A Stopover in Ghent.

Vincent, Traveller's old friend from Belgium, was an excellent host and showed T not just the city that he lives in {Brussels} but also Ghent and Bruges too.

It's no secret that Traveller loved Bruges - she knew that she would love it before even visiting.

The surprising thing was, though, that Ghent really stole her heart. We went to Ghent initially so that T could meet Vincent's brother and we would all have dinner together. However, due to heavy snow, we ended up crashing at his place and spent the following day together in Ghent.

Ghent is somewhere in the middle of Brussels and Bruges geographically and is a beautiful, pedestrianised city with stunning medieval architecture. Also, because it is a university town, it had a really fun nightlife with many yummy restaurants, delis and shops.

Traveller's favourite moment was sitting outside in a cafe on the old Graslei harbour covered in blankets and drinking delicious hot chocolate.

Thanks V & N, for your awesome hospitality!

The pièce de résistance.

It is no secret that a country's culinary offerings are part of Traveller's favourite experiences whilst overseas. Whether it be zucchini flower gnocchi devoured in the hills of Tuscany, pinxtos fought over in Barcelona, alps macaronis relished in Bonn, a delicious seafood stew savoured in Lagos or fresh chilli mussels gobbled in Hvar, Traveller has had many memorable foodie moments.
T is not sure what they put in them, but the bread and pastries taste infinitely better in Belgium and France than they do anywhere else in the world. The bread is as light as air, yet gorgeously crisp on the outside and the pain au chocolat are the complementary match that chocolate and butter were always meant to be.
Many of Traveller's favourite memories from her recent travels involve food and, in particular, breakfast food. May it just be said - the Belgians do breakfast well. Really well.
First, chocolate is involved. It comes in the form of sprinkles, spreads or just actual chocolate. And, repeat after T, chocolate is never a bad thing!
Second, there are all manner of other sweet spreads, breads and fruits to enjoy.
Let's just say, waking up in Belgium was not tough at all!



How do the Belgians stay so thin?