Belgians know how to live... great beer and chocolate all round

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We arrived in Brussels to discover that the accommodation that we had booked was a ‘proper’ hotel, complete with cable TV and an ensuite with a bath! These were luxuries compared to the hostels we’ve been staying in so the first night we chilled out, Karen had a bath and Mick enjoyed the TV. The next day we caught the train to Bruges which is a very pretty town set up for tourists. The town looks like it has a lot of history behind it but its all just a ruse to lure tourists and it’s working. We knew this before we arrived but still enjoyed the beautiful town with it’s horse-drawn carriages making their way along the cobblestone streets and lovely canals.

From Bruges we carried on to Antwerp which is much more cosmopolitan with a huge mall and impressive gothic cathedral. We walked the 570m tunnel under the river to get a great view back towards the city. Before heading back to Brussels we stopped off at a pub to try the Westmalle Trappist beer which is one of Belgium’s best and made by monks.

The next day we finally explored Brussels and visited the Mannekin Pis fountain which is a national symbol. It’s a tiny fountain of a little boy taking a leak into a pool. We then visited the Grand Place which is surrounded by some magnificent buildings. We also wandered through the famous shopping arcade of Galleries St Hubert. We splurged and bought some expensive but very delicious Belgian chocolate pralines before taking a tour of a traditional brewery. They still brew the beer here in the old fashioned way and it creates some pretty different beer, really strong and sour tasting. It's definately an acquired taste but it was interesting to see how they made it.

We are getting a bit worn out with travelling now and Mick’s highlight of Belgium was catching up on TV even if most of it was not in English.

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Photos

Beautiful Bruges
You can see why it draws hordes of tourists

The Mannekin Pis
It really is only a very small fountain