Belgium Travel Guide

Belgium OVERVIEW

All you die-hard carnivores, teetotals and "I'm-on-a-diet" types, don't shy away. Belgium is a bit more than world's best sprouts, beer and chocolate (though personally, we could go by on such limited menu forever). To cut it short, Belgium is a meeting place of Germanic and Latin forces, a ground for modern European history fertilized with Napoleonic glory, an eulogist of social liberties, an exhibition hall for medieval pearls of architecture and a scene for cutting-edge entertainment. What naturally follows is a plethora of tourist spots and activities that will keep you busy 24/7 regardless of your interests and eating habits.

Criss-crossed with endless canals and endowed with historic splendor, Flanders, to the north, boasts three incredible cities. All immersed in the spirit of the times long foregone, Antwerp, Bruges and Ghent embrace the Gothic element at its most elegant and offer a unique set of highlights ranging from marvelous museums and awe-inspiring cathedrals to first-class shopping and excellent dining. Brussels needs no advertising and its touristic attractiveness can be taken for granted, so let us just draw your attention to the statue of a pissing boy shamelessly flashing his privates near the town square. No higher than mere two feet, it cannot be looked upon as an epitome of Belgian art but definitely as a symbol of Belgian self-mockery, which is as highly praised here as the need for omnipresent social order. To the south, Wallonia with the rolling hills of the Ardennes is perhaps the best place to retire when you've had your share of sightseeing, and if you've given yourself a hard time trekking, from there it's just a stone's throw to the Spa municipality, where you can take advantage of all the healing qualities it advertises by virtue of its renowned hot springs. Of course, there's Ostend, if you're asking, but to be honest, its architecture and the very gentleness of the Flemish sky are more endearing than its beaches mercilessly mobbed in the summer. It's not sunbathing that you come here for.

A founding member of NATO, home to EU headquarters and world's most prominent financial institutions, Belgium has somehow managed to maintain a rather low-key approach to the apparent international sophistication. Head over heels in debt and suffering from ailments common to the majority of modern economies, Belgium is not making false pretenses as to its real status on the European scene. It's true the people are almost naively devoted to being respectable citizens and may happen to be patriotic up to the point of self-assertion, but mixing with the locals, who more often than not speak at least two languages, will reveal their gentle, moderate, and down-to-earth disposition. Definitely a quality time to be had...before the real country is completely bulldozed away and overgrown with concrete jungle hosting the Eurocrats.