A Belgian Roadtrip
A short trip through Brussels, Gent, and Bruges, waffles and fries included.
In April 2023 (yes, it’s been a while and I still have some backlog of more places…) it was time for another short roadtrip through Europe, following trips to Luxembourg, San Marino, Slovenia, and a few more places over the years. This time, the German Autobahn took us to Belgium, with a plan to see some of the most well-known cities and sights in this not-so-large country famous for beers, fries, and waffles - what’s not to like (well - beer for me, but the rest is highly appreciated)!
The goal was rather ambitious. In just four days, we wanted to cover three cities and three sights around them. For this reason, I apologise in advance that this blog may lack a bit of a coherent story as I try to capture some essence of all these places…
Sight No. 1
On the way to Brussels we stopped here, at the “Reading Between the Lines” church, or “Doorkijkkerk”, part of an art installation in the area. The structure is made of steel and 10m tall and was completed in 2011.
Seeing Through
The church with the actual church of the nearby town of Borgloon. Whatever the symbolic meaning of this installation is meant to be, I might have rated it higher during sunrise or sunset from a visual point of view, but alas, time was short.
Brussels
We arrived in Brussels - or rather, the City of Brussels in the namesake region - located pretty much in the centre of the country after an (unintentional!) drive along a few very questionable roads, where the windows were glowing red, daylight or not be damned.
The Grand Place
The 15th century gothic town hall on the main square during a quiet early morning. It’s a Unesco World Heritage site. There is a distinct lack of symmetry of the front arches, the tower, and the facade, and legend has it the architect committed suicide after discovering this issue, but the reality was probably rooted in pragmatic choices during the build phases rather than a mistake.
Although the town hall is the only remaining medieval structure of the Grand-Place, its neighbours are equally architecturally interesting - many of these baroque buildings are in fact private houses, while others are guild halls.
Brussels City Museum
Situated opposite the City Hall.
Facade Love
The city intentionally maintains a lot of its older facades while rebuilding and renovating houses, such as here on the one of the major pedestrian squares.
Other than its beautiful facades, Brussels also features more questionable sights - the Little Pissing Man and the counterpart Little Pissing Joan are among those. The former being the original and something of a landmark in Belgium, with countless legends and stories surrounding its 400 year existence. The latter is a 1987 addition, and the artist once - jokingly or not - said it was a matter of gender equality. In 1999, a pissing bronze dog was added in the city as well, I visited and took a photo, but let’s say its artistic value is low and I want to keep this blog at a reasonably length… By now it’s just cats that must feel left out (or stand above such trivial displays of public indecency).
Strange Combinations
Replicas of the famous statue even adore - if one could say that - some of the shops selling another Belgian staple: Waffles. Together with beer and fries, these probably make up the most important local food items on the tourist menu. Indeed, Bruges is home to a fries museum (ask me how I know… 🍟❤️) although claims of the dish’s origin are disputed. French fries might be named this way for a reason, but we will probably never know.
The Black Tower
Another peculiar site is one of the best preserved remains of the first fortifications of Brussels from the 13th century - this tower is now surrounded by modern houses (and a construction site in front, making a good photo difficult).
Brussels is not short of churches, and the gothic / baroque Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula is probably its most impressive, to my untrained eye comparable to Notre Dame in Paris. I did not manage to visit, but here is the choir of the beautiful Church of Our Lady of Victories at the Sablon.
The Atomium
Admittedly the sight I was most excited to visit during this trip (aside from Waffles) was the centrepiece of the 1958 Brussels World's Fair and now the country’s most visited attraction. Although the original plan for the entire 102m structure to rest only on the central column turned out to be optimistic, it is still an impressive piece of architecture. Oddly, it was meant to only last for the period of the World Expo, but due to its popularity the authorities kept delaying its dismantling, finally deciding to retain it - a renovation in the mid 2000s refurbished the entire structure for a longer lifespan.
Six of the spheres are accessible to the public via elevators and escalators and used for exhibitions, audiovisual installations, and events - the ongoing installation had a very cool futuristic vibe and ethereal type music with some techno and trance elements, the composer of which I managed to find after some research.
Until 2015, the Atomium and its copyright society held a controversial policy forbidding even private individuals to show photos of the Atomium to anyone, which was finally overturned with the introduction of the Freedom of Panorama provision in Belgium.
Halle Gate
Brussels’ 14th-century fortified city gate looks like a small castle and houses a museum largely dedicated to its history and armed conflicts.
Although Brussels is home to the European Parliament I didn’t spend any time in the so-called European district other than driving through. Next up, we left towards Gent, with an early morning stop in the famous Hallerbos forest, owing to its carpet of bluebell flowers meant to bloom around this time of the year. Well, supposedly, but it seems they were a little late that year, and the rainy weather also didn’t help with the atmosphere.
