Going abroad... to go to the beach

Last weekend, my husband and I decided, on the spur of the moment, to ditch our plans for Saturday and drive to the beach instead. The day was already shaping up to be warm and sunny, and after the long, cold spring we were more than ready for some summer weather. Our friends were already on their way, and the thought of them lying on the sand soaking up the rays without us, or worse yet—enjoying a cold sangria on the beach without us—was too much to bear. We loaded up the car with towels, sunscreen and the dog, and we hit the road.

The radio was full of dire warnings about the terrible traffic on major highways heading towards the Belgian coast. Traffic jams going to and from the beach towns are inevitable on summer weekends, especially when the weather is good. Personally, I have no desire to sit in traffic for 3-4 hours, even if there's an ocean view and a sea breeze at the end of it. What makes this prospect even less appealing is the knowledge that you'll end up at the Belgian coast.

Belgium has just 30 kilometers of coastline fronting the North Sea. The towns along the coast—Nieuwpoort, Koksijde, Oostende, Blankenberge—are historic beach resorts with lovely city centers, nice restaurants, museums and casinos. The beaches themselves are beautiful, with wide expanses of white sand and panoramic ocean views... except they are backed by row after row of high-rise hotels and apartment blocks. The Belgian coast is one of the worst examples of real estate development unfettered by government regulation, and of natural beauty spoiled by human intervention.

The Belgian coast

We avoided the traffic jams and the depressing sight of all those concrete towers by heading further east, towards the coastal area of the Netherlands called Zeeland (literally “Sea-land”). Zeeland, unlike the Belgian coast, is completely devoid of high rises, big hotels or concrete apartment buildings. The dunes are intact and the natural beauty is unspoiled. The beaches are much less crowded, too.

We went to a town called Renesse, which sits on an island created by estuaries of the North Sea. We parked at a big, free parking lot in the city center, a kilometer or so from the ocean, and boarded the free shuttle bus to the beach. The bus dropped us off at the bottom of a footpath that led over the dunes directly to the public beach. To either side of the path, just past the dunes, were two restaurants with big outdoor seating areas overlooking the ocean. Everything was so convenient and so well-organized, it was like being at an expensive resort.

Renesse

I asked my husband later, on the way home, why more Belgians don't go to Zeeland instead of the Belgian coast. He said, “Because it's foreign.” After all, the Netherlands is another country—albeit one with a common language and similar culture to Belgium! Apparently most Belgians would rather put up with horrible traffic, crowded beaches and ugly views if it means they can stay in Belgium. Personally, I just don't get it.

Maybe that's because I'm already a foreigner here, so going to the Netherlands doesn't seem any more foreign to me. Then again, traveling to a “foreign” country to go to the beach seems rather exciting to me! Even if it's not Spain, or the Bahamas. All I know is, I much prefer the Dutch coast to the Belgian one, and will continue to head there when the sun shines and the temperature rises.  

A Masterpiece Called Belgium

I like to browse used book stores whenever possible (who doesn't, right?) and these days I always look for old English-language travel guides on Belgium and Flanders. The other day I came across an absolute gem: a yellowed paperback with the gushing title A Masterpiece Called Belgium.

It was written by that scion of the American travel industry, Arthur Frommer (of Frommer's guidebooks and Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine) in 1984, under the auspices of Sabena Belgian World Airlines. I'd never heard of Sabena Belgian World Airlines, but that's not surprising since the list of airlines that no longer exist is long and storied. (According to Wikipedia, Sabena was the Belgian national airline founded in 1923. It went bankrupt in 2001 and eventually became Brussels Airlines.)

I have to show you the back of the book, with a quote from the author. It just tickles me that Frommer was saying the same thing 28 years ago that I've been telling people ever since I moved here. Here's what he says:

"In the course of two decades spent traveling in Europe, it slowly dawned on me that the sights and pleasures of Belgium were second to none. Yet far too many tourists, unfamiliar with the great ages of Belgium's glory, were streaming instead to less attractive destinations simply because they were more easily understood. I resolved then to do a book-length guide to Belgium, combining the practical and the general, all in support of a message I often feel like shouting: In culture and cuisine, in art, in history and in people, Belgium is a Masterpiece!"

I do think Belgium is becoming better known as a travel destination, in part because of technologies like the Internet, and because the tourist industry is finally catching on to Belgium's charms. But still, the fact remains that most Americans bypass Belgium in favor of more accessible countries in Europe like France, England, Germany and Italy. Belgium continues to be Europe's best-kept travel secret.

I'm looking forward to reading this book and finding out what ol' Arthur has to say about Belgium. It's too bad the book is out of print. I have a feeling it wasn't widely read when it was published--was it even available in bookstores, or only through the airline?--but I think the English-speaking world could benefit from hearing his message now. "Belgium is a Masterpiece!"

Indeed, Mr. Frommer. Indeed.

[Update: Pauline Frommer, Arthur Frommer's daughter, assures me that the book was sold in bookstores and went through several printings at the time. You can follow her on Twitter at @PaulineFrommer.]

A medieval abbey in Brussels

Yesterday I went to Brussels to visit Bruxella 1238, a museum with the remains of a Franciscan abbey buried under street level in the middle of the city. It's only open once a month (on the first Wednesday) with a guided tour, and there's only one tour in English. I'd known about it since last year but this was the first time I'd finally been free on the right day and made the effort to go.

I'd invited a friend from my Dutch class to join me and we took the train together from Hasselt in the morning. We bought our tour tickets at the Maison du Roi in the Grand'Place, then walked over to the museum entrance next to the Bourse. There were four other people on the English tour besides us. The site is small so a small group is ideal.

The guide gave us a lot of historical background on the early development and medieval history of Brussels and led us through the archaeological site along permanent walkways. The walkways and stairs took us over the ruins, but where we had to cross the walls of the abbey, we actually had to climb over the walls themselves, stepping on top of the stones.

The site, underneath and alongside the Bourse, was discovered during roadwork in 1988. After they'd excavated the foundations of the medieval abbey, it was decided to make it a permanent museum rather than cover it up again. It's now covered by a glass roof and you can look down into the site from the street, but most people walk by without noticing it.

You have to use your imagination to picture what the abbey might have looked like in the Middle Ages, since we can only see the foundations and subterranean levels of the buildings now. Several skeletons--monks who were buried beneath the abbey--give the site a funereal air and bear witness to the real people who lived and died there.

Afterwards, we returned to the Maison du Roi, where our tour tickets were also good for admission to the Museum of the City of Brussels. On the first floor there's a scale model of Brussels in the thirteenth century that shows the abbey in relation to the rest of the medieval cityscape. On the ground floor, you can see sculptural fragments from some medieval buildings, although not from the abbey.

As our guide explained, Brussels had its origins in the Middle Ages. There was no settlement, nothing but swampy marshland and meandering tendrils of the River Senne, before the 11th century and the first city walls were built in the 13th century. The abbey founded in 1238, therefore, is one of the oldest remnants of the city's past. Definitely worth taking a look if you're in Brussels on the first Wednesday of the month, or happen to be walking along the north side of the Bourse and remember to look down.