Borrel’s Bonus Tour de Pays-Bas Day 12.5: Standdaarbuiten - Breda

We wake up at Rutger and Maude’s home and enjoy a coffee with them. Unfortunately, Justin does not share the general Dutch preference for a light and often sweet breakfast. In this case, Zeeuwse bollen (traditional cinnamon buns from Zeeland), thoughtfully provided by our lovely hosts. His loss! Alison loves it. But we both agree to find something more substantial en route to Breda, where we’ll also be catching the train back to Rotterdam.

Rutger has recommended we go via Oudenbosch, a town just 5 km away. Its claim to fame? A replica of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome designed by legendary Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers! It is indeed a grand and imposing if somewhat puzzling monument in this otherwise sleepy town on a Sunday morning. 

But the town is also quite lovely and we enjoy a stroll through the streets, enjoying the whimsical public art and trying to distance ourselves from a British cycling group also making a stop there (and really talking far too loudly on this quiet morning … But we’re probably just as annoying!). 

Unfortunately, not much is open yet and there’s little to be found for breakfast (not surprising, as the classic fry-up Justin is craving is really only to be found easily in Amsterdam, likely due to years of hungover tourists complaining that a slice of bread with Nutella isn’t going to cut it!). We peruse the nice looking sandwiches at Bakkerij Nagelkerke, but we’re really craving something warm on this brisk summer morning. Fortunately, we’re in the right place.

“Warme worstenbrood!” The cheerful announcement comes from one of the young bakers in the back as she presents a massive fresh-from-the-oven tray of Bakkerij Nagelkerke’s – and the province of Brabant’s – finest: sausage bread (i.e. sausage meat encased in a roll)! The words were like music to our ears and she could tell as she eagerly asked us how many we’d like. “Twee, graag!” She was maybe a little puzzled that we only wanted one each, and in retrospect, we probably should’ve got a dozen. They were delicious! 

(Funny enough, a year prior, a friend and proud Eindhoven native was determined to get us a worstenbroodje before heading back to Rotterdam. We nearly missed our train as he searched frantically through a grocery store only to send us on our way with two cold worstenbroodjes, which, needless to say, were a little underwhelming. In any case, Bakkerij Nagelkerke – famous for its worstenbroodjes – made us realize what our friend was talking about. They’re fantastic!)

With “warme worstenbrood” in our bellies, we set out on our final 20 km bike journey to Breda. It was a nice ride, breezy but easy (although, to be honest, writing about it now, we can’t remember too many details about it now. And, as you’ll notice, we have few photos from this day of the trip. I guess we were finally experiencing some bike travel journalism burnout, and weren’t even sure we’d write about this final leg of the journey!)

Park Valkenberg

Breda is not unfamiliar to us as we’ve been a couple of times before. We bike in through the outskirts along the canals full of cozy looking woonboots (including one that must be the world’s most aesthetically pleasing Dutch coffee shop, aka weed store). We lock up our bikes at the train station, and stroll into town.

Breda’s beautiful city centre takes a little to get into as the train station is a bit of a ways from the city centre, somewhat uncommon in the Netherlands. But it’s a really nice way to walk into the city along a tree-lined street and then through the lovely Park Valkenberg (which used to be full of a very cute and hilarious band of wild chickens, who sadly had to be removed recently due to the risk of bird flu), and then through old architectural walls to reveal cobblestone streets … and a very happening city centre where the cafés are packed!

In town, we beeline it for a snack – a well-earned patat speciaal for Justin, and an appeltaart and warme Chocomel (met slagroom!) for Alison.

Finally, it’s time for that always delicious post-bike-ride biertje. We pop in to Cafe de Bommel, a classic brown cafe that’s been a Breda staple for almost 40 years. It’s pretty quiet on this August Sunday afternoon (everyone is out on the terraces today), but you can tell that this place knows how to throw a party. There’s a stage in the back and posters on the wall for upcoming gigs. We’ll have to come back sometime. The bartender is friendly, the beer is cold, and we enjoy a gezellig borrel. 

After our snacks and drinks, it’s time to grab our bikes and catch the train back to Rotterdam. As we make our way to the platform we’re delighted to discover that the stairs leading up to the train platforms are built with grooves at the side to make it easy to push our bikes up the stairs. Ingenious little design details like this make all the difference in supporting a convenient, flexible and interconnected transit system that serves everyone.

If only our city planners back home would take a note.