Hallerbos Forest
A sea of purple and white flowers, if you’re lucky and find the right spots…
I could definitely see the potential for this to be a beautiful place for photography in the right conditions - or obviously just take a walk in nature. Although the forest was almost empty when we visited, there was parking setup for 100s of cars in the open areas and fields surrounding the trees, which I suspect when filled would make it a less peaceful experience.
Ghent
Although it was only one very rainy single afternoon we got to spend in Ghent, I could imagine this being a very pretty city to visit. Its centre is car-free (a new trend in many European cities), features plenty of well-preserved medieval architecture, a quaint river promenade, and a castle from the 12th century.
Ghent features the tallest belfry in Belgium, seen here in the distance on the right, with Saint Nicholas Church in the foreground.
Gravensteen Castle
The 12th century castle was a central point of the Ghent World Fair of 1913 and hosted its last (not so violent) battle in 1949 when 138 students from the local university occupied the castle over a new tax on beer - unsuccessfully.
All in all, photography here was barely possible and after getting soaked and talking a last walk through the city’s Graffiti-filled Werregarenstraatje, it was time to move on to Bruges after just a few hours, but Genth might be a place to re-visit for a bit longer.
Welcome to
Bruges
The rain cleared soon after we arrived and revealed some of the blue hour beauty of the northern port city’s streets and canals, including its landmark Belfry. The entire city centre is one of the best-preserved medieval towns in Europe, and a UNESCO site.
Facades in an around the “Markt” area, the Bruges’ central square, originally established around the 11th century, when Bruges became the capital of the County of Flanders. Today it’s still the main city of the West Flanders province in the Flemish region of Belgium.
I was unable to find any cats here, but I guess it was to be expected given that it’s a clothing store.
Religious Artifacts
Bruges is also home to a number of coveted religious artifacts, the primary one located in the Basilica of the Holy Blood, seen on the right: It houses the relic of the Holy Blood, brought to the city as part of the crusades in 1150. It’s one of a few such proclaimed relics containing traces of the blood of Jesus, mostly lacking veracity as to their authenticity (either way). The vial seen on the left is shown to the public for a few minutes daily and contains a cloth that shows drops of blood allegedly coming from Jesus Christ.
Following the trail of the relic takes you down a curious path - its home plays a role in the movie “In Bruges”, but the actual filming location in the movie was a private church shown below, resembling the footprint of Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
This church, built by an Italian emigrant from a rich merchant family called Anselm Adornes in the 15th century, contains its own precious Jesus artifact: a piece of wood taken from the cross he was crucified on. Again, one of many around the world, with varying degrees of historical accuracy supporting the claim.
Madonna & Child
Continuing with another piece of historic significant, the gothic Church of Our Lady is home to the only Michelangelo statue taken out of Italy while he was alive: the white marble sculpture of the Madonna and Child created around 1504. Its backstory is quite interesting, as it was twice recovered after being looted by foreign occupiers (the French and the Nazis).
Boniface Bridge
A more touristy landmark is this little bridge, which in fact isn’t particularly noteworthy nor matches the age of the medieval buildings in the city (it’s from the early 1900s) - but the only time you find it this empty is on a very early morning, when this cat was the only visitor.
Windmills
Although the neighboring Netherlands are more famous for windmills, Bruges has a rich history of mills, but only 8 are left today.
Legends
Our last activity in Bruges? Attending a game at Club Bruges, the city’s legendary decorated club, founded in 1891.
Caves of Remouchamps
One last stop on the way back was the Caves of Remouchamps in the eastern part of the country, discovered in 1828.
Some sources attribute the longest underground navigable river in the world to the caves, but I suspect there might be some caveats to this, given its competitors in Mexico and the Philippines. Regardless, the many stalagmites and stalactite formations and the boat trip through the narrow 700m long Rubicon river are a worthwhile experience.
And that’s the end of a 5 days roadtrip from the south of Germany through some of the major cities and sights of Belgium.
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San Marino - Small but Surprising
In the eternal quest to explore all corners of earth, you sometimes have to make your way into the smaller corners, or countries in this case.
In the eternal quest to explore all corners of earth, you sometimes have to make your way into the smaller corners, or countries in this case. San Marino is definitely one of the smallest, at just over 60 sqkm and 33,000 people. In fact, this makes it the oldest extant sovereign state, and also one the wealthiest in terms of per capita GDP.
It was a short road-trip and we had just 36h to explore - on the other hand, its size makes that enough time to explore most of the country’s sights, which are located in the namesake city on Monte Titano (there is a larger community at the foot of the mountain where most people live). On arrival we were greeted with a peculiar cloud rolling in, which was my clue to take a look from above.
It wasn’t quite the weather you’d expect during August in Italy, just 10km from the Adriatic coast. A few minutes later, the city was covered in a layer of fog and clouds, and it became dark, turning the atmosphere into a mix of Christmas and Resident Evil.
Exploring the fortress of Guiata and its two neighboring towers at the cliff of Monte Titano.
