In my last post, Finding the Words in Brussels, Geoff commented that “I find it sad that it’s quite rare that one of the many languages spoken is Dutch”, and while I won’t touch the political issues around the French and Dutch populations in Belgium (the Flemish community has quite a bite of political autonomy, but there is naturally many grievances on both sides), I will suggest a quick day trip that will take you out of the mainly French Brussels and into the highly Flemish (Dutch) town of Ghent. It’s a quick train ride from the city (start at the Midi train station) and you’ll soon find a lovely town with historic buildings and a winding waterway. If you’re traveling during July there is a good chance you can visit during the Gentse Feesten (Ghent Festival) as we did.
The entire town is dedicated to the event and if the beautiful town wasn’t enough of an attraction, you can enjoy live music, beer gardens, costumed folk and puppet shows.
The man below was very excited about the song they were playing, which I personally couldn’t recognize. It was amazing though to see everyone mouthing the words as they munched on street food or sipped beers.
If there is any doubt, the signs will tell you, Delirium Tremens is the best beer in the world. I’ve had this beer before in a bottle in the US, but I have to say that the draught version in Belgium seriously was the best beer I had ever had. I was quite pleased that I am not alone in this sentiment.
On the picture below you can see the narrow buildings that are popular in Belgium (look at the buildings on the left). When inside, the buildings stretch far into the back, giving a very narrow but long floor plan. I was told this was due to taxes on the length of the facade, so it didn’t take long before people found a cheap workaround.
Frites! Gimme Frites! I will say that the idea of mayo on my fries was a little unnerving. Besides straight mayo, there are usually 20 or so other mayo-based toppings like Samurai (spicy) or Curry (still has mayo in it).
For the most part, everyone just ordered their Frites with straight Mayo and drank a beer on the street from shop next door. (We were wimps and got ours plain with ketchup on the side).
The festival ran this year from July 19 - 28th and you can check out the official site here. Everything is free, so the 8 Euro round trip train ticket is a small price to pay for a full day of events. Be sure to check out the tourist desk in town and pick up an event schedule. Oh and get some Frites and Delirium Tremens. You have your orders!
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:52 pm
“It was amazing though to see everyone mouthing the words”…that is one thing that I love about Europeans - they love to sing…and they all do sing!! They all know the words, and they all sing. Here on the west coast of North America (and here in Canada in particular), we don’t sing. We don’t have a collective song book that we can draw from and spontaneously break out into song. The east coast has a bit of that - but Europe definitely has it. Joyous, spontaneous, collective music for the soul.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Mayo on fries? I never really believe that, until now. I won’t let this influence my decision to visit Europe.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 12:33 am
Mayo on fries.. yuuummmmm! It’s a great combination!
In Brazil it can be quite common too.
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:04 am
Seeing as it was the Belgians who invented fries in the first place, I’d trust their judgement on what to eat with it. Belgian Fries + Mayo = Mmmmmmmm.
Geoffs last blog post..No swimming
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:45 am
Going back to my younger years where I served as a measly pleb at this North American icon called McDonalds - mayo with fries was actually pretty common! If you feel really adventurous you can even mix the ketchup with the mayo. Did I just gross everyone out?
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