Brussels - the Capital city of Belgium

Sunday, Easter morning we checked out in Gent and made our way to Brussels - Belgium's capital city for a night.   We got there pretty early and were able to check into the Hotel Welcome, a creative hotel with different themed rooms from countries around the world.  We were in the Congo room which was quite appropriately decorated in safari for our upcoming trip to South Africa.

We got a map from reception and they even outlined a great walk for us to see the main sights. We were unable to utilize public transportation due to a murder in the subway on Saturday, yippee, good first impression!   Brussels is mainly French speaking and has a very much French appeal to it.  It felt almost as if we were in Paris as we were walking out and about. Walking by the Stock Exchange or the Bourse, there were ruins enclosed under glass from a 13th century convent. 

Ruins next to the Stock Exchange

We entered the Grand Place, the heart of the city, and it was really quite impressive! 



Grand Place

It has the Town Hall with the tall spire and the city museum (the Kings House) across from it as well as more chocolate and waffle and souvenir shops than one can imagine.  It has been the towns market square for over 1000 years.  Atop the town hall is a golden statue of St. Michael slaying a devil. All of the smaller fancy buildings in the square were guild halls - different merchants and professions from former times.  

Not the real Manneken Pis but this was too funny!

We had to check out the famous pissing statue that everyone told me about, Manneken-Pis, the super small bronze statue of a little boy peeing.  It was made in 1619 to provide drinking water to the neighborhood! I fought the crowd of picture takers to catch a glimpse of the little guy and to honest it was noting to write home about. It was more entertaining to see all of father other tourists scrambling to get up to the gate. 

The "Good Luck" statue in Brussels

There is another brass statue of a reclining  man near the Manneken that drew just about as much attention.  His name was Evrard 't Serclaes the  Mayor in 1356 who refused to surrender the city keys to the invaders and therefore was tortured and killed.  The idea is to rub the statue because his misfortune will become your good luck.  OK....so we did! 

Inside the Galeries Royales St. Hubert

We walked through Europe's oldest shopping malls built in 1847, the Galeries Royales St. Hubert that was like no other mall, very elaborate and beautiful.  We climbed up to the largest cathedral in Brussels, St. Michael's where mass was just letting out.  It had a very nice view of the statue of St. Michael on the spire on Town Hall. 

Town Hall from St. Michael's Cathedral

We carried on our walk to the Palace of the Nations where the parliament meets and faces the lovely Parc de Bruxelles that we took a stroll through to the Palace Royale on the other side of it.  

The Royal Palace - not quite like Buckingham but still pretty!

The Palace is large and mostly off-limits to visitors but it is where the king, King Albert II has offices but does not reside there.  The Notre-dame du Sablon Church is a 14th century Gothic church with rose, stained glass windows around that we're really impressive to see.  There was a replica wooden statue of Mary dressed in white that is said to have had miraculous powers that saved towns from plagues. Across from the church is a garden called the Place du Petit Sablon that has 48 small statues atop a wrought-iron fence that represent the guilds of medieval Brussels. 

Place du Petie Sablon

Another medieval aspect to the city was the Tour d'Angle, a surviving tower (1 of 7) from the 2.5 mile city wall that enclosed Brussels in the 13th century.  We had a late lunch at the Comics Cafe where Dave was able to try yet another one of the Trappist beers.  

The Westhalle Trappist Beer and a happy DH

We spent most of the day walking around the city, partly in some questionable neighborhoods!  It was very lively on Easter Sunday but just did not have the charm that Gent, or even Bruges had. 

Pinwheel lined canal in Brussels

I had read a lot of reviews on the RS Helpline about either loving or hating Brussels.  It's all in what you are looking for - if we were museum hoppers then I'm sure we'd have been plenty happy with the city.  I felt there was a lot of crime (hence all of the smashed in car windows that we said-thank goodness we were in a garage).  It's almost embarrassing to say but we went back to our the hotel around 6:00 pm and didn't leave again till the next morning!  We lucked out with no rain but the cold wind had just about zapped all of my energy and I really didn't feel good.  Dave was happy with English channels on the TV, especially the Masters, I climbed right in the safari bed and didn't get out till breakfast!

