belgium
Hoppy Loft or the Delirium Cafe
(DAY 7)
We were back in Brussels for our last night in Belgium by late afternoon. After a bit of wandering semi-lost in the matrix of streets around the Bourse, we found our (delightful) hotel: Hotel Cafe Pacific.
By the time we got to the hotel we had purchased lace, chocolate, and beer. We rested up for an evening of more wandering and some bar-hopping by sipping two abbey beers from the “250 beers” store: a Westvleteren 6 and a Westvleteren 8. (Smuggling an empty beer bottle back to Canada did cause some minor issues with the scanner people at the airport the next day, but I’m glad we kept the souvenir).
When we ventured back out into the city, we stopped at one cafe specifically to try Kwak, then we window-shopped our way over to another place for crepes. Finally, the last beer hunt was on for Delirium Tremens. We walked all over little cobblestoned streets and side-streets, past hundreds of miniature Manneken Pises until we found the unmissable pink elephant label.
Though the sign outside said “Delirium Cafe”, the beer menu said “Hoppy Loft”. It didn’t matter where we were, though, because the beer list was the longest we’d ever seen.
Side note: the actual meaning of “delirium tremens”, according to PubMed, quite aptly describes Eric’s feeling about leaving Belgium:
Delirium tremens is a severe form of alcohol withdrawal that involves sudden and severe mental or nervous system changes.
All these photos are from the Delirium Cafe:
De Warempel vegetarian restaurant
(DAY 7)
To complete our third goal of the day, I found a restaurant on our map that was close to the cathedral. The street was completely empty and there were no other businesses around. Eric was beginning to doubt the map and/or my map skills, then there it was:
Self portrait with Ghent
(DAY 7)
Belfort
(DAY 7)
Arriving at the belfry, the very friendly ticket man asked us where we were from. For simplicity’s sake Eric just said “Canada”. Then the man asked us what Canadian building was modeled after the belfry of Ghent? Part of me wanted to wait to see if Eric could pass this test on basic Canadiana. The only building I could think would be a possibility turned out to be the correct answer: the Parliament Buildings, of course.
You can see better photos on the Belfort website’s “virtual tour of the Belfry“. Here are mine:
Saint Bavo’s Cathedral
(DAY 7)
We had three goals to accomplish before leaving Ghent on Monday:
- see Jan van Eyke’s Adoration of the Mystic Lamb at Saint Bavo’s Cathedral
- visit Belfort, the Ghent Belfry
- eat at a vegetarian restaurant listed on the veggie map
Everything about Saint Bavo’s was incredible. First, I spent half an hour listening to an audio guide about the altarpiece (a few panels of which we’d seen in restoration at the Museum of Fine Arts, a five year project that began this October). I cut it short only because we did need to catch a train some time that day.
Not only are the altarpiece and the cathedral building itself awe-inspiring, so are the wall paintings, the windows, the organ, the oak and marble pulpit, the illuminated manuscripts, and the 12th century frescoes in the crypt…
Despite all the “no camera” signage, I snuck one photo of some newer stained glass:
Spooky me
More of Ghent at night
Ghent illuminated
(DAY 6)
The city of Ghent has won awards for its light plan which illuminates its historic buildings and monuments creating a walking tour that takes a couple hours. We wandered some of it, but didn’t stick strictly to the lights. If you can believe it, I think we ended up in a bar…
Mussels and beer
(DAY 6)
So, yes. Despite choosing Ghent over other cities because of its vegetarian options, Eric decided he couldn’t wait any longer to try mussels. I had a yummy kirr with my fresh pasta and pesto– it was one of the more delicious pastas I had in Belgium.
