We drove from London to Belgium, crossing Essex, the southeast of England, a fair amount of France and then accidentally slipped over the border to Mons, Belgium. As a reprobate island dweller (all the way from New Zealand to Grande Britannia) I still delight at how easy it is to slip between countries in Europe, so we took full advantage of this when spending a few days in France.
As a day trip from Brussels (only a half-hour train), I’ve found that either many people haven’t heard of Ghent, preferring to explore the chocolate box streets of Bruges, or they adore Ghent so much that when a blogger (me) visits, they spam them via instastories with recollections of days spent there and memories made. True story. Disclosure: I was a press guest of VisitFlanders in Ghent, but all planning, mischief and thoughts are all mine.… View Post
Eating frites smothered in mayonnaise, nibbling fresh waffles under a mountain of freshly whipped cream and drinking glasses of beer outside in the sunshine is practically inviolable law when visiting Belgium. (In fact, if you look under a microscope at your Belgian passport stamp ‘proost / à votre santé / prost’ may or may not be etched under the flag.) Disclosure: I was a press guest of VisitFlanders in Ghent, and our dinners were complimentary but all thoughts are… View Post
From my hotel window, I can hear the sliding scales of a bluesy jazz saxophonist, children softly singing a nursery rhyme and the occasional tinkle of coffee cups from a nearby cafe. I should be parading around the town, hunting out all of the medieval gems with the keenness of a panther, but instead, as it’s a Saturday morning, I’ve simply snuggled in further into the covers (more like a house cat in truth). There… View Post
Chocolate, sunshine, Colin Farrell, gingerbread buildings, turrets, canals, lace, chips & mayo and medieval cobbled streets. What more could you want from a weekend city break? Everyone has asked me whether we preferred Brussels or Bruges and I honestly can’t say. Bruges is quaint, teeny, full of meandering streets and canals, chocolate shops and frite stores catering for your average cheesy tourist. They do also however have something called ‘samurai sauce’ for your frites which I’m… View Post