RFI - Ghent/Rotterdam/Amsterdam

Failed to get there this weekend but halfway through the weekend we decided there was so much we wanted to do (and eat and drink) that we will return at some point. Ghent's a great place to visit.

Failed to get to the Guislain museum, I mean - it's a shame because my wife's all about museums of medical history. Next time. Thanks for the tip, Willem.

Real tru players call it 'Gaunt' btw

My people are not the real tru players, happily. My people are the fake fake players.

did u not make a resolution to cut fake ppl out of your life in 2018

I should go to Ghent, passed through the station on way to Bruges several times- and you get a pretty impressive vista just from the train.

Ghent is really great IMO, everything that Bruges has to offer and more because of the large university, meaning life after 7pm #TeamGhent

I am cutting the real fake people out of my life, and I am having a think about the fake real people. The fake fake people have always been my people.

ANYWAY part of the attraction of Ghent for me is how easy and quick it is to get to from London on the train. I think it's slightly quicker / easier to go London -> Brussels -> Ghent than it is to go London -> Lille -> Ghent. Given the distances involved this seems counterintuitive to me but it seems correct, unless there's a quick and cheap rail route from Lille to Ghent that I'm missing.

Outside of the fairly obvious places you could find in the guidebooks, we went to a wine bar called Alberte near Dampoort where the food and the wine were outstanding, I'd recommend the place to anyone.

And you can travel onwards from Brussels anywhere in Belgium for free with a eurostar ticket- don't think similar applies if you get off at Lille.

Right - though it's not any Eurostar Ticket, you have to buy an "any Belgian Station" ticket, so there is a premium compared to just going to Brussels or Lille. But yeah a return from Lille to Ghent seems to cost like 17 euro, so the any Belgian station option would work out cheaper overall. It just seems weird that it takes about the same time to get a direct train from Lille to Ghent (about an hour and a quarter) as it does to stay on the train to Brussels and get a train back west to Ghent.

On the plus side, we had a few hours in Brussels, always a pleasure. This time we went to the weird bourgeois toytown burb of Woluwe-St-Pierre to see the outside of this place: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoclet_Palace and the inside of this place: http://wittockiana.org/en/ , both amazing.

Eurostar direct rail services between London and Amsterdam will begin on 4 April, the company has announced, in an eagerly awaited move expected to spark a price war with airlines.

Tickets for the two daily trains – starting from £35 one way – will go on sale on 20 February. The services will allow passengers to travel from St Pancras station in central London direct to the Netherlands in three to four hours.

More than 4 million passengers a year fly between London and Amsterdam, making it one of Europe’s busiest air routes as the Netherlands grows in popularity as a key business and tourism hub.

The cross-Channel rail operator is set to challenge established airlines on the route, including British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair. It will target potential converts by saying a London-Amsterdam Eurostar journey emits 80% less carbon than the equivalent flight.

Plans for the service were first announced in September 2013 but the official start date has been subject to numerous delays while immigration and passport controls were agreed.

These issues mean direct services returning to London will not be in place until the end of next year. Passengers travelling from Amsterdam and Rotterdam will have to connect through Brussels for passport controls and security screening until the two governments complete an agreement allowing passport checks to be conducted in the Netherlands.

Nicolas Petrovic, the outgoing chief executive of Eurostar, said the Netherlands service heralded a new era in international high-speed rail. “With direct services from the UK to the Netherlands, France and Belgium, we are transforming the links between the UK and three of Europe’s top trading nations.”

The launch follows the completion of testing on the Dutch high-speed network and construction of Eurostar terminals in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The journey time will be 3hr 01min between London and Rotterdam and 3hr 41min between London and Amsterdam.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/feb/09/eurostar-to-launch-london-amsterdam-direct-service-in-april

This is such great news.

It is. The changing at Brussels on the way back is a stupid pain mind (unless one can pop off at Centraal for a swifty in the Mort Subite obv).

That is a pain. Hope they'll sort that soon.

This has sorted visiting my London mate in June and planning something for his birthday.

Amsterdam FAP on May 3rd or 4th? Paging all ilxors.

I'll know next week if I can make it on the 3rd!

awesome! sent u an ilxmail.

let me double check the schedule but I'm 95% sure we're there on the night of the 3rd in time to go out

Cool, will get back to you after the weekend

I'm going to be in Amsterdam/NL for a week in September, would love any recommendations on food spots, beer, and other non-Amsterdam places to go for a day or two? Going with my partner and we tend to not spend a lot of time in museums on trips, but are into walking/biking around outside (getting out into some nature and coming back for a good late dinner is the sweet spot).

Lower your food expectations drastically. Amsterdam is one of the worst eating destinations I’ve ever been. But! You can get Surinamese food there, which is about the only good option.

De Bierkoning is possibly the best beer store in Europe.

Noted, ty :/

Strong disagree with Bangelo, there's so many places that offer nice food. Will post some later on.

Thanks LBI! I'm down for some roti rolls at least.

this one was very good:

https://buffet-amsterdam.nl/

There is really good Thai food in amsterdam too.

Singel 404 is a lovely cafe with great sandwiches, soups, and salads for breakfast or lunch.

De Kas is a restaurant in a greenhouse in a park where some of the food is grown on site.

Cafe Modern is a slightly funky restaurant in an old bank building in Amsterdam Noord across the harbor. Set menu iirc.

If you like fine dining, Lastage was one of my favorite meals ever. Just perfect cooking in a handsome canal house setting. Not cheap, but worth it imo.

Recommendations are about 4 years old, so you may want to check more recent reviews.