"Discovering Belgian Beer at the Source!" Belgium by sarahandgareth

Westvleteren Beer and Cheese at the Source

From our very first sip of Belgian beer (at a Belgian beer festival in Boston), we were hooked. Using his French language skills, Gareth sweet talked the brewers from Lachouffe into inviting us for a brewery tour and an idea was born. It took a few years, but we finally made it the Belgium! And, it was everything we had hoped for, even if we never did make it Lachouffe!

We spent our first few nights in Bruges, where we wandered the city, tried various beer bars, and took an incredible bike ride to the coast via the Dutch border. Then we rented a car for a drive to Brussels, plotting a route that took us by a few breweries and an incredible war memorial. Our last couple of days were spent enjoying the history and culture of Brussels with a day trip through 'lambic land', home to a unique style of beer.

As much as we enjoyed the beer and the different cities, the highlight of our trip was definitely the bike ride from Bruges. The terrain is mostly flat - much of that area was reclaimed from the sea - and the bike routes are well signed and often separated from the vehicle traffic. At lunch time, we had a picnic with supplies purchased that morning at the Bruges market. All in all, it was a fantastic day!