Brussels:
Brussels was the first place we stayed at while in Belgium. We visited Belgium five years prior and also stayed in the city of Brussels. I love this city. You can spend your time wandering the streets and finding so many cute little shops, including tourist stores and chocolate shops. In the centre of Brussels is a long, straight shopping center called the Royal Gallery of Saint Hubert and you can find many things in this center. One of the attractions Brussels is famous for is a fountain called the Manneken Pis, which is a fountain of a little boy peeing. I saw it again on this trip and it was still very popular amongst tourists as there were a lot of people gathered around it. While I have been to Brussels twice now, I have yet to see the Atomium, another famous Brussels attraction. If I visit Brussels again, this is something I would definitely make time for. Brussels is also very well known for some of their food, such as waffles, pommes frites (french fries), beef stew and chocolate. While there, we made sure to try everything and they were all amazing. The waffles with fruit and whip cream were super good. The place where we ate pommes frites had different kinds of dipping sauces such as curry catsup and garlic mayonnaise. We had beef stew for dinner a couple nights at two different places and both were melt in your mouth delicious. There were so many chocolate shops all around Belgium that anyone could find one to love for sure. All in all, Belgium definitely lives up to their food hype.
Ghent:
While in Belgium we did a day trip to the city of Ghent. Ghent is where we believe my grandmother may have been born so this day trip was to explore the city she may have grown up in. Ghent is a great place for history buffs. While in Ghent, we visited the Gravensteen castle. This castle was huge and filled with pieces of history. On a walking tour through the castle, we listened to stories about the castle as well as the history of Ghent itself. Personally, I am not a huge history lover, but my dad, who joined us in Brussels, loved Ghent and learning all its history. While here we also saw the outside of Sint-Jacobskerk church which would have also been full of history, unfortunately we did not go inside as we had to catch a train back to Brussels. There is more in Ghent than just history. You can also wander the streets and find touristy shops which is also my style of travel. Even just wandering around Ghent and seeing the city is an awesome experience. If you are not a fan of history like me, you can still go to Gravensteen castle, to get another view of the city because you are able to go to the top of the castle and look down on the city from above, which is a stunning view.
Would I go again?
Brussels, Belgium is one of the places in the world that I would go to over and over again. I love the city of Brussels. It is a great place to travel to and to use as a homebase to travel to other cities in Belgium and throughout Europe. I really love Belgium and would gladly spend time there anytime I travel to Europe. I would not mind staying in Ghent for a longer period of time.
Highlights of Belgium/Ghent: waffles, pommes frites, wandering around the city.
Fun fact about Ghent: The Graveensteen castle was built in 1180 so it has been around for a long time.
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