The 5 Simple Reasons I Love Belgium (& You Should Too)
Written by Jaillan Yehia
Antwerp’s Answer to Boris Bikes
Olympic President Jacques Rogge hasn’t been the only Belgian in town over the last few weeks. I’ve been busy showing some Belgian friends round my home city of London recently, so today I’m going Team Belgian on you with a brief but impassioned 5 point guide to why I Love Belgium – and why Belgium, contrary to what you might have heard, totally rocks for a short break…
What Does This Post Cover?
1. It’s A Nation of Beers
Belgian Beers
If you love white beer, fruit beer and discovering new beers you can’t really get a better destination than Belgium. Best of all consume them in a cosy brown bar, full of atmosphere for a real taste of Belgium. There’s an exciting choice of mouth-watering beers on offer at every bar, cafe and restaurant and the supermarkets sell a great selection at stupidly low prices. Last trip I bought a crate of 24 beers for 9 Euros – including the crate itself. How did I get them home? Well this brings me on to the second reason I love Belgium…
2. It’s Easy To get To From London
Driving onto the Eurotunnel – pretty painless
For Londoners and South East dwellers, Belgium is painless to get to, and you can easily pop over there for a weekend via Eurostar or with your car using the (in my eyes preferable) Eurotunnel and I love the feeling you get as everyone disembarks the train and most cars head to France – it’s great to be part of a little band of people who are going to Belgium. It’s a bit like being in a nationwide private members’ club.
Let’s face it, Belgium isn’t that high up on most people’s travel wishlists. Even my Belgian friends can see why, but that self-effacing personality is part of the charm of the place…
3. It’s Got Great People
Antwerp folks: confident of their own coolness
It’s the people, 9 times out of 10, that make a destination, and you might be surprised to learn that those unassuming Belgians, the ones that drive like maniacs up your rear bumper on the roads, are pretty cool folks when they get out of their cars. They may have a reputation for, well nothing in particular (we think so little of La Belgique that we haven’t even bothered to flatter them with a national stereotype) but this is one trendy, fun and deadpan nation. Come on anyone who dresses as snappily as your average Belgian must be pretty cool…
4. It’s Fashionable – really!
Vier: one of Antwerp’s great little boutiques
You might think Belgium is a bit like Holland. Well that’s like saying England is like Scotland – to the Scottish. The Belgians are not to be confused with the Dutch under any circumstances least of all when it comes to fashion. The Dutch take their national colour of Easyjet orange very seriously and wear it as much as possible. Just strike up a conversation with a fashion-conscious Belgian about the Dutch and you’ll see what I mean. No self-respecting Belgian would wear anything other than designer labels, well-cut seperates and muted tones – they are like a nation of undercover Scandinavian fashion bloggers.
5. It is a country famous for Chocolate, Waffles, Moules & Frites
Waffles! Really good ones too.
Are you seriously still waiting for more reasons?
You’ve watched so much sport recently, surely you deserve a a beer, a chip and a waffle?
Tags: Antwerp, Beer, Belgium, Europe, Fashion, Waffles
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