Nightly street vibes
Day 2
Politics
San Marino’s political system is a peculiar one. It is the world’s oldest constitutional republic with an elected assembly, which in turn elects not one, but two heads of state every six months from opposing parties, called the Captain’s Regents. This tradition is a nod back to the Roman consul times. At the end of their legislature, every Sammarinese (the Demonym for citizens of the country) has 15 days to submit any complaints about their actions - or lack thereof.
As the clouds opened up, I spent the last sunset photographing the country’s most iconic view, but rest assured there’s more to see in San Marino, such as its Museums of Torture, Dracula, and Curiosities (although I can’t say I’d highly recommend either of them). If you’re looking for the Formula 1 track where the race named after the country was held up until recently, you’ll have to go to Italy though. There is however an Ayrton Senna statue as a tribute one of the world’s best drivers, who tragically died at the 1994 Grand Prix.
Thanks for tagging along - continue here with a nearby architectural curiosity, the medieval towers of Bologna (and a questionable statue).
Oman - 7 Days of Authentic Beauty
From Dubai to Muscat and along the coast - an amazing journey of natural beauty, history, architecture, geology and kind people.
In February 2022 I had plans for a trip to India’s Himalayas, with the goal to take photos of the elusive snow leopard. Owing to various Covid restrictions, this idea unfortunately did not materialize, so it was time to look for another destination. One obvious choice was to look no further than a few hundred kilometers towards the Indian Ocean: Oman. Even though I’ve lived in the UAE on / off for 15 years, so far I had only seen the Musandam part of our neighbor country, and had yet to explore its mountain areas, the coastline, and the capital Muscat.
And oh boy did I miss out! The amount of landscapes, history, people, architecture, and activities you can encounter in just a week, all accessible with easy visa regulations (if you’re a GCC resident especially) and within a few hours drive from Dubai, is incredible.
The route took us through the border near Al Ain towards Nizwa, with several stops on the way, before heading up Jebel Akhdar for a couple of nights. From there, onwards to Muscat to explore the city and its surrounding areas, and a day trip southwards along the coast almost until Sur (but not quite) was on the agenda.
Read on to find out about the sights and experiences on the way…
Next up, we had planned to visit the ruins of Salut fort, another important archeological site in the area, but were disappointed to find it is currently closed and under development. Check before you go - and avoid getting a flat tire like we did.
Bahla Fort
Al Hoota Cave
Nizwa
Jebel Akhdar
Onwards to Muscat
The Capital and its Surroundings
Along the Coast
The Last Day in Muscat
Back to Dubai
I really hope you enjoyed this small documentary series of my trip to Oman. I’ve known about the beauty, geology, and history of the Hajar mountains from exploring the UAE, but Oman really took this to another level. It is probably a good thing for these sites that the country hasn’t had the same level of attention as some other more famous destinations in the Middle East, but on the other hand Oman and its people really deserve to be recognized alongside them. Will definitely come back.
Bosnia & Herzegovina - Polarising Diversity
A late summer weekend brought me to Bosnia & Herzegovina, a relatively small and almost landlocked country in south-east Europe.
A late summer weekend brought me to Bosnia & Herzegovina, a relatively small and almost landlocked country in south-east Europe. The trip took us from the capital, Sarajevo, through the mountain ranges along the river Neretva towards Mostar and its surroundings sights and back. The country features impressive diversity in architecture, culture, and people - owing to its troubled past, which is still evident today - which made for a packed three days of sights, many of them well known, and a few unexpected ones.
Slovenian Beauty - Lake Bled & Ljubljana
A two day trip to Slovenia brought us to the picturesque Lake Bled with its famous church island, and the beautiful capital Ljubljana.
While travel restrictions with health and safety requirements are still omnipresent, trips within certain countries in Europe are manageable with the right precautions. A two day trip to Slovenia brought us to the picturesque Lake Bled with its famous church island, and the beautiful capital Ljubljana.
The Alpine Route, Liechtenstein, Lake Como, Genoa, the French Riviera and back!
In August 2018 I finally took a trip I had on my mind for a few years, following the route below. The drive took us through parts of the famous German Alpine Route, past castle Neuschwanstein, along Lake Constance, through Liechtenstein with its tiny capital Vaduz, for a stop at Lake Como and onwards to Genoa, and finally the coastal beauty of the French Riviera with Monaco, Nice, Antibes, Cannes and St Tropez.
In August 2018 I finally took a trip I had on my mind for a few years, following the route on the map above. The drive took us through parts of the famous German Alpine Route, past castle Neuschwanstein, along Lake Constance, through Liechtenstein with its tiny capital Vaduz, into the Swiss Alps, for a stop at Lake Como and onwards to Genoa, and finally the coastal beauty of the French Riviera with Monaco, Nice, Antibes, Cannes and St Tropez. Aside from driving a lot, we also walked and hiked quite a bit as my trusty Pedometer app showed.
It was all worth it though and I can definitely recommend the trip. Below is a selection of photos taken along the route.
