Belgium was never high up on my list on places that I wanted to visit during my time abroad. When a few of my friends said flights were cheap and I asked if I wanted to go, I said sure why not! I am beyond happy with my decision to embark on a journey to this incredible country. Highlight of the weekend: THE FOOD. Food in Belgium is unbelievable. They are known for their waffles, frites (French fries), mussels, chocolate, and speculoos. I had three waffles – one with white chocolate and two with speculoos – and none of them disappointed. The frites were great, but I definitely have had just as good of fries back in the United States. My friends and I had never tried mussels, but we knew this was the place to do it. In my opinion, mussels were good, but I wouldn’t order them again. Chocolate was out of this world! I got one of the best hot chocolates in my entire life. Lastly, Belgium is known for their speculoos, which is better known in the States as being the main ingredient in cookie butter. With my massive sweet tooth, this was undeniably one of my favorite things I ate this weekend.
We traveled to two main cities over the course of the weekend: Brussels and Bruges. Brussels is the main city with beautiful architecture and picturesque grand buildings. Unfortunately, the main square and a lot of monuments were masked by décor for the upcoming Chinese New Year. One of favorite parts of Brussels was how small it was and that everything was in walking distance, especially because it was cold. The shopping there was amazing as well. I couldn’t buy much because it wouldn’t fit in my suitcase, and my bank account is very thankful for that. We took a short train ride from Brussels to a tourist attraction called the Atomium. This structure was created for one of the previous World’s fairs held in Belgium. This thing was MASSIVE. It reminded me of the Bean in Chicago but 10 times more spectacular. It was even bigger than I expected.
Bruges was by far my favorite city of the two. It had so much character. I felt like I was in a fairytale. One highlight of this day was the boat ride we took through the canals. Unfortunately, our tour guide didn’t speak the best English, but it was still worth every cent. There were so many swans swimming in the water which added to the fairytale feel. We went into this church that had a towel that was soaked in Jesus’s blood. Getting to pray over it was a moment I will treasure forever. The churches in Europe continue to blow my mind.
Very thankful for my decision to spend a weekend in Belgium. My heart and stomach came back to Florence full. I’ve realized that it’s the places you don’t expect to go to that you really end up loving the most. Can’t wait to see where my next spontaneous adventure takes me!