Broaden your horizons in Belgium and the Netherlands

Why do I mention two countries in one headline?

The answer is simple and entertaining, because when we were looking for a campsite near Bruges in Belgium, the border didn't really catch our eye. But then we realized that the campsite was only 500m from the Belgian border. In fact, you often see white border posts here, but since Belgium has only been independent of the Netherlands since July 21, 1830, you can take this with a wink. Today is Belgium's national holiday, so we learned something new!

The journey itself was exciting because there was a turnoff that was not indicated to us, the alternative route took us through an underpass that was probably intended for cyclists but not for a caravan, but Palumbi was not too wide. With a 2.15m caravan there would probably have been problems and possibly broken tires!

We found an asparagus farmer where I learned a bit about asparagus and the lady at the reception made me happy because she thought I was really from Great Britain because my English is so nice! ,-))

We settled in and put up the awning on the caravan because of the higher temperatures. We didn't really pay attention to the sun, because it was still so high that we would be grilled in front of Palumbi in the afternoon. (Just as an idea for the future, pay attention to the position of the sun and west....)

It was so hot when we arrived that Christian drove to Maldegem to get a small air conditioning unit. A new caravan should probably have one, otherwise it gets really hot when the temperature is above 25 degrees! The thing works well in ONE direction, but it is hot behind the unit...

The dogs were on the better side, so they survived the last 3 days well, they only went hiking in the early morning.

On Friday we were in Sluis in the Netherlands, but since the temperatures were already well over 23 degrees, we only shopped at the market and didn't really look around, even though the city actually already offered that.

Yesterday we went hiking and that was it, because it was sweltering hot, but not as oppressive as the day before in Sluis.

TODAY was my highlight, we were in Bruges. I always say "In Bruges, see and die", which is the title of a film noir that I haven't seen yet, but which takes up the old history of the city a little.

We saw the trading companies' offices, the great Gothic town hall, the Romanesque church, the museums and and and and of course Little Venice. It has a lovely atmosphere, the only downside was the national holiday, because there was a lot of construction going on for it and it didn't look so great in photos, and of course Bruges is very popular with tourists like us.

We discovered the beer wall more by chance than anything else; the number of tourist shops, chocolatiers and beer bars is gigantic. Christian then tried a beer at lunchtime, which he found quite good.

I find both countries fascinating, I understand the Dutch better, unless the Belgians speak French. Everything has a nice charm, the brick houses look great! You can build so many different things with bricks!

I had the prejudice that EVERYONE in the Netherlands had to have a caravan, BUT I hardly see any. It is high season right now, but it is still relaxed here. I think that both countries are very relaxed, they slow down when it comes to speed limits on country roads etc., but maybe that is a good thing.

The cuisine is hearty, with mussels being the main focus on the coast where we were, but that doesn't mean that there aren't other exciting things to discover. I'd love to go to Nijmegen, let's see if that still works out!

I am delighted, I was able to throw my prejudices overboard straight away, because there is not only Maasdamer, but also other cheese here, the Dutch speak German surprisingly well, I understand them when they speak High Dutch. It is warm, but some monuments also remind me that the Germans did not mean well for this area. I am always ashamed of that...

But that doesn't change the fact that I find it nice and funny here!