Bye Bye Belgium

We wrote some of this whilst indulging on divine Belgian chocolates on the Belgian railways, which are only somewhat better than Deutschebahn. The second half of this was written whilst in a Laundramat watching our washing spin in London.

Got to make the most of sitting around...

We were in Belgium for only 2 days and really had to maximise it, arriving in Antwerp heading to Brugge and leaving from Brussels, and we wanted to somehow see all 3. We are ambitious!

Initial Impressions – aint nobody got time for that with only 2 days! Here is what we observed and basically all we had time to see other than the key sights. Its old, it’s very beautiful, there are a lot of stunning diamonds, too many chocolate shops that we wanted to eat everything from, more waffles than you can count and magnificent world famous beer. 

We got thinking about Belgium, here is this gorgeous little country and we couldn’t think of what it was famous or known for other than beer, chocolate and waffles. Turns out what else is there that you need to be famous for!?

Antwerp (5:30pm Saturday – 11am Sunday)

We arrived in Antwerp at 5:30 on Saturday and on the way to our hotel it soon became obvious why Antwerp is famous for diamonds - there are diamond stores as far as the eye can see. Even with the packs on our backs Amy was stopping to look in every window until Simon coaxed her along.

Once checked in we planted ourselves on the bed and watched some shows we had brought with us, this is some of the first ‘down time’ we had in about 2 weeks. We had aimed for an early night but finished off our blog from Munich, the early night turned into 12:30. 

Determined to see Antwerps highlights in the morning we arose at 6.30 for an early escape. It turns out mornings are the best time to see things, no tourists in sight … in fact there were no people. Sundays everything is closed in Antwerp, even most cafes so getting breaky was pretty tricky. We are discovering that barista coffee doesn’t really happen in the parts of Europe we have been to, unless you are lucky enough to find a little place in an ally way.

We headed to the must sees in Antwerp determined to catch a train to Brugge at 10:30am, a tight window. We headed into the main square Grot Markt which is meant to be amazing, along the way we saw Europes first mainland skyscraper (excluding Churches), this building would have been impressive 70 years ago when it was built. Upon arrival at Grot Markt we discovered they were hosting a world championship in bike trials… right in the middle of the ‘perfect square’. Regardless of stuff everywhere this place was gorgeous. We had heard Brugge was gorgeous and so seeing this place we now had high expectations for Brugge (they were exceeded!). Doing a quick dash around Antwerp and only seeing the little we saw we can’t remark any further on Antwerps qualities or culture, but it seemed lovely. Lots of cafes, pubs and shopping.

Brugge (1pm Sunday to 12:30 Monday)

We missed the 10:30 train, just slightly, so we took the 11am and made it to Brugge by 1pm. This place is mindblowing!! Every street is breathtaking, every shop enticing, and every corner your turn gets more beautiful than the last. Our hotel was located in the centre and very heart of Brugge, the most perfect location. We checked in and grabbed some lunch, lashing out with a set menu and ate some of the best food we had enjoyed for a while. Having protein and salad was amazing, a rare treat to be able to sit down and have a proper piece of meat.

When in the home of the world’s finest chocolates it is important to learn more, so we went to the chocolate museum. So why is Belgian chocolate so good and so expensive? Because it is made with the best cocoa beans in the world, and the powder is ground to the finest possible levels ensuring no grittiness in the chocolate, it is just velvety smooth. Take it from us they are doing something right. We finally answered the question of whether white chocolate is actually chocolate. The answer is yes, but whilst it doesn’t use cocoa paste or powder it uses the cocoa butter which is a bi product when making cocoa powder from cocoa paste. Yep, we know you’re impressed and are thinking ‘’wow they really know what they’re talking about’. Don’t get carried away we don’t know that much.

We powered around this town like energiser bunnies, resolute to see all the best bits. We are pretty proud of how well we achieved this. The town was so busy, we wouldnt want to be here in the summer at peak season. We decided not to take too many photos as there was no chance with all the people, rather we waited till evening when everyone was in the fancy restaurants and were off the streets. That evening we had the best hot chocolate either of us have ever had (and has the reputation of the best in Brugge) at Godiver chocolatiers. Chocolate melted in warm milk then a truffle melted though that. Heavenly.

We woke early again to ensure we got to see as much as we could and have the city a little to ourselves. The Church of Our Lady is the second highest building in Brugge after the belfry and is spectacular in its own right. Being up bright and early we had run of the place and it was amazing to behold the quiet serenity. Around the back this is this almost medieval looking spot complete with stone arch bridge, wood panelled houses on the canal and just astonishingly striking.

