I've always been a bit partial to strong European beer anyway so no harm done there. Beer I generally found stronger in Holland than the stuff brewed back home but it was often served in smaller glasses. After a quiet look around the centre, admiring the two main churches amongst other things a rock bar and two Irish bars were where I ended up before heading to my first match of the weekend. But having looked at all the different flight options from Newcastle Airport, fixture lists from various European leagues, and various public transport options across the continent, I was convinced that I could attach a football weekend to my trip and that the Netherlands was the perfect destination.įor the first night of my trip I checked into the exceptional €70 B&B Oekepoek, right in the heart of the old city centre of Enschede and only a six minute walk from the main train station.

My brother teaches in Cologne, Germany, and a visit to see him during his half term week was the original purpose for me travelling abroad. I flew into Amsterdam Schiphol on a Friday morning and got straight onto a train heading for the city of Enschede. Two matches in Zwolle and a game in Arnhem will follow as I travel across the very flat and partly man made Dutch countryside with it's neat symmetrical patches of farmland separated by straight uniform dykes, to visit two delightful cities, one charming town, four football grounds, and see more bicycles in one weekend than I've probably seen in my whole entire life! Welcome to the Netherlands. It's a Friday night and Excelsior from Rotterdam are the opposition, game one of a four game Dutch 'voetbal' weekend. I stand behind the goal as the players are running onto the pitch to the sound of 'You'll Never Walk Alone', with those same words written on the red scarf purchased earlier from a stall outside the stadium, but Liverpool this is not! This is FC Twente in the city of Enschede.

Teletext voetbal stand