Belgium’s Best: Beer, Waffles and Chocolate!!!

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Belgium, now here’s an underrated country if I’ve ever seen one. It has over a thousand different types of beer, copious amount of waffles and chocolate and from the capital (Brussels) you can be in London, Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt all within two hours by train.

Not bad for a little country without its own national language hey! In the north they speak Flemish which is a variation on Dutch and in the south it’s French… weird!
In fact Belgium is one of the countries you could easily skip over with a quick glance of the map if you’re not careful. Next time you’re planning a quick European getaway I highly recommend you check it out. Also for those of you who are budget conscious it seems to be somewhat cheaper than it’s western European counterparts for some reason which I also thought was interesting.

In all I spent 10 days there which some would say is far too long for a little country like Belgium but as I have mentioned previously after 8 months of solid backpacking I’ve started to slow down a bit now and take my time.

During my ten days in Belgium I managed to see Brussels, Bruges and Antwerp, three completely different cities. Brussels’ didn’t really do it for me and after 4 nights there I was happy to leave. One thing Brussels does have though is a bar called Delirium. It’s quite famous and right in the centre of town. The reason it’s famous is because it has over 2000 beers on the menu and about 100 on tap. I didn’t quite make it through the whole 2000, but I had a good crack over two nights!

Oh and don’t get me started on that little statue.. ‘Maneken Pis’ in Brussels… I’m sorry but it really is taking the ‘piss’ in bad way. I spent a good hour walking around trying to find that thing and was expecting something half decent as I had heard so much about it… only to find it was about 12 inch’s tall and situated on the corner of a normal street! Wasn’t impressed.

Now Bruges on the hand is really cool and well worth a visit. It’s an old little town near the west coast that is world heritage listed and I’m told one of the oldest medieval towns in Belgium. It really is beautiful but also cursed with a Disneyland like tourist influx during the day time. In saying this most tourists are day trippers and disappear again at night time making it very pleasant again. I was only there for one night but look forward to going back there again one day. Interesting Fact: Bruges has is also home to the ‘fries’ museum. Apparently French fries were invented in Belgium… so there you go!

And then there is Antwerp. I wasn’t originally planning to go there but a few people I met along the way suggested it was well worth the look. Antwerp is best known for its diamond industry with about 80% of all the worlds diamonds being cut there each year and you can simply ‘smell the money’ that is hanging around town. It has a very vibrant nightlife and interesting mix of culture and you’ve never seen so many high end sports cars in life as you will see in Antwerp… it’s simply ridiculous.

It’s also known as one of the big fashion capitals of the world and all the big names are well and truly represented locally. The sea port is one of the largest in Europe and I am told it is home to the largest ‘illegal drug trade’ in Europe. So as you can imagine with the diamonds, fashion, drugs and money in town you get a very interesting mix!
Next stop, the Netherlands… now where did I put my bike??

Cheers TD>

PS> Quick story...

I found a cheap Ryan Air flight from San Sebastian to Brussels for 25 euro which sounds good right. Well by the time I got there using buses at each end (3hrs!) , paid the taxes, paid an extra 60 euro for my heavy luggage and got intercity transport it cost 140 euro all up! ha... silly me... could have got there for 70 euro on a train and saved a nights accomodation! ...you live and learn hey...

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Comments

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STOP IT!
Stop it! you make me want to go back home! great beer, Delirium Tremens. Great pub too. but i still prefer De Coninck...