Something to Declare

Upcoming Vacances/Vakantie for Stef and Stan

October 10, 2025

(Apologies to Stan Margulies and Mel Stuart, Producer and Director of “If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium,” 1969.)

Why Belgium? Many have asked! Here’s why:

We wanted a good place for culture, food, history, sight-seeing, and one with fast/easy train connections to other destinations. And where we could drink the water. We came up with Belgium, using Brussels as our “base of operations.” Brussels also satisfied my penchant for places where there’s a melding of cultures and language (French/Flemish).

To quote our travel guru, Rick Steves:

“Belgium falls through the cracks. Wedged between Germany, France and the Netherlands, and famous for waffles, Smurfs, and a statue of a little boy peeing, it’s no wonder that it can get lost in the mix.”

So here are our top official reasons for choosing Belgium.

First, Belgium has been described as the “Crossroads of Western Europe,” where the Protestant North met the Catholic South, where Germanic languages met the Romance languages. The result is a cosmopolitan richness (45% of the population of Brussels were born somewhere else) that is hard to match.

Second, Belgium’s location in Europe set it up as a commercial center. From the Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, and into the Enlightenment and beyond, lots of stuff was sold, and a lot of money was made, in the big trading cities (Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp). And much of that money was put into incredibly beautiful buildings and public spaces. So “charming” is an understatement (none of the photos in this post are mine):

Third, Belgium’s location also put it in the stew pot of clashes between great political powers: Think Courtrai (the Flemish v. the French, in 1302); Waterloo (Napoleon v. um….well….almost everybody else in Europe, in 1815); Ypres, a/k/a/ Flanders Fields) (World War I, in 1914); the Battle of the Bulge (World War II, in 1944-1945).

Fourth, Belgium is the “capital” of Europe, the administrative hub of the European Union and NATO.

Fifth, think of the famous Belgians (clockwise, below, from upper left), like the tennis star Kim Clijsters (who won the U.S. Open in 2005, 2009, and 2010); the painter Peter Paul Rubens (who made zaftig into an art form); the martial arts movie star Jean-Claude van Damme (“the Muscles from Brussels”); the singer Jacques Brel (who – quel dommage! – is no longer alive and well and living in Paris); the musician Adolfe Sax (who blended brass and reeds to invent the saxophone); and the actress Audrey Hepburn (“Breakfast at Tiffany’s”). Bet you didn’t know!

Not to mention the fictional Belgians, like Tintin; Hercule Poirot (Agatha Christie’s detective); and the Smurfs:

Sixth, the cuisine includes many of my favorite food groups: Beer, Belgian Waffles, Moules-Frites, and Chocolate:

Who could resist such a cornucopia of travel enchantment, non? (Or neen?, as the case may be.)

We leave Tuesday, October 14, for our Airbnb in Brussels. Looking forward to day trips by train to Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, and other spots. Stay tuned!