Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Last night we slept a bit better than yesterday, but it is still very warm in our room in hotel ibis Dinant Centre.
We get up early and therefore we have breakfast earlier. It is now also quieter at breakfast than yesterday.

We have no plans for the morning, the plan was to go to the Citadel today but we already did that yesterday.
That's why we're going for a walk along the Maas. Pia would also like to go to a supermarket and we should see one on the way. And that is true, we come to a fairly large Delhaize Dinant. We look around and we are amazed at the assortment, many types of meat and fish, but also a lot of wine, you name it. Albert Heijn, part of Ahold, just like Delhaize, can learn a lot from this.
Later in the day, when we return by car from rail cycling, we decide to do some shopping.

When we walk back through the shopping street of Dinant we view an exhibition of saxophones. The inventor of the saxophone, Mr. Sax, was a native of Dinant, something the town is proud of. And that is clearly visible, throughout the town you come across saxophones.
On the way, close to the hotel, we also see a restaurant that looks inviting. Seems like a good option for dinner tonight.

Back at the hotel we are reading in our room and after a while we drive to the starting point of the Les Draisines de la Molignée, the rail bikes, for which we have a reservation for this afternoon. We intend to cycle 4 kilometers twice, there and back.
Rail bikes are already waiting, but we have to wait until two o'clock, the previous group has to be completely back first.
We look around in the area, including at a kind of waterfall. It's beautiful. Gradually, more and more people are trickling in who are also going to cycle.
We are allowed to go cycling first, we don't know why, but we think it's fine. Perhaps the other cyclists think that things don't go as fast as we cycle in front, but they will be disappointed. The cycling is actually not too bad, but we both have to pedal because otherwise the rail bike will pull skewed on the rails, and that doesn't cycle well. The route is beautiful, we cycle over a few bridges and through two tunnels and the area is very green. The route does go up a bit and we feel that, but it is not very difficult.
But taking pictures is difficult, because of the cycling we don't really sit still.
After about 20 minutes, much earlier than we expected, we reach the end point in Falaën where there are a few terraces. We look for a place in the shade on the terrace of L'Artiste and order two beers, we have more than 45 minutes before we have to cycle back. When we are drinking beer, the other cyclists who left just after us start to trickle in.
The way back is much easier, we now go down the slope, and we hardly have to pedal.

We drive back to the hotel and we stop at this morning's Delhaize and buy water, ice, wine and beer.
We stay in the hotel for a while and then we look for a place to eat. We don't like eating along the Maasboulevard again, we want something different today.
The restaurant we saw this morning is still closed, and we can't see anywhere when it opens. Too bad we don't eat there.
We walk through the shopping street and many restaurants are closed, holiday or something. A Greek restaurant is open, but we don't feel like going there.
Then we see a Romanian restaurant, Au grand BBQ, we don't know the Romanian cuisine and that's why we think it's worth a try. We go in, it's very quiet and it stays that way, and we can eat. The food is tasty, large portions, and we take what's left with us.

Back at the hotel we sit on the terrace along the Maas for a while, we take the still half-full glasses to the room so that we can drink the wine and beer that we bought this afternoon in the room.

Written on: 2023-08-26

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