Beautiful! Beer! Belgium!

During our penultimate weekend in Madrid before Christmas, Natalie and I took a short trip to Belgium. We really only bought the tickets because they were very cheap and we wanted to travel somewhere outside of Spain before heading home to the States for the holidays. But as is often the case, the trips where you have the least expectations turn out to be the greatest! Not only did we get to meet up with Charlene, who drove up from France with a friend, but Belgium was beautiful, quaint, charming, and full of amazingly delicious food and beer!

The church of St. Catherine in Brussels

Christmas

As in Madrid, Christmas decorations were on display throughout Brussels. They also had an enormous Christmas market with hot spiced wine, sweets, and all kinds of trinkets and doodads. Here are just a few pictures!

The Food & Drink

To be honest, we spent the majority of our time not in museums or out and about seeing the city, but in different bars and restaurants! The food - and especially the beer - in Belgium was definitely my favorite part. There was one beer (de Garre, in a picture below) that we tried during our trip to Bruges that was only brewed and sold in the building where we bought it! 

We also enjoyed the famed - if overpriced - Belgian waffles and fries. French fries, of course, are originally from Belgium, even though we call them "French" in English.

The Sights

The two most famous things to see in Brussels are the central square, or Grande Place in French, and an awkward statue of a little boy peeing! I have no clue why this second one exists, but it is extremely popular, even though it is actually quite small. The city even dresses him up in different costumes at different times of the year.

Bruges

After a day and a half in Brussels, we felt like we had seen the majority of the things there were to see. So, we decided somewhat last-minute to take a day trip to Bruges, a small town about an hour's train ride from the capital. Although it is small and sleepy now - aside from the thousands of tourists - in the 15th and 16th centuries it was a bustling city, as its location near the ocean and on a river made it an important city for trade. It is often called the Venice of Northern Europe, as many lovely canals run alongside its narrow cobblestone streets.

 It seriously seemed like something out of a fairy tale - enchanted and enchanting! All of the buildings were quaint, picturesque and charming. Combined with all of the delicious food and fun we had had in Brussels, Bruges was the icing on top of the cake for this already wonderful trip!