Belgium

Rick Stein sums up this country accurately when he says, ‘Belgium is a breeze… it’s well organised, … no language barrier… everything’s close together.’

So glad we visited.

We arrived in Belgium after a wonderful week in London walking vigorously in all directions from our Hyde Park hotel, seeing the excellent stage show ‘Cabaret’ and savouring the wonders of the British Museum.

Our first Belgian stop was Bruges, a medieval fairytale town that definitely deserves a few days. It’s easy to lean into all sorts of stuff here: long, slow lunches and dinners, plates of moules, frites, wine, beer, waffles, chocolate, easy flat walking and medieval architecture. I could say exactly this for Ghent and Brussels too.

Ghent is bigger than Bruges, a little grittier with a different, albeit equally enjoyable atmosphere. Once a wealthy textile town, now a university town, it does a good job of embracing a casual, bohemian side which is found in boutique clothing stores, bookshop cafes, outdoor pubs and of course, the ubiquitous bikes cycled in droves along cobbled streets.

Canals are the lifeblood of Ghent, the usual summer blue green algae is on show and boats do a steady business ferrying people around.

French speaking Brussels doubles as Belgium’s capital/EU capital/NATO headquarters and there’s quite a bit to see here.

The finer details:

London’s St Pancras Station was the jumping on point for our Eurail to Brussels and onward to Bruges and Ghent.

Belgium rail between Brussels, Ghent and Bruges – excellent. Punctual with regular service (often every 15 mins)  and short trips (90 minutes). Trainline app is user friendly for purchasing tickets which can be used at any time on the day.

Uber works well. Frequent and reliable.

Hit up the Belgian beer, waffles, moules, frites and chocolate. And, it’s an easy thing to feed your caffeine habit here.

Walking shoes – essential. Bruges, Ghent and Brussels flat terrain is made for walking.

September is a lovely time weatherwise to be in Belgium. Day temps hovered around 24.