Brilliant Belgium: Bruges and Brussels

From Lille to Bruges (Brugge), Bruges to Brussels, Brussels back to Lille!

I just got back from Belgium yesterday after traveling there with my two friends Molly and Andrew for the past five days (since Sunday), and we had quite the experience.  We made a triangle of sorts, taking the easy and cheap (I mean, CHEAP) train from Lille to Bruges, Bruges to Brussels, and then Brussels back to Lille. 

BRUGES:

Upon arriving in Bruges, I was immediately amazed by all of the architecture.  The city is old and has a lot of history.  We were a little cautious coming into our first hostel, which got mixed but mostly good reviews, and I’m so happy to say that it exceeded our expectations so much.  Most of the reviews were positive but there were some that wrote things like “there was just a little problem with a big spider,” and “it’s a nice place, if you don’t plan on taking a shower,” so, needless to say, we came in with low expectations to begin with.

First Meal in Belgium

It was a youth hostel that helped us to really get to know the city.  Immediately they gave us a map with all the great spots we needed to visit marked and a token for a free beer tasting at the adjacent restaurant that was connected to our hostel.  So we got to try three beers that night right off the bat!  I really learned SO much about beer in Belgium and felt so blessed (really, though) to be able to be able to taste the beers that I did.  For our first three beers, we got a dark beer called Abbaye de Leffe, which I liked the most with my meal (chicken stew with croquettes, which are the best little fried potato things ever), a blond beer we get a bunch in the states called Hoegaarden, and then a cherry beer called Bellevue (coincidence?!).  I liked the Abbaye the best, Molly liked the cherry beer the best, and Andrew liked the Hoegaarden the most, go figure.  But enough about beer (for now…), after scarfing down our food we were ready to get settled in our room, a five person room.  We had a sink in our room but the shared bathrooms on the floor were really clean.  If you’re ever trying to book a hostel in Bruges, St. Christopher Bauhaus is definitely a good one!!!

Croquettes = Great invention

We met a guy from London named Nick that was staying in our room.  He worked at a University there but was traveling through Belgium for fun (he was maybe 28 or so).  He joined us that night at a bar someone had read was a must-try, which I was mostly happy with because if he was with us, then he wasn’t stealing our stuff in the room (half joking…).  More seriously, though, one of the best parts of staying in these youth hostels is just meeting all these different people you wouldn’t normally have met.  As you’ll see, trying beers at local bars is a common theme on this trip.

Side note to Grandmother: I know that you said I would lose your inheritance if I drank beer/alcohol before I was of age, but in Europe, I am of age… So I’m not breaking any promises! 

First Belgian Waffle

One of the first things I learned from Belgians is that there are seven true Trappist beers in the world, meaning they are munk-made beers.  Six of the seven are in Belgium and most are found in any bar or restaurant.  We can get most of these in the states, but they’re more expensive and never on tap.  I learned that all the profits made off of the production of the Trappist beers goes toward remaking of more beer but then after that, charity!  So I could feel good about drinking these beers, too.  So I was able to try almost all of these Trappist beers… I’m going to have to look for the remaining ones during my other travels.  Not only was I able to try these beers, but I was able to learn about them in detail (as well as a few others) at a beer tasting put on by none other than Kai. 

Andrew with Nick, from London.

In Bruges (there, they say Brugge)

Molly and Andrew joined me for a shot in front of the
hotel/canal where they shot the film 'In Bruges'

'Rarest' beer in Belgium!

Kai was our tour guide on the second day on a free walking tour throughout the city of Bruges.  He had lived in Bruges for a few years but was originally from Brooklyn, surprisingly.  He was a phenomenal tour guide, pointing out different areas in Bruges that were in the film, ‘In Bruges’ throughout the tour.  He would also make the group to fun things like hide behind the wall of the bridges and jump up and scream when a boat tour was just under us, promising that if we get one person to fall off the boat he would buy us all a round of beers.  I won’t bore you all with the long history of Bruges (you’ll just have to visit and do the tour with Kai, he’s a lot funnier than me), but I think that the funniest part about the city is why it is visited by so many tourists.  Tidbit: In 1892, there was a popular book called ‘Bruges la Morte’ that described the city as a dark, poor, and ugly place.  Coincidentally, this attracted tons of tourists that I guess found it pretty romantic (which I can attest to the fact that it is quite the romantic city).  Then when the movie ‘In Bruges’ came out recently, the same sort of thing happened.  The main quote from the movie is when Colin Ferrel says, “If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me. But I didn’t, so it doesn’t.”  So just like in 1892, Bruges is seen as a bum place which only attracts more tourists… like me!  So anyway, later that night after the tour, Kai gave a tasting of 5 different beers (1/3 of each beer) followed by a free full beer of our choosing and all for ten Euros!  It was a deal we couldn’t turn down. 

