Best of Belgium

I love Belgium, me.   

I've been to Brussells twice, staying in the rather splendid Metropole Hotel.

And have visited the following places in Flanders all once, for long weekends of eating, drinking and being a tourist - Mechelen, Ghent, Antwerp, Bruges, Leuven and Ostend.  From Ostend we took the tram to De Haan which was magical and my pics are on flickr here.

It's the quirkiness of the Belgian culture and people I love. Like the time we arrived in Antwerp in the middle of a cow-weighing competition in the main square.  And yes, there's a YouTube.

Or in Mechelen watching a parade where a doll - representing a baby - was thrown up in the air and caught in a blanket.  And staying in the brewery there, now that was really nice.

And in Antwerp again, in a local cafe watching them go wild, dancing to the organ - there's a Youtube of it here.

Or in Ostend, where there was Friday night tango in the park.

Anyway, as I said, I love Belgium, me. I feel at home there. I love the culture. I love the art. I love the huge portions of good food and the mustard that makes my eyes water. I love the beer and the chocolate.  And if it wasn't for the fact that the language is almost inpenetrable, I might just want to live there. 

If this has whetted your appetite, in any way, to learn more about Belgium, I heartily recommend Harry Pearson's book A Tall Man in a Low Land.  It's funny, easy to read and gives a great insight into what makes Belgium best.
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I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

Ostend in July

Just back from mid-summer jollies with a return trip on the train under the sea to the land of chocolate and beer, this time to Ostend in Belgium. The beach was wide, the sea was cold, the beer was wonderful and the Belgians, as always, wonderfully quirky. To see some selected snaps from our short holiday in Ostend and De Haan, have a look here at Flickr.

Spring jollies 2009

Ah, spring jollies, one of my favourite trips of the year. This year we went somewhere new in Belgium where the beer was strong and the artwork was piercing.

Spring Jollies

Having previously visited some of Belgium’s bigger cities in Flanders – Antwerp, Ghent, Brussels and Bruges, we decided to head to Mechelen for a few days on our spring jollies. It was a beautiful place, as you can see on the left here and they did wonderful coffees, as you can see in the picture below.

The Belgians even get Coronation Street on telly, in English with Flemish subtitles. This turned out to be great fun as their word for shop is winkel and for whipped cream it’s slagroom. I waited patiently for Sally Webster to say she was popping out to the winkels for slagroom, but sadly, she never did.