Monday turned out to be rainy and gloomy so instead of going to the Mini-Europe Amusement Park we decided to head home since it was over a 4 hour drive.  Belgium was a nice little country, especially Gent!  We can't really see going back there anytime soon but we definitely had a good time while we were there. 

We've got some visitors within the next month and a few day trips planned but the next big adventure will be our 7 Night Northern European Cruise with MSC from Kiel, Germany going to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Tallinn, Estonia and St. Petersburg.  We are so excited so stay tuned for more great blog posts!

LINK TO BRUSSELS PICTURES:

 

Gent, Belgium - a hidden gem of a city

We had about a 45 minute drive to Gent where we stayed for two nights at the Grand Sandton Reylof Hotel and oh what a beautiful place!   We checked into our Double Charm Room (1 of only 2) with the balcony and kind of instantly fell in love with the place!  Not just the hotel but the city too, it is just absolutely one of our favourite places!

Graslei and Korenlei

It was almost dinner time in Gent so we walked into the beautiful historic center where the Lieve and the Leie Rivers meet at what was the former main trade harbor.  We did a big loop of the area snapping pictures of things we didn't know until the next day when we followed a walking tour that I found online. 

The Great Butchers Hall near where the rivers meet

It's funny, spareribs are a speciality in the area so we fund a place called exactly that, Spare Ribs, that we chose for a delicious dinner.  I had 1/2 a chicken and Dave had 1/2 a rack of ribs as well as some more tastes Belgium beers until our tummies were full. We walked around a bit more and decided that we'd  go back to hotel for a nightcap and then go back out to see Gent at night because the lights were supposed to be fantastic but once we got back to the room we were done!

Saturday morning we enjoyed a wonderful spread at breakfast in the hotel  before going out on our city walk which I outline in the pictures.  It was a little drizzly but not enough to ruin our day!  It cleared up later on.

On St. Michael's Bridge

We first saw the medieval skyline from St. Michael's Bridge including the Belfry, St. Bavo's Cathedral,  and St. Nicholas' which make up the famous three tower row.  We went in to the Gothic St. Bavo's that houses the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb a medieval masterpiece that was not to be missed in Gent.  We listened to an audio guide explaining in GREAT detail all of the panels from the 1432 painting by brothers, Hubert and Jan van Eyck. It was really interesting. If you are interested in reading all about it go here.  

The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb

The walk brought us to the Castle of the Counts which we could not wait to explore!  There are only 5 places in Europe where the castle resides in the middle of the city, on level ground and this was one of them from 1180.  The massive fortress was one of the most impressive  medieval castles that we have been in to date.  It was easy to get lost inside the stone walls and forget that we were in the 21st century!   We had fun exploring the different castle rooms and watching the movie from the iPod touch that portrayed different scenes in each room that we visited.  It seemed to be a made-for-the-tour type of thing and was neat.

The Gravensteen or the Castle of the Counts - in the city center!

The Waterhouse on the Beerside is a bar right on the water with over 400 different Belgium beers that we needed to experience and grab a snack.   It was so cozy inside and sure a bit touristy but there were definitely a few locals in there as well! 

We didn't stay too long as we decided that it could be very dangerous for us since the beers were so good :) One of the world's best beers is the The Trappist Beer.  For centuries Trappist Monks have been brewing heavily fermented, malty beers.  The beers are made especially by the monks for the monks and considered a fair trade for a life of celibacy.  Some Trappist Monasteries include Rochefort, Chimay, and Orval which Dave sampled a few of!   It's pretty interesting to read about them - and they are quite tasty!

It was time to get out of there because we had more things we wanted to do including a canal tour. 

Canal rides are a great way to see the city from a different angle!

It was chilly but seeing Gent from the canals seemed so different than how we'd seen it so far.  The tour was in 3 languages, Deutsch, English and French so it was sort of tough to follow but the guide did a really good job of saying the same thing in 3 different languages!  My brain is so used to trying to process what is being said in Deutsch that once he switched over to English I was still processing the Deutsch explanation...and after the visit to the beerhouse and the cold...it was just plain exhausting!  Off the boat and it was finally time to try a Belgium waffle, and boy was it good!