On our tour, Kai also showed us where there is a bar down Bruges’ smallest alley. This bar had the rarest beer in Belgium, supposedly, because you couldn’t get it anywhere else but at that bar.  Their beer was called Garre and it was served with Gouda cheese.  It was pretty good, we thought, but more just worth it to say we had the rarest beer in Belgium. 

Finally, last but not least, we went to a chocolate museum called the Choco-Story.  The museum itself was very informative and literally showed us the full history of cocoa from the beginning.  The most interesting part to me was how prized it was by the Aztecs and Mayans.  But anyway, we then got to try some chocolate and it was definitely not a Hershey’s bar.  So Belgian chocolate was a plus and the museum was definitely interesting!

Thoughts on a Train Ride:

Between my travels on the train, I would plug in my iPod and listen to songs that reminded me of home.  I’ve realized a couple of things.  First of all, I’ve realized that the best Christmas present in the world will just be for me to be able to take an American shower at home.  After four months of these dinky European showers where I have to hold up the faucet over my head, bumping into walls every time I need to bend down, it will be incredibly refreshing to be home for that reason alone.  Second, I realized how weird it will be not being home for Thanksgiving.  I always knew that would be the case, but I suppose it hit me on the train ride.  A bunch of the Americans here have decided to find a big turkey and cook a big meal together, so that will still be fun.

BRUSSELS:

Interesting hostel...

Leaving Bruges was hard for us because we loved the city so much.  Our time there was incredible and I won’t forget it any time soon.  But our hostel in Brussels awaited us.  This time around, we treated ourselves to a slightly higher end hostel which didn’t get one bad review.  The only weird part about it was that we had to check in and get our keys at a different hostel, but most reviews said it was not a big deal.  Well, (here is the ‘yes, but…’) this hostel ended up being janky.  ‘Janky’ is a word we say a lot at school in California but I know a lot of people haven’t heard of it, so allow me to elaborate.  The bathroom door knob was taped on on one side and inexistent on the other, the wall was peeling off, the cabinet door wasn’t screwed on, the shower didn’t drain (we were looking most forward to a nice shower, too), the main lights never worked, and when we tried to turn on the light fixture in the bathroom the entire thing fell off the wall.  So, obviously, this hostel was quite the experience.  Since getting to our hostel, it seemed to be one thing after another in Brussels, but we still ended up having a lot of fun. 

The first night, we met up with another student from Santa Clara who is studying in Brussels named Mike.  He had us meet him at a bar where we tried ‘half-en-half’, a combination of drinks that made for a sweet, peach beer that we would call ‘Busch-Peche’ when we ordered it.  And no, this is not the same Busch beer from home.  It is a very traditional drink to order in Brussels, so I found, and as was our motto for the trip, when in Belgium, do as the Belgians do.  During the day we decided to do a self-guided walking tour that was drawn out for us on a map that we received at check-in.  Brussels is definitely an interesting city, but it’s not like Bruges where you can just visit all of the sights or even really begin to comprehend the city in a day or two.  So while we did the walking tour, we were really confused by the city overall.  It’s an ugly city – they openly admit this – where the locals speak a multitude of languages and mix each one that they know in between sentences.  It baffles me that everyone speaks Dutch, French, and most of them Flemish, everyone English, and some of them German, as well.  Crazy Belgians!

Andrew, Molly, and Mike

Overall, we concluded that Bruges beats Brussels as a place to visit, but I feel like Brussels would be an awesome city to live in for a year or two.  Belgium in general had great food and beer – waffles, croquettes, chocolate, 3 Euros pasta… and we were really glad we chose to go.   

Westmalle Tripple, one of 7 Trappist beers

Cool shot in Brussels