Blogs from West Flanders, Belgium, Europe

The trenches img=https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Ze2by7q1X6M/T7ldKi6r7nI/AAAAAAAABPo/_8eNaM3zDXI/s640/IMG_5669.JPG On June 28th 1914, Franz Ferdinand was murdered in Sarajevo. He was an Austrian archduke, who was supposed to take the throne over a territory that then encompassed Hungary. Serbia also wanted to annex Hungary though, because they wanted to create some kind of "slavic territory". So when Ferdinand visited the country, Serbian terrorists shot him and his wife, because they didn't want Austria to rule over territory that they considered to be rightfully theirs. This caused a chain reaction throughout Europe, because countries had all kinds of alliances with each other. For instance, if country A was at war with country B, and country A and country C had an alliance, this meant country B was at war with both country A and country C. I... read more

everything is ready for departure. Now that winter is finally setting in in western Europe, it's time to go. It seems to be perfect timing. I'm living about a 100km from Brussels international airport Belgium. Driving to the station of Lichtervelde will give me a direct train (no switching) to the airport. The full price of a ticket to the airport is € 17,6. FYI a first class ticket would have been €25,1. I'm leaving with the train at 6.30 in the morning, the duration of the trainride is appr. 1h 40m. making my arrival 08.10. My direct flight to Altanta departs hopefully without delays at 10.10. I've already started to adjust my day to day patron with 2h to minimize the effects of the 6h difference. As I'll be driving for about 3h upon my ... read more

Bonjour everyone, we are writing to you from a bright and sunny Oostende in Belgium. Now for only being away for three days a hell of a lot has happened..from the beginning... Our first day was not too good to be honest. As we drove onto the Eurotunnel there was a lot of white smoke coming out of the back of the van. We worried about it the whole 30 min journey and after the initial excitement of driving on french soil we pulled into an aire and called the insurance company. They gave us the address for a garage in Dunkirque so we had to go find it (!!) and that was easier said than done. We actually ended up having to pull over at McDonalds and use their free wifi so that we could ... read more

The ferry docks about 9.15am the next morning, and we actually meet our Scottish friends again at breakfast. They are feeling a bit worse for wear and say they didn’t get much sleep either due to the bad weather conditions. The drive to Brugge is quite simple and only takes us about half an hour. The problem is trying to find our hotel once we are there, as according to the sat nav it and the street it is on doesn’exist. We drive around in circles before Greg finally admits defeat and asks in the Novotel if they know where it is. They give him a map and directions and after that we find it in no time at all. The room is basic but clean and has a comfy bed, which is the most important ... read more

So on a Friday night after work, we set off for Brugge. It took us longer to get out of Paris then it did to drive to Brugge which actually isn't that far away. But due to the traffic we arrived at our hostel around midnight. We got straight into sampling Belgian beer and kicked off the weekend on a good note. The next morning we hired a couple of bikes and rode to Holland. A nice ride along some country roads and bicycle lanes. In Holland we had lunch and refreshed, then we rode back to Belgium, but this time along the coast. We took in some parks and a few port towns and then decided to try and find the way back to Brugge. Unfortunately this was harder and longer than what we had ... read more

Dreaming spires, the Venice of the North, stepped roofs, a city built on wool. All words that describe Brugges a beautiful medieval city with a history of a school of painting known as the Flemishstyle which gained world renown. Brugges is considered as the most intact of all medieval cities with a 13th century belltower complete with a carillion of 48 bells. I loved Brugges a delightful city full of canals and bridges, higgledy piggledy cobbled alleyways and streets. Calling it the Crown Jewel of Belgium is an understatement. Bruges was a unique city, small enough to be inviting and large enough to be beguiling. Fascinating with its brickwork that looked like streaky bacon, light bricks representing the fat and the red bricks the lean meat of the bacon. I would recommend a trip on the ... read more