Historic Belgium by train

Recommended days	5
Budget	£
Difficulty	Easy

This was a road trip with a difference as we didn’t use any roads, travelling everywhere by train! One of our friends, Stu, gets a huge discount with Eurostar so we took advantage of that to visit two of the gorgeous medieval cities of Historic Belgium by train plus Brussels.

Ghent

The train was ok and – by dint of some impressive planning – Stu had all the connections prepared and we had a seamless trip via two trains and a tram to central Ghent.  The town was lovely – the historic centre is pedestrianised so it is easy to amble round. The canals and buildings are incredibly photogenic even with weather that was pretty dull so not the best for photos.

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Although busy it wasn’t crowded and there were plenty of cafes and restaurants. Sadly we had managed to visit on a day when the castle wasn’t open but we had a lovely walk around it in the evening and then sat by the canal at a cafe, eating waffles with hot cherries!
Next stop Bruges!

Bruges

Our first impressions of Bruges were not good. After the tranquility of Ghent, Bruges seemed noisy, crowded and less photogenic. We walked a circuit of the canals and watched the endless procession of tourist boats and then headed into the main square, dodging carriages.

We didn’t go up the bell tower as the grille at the top stops you taking photos and the crowds were off putting for the narrow passages.

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We had lunch in a small cafe nearby – very nice salmon bagel and very small coffee! After more ambling we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the evening. Deb found a place on TripAdvisor that was nearby and we went there. The food was excellent and the owner very engaging, also they did more of the superb waffles.

The next morning Stuart and I took advantage of the crowd free environment to take some more photos after sunrise, nowhere opens before 10 so it was a late breakfast and then head to Brussels.

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Brussels

Well when we arrived here we were knackered from all our previous sightseeing so we started off with a two hour afternoon nap! We then walked from the hotel through the Arab quarter of the city and to the historical centre. After the relative calm and clean of the other two, Brussels was a bit of a shock. Rough sleepers, litter, beggars, graffiti and noise.

The main square had some amazing architecture but all the museums were closed on a Sunday so we had a coffee and enjoyed the ambience for a while. We then took a meandering route to see the Mannekin Pis – bit anti-climatic but it’s off the list. I wanted to see the Atomium but it was the other side of the city so we didn’t do that.

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Halle Gate

Monday AM we did walk to the nearby Halle Gate – a restored city gate – but it was closed Mondays. The street art was good though, lots of blank space utilised and actual art, rather than graffiti or tagging. The city overall was not what we expected, especially as a capital of the EU. In places it was almost third world and distinctly dodgy although the PC term would probably be ‘diverse’.

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An interesting experiment, the train allowed us to get to the city centres frustration free. We chose hotels near the stations so we didn’t have too far to go with our bags and it was certainly feasible and possibly even easier than taking a car.

European trains are vastly superior to ours in that they, or at least the ones we have used, are clean, quiet and not overcrowded. Cost wise it was probably slightly cheaper than car hire and flying but only because of Stu’s discount. Possibly something to consider again and after historic Belgium by train there are plenty of other easy options via Eurostar.

2017