Belgium

Brussels Grand Place at night

Some foreword on Belgium

French people often ask the question:" How can a country so near to ours be so different ? Flat country, certainly,but the high peaks (relief) is given by the citizens.Warm, cordial , funny and always accessible.The Belgians are much too often associated with mussels, french fries, chocolate, waffles and good food.  But very often, the Frenchman's superiority complex, which lasted for centuries, takes a severe beating during a visit to Belgium. Belgium has nothing to envy about his neighbors! Certainly not the Dutch who come massively to Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges a nd Brussels on weekends to flee the boredom of their own cities. To have fun, come to Belgium and more specifically Flanders. You'll soon find ou that the Belgian cuisine is very diversified and doesn't stick to the classic "moule-frites". And what about the Belgian chocolate and "pralines"! The Belgian pastries, the Belgian beer! And the Belgian waffles!! Nothing common with what I ate 8 years ago in L.A.in a place called"In the Belgian Waffle", yekh!!!
Arts? Belgium produced an amazing number of grand masters (Van Eyck, Memlinc, Quinten Metsys, all the Flemish Primitifs, Rubens, Van Dijk, Jordaens, Ensor, Magritte, Delvaux etc....) ad the museums are inexpensive. Lately we got also the sickness of huge retrospectives like the one about Magritte, Van Dijck and now James Ensor. 
No mountains, a small but very cosy seaside, a concentration of astounding artistic and cultural wealth: many gothic cathedrals and churches , beautiful museums, a nature that invites to bike trips, flower markets, antique markets, medieval cities so inviting for walks and terrace beer drinking, and above all festivals, festivals and more festivals. It is crazy how that population like to gather cheerfully. And it always ends with agapes where the beer pours out of the barrels.
Brussels, Flanders and Wallonie constitute three different universes, well marked. Brussels, capital of Belgium and of Europe, has his name every day in the media. 
Flanders enhanced fully her patrimony unique in the world. Ah, the towers of Bruges and Ghent! Oh! The cathedral and old town center of Antwerp!