Belgium - a lot of fun in a little country

Last weekend I went to visit Garron and Hannah in Belgium. It was Garron's last weekend before the big move to Rwanda (!!!) so they hosted a going away party. (Incidentally, you can follow their African adventures at http://millescollines.blogspot.com.)
When I visited them for Thanksgiving last November we never left Brussels so this time I wanted to see a bit more of the country and we decided on Ghent in Flanders (Flemish speaking) and Dinant in Wallonia (French speaking). Nothing is ever more than an hour or two away at the most in tiny Belgium so it was easy to fit these little trips into the weekend plans.

Ghent is a beautiful old medieval city with a large pedestrian-only area in the center of town. Bruges is probably better known and a bigger draw for tourists, but Ghent, I'm told, is just as charming and less Colonial Williamsburg-y in that artificial, frozen in time kind of way. There were big crowds gathered along the Ghent River for a boat race so we stopped to watch for a while. The boats competing in the race had to dodge the motorboats giving tours along the river - an extra obstacle the rowers didn't seem all that pleased about.

Belgian food is of course one of the main reasons to visit and the food in Ghent did not disappoint. We ate lunch at an outdoor cafe in the town square. I had Waterzooi with chicken which is a hearty chicken stew. Very tasty. We also sampled some delicious little Belgian pastries (they were a cross between a pancake, a donut and a dumpling) with powdered sugar on top from a street vendor. Yummy.

The next day the sun came out as we set off for Dinant. It’s a charming little town nestled in the hills at a bend in the Meuse River. We walked around, sampled the traditional Couques de Dinant (really hard, honey flavored cookies that come in beautiful shapes but are almost impossible to eat) and climbed the stone stairs up to the impressive citadel/fortress which overlooks the town.

Of the two parts of the country, Wallonia is more pastoral and hilly and less densely populated while Flanders has more of the country's industry and wealth and the larger cities. Brussels, by far the largest city and capital, is in Flanders but sits very close to the Walloon border and most of its residents are bilingual in Flemish and French.

Apparently there's been a lot of talk lately about the incompatibility of the two parts of Belgium and the possibility of them splitting into two separate countries (first I'd heard of it). The Prime Minister Elect (who is Flemish) has reportedly said the only things Belgians from Wallonia have in common with Belgians from Flanders are "the King, the football team, and some beers." New ministers were elected last June but still the Prime Minister Elect has not been able to bring a majority together to form a Belgian government. I even read there was an article in the French newspaper Le Figaro calling on President Sarkozy to prepare for the annexation of Wallonia after it breaks away from Flanders. It's hard to imagine little Belgium splintering down into two even smaller countries but a lot of Belgians seem to think it's a very real possibility.

Here are some articles about the situation if you're interested.

http://euobserver.com/9/24625
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6962390.stm

Even though I live just a quick Eurostar ride through the Chunnel away from Belgium I had no idea all this political drama was going on over there. You learn so much when you travel - even just a short distance from home.

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