After spending essentially all day in airports on Thursday, we had finally arrived to Brussels with little to no problems. However, Tom and Hanna live in Gent which was a distance away from the airport in Brussels and required a few different means of transportation to get there. One of the first problems that we encountered was the language barrier. There is a wide variety of dialects within this region, but the two languages that are primarily spoken are French and Dutch, neither of which any of us had any prior knowledge. When our none of our credit or debit cards worked at the machine that was required to get tickets for the bus transport to the train station, our only other option was to take a taxi, which was our last resort. Taxis are normally expensive in the first place, but in Belgium, the taxi fees are astronomical! A seemingly harmless 40 minute ride split between three people amounted to rack up to 160 euros, which is about 210 American dollars. After we were practically robbed by the taxi, we still had to take a train the remainder of the way. We finally met up with Jake and boarded the train toward Gent.
At this point, all of us were exhausted, cold, nearly bankrupt, and just needed to relax for the night. Thankfully when we arrived to Tom and Hanna’s house in Gent, they opened their home up to us, making us feel so comfortable from the minute we stepped in the door. Our night quickly turned around as they welcomed us with red wine, traditional Belgium beer, french fries, lasagna, chips and great conversation. A tediously long day ended on a great note, as we settled in for the night and rested up for our tour throughout Belgium the following day.
We woke up on Friday morning, and Hanna provided us with a great breakfast, fresh bread, fruit, coffee, and delicious chocolate spreads (and no, not Nutella!) Afterwards, we went into the city of Gent to explore through the Friday markets and take lots of pictures! The different types of architecture throughout the city was incredible, ranging from time periods when Gent was first founded in the 900s to what is considered “modern” structures, built in the 1800s. As an American and being from a fairly young country, it’s amazing to see how architecture has evolved through time in nations that are over 1000 years old. Hanna’s mom’s boyfriend gave us a very detailed tour that afternoon, and explained so much of the history of Belgium throughout the past centuries. After our tour, we went back to Hanna’s mom’s house in the city and had tasty champagne to pass the time and warm up until our dinner reservations later that evening.
We ate dinner at a wonderful restaurant and tasted some more of the Belgium culture by enjoying a great beer to complement my delicious pasta dish with shrimp, mussels and other seafood. Our group went to a few other bars that night, and I was checking all the Belgium beers off of my list that my brother told me I had to try. There are between 800-1000 different kinds of beer within Belgium, so it was very cool to be able to try new brands other than the well known Stella Artois. My favorite kinds were probably Hoegaarden Grand Cru and La Trappe Blond. After visiting numerous bars and a club, all of us decided to head back and turn in for the night around 2am.
The next morning, we slept in a little later and again, enjoyed a filling Belgium breakfast. We all boarded the train and headed to Brussels for the day. We walked through the Saturday markets in the center of town and explored the streets throughout the rest of the afternoon. We saw the King’s Palace, old churches, and shops upon shops of Belgium chocolates. We enjoyed some Belgium waffles and fries during the afternoon to hold us over until we ate dinner later that night.
Personally, I liked Gent much better than Brussels, not only because of the canals that ran through the town, setting up some of the best pictures, but because it was much more quaint, yet diverse. Brussels had the big city feel to it, but I much rather prefer the small, historical towns most of the time.
After our explorations within Brussels, it was time for dinner (more food! I vowed to go to the gym for 3 weeks straight after returning from this trip!) Anyway, instead of eating more Belgium food that evening, we decided to try out this authentic Moroccan restaurant. Although I was hesitant at first, I’m so glad we chose to go there because it was delicious! I had a roasted chicken dish complemented by steamed vegetables, and to my surprise, it was heavenly. I’m so glad that I am able to try all of these new things while I’m traveling because it really broadens my horizons in the grand scheme of worldly culture and cuisine.
We went out for one last drink after dinner and headed back to Gent fairly early because we had to get up at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning to head home. We spent the remainder of the evening enjoying each other’s company at Tom and Hanna’s, before heading to bed for the night.
Getting up on Sunday morning at 5:30am was quite the challenge, but we wanted to leave early enough to make sure we had plenty of time to get back to the airport and completely checked in. Although I could never live in Belgium, my experience was so incredible, thanks to Tom and Hanna. Our gracious hosts helped provide us with the best Belgium experience that I’ll surely never forget. With that being said, it’s back to Sevilla for me and time to start preparing for midterms!
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