I recently read that Belgium is the most overlooked country in Europe.  And it kinda rings true to me because most visitors to Europe will probably prioritise other places before spending time in this country, except maybe just to transit it on the way to somewhere else.  But here we were in Belgium with four days to explore the historic city of Bruges and the capital Brussels before we fly to the US via London.

And to be honest, the only reason we were in Belgium was to drop Tramp off at the port of Zeebrugge so he could begin his ocean cruise to Baltimore in the US.  With a heavy heart we waved goodbye to him while some stranger at the port drove him away.  We were on our own, our home, transport, comfort zone and safety blanket were gone and we were left with nothing to do but catch a taxi into Bruges.  How would we cope?

As it happens, we survived.  We were greeted by the wonderful city of Bruges, or Brugge as the locals spell it, where we had a hotel booked for two nights.  From the moment we arrived in the old part of town we knew we were in for a special treat.  Walking that part of town with it’s fabulously preserved buildings, open squares and cobblestone streets takes you back to a time 500 years past.  We immediately liked this place.

Our cute little hotel was just off Market Square, the absolute centre of the action.  Surrounded by beautiful buildings dating back to the Middle Ages, including it’s towering belfry and buildings with their trademark stepped gables and horse drawn carriages clip-clopping in all directions, this open area just oozed character.   

Unfortunately it also oozed tourists.  Hundreds of tourists, usually clustered around their guide, others scattered everywhere in the square.  It’s late September but nobody has told these hordes of tourists.  And we were part of them.

Having lingered in Market Square for a while, we moved to another main square, simply called the Burg, which features the finest building in the city, the Town Hall.  This gorgeous building has origins going back 600 years and is definitely the grand old dame of the town. 

We followed a couple of the city’s canals, tourists boats plying the green water, and visited two wonderful churches, including the spectacular All Saviors Cathedral.  We continued our exploration, absorbing street after street, trying their beers and enjoying a dinner out.  We loved Bruges.

The next morning we took advantage of the free walking tour to get more background on the city and it’s fabulous history.  But really, the town spoke for itself. 

Bruges hit it’s peak as an influential trading city in the 13^th to 15th centuries because it was connected to the sea 15 kilometres away by navigable canals and this is the era when most of these wonderful buildings were built.  Bruges also benefited from not being destroyed in either of the world wars in the last century.

Today it is a city of 80-odd canals spanned by countless arched stone bridges, beautiful narrow cobblestone streets, shops, restaurants and bars that add real flavour to this grand setting.  And every time you look up you see the 83 metre high belfry tower or one of the tall church spires plus wonderful lines of stepped gables on top of the old buildings. 

We also enjoyed a boat tour on the canals, seeing the city from another angle, appreciating what made this city the trading powerhouse it was in medieval days, and how it has been referred to as the Venice of the north.

Belgium in general, and Bruges in particular, is famous for a couple of things which we also wanted to investigate.  First, there is the chocolate.  Belgium chocolate shops are everywhere and it’s impossible not to indulge once or twice during the day (or each hour).  Then there are the waffles, also famous, especially when you combine them with the chocolate and ice cream.  At Julie’s insistence we tried this as well. 

And there are the fries which the Belgians are a little miffed about because they were invented in Belgium but the French ended up taking credit for them.  And for the first time in our lives we had fries for lunch.  That’s it, just fries with our specially selected sauce.  Yum.

Finally, there is the beer.  Not only is Belgium famous for it’s beer but they also have the very cool tradition of matching a customised glass with the different beers.  Each kind of beer, and there are hundreds to choose from, comes with it’s own specific monogrammed glass.  So we had to try a few of these also.  In fact, the beer was so good even Julie indulged.

That night I downloaded the dark and offbeat movie In Bruges, filmed almost entirely in the old part of town, and we watched it to cap off the total Bruges experience.

The next day we walked to the train station and caught a train to Brussels, the cosmopolitan capital of Belgium and the home of the parliament for the European Union.  As we walked to our hotel we could tell the stark difference between the two cities – Brugge had elegant buildings and well-preserved history with class and style while Brussels was a lot less refined, a bit scrappy and gritty on the edges, much more varied and complex. 

Our hotel was located just outside the old town and was home to a more diverse multi-cultural crowd, people from Africa, the middle east and other parts of Europe all seemed to co-exist in harmony.  There were kebab shops, cannabis shops, dark bars, all night markets, music from all over the world playing loud and a colourful array of clothes and styles and people all about.  We liked it.

We went for a walk to explore this new city and walked into a fabulous Saturday afternoon of crowded walking streets, buskers, packed pubs, all-day restaurants and that wonderful mix of cultures, languages, clothing and styles.  We found a pub to enjoy another Belgian beer and absorbed this wonderful scene.  Saturday afternoon in Brussels is as good as it gets.

The next day we caught the metro out to the big garden around the Monument du Cinquantenaire and spent the rest of the day slowly walking back to the hotel in a zig-zag way past the EU complex, the Royal Palace, numerous beautiful gardens, the Grand Place again, an ice cream shop and home. 

As always, and not surprisingly on a beautiful sunny Sunday, there were people everywhere, in the parks, trolling the cobblestone walking streets, queuing up for their fancy Belgian waffle, taking in the sights.  It was great fun.

The next morning we caught the metro out to the European Union Parliament, a vast collection of buildings housing the immense business of running the European Union.  We did the free audio guide tour of the Parliament, a fascinating look into what the EU is, what they do and how they operate.  This was a super experience, really interesting and in particular very special to see the parliament chamber itself.

We then caught a train to Brussels airport and flew to London where we spent the night at a hotel at Heathrow airport before flying to the US.  Awkwardly but unavoidably, we left Tramp at the port in Zeebrugge where he was still scheduled to be loaded onto a cargo ship for his trip to the US.  We’ve done this before, and we dread it, leaving our best buddy behind, but we have to hope the shipping gods will be kind to us again, just as they have been in the other four times we’ve shipped him across the oceans. 

This ended Follow the Sun’s journey in this part of the world, an extraordinary accomplishment that we are very proud of, five continents and 70 countries over the last six years but we still have to get Tramp back to California.  And that should be great fun.