By: MJ + PJ
Check out more of our photos from Belgium HERE!
You’d think that the rest of our train ride to Belgium would have been tame after our Barcelona exit, but there was one more drama we endured that day! Once in Paris we had to change stations – easy enough on the metro. Then all we had to do was print out our ticket. To do that you need to put in the reservation number in the machine.
Usually we screenshot e-tickets to be sure we can access the basic ticket details via a photo rather than than from an email. It’s a technology thing. MJ had forgotten to do this in the rush of the morning, and the Paris connecting train left in less than 20 minutes. Being shown to the help office, we found a line of about 25 people. There was a most unhelpful helper at the end of the line who merely smirked and shrugged his shoulders at our request to confirm the type of information office that this was. We abandoned that scenario and tried to get WiFi but could not. Pulling out our tablet (which we were always reluctant to do in public) we found it had stored the email and ticket so we finally had a number! Hooray! Again, we made our train. Another lesson learned!
BRUGGE
It is tough to find an Airbnb in Bruges. For this reason we got all fancy and booked a hotel for the five days – this being more expensive, but only about 20 Euro more per night than we had anticipated (it did include breakfast, which was a bonus). It was a ten minute walk into the main square, and pretty much everywhere else – it’s not a large city!
First, a few things you should know about Brugge:
- It’s awesome.
- It’s delicious.
- That’s chocolate on the sidewalk, not dog poop.
- Without waffling on: A plain waffle is waffle enough.
- They are Belgian, and they are frites.
- Forget your purity laws.
Arriving in Brugge at about 7pm, we walked the cobblestone streets to the hotel and checked in. We had a few places on our list to visit, but needed to come up with a more definitive plan for the days we had there. Several other cities and places were within reach that also deserved some exploring.
Day one we headed straight for the central part of the city – Brugge Centrum and Grote Markt. We wandered around for a while and then found a delicious lunch at The Olive – Street Food (not a food truck but a store). AJ rated his lunch before he had finished it, saying “You need to give this place five stars!”. we decided to start our dive into local history by visiting the Brugge Beer Experience – Beer Museum. We thought we knew quite a lot about beer, but found there was plenty more to see and experience. It is a well organized and a great place to dig deep into the subject and history of beer.
Late in the afternoon we walked around the area looking for the fabled (as far as any Northern Colorado resident is concerned!) ‘t Brugs Beertje bar. It’s hard to get lost in these small cities, but its easy to not find what you’re looking for! We eventually found the bar, getting a good look around the small local streets in doing so. Settling in at a small table in a small room, we perused and agonized over the exceptionally thorough beer menu and shared a cheese plate.
We started the next day with a walk along the canal to see the four old windmills. You are able to go inside one of them… but not on the day of the week we were there! We also got a look at the Jan Van Eyckplein statue as we neared the city centre by walking along the main and historical canal.
Eventually we arrived at a place we were all curious about: The Friet (Fry) Museum! Once inside we were quickly reminded of our time in South America – a whole room dedicated to the early history of this humble tuber. A whole heap of interactive history followed, which kept AJ engrossed. At the end your tastebuds finally get what they came for! Deliciousness! In what is a good deal for a traveling family, the Friet Museum has a ticket deal with Choco Story… so you can guess where we went next!
In what turned into a busy day, the afternoon involved another intense dive into the history of the area – a visit to the Historium and Duvelorium. This is right on the main square in Brugge, and although clearly a tourist oriented experience has a lot of variety and is great for kids (interactive walking performance, panoramic views of the town center, hands on activity room, and virtual reality). Our afternoon was filled with sampling chocolate at various chocolate shops – this city is dense in indulgences and culture.
GHENT
Day three in Belgium we headed to another local city, halfway to Brussels, called Ghent. We had read about the castle in the city, and thought it deserved a look and to serve as our starting point. We took the train to Ghent, which was about a half hour journey, and then walked the streets through to the centre of the city.
Gravensteen Castle is a fine example of ‘tourism done right’. Everything made sense in terms of navigation, the audio guide was easy to use, and there was a lot to see and learn about in what is a modest sized castle. We have to say, the audio guide was hilarious, and it had us all recounting the stories for days later. Gravensteen Castle is the home of the first built-in fireplace in Europe. It’s one of those things taken for granted – ventilated indoor heating – but this castle was the first designed and built with this dedicated ‘fireplace’ in some of the rooms. Turns out it was a great idea! We highly recommend this tour if you are in the area.
We took a walk to the top of the tower Het Belfort van Gent. While a bit unsure about this given the higher than expected price, it turns out it was worth it. Besides the views and the historical collection of items from the tower, we got to see this in action:
Just off the main square we came across Bluet Flower Shop. It is the kind of place you don’t necessarily go seeking, but you find and explore anyhow. Inside there was four floors of exotic plants and pieces for decoration, and a particularly interesting themed ceiling for a store like this:
BRUSSELS
The following day we headed out on the train again, this time to Brussels. Another Belgian city with an interesting history, and another European city where we took a Sandemans walking tour. The tour was well worth it again. We learned all the weird history, saw some historical art and architecture, got the low down on politics in the region, and were given some insights and tasting of local cuisine… more chocolate! …more frites! Our tour guide carried her small dog with her, which was interesting but seemed to fit with the subtle oddities of Belgium.
The tour finished on the steps atop the Mont des Artes, after which we walked around the gardens near the palace and then stopped to visit the cafe above the Musical Instruments Museum. The view from the cafe is worth the visit! We did not have time to visit this museum given the suggested time to do so, and AJ really wanted to see the Brussels Comic Book Museum, which was a decent walk away.
If you look at our BUCKET LIST: Month Ten post you will see we saw quite a few things as we walked around Brussels. This is clearly another city that we would like to return to and explore more since we only scratched the surface on our one day visit.
Our final full day in Belgium was an easy day around Brugge. We got some laundry done, then walked a different route into the city. Kicking ourselves for not doing the obvious sooner, we finally got some Belgian waffles at Chez Albert Waffles… sans any topping or flavoring. Near the city center we stopped and talked beer with the shopkeeper at the Struise Beer Shop, then visited another delicacy store called Aux Merveilleux de Fred. Desserts, desserts, desserts…
Known for its own style of beer, we could not exit the country without going on a brewery tour. Having booked a time for the tour at Huisbrouwerij De Halve Maan, we headed there to learn about their long history and the famous ‘beer pipeline’. Seriously… they have a pipeline dedicated to pumping their beer underground 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) to their packaging plant. This keeps their original family owned brewery inside the city, large trucks and traffic out of the city, and a supply matching the increased distribution demands. The tour reminded us of the tour at Hook Norton in the Cotswolds of England – tight spaces, steep stairs, historical brewing equipment and the like.
After a very busy week, it was time to pack up and head to The Netherlands.
