Unplanned trips can be the most fun. Two years ago I went to visit my sister who lives in Gothenburg, Sweden. With me I brought my passport and a small suitcase with toiletries and clothes. My sister and I both knew we wanted to go somewhere, but we hadn't planned anything and we didn't have much money. When I arrived to Gothenburg we sat down at the kitchen table and started to search for places to go. Since we didn't have a huge budget we decided to go where the cheapest plain ticket took us. We found youth tickets to Belgium, a place none of us had been. We booked the tickets and the first night at a hotel and the next day we were off.
We started with one night in Brüssel, experienced the busy night life. We stayed at a cheap hotel on what I assume was the "party street" in Brüssel. The hotel was decorated like it was straight out of the 1800s (but what could we expect when the hotel was called Hotel Mozart).
The next day we were off to Bruges, a short train-ride from Brüssel. This was a city filled with history and old architecture. Walking around on the cobblestone and enjoying the history the city was telling was enough for us to fall in love with this city. Here are some photos taken from wandering around the streets of Bruges.
There were markets along the streets filled with antiques mirroring the atmosphere of the city.
Buying some (or a lot) of chocolate is of course mandatory when visiting Belgium.
We also went to the beach one day. This is only a train ride away. We went to Oostende and spent a day there. This is one of the great things with traveling through Europe, the distances are short and the transit options are many and good.
Belgium is definitively a place I recommend. There is everything from busy city life to small historic cities to beach life. I have visited many beautiful and cool places in Europe and will share with you pictures of these travels. Travelling is something I love to do, but for now I have it on hold for a while. For the moment we are saving for a down payment for an apartment. As soon as this is done I will share with you all the future travels as well.
Some of these pictures are also posted on my instagram account :)