Art in Bloom-Belgium & Holland

Arrive at Brussels International Airport (Zaventem), where your Tour Leader will welcome you and accompany you to Brussels, the de facto capital of the European Union and the seat of NATO and other international organizations. Have a guided walking and bus tour of the city’s highlights: the Atomium, the Royal Palace, Avenue Louise, lined with outstanding Art Nouveau architecture including buildings by the architect Victor Horta (WHS), and the Grand Place (WHS), surrounded by elaborately decorated 17^th-century guild houses. Many consider the Grande Place to be the most beautiful square in Europe. Stroll around this magnificent square and enjoy lunch here before continuing to the nearby enchanting city of Bruges (WHS), where you will stay for the next three days and nights. Check in at your hotel, located in the Old City of Bruges; then have the rest of the day at leisure. In the evening enjoy a welcome dinner. B/L/D Hotel Academie (4-star)

Today explore this delightful small town on foot with your guide, enjoying the medieval atmosphere of its picturesque center with beautiful decorated houses, old guildhalls and lovely churches. Visit the secluded Beguinage (WHS), its tree-shaded courtyard filled with blooming daffodils, see the Minnewater (“Lake of Love), then enter the nearby Our Lady Church to admire the only one of Michelangelo’s works not in Italy, his magnificent sculpture of the Virgin and Child. Enjoy a canal boat ride, floating along the Medieval canals as they meander through the town, passing under weeping willow branches arching over the water, and looking for the small boatmen’s altars tucked into the old brick canalside walls. Visit the Memling Museum—once a medieval hospital—to gaze at the masterpieces there.

After lunch, visit the Gruuthuse Museum, housed in a 15^th-century brick mansion, now the Museum of Decorative Arts. Admire the beautiful Flemish interior with opulent fireplaces, ceilings, tapestries, musical instruments, furniture, and weapons, evidence of the rich past of Bruges. Take some time to enjoy an extended visit to the museum on your own, or explore the many hidden treasures that evidence the wealth of this merchant town at its height. B/L/D Hotel Academie (4-star)

After breakfast travel to nearby Ghent to visit to the St. Bavo Cathedral, where you will find the painting by the Brothers van Eyck, The Adoration of the Lamb. Then stop by the superb Graslei Guildhouses, and see the Gravensteen, the Castle of the Counts. Have lunch in a local restaurant, where they brew their own Belgian beer. 

In the afternoon return to Bruges, where you will visit the best-known museum there, the Groeninge Museum, famous for its amazing masterpieces of Flemish primitives from the so called “‘Bruges School.” Among the museum’s holdings are paintings by van Eyck, van der Weyden and of course Memling, whose masterpiece, the Moreel Triptych depicts St. Maur, St. Christopher and St. Giles with mysticism, inner peace and contemplation. A room of works by Hieronymus Bosch includes his remarkable Last Judgment. There are also works by more recent painters such as Paul Delvaux, Magritte and Marcel Broodthaers.

You may stay on in the museum or take some time to look into the many Belgian lace and chocolate shops in town. B/L/D Hotel Academie (4-star)

After breakfast depart for Antwerp where you will have a bus tour of the city, including a guided visit to the Cathedral of Antwerp and the Rubens House Museum. Rubens’ presence is everywhere in Antwerp, but the highlight is the house where he lived and worked. Decorated in the Flemish style, the living quarters contain old tiles, 17^th-century furniture and numerous paintings by Rubens. You will also see his studio there, and enjoy the redesigned 17^th-century garden. Take time to explore this jewel!

