| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 08/05/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 50 |
| Copyright: Other |
Attractions round-up
Regions offer tasty mix of history and culture
Belgium may be small but there’s something for everyone
For gourmetsBrussels has a gastronomic reputation to match that of Paris, however, the city is also home to a delicious speciality available at a fraction of the price you would pay at home – chocolate.
First stop for chocolate lovers should be Wittamer in the place du Grand Sablon, established in 1910. Recognised as one of the finest patisseries in northern Europe, with 75 different hand-crafted chocolates to choose from, prices here are at the top end of the scale, although budget shoppers would be advised to splash out.
Armed with Travelscene’s excellent Chocolate Lovers Guide, you can gorge yourself around the clock. It’s said the cocktail bar at the Hotel Metropole mixes the best brandy alexander in Brussels which will set you up for the metro ride to the Atomium, which boasts a museum and great views over the city. You’re here for the unlimited self-service dessert selection in the top floor restaurant. Bon appetit.
Sample product: Travelscene Cities offers two nights bed and breakfast at the five-star Melia Brussels, within walking distance of Wittamer’s, for £196 per person. The price includes travel on Eurostar and the services of a local representative. The Chocolate Lover’s Guide to Brussels is free.
Chocolate heaven: if you are a chocolate lover, thenBelgium is the place to satisfy your cravings
Flanders: many World War I battles were fought here
For history buffs
Flanders was the backdrop for many World War I conflicts. The area around Ypres, in the west of the region, witnessed four years of fighting and reminders are everywhere.
Very little of the town itself survived the bombardment but it has since been rebuilt, complete with mock medieval cathedral and cloth hall.
The Salient Museum and the St George’s English Memorial Church serve as sobering reminders of the conflict, although the most eerily powerful memorial is the sounding of the Last Post each evening at 8pm by the Menin Gate.
Sample product: Leger Holidays operates a four-day In Flanders Field coach tour based at the Holiday Inn Garden Court at Tournai. Prices start at £139 per person. Two full-day excursions visit Ypres, Tyne Cot and Passchendaele before crossing the borderinto France for the site of the Somme. Theholiday is escorted by a specialist battlefields guide.
For gourmets
Brussels has a gastronomic reputation to match that of Paris, however, the city is also home to a delicious speciality available at a fraction of the price you would pay at home – chocolate.
First stop for chocolate lovers should be Wittamer in the place du Grand Sablon, established in 1910. Recognised as one of the finest patisseries in northern Europe, with 75 different hand-crafted chocolates to choose from, prices here are at the top end of the scale, although budget shoppers would be advised to splash out.
Armed with Travelscene’s excellent Chocolate Lovers Guide, you can gorge yourself around the clock. It’s said the cocktail bar at the Hotel Metropole mixes the best brandy alexander in Brussels which will set you up for the metro ride to the Atomium, which boasts a museum and great views over the city. You’re here for the unlimited self-service dessert selection in the top floor restaurant. Bon appetit.
Sample product: Travelscene Cities offers two nights bed and breakfast at the five-star Melia Brussels, within walking distance of Wittamer’s, for £196 per person. The price includes travel on Eurostar and the services of a local representative. The Chocolate Lover’s Guide to Brussels is free.
For families
The dramatic countryside of the Ardennes provides enough activities to keep the most active of families happy. The thickly forested Our the Valley is the perfect spot for hiking but there is much more to this area than walking tours. Canoeing, white-water rafting, horseriding, rock climbing and fishing are all on hand, with a golf course and riverside beach nearby for a spot of relaxation.
Keycamps Holiday features a site here with a children’s club three days a week, leaving adults free to explore the historical towns of La Roche and Dinant. If the children insist on coming along, they will enjoy Dinant’s rickety cable car and the Grotte La Merveilleuse caves.
Sample product: prices at Keycamp Holidays Camping La Petite Suisse site in May start at £225 per family of two adults and up to four children. This includes five nights’ mobile-home accommodation and return Dover-Ostend Seacat crossings. Dochamps is just over 150 miles from Ostend.
Happy families: the Ardennes offers an ideal base for hiking
For culture vultures
Belgium’s second city Antwerp is a lively and likeable place. Its impressive selection of churches and museums are a legacy of its past role as the centre of a wide trading empire.
The city was home to 17th-century Baroque painter Pieter Paul Rubens and his statue stands in the Groenplaats. His best works can be seen at the Museum voor Schone Kunsten, which also houses paintings by van Eyck and Frans Hals.
Other must-sees are the Onze Lieve Vrouwe Cathedral, the city centre’s Grote Markt, with its restored guild houses and St Jacobskerk, where Rubens and his family are buried.
There’s plenty to do here in the evenings too, with a lively theatre scene and many bars and restaurants. Further afield, Brussels and Bruges are both within 45mins by train.
Sample product:two nights at the three-star, city-centre Hotel Eden with Crystal Cities costs £195 per person until 30 June. This includes travel on Eurostar to Brussels, connecting train to Antwerp, city tour and entry to Rubenshuis.
Rubens’ house: Antwerp was the home of the famous 17th-century Baroque painter