Brussels and Bruges on a weekend

Still overwhelmed from my trip to the north one month earlier, I packed my stuff again to head to the airport to fly to Belgium.

I only had 4 days this time but since the distances where quite comfy and the two cities are really small, this was just enough time. I was really looking forward to all the chocolate, fries and beers I‘m about to have in the next days.

Arriving in Brussels and taking the train into the city, kind of shocked me - the surburban area around the main city looks horrible, so I was happy we booked our place directly in the city center. Dansaert Hotel was a really good choice. The place is located in the Dansaert Area in the middle of the city. Rooms where really comfy, super nice host and the night was only about 90 Euro.

From there we first planned to go and see Manneken Pis and later drive out to the Atomium since we only had one night in Brussels. Well what shell I say, all plans chance when beer is involved. We checked out Manneken Pis, not far from where we stayed and right next to this little statue (which is by the way a bit overrated) a really nice dude was offering us beer samples at a place called the "Manneken Pis Cafe". Well one thing came to another and we got hammered in the city center. The evening ended by buying tons of Belgium chocolate which was kind of the whole dinner this evening. We didn't mind since the main trip should go to Bruges anyway and we stayed in Brussels just because the flight was going there from Graz.

Nevertheless we got up early the next day and did the Atomium on the way to Bruges. It‘s kind of far out of the city center, still worth a visit for sure. Brussels is a really nice town, still I think one half to a full day is just the right time to stay there.

The train infrastructure in Belgium is more than perfect. Took us less than an hour to go from Brussels to Bruges.

Oh man, I loved Bruges. Unfortunately already at the arrival it was clear, that there are gonna be heeps of people. It is really crowded but so beautiful. I stayed in an awesome AirBnB called Absolut Bruges - highly recommend this place if you get the chance. The owner was so nice, the places has like 3 or 4 rooms and a shared lounge with free coffee and one free beer a day. Also you find a beautiful little terrace where you can start making plans for your day in the mornings. The Apartment is located in the city center but still it is so quite so you‘ll have a good night sleep after some Belgium-Beers.

I can‘t even say what I would recommend to see, the whole city with its midieval touch is just an experiance itself. I learned that back in world war 2 the town was pretty much spared from all the chaos going on back in the days.

To be honest one full day is enough, I did two - so first we looked up some beer bars and tried tons of good and fancy beers in a place called 2Be (the Beerwall). Man that place was fun, we bumped into a group of 4 german ladies and were having a real good afternoon.

Of course you can do the canal tours but for me it was just over-crowded. The nearby park with its three huge windmills was a way quieter place to hang out. Unfortunately Grote Markt (the main square) is also always busy, but you should for sure take some time and visit this area. All in all Bruges is just filled with cute little cafes, bars and restaurants, some fancy shops and of course a lot of chocolate stores. I just loved the flair of the city, sitting around having a very price coffee or beer and just watching people passing by in the narrow streets.

In summer time, the park near the train station is offering some events almost every day. Check out the area around Minnewater lake. First this area is a really nice place to let your soul dangle and second there is always some cool stuff going on. In our case, there was a street food market with cool Live-Music going on.

The thing I really loved in this town was walking through the city at night. When all the tourists left, all canal boats are back in their base and most of the restaurants are closed down Bruges offers a variety of wonderful photo spots. So don‘t get to hammered with the strong beer and safe some energy for a night walk.

• Chocolate
• Chocolate
• Chocolate
• Chocolate
• Chocolate