Belgium April 2026 Brussels

Brussels is a large, busy city. It's the headquarters of NATO and the European Union so there were lots of businesspeople there as well as many people shopping at the high-end stores near our hotel.  We had a panorama room at the hotel so we had a nice180 degree view of the city.

On our first morning we had a walking tour of the city through WithLocals and our guide Eric was great - funny and energetic with knowledge of little corners of the city we would never have found on our own.   

Eric took us to a historic lane where one of the home's lintel stone was inscribed with the date 1596! The lane was a tiny, cute little place with wisteria vines growing from one building across to another. We were also able to visit a private courtyard where you could still see one of the canals that was used to deliver goods to the city. Most of the buildings there are now student housing.  We also saw a fountain and reflecting pool that are now all that remains of the original port of Brussels and we also saw one of the original watch towers from the city's medieval walls. 

The Grand Place was impressive and there were so many different facades of the buildings around the square! There is a 15th century Gothic Town Hall, a building that housed some of the worker's guilds, and the King's House which houses a museum. Most of the buildings have gold details on their facades which shine nicely in the evening when the square is illuminated. It was all very, well...grand! Eric did remind us to mind our belongings here as there can be pickpockets and it's a very busy place with lots of people around. Mike and I had a really good dinner at a restaurant underneath one of the buildings, the restaurant Le Cave du Roy. It's next to the historic guild hall Maison des Ducs de Brabant. We aren't gastronomes or foodies, but we do like a good meal with good service and this place delivered on both counts. 

Les Galeries Royale Saint-Hubert is one of Europe's first covered shopping malls. Opened in 1847 it was a beautiful combination of different types of marble and contained higher-end shops along with some touristy type of shops. Lots of chocolate shops too, they're very proud of the Belgian chocolate. We had a fantastic dinner here at Taverne du Passage. Superb food and good, although somewhat slow, service as they were quite busy. Both of the restaurant recommendations came from Eric so he was helpful in that regard also. 

Another tip from Eric was to visit the Église Notre-Dame des Victories au Sablon which was near our hotel. It was originally founded and built by the Crossbowmen's Guild in the 13th century and is free to enter. The church itself was light and airy but the main reason Eric suggested we go there was to see a family tomb inside that is made of the blackest marble I have ever seen. Normally black marble has quite a few streaks of white in it but this was almost completely black. It was even more striking because the sculptures on the tomb were all done in white marble. Nearby is the Square du Petit Sablon, a small park with a statuary fountain that was a nice place to stop if you wanted to sit for bit. 

One thing about Brussels: If you are driving to the city there are many tunnels you drive though that go under the streets and your car's navigation doesn't always seem to understand that you're in a tunnel so you can't possibly "exit now" as there is an actual tunnel wall in that spot! We took a day trip out of the  city one day and played a game of "where do we get off this never-ending loop of tunnels?" when we came back.  Finally I said to Mike just exit and we'll figure it out ourselves and we did! It also helped that our hotel was one of the tallest in the area so it was fairly easy to spot it. 

Overall we felt we could have done Brussels as a day trip. We aren't shoppers and the city was just too busy and crowded for our tastes. In hindsight, we would rather have visited Brussels as a day trip instead of staying in the city.

Photos from Bruges

Photos from Ghent

 

Belgium April 2026 Bruges

On our first morning in Bruges we were up early for breakfast and then out the door to meet our tour guide for a two hour guided tour of the city. I booked this tour through WithLocals again and our tour guide Igor was very interesting. He is a historian and had just come home from an archaeology dig. 

We saw many lovely canals and crossed over the oldest market bridge in the city. We visited the Beguinage which was a community where single women stayed, saw more guild halls and many, many chocolate shops as well. We learned the history associated with the swans of Bruges and why they are legally protected, it involves the execution of a good friend of the Emporer Maximilian I of Austria and his decree in the 15th century that the swans would be cared for by the Belgians until the end of time. 

We had heard of the Madonna of Bruges because of its mention in the movie Monuments Men about the US Army group that was assigned with finding, recovering and returning priceless works of art stolen by the German Army during World War II.  It was returned to Bruges where you can see it today in the Church of Our Lady. It was sculpted by Michelangelo in the very early 1500's and I believe was his only sculpture to leave Italy in his lifetime. (Incidentally the Ghent altarpiece was found hidden in the same salt mine as the Madonna.) We were able to see the sculpture and some other interesting exhibits in that church. 