Use your afternoon at leisure to visit one of the many excellent museums here, including the Royal Museum of Fine Art, which has an exceptional collection of works by Flemish painters such as van Eyck, Memling, van der Weyden and Rubens; the Museum Mayer van den Bergh, a personal collection famous for its Medieval sculpture, manuscripts, tapestries and painting including Mad Meg by Breughel the Elder; the Museum of Photography; the MUHKA (the Antwerp Contemporary Art Museum) located in an old grain elevator near the river; or the many art galleries. You could also discover Meir Street, the city’s major shopping street, where the International Cultural Center has exhibitions of contemporary art housed in a beautiful Rococo palace. B/L/D Hotel Astrid Park (4-star)

After breakfast travel on to Holland, stopping at the Kinderdijk (WHS) to see the polders (areas of reclaimed land) and a cluster of 19 windmills in the typical Dutch countryside along the dike. Pause in the picturesque town of Delft, where you will have a guided walking tour of the historic area. Stop to admire one of the most beautiful squares of Holland, with the Town Hall (1618) at one side, and on the other the “New Church “ (dating back to 1381!), where all members of the royal family are buried. Visit the New Church and the restored grave of William the Silent, founder of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Enjoy an exhibition and tour at the popular Delft Blue Pottery factory. 

Continue to Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, and check into your centrally located hotel. Amsterdam is a delightful city with historic houses that line the banks of the canals, along with gabled warehouses, arched bridges and colorful houseboats. The city comprises 70 islands separated by nearly 50 miles of canals and connected by more than a 1000 bridges. Enjoy dinner in a restaurant near your hotel that offers typical Dutch food. B/L/D Hotel Vondel Amsterdam (4-star)

This morning enjoy a guided city tour of Amsterdam’s important major sites including Dam Square, with the impressive Royal Palace and New Church, and Waterloo Square. Visit the Rijksmuseum with its exceptional collection of 15^th- to 17^th-century paintings, including Rembrandt’s famous painting the Nightwatch and the work of other Dutch masters such as Vermeer, Steen, and Hals. [The Rijksmuseum is under a major renovation until the summer of 2008, but the highlights of the Golden Age of Dutch Masters are housed in the museum’s Philips Wing and well worth a visit.] 

After lunch visit the nearby van Gogh Museum, with its collection of over 200 paintings, approximately 600 drawings, and many letters which Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo, as well as the works of contemporary artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec and Gauguin.

Conclude this day with a visit to the Anne Frank House, where the Jewish refugee wrote her famous diary during World War II. B/L/D Hotel Vondel Amsterdam (4-star)

Take a guided excursion into the Dutch countryside to visit to National Park De Hoge Veluwe, the location of the Kröller Müller Museum. This fine museum is especially known for its collection of paintings by van Gogh, along with works of Mondrian, Seurat, Picasso and others. The marvelous sculpture park next to the museum includes impressive works by Rodin, Jean Arp, and Henry Moore, and Jean Dubuffet’s delightful Enamel Garden.

Enjoy a typical Dutch pancake lunch at a restaurant near the museum. In the afternoon have a guided tour of Het Loo National Museum and gardens, the summer home of the Kings and Queens of the Netherlands, the House of Orange. On the return trip to Amsterdam, visit an exceptional private garden, boldly planted with flower borders that are a vibrant mixture of herbaceous plants, bulbs, tubers and roses. In the evening enjoy a Rijstafel (“Rice Table”) dinner of Indonesian specialties. B/L/D Hotel Vondel Amsterdam (4-star)

Today you will have a walking tour of Amsterdam beginning with a visit to the intimate Rembrandt House Museum, the authentically furnished 17^th-century home and studio of the illustrious artist Rembrandt van Rijn. Walk through his kitchen, the drawing room, and his studio, and see the beautifully decorated art cabinet (Kunstcaemer). Then, as Amsterdam is best seen from the waterside, enjoy a canal boat ride, passing gabled warehouses, arched bridges and colorful houseboats. The afternoon is free for independent sightseeing; then in the evening, enjoy a delicious farewell dinner at a private canal house, now a cooking school. B/L/D Hotel Vondel Amsterdam (4-star)

After breakfast, depart for Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport for your return flight to the U.S.

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Continue on for the Spring Garden Extension. Click here for details about the Extension.