Belgium - between modern and medieval

Belgium is located between the Netherlands in the north, Germany and Luxembourg in the east and France in the south. It is a very small country but still has three official languages: French, Flemish (Dutch) and a small part of the east speaks German. Belgium is ideal for a trip by motorhome. There are countless campsites by the North Sea that are ideal for day trips inland when you've had enough of the sea and the beach.

When traveling to Belgium, you should of course not miss the capital, Brussels. Brussels is a city of one million people, the capital of Belgium, the headquarters of NATO and the seat of the European Union. The Bruxellois are cultured and elegant - and yet you can feel a mischievous glamor and joie de vivre, as their love for comic strips and the symbol of their city shows - their beloved Manneken Pis. This is a small bronze sculpture in Brussels that shows a naked little boy urinating in the basin of a fountain, and has been for 400 years. Brussels is an interesting contrast between ultra-modern architecture with the buildings of the NATO headquarters and the seat of the European Union and the medieval architecture of the Grand Place with its town houses in the city center.

But 600 years ago Brussels was just a nice place on the way to Bruges, where you stopped to buy a waffle, because Bruges, or Brugge as the locals call it, was the most important city in Flanders. Bruges is often called the Venice of the North with its dreamy canals that are home to many swans. Where else can you bike down a canal, eat mussels and wash them down with one of the best beers in the world, enjoy heavenly chocolate and see a Michelangelo within 300 meters of a bell tower that rings every 15 minutes?