Food and Travel Overseas [9] 2012 (Belgium)

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Belgium

BELGIUM

*South Belgium: Spa, Jalhay, Liege

People in South Belgium speak French and everything you see is in the French language. I never recalled seeing any English words. In the northern part of Belgium, people speak mostly Flemish, similar to Dutch except for some differences in pronunciation. In Brussels, 50% of the people speak Flemish and 50% of them speak French.

I went to South Belgium the last few days before I went back to Singapore. I went to a city called “Spa” which produces their own mineral water “Spa”.

As South Belgium is located in mountain areas, the purpose was to visit Les Thermes de Spa to swim and to enjoy the sauna. The water was from the spring and is good for the skin. Spa Les Thermes also has specialised luxurious treatments to pamper you.

I went to South Belgium hoping to get lucky and catch some snow. The temperature was 1°C – 3ºC in the day and -2°C to -3ºC at night. It was not really snowing in Spa but I managed to catch some snow in Jalhay, Belgium (my next section).

I missed the outdoor swimming in Spa Les Thermes very much and I would like to go there again one day. I spent 3 hours inside the Spa for € 17. Everything I did at this place was unique and memorable, different from the usual travelling trips in the typical city areas.

♥ Spa (Jan 2012)

1) A cable car will bring you up to a spa on top of the mountain.

2) Picture taken inside the cabin.

3) The cable car will stop directly inside the spa.

4) They also produced the SPA Mineral Water because the spring water they used come from natural minerals.

5) The water on the left has a taste of strong iron and tasted really disgusting. You can see the rust residue inside the basin. The one in the centre is normal water, tasteless and the one on the right is spoilt.

6) Operating hours and activities.

7) I swam in the open outdoor spa with a temperature of 1°C – 3ºC. The feeling of swimming in such windy and the cold temperature was amazing. I thought my face would be freezing but no. It was perfect and I loved it.

8) This was the result after my shower in an 80ºC sauna for 15 minutes repeated for 3 times. I was in pain… Ouch…

9) Going down again in the cable car.

10) Cable car station.

✐ Hotel Review of Hotel Le Relais, Spa (Belgium)

11) Good morning breakfast in Hotel Le Relais still feeling half-awake and puffy. Checking email every morning is a typical habit of many Singaporeans that are hard to kick even when we travel overseas.

But most importantly was to check the current temperature then so as to wear enough to cover me well for the forest walk later in Jalhay and Waimes. The reported temperature on that morning was 0°C to 3°C.

Only bread, bacon, coffee, tea and juice were served. Only a knife was given, no fork!!! Cannot even see a single fork lying around because they did not give a fork for breakfast. So weird for me.

I found myself handicapped without a fork. The knife had become the lone ranger. Furthermore, the food was rationed and not free-flow like most hotels that I have known of. Frankly, I was still starving with such a miserable small portion of food.

I wondered was that the common way how they serve their breakfast – no fork and …???  Or maybe I couldn’t expect too much from a € 70 per night, 3* hotel. It was the cheapest accommodation I could find in that region and the room condition was so-so, not impressive and small.

The only advantage that I could think of was that it was within minutes of walking distance to Spa Les Themes. There were also hotels in Les Thermes de Spa but they were more expensive and certainly looked much more posh and comfortable to stay in.

I happened to recall my hotel review about Hotel Le Relais in Agoda which I have written in January 2012. You can click on the link to read it.

  • Google Map

Although the walking distance from Hotel Le Relais to Les Thermes de Spa states that it is 1km and 16 minutes of walking, in fact, the walking distance is about 100m to the cable car which you can take to go up directly to the interior of Les Thermes de Spa (Image 3).

 

Hotel Rating Reviews: Hotel Le Relais, Spa (Belgium)

★★☆☆☆

♥ Jalhay (Jan 2012)

This was one of the memorable trips. I had never really seen snow be it in Europe or Korea during the winter when I travelled in the past. I was damn unlucky in this sense.

