Brussels Without The Sprouts

I have had the excellent opportunity to spend, along with JB, a fantastic week traveling by car through one of our favorite areas of Europe – Belgium, The Netherlands, and Germany. We also added a new country to our list on this trip by making an overnight stop in Luxembourg. It was an amazing time – lots of laughs, great food, good scenery, and maybe a few beers thrown in there as well.

We started the trip off in Brussels for a quick overnight after JB arrived – I had already been in the country working at the Brussels Airport for a few days before she arrived. That first night we drove out to a little beer restaurant in the Brussels suburbs called De Heeren Van Liedekerke. A friend of mine (who is also Belgian fan) recommended this place to me over Facebook. He wasn’t wrong – it was great. The beer list was extensive and the food was great. JB and I got to try a few lambics that we hadn’t had yet – which is always a plus.

The next day we took off for Gent, Belgium. This was my first “real” driving experience in Europe – the drive to dinner the night before was pretty tame. What made this driving interesting was that the rental agency only had manual transmission cars. I haven’t driven a manual much since I was in high school – but luckily for us it was kind of like riding a bike and I only came close to killing us a couple of times. One of those times was when we were headed for our hotel ( The NH Gent Belfort) which was directly in the city center. These roads just weren’t intended for cars – lots of tight squeezes and one ways – after missing a turn I somehow got us down an alley and needed to turn around. This is when I realized that reverse was the fastest gear in this car…little bit of a harrowing moment. But we made it out with only minimal emotional scarring.

Now – Gent – what a pretty town. It wasn’t overrun with tourists (except us) – and the weather was fairly cool. The three towers of Gent where a sight to behold and the parks and green space in the city were amazing. We also did a tour of the Castle Gravensteen – which now houses a torture museum. Mideveil Europeans side did have some screwed up ways of causing each other pain – makes me shiver. We finished up our wander of Gent at a small bar on the square called Bieracademie – I really liked this little bar. Over 250 beers on the list – I got to try the Tongerlo Triple and a hoppy beer from Gouden Caroulous that were amazing. Add a heaping plate of Gouda cheese and salami, bothered covered in celery salt, to that list and you have a place I never want to leave.

The next day we had a little driving tour of northern Belgium. We started by going to the seaside village of Knokke Heist. Knokke was cool – but very touristy – but geared towards people coming out from Brussels, Gent, and Brugge for the weekend. The town had a nice beach and large boardwalk running the entire length. It seems like people can rent (very) small beach cabins to keep on the beach with chairs, towels, etc in while down for the summer – all in all a very cute little town.

We had intentions of going from there to the town of Oostende and spending the night – but when we got to Oostende we didn’t see much that interested us – so we decided to keep on driving. We drove along the Belgian coast and then went out into the country side. We eventually ended up in the small town of Ypres (Ieper in Dutch). This town was very pretty – but very small. After figuring out an automatic pay for parking machine in a language we didn’t understand (French) – I someone how managed to pay for 2 days worth of parking (oops) – we headed out into the town square to explore for a couple of hours. The churches in Ypres were very nice and the Grand Place was also very nice – nothing like the Brussels Grand Place but still very quaint. Ypres was hit hard during the First World War – so a lot of the buildings have been rebuilt since then – but it was still very nice.

After a little outside cafe deliberation – JB and I decided to return to Brussels for the night and next day. We have been to Brussels a few times and thought that this might give us a vacation from our vacation. We already knew the city – we just had to hang out for a bit. We got into the city around 8p – our hotel (The NH Arenburg Grand Place) had a fantastic location. We had a great time over the next night and day. We attended the Brussels Beach Festival – which was pretty cool for a town with a coast. We also made a stop (or two) at my favorite bar in the world – The Delirium Cafe. Good times were had by all.

Next up….Luxembourg!