Yum, saving the chocolate on my face for later!

Back at the hotel we relaxed and warmed up with an Irish coffee in the fancy bar before venturing back out for dinner.  We probably should have made reservations but eventually we found a nice little cozy place, the Restaurant Du Progres in the Groenten Markt, that had 1 table available.  After dinner we went back to the beerhouse on the water since we HAD to stay out till dark to see the city all lit up.  Don't laugh, anyone who know us knows that it's a struggle for us to stay out late!  We are glad we did though because seeing Gent at night was so magical!

Beautiful Graslei at night

The next morning we set out to Brussels, the capital of Belgium and part 3 of our Easter Weekend blog posts!  There are alot of pictures in the Gent album, we just couldn't seem to get enough.  There was just something about this little medieval city that we just loved!

LINK TO 130 MORE GENT PICTURES:

Brugge, Belgium

Our Easter Weekend trip started in the town of Petit-Rechain in Belgium on Thursday night as we drove half way to Bruges to the Hotel Midi.  It was a nice little stop with an indoor tennis facility attached where we tried our first Belgian beers of the weekend.  Leffe Blonde was the name and already a new favourite.  Friday morning we drove another 2 hours or so to Bruges and conveniently parked near the train station (only  EUR 3,50 for 1/2 a day) right outside of the old medieval city which was just a quick scenic quick walk away.  We didn't really have a plan, just wander around the town take in the sights, get some beer and chocolate.... 

One of the MANY Chocolatiers in town...mmmmm....

We walked though the Memling Museum and St. Johns Hospital which was a former Monastery/hospital that had some lovely old buildings on the grounds.  We entered the Market Square with all of the really cool looking old gabled buildings as well as the Bell Tower or Belfry. 

The Belfry

This tower stands 290' high and was built around 1300.  We wanted to climb it for (what was probably) an awesome view but super long line made us think otherwise.  Instead we settled for lunch at a place on the square, in the sun to enjoy some Belgian beers and people watch.  We walked around to the Burg Square that houses the gray and black Basilica of the Holy Blood, the white sandstone City Hall, the Old Recorders House, and  the Provosts House.  The Basilica (circa 1300) was originally called the Chapel of St. Basil and is famous for its relic of the blood of Christ, which according to tradition was brought to Brugge in 1150 after the Second Crusade.  

In Burg Square the Basilica of the Holy Blood

We walked into the Church Of Our Lady, but only to the door because we didn't want to pay but wanted to catch a glimpse of Michelangelo's Madonna and Child from 1504 which is said to be the only Michelangelo statue to leave Italy in his lifetime bought in Tuscany by a wealthy businessman who is buried beneath it.   I wasn't able to get a pic but luckily there is copy/paste online.

We were in the land of chocolate so why not head to the Choco-Story at the Chocolate Museum?  We were led through 2,600 years of chocolate making by the Chocolate Fairy with all English explanations and a few tastings.  It was definitely the kind of museum we can handle.

 
Instead of buying any choco samples there we stumbled upon a cute little shop that must have been good because people were taking pictures of it! I went in, picked out some pralines and hand picked a few more for an instant treat. The woman at the counter was so friendly and said to me, "Do you know Rick Steve's?" and I answered, "yes (of course!), but not personally, I just have many of his travel books EXCEPT for the Belgium book!   She showed me his family Christmas card that they received and said how she just sent him an Easter basket full of goodies. The shop was called Dumon, and little did I know that it IS one of Rick's faves and the woman was the owner, Mrs. Dumon herself! I even spoke with her daughter, Natale, in the downstairs of the family run shop. What a fun experience. There were TONS of chocolate shops and Chocolatiers as you'll see in the pictures and the town just smelled wonderful but I'm glad I chose to go into Dumon.  Plus the shelf life of their chocolate is only 6 weeks so needless to say what we bought is surely gone!

