IRIS

Casual Barge Biking Cruises in Holland, Belgium, Germany and France

The cruises listed below are for those passengers that are looking for a very laid back experience at an affordable price.  These cruises are multi language.  Your cabin consists of your own private toilet and shower, though you take care of cleaning your room.  You are given clean linens during the cruise and you make your own bed.  Lunch is a packed bag each day.  There is no formal meals such as a Captain's Farewell dinner.  No alcoholic beverages included in the rates.

These are a great value and great fun if the above features appeal to you.  The  24 passenger Iris (built in 2004), is a Dutch barge,  practical and comfortable with a friendly appearance.

Flemish Cities

8 Days

Amsterdam to Bruges

May 30 - June 6, 2009   and  August 22 - 29, 2009

Bruges to Amsterdam

August 29 - Sept 5, 2009 and Sept 12 - 19, 2009  and  Oct 10 - 17, 2009

Individual Booking - € 1040 per person
Charter € 19,380,-  for 24 passengers

Rate includes:  8 days, breakfast, lunch package, dinner, bed linen, bike rental, tour guide.

You can book this trip as a bike & barge trip or as a cruise. If you book a bike & barge trip, you can make a bike tour of 20 – 40 km per day, accompanied by an experienced guide. If you book a cruise, you sail with the barge and you use public transport, accompanied by another experienced guide.

Itinerary:  Amsterdam - Vianen – Dordrecht – Tholen - Antwerp – Dendermonde - Ghent – Bruges

Highlights:  Amsterdam - Cheese farm – windmills Kinderdijk – Rubens house in Antwerp – Belfort in Ghent – round trip of the canals of Bruges

During this tour, the historical Flemish cities are central: Antwerp, Ghent and Bruges. But before we arrive there, you will get to know a very beautiful part of the Netherlands. You bike along the winding river Vecht with its impressive castles on its banks, you visit a real Dutch cheese farm, where cheese is still produced according to traditional methods and you visit the Dutch windmills in Kinderdijk. From the fortified town Willemstad, which is situated on the impressive wide Zeeland streams, we head for Belgium. There we spent the night in Antwerp, the city of Rubens, and of course we will visit the Rubens house. You bike from Antwerp to Ghent along the beautiful tidal river Nederschelde, in order to breathe in the atmosphere of the days of old in the town center, with its impressive Belfort and the St. Baafs-cathedral, where you can admire the famous triptych of painter Jan van Eyck. Final destination is Bruges, with its picturesque town center probably the most beautiful of the historical Flemish cities.

Day 1 (Sat): Amsterdam - Vianen      Biking: about 15 km.

Saturday afternoon the barge takes off to Nichtevecht. From there we make a short bike trip to Breukelen along the winding river Vecht. We visit a real Dutch cheese farm, where cheese is still produced according to traditional methods. By the end of the afternoon the barge takes us to Vianen, a small fortified town on the river Lek.

Day 2 (Sun): Vianen - Dordrecht    Biking: about 50 km.

In the morning our beautiful bike ride leads to Schoonhoven, the Silvertown.  From Schoonhoven we continue to Kinderdijk right across the Alblasserwaard. There an impressive row of large windmills appears, built to drain the Alblasserwaard.

We can visit one of the mills. Then the barge takes us further to Dordrecht, one of the oldest towns in Holland, and an important junction for shipping traffic. There we spend the night in the historic port of Wolwevershaven.

Day 3 (Mon): Dordrecht - Tholen    Biking: about 35 or 50 km.

During breakfast we cruise to Willemstad, an old fortified town on the Haringvliet.  From there we bike along the impressive complex of locks ‘de Volkerak’ to Tholen.  Tholen once was an island in the middle of the large Zeeland streams, where many people fished for their living. Nowadays Tholen is connected to the mainland in various ways.  But it is still a picturesque village with many relics of an eventful past.

Day 4 (Tue): Tholen - Antwerp  Biking: about 35 km.

Today we bike through a wooded area, the ‘Wouwse Plantage’ towards the south. The barge waits for us at the Kreekrak locks and from there we cruise the impressive port of Antwerp to the center of the city. Antwerp is not only known as diamond city, but also as native city of painter Rubens. In the Rubens house we can admire his work. In the middle of the city we find the Cathedral Of Our Lady and around the Market Square beautiful town houses from a rich past are situated.

Day 5 (Wed): Antwerp - Dendermonde    Biking: about 30 or 55 km.

After breakfast we leave Antwerp and we bike along the river Schelde. We follow this beautiful but capricious tidal river upstream to Dendermonde. There is a beautiful bike path along the river, and the landscape around the Schelde is magnificent. We can join the Iris again halfway in Temse or continue all the way to Dendermonde, a friendly little town along the river. In Dendermonde we will visit the beautiful town hall and have a little beer tasting.

Day 6 (Thu): Dendermonde – Ghent  Biking: about 35 km.

The bike tour follows again the river Schelde in the direction of Ghent, a lively university city, again one with a rich past.  In the afternoon you have the opportunity to discover the city some more, or to shop in the lively center.  The city has its origins in Roman Times, at the place where the rivers Leie and Schelde converge.  This favorable situation brought a great deal of prosperity over the years.. In the city center many old patrician houses have been preserved. In the Clothmakers’ Hall (1425) textile merchants used to meet.  Major church is St. Baafs’ Cathedral, raised in various ages and in various styles. In the cathedral you can admire a number of masterpieces of mediaeval painting, of which the ‘Adoration of the Lamb’ by Jan van Eyck is the most famous.

Day 7 (Fri): Ghent - Bruges   Biking: about 45 km.

Our bike tour through the pleasant country side of Western Flanders to Bruges starts right out of town.  Today our final destination is Bruges, also called the Venice of the North, maybe is the most beautiful of all Flemish cities. Its old center, which dates from the Middle Ages, is almost completely intact. At the time Bruges was a metropole, center of trade and art, which we can still fully enjoy.