Taking advantage of proximity to Dublin, the costs are relatively cheap Aerlingus features, as well as the proximity of my birthday to celebrate, I spent a lovely weekend with Martha in Belgium between Brussels and Ghent.
Day November 14: Brussels Starting from Dublin Airport at 18:30 we took the flight with destination Aerlingus Brussel. Time of flight as a guideline, 1:30 minutes, whereas which must then bring the clock forward an hour.
Once a destination is advisable to prepare some map and organize the best possible arrival at your hotel. Although Brussels is the "capital of Europe" because once they soon discover that English is not your utilizzatissimo regarding signs. Even asking the kiosk for tourist information we ended up with a damn about the fact that the employee had given a very different wants to talk to us.
Dall'aeroporo Brussel, however there are two ways to reach the city center, the first is by bus (we opted for choice) that the cost of 4 € per person to fulfill the center in about 30 minutes. The other solution is by train, so it takes us 15-20 minutes at a cost of about € 3 for one way.
The advantage is that the bus makes several stops in different areas that may be helpful as you could save more of the routes from the central station to the place you have chosen for your stay.
In our case we chose the '
Sofitel hotel, a four star hotel we reserved at a truly bargain considering the quality of service that describe the specific review.
dinner we took advantage of the wide choice of pizza restaurants in the hotel in front of us and them We accommodated them
L'esprit de sel . The place is very welcoming, as you can see the page online and write a short review of this too.
Day 15 November: Ghent Saturday morning after a good night's sleep and a breakfast Imperial, me and Marta we went to the central station take the metro to the Schuman stop. The cost of the ticket on the metro is just over one euro and is valid for a single journey, for your convenience you can click on the image to enlarge it and maybe print it.
get to the station we took the train to Ghent and cost approximately € 16 per round trip. Council to buy tickets always return when you need something because you save on expenditure.
arrive in Ghent Gravensten we visited the castle at a cost of € 18 per person. I can confirm that unlike other places I've seen paying, Castle Gravensten worth a visit. Not because it is the usual round outside through some cold room, see the many castles in Scotland, but recreated the atmosphere is very impressive with several rooms containing weapons and armor of the past, instruments of medieval torture and other amenities.
After the tour of the castle we took a long walk to the town to decide to take a break for a local dish: "French fries". Therefore it is not that commonplace of French fries, but the locals are proud of their specialties, and all say that you eat french fries in Belgium are among the best. Personally, I found already in very bad taste that you use the typical frozen potatoes as opposed to what is done here in Ireland with hand-cut potatoes. Furthermore, the only difference found in potato chips to eat Ghent, than eat at any other place, is the amount of oil present. In fact, the frying process is repeated two more times, this should ensure the special chips in the beloved local small personal note: I did not like their own.
Much appreciated but it was the bottle of Duvel, local beer, I was served his drink in a pub in specific people.
Marta has instead opted for a Westmalle Triple and I must say that I liked a lot. It was a while since I felt it for the taste of beer to drink, a beer commercial that can exploit the properties of its glass to give its best and give off aromas, flavors and new flavors.
The evening ended with a last "flat" local: the waffle with chocolate. This we took it right down the street and despite the struggle to reduce us all to avoid a stain with chocolate caldo che colava da tutte le parti è stato molto gradito da entrambi.
Il ritorno a Bruxel è stato animato da un evento Tecno che ha avuto luogo proprio a Gante quel giorno e che aveva mobilitato centinai se non migliaia di persone che da tutte le parti d'Europa si erano riversate nella piccola cittadina belga senza dimenticare l'abbigliamento del caso. C'erano delle ragazze italiane con capelli verdi e megaocchiali di plastica, un gruppo di spagnoli che urlavano in treno e facevano battute sugli italiani ovviamente :) e poi i nostri cari irlandesi che bé non erano diversi da come li vediamo in strada tutti i giorni, birra in mano, tuta, sbronzi, rutto libero e chiaramente l'immancabile "fockin" ogni due parole.
Day 16 November: Brussels First breakfast and checkout. I've been to the Sofitel in the checkout must be made within and 13:00, so good timing for waking up slowly, get organized and make a hearty breakfast.
The last day we dedicated to the city. We took a tour to the Grand Platz, tried again a tourist office where once again we have had confirmation that the premises do not have much patience or courtesy when it comes to tourism and decided to take our second and final weekend of the waffle. We chose one of the local by the name of the Grand Platz clear: Aroma.
After a tour of the various chocolate shops and tired of the rain that was almost uninterruptedly throughout Sunday, we opted for the popular City Tour by Bus. Travel cost 16 euro per person but it was worth it. The tour lasts approximately 90 minutes and touches all the major attractions of the city ending with the Atomium, which appears behind the trees the city park.
At the end of the journey, here we are at the airport waiting for boarding and there was no need to look for the gate which was right there and just follow the sound of polite belches that the Irish continued to pull drinking beer and talking pink suit from their girlfriends. Not deny that he felt a disgust nenorme especially seeing the people who moved deliberately to avoid attending the exploits of these fine young men.
