Belgium - part 2

Winter Markets
The best thing about traveling around during the holiday season was that there were winter markets or festivals seemingly everywhere we stopped. After leaving Brussels (and stopping at a great café), we stopped in a small town for lunch and they were having a festival complete with drumming marching Santas. We had our first (of several) bratwursts here while we walked around.

Continuing on down the road towards Luxembourg, we saw a sign for Rochefort (location of a Trappist Abbey and some lovely beer) so we made an on the spot decision to check out the town and get some beer. As luck would have it, they were having a festival too and we spent some time there taking in the local flavors of beers, cheese, and festival food. After sampling some Rochefort cheese, Christine asked if we could buy some. They didn’t have any left, but one of the guys actually went across the street to the local cheese shop, brought back a hunk of cheese, and gave it to us. Very nice people.

Christmas festival in Rochefort	Christmas festival in Mons
A skating rink is required for any good festival. This one is in Bruges.

We also stopped in the town of Lembeek to visit the Boon pub. It was at the pub in Lembeek where we discovered one of our favorite beers from the trip: Ellezelloise Hercule Stout. It’s the only stout we tried in Belgium and it could be my favorite stout ever (I will need to drink more to be sure). At 9% alcohol, it’ll knock you on your butt if you’re not careful. We brought some home.

A Hercule Stout in Lembeek

Orval, Bouillon, Mons
Our stay in Luxembourg was short. We came in at night and left in the morning without really getting to see much. Even when it was light out, we could hardly see anything because it was very foggy and overcast. Maybe next time we can check it out.

We had rented a Garmin GPS navigator with our car, and at €15 a day for 10 days it made way more sense to just buy one. Such was our task this morning. We returned our GPS to EuropCar and set about trying to find a place that sold electronics. We had no idea what stores to look for. There’s no Best Buy in Belgium. Eventually we stumbled on a big shopping center and pulled in to check it out. It was a Cora, which we have decided is the Super Walmart of Belgium. I like the French term of “hypermarche” (as opposed to the typical supermarche). We found a GPS we wanted and were on our way happily with a computerized voice telling us where to go. Note to those driving around Europe without a navigation device: Punch yourself in the face and then go buy one. Your life will be considerably better (except for the swollen face). There is no way we would have found some pubs without GPS. Your other option is to stockpile a ton of detailed maps, but the GPS is way more convenient.

After rejoining the world of computerized navigation bliss, we made our way to Orval. Orval is another of the Trappist abbeys. There are 7 abbey breweries in the world and 6 of them are in Belgium. Trappists have been brewing beer forever, and they make some delicious stuff. There are also abbey style beers that imitate the Trappist brews. The weather was still pretty crappy, so we opted not to tour the abbey. Instead, we took a few pictures and then headed to the pub down the street to sample some of the beers. Typically, the towns with breweries have a local pub that serves up the hometown brews and it is the best place to get all the usual and special beers from the brewery. Among the beers we tried in Orval was Petit Orval which is a lighter version of their regular brew. It’s made for the brothers at the abbey, but outside the abbey it is available only at this local pub.

Orval on a dreary day

After Orval, we visited a castle in Bouillon. I’ve never toured an old castle before so this was pretty cool. The weather was drab and drizzly, which seemed appropriate for getting the feel for an old castle. The effort that must have gone in to making these structures must be pretty amazing.

Not every beer is a winner
Not all beer in Belgium is good, and Christine found this out in Mons. Most of our beer choices we made by looking at beer ratings in a book called “Good Beer Guide Belgium”. If you’re planning on exploring Belgian beers, this is a must have book. In addition to listing nearly all Belgian beers, it also lists pubs that have good beer lists. On this particular night, Christine chose a beer without consulting the Guide, and it turned out to be an In-Bev product. In-Bev is a huge beer producer and they recently bought Budweiser. Well the kriek Christine tried (Bell-Vue Kriek Extra) was, shall we say, the Coors Light of krieks. You might say she was up shit kriek.