Blogs from West Flanders, Belgium, Europe - page 8

The last days of our holiday had arrived and we had just a few days left before we returned home to Britain. We had bitten the bullet and paid the £14 excess to come home early by one day. Luxembourg had been a bit of a disaster as there was going to be an Octoberfest on the field behind the campsite and the noise would have been pretty awful. Our second campsite was not to be found. The co-ordinates on the ACSI site were incorrect and we found ourselves driving round a housing estate, down a no through road and across a supermarket car park. Our third choice was Camping Sud a small and virtually empty Dutch run campsite. When we arrived we were offered five pitches 46 to 50 and we picked one that had ... read more

I was sad to leave Paris yesterday, but I was also incredibly excited to get to Bruges. I hardly knew anything about the little Belgian city, but I had heard great things from friends who had visited and had been charmed by the movie “In Bruges.” (Well not charmed by the plot, but more the scenery!) Drew and I split ways with my parents at the Paris train station in the morning and boarded a train to Belgium. All in all, the trip to Bruges took about 2.5 hours with a short stop in Brussels. Way better than flying and much easier. We got to our adorable boutique hotel - “The Pand Hotel” – around 2:30pm. I really had no idea what to expect, especially because we did not really get to see much of the ... read more

Hi everyone One of the highlights of the summer occurred two weeks ago, when I took a day trip, along with Saman, Matt and Jenna over the channel to Flanders. And best of all....the ferry was free! Having underwhelming service on the Christmas Ferry out to Lille back in December, we complained and were awarded free, unrestricted ferry tickets for 2014. The day trip turned into a weekend for me, as I left work straight to London, staying at Matt's on Friday night before the early start on Saturday. Leaving at 5:30am we blasted out the #choons as we made our way down to Dover. As the weekend was the first day of the summer holidays it was absolutely packed, and we ended up spending the whole journey across the channel in the restaurant queuing for ... read more

It is good to be back in Belgium, the countryside is so green, air is good, food is good. We headed out, not so early, to Bruges. This is a city in the Northern part of Belgium, about 1 hour away. We all piled into the van and had a roomy ride. 1st stop was a castle belonging to the family of Ghislain, an uncle’s family. Ghislan said that they would visit on occasion when he was young. Now they go once every 4 years I believe. The castle is a large building that contains a chapel on one end and the residence on the other end. http://www.kasteelvanloppem.be/infoen.html On the grounds, near the entry, is a labyrinth with paths separated by hedges. The point of the labyrinth is to get to the center where there is ... read more

Up early (thanks Em!) and after a bit of organisation we made our way back into the city as we had promised Em a horse ride and chocolate today. This time we walked along a canal beside the city wall to one of the old entry bridges to the town. The medieval guard tower is still there complete with wooden tackle block for hauling cannons up to the top. Winding our way into the town, we discovered many of the major landmarks including a working nunnery where the nuns practice silence – no verbal communication at all. There are three Belgian specialties – lace, beer and chocolate. We found many chocolate shops and ducked into one where we bought some dark Belgian chocolate. Em liked it even though it is quite strong. Wandering further we passed ... read more