I just arrived in my Brussels hotel and everything so far looks really great here. Brussels is both the capital city of Belgium and home to some of the most important political institutions of the European Union. The European Commission and Council of the European Union are headquartered in Brussels. It's also the political seat of NATO. Yet this is far from a colorless city of bureaucrats in suits. Brussels has an extensive park system and boasts a comprehensive bus and tram network. With the majority of the main sights in walking distance from my hotel in Brussel this will be a great city to explore. A real favourite of mine, every time I go I always seem to find somewhere new, whatever hotel in Brussel I'm staying at!
A visit to Brussels should see you enter into a very enjoyable city that is also the capital of Belgium and which has in its center a place known as the Petit Ring that is surrounded by fourteenth century walls and which is cut up into three distinct districts with the Lower Town in the western part of the city that caters to the middle and lower class families, while in the eastern part you will find the Upper Town that hosts the upper class Belgian families. In between these two districts is a boulevard where you will find many venues for shopping as also bars, restaurants and cafes.
Ofcourse there are also other very interesting cities in Belgium, the Netherlands and Europe, for example Amsterdam, which I will describe in Dutch, since it's the Dutch capital. Net als tal van andere grote Europese steden staat Amsterdam bekend om een aantal authentieke wijken. Indien je daarvan houdt, zorg er dan voor dat je hotel in Amsterdam in één van deze buurten ligt, geeft altijd net dat tikkeltje extra aan je citytrip. De drie meest aan te bevelen wijken van Amsterdam zijn de Jordaan, de Pijp en het Centrum. Een van de belangrijkste toeristische trekpleister van Amsterdam zijn de, veel bezongen, grachten. Logeren in een van de Amsterdam hotels in de buurt hiervan, is ook altijd een voltreffer! Met jaarlijks meer dan 3 miljoen bezoekers was een rondvaart door de grachten in 2007 de populairste dagattractie van Nederland. In de 17e eeuw begon men met het graven van drie grote grachten; de Prinsengracht, de Herengracht en de Keizersgracht. Deze grachten liggen als een half spinnenweb rond de stad. In totaal hebben alle grachten een gezamenlijke lengte van ruim 100 kilometer. Het is een bijzondere ervaring om in een bootje door de grachten te varen, je ziet Amsterdam van een heel andere kant!
Another very interesting city in Belgium is Antwerp. Luckily the hotel Antwerpen where I was staying was only a stone's throw away from the Grand Market. The present town hall of 1564 shows that it has been built by a city at the height of its power and wealth. The style of the building is obviously Renaissance (the superposition of Dorian and Ionic colons), but the middle section still clearly resembles the towers of the many Gothic Flemish and Brabantine town halls. The 45 doors in the ground floor were built to house little shops. The rent that the shop-keepers had to pay was used to help finance the construction of the prestigious building. You can find many more information about this in the flyers or folders at the reception of your Antwerp hotels.