of Amersfoort carries a heavy weight - during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, the SS operated a particularly brutal camp near this town - Kamp Amersfoort. For some it was a work camp, but for most it was a transit camp from which they were shipped to other places. From 1941 to 1945, more than 35,000 persons - including some American citizens - passed through the camp or died there. We wanted to stop at a memorial there and pay respects.

The Stone Man is a memorial erected on a rifle range at Kamp Amersfoort in 1953. The sculpture was created by a former prisoner of the camp in memory of those who died there. It is a figure of an emaciated man, on a tall pedestal at the end of a long corridor in the woods. The corridor was an execution site, hand-dug by the prisoners from Kamp Amersfoort. It is a sad place.

After we left the memorial, we bicycled a short distance to the Soviet Military Cemetery nearby. The cemetery holds more than 800 graves of persons from the former Soviet states. Many of them died at Kamp Amersfoort, having been transported to that place from their places of capture on the Eastern front. Others were Soviet prisoners in various camps operated by the Nazis and liberated by the Americans. Many had first been interred at the American military cemetery in Margraten, The Netherlands, and were later moved to this location to be buried beside their countrymen.

From the Soviet Military Cemetery, we rode on to Utrecht, about another 10 miles. Our route into the city was a direct route along bike routes that were busy but easy to navigate. Shortly, we rolled up beside our lodging location, Hotel Beijers, near the center of the city.

We checked in and were delighted with our room - the Vermeer Room - which makes us feel like we've stepped back into the 17th century in Delft. After we showered and rested, we went out for a walk around town.

One thing I was interested in seeing was a memorial to artist and author of children's books, Dick Bruna. He created the character of Nijntje (Miffy), and a series of other well loved characters. An online collection of his work is available at this link.

We walked past several bars and cafes already filled with people starting their weekend. This is a lively city with lots of young people (it is also a university town), and it would be a fine place for people watching.

Cafes representing a diverse range of foods lined the canal streets, and we spotted several spots for falafel, one of my favorite foods. With a quick Google search, we located a spot whose falafel was deemed "best falafel in town," and headed there. It was very tasty and unlike the falafel sandwiches in a pita pouch that I have enjoyed in the past. This was more of a wrap, with savory ingredients and spices I could not fully identify but which I thoroughly enjoyed.

After our dinner, we walked around some more, paused at a bar near our hotel for a couple glasses of wine, and then headed back to our room right around sunset.

Tomorrow we bicycle to the central train station here in Utrecht and figure out how to get our bikes and ourselves on a train to Schiphol Airport

Our hotel in Amersfoort - Lodgement de Gaaper - the white building

Steve holding a "Gaaper," (English: gaper) a figure often associated with apothecaries in Europe. The figures usually resemble a Moor or Arab, but there are variations. One explanation is that medical science has roots with early practitioners among the Arabic cultures.

Our hotel has a collection of several Gaapers

Outside our hotel room - the Friday market. Steve heard them setting up in the wee hours of the morning. He said they were quieter than the drunks he heard at even more wee hours.

Warm stroopwafels!

Bread by Steven (or Stever?)

Fresh fish

More fish

Kamp Amersfoort

Memorial at Kamp Amersfort

Path to the Stone Man

Granite marker at Kamp Amersfoort

Sign explaining The Stone Man

The Stone Man

Memorial wreath at the Stone Man

Flower tributes at the Stone Man

Sign at the Soviet Military Cemetery at Leusden - see this page for an English translation - Soviet War Cemetery at Leusden

Soviet graves

Photo of Soviet soldiers at one of the graves

Our hotel room in Utrecht - the Vermeer Room

The Vermeer Room at Hotel Beijers

Bathroom of our hotel room in Utrecht

Genuine Thomas Crapper fixtures!

View from our hotel room window

In the 18th century, there was a large scale persecution (including torture and execution) of homosexuals in Utrecht. The city acknowledges this injustice with the Sodomy Trials Memorial in the plaza where the cathedral stood.