“The Gravensteen is a medieval castle in the city of Ghent, East Flanders in Belgium. The current castle dates from 1180 and was the residence of the Counts of Flanders until 1353. It was subsequently re-purposed as a court, prison, mint, and even as a cotton mill. It was restored over 1893–1903 and is now a museum and a major landmark in the city.”

I didn’t care that it was the top floor of a hot building, seeing weaving makes me happy.

I had expected Bruges to be beautiful but I was surprised at how beautiful Ghent is.

Storks nesting on a chimney.

Any easy bike ride through flat countryside outside of Bruges, and we are in the neighboring town of Damme.

Brussels is a big Montreal-type city… Bruges is a little medieval one.

One of the best days was when we took a day trip to the town of Beersel, a 20 or 30 minute train ride from Brussels; before the heat dome had really moved in. We visited a fantastic lambic brewery there, visited a castle, had lunch at a place where they didn’t speak any English (the only time that really happened), and enjoyed the countryside. I think these are the typical Belgian cows called “blue-and-white”.

Because everyone looks better blurry and happy.

Cantillon Brewery in Brussels – the last lambic brewery in Brussels. Lambic is wild-fermented beer. From what I can recall trying here in the states, I thought I would have to hold my nose and appreciate this beer for its historic value only. I recalled lambics being beyond sour, funky, tasting like something gone bad.

Not so, in the land of true lambics! These beers were delicious. They were not truly sour… they hit the tongue feeling like they are going to be sour, but they finish just super-dry and complex. There are straight lambics and those called “krieke” which are brewed with sour cherry. These do not taste like the cough-syrup cherry sours you might encounter stateside. They taste like true sour cherries off the tree. I am not exaggerating when I say these beers are worth the trip. They cannot be brewed anywhere else – depending as they do on wild fermented yeast from the local air.

It’s hard to choose photos to highlight. Here’s just a random pretty building with pretty stained glass. Lots and lots of beautiful architecture.

Shrimp croquettes, ubiquitous, made with tiny gray shrimp from the North Sea, on our first full day in Brussels trying to recover from travel and jet lag. Is this the meal that gave me the tummy bug? We’ll never know…