Belgium, Destinations, Europe

Annoncing My Next Destination: Belgium!

Sommaire

I announced it on Facebook and Twitter a long time ago so probably a lot of you already know that I’m going to Belgium with my travel partner Claude!

Reading my blog, you may have noticed that I sometimes “write with an accent”, and if you have read my About Page, you know I’m a French Canadian. It will be my first trip in a French speaking country and I must say that I can’t wait to speak my native language with people there.

It will be a short one week trip in Belgium, but I think this country is perfect for this length. Just enough time to explore more than Brussels, and not too much time to gain 10 lbs eating all the chocolate. Ahah!

Here’s the list of towns I’ll explore in Belgium:

1. Brussels

Brussels will be my base camp since I have a friend who live there and he’s kind enough to let us stay at his apartment in exchange of maple sirop, caramel grenache and Tim Bits. Yeah, that’s what he’s missing from Quebec!

So, no need to find accommodations, which is a huge budget relief.

Of course, I’ll visit the Grande Place, the Atomium and the Manneken Pis, but the number one thing I want to do in Brussels is to visit the Magritte Museum. I’m a fan of this painter since high school! I only saw one of his painting at the MET in New York and I almost cried. Really, a boys band or a painting from Magritte is the same battle for me.

No need to say that a lot of beers and chocolate will be involved too.

2. Antwerp

Second largest town in Belgium, I heard Antwerp is THE place to drink the best beers. I think all Belgium is THE place but… we’ll see.

I’ll have the chance to practice some German there.

My trip in Belgium: Antwerp

Photography by Adams K. (Creative Commons)

3. Ghent

There’s a lot of reason why I want to visit Ghent.

First, its “Veggie Thursday”! Every Thursday since 2009, schools, public services and restaurants offer vegetarian meals to help reduce the meat intake and help reduce pollution. I like the idea and I’ll do my best to be in Ghent this day of the week!

Second, the street art! The street artists of Ghent are world reknown and there’s a 7km walk tour to discover the best spots.

My trip to Belgium: GhentPhotography by zoetnet (Creative Commons)

4. Brugge

Brugge is one of the most photographed place in Belgium. No wonder when you look at its beautiful typical houses and Rozenhoedkaai. I’ll use my time in Brugge to explore the possibilities of my brand new camera, the Olympus E-M10. I can’t wait to share these photos with you!

My trip to Belgium: BruggePhotography by Dennis Jarvis (Creative Commons)

5. Liege

My friend Pascale from the blog Scouich (in French), told me that I absolutely cannot go to Belgium without visiting Liege. Its lively artistic and cultural life brings a young energy to the town and makes it a must-see when you go to Belgium.

Also, here’s what you see on Pinterest when you search for “Liege”. I think this is a strong enough argument.

Liege waffles on PinterestPhotography by Stephen Downes (Creative Commons)

And, as usual, I keep free time to creativity and discoveries along the road! If the weather is on our side, we’ll go to the beach in Ostende. Yay!

*Photography at the top by faungg’s photos (Creative Commons)


Have you already been to Belgium? What is your favorite place?

Article précédent Article suivant

Vous aimerez aussi

5 Commentaires

  • Reply Pascale 13 mai 2015 at 15 h 02 min

    LOVED all these cities. But if you want to go to the beach (which by the way is ALWAYS cold and very windy) you should go to Nieuwpoort which is way more beautiful than Ostende.

  • Reply Amélie 15 mai 2015 at 14 h 35 min

    Buy a train pass…you will be able to see most of this country with it. Seriously. I did it in 2004, I keep an excellent souvenir from this trip.

    • Reply Annie Anywhere 15 mai 2015 at 14 h 42 min

      Hi Amélie! Yes, I plan to buy the Rail Pass to explore the country. It’s an unexpensive way to go around, and everything seems so close to Brussels! Glad you enjoyed your stay in Belgium :)

  • Reply Jo 10 juillet 2015 at 9 h 59 min

    I live in Gent in Belgium. I found and read your blog by accident, and thought i should clarify and rectify some things before you have to find out yourself. I’m a teacher, i can’t help myself… :D
    If you’ve been to Belgium by now, you’ll already know by now. If not, prepare yourself:

    – Only about 35% of Belgium speaks French. This is the walloon part with Namur, Charleroi and Liege as the primary cities. From the cities you will be visiting only Brussels and Liege are French-speaking with Brussels being officially bilingual, yet mostly French-speaking. In the rest of Belgium (Antwerpen, Gent and Brugge) most people can speak French, but most don’t really like to because of the history behind it. Similar to people in French-speaking Canada who mostly can speak English, but often don’t like to ;)

    – So Antwerpen, Gent and Brugge are in the Flanders part of Belgium, with Flanders accounting for about 60% of the population. Unfortunately you won’t be able to practice your German much there, since Flanders is not German-speaking, but Dutch-speaking. There is a strong difference in accent in Flanders, and the language is called Flemish. But it basically is Dutch with a strong accent and some small differences in words and sayings, but thats it. Very similar to British English and American English being the same language, with a strong difference in accent and some words and sayings…

    Hope this helps and isn’t to disappointing!

    Have a nice stay in Belgium!

    • Reply Annie Anywhere 10 juillet 2015 at 11 h 08 min

      Hi!

      I like when people read my blog “by accident”! ;) Ahah! Welcome in y little space of internet!

      I am now back from my trip to Belgium and I noticed the particularities of language. I do think their a lot in common with the French-English situation in Quebec. I talked about it a little in my post “How I feel home abroad”. Thanks for all the informations though, it can be very useful for future travellers in Belgium. Since I’m bilingual, I didn’t have any trouble to get around, with French and English.

      Ghent is the town I preferred in Belgium, so you might be proud of it! Ahah! :) My post “5 reasons to fall in love with Ghent” is also the most popular post on the blog!

      Thanks again, and you are welcome to come back by accident whenever you want. :)

    Commenter