Beer Drinking in Belgium

On Sunday we flew to Brussels in Belgium. Our hotel was a short walk (uphill!) from the main station and a very pleasant surprise. For only 50 euros a night we had a big clean room with a king size bed and a bathroom with a bath, as well as our own fridge which we quickly stocked with some of Belgium's finest beers! We were really surprised at the good value of the accommodation and had pretty much expected a rat hole after the luxury of the Novotel Berlin! It was a short walk down to the Grand Place with its great shops, cafes, bars and sellers of pommes frittes. They really are the best chips and have a range of about 20 different sauces, creams and ketchups you can choose from. We wandered around the area for the afternoon and checked out one of the local cathedrals as well.


On Monday we explored the Grand Place some more, sampled some local food and beers and generally had some down time. It was so nice to just have a little picnic in the park and read a book for a couple of hours. In the evening we went to a spot that resembled Paris' Latin Quarter to have a meal out. I had mussels (my new favourite food) and David had the best steak of the trip, served with green peppercorns. Dessert was a Belgian waffle!


On Tuesday we went on a self guided walking tour through the European Quarter of Brussels. We saw the Grand Palace with the flag up which meant that the King was at home, and then went through the massive European Union area where various headquarters, commissions and offices of the EU are located. After a picnic dinner we headed to an absinthe bar to try one of the 200 hundred types available, and then over to the famous Delerium Cafe which holds the Guinness World Record for most beers in a pub - 2004! Needless to say, David was very happy!


On Wednesday we packed up and took the train to Brugge. It truly is one of the most beautiful cities we have seen in Europe. It seems that summer ignores Brugge as it is always a bit cold and drizzly - our visit has been no exception! We spent two days exploring and making sure we saw the sights familiar from the wonderful film In Brugge.

We did make it to the Basilica of the Holy Blood (where there are no photos) but we didn't get to see the blood in question. We did however have a wonderful boat ride around the canals with a very cheeky and amusing driver, and climbed the famous belfry which has 366 rickety narrow steps! It was funny to see the graffiti on the temporary plyboard fixtures inside with lots of movie quotes.




We also ate in the same restaurant twice because it was so good, particularly the flemish stew and chicken waterzooi! The local waffles were also wonderful.

We also saw some more incredible lacemaking which we thought was as good as the amazing crafts we had seen in Venice.

On our second evening we started talking to an Irish couple and went for drinks with them in an Irish underground pub which was really fun and a nice end to our time in Brugge.

We went back to Brussels on the train with our only regret being the thousands of mosquito bites we had acquired in the disappointing hotel (it was supposed to be one of the best of the trip!). Our hotel was mosquito free and close to a good range of restaurants. Although we had enjoyed trying local foods we have had so much traditional, heavy food on this trip we craved something light and fresh so headed off to a Thai restaurant for vegetables, rice noodles and spicy tom yum kai.

The next day was just dreadful and hardly worth writing about. All throughout the trip we have carefully arrived early for every transition whether by plane, train or automobile and as usual we did just that for our prebooked coach ride to Rotterdam. We checked in an hour and a half before departure, waited patiently with our coffees and read to pass the time. We boarded the bus, double checked the destination with the driver and settled in. Part way along the journey we stopped to change drivers for some reason and continued on our way. I realised that we should have arrived at our destination a good 20 minutes ago and saw that the signs to Rotterdam were no longer popping up along the road. I questioned the driver who said he was going straight through to Amsterdam. When another passenger heard this she went wild. We just sat and tried to figure out what to do while they screamed it out and though the error was the driver's we simply had to sit right through to Amsterdam. At the Eurolines bus station we recieved an apology and an address to write a complaint as well as the explanation that this driver had been complained about for missing stops before, and basically the message 'don't let the door hit your bum on the way out'. We caught the regional train all the way back to Rotterdam, a slow train, at our own expense. By the time we got to the main station there were no info or ticket booths open for the metro so we just had to get a taxi. We had declared this day an alcohol free one (its just to easy to have a beer or two every day when you are on holiday!) but when we finally got there we felt we deserved a drink. Thankfully our room in Rotterdam is beautiful and we found a nice Italian restaurant nearby with great pasta and chiante by the extra large bottle!