Travel days in Belgium : 1 – 13 august

For those who have been following along, or have at least read my article How 1 country became 4 you know we were staying in Belgium for a long week in the beginning of August. We expected to get out of Switzerland and discover a new and beautiful country, which is even the capital and heart of Europe, hosting the European Parliament here. To make things short, we were wildly disappointed in Brussels.

I found myself constantly harassed by men in the street every time we were out, and the whole town felt like a man’s world. Women were scarce on the street, only adding to the feeling of insecurity. Homelessness and drug abuse was scattered across the city as well, having us question if we have travelled so much that we no longer have rose-colored glasses, or if Brussels was really a negative exception. We went outside maybe twice during our long week trip, and spent the rest of the time cooped up in the house we were staying in, hiding from the troubles of the city. That being said, we did feel it would be unfair to leave our entire Belgium trip on such a bad note. So, the last full day we had in the country, we chose to venture out by train to a nearby town that promised medieval history and cobblestone streets.

We took a short train of 25 minutes to the city on Ghent. Only a few kilometres north of Brussels, this town is Flamish-speaking, and finding someone who speaks French is almost impossible. Right when we got off the train, we were surprised to find endless lines of bike racks. I’m talking ROWS of bikes, towered on top of each other, falling over, lined perfectly, it was endless. One must believe that this entire town is ran by bikers, commuting somewhere, nobody knows. Before leaving the train station, we grabbed a little coffee to-go before starting our venture out into this new world.

To our surprise, we were greeted by clean streets covered by green trees providing shade, women and families out and about, walking the streets like a casual Sunday. The shops were all vocally queer-friendly and organic local shops lined the streets as well. We immediately felt comfortable and were excited to dig into our day. As for where we were going, I just put the medieval castle as an address in my phone, and we followed that, taking in the scenery as we went. Of course, we came onto a vinyl shop and HAD to stop, so Ananda could dig through each and every one of the disks, finding her next pearls. Every single time we travel and have our hands full, she likes to add a little spice to our troubles and buy an object that must be held in a precise position and cannot be bent or put into a suitcase. She went straight to work, finding little favourites and choosing ones to maybe test and see if it’s worth adding to the large collection we have at home. Vinyl shops, thift stores and book shops are really her thing, and I admire her greatly for that, it’s amazing. We can bond on the last two, but I must admit that her vinyls are my wine shop – I won’t care to be in her passion and she won’t care to be in mine, though we could both go on for hours on our individual favs. She found a few good ones and even got me a Chappell Roan vinyl, and only then was I super excited. The album was a surprise, I didn’t see she had found it and got it for me and I cannot wait to have a home and to put it on and dance around our next home singing to all the songs she is sick of hearing me play and sing on repeat. She wins, I like vinyl shops now. 🙂

We continued our walk in Ghent, finding each street prettier than the last, with the locals being super youthful and stylish. The streets were often cobblestone and the shops that lined the narrow streets were all chic and modern. We found ourself needing a break and a drink, so we settled into a little terrace on a square. Around us, people wandered the streets just as we were just doing ourselves, with a person making giant bubbles for the kids to run through, and a street performer filled the square with his voice. Gratitude filled my heart while the sangria we had ordered filled my mouth and tickled my tastebuds. By this point I am overjoyed. First time out of a house in a while, the sun is shining, I am with my wife, we are enjoying the day, life felt like it couldn’t get any better. We sat on that terrace for a little hour, enjoying each others company, hand in hand. We only decided to leave because we wanted to get a look inside the church and hopefully the castle.

We crossed the square, the bubbles and the music and made our way into the church. Built in the 13th century, of course, the stones were dark and grimy from the normal wear and tear over the past centuries. The air inside was cold and smelt of burning wax candles and only little light came in through the stained-glass windows. We walked along the cold stone walls, checking out the paintings of Jesus on the cross and Mary the Virgin. Though as I walked along and made my way through the small crowd of people, I tripped on cables fixed to the ground. The sole of my right heel peeled off, and every step I tried to take, the dangling sole would fold and trip up under me foot. I was stuck. I mean, I could walk, with my legs raised very high in the air with each step while I kicked my foot forward before placing it back on the ground for the next step. Honestly, we knew this was coming. The soles of these shoes have been peeling back for months now, and I have walked in these heels for the last three summers, taking them everywhere from Brazil, to Italy, Spain, the States, through mud, rain, these heels have probably walked hundreds of kilometres. I even call them my ‘All Terrain’ heels, as I literally have used them for hikes up and down rocks. Anyways, it was time for them to kick the dust. Buying shoes are not on my list of priorities right now, so we found a shoe cobbler down the street and walked the longest 7 minutes of my life. Halfway through, Ananda took off her tennis shoes and gave them to me, leaving her to walk in the streets wearing only socks. Bless her. We made it to the cobbler and begged him to work me a miracle in the next two hours, these are literally my only shoes for my next trips to London, Amsterdam, Switzerland, France and Spain, with not even a breath of air for me to find time somewhere else to get them fixed. Through rolling his eyes and pointing to the line behind me, he made no promises and we left feeling unhopeful. Thankfully, a shoe store was right in front of us, so we went and I got a pair of heeled sandals to hold me over until this man can hopefully do something for me.

We continued our walk around the town, walking along the canal watching the different boats pass with people having drinks and snacks with light music playing. We did find the castle, who was built for the knight Geeraard the Devil in the 13th century. He sounds scarier than he was, as he was apparently just dark skinned with dark hair. The castle has since been used as a prison, an insane asylum, a school, and armory, etc. When we were standing in front of it, we were taken aback by how small it was. It wasn’t tiny, but it wasn’t this giant scary castle I had built up in my head. Due to the timing of needing to get my shoes by 6pm, we walked around the castle from the outside, grabbed one little coffee in a café and then made our way back to get my shoes. To our surprise, the cobbler found the time to glue both of my shoes back into a proper state, and I was able to leave with my All Terrain’s, a true success story.

As we had been having such a nice time here in Ghent, we really weren’t ready to go back to Brussels… That being said, we found ourselves a little geeky bar in the city center and went for one last drink. The tables were covered with superhero logos and the walls were decorated with pictures of geeky stars and memorabilia. We got a beer and sat and talked for hours, going over the future, our career paths, and what the next steps in our life together mean. I am incredibly lucky to have a partner like Ananda, she was incredibly patient with me this day as I have really been questioning some of my personal next steps in life. She is as supportive as ever, and helped me through some potential solutions. After a couple of beers and the two of us talking about changing the future, Ananda guided us back to the train station and we quickly made it back to Brussels.

The next day we had to leave Brussels incredibly early (6am) to take the Underground to London. We showered a little after midnight before crawling into bed, with our suitcases completely undone and the room a mess around us.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day. But that is for another blog post !

I cant wait to share with you our next trip, so please, follow along and I will see you then : )

All my love.

Budget breakdown :

Train : 77€ per person

Hotel : Free (stayed at friends)

Food : 70 € for the two weeks

Total : 224€ total / 112€ per person