Exploring Belgium 6-8 July 2007

Realising that I had less than a month left in Europe and that I had yet to see any of Belgium itself, I embarked on an action packed weekend visiting Antwerp, Leuven, Ghent and Bruges... did I have a four day weekend? No - it's just that I have now mastered the art of efficient sight-seeing.

Antwerp, 6 July 2007

Life at Parliament is non-existent on a Friday and so I made the most of it and visited Antwerp. Unfortunately I took the regional train instead of the InterCity and it took me over an hour to get there instead of 20 minutes. I've been avoiding regional trains like the plague ever since...

Antwerp was quite a cool city - lots of eclectic boutique fashion stores and some nice things to see. I started off browsing the shops and also visited the impressive Kathedraal, chilled out in the Grote Markt and admired the beautiful guildhouses there and also visited Sint Pauluskerk - loved the interior. I was also quite taken with the Calvarieberg, a little grotto outside the church, which was a bit like a secret garden... You had to peer through a wrought iron gate at a deserted little lush green area which, as my "Rough Guide" guidebook to Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp states, is "eerily adorned with statues of Christ and other figures of angels, prophets and saints". It was intriguing and a bit creepy at the same time.

I left for Brussels again after a relaxing day of window shopping, sight-seeing and coffee drinking, taking some snaps of Antwerp's splendid train station on the way.

Leuven, 7 July 2007

On the Saturday I visited Belgium's oldest university town - Leuven. It was quite small but had a great atmosphere and I really enjoyed it. I also got seriously side-tracked on my way into town by the first Belgian clothes store (which, incidentally, was actually full of clothes made in Italy) I'd seen that was worth spending my money on... and I did spend my money... perhaps a little too much... But I justified it by clinging to the fact that in two and a half months I'd only bought a pair of "emergency trousers" to battle the miserable Brussels weather - that's a pretty good record for me.

Apart from shopping, I hung out in the Grote Markt and admired the fantastic Stadhuis there - the most impressive I've seen. Great views of it walking to the centre from the train station too. I checked out the lovely St Pieterskerk and had a coffee in the Oude Markt which was meant to be the "boisterous core of Leuven's student scene" (Rough Guide again) but it was obviously holiday time because the place was like a ghost town - made worse by the fact that it was an enormous square! But it must be an impressive sight during University term.

My favourite part of Leuven was the Groot Begijnhof - harking back to the sixteenth century, it's a winding maze of gorgeous little red-brick houses originally inhabited by around three hundred "begijns" (women living as nuns without having taken any vows). Now, the Leuven University has taken it over and uses it as a student residence... I was green with envy at the thought of students getting to live there during their studies!

Ghent, 8 July 2007

I woke up early to allow enough time to explore Ghent before I had to meet up with Kees again in Bruges in the afternoon. Unfortunately, I discovered that Ghent was my favourite Belgian town (out of the ones I've been to, anyway) and could have done with a lot more time there - it was lovely!

I arrived sometime before nine whilst Ghent was still sleeping - it was all very quiet and still and, to top it all off, it was actually a nice day too (something rare for Belgium).

I discovered there was castle (Het Gravensteen), formerly inhabited by the Counts of Flanders and built way back in 1180... predictably perhaps, I headed straight there. It was great! I was too early to go in and explore and intended to go back before I had to leave... but then the rest of beautiful Ghent took over and I just didn't get the time.

My next visit was to the Patershol which is the name given to the former heart of the Flemish working-class area and consists of tiny cobbled lanes and brick houses dating back to the 17th century. After Groot Begijnhof in Leuven, however, it didn't quite live up to the hype.

After the Patershol I strolled down to the Belfort (which, naturally, I climbed up) and witnessed some gorgeous views over the city. I stopped for a leisurely coffee in the Korenmarkt before walking back to the train station via the canal side to head to Bruges.

Bruges, 8 July 2007

I arrived in Bruges around lunch time to meet up with Kees again, who had been biking for the last few days through the Netherlands and then on to Bruges. Crazy boy. We were both starving so we found a place to eat and sat out in the cafe's courtyard and chatted about Kees' biking adventures - or misadventures! - since I saw him last.

Post-food, we did the usual and took to wandering around the city - a very attractive medieval town. Some people have complained that some of it is reconstructed... but for goodness sake! Who cares?! I would rather that some of it be reconstructed to look in keeping with the rest of the place than slapping up a horrendous looking glass sky scraper monstrosity in the middle of it all (here's looking at you, Brussels).

We visited the Markt, of course, as well as the Burg - Bruges' second square that houses the Stadhuis/Town Hall as well as the impressive Basilica. We wandered into an enormous flea market at one point which was full of stuff that surely no one could ever need. We also decided to take a canal cruise which was really great - and I didn't fall asleep on this one!

All in all, Bruges was a very pretty city but was packed (and I mean packed) full of tourists... and it's for this reason that I prefer Ghent because it's still a habitable city. But we had a great time there and finished off the day over a mug of beer (although mine wasn't really beer - it was Belgium's Pecherese beer that tastes pretty much like fizzy juice because it's all I can handle!) in a cool little bar that had hundreds of Belgian beers to choose from. I took the train back to Brussels and Kees hopped back on his bike...

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