The Best of Belgium

We have heard that Belgium is often side-stepped on a casual tour of Europe. After now coming here for a second time, I realize it is a matter of Belgium lacking only major tourist attractions; it is deprived of nothing else. Filled with vintage
windmills and fields spotted with uninterested cows and divided by tall deciduous trees, its country side is nothing less than charming.

Let me tell you how I know.

Our main plan for Belgium was to take a guided tour just outside the city limits of Brugge. It was a nice idea, but Belgium did not go as planned: we were bit by the adventure bug!

"Who needs a tour guide," we mused.

Our logic was that, equipped only with a bike, enthusiasm, and an interested frame of mind, we would see more for less than if we took the safe way, a guided tour.


With our freshly-rented bikes, a vsague sense of direction and armed with bike bells, we took to the paths.

Belgium must really like their bikers because we had our own wide, paved paths, lined with towering trees right along the canal. Cows and sheep grazed on the banks. The countryside was incredible and the canals reflected the lining trees and sky. Even better, though, was the smell (and no, I don't mean cow manure!!). It smelt like fall, but sweet somehow. Leaves were floating to the ground. After riding canals and down narrow cobblestone streets, we made our first stop in a cute little historic town, Dammes.

We did a quick jaunt through the town and fields and then headed towards our next stop: the Netherlands! Oh yes, that's right, we biked to the Netherlands. Man, we are so European!

We stopped in Sluis, Holland for a few pictures, but since we wanted to make it to the coast, we kept trucking. And it was well worth it! I never even thought of Belgium as having a little sea-side town.

Knokke Heist, Belgium, however, has it all: white sandy beaches as far as the eye can see, a great view of the ocean and a huge bike path all the way along! We got off the bikes and got sand between our toes! The perimeter of the beach was sand dunes covered in ornamental looking grass.
We couldn't not run through it. But then I heard it, a rattle. Does Belgium have rattle snakes? We didn't hang around and find out.

We were now 18km from our home base, Brugge. I wondered if we were actually going to make it back. My bum was already numb! The scenery distracted us though, and pretty soon we were back among the canals and cobblestone of Brugge.

Of all the people and animals we met along our bike ride, the rooster was the most peculiar. I suspect they were Irish roosters. In Ireland we were told there are no strangers, just friends who have never met. Belgians, however, were not quite as welcoming. The Irish are a hard act to follow. Never=the-less, every time we needed them, they pulled up their socks. Strangers, presumable locals, are unresponsive to smiles. Tourists, many are easy to spot, are no different than Niagara FAlls tourists: unresponsive to the entire world around them. Even most of the Belgian farm stock in unresponsive. Cows don't respond to your mooing, horses to your naying and sheep to your baaing. Never do they respond, no matter your expertise in farm animal noises. And then there is the rooster. Even in the middle of an intense 'pecking the ground' session, he will show you the utmost interest if you cluck at him. Before our bike ride I was rather impartial to roosters. Now, that has all changed.

To give our bums a well-needed rest, we spent the next day wandering the city. I have officially given Brugge the title of 'Romantic City'. Even Jonathan was persuaded by its cute buildings, canals and cobblestone. In such a romantic city, I decided it would only make sense that he should kiss me every 10 minutes. So he set his watch. This lasted all of 20 minutes. Suspiciously, the watch "broke" and Jonathan couldn't fix it.

It was a mere inconvience. I just replaced him with some Belgian chocolate. We bought some hand-made Belgian Chocolate, ate a picnic lunch beside a canal, and got lost in Brugge's narrow streets.

It was neat because the cute houses and streets were not just in the tourist areas. They were everywhere. It was just real Brugge.

One of our stops was at the Basilica of the Holy Blood. We stopped because of its connection to John 19:41: "Taking Jesus'body, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus wrapped it in strips of linen." It held a relic; apparently a strip of this linen, covered in Holy Blood. I had never before seen a relic and I did not know how to approach it, or even if I should. I was sceptical about the origins of the blood. Would it be wrong to venerate the blood, the relic, if it really was not Holy Blood? I didn't know and I still don't. I did, however, choose to go up, and even touch, but not as a sceptic. I went as a Christian. My time in front of the relic was spent not wondering "is this Holy Blood?" but quietly and thankfully reaffirming my faith that "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace (Eph 1:7). I am glad I went up.

Let's move on...to FOOD! Imagine this: a real Belgian waffle, crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, just barely poking out from underneath a mound of creamy ice cream, liberally drizzled in chocolate sause...for dinner! We paid no attention the surrounding awe-inspiring gothic architecture, the marching band, or the Belgian festival that we were right in the middle of. It was just me and my waffle.

On a much less important note, we finally saw the Mannekin Pis. You know, the little boy peeing fountain. Brussels is pretty obsessed with it. The locals have made hundreds of little outfits for him, all with a strategically placed holde.
They even have them on display at a museum! There is a Mannekin Pis restaurant, Mannekin Pis hotel, Mannekin Pis store, heck you can even buy your own little Mannekin Pis to bring home...in chocolate if you'd like!

Belgium has been great. We might miss its slower pace when we roll into wild and crazy Amsterdam. Of course, we'll let you know.

ps. thanks for the interest! My camera is a Kodak z650. It is a 6MP, 12X optical zoom, and it comes with lots of automatic and manual functions. I love this camera!