Belgium: Brussels, Brugge & Ghent

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After having a great time in London, Luke and I got on a yet another overnight bus headed to Belgium. It took around 9 hours and included a couple hours on a ferry to cross the English channel. The primary reason for heading to Belgium was to make it to a huge techno festival aptly named 'I Love Techno'. Of course, we managed to take in some of the sites of Belgium as well and our time was well spread across three cities; Brussels, Ghent and Brugge.
The first day we arrived early and spent the day checking out Brussels. We walked around for a while (unfortunately without my camera), bought tickets to ILT and ended up chilling in the evening with an Irish bloke from our hostel at a Hookah or Sheisha bar.
The next day, after a delicious bakery bought breakfest, we hopped onto a train for Ghent- a smaller town 40 minutes from Brussels which is where ILT was being held at the convention centre there. After getting there, we spent a couple hours in the centre of the city in a park where hundreds of other ILT party-goers were milling about in anticipation for the night to come.
For those interested in the genre, the line-up included Laurent Garnier, Carl Craig, 2 Many DJs, Soulwax Niteversions (live), Kraftwerk, Tiefschwarz, Ellen Allien & Cassius among others. For me the highlights were definately 2 Many DJs who played an out of this world set like I've never heard before, Soulwax Niteversions' which we thought was a DJ set til we saw a drummer and other dudes doing their thing live, Tiefschwarz (who we also saw at Sziget), and Ellen Allien doing a sexy dance on the DJ booth while Cassius played.
Our night ended around 5am and we were on the first train home. Understandably, the whole of the next day was spent resting.
After taking a day off, the following morning we caught a train to a small, medieval town called Brugge an hour away from Brussels. The old part of the city is surrounded by a river and canals run all though the centre, giving it a feel somewhat similar to Venice or Amsterdam but on a much smaller scale. We spent around 5 hours checking out the city, eating chocolate crepes, taking a boat tour of the canals, visiting a local brewery, and just enjoying the tranquility of the place.
This was the final day we spent in Belgium before heading out to Rotterdam in the Netherlands the next day.

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Photos

I Love Techno tix
The only reason we ended up in Belgium was for 'I Love Techno' but we managed to see a few cities while we were there

Underground station
I know my maturity level is low but we found this funny

Colin, the Irish guy
On the train to 'I Love Techno'. Luke and I met this guy at our hostel and the three of us went in together

Ghent
I Love Techno is held in Ghent. Before it started there were hundreds of people hanging around this park drinking and getting ready for a crazy night

Inside
It was inside this huge convention centre. Biggest buiding ever

Another room
The lights on the ceiling kinda give you an idea of how long the rooms are. Think there was between 20-30 thousand people there

The Brugge canals
We took a tour on one of these boats. Brugge is really old with lots of canals and reminiscent of Venice and Amsterdam

Unhealthy lunch
We almost died trying to finish these. Kebab type fillings inside then covered in chips and a lot of mayo

Hostel bar
We had a great bar in the hostel with all sorts of Belgian beers at a very reasonable price. Me with some Americans

Comments

[Ryan]

i love techno :(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( ha, that is the same hostel we stayed in. i think it's the only hostel in brussels from memory. never going back to that city!

[anonymous]

haha. the same hostel in brussels? looks like your avin a good time mate, i will reply to the email one day!

[luca]

cracker brussels is a wicked city, id go back, so much good beer, get very messy in that city

[Paul C.]

Fine place!
Yeah - liked your account of the Techno thing. Belgium is a great place. People who knock it have generally never been - just 'cos it sounds like bilge, belch and bulge...! I lived and worked there for six years, and had a great time. The Flems are great and crazy, and speak remarkably good English. So many fine cities, and great architecture - Brussels, Gent, Brugge (Flemish spelings!), Leuven... - do go there - great university city, full of peddled bikes, good shops, and the home of Stella beer! Good cafes, good beer, and great coffee everywhere in Belge - love that cafe society...!