Ciwan wrote:Nice, I shall visit Ghent, Brugge, Bruxelles, Antwerp and Heelst. Are there Wifi Hotspots in those cities too ? Also French fries and freshly made chocolate ?

Yep. Loads.
In Brugge, you could try the Chocolate Line. Expensive, but extraordinary:
http://www.thechocolateline.be/

I prefer family run businesses, not chains ... Etc

Am I right in thinking there are fresh chocolate shops all over Belgium (all cities I mentioned) ?

It's not a chain. They just happen to have opened another shop in Antwerp.
Yes, there are shops in all of those cities. A lot of them are chains, like Leonidas, for example, or Moeder Babelutte.
The Chocolate Line is different.

Ciwan wrote:Nice, I shall visit Ghent, Brugge, Bruxelles, Antwerp and Heelst.

You mean Hasselt? There's not so much to see there, apart from the jenever museum
Leuven is also nice.

Ciwan wrote:Are there Wifi Hotspots in those cities too ?

Of course.

Ciwan wrote:Also French fries and freshly made chocolate ?

Absolutely! And lots of beer
If you like, I can google a bit and make a list of chocolate shops.

Nice !!! Yep Hasselt, sorry

I want to see the Japanese Garden there. I've never seen a Japanese Garden before, and the pics look awesome

Ok, I'll give the Choc Line ago. How much does chocolate cost from there ?

The absolute best chocolates are made by Sweertvaegher (literally 'Swordwiper'). They're not that well known so you probably won't hear this from anyone else (and it won't be overrun by tourists), but trust me on this.

They have a shop in Bruges and one in Kortrijk. There may be one in Antwerp as well, I'm not sure. The one in Bruges is just off the market square right in the middle of town. Just take the street leading east off the northeastern corner of the square (Philip Stockstraat) and you'll find it after about 500m on your left.

Sgt Kelly wrote:As long as you stick to the centre of town, i.e. inside the inner ring road (the area has the shape of a pentagon and is known as such), you'll be fine.

If you do wander further afield - especially west and north - you have to keep your wits about you, regardless of attire.

I dunno... never had any trouble walking through Schaerbeek, Evere and up towards Vilvoorde.
It's a nice walk. I usually start walking from either Noord or Bordet depending on my mood and how "strong my legs feel" (read "how lazy I am") that day.

Sure... mostly immigrants. But people are generally nice and polite. No matter my attire. And during winter I can easily be mistaken for a skin, those flight-jackets ARE comfy warm and doesn't hinder your movement.
I think it has a lot to do with the attitude you have. Don't look scared and don't look threatening. Just be you, and act like a normal human being.

I WOULD be apprehensive about Anderlecht though, but that might be because I never had any reason to do any walk-about there.

Btw... I might possibly be in Denmark at the time in the OP. Family parties and my parents have rented a vacation house on my favorite island. Sorry.

Ciwan wrote:Howdy Friends

Is anyone from Belgium here ? I'm visiting in June, and would like some intelligent company down at the pub over a beer. Will be staying with family there, but also want to chat with some locals of Bruxelles (Brussels), see what their thoughts are ... etc

Also would it be OK to walk around Bruxelles with some of my Atheist T-Shirts ? I hear Bruxelles has a large Muslim population, and I'm not sure who's side the authorities are on when it comes to freedom of expression.

Thank You.

Ciwan

You can wear your Atheist T-Shirts without problem. The authorities really are the least of your concern, as far as I've noticed they take no sides in that matter (or was it because they took my side???)

The_Metatron wrote:Cash? Proton, baby.

Proton will disappear in Belgium next year (or was it the year after ).

Sgt Kelly wrote:As long as you stick to the centre of town, i.e. inside the inner ring road (the area has the shape of a pentagon and is known as such), you'll be fine.

If you do wander further afield - especially west and north - you have to keep your wits about you, regardless of attire.

Yes, that would indeed be good advice ... when "it is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue."

Ciwan wrote:Nice, I shall visit Ghent, Brugge, Bruxelles, Antwerp and Heelst. Are there Wifi Hotspots in those cities too ? Also French fries and freshly made chocolate ?

Fries (I hate the word french fries) are omnipresent in Belgium ... whenever you find two houses, a church and a pub in close proximity of each other; you're bound to find at least one "frietkot".
(frietkot: literal translation = fries shack, you'll see what it means from the images in the google search)
For example: in the town I live in (15k inhabitants) I can count over 7 frietkotten (= plural form of frietkot) form of from the top of my head.

side note: with each frietkot your mileage (read: quality) may vary. It's almost a national sport in Belgium when you move into a new neighborhood one of the first things you do is find all the local frietkotten and test them all out (not all at once of course) to see which one you like the best.


I have no idea what you mean with fresh chocolate ... but it sure rains a lot here

GapWim wrote:For example: in the town I live in (15k inhabitants) I can count over 7 frietkotten (= plural form of frietkot) form of from the top of my head.

They seem to be disappearing, though, and most don't even cut their own chips any longer. They just get bags of deep-frozen fries.

Here, we call them friteries.

Galettes.....you must try them..nom nom nom!

stijndeloose wrote:

GapWim wrote:For example: in the town I live in (15k inhabitants) I can count over 7 frietkotten (= plural form of frietkot) form of from the top of my head.

They seem to be disappearing, though, and most don't even cut their own chips any longer. They just get bags of deep-frozen fries.

Then you just look till you find a Frituur that does cut them themselves.
The one I use is not the closest, but they do make their own fritjes.
They COULD do more about their burgers, but you can't have everything.

campermon wrote:Galettes.....you must try them..nom nom nom!

The baker at our local saturday morning market knows us, and when I buy a half kilo of macaroons for the boys, he always puts in two galettes for them. This guy makes macaroons that are the best I have known.

Globe wrote:
Then you just look till you find a Frituur that does cut them themselves.
The one I use is not the closest, but they do make their own fritjes.
They COULD do more about their burgers, but you can't have everything.

Hamburgers are a fairly recent addition to the frietkot menu. I suppose they have to compete with the kebab shops and the fast food joints nowadays. They're always deepfrozen crap, usually the mystifyingly popular 'Bicky burger' .

Globe wrote:Then you just look till you find a Frituur that does cut them themselves.
The one I use is not the closest, but they do make their own fritjes.
They COULD do more about their burgers, but you can't have everything.

Yeah, I know they still exist, but they're increasingly hard to find. I'll pass on the burgers (be it bicky or otherwise), but I don't mind a zigeunerstick.

Proud to say I never tried a Bicky.
Something THAT advertised has to be crap.

Actually I never get anything but fritjes from the Frituur. DH likes to get a Cervlat or... a zigeunerstick though.
But I'll stick with the fritjes and some kop from the charcuterie.

You haven't tried any kop until you've tried ours. Hell, my municipality's escutcheon's clear enough: