SIMPLY ASHLEY

If you haven't seen My Guide To Brussels go read it and come straight back!

You up-to-date? yes, then let's continue.

After realizing Bruges was only an hour away on a train it ultimately became one of the top things on my list. Also that I was traveling with Jordan (a true Irishman) we where overly excited to go and see where the film In Bruges was filmed.

We had planned on getting the train at 10:45 in the morning but after a too-long lie in we missed it, but it all worked out perfect as we had the chance to enjoy another amazing waffle. at 11:45 we got on the train and went through the beautiful countryside of Belgium. An hour later we had arrived!

A little walk from the station we started to get the feel of the town, cobbled streets, little cute houses and just amazing architecture we knew we had made the right decision.

First stop had to be The Bell Tower. With a slight confusion on which one it was, to our surprise there is more than one big building (ha). We finally made it to the famous square. We queued and we paid (10€) and we walked up the 365 steps, in heels may I add. We made it to the top and WOW. It was breath taken, the bells went off and we got to see every side of Bruges. Was one of them pinch me moments when you are just simply grateful for the world and your life.

365 steps down, on the way finding a fellow heel wearer. Not the only crazy woman ;). We walked around the town and decided it was time for lunch, The cold weather had us craving soup so off we went on a search. We came across a cosy little irish pub with leek soup on the menu YAY!

With a belly full of food we thought it was the perfect time to go on a boat trip around the canals, we must have picked the perfect timing as there where only a few people on our boat, were as before they had all been packed! It was such a lovely way to see more of the little town and I now know why they call it Venice of the north.

Sadly it was time for us to head back to Brussels, so we set off back to the train station taken in every last moment of the beautiful city. I would highly recomend that if you are visiting Brussels and have an extra day free, to take a day trip to Bruges, It is such a magical little town and it quickly became very high on my lits of favoruite places! We would have loved to have visited Antwerp but sadly we didn't have time. Oh well more of a reason to go back!

To find out what else we got up to go read My Guide To Brussels

Lots of love,

Ashley xxx

A few months ago one of my close friends, who lives in Ireland, text me saying if I fancied an adventure. 5 hours later we had booked our trip to Brussels, a few weeks later and it was time to set of on our very spontaneous trip!

After a 2 hour flight, I met Jordan (my Irish companion for the trip) at Brussels Zaventem airport. Due to it being nearly 9 o'clock at night we decided to get an uber, which was actually my first time using one, we had a slight confusion of where we had to meet him but we got there in the end. A fifteen minute drive and we had arrived at GrandPlace where our Airbnb was located for our 3 night stay.

We literally fell in love with the Airbnb the minute we walked in. I would highly recommend it as it is not only the cutest little studio I have ever seen, but it was 2 seconds away from Grand Place. No joke, you come outside and turn right and you are literally in the square!

We quickly got changed and we meet up with Max, one of Jordan's friends who lives in Brussels, he took us to the Delirium village, A fun fact about Belguim, if you did not already know, they are famous for beer and oh my do they have to choose from. The bar was huge, with 3 floors, all with different types of beer.. Not being a beer drinker it was Max's job to find me a beer that I liked. After cherry beer, the typical delirium beer and another one that I can't remember the name off we started to get a little peckish, so we headed to Quick, which is literally the biggest copy of Mcdonald's I have ever seen, but when in Belgium do what belgium's do and have a "quickie" (ha!)

We then ended the night in La Pharmacie Anglaise, we actually thought Max was taking us to a real pharmacy, but then realized that it was the name of a famous gin bar. It was such a lovely cozy place with a very dark and romantic feel to it. After a few too many beers and a touch of gin we called it a night, as we had a very jam-packed touristic day to wake up too.

DAY TWO

I love waking up in a new city with a day full of exploring ahead. We started the day the best way we knew how: WAFFLES.

We then quickly ran toward the Grand Place as we had a free walking tour booked. We were greeted by Frazer our very funny Scottish tour guide for the next 2.5 hours. I have done tours like this in the past in other cities and he is by far the best guide I have ever had. Me and Jordan were cracking up at all of his jokes and he was so entertaining and explained all the history in such an interesting way.

One of the beautiful building in the Grand Place.

Mannequin Pis: The landmark sculpture of Brussels. They actually dress him up on every holiday. On the national beer holiday he wee's beer and queues of people line up to drink it!

Brussles is also famous for its wide history in comics, so around the city you will find comic walls just like this one ^

The oldest stock market in Europe!

After the tour we decided it would be the perfect opportunity to go for some lunch, the cold weather had us both craving soup so after a walk around we stumbled across Brasserie du Lombard and to my surprise and excitement their soup of the day was Pumpkin soup! My day had been made :) This is also where I had finally found a beer that I liked!! PEACH BEER.

Enjoying Delirium bar so much the night before and spotting a little old fashion photo booth we decided to head back and spend the afternoon there. But before that we enjoyed a stroll round all the little back streets. We both couldn't get over the beauty of the architecture, nothing matches, every building is unique and different in its own way and not one building is the same. The only way I know how to explain it is "Odd socks". We tried some more beer before heading back to the apartment to freshen up for the night.

Another thing that Brussels is famous for is their Mussels, so we couldn't miss out! After asking Frazer (our tour guide) and having a little search on google we headed to Cathrine's Square and found a beautiful little restaurant called Jardin Van Gogh. I had Mussels with white wine sauce and Jordan had mussels with mushroom sauce. Safe to say we know why they are famous for them ;)

We had had such a busy day exploring we decided it would be best to head back home, we got some peach beer on our way and we had a chilled early night.

DAY THREE

The next day we woke up and headed to Bruges. To find out what I got up to there read my GUIDE TO BRUGES.

DAY FOUR

It was our last day in Brussels so we decided to take it easy and head to Cinquantenaire Park. It was a 30 minute walk from our place, but it was so nice to get out of the center and see the real Brussels. We got a little lost but we got there in the end! The park was so beautiful, full of orange and yellow leaves, making it such a perfect autumnal day. We then walked up to the Automuseum. Jordan had started his amazing trip 46a to Mongolia there and it was so nice for him to reminisce about where his long and exceptional trip started.

We had organized to meet some friends of Jordan's, whom he had met on his trip to Mongolia. So after photos were taken we decided to make our way to the pub where we had planned to meet. We still couldn't believe the beauty of all the streets and we enjoyed just slowly making our way there. We had such a lovely meal with Jo and Jerome.

Having only a couple of hours left before heading to the airport we decided to take one last walk around the back streets and of course picking up the traditional touristic things for our family and friends. We decided to have one last drink as I had become quite attached to my peach beer and then head back to the apartment clean up and head to the airport.

It was time to go our separate ways. But we had all the memories and still the happy holiday feeling in us. Brussels had stolen a part of my heart that I would never get back or want back. I had such a good time there and I recommend for you to go and explore it for yourself. You will not regret it.