Belgium-Spain 2025

7 May 2025

Departure from Orlando via Boston & Amsterdam to arrive Brussels, Belgium 9:30am 8 May.

Our first train ride to Mons where we lived from 1976-1979.

Our host at our Airbnb in Mons not only picked us up from the train station and took us for groceries, but researched the exact busline to take to see the old homestead.  It was more emotional than I had thought it would be.

We really enjoyed being in the Grand Place.  The restaurants & people were so nice.

This was one of the streets to the Grand Place.

Some of our best frites (French fries) were in the restaurant across from the train station.

Sadly, we had to leave Mons on 11 May.  Our train ride to Dinant was a very short 1 hr and our apartment only a 3 min walk.

This was our view every day.  Dinant is the most beautiful sometimes overlooked small city in Belgium.  It sits in the Ardennes where people love to hike.  We walked daily over the bridge only minutes from our Airbnb.

Ron and I rented a boat to ride the Meuse and I celebrated Mother's Day.

Below is a picture of the famous cookies of Dinant.  Sadly, I learned many of the shops have closed.  We have some shellacked in FL because it was a "must have" souvenir.  The Jacob store is one of the oldest in Dinant.

Leaving Dinant was difficult because it was so quaint.  Another train ride on 13 May took us to Liege.

Again, we had a beautiful view.  However, our 3 day tram ticket was not able to be used because there was a bus and tram strike during our stay.  We just walked our local area and enjoyed what we could.  This is also the Meuse which extends into the North Sea.  We saw barges and tour boats all the time.

waffles are popular in Liege but differ from the Belgian waffles we were familiar with when we lived in Belgium.  Liege waffles are crispy on outside and often have them stuffed with chocolate pieces.  The Belgian waffles we are familiar with is more like pancake batter so is soft and spongy.

So, on 15 May we departed again by train to Ghent.  A 20 min tram ride and we arrived at our 4th Airbnb which was only 15 min from the old town.

Ghent stole our hearts.  There were multiple Grand Places for food and shopping and let's not forget the chocolate!!!!!!  

Another tour on the Meuse through Ghent and a few trips to or local bakery made this a "must visit again".

17 May we had a short 1 hr train ride to the Brussels airport for our flight to Madrid, Spain to visit for a full 8 days with our son and his family.  The flight was full and the had to check out carry-on bags but we picked them up with no problem and were in the taxi to their apartment within minutes.

The view from our balcony.