Breda: Sun 25th – Tue 27th Aug 2025: Accommodation
Sunday 25th August
Our travel from Sydney to Amsterdam, via stops at Singapore and Copenhagen, although lengthy went well until we arrived in Amsterdam. You see, our luggage arrived but not Dagwood Defy, Mark’s bike. This resulted in a lengthy wait of 2 hours at ‘lost luggage’ to eventually be told that, although the bike would arrive later today, Mark was not likely to get it back at all. Why, you may well ask? We had no idea but the guy was quite adamant that we would not be seeing this bike again.
The long wait at lost luggage gave me a good opportunity for people watching and the most interesting contender was a young guy wearing a red MAGA hat, and this drew a number of unimpressed frowns from others. He was rather friendly and chatty though and very sympathetic about Mark’s ordeal with the unhelpful luggage attendant. Had we had to stay there much longer I would have loved to chat with him about what drew him in to Trump and the MAGA world but, maybe, it was best that we had to leave.
With little else we could do about the bike we decided to head on and collect the rental car, make our way to the apartment and then come back later to try and rescue Dagwood. It was around 1 pm by the time we picked up our car and were heading off for the 75 min drive down to our accommodation in Breda.
It turned out that we had enough time to find the apartment, drop our luggage, make a quick dash into the old town for a bite to eat and then hop back in the car and head to Amsterdam airport to meet Dagwood’s flight. Our original plan for our arrival day had been to land in Amsterdam at 9ish, pick up the car and visit Leiden and Delft on the way to Breda. However, as the saying goes, best laid plans and all that. I have, consequently, made a new travel rule: Whenever we travel with the bike, we are to stay in our arrival city for at least one night; to cope with any further situations like we’ve had this trip.
We had one funny incident on our arrival at the Breda apartment though that’s worth a mention. Our apartment building was located along one of the many Breda canals and there was a coffee shop barge, on the water, right in front of our apartment. So, this was where we headed first off, hoping to grab a coffee before heading back into Amsterdam. One step inside the ‘cafe’ though and the overpowering and familiar smell made us realise this probably wasn’t going to be our kind of ‘cafe’. The two customers and one staff member had a right chuckle when they heard we were after a ‘coffee’. We are clearly going to have to be more discerning when selecting our cafes from here on.
The drive back to the airport was rather uneventful except the lane-stray sensors on our rental car kept activating, reminding Mark to ‘stay in his lane’. I was quite concerned that jet lag, frustration and fatigue was finally getting to him. That wasn’t the worst of it though. We made it to the airport and navigated to find a park only to find that the incoming flight, hopefully with Dagwood onboard, was delayed by one hour. We were both shattered, exhausted and beyond words. I had spied a Sheraton on our way from the car park to the terminal and had thought to myself that we might end up spending the night here. Bookmark this thought!
We found a cafe to sit down and wait for the delayed flight and, as I watched Mark try to avoid nodding off, I mentioned my hotel stay idea to him and, to my surprise, he readily agreed. So, off we set to book into the Sheraton and move the car before Mark then went on to search for Dagwood. I didn’t have my passport and wasn’t allowed back in the terminal so I stayed at the Sheraton, in the lounge, and made the best of the time waiting with a glass of Rose. Or maybe two!
Mark made it back to the hotel just before the 7 pm lounge close so we had a celebratory drink before heading off to bed. We were relieved the ordeal was over, and mightily exhausted, so both collapsed into a deep sleep for the night.
Monday 26th August
We both had a good night of sleep and made our departure from the airport hotel just after 8 am. Our first task, once back at the apartment, was to change out of our clothing that we’d been in since we left Sydney and these then went in the wash.
There were no guided walking tours of Breda available but we found a self guided option that took us on a route through the city with stops at some of the key sights in the town. It was a pleasant way to explore Breda and made more so by the fact it was University O-week and the town was teaming with students, in all sorts of weird attire, as they embarked on their many activities. Breda is a beautiful little town with its cobbled streets and canals and many beautiful buildings along with loads of cafes, bars and restaurants giving off the vibe that the locals here enjoy life to the full. The guided walk only took us about 90 minutes and we finished up in the Grote Markt area just in time for lunch. This is in the center of the town and has been the site of weekly markets since 1321 and was once the site of executions. Thankfully, it is more of a place for gathering to wine and dine these days and we stopped off at De Colonie for lunch. Mark’s beer at lunch made him a bit weary but I needed no such help so we headed back to the apartment for a bit of a rest.
It was 5 pm before we ventured back out again and we headed to the Haven waterfront area for a drink fore heading back to the Grote Markt area to find somewhere for dinner. We settled on Mr Moos which had a reasonable rating although being quite touristy but our meal was fine. It was then back to the apartment for an early night as we were still both struggling with fatigue. Tomorrow we head to Ghent to do this all over again!
We had enjoyed our brief visit to Breda although it was marred somewhat by the bike saga meaning we didn’t get to visit Leiden and Delft which was disappointing. Maybe another time?
