Belgian Culture and Travel

If surreal had a nationality, it would be Belgian...

What can this be?  The curtain opening at the Magritte Museum (image courtesy of the Belgian Tourist Office).  The new wing of Royal Museum is was unveiled in May 2009.

"René Magritte is the leading painter of Surrealism, one of the few Belgian figurative art movements that gained a following on the international scene. As a Surrealist, he wants to disturb the perception of the familiar and his paintings put the real world to the test. In Magritte's visual idiom, elements from everyday reality often recur in different alienating combinations." (From here)

If you are a Tintin fan you’ll want to beat a path to the door of the new Tintin Museum in Louvain la Neuve. Designed by Christian de Portzamparc, the Pritzker Prize winning French architect.  Follow the link to see photos of this new work.

Read this Economist story about the museum. 

Travel Resource Introduction

Don and I lived in Belgium (based in Brussels) for three years right out of college. We continue to return there often.  It is a country that we have come to love and that literally changed the course of our lives.  Perhaps because Belgium does not have a reputation for great weather, or because its capital is viewed as a rather dour and bureaucratic city, far too few people take the time to discover the beguiling charms of its cuisine, countryside, art, history and people.  We hope that this section of the website will encourage you to take a look and plan a journey.  We're actually composing this section from right in Ghent.

Here are a handful of themes around which you might consider organizing a trip:

  • Beer Tourism, Naturally (visiting Dupont, Bush, Slaghmuylder, Castelain) and celebrated beer cafes (learn more)

  • Brussels 1900 – Discovering Horta, Van de Velde and the Art Nouveau (learn more)

  • Charms of Hainaut, Brabant Wallon and the Ardennes including Trappist Monasteries (learn more)

  • The Seven Wonders of Belgium (learn more)

We are adding travel resources on our blog frequently.  Check it out.

Belgian Voices & Views - Audio and Video Guide

You may have heard a voice that was Belgian without even knowing it. We put a few examples here that will almost transport you to Le Plat Pays that is Belgium

Jacques Brel
Brel's acute perception made him an innovative and creative painter of daily life with rare poetic ease. His intelligent use of words was striking and simple, exhibiting a very visual and meaningful vocabulary. Few of his peers are considered as matching his skill in fitting as much novelty and meaning in a sentence from a few words in common usage. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Brel)

Olivier de Spiegeleir playing Cesar Franck prelude.

Johnny Halliday the Belgian pop star

Marguerite Yourcenar – the first woman elected to the Academie Francaise

Herge (born George Remi) the author of Tintin series speaks about Tintin.
Then meet the characters from his incomparable bandes dessinee. 

Helmut Lotti
Having sold more than 13 million albums who is to argue when Lotti who calls himself the most successful Flemish artist ever.  Except perhaps Peter Paul Rubens.

Leo Tindemans
A 5 minute snippet  from a Belgian politics show featuring the voice of the former Prime Minister (in Flemish)

A few short videos we like:
1. A little video produced by CNN about beer tourism and Belgian monastery beers in particular
2. Alun Hill’s lovely and loving portrait for Belgium created for www.independenttravelwriter.com. A little under seven minutes, this video serves as a great introduction to Belgium.
3.Dom Joly, a British humorist pokes fun at Belgian weather and customs. Brought to you by the BBC
4. Sound of Music at the Antwerp Train Station. Viewed more than 3 million times, this impromptu performance to Julie Andrews’ sensational voice gives you a glimpse of the wacky wonderful Belgian spirit.


Belgian Travel Resources on the web

First check out the sites that are sponsored by the Belgian government:

http://www.visitbelgium.com/index.html
http://www.visitflanders.us/index.php?page=library

We like these guides as well:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/belgium
http://iguide.travel/Belgium

And check out Belgian travel deals on Frommer’s site.

Happy Trails!