Belgium

Central Station Antwerp

Bruges

Taking the ferry to Calais was a bit nerve-wrecking but also fun. We’d researched and fretted about the post-Brexit restrictions but nobody asked us what we had. 🤷 Driving on the right side of the road was a relief and when we arrived in Bruges we were amazed at the bicycle paths in addition to sidewalks, sometimes on both sides of the road, and the many people enjoying them! We arrived to self check-in at Camping Memling. There was a Carrefour grocery/mini-department store within walking distance and we spent far too long trying to decipher the labels. That’s when it really hit us. We were out of our English-speaking comfort zone and really traveling now!

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It was a bit too late to tackle heading into town but we found bicycle oil at a Brico (which is like a Home Depot) and ate an uninspiring dinner at the restaurant in the nearby strip mall. It would have been great to rewatch the movie "In Bruges" but our internet connection wasn't up to the task. 

 

The next morning we got out the folding bicycles we’d completely neglected for four years, added some oil and air and everything worked! The three kilometer ride in was easy and we were able to lock them up in a leafy park just beside the Burg square. We enjoyed the sights there including the Basilica of the Holy Blood where we witnessed a ceremony which invited us to venerate the holy relic. Heading for the Markt (Market Square) we realized we had happened upon market day and roamed around soaking in the market atmosphere with its fresh cheeses, sausages, prepared meals and more. 

Rick Steves lists the three most important experiences to be had in Bruges: Beer, Chocolate and Biking. So we got a seat on the Markt and started experiencing - dark beer for Dermot and Kreik (cherry) beer for me. Thoroughly refreshed we strolled through the streets. The weather was so lovely we took a boat ride through the canal and took many pictures of the charming houses and bridges. We ate a dinner of mussels and rabbit stew and headed back to camp for the night.

The next day we followed biked back into town using a different route to check out the windmills and more back alleys. When we reached the Burg Square we again ditched our bikes and followed Rick Steve’s walk and enjoyed more beer, a sandwich and huge portion of pate with hearty wheat bread in a small bar hidden down a tiny alley.  We slipped into a chocolate shop and selected our favorite flavors to dip into whenever the mood struck. The culmination of our walk was at the idyllic and peaceful Begijnhof. We sampled more beer and enjoyed dinner at our first Irish pub of the trip. There are very few towns we’ve come across that don’t have an Irish pub. 

Antwerp

Our original plan was to head for Amsterdam the next day but there was no vacancy at the closest in campground so we decided to spend the next few days in Antwerp.  As I entered the location into our Garmin that morning, it warned me the destination required us to travel into a Low Emission Zone. Oops! That required some time to figure out what we needed to do to avoid heavy fines but we registered and finally got on the road. F.Y.I. - it seems our diesel van will not be welcome in 2025.

Having only 2G internet service through T-Mobile was limiting so we set out to get sims for our phones and mi-fi device. Turns out we needed our passports to purchase pay-as-you go so no joy that day. We did enjoy experiencing using a pedestrian walkway under the river, seeing all the different ways people use their bikes to get around, and the vibrancy of the city. 

Trying to boil water for tea the next morning we discovered we had run out of propane gas! Ah, the joys of vanlife. Luckily, there was a tiny bakery at the campsite with fresh pastries and they also served coffee! With passports in hand we set out on yesterday's mission but took the very cool waterbus across the river this time. We got sims for our phones but apparently the mi-fi is a no go. We’ll see if we can manage continuing to post without it!

We again followed Rick Steves walk and enjoyed the lovely Central Train Station (shout out to Mary Murphy alerting us to this must-see) and many other sights along the way. Finally, we enjoyed a Belgium waffle to round out our first experience of this inviting country.