My boyfriend and I just returned from a weekend in Belgium. It was in Belgium that I decided I really was going to start a travel blog so it seems fitting it’s the first real post!
We travelled from Friday – Sunday with RyanAir (I say this every time but honestly this has to be the last flight with them) and stayed in the MotelOne in Brussels city centre. (https://www.motel-one.com/en/hotels/brussels/hotel-brussels/ )
The real fun part of the booking was realising that I had booked Brussels Charleroi rather than International. No biggie – booked the shuttle bus to Brussels (Flibco seem to have the monopoly on the shuttle bus situation in Charleroi – https://www.flibco.com/en#/booking ) one thing to watch though is that it doesn’t actually take you to Brussels Central (clearly in cahoots with RyanAir) but it stops at Brussels Midi train station which is 1 stop from Brussels Central. We decided to walk the half hour to our hotel which would have been fine without the suitcases!
We arrived at the hotel and check in was a breeze. Hotel is modern, the bar was heaving which I’ve never really seen in a mid-range hotel bar! Our room was really nice and clean, nice comfy bed!
Day 1: Arrived in Brussels and ditched suitcases and swiftly went for a wander about town. The Christmas markets were opening that night so wandered around and had a look at the stalls. Our flight was at a funny time so we’d missed lunch but too early for dinner so we stopped for a wee snack and drink at Monte Cristo bar and had a cava, beer and 2 tapas (nachos carne and patatas bravas) for €20
We then wandered on and had a snoop in the Irish bar O’Reillys for a Belgian White beer – very continental! Then headed on – found a great wee bar called Time Out which was playing Christmas songs and had really nice Cava (only €4 a glass)
It was quite late by time we went for dinner – we went to a tapas restaurant round corner – we had king prawns, meatballs, bravas and a mini paella to share with some red wine (hazy on the cost of the meal!)
Day 2: Leuven!
We got up and had breakfast on the Grand Place – I know it’s the main tourist trap square but it is beautiful! The place we went to was ROASTING hot but the food was tasty (and we came back again the next day!)
We caught the train to Leuven with the intention of going to the Stella Artois distillery tour. I tried to book online before we went but it was full until 2019 but then TripAdvisor said just to chance getting on a Saturday – no dice. The guy was really nice but there was no space for us on tour so we just went a wander about Leuven, had a really nice lunch – moules frites Belgian style – then another walk about and a Belgian waffle at the Leffe cafe before heading back to Brussels.
We went for a wee nap before heading out for dinner – we went to Mozart More than Ribs for a steak dinner – another place that was ridiculously hot. It’s so annoying that places go intense with the heat – I hate being hot! The food was amazing though!
Day 3: Brussels!
On our final day we did the Brussels walking tour from Sandemans – we have done so many of these tours on our travels and I think they are the best way to see a city and get some insights from someone local. The tour was really interesting and we saw most of the city centre sites!
We had our final dinner in Chez Leon on the recommendation of the tour guide! It was hot but not roasting inside. Highlight was the mushrooms on toast!
Then it was time to head home 😦
I feel like I’ve posted a lot of links here but I want to share all the places I thought were really good and would recommend to people!
Until the next adventure ✈️✈️
Hollie-Days 