The idea of visiting Belgium was born spontaneously and justified the observation that was noticed not only by me long ago: spontaneous decisions bring the best to our lives. But it all began not so brightly: on a rainy September day I didn’t know what to do with myself in order to get rid of the state of complete weakness — I had to be nervous the day before. But I knew the right way to help myself - I went to my favorite cafe, I ordered cocoa with marenga and wrote sms to a friend who lives in Italy. My friend is a treasure, a couple of minutes of communication with him return a smile to my face. We have known each other for 20 years and we find understanding in everything, and we are united in our passion for traveling.
Word for word, I complained to a friend about the autumn blues and decided to ask for him to visit Italy in Italy - the breeze from Lake Garda once dispersed my longing, a proven means. A friend asked how many days I can devote to the trip. I had a week. He replied - super, that's enough for a trip to Belgium, flew? I agreed without hesitation!
We got to Belgium by Ryanair low-cost airline, the ticket from Milan cost us only 40 euros. Low-cost flights to Belgium take Charleroi Airport, which is located in the Walloon part of Belgium, 50 kilometers from Brussels. Closer - at 11 kilometers in Zaventem is the main airport of Brussels, which receives flights of major airlines. Brussels is easily accessible by train from Paris or Amsterdam - an hour on the road and you are at your destination.
From the airport, it is easy to get to the capital of Belgium by bus shuttles, which run every half hour and with a preliminary online reservation can cost 10 euros per person. At the shuttle bus stop, tourists are greeted by the first distinctive Belgian flavor - buses park right in front of a kiosk selling french fries - it is considered a national Belgian dish and will meet you more than once in a Belgian journey. In Bruges, she even dedicated a whole museum! Of course, from these smells, the saliva flows and the hands reach for the purse for the five-euro bills - that is how much a large portion of potatoes costs, generously seasoned with mayonnaise. You should not hurry - in the center of Brussels at every step you can buy the same portion for 1.5 euros, take a bottle of famous Belgian beer in the next shop (more than 900 varieties of beer are produced in the country) and, sitting right on the main square of Grand Place, make city picnic.
The shuttle brings travelers to one of the three train stations of Brussels - South (Gare du Midi or Brussel-Zuid). It is very convenient as a starting point for traveling in Belgium, because trains leave for him and to Flanders - to Antwerp, Ghent, Brugge, and to the southern francophone part of the country - Walloon. And if in the plans for the beginning to see Brussels itself, then right in the building of the station it is easy to find the metro station of the same name and in half an hour to get to any part of Brussels. We went on foot - the apartment we rented for the duration of our stay in Belgium was 15 minutes walk from the station, and it took us the same amount of time to get to the city center. Imagine our surprise when we saw the name of the street leading to our temporary dwelling: Stalingrad Boulevard! The spice was added by the fact that Stalingrad is the central street of the Moroccan quarter.
On the first evening in Brussels, we had a lot: we saw the statue of Manneken Pis, the central square of the Grand Place, on it - the city hall and magnificent medieval palaces. Through the Royal Galleries adjoining the square - a passage of the most expensive boutiques and a meeting place for the Brussels aristocracy in the old days, we went to Myasnikov street, where we got into a festive atmosphere - here we are invited to cozy restaurants of national cuisine, bohemian cabarets, and the Theater de Toone - puppet theater, he heads the list of entertainment in Brussels according to Tripadvisor. We could not get past this holiday of life and sat down at a table in one of the restaurants - we decided to try one of the traditional Belgian dishes - Moules frites, mussels cooked in wine or beer sauce with greens, served with french fries. They brought unusual devices, which we, to our shame, could only understand by connecting to Wi-Fi.
In the historic center, tourists can buy and taste everything that is considered to be the hallmark of Belgium: chocolates of the most sophisticated types and fanciful shapes, lace and tapestries, and, of course, Belgian waffles, the aroma of which cannot be forgotten. They are served soaked in syrup and jam, with ice cream, fruit, poured over chocolate, tasty to insanity!
Due to the fact that Brussels is a small city as for the capital, the main sights are located compactly and can be run around in a day. But is it worth the rush? It is better to enjoy leisurely walks through the cozy quarters of Ilo-Sacre and Marol, sit on the benches in the park of the 50th anniversary with a view of the Triumphal Arch. Or spend time exploring vintage things at the flea market in the Sablon quarter, visit the Atomium - a modern symbol of Brussels or the modern European Quarter, where the European Commission and the European Parliament sit, because Brussels is also the capital of the European Union.
In Brussels, it is easy to feel like a local resident - the population of the city is multinational due to the concentration of offices of international government organizations, and since Belgium is a colonizing country in the past, the Belgian Congolese are the indigenous people of the country. It is difficult to distinguish tourists from Brussels, so it seems that travelers in the city a bit and easier to breathe. What can not be said about Bruges - perhaps the most tourist city in Belgium.
Travelers can be understood - once in Bruges, you find yourself in the atmosphere of a medieval tale, where gingerbread houses, each with its own architectural twist, are located along the canals. Where in the cathedral of Notre Dame is the only statue of Michelagelo, taken from Italy during his life, and in the basilica of the Holy Blood in the crystal phial is kept the blood of Jesus.
A compulsory program in Bruges is to ride along the canals on an excursion boat, at the same time listening to a half-hour excursion about the city in one of the European languages, to see the city’s lively attraction - a huge dog that sleeps all day, substituting the sun in the face of a window in one of the houses on the canal. And, of course, have a beer or hot chocolate in one of the cafes on the Grote Markt market square, looking at the city hall with the Belfort.
Getting to Bruges (by the way, the Belgians call it softly - Bruche) is easy: every hour there is a train from Brussels making stops in Ghent, Bruges and finally in Ostend. There we got unplanned - by going around all the sights of Bruges, we realized that we still have time and we manage to get to Ostend and then come back to see Bruges in illumination. Oostende is a resort city and the largest Belgian port on the North Sea. The closer we got to the pier, the harder it was to stand on our feet - the sea wind literally blew off our feet and brought them down to the bones, but at the same time brought the smell of the sea and delight from the feeling of endless sea expanses. After churning ashore, we ran to warm up a bar on the embankment, and a portion of brandy came in very handy.
One of the days we devoted to a trip to Antwerp - also a port, but a river, on the shipping Scheldt. This is the world center for jewelers and diamond trading, right at the railway station - which, by the way, is recognized as the most beautiful in Europe, show-windows of jewelry salons sparkle. Antwerp is the birthplace of Rubens, and in the Cathedral of the Most Holy Mother of God two of his masterpieces are kept. Other works of the artist, and even more than 7 thousand paintings, engravings and sculptures of different eras are collected in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts.
After taking a photo near the Steen Castle, looking at the waterfront open-air museum exhibits, wandering through the narrow streets and not forgetting to look into Chinatown, where in addition to Asian restaurants there is a Chinese, and a Buddhist temple, and w-shu school, we set off back to the train station. On the way, we often met Orthodox Jews — it was their community that owned jewelery and antique stores in the Diamond Quarter, where hereditary diamond cutters live. The start of the rain made us hurry to hide in a comfortable car of a high-speed train.
We decided to leave Wallonia the next time - we will definitely return to Belgium!
