{"id":261,"date":"2008-02-16T22:36:11","date_gmt":"2008-02-16T12:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/wordpress\/belgium\/10-great-reasons-to-visit-belgium"},"modified":"2008-02-16T22:36:11","modified_gmt":"2008-02-16T12:36:11","slug":"10-great-reasons-to-visit-belgium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/wordpress\/belgium\/10-great-reasons-to-visit-belgium","title":{"rendered":"10 Great Reasons to visit Belgium"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"float: right\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\r\ngoogle_ad_client = \"pub-1009507070974015\";\r\ngoogle_alternate_ad_url = \"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/google_adsense_script.html\";\r\ngoogle_ad_width = 300;\r\ngoogle_ad_height = 250;\r\ngoogle_ad_format = \"300x250_as\";\r\ngoogle_ad_type = \"text_image\";\r\n\/\/2007-06-30: TSBlog 300x250\r\ngoogle_ad_channel = \"2928184950\";\r\ngoogle_color_border = \"FFFFFF\";\r\ngoogle_color_bg = \"FFFFFF\";\r\ngoogle_color_link = \"FF6600\";\r\ngoogle_color_text = \"000000\";\r\ngoogle_color_url = \"339933\";\r\n\/\/-->\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"\r\n  src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\r\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p>1.\u00a0 Chocolates &#8211; This country takes its chocolates very seriously, with Chocolate Festivals, Chocolate Museum and lots of other chocolate events to keep you sweetly entertained.<\/p>\n<p>2.\u00a0 <a title=\"Belgian food\" href=\"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/Brussels\/brussels-food.php\">Moules et Frites <\/a>&#8211; Mussels or moules are the national dish of Belgium and are in season from September to February. <em>Moules et Frites<\/em> is one of my favourite foods and we&#8217;ve had many pots of delectable mussels at Leon de Bruxelles on the Champs Elys\u00e9es\u00a0in Paris.\u00a0 This is a definite goer for me.<\/p>\n<p>3.\u00a0 Beer &#8211; Belgium is one of the beer capitals in the world, producing more than 400 varieties, including Gambrinus, one of Tony&#8217;s favourites. Bars in Belgium often have a separate menu just for their beers.\u00a0 Beer goes well with <em>Moules et frites<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>4.\u00a0 Rich history and amazing architecture &#8211; Going back to the times of the Ancient Celts, Belgium&#8217;s history is very complex and its\u00a0modern history is equally interesting.\u00a0 In 1977 the country was divided into three administrative regions:\u00a0 Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels, with more autonomy given to the local regions.\u00a0 Brussels owns the distinction of being &#8216;capital&#8217; of Europe and headquarters for the EC and NATO.<\/p>\n<p>5.\u00a0 <a title=\"Europe River Cruising\" href=\"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/travelinfo\/rivercruises.php\">River Cruising <\/a>&#8211; Belgium&#8217;s waterways offer great opportunities for enjoying a river cruise.\u00a0 River cruises are a great way for\u00a0seeing the sights\u00a0of the great historic cities, as well as exploring the rustic countryside.<br \/>\n&#8211; the Lys (Leie) provides easy access to the beautiful cities of Bruges and Ghent<br \/>\n&#8211; the Escaut River (Schelde) brings you to Tournai, Bossuit and Ghent or near the coast<br \/>\n&#8211;\u00a0the Meuse (Maas) and Sambre in the south will take you to\u00a0Namur and Liege , and<br \/>\n&#8211; the Willebroek-Charleroi Canals let you experience the Boatlift (lock-gate) of Ronqui\u00e8re<\/p>\n<p>6.\u00a0 Great Festivals and Carnivals &#8211; from the medieval Ghent festival, Bruges&#8217; Procession of the Holy Blood to Carnival de Binche, etc.<\/p>\n<p>7.\u00a0 Opera &#8211; Belgium has a great and <em>&#8216;exciting&#8217;<\/em> opera tradition.\u00a0\u00a0 Apparently following the performance of a stage rebellion of \u201cLa Muette de Portici\u201d the spectators were so incited that they rushed out of the theater to the neighboring Royal Park and\u00a0started the revolution that led to the separation of the Belgians from the Dutch, and the independence of the country.\u00a0 That&#8217;s one amazing opera performance!<\/p>\n<p>8.\u00a0 Christmas Markets &#8211; Belgium has a great tradition of Christmas markets and many towns and villages throughout Belgium hold these markets.<\/p>\n<p>9. Languages &#8211; Practice your French, Dutch, or German in this one country.<\/p>\n<p>10. The entertainment calendar is huge, but if you&#8217;re not into jazz, pubs, nightlife, etc., you could always go for more chocolates &#8230;.<\/p>\n<p>Helen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1.\u00a0 Chocolates &#8211; This country takes its chocolates very seriously, with Chocolate Festivals, Chocolate Museum and lots of other chocolate events to keep you sweetly entertained. 2.\u00a0 Moules et Frites &#8211; Mussels or moules are the national dish of Belgium and are in season from September to February. Moules et Frites is one of my [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[232,240,241,2370,491,1421,1627],"class_list":["post-261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-belgium","tag-beer-festivals","tag-belgian-chocolates","tag-belgian-events","tag-belgium","tag-christmas-markets","tag-opera","tag-river-cruising"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - 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