Holidays.

[El Guapo]

All the sightseeing and sampling of various Belgian beers caught up with me but Bruges didn’t disappoint. It’s like a mideval town has time travelled to modern times.
Magnificent buildings around each corner and they wanted to experience each venue used in the film.
I didn’t know them that well, and many interiors were different to the film I’m told but we thoroughly enjoyed it, some more than others though.

They raved about climbing the tower (piece of piss by the way - even those fat Americans could’ve made ir as there are stop off rooms all the way up) . The 13/14/15th century architecture and history it witnessed intrigued me but for actual views it was a bit meh compared to Sacre Coeur or Eifel Tower. Even Arc de Triumph, a lot lower had a more imposing view.
The Basillica with Christs Blood shuts for long lunch and it’s only displayed sporadically. The canal tour is superb well worth the 15 a head

Overall I’d highly recommend Bruges and two pubs in particular. Be..2 is kind of a tourist outlet with 300 different beers many served in very fancy , and security tagged glasses, but shuts at 8 PM. The other is other side of the square called The Trappist, down in a recently rediscovered 16th century cellar. Some VERY strong beers here too even had one 13% (didn’t taste great tbh) but some of the lower alcohol beers 6.5!to about 8,5 were gorgeous. And absolutely zero hangover despite quite a few being sampled.

Ghent was much bigger, 4 tram lines and multiple busses. Felt as big if not bigger than Cork though Google says population wise it’s smaller. Far more to do in Ghent but alas wed
Much less time. Again the canal tour was well worth it

Well definitely be going back but meanwile my sleep patterns are all screwed up

Belgium is great for Hiking too. They have 1000's of Km of walking and bike trails.

A friend of mine lives there he reckons the Ardennes and Wallonia are great for all that stuff. I've only been up around flanders which is great for biking particularly but flemish being pricks about speaking French is a bit tiresome though

 

[Yermon]

Belgium is great for Hiking too. They have 1000's of Km of walking and bike trails.

A friend of mine lives there he reckons the Ardennes and Wallonia are great for all that stuff. I've only been up around flanders which is great for biking particularly but flemish being pricks about speaking French is a bit tiresome though

I thought the Flemish spoke "Dutch" and the Walloons spoke "French". Places we went always seemed to have people who could speak English, but I must admit my schoolboy French was a godsend during the hols.

Definitely going back to Belgium and can't recommend Bruges enough. Even sat down and watched In Bruges again since we came back, just to reminisce on the various places we'd been.

 

[El Guapo]

I thought the Flemish spoke "Dutch" and the Walloons spoke "French". Places we went always seemed to have people who could speak English, but I must admit my schoolboy French was a godsend during the hols.

Definitely going back to Belgium and can't recommend Bruges enough. Even sat down and watched In Bruges again since we came back, just to reminisce on the various places we'd been.

They speak flemish. but if you speak French to them they basically ignore you.

They are unbelievably militant about it

The Waloons are way more laid back, they are the French speakers

 

[fed up]

Heading to Bologna for the night, will stop off in Pisa, tomorrow then it's off to lake Garda for 6 days with a stop off in Venice.

After that it'll be on to Switzerland and Belgium before another week in France.

Home then July 8th.

Can't wait to get home to be honest, I'd have been as happy with a week in Crosser.

 

[Yermon]

Heading to Bologna for the night, will stop off in Pisa, tomorrow then it's off to lake Garda for 6 days with a stop off in Venice.

After that it'll be on to Switzerland and Belgium before another week in France.

Home then July 8th.

Can't wait to get home to be honest, I'd have been as happy with a week in Crosser.

Sounds like an absolutely brilliant trip but must be extremely tiring with all the driving. Whenever I finally get around to touring Italy it'll probably be by train. I'm told Florence, Venice, Rome, and Lake Garda are the places to see.

 

[greengrass]

If in Cork they'd have knocked it and put in a glass monstrosity


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Where were those taken ,feddy?

 

[Happyhonkaman]

Heading to Bologna for the night, will stop off in Pisa, tomorrow then it's off to lake Garda for 6 days with a stop off in Venice.

After that it'll be on to Switzerland and Belgium before another week in France.

Home then July 8th.

Can't wait to get home to be honest, I'd have been as happy with a week in Crosser.

What was the route Fed?

Ferry to France, down through the north of Italy to Rome and then back up and out the other side of Northern Italy, into Switz, Lux, Belgium and then back to the ferry?

Those kind of trips are great, I wouldn't be mad for driving though especially long distances in that kind of heat, I'd much rather be on trains. I did a trip from Finland down through Russia and the whole of eastern europe as far as the south of Croatia once on trains - was an amazing experience and got it done 25 years ago as eastern europe was beginning the transformation from communism to a more european outlook. Glad I saw it then

 

[Browser Brody]

What was the route Fed?

Ferry to France, down through the north of Italy to Rome and then back up and out the other side of Northern Italy, into Switz, Lux, Belgium and then back to the ferry?

Those kind of trips are great, I wouldn't be mad for driving though especially long distances in that kind of heat, I'd much rather be on trains. I did a trip from Finland down through Russia and the whole of eastern europe as far as the south of Croatia once on trains - was an amazing experience and got it done 25 years ago as eastern europe was beginning the transformation from communism to a more european outlook. Glad I saw it then

Sounds class.


I’d love to go on a long train ride through Europe.

 

[Happyhonkaman]

Sounds class.


I’d love to go on a long train ride through Europe.

It was amazing - I think I took 9 weeks to get through it all. My route was fly to Finland then trains down through Russia - Estonia - Latvia - Lithuania - Poland - Slovakia - Hungary - Croatia, back to Hungary and flew home from there. I was supposed to go from Croatia to Montenegro and Albania but the Irish Embassy put a stop to that due to war/unrest there

I did a great one down through Italy another time, was started in Venice and ended in Catania on Sicily having jumped out all of the way down

 

[Hallbopping]

I’m flying out to Berlin in July and heading through Germany by train. The plan is to visit Dresden, Köln, Nürnberg and München over about 10 days before arriving home (hopefully!) just in time for the All Ireland Hurling Final.

I’ve been learning German this year so hoping to put it into practice!