Tuesday, October 4th, 2011
We land on time in the morning in Charleroi. After landing we rent a car and go to Brussels. We park in the museum area and start the visit of the city. The sky is cloudy. We start seeing some churches: Notre Dame de la Chapelle and Notre Dame du Sablon. Then to the royal palace, passing through the Place Royale. Through the Parc de Brussels, we reach the Parliament and the nearby cathedral. After the tour inside, we arrive at the Grand Place through the Galeries Royales St-Hubert.
The Grand Place is surrounded by many beautiful buildings, and we spend some time in this beautiful square. After leaving the square, we pass by other monuments: the stock market, the church of St Nicholas, the Tour Noire, St-Catherine, St-Jean-Baptiste-au-Beginage and finally the Manneken Pis. Our next stop is Bruges. The city is very nice (I prefer it than Brussels).
We leave the car and the luggage at the hotel (at the end of the pedestrian zone), and walking through the streets we reach the two main squares: the Markt, with the palace of Hallen and the Burg. We walk a little through the channels until we reach the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk and the nearby complex of St. Janshospital. Then we reach the Begijnhof (there are few tourists), and then back to the center, passing by St. Salvatorskathedraal. After dinner we walk a bit for the center to take pictures with illuminated monuments.
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011
Even today it is cloudy. After breakfast we walk a little more in the streets with very characteristic buildings until we reach the church of St. Jakob. From there we reach the square Jan van Eyckplein with the building Poortersloge on which stands the statue of the bear.
On our way we meet other churches: St. Walburgakerk, St. Annakerk and Jeruzalem kerk. At a short distance there are the windmills and the Kruis-Poort. Then we visit the interior of several churches including the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk and St. Salvatorskathedraal. Left Bruges we reach Damme, taking a road along the canals. Damme is quite small but nice, with a ruined church. After the visit we have lunch. Last destination of our journey is Antwerp (before we get traffic, and this decreases the time for our visit).
From the Grote Markt, we go to the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk, in which there are many paintings of Flemish painters. Then we quickly see St. Carolus Borromeus, St. Jakobs and the Steen. We return to the airport, it’s time to leave Belgium and we are at home in the evening.