Even when I left Belgium, it would start snowing the next day. To guarantee that I can see snow, my boyfriend brought me to the highest altitude in South Belgium for a few hours of trekking.

Signal de Botrange is the highest point (694 metres, 2,277 ft) in Belgium and Baraque Michel is the third highest (674 metres, 2,211 ft) in Wikipedia.

One of my most enjoyable trips was to be able to go to the peak of the mountain to walk inside two forests for hours to admire the sight of the snow in nature which I have never seen before.

The journey from the hotel to the mountain got foggier and foggier as we drove higher up the altitude. I was beginning to see snow accumulation getting more along the way and the visibility was only a few metres in the foggy condition.

The temperature was 1°C and it was not snowing when we arrived there. The snow on the ground was the result of the overnight snowing with a temperature of -3°C to 4°C.

Indeed, I saw a lot of snow but on the ground in the morning. The sight was heavenly. The temperature was about 1°C to 3°C but I have learnt that without the wind, numbers mean nothing. It did not imply that one would feel the cold at 0°C.

In fact, after some walking, I was actually sweating during noon time when the temperature was around 3°C. I began to remove my gloves, my scarf and my jacket one by one and walked for a long time without them. Then, I was warned that I would catch a cold this way.

In the afternoon, the sun shone and melted the snow which was initially there. You can compare the 2 sets of the same photos especially those photos taken on the bridge.

The melted ice on the bridge was really slippery and I almost slipped several times. When I came out of the forest 2 hours later, all the snow melted on the bridge.

12) The top beam of the light was the sun and the bottom beam was the moon!! An unusual sight to witness both sun and moon together.

13) Looking around for the Tourism Office but I simply love the pretty environment.

14) Stated “The Highest Point in Belgium” with just a flight of stairs indicating the highest point.

15) Stated ” Altitude 700 00″ ft. Is it that high?

16) How it looked like at the highest point in Belgium. The footprints were neat and routine?

17) This was the entrance of Signal De Botrange looking from the top of the stairs. Going in for a 2 hrs walk soon.

18) A smug smile from the top of the world.

19) Entrance outside Signal de Botrange which we would be going in shortly.

20) It was very foggy and visibility was low when we went in. There was melted ice on the bridge. It was slippery to walk on the bridge.

21) Left and right view prior to crossing the long bridge. The mist obscured the view.

22) This bridge took me about 10 to 15 minutes to walk. I estimated about 400m…

23) The close-up view of the bridge was full of melted snow, rough and slippery. I walked slowly and uncomfortably because of the uneven road which I was afraid of falling down.

24) There was no snow on the bridge on this section and the sky was still dark. The distance of the walk seemed endless.

25) A smile after the first completion of the walk after the bridge and wondering what lay ahead??

26) Another bridge that I have crossed. The bridge was built to protect nature so that we would not walk over the green and destroy them. Look at the gloomy grey sky.

27) We reached the end of this bridge and walked towards the right of the road. We proceeded back into the forest using another route when we saw the next entrance.

28) Another bridge walking in from the main road towards the forest. Walking cautiously on the slippery bridge feeling very cold. I used my scarf to cover my head, my neck and sometimes my face when it turned windy.

29) Oh dear!!! How am I going to cross over the river? My legs were not long enough to jump over. I was caught in the photo thinking for a moment whether to cross or not and hopefully I would not get my non-waterproof sports shoes wet.

30) Finally the rays of light was seen for some time. The heat was melting the snow gradually on the slippery bridge. I have to tread on gently to prevent slipping.

31) I was asked to climb up the rock so my friend could take photos of me. I might have stepped into holes and lost some balance.

32) The snow had mostly turned into water in the middle of the road which resulted in the road turning muddy. Yucks! Imagine walking on the mud.

33) This was a long road that I had walked. At this juncture at 12 noon exactly, I was beginning to feel the heat even if the temperature was only 3ºC. I took off my scarf, gloves and jacket. I was feeling hungry too.

34) Forcing out a smile through my frozen face. Hope it looked natural.

