A couple of months ago I was perusing several discount airlines websites, looking for cheap flights from Sofia to anywhere during our Thanksgiving break. After several searches, I located tickets at a decent price (about $50 roundtrip per person) to Brussels. Hmm......Brussels? Boring? Bureaucratic? (It is the capital of the European Union) Bland? Well-- that's OK, we could always drive to Bruges or Ghent-- towns that retain some semblance of a Medieval atmosphere. I purchased the tickets are largely forgot about it until the past week or so. During that time I located hotels, arranged for a rental car and "planned" our trip-- basically I figured out what cities to visit. For us that would be Ghent, Bruges and finally Brussels on our whirlwind trip (which would be about 48 hours long to take maximum advantage for cheapairline tickets).
On Thursday morning, shortly after 4am we set off for the airport, where we parked our car and checked in for our flight-- noticing several other students and staff from our school who were off for holidays of their own. Three hours later we were in Charleroi-- a hub of discount airlines not far from Brussels. We picked up our rental car and sped off-- stopping only for refreshments-- and pan au chocolat, of course.
We drove along the Belgian freeway system-- amazed by the beautiful, pot hole-free roads and lack of roadside garbage. Have we been in Bulgaria too long? Before log, reality hit as we encountered morning rush-hour traffic as we neared Brussels. I decided, with map in hand, to take to the side roads. No problem. We drove along through the
beautiful Belgian countryside, complete with well-maintained brick homes, narrow roads passing through quaint villages and manicured field--
and even a dusting of new snow. Soon we picked up the freeway, having bypassed the traffic of the Brussels morning commute and were again speeding toward Ghent, where we planned on spending a couple of hours before arriving in Bruges mid-day.
After pulling off the highway we surprising quickly found a parking spot in Ghent along one of its main canals-- the former lifeblood of the trading city. From there we began our stroll past medieval guildhalls and a couple of soaring towers.
After a light lunch-- which included that Belgian invention often attributed to the French-- french fries, we wandered around some more before heading off for Bruges-- which we
were eager to see. Less
than an hour later we
were there. (After all, Belgium is small-- about the size of Maryland, or about 2.5 times the size of Lane County for those of you back in Oregon)
We checked into our modest hostel in Bruges and the
promptly began our explorations, which were dampened (pun intended) by the freezing temperatures and rain/snow mix. Even prepared with our winter jackets, gloves, hats and scarves it was definitely blustery.
In between our wandering we did drop into a small pub for a Thanksgiving afternoon round of hot drinks for the wife and kids (hot chocolate) and a Belgian brew for pops. Delicious! After our opportunity to warm up we headed back out into the cold to wander s'more. By then the weather had partially clear and it was a little easier to enjoy beautiful Bruges. Although, as night began to fall we were disappointed that we didn't have a chance to spend more time in the town. We all wondered, despite the appeal of Ghent-- why didn't we drive right to Bruges? Another lesson learned.
That night we searched out an expensive location to eat-- after all the euro is still a fortune compared to the dollar-- or worse yet the Bulgarian lev. We found a little Middl Eastern restaurant where we enjoyed our Thanksgiving meal of falafels and french (Belgian) fries. After dinner it was off to bed to rest up for the next day's journey to Brussels-- the exciting capital of the European Union!
Now I gotta admit, I did not expect much from Brussels. I did plan on visiting the Belgian Comic Strip Museum-- which Brady, who is a big fan of Belgian comic-strip character Tin-Tin, was anxious to see. Other than that, I figured we would just wander around a bit and maybe find an interesting church of two. Well, I will gladly go on record now and say that Brussels is under-rated. While it is no Paris, Rome or Barcelona it is no slouch.
We drove into the city and managed to find a parking spot along a small park that could have easily been in a Parisian neighborhood. From there we set off before coming across an empty 17th century Baroque church, where Brady promptly pulled out his sketchbook and went to town.
Soon, we wondered across town, stopping for our favorite snack in the francophone world: pan au chocolat. Before too long our walk brought us to our first destination: the Belgian Comic Strip Museum. Housed in a fantastic Art Nouveau building, the kids were thrilled to explore the world of Tin-Tin and other Belgian favorites. While mom and the kids explored the museum I set off on foot to explore some of downtown so that we had a good idea of where to go after the museum.
After returning to the musuem (which the kids loved) we dropped by a small sandwich shop for lunch before walking a few blocks to the center of Brussels, the Grand Place. It was a surprisingly beautiful square, surrounded by Baroque facades and a Gothic Hotel de Ville (town hall). Radiating off the Grand Place were a network of medieval lanes-- where we sat to enjoy a hot chocolate(for me), a waffle(for Cameron & Mom) and ice cream(for Brayden), despite the temperatures which hovered around the freezing mark. But hey, at least he didn't have to worry about his cone melting!
While our time in Belgium was short (only two days) he definitely left us with the desire to return to this picturesque and underrated country again soon.
