Posts Tagged “Belgium”
‘A Dog of Flanders’ is a novel by English-French author Marie Louise de la Ramée and was published under her pseudonym “Ouida” in 1872. It is about a Flemish boy named Nello and his dog Patrasche, and is set in Antwerp, where there are numerous reminders of this popular literary work. I confess that I…
Antwerp is the capital of the Belgian province of Flanders. It is one of the most populous cities in Belgium, although the old city centre gives the impression of a much smaller and more intimate town. It is about 40 kilometres north of Brussels, and only 15 kilometres from the border with The Netherlands. The…
9 December 2019 – Tevuren – near Brussels. Originally inaugurated for the Brussels International Exhibition of 1897, Charles Girault, architect of the Petit Palais in Paris was called upon to design the Africa Museum , completed in 1910. In 2013, the Museum closed for an extensive renovation and rebuild. Some 5 years later, the building…
Pieter Bruegel produced unique works which are still easily recognised today. They reflect the reality of the 16th Century in northern Europe – and that was often brutal. Brussels and Bruegel will forever be associated. He undertook some of his most important works there and he is buried in the city. He had needed to…
OK, I had not heard of Lambic and that’s mainly because I am not a big beer drinker, but this was something of a revelation …and a delicious one. Lambic is a style of beer brewed mainly in the Pajottenland region of Belgium. These beers include gueuze and kriek lambic, which are both striking and…
Gaasbeek Castle for a Feast of Fools: Bruegel Rediscovered 6 April 2019 – 28 July 2019 Gaasbeek Castle isn’t far from the thronging city of Brussels, but it is a million miles away with its calming ambiance and leafy location. It’s a former stately home of charm and architectural beauty, and serves as a venue…
Goossens Farm with Malting Brewery Lambic Brewery Heritage Lambic beer is a typical wild yeast beer, brewed in the southwest region of Brussels (Pajottenland). It forms the basis for geuze (a blend of lambic of 3 different ages) and for kriek lambic, a cherry beer. This farm with malting brewery was one of the many…
Beer has changed its image over the last decade. It was once the chosen beverage of older folks who had their favourite brew and they stuck to it. Then there were the beer anoraks who viewed with professional disdain anything that was widely popular with the general public or not brewed in a barn. Good…
Antwerp is often overlooked, visitors to north-west Europe gravitating to its more celebrated cousins of Paris and Amsterdam. It is, however, a treasure-trove of history, classic Flemish architecture and art, and all in a relatively small area; Antwerp is an ideal walking city. It was, for much of his life, the home of Peter Paul…
It’s so near, but almost totally overlooked from the culinary perspective. Belgium is one of our closest neighbours but is overshadowed by the gastronomic giant (the French believe their own publicity) next door. Let’s think logically. We wax lyrical about French food and will go to the extent of crossing the Channel just for lunch…