Belgium in Winter

In April I took a solo trip to Belgium. I was reminded how much I love this tiny country. I was first introduced to it in 1987 when I was a 17-year old recent high school graduate and Rotary exchange student. I had asked to go to Australia. They sent me to a town outside of Liege, Belgium.

Looking back on that time I can't believe my parents ever let me go. There were so many things we didn't realize we were missing. Credit cards. Cell phones. WiFi. I was cut off. My parents were told not to communicate with me. Meanwhile, my first host mother wrote daily to her daughter. Fast forward to the 2020s and our exchange son was allowed to use the internet to reach out to his family.

Back to April. I had a lovely weekend with Yoran and his parents. They encouraged me to return with Don for the Christmas markets. We don't usually take a big trip in December, but seeing their charming village decked out for the holidays was enticing. 

Knowing the dates, I booked the trip in July. It turns out, we arrived the weekend before the Christmas market in Zoutleeuw. Still, it was a nice visit. Every other city we went to had a Christmas Market up and running. Zoutleeuw is located between the Landon and Tienen train stations, not exactly convenient to visit if you do not have a car. Fortunately Yoran drove us around.

This time I chose to stay in Antwerp and concentrate on the Flanders part of Belgium. I took a day trip to Antwerp, so I had an idea of where I wanted to stay, as close to the train station as possible. I wanted this trip to be a balance of showing Don my Belgium, but I also wanted to see new things.

Antwerp has 24 train lines, making it a major hub. It has a direct high speed line to Amsterdam, which we knew would be a must-do on this trip to make up for the trip that was cancelled due to the train strike during my last visit. Speaking of mass strikes, we learned the day after we flew home Portugal was planning to shut down for a one-day strike. So glad we were not impacted, other than having ever seat filled on our flight because the airline shifted other people's schedules around.

Day 1: Fly through Lisbon, arrive in Antwerp at 2 pm.

Day 2: Explore Bruges

Day 3: Explore Antwerp

Day 4: Yoran and Family

Day 5: Liege

Day 6: Ghent

Day 7: Amsterdam

Day 8: Fly home through Lisbon. Arrive home at midnight.

I'll admit I'm a little tired thinking about this schedule as I type it. I did very little planning ahead of time. I did book the train tickets for Amsterdam (because the further out you plan, the cheaper they are), and bought tickets to the Anne Frank House (because they fill up). I also made plans with Yoran's family. The rest? Not really. I didn't know we were going to Ghent until the day before we went. At the last minute I flipped Bruges and Antwerp because the Christmas Markets in Antwerp opened that day.

Visiting Belgium is like returning home.