In 2004 Scott and I spent 5 days driving around Belgium and Holland. It was one of my favourite little mini-break that we ever took. The first place we visited was Bruges. Both of us absolutely adored this little town and I can highly recommend going if you are in the area. It is old, quaint, small and easy to walk around. There are waffles, chocolate and beer everywhere. There is even a little bar that we went to called ‘t Brugs Beertje which had over 300 beers (all with their own glasses) to choose from. To say Scott was excited about coming back was a bit of an understatement.
We drove from Brussels to Bruge in just over an hour. The highways in Belgium are super easy to follow and pretty much everything makes sense even if you don’t speak French or Dutch. Parking is a little difficult, however after a quick drive around the tiny town we found somewhere close to the centre.
We went up with our Friends Erin and Josh from Travel with Bender. Our two big kids (Tom and Mia) had gone to a lovely art school for the day in Brussels and so we just had the little ones (Milo and Caius) with us. It was quite nice just travelling with one child for a change and it certainly was a lot easier!
First thing was food. We found a great food truck right in the heart of town and bought some Pomme Frites and Hot dogs (Bratwurst) and then wandered around the beautiful old village whilst enjoying our local delights.
The weather was pretty miserable which was a bit of a shame as it was Erin and Josh’s first visit to the gorgeous little town, however we still managed to have a lot of fun.
The main square is called the Markt and is a great starting point. There are beautiful Belgiun building’s surrounding lots of food carts, horse and carts and lots of tourists.
Next up was a proper Belgium Waffel. So so so good. They are so fresh and so delicious. We had the though that we might share ours with Milo, but he had other ideas and wolfed down his own super quickly.
We spent the afternoon wandering through the beautiful cobblestone streets looking at chocolate shops and at lots of touristy places. Erin and I found a Zara and H&M so we had a bit of a shop while the boys all hung out at FNAC (any man’s dream). I managed to find a croc shop that sold my favourite shoes (in my size) so I bought a second pair
I managed to find a croc shop that sold my favourite shoes (in my size) so I bought a second pair. This might sound a little excessive for someone who is travelling with less than half a suitcase of space, however these shoes are my most favourite and if you look carefully … I am wearing them in pretty much every photo.
I was a little disappointed that the weather wasn’t better, however it was so great to visit this little town again and we had a lovely time with our friends. We headed back into Brussels during peak hour traffic (not a move we were keen to repeat) and picked up our two munchkins from their Art class. They had spent the day at a museum and gardens and then back at the studio drawing pictures of their day! It was lovely to be able to let him spend time apart from us, but also with a familiar friend who spoke English. It wasn’t just the kids who enjoyed this, we also loved hanging out with another Aussie travelling family. It is the little things like this that we miss on the road so it is always good to savour them when we can!