We also visited the Church of the Holy Blood where you can actually see two churches. One is the subterranean Romanesque church and the other is a small Gothic church with a very important relic. We are not Catholic and we view religious relics with a skeptical eye because you never really know if they are truly what they are supposed to be. This church has a piece of cloth that is said to be soaked with the blood of Jesus. We went inside and the small chapel with the display altar was pretty full so we took a seat in the adjoining room which faced left from the first room. We decided to wait because someone said they would bring the relic out shortly. As we waited, a bell rang and a door opened in a chapel that we were facing and two priests (I don't know if the Catholic Church has female priests but one of them was a female. I don't know what she would be called if she's not a priest, sorry.) came out and one of them was  holding a glass container with a stained cloth in it. Our seats were right on the aisle so the container passed within 12 inches of us as they proceeded to the display case. If it truly was the blood of Jesus then that was a remarkable moment. 

We had to do some laundry while we were in Bruges and Mike had a fun time watching a giant crane truck trying to back out of a work site onto the tiny street. I think the driver made something like twenty  attempts due to the tiny street behind it and the edges of the buildings across the street and impatient drivers. The truck driver finally managed  though without any damage to the truck or the buildings. Bravo! 

Bruges was really a lovely city and we wish we had spent another day here. Our hotel (Hotel Heritage) was lovely with a really comfy bed and hot eggs cooked to order for breakfast. There was also a coffee shop across the street and many restaurants on the Grand Place and surrounding streets. 

Belgium April 2026 Ghent

After leaving Kinderdjik in the Netherlands, we drove to Ghent where we would spend the night before moving on to Bruges. It was a little disconcerting when we arrived because the power was out at our hotel and the parking garage was pitch black so it was hard to see exactly where the hotel entrance was located. Everyone was walking around the garage using their phones as flashlights. We found the elevator and the lights came on just as we were trying to figure out where the stairs were located. I happily pushed the elevator button and stepped in, but Mike was a little more reluctant since the power had only just come on and the thought of getting stuck on the elevator if the power went out again was making him pretty apprehensive. I convinced him to get in and we indeed made it up to the lobby level without any issues. 

We had arranged for a city tour with a guide from WithLocals and were very pleased with our guide Benedikt. He was entertaining, knowledgeable, and friendly and just nice to spend time with. We saw historic sites, learned local legends, tried some Belgian chocolate, and learned about the different guild houses along the river bank. He took us into St. Bavo's cathedral and explained the various panels of the famous altarpiece. The price of the admission to see the altarpiece was not included in our tour so we viewed that after Ben said goodbye. 

Unfortunately Mike was bitten by a dog as we crossed the plaza on our way to the church. He didn't even look at the dog, I don't know why it bit him. A smaller dog companion barked at us and I guess the larger dog just reacted to that. I also have no idea why the little dog barked. The dog's owner was very apologetic and stayed around while Ben found a place for Mike to go and have a better look to be sure he wasn't actually bleeding. Luckily he had thick cotton pants on and the dog's tooth scraped his skin rather than penetrating it.  I was sitting outside with Ben and wondering if our travel insurance would cover rabies vaccine but thankfully we didn't have to find out. Ben was quite upset by the incident too. 

Once we left the cathedral we decided to have lunch and found a riverside table outside of a Marriott hotel on Korenlei. I had a delicious bowl of tomato soup and we also some very good chicken strips. We spent a leisurely lunch watching the boats go by and people-watching. After lunch we got the car and headed to Bruges for our next stop. We really liked Ghent and wished we had spent another day there. It's a university town so it had an energetic, fun vibe that I liked. 

Photos from Kinderdjik

Kinderdjik UNESCO World Heritage Site - April 2026

Kinderdjik was a favorite of ours. We walked along the canal path and looked at all of the windmills. We went inside one that is set up as if a family were living it. It seems pretty cramped by modern standards but these windmills were built in the 1700's so heating a larger space would be problematic and also perhaps difficult to do structurally given you have huge blades revolving around the exterior of your home! The blades are massive and make a distinctive whoosh sound as they rotate, especially impactful if you're standing directly under one! You also have to be able to climb multiple flights of stairs several times a day and listen to the sound of the wooden mechanism turning which is located inside the windmill. I stood at the kitchen sink in the windmill and the motion of the blades rotating past the window every few seconds actually made me a little dizzy! I told Mike that would probably be the hardest thing to get used to. 

We walked to the end of the path and then took the shuttle boat back to the visitor center. One of the workers on the boat saw me counting up the number of windmills on the map, and started telling us what it takes to live in one of these windmills now.  There are several windmills that still function and to live in one of those (for 500 Euro per month) you have to become a certified miller. This is because you are required to operate the windmill for a minimum of 60,000 cycles per year. In order to do that you need to know not only the operation of the mill and sails but also wind speed and other factors. I didn't realize that the entire top of the mill can rotate, not just the blades. That way you can adjust the position of the mill according to the direction of the wind. It was very interesting and we enjoyed talking to him very much. There are windmills spread around the countryside here and there but Kinderdjik is the place to go if you want to see several at once and be able to go inside one.