We provide travel information about Belgium; including recommendations on lodgings, restaurants, activities, and local attractions.

Places to see

 the Etang des Enfants Noyés, just outside of Brussels, in an idyllic surrounding, fragrant with the scent of flowers and trees, and of verdant meadows. Here and there, an affluent mansion would play hide-and-seek with the passer-by's eyes, as he walked among the copses and flowerbed mounds. In the reflected sunlight, one would be blinded to the sight of birds and squirrels skittering in the bushes, but one could hear their squabbling and try to locate them from their constant chirping. There were footpaths through the woods, there were fresh running brooks, there was green, slippery moss, and there was happiness.

The Etang is bordered by wide, tree-lined avenues with double causeways, but the rumble of traffic is muted by overgrown rhododendrons, wild roses and oleanders. The street-car tracks there are on the side, no longer corseted in teeth-rattling cobbles but soft, smooth and silently whispering on the wet brown earth. The pond is long, but not too wide, in part covered by vegetation, but otherwise wondrously clear. Its waters barely move among the roots of willows drinking from its shores.  Under the watchful eyes of their mothers or nannies, children would play with wands and hoops, rattles, kites, scooters, tethered balls, croquet mallets, and ridiculously little fishing rods, or set tiny sailboats afloat on the water, sometimes loudly to cry when they saw their toys hopelessly entangled among the waterlilies. On the far shore, a few gulls, vacationing from the North Sea, might stare, swoop and peck at invisible worms in the grass. Graceful white swans, swaggering ducks and funny little water hens, often with a small family in tow, would glide nearby, barely ruffling the mirror-like surface. Seldom would concentric circles betray the presence of a bass, carp or dragon-fly, and more rarely still a finned predator's sudden lunge at its winged prey skimming it. 

What to do

Activities include: Hiking, cycling, sightseeing

Where to stay & eat (name of establishment, directions, town, phone number, fax number)

clean rooms, daily or weekly maid service, within walking distance of town:

La Ferme Bekaert, 75 kms from Brussels, restaurant with rooms, pl. F. Moinnil, Andenne, close to the Meuse River Ph. +32 85 82 68 61 fax 82 50 81. All cards. Closed first week of February and last week of August. BEF 4000.

Lijsterbes Restaurant, Donklaan 155, Uitbergen, Berlare, close to the Etangs de Donkmeer Ph.+32 367 52 82 29 fax 367 85 50 (Crème renversée au sirop d'Angélique, Carpaccio de langoustines aux poireaux).

Le Feuillantin, 161 kms from Brussels, rue au Dessus de la Ville, 23, Bouillon (View of Town and Keep, boating on Semois River) ph. +32 61 46 62 93 fax 46 80 74 BEF 5000

Relais Oud Huis Amsterdam (17th Century abode, formerly a Dutch commercial brokerage house, close to canals and Ancien Béguinage)96 kms from Brussels, Spiegelrei 3, Bruges Ph. +32 50 34 18 10 fax 33 88 91 (no restaurant) BEF 6000

De Karmeliet Restaurant (named after the Carmelite nuns), 96 kms from Brussels, Langestraat 19, Bruges (close to canals)(Chartreuse de Maquereau, Gelée de Crustacés, escalope de foie gras sur pommes de terre à la truffe) Ph. +32 50 33 82 59 fax 33 10 11 BEF 6500

Chez Edgar et Madeleine, (restaurant) 110 kms from Brussels, rue du Lac 36, Chimay (facing Etang de Virelles) Ph +32 60 21 10 71. BEF 2000.

Chateau du Mylord, (restaurant) rue St. Mortier, 35, Ellezelles 55 km from Brussels (Gentleman's Retreat in Park Ph +32 68 54 26 02 Fax 54 29 33 ( Marinière de Bar et langoustines au caviar. Homard au four à l'ail doux. Agneau au romarin) All cards. BEF 8000.

Hostellerie du Prieuré de Conques, route de Florenville, 176, Herbeumont (Park and orchard on the shore of the Semois river) Brussels 170 kms Ph +32 61 41 14 17 fax 41 27 03 BEF 10000