Antwerp - Brussels - Ghent- Bruges - Ypres

---

Our first encounter in Belgium and we wander into a plaza on a Sunday aftenoon in Antwerp to be greeted by a Flemish Elvis impersonator. Just as impressive as it sounds. Firstly, I don't understand the whole phenomenon of the Elvis impersonation genre. Secondly, if you are going to do it, at least try and do it well. The Elvijk Preslijk we saw was a shocker. He'd struggle for a gig at Cronulla RSL. Five minutes into Belgium and the busker bar had been set awfully low. Ten minutes later and the Flemish belly dancer was trying very hard to lower that bar even further. Even more astounding was the number of people hanging around applauding.
Ridiculously bad busking aside, Antwerp is not a bad city, in fact a lot of fun for the few hours we spent there that balmy Sunday arvo.
The capital, Brussels, is a 50 quick klms south of Antwerp. In reality, nothing is more than 50 klms from anywhere in Belgium. What do you say about Brussels? Cutting straight to the chase, it's shabby. She really needs a nip, tuck and facelift. Even with some plastic surgery, Brussels does not have a great deal of attractions to recommend. Not suprising an ugly, foul tasting vegetable was named after it. (Actually, I am being way too harsh. Brussels is not that bad).
In half a page I have pretty much managed to bag Belgium. Does it have anything going for it? Lots, but 5 highlights on the Colvin/Yeates holidayometer:
- chocolate
- beer
- Ghent
- Bruges
- Ypres
In addition to lesser lights:
- great FREE expressways
- slightly cheaper fuel
- very cheap and yummy turkish pizza
- well educated rational people. Language wise, Belgians speak everything so well it is embarassing. Even the check-out chics speak 3 languages.
CHOCOLATE. The Belgian variety is no secret and it was a case of Pavlov's dogs as Penny began salivating on crosing the border from Holland. Chocolateries are everywhere and they are magnificent. I gave up trying to drag Penny away from these establishments and decided to sit down at a few plaza-side bars to sample Belgium's other taste bud highlight.
BEER. They make all manner of the stuff. Yellow, red, black, white. There is plenty of unique localised product including a Ghent dark number that hits the scale at 9.5%. My favourite was a cloudy, mildly lemon scented tongue tickler that was served in a glass the size of a flower pot.
GHENT. Or Gent, or Gand, or whatever, depending on which language you speak. Surprisingly off the tourist hit parade even though it is roughly equidistant to Belgium's other BIG 3. Rough and ready on the outskirts but a magnificant centre focused around four beautiful plazas. If you are Belgium bound, make this your home base.
BRUGES. The big daddy of Belgium's tourist destinations. Despite its popularity, the numbers were not overwhelming and she is a gem. Someone should invent a beautiful looking, mouthwatering vegetable and call it a Bruge sprout in deference to its Brussel's cousin.
YPRES. A three iron over the border from France, Ypres is a charming little town worthy of a visit on its own cutesy merit. Plus they have FREE public toilets. ( I could write a book on my disdain for the concept of charging people to use the toilet.) Even if you are bullet proof to beautiful towns and are not phased handing over some coinage for the privilege of bladder relief, Ypres has another drawcard. It was at the epicentre of northern Europes WW1 action. The lives lost in the conflicts are commemerated in various sites with our Aussie heros getting their fair share of the wraps.
On exiting Ypres, we also exit Belgium and re-enter France. This blog is being typed up in Lille, in the far north of the country before we head back to my old mate Paris. This phase of the journey is winding down. Five and half months of lugging Pepe all over the continent. It is with a tear in the eye that we drop Pepe off at Peugeot before the next phase begins. The blogs will be less frequent but a new level of fun is at our doorstep. 6 weeks of World Cup rugby fever, surfing, and whatever else the frogs can dish up for us.
A Bientot.
Yeqtesy

Belgium. It is our last stop before we return to France / Paris. That means we have been travelling around Europe for more than 5 months and it feels like we have only just begun. That is until I run through our European destinations and count over 20 countries. In addition we have had nearly triple that number in beds / rooms since the start of our journey in January.
Belgium is a lovely way to officially conclude Europe (well this leg anyway). The highlight of course for me, was that Belgium is home to the most luxurious chocolate. My taste buds kept telling me to eat more, but unfortunately the mirror is clealy saying ENOUGH. I tried every possible means to have some of the delicious chocolate shipped home but it was impossible. So with my big chololate indulgence taken care of for a few days I look forwrd to catching up with friends in a week or two.
Belgium also hosts more beautiful cities with grand plazas, fountains and architecture. We are probably getting a little blaze by now seeing these grand sights day in and day out. But over our obligatory evening drink on our last night in Belgium, Gary with a flower pot of beer, me with a dirty foreign red, we questioned why Cronulla or for that matter more Sydney suburbs didn't adopt some of the European style in our city planning. We had the space, park areas and even beach side, but somehow the large plaza in the sentre of town surrounded by bars, cafes, restaurants, fountains and traffic free have never taken off in Australia.
It is now almost the end of August, the end of summer, but the past week has been cool to cold in Belgium. Today as I write the blog in the plaza in Lille (France), it is a cool 11°, I hope it warms up as we move further south in France and look forward to the world cup.
Penny

More images at:

www.colvinyeates.zenfolio.com

---

Photos

Antwerp
Busking hits a whole new low

Brussels
The beer kaleidascope

Ghent
Early morning calm

Bruges
Try and resist

Bruges
Tintin in a tin

Bruges
Flower pot of beer.

Bruges
Main Square

Ypres
Roof

Ypres
The fallen

Comments

[Ievy]

Gent
We try to keep that one a secret. Hope you enjoyed Belgium as much as I enjoyed reading this blog. Love the witty comments. Safe travels.