Our early arrival paid dividends when we made it to a super scenic spot before any tourists were there and barely any locals. Begijnhof is a beautiful pond full of ducks and swans backing onto an ancient stone bridge and buildings. In the early AM whilst we were there it was surreal. Amy went to town with the camera and braved being within a metre of a swan to take some really great shots. Just as were leaving the first gaggle of ‘guided tourists’ arrived.

Brugge is most famous for its belfry (see earlier photo) and all its 366 steps that you can climb for spectacular 360 degree views across the town. We had heard this climb was pretty tough with its narrow and steep stairs, and prepared ourselves mentally and stretched. We watched people struggle and heard them gasping for breath, but it turns out we are getting pretty fit on this trip and barely felt exhausted by the time we reached the top. Go team Wile!

Brugge is magical and almost fairytale like. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys old beautiful towns or chocolate. It is easy to walk around being so small yet it is packed with things to see, buy and eat. It is hard to find a time to put your camera and wallet away.

Still wanting to see the key highlights of Brussels we left Brugge at 12:30 on the train. Allowing us a few hours in Brussels before leaving at 7 for London. 

Brussels (2pm to 7pm Monday)

Rolling into Brussels we had another poor customer service experience in the train station before we got hold of a map and headed to “The Grand Place”. It sounds really posh and sure enough, it is, but after Brugge we honestly felt a little underwhelmed and realised that perhaps all this incredible architecture and history is desensitizing us a little more each time we see something new. Perhaps we needed more context behind the buildings. Whatever the case was after a brief walk and look we went to find coffee and chocolate and ended up with coffee and a raspberry meringue bigger than Simons hand and about 15cm high. Honestly you just can’t say no to this stuff. There’s something to be said for presentation but the quality of this stuff delivers everything promised. 

Brussels was just filled with tourists and whilst Brugge was equally as packed, you could understand why - the city was unspoilt, clean and dripping with romantic charm. Brussels was just old, busy and a bit dirty. We completely appreciate the fact we were there for a VERY short period of time, but in that time we felt no pull to stay. In Brugge we felt as though we could easily spend a few days perusing and being awe inspired.

On the recommendation of a chocolatier we had the best coffee we’ve had in Europe and returned to “The Grand Place” (TGP) feeling somewhat less tired and jaded and more into what was around us.

We set off to explore the surrounds and found what we think was a replica of Notre Dame, given that Belgium was occupied by the French for some time this is not unlikely. It was incredibly large, intricate and beautiful to view but we left wondering, is all this beauty and grandeur truly for God or for the men who ‘represented’ him on Earth?

For the third time we returned to TGP and sat and people watched for a while. Feeling the hunger we opted for the traditional Belgian fries with mayonnaise. Its sounds bizarre but it’s really quite tasty and we just chilled out for a while before returning to the train station to catch the Eurostar to London.

Overall Brussels was underwhelming and we were glad we decided to go to Antwerp instead. Perhaps we didn’t put enough thought or effort into the place, but we gave 3 cities in 2 days our best shot. We can’t say we were bored.

The train ride to London was smooth and uneventful except for when Simon tried to open the ‘air vent’ to get more cold air and wondered why nothing was coming out… Amy kindly informed him that this was a light…

We arrived in Britain (the land of Simons peoples), passed customs, walked to our hotel and summarily collapsed into a coma.

Final Thoughts:

Belgium has great customer service in the touristy shops, they will bend over backwards for you but out on the street and in the train system they were aloof, self-serving and cold. Not a good impression to give tourists. There is a lot to see in Belgium even though it flies under the radar on the world scene. Sure Brussels might be the capital city of Europe but that’s boring. The café culture, the food, the beer and chocolate, the unspoilt towns and countryside is where the best to see is at. We would go back to Brugge in a heartbeat and if we had time spend a proper day in Antwerp.

Belgians are slim but chocolate is popular, the difference is high quality but only in small amounts. Australia take note. 

Lessons Learnt:

• Get out early in the morning and late at night for the best photos, and for the opportunity to soak up scenery without interuptions
• Belgian chocolates are the worlds best, no ifs or buts
• Chips with mayonnaise, awesome
• Always carry at least one of each type of coin, people wont give you change
• Bi lingual countries are confusing - seriously we dont speak French or Dutch so figuring out who's speaking what is frustrating. Hopefully they know whats going on.

XoxoSimon & Amy