In case you missed it, the Trips Subcommittee rocks! Here’s why:
To make the outlook of our visit to the institutions in Brussels a little more exciting, they organised an extended stay in Belgium (I love Belgium!). On the agenda: Ghent, Bruges, and Antwerp.
We started the weekend in Ghent, a place where I lived for about a year and which is, in my humble opinion, the best and most beautiful place in all of Belgium (I know this country is really small but still…). I mean, it has a castle in the middle of the city centre – need I say more?
Since we arrived in the evening, the first thing we did was check out the local pub/bar scene and enjoy a few beers (and this is Belgium so you know they have this covered) before calling it a day.
The weather was not very nice the next day (cold!) but we didn’t let that stop us. We did some walking around the city, some of us went on a boat ride, split up for some coffee (some of us went into a café that somehow only attracted old people), I told my companions the story about the Mammelokker (google Belfry of Ghent, the Wikipedia page has the story – it’s a good one), and then we all joined the free walking tour around the city; so yes, you can say that we’ve seen it all.
Sunday was mostly about Bruges, a tiny little town that is so cute and picturesque, you might stop on every corner for a picture. It has cobblestone streets, horse carriages (that might run you over if you’re not careful), a beguinage (Begijnhof) where still only women are allowed to live and which is forbidden territory for men after the gates close in the evening (that’s interesting, right?), and a main square that is wonderfully colourful. It’s just gorgeous, so if you haven’t been yet, go check it out (or enjoy the pictures)!
Antwerp is a very different city with a very different vibe. This is not a bad thing; change is good. The city hall was covered in flags from all over the world, there was a food festival going on by the river, an artist was building a miniature model of the city out of cookies and chocolate (you had to go up the Museum aan de Stroom to enjoy this spectacle but the smell alone was worth the €5 this cost (normally it’s free to go up to see the panorama) and the view was pretty amazing as well), and on the main square there was a live concert that we could enjoy as well from inside the café where we had our end of the awesome weekend drinks. Yup, we chose a good weekend!
Thanks to the Trips Subcommittee for organising this trip, we had a blast!
Thanks to Drago, Karel, and Gintare for the pictures.
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