Raphael Kessler

Belgium, most people would say there isn't much to say about Belgium. There is the infamous challenge, "Name three famous Belgians". Next time someone asks you, the top ones I think are: Adolphe Sax (inventor of the Saxophone), George Remi (Herge - creator of Tintin), Jean-Claude Van-Damme (action star), Peter Paul Rubens (baroque artist), Rene Magritte (surrealist artist), George Lemaitre (inventor of the big bang theory) and Audrey Hepburn (actress born in Brussels).

What the Belgians do on a world class level is produce beer and chocolate. The beer in Belgium is probably the finest in the world, particularly the Abbey beers (if you were a monk sworn to silence and celibacy but allowed to drink you'd make sure you made the best damn beer in the world too). The chocolate has a well deserved international reputation, the prices however are not too friendly but the pralines are worth it.

Brussels

As the capital of Belgium and of EU administration, this city has generally received some rather undeserved flak. Admittedly, when the most famous sites are a weird giant atom thingy and a small statue of an infant boy pissing, it is an uphill battle to convince people this is a place worth visiting. There are however, some lovely places to see, starting at the Grand Place (main square). At night, it was even prettier, the way it was lit up.

There is no way of having a gallery of Brussels without having a selection of the Maneken Pis and the various recreations in Chocolate and outside waffle shops. I don't know why he was dressed up one day, whether it was for a particular occasion of what.

The Cathedral in Brussels is impressive in its grandeur, as well as serenity, architecture and stained glass windows.

The Bourse was just around from where we stayed, so was a constant feature as we walked around.

We went out to see the Atomium and whilst that is quite an impressive, though peculiar thing (built for the Brussels World Fair in 1958), we found the park in which it is set to be a depressing place, so promptly left.

The old market was where we found a nice, economical restaurant.

The Royal Palace was not something we lingered long to look at.

The Palace of Justice is an awesome building. I mean that literally. It seems to have been designed to scare the guilty in to admission. The exterior is imposing, then the entrance is impressive. Then the atrium is overwhelming. After that, the courtrooms actually seem quite modest.

The streets were pretty at twilight.

It was nice of them to name a restaurant for me.

Ghent

In the summer of 2011, I went to Belgium again and the first city I visited on that foray was Ghent. My friend and I found it to be an absolutely charming place with lovely Flemish architecture. Looking around the centre at night, we found one charming view afer another and were mightily impressed at how the place looked.

The following morning, the place still looked good and had more of a wander around checking out the pretty buildings, particularly those set alongside the river and canals. Some of the building were buit for the 1913 Ghent Expo. These were built in a similar style to their neighbours, though the clocktower was supposedly modelled on The Clock Tower at The Houses of Parliament in London. It is a clock tower with four sides, that is where the similarity ends.

Apparently the fish on this building of the Guild of the Unfree Boatmen (non-Ghent boatmen) were supposed to be dolphins, however the sculptors had never seen a dolphin, so these were their best guess.

The Belfry is by virtue of its height, one of the most imposing buildings in Central Ghent.

The Castle of the Counts sits in the middle of the city and now houses a torture museum.

As there are rivers and canals, there are also bridges to make getting about easier. The most famous of these is Saint Michael's Bridge which was built to improve access to the Expo site. It is also the bridge with some of the best views of central Ghent.

The dancers atop this building actually turn when the wind blows. When I was there, there wasn't so much as a light breeze, I still liked the look of them. At the design museum is a large vase (I don't know either).

Brugge

Brugge or Bruges is reputed as the prettiest town in Belgium. It is nice and has lots of attractive buildings and canals, however it is swarming with tourists and the prices are exorbitant.

As mentioned above Beer is one of the things Belgium does best, so it would be wrong not to have any pictures of it. Herewith a display of (allegedly) all the Belgian beers and just a wall of beer.