The daffodil gardens in the Begijnhof

On the way out of town we walked through a beautiful tulip garden in the Begijnhof, which was a place built to house women of the lay order, called Beguines who spent their lives in piety and service without having to take the same vows a nun would.  It was very beautiful and peaceful and single religious women still live there today. 

Through there we entered the Minnewater, another peaceful, lake filled park with canals and swans.  Brugge was a nice little city full of beautiful canals and charming streets. It's historic city center is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO and it is actually called the Venice of the North and we could certainly see why!  Now we're on our way to Gent, which we must say is probably one in our top five favourite cities in Europe to date and therefore requires a completely separate blog post!
LINK TO BRUGES PICTURES:

One Beautiful Day, Two Medieval Castles

One of the best things about living in Germany is the ability to hop on one of the super efficient and on-time regional trains (that is if your watch is set train schedule's time enabling one to MAKE the train instead of watching it pull away as that same someone sprints down the track) and venture off to a place not so far away filled with history, beauty, vineyards and castles!

Well that would be me running after the train in a total panic because my friend Rinat was on it waiting for me with my ticket!  Luckily the same route runs every hour so got off the next stop, came back to my stop, and then we headed up to the Middle Rhine Valley.  So we got a little later start but it didn't put a dent in our day.  Our plan was to go to Rheinstein Castle but once we were on the train we decided to head a little farther North to the town of Bacharach.  We had the flexibility with the Rheinland-Pfalz Day Ticket that we could go anywhere in the Rhine-Pfalz Region for the one fee. It's quite a good deal for up to 5 travellers for as little as  EUR 25.00.

We decided to go to Bacharach based on a few pages in Rick's book with an easy map of the town.  Little did we know how stinkin cute the town was with a big ole castle up on top!

The Altes Haus - oldest house in town from 1368

Bacharach (a town since the year 1356) is a well preserved medieval town with old town walls and towers encirclilng it.  It owes it's fame to the vineyards and wine trades.  Vines were actually planted here in Roman times, which Dave and I also learned about on our vineyard tour in Luxembourg.  There are only about 1000 people that live in Bacharach and in the warmer months I'm sure is super touristy. 

We walked through the nearly empty, quaint little cobblestone streets and I grabbed a completely "un-German" Döner for lunch before we climbed up to the Burg Stahleck.  This castle was formerly a fortress but since 1925 it has been a youth hostel.  It was a pretty amazing hike up and the view from the top - well I think we could have just hung out there for hours and enjoyed the beauty and the day.



Back at the Bacharach Train Station we had about a 10 minute ride to the town of Trechtingshausen where we would walk along the Rhine about 30 minutes to Rheinstein Castle.  Another great thing about Germany are the people.  On our walk to Rheinstein we met Pete a.k.a. "Hoxel-Pitt" who was on his bike wearing sock and Birks, asking where we were from, and talking to us about his friends that live in the USA.  Then he rode away but a few 100 meters into our walk we see him standing next to a vineyard and as we approached he points to the vineyard and says, "this is my work!"  He's a grape grower for the the Weingut Schmelzeisen in the town of Oberwesel just North of where we were.  He gave us all the info on the winery, including his personal info (!) and told us to come back for tastings and parties on the River.  I certainly think we will take him up on that offer!

The walk along the Rhine was great.  We actually passed the Reichenstein Castle that we thought was Rheinstein but thankfully Pete told us to keep going.  God forbid we would have to climb a hill by mistake :)

The Rheinstein Castle sits just on the edge of the cliffs 270' above the Rhine and is one of the oldest, along with the Reichenstein, castles on the Rhine built in the 10th century.  I'm sure the impressions from the river cruises are pretty amazing!  (upcoming trip for sure!)  The castle is privately owned by the Hecher family, since 1975, and they have done a fabulous job of restoring it for the past 19 years to regain its glory from the medieval days.  We practically had the place to ourselves and leisurely took our time wandering through the rooms and climbing the towers with our self guided tour. 

Rheinstein Castle

We could have walked back to the Trechtingshausen train station but instead we walked about an hour upstream to Bingen to catch our connection.  It was a great day and such an easy train trip from where we live and all in all over 20,000 steps on the pedometer!

LINK TO PICTURES FROM THE DAY: