Day 3: Ghent and Brugge. Our hub for our time in Belgium was Ghent. Its 30 minutes by train from both Brussels and Brugge. We arrived after our full day in Brussels in the dark and started taking pictures right away. The high roof houses and the canals were inviting our smartphone snaps.
We tried several restaurants in Brugge: a Thai one (Nam Jai), a pizza one (Otomat), a breakfast place (for some famous Belgium waffles!) Our favourite was the SoupLounge because it was an extremely chilly day. This is a great concept for anyone wanting to start a little franchise in a chilly place. 4 daily choices of soup - this day it was tomato, mushroom, pumpkin and chicory. Your choice of trimmings - either or all of croutons, grated cheese, pork mini meatballs and parsley. Served with two fresh buns and an orange (?!)
On Sunday we took a weekend return ticket to Brugge. Once there we made our way to the main square by bus and found it very busy and crowded. We grabbed some of our favourite chocolate to go with coffee and ventured to find a coffee shop in the sun to warm up. Next thing you know we find the warmth in 2be brasserie (pub) and decided to try out a couple of their many beers instead. It's ok, it was 5 o'clock somewhere!
We came back to Ghent to get out of the more crowded Brugge and gravitated to the Gravensteen Castle. It was built as a show of power back in the 12th century by the Flanders ruler and still sends that message today as it stands as a major landmark in the city. The tour was a good one and had a theme of torturing the enemy. Our favourite rooms were the weapon room, the dungeon and the horse stables.
This is really a quick taste of Belgium and Netherlands. We already know we will be back.
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