Our Trip to Belgium – Brussels and Ghent

This is our first trip post. My goal is to share what we did, some information about where we visited, and random facts. If you would like to see any additional information in our trip posts, please leave a comment, as we are still tweaking our blog based on feedback from you!

After bouncing around Norway for almost two weeks, we jumped on the plane from Bodø to Brussels. We planned to spend all of July on Lake Como in Italy, and needed to find a place to spend two weeks between our Norway adventure and Italy, at the end of June. Neither of us had been to Belgium so when a housesit popped up on outskirts of Brussels for three cats and dog, we applied and were offered the sit after an enjoyable video chat.

Our lovely host picked us up from the airport, and drove us to her beautiful home in Hoeilaart, on the outskirts of Brussels. A short distance from the home, there was a lovely wood with a lake and many walking trails. We would end up taking many walks there with our new friend, Kaya, a basset hound and cocker spaniel mix. Just a few miles from the house was Kaya’s favorite place to go for a walk, the grounds of the Château Solvay, also called the Château de La Hulpe. It was one of the few housesits that provided use of a car, making it easier to take Kaya on her walks at the château.

Our location in Belgium was interesting. We were in the Flanders region, but just a stones throw from both the Brussels and Wallonia regions. Flanders is the Flemish region of Belgium, and Wallonia is the French region of Belgium. Brussels, being the capital, is a mix of both. While traveling we try to learn basic phrases like “hello”, “thank you”, and “please” in the local language. I must admit, I was never quite sure which language to speak.  I did not want to offend anyone I was speaking with, as there is some tension between the regions. Most people we interacted with spoke English, so we mainly stuck with our native tongue until we discovered which language they preferred.

Brussels

From our location in Hoeilaart, we could easily catch a train into Brussels city center. We took a couple days in between the rain and explored some areas of the city. I had never realized it, but Belgium exported many cartoons/comics from when I was a kid. You could find hidden Smurfs all over the city, as well as murals of TinTin. I even spotted a Marsupilami.

We wandered into the Grand Place, Brussels main square, a plaza hedged by beautiful gothic buildings, home to the town hall and the Brussels City Museum. This was my favorite area of the city.

After eating some Belgium fries and picking up some Belgium chocolate, we walked down Rue de l’Etuve until we came to Manneken Pis. Yes that does translate into “little pissing man,” and that is exactly was this fountain depicts. The statue is now a replica with the most recent “original” in the City Museum. The figure is regularly dressed up, and on our visit he was dressed as a shepherd with a flock a sheep. He has over one thousand outfits!

It was odd to us that a statue of a little urinating man has apparently become a famous symbol for the Brussels people. There are many legends about the origin of the statue, most giving homage to a little boy saving the city by either distracting their enemies or putting out a fire. The statue was a main source of water for the residents, and stood the test of time. Manneken Pis survived the French bombardment in 1695, and stood through both world wars. In other battles it had been stolen, retrieved, and either repaired or remade. He is a symbol of defiance and resilience from a people with a sense of humor.

We then ventured through Brussels Park to the Palace. The flowered “carpets” were pretty. There was another park in front of the palace where we stopped to enjoy the shade. While we were waiting we noticed a procession of black cars, with another black (probably armored) car leaving the palace to join them. We assumed this was the King leaving.

Ghent

One of our previous hosts from our housesit in Thailand is originally from Belgium, and lived in Ghent for many years. He was kind enough to put together some must sees, so we decided to make a day trip up to Ghent. We didn’t have much time since we were still housesitting, and did not want to leave the animals alone for too long. We followed directions from our Brussels host on how long the animals could be left alone, and made a quick trip.

We both agreed we enjoyed Ghent a bit better than Brussels. The streets were a bit cleaner, and it felt less chaotic. The main rail station is a bit out of town, but there was a tram we were able to take into the city center. 

After grabbing lunch, we made our way to Gravensteen, which translate to the Castle of the Counts. It is a beautiful medieval castle built on the banks of the river Lys in 1180. The castle only fell to invaders once, on November 16, 1949, when 138 students from the University of Ghent took over the castle in protest of a new tax on beer. They occupied the castle for one day, during which they threw rotten fruit and smoke bombs down at the police. We’ve been told the beer in Belgium is that good, it’s worth protesting for. The city still celebrates “the Battle of Gravensteen” every year with a parade. 

We continued our way through the alleyways, across bridges. The architecture is a medley of just about everything. It reaches back to the medieval twelfth century, all the way to contemporary architecture of the twenty-first century. You will find Roman, Gothic, Baroque, Art Nouveau, Modernist, and more.

We journeyed along the riverwalk. Across the bridge I admired the medieval store fronts lining the river, known as Graslei. The ferries and tour boats danced with each other as they passed along the Lys to their destinations. 

I thoroughly enjoyed standing on Sint-Michielsbrug (St. Michael’s Bridge) and admiring the grand towers of the city rising in front of me; St Nicolas’ Church, Saint Bavo Cathedral, and and the Belfry. 

Hoeliaart

The night before we left our housesit in Hoeilaart, we wandered the little town one last time. Truthfully, we had spent most of our time in the nearby woods, or walking to and from the nearby grocery store. There was another park we never explored and found ourselves wandering its footpaths on our way home from dinner. It was quite the surprise when we stumbled upon Kasteel van Hoeilaart, also called Man Castle, previously owned by the lords and mayors of the area.

Recap

In truth, we did not do much research on Belgium before we went. Though we did know about it, we did not see the Atomium in Brussels; built as the icon of the 1958 World’s Fair, it resembles a giant atom. If it was not for our friend’s suggestions in Ghent we might have missed out on seeing that city completely.

We wish we had more time to meet the locals, but I think we were both recuperating and catching up on tasks we ignored during our nearly two weeks of fast travel through Norway. If we go back to Belgium I would like to check out Bruges and Antwerp.

We did get to eat a fair amount of Belgium waffles and chocolate, which I recommend. For chocolate, I recommend the Côte D’Or bouchée lait, little chocolate elephants that can be found in most grocery stores.

Some More Fun Facts about Belgium

1. Belgium has been known to carry on without its federal government. It’s a constitutional monarchy, a federal government, and five regional governments. In the most recent reform during 2019-2020, Belgium set a new record as it took 652 days to form a new federal government.
2. Brussels is consider the capital of the European Union, though there is no official capital.
3. It has three official languages: Dutch, French, and German. Flemish, Dutch-speaking schools usually start teaching French by grade 5. Many French schools, on the other hand, do not have an obligation to teach Dutch. However, we did meet some lovely Flemish women on our Ferry from Bodø to Lofoten in Norway, who informed us, while they know French they do not like to speak it.
4. Belgium lays claim to inventing fries. For this reason, make sure you don’t call them “French fries” while you are there.
5. There are at least 1,000 different beers brewed in Belgium. In most cases, there is a special glass designed specifically for each beer.
6. Belgium has one of the highest tax rates in the world. It’s not uncommon for income to be taxed at 60% or more.
7. The saxophone was invented in Belgium by Adolphe Sax.
8. As I already talked about, we have the Belgians to thank for cartoons like the Smurfs and Tintin. 

So what did you think of our first trip post? Is there more you would like to know about our trips in general? Have you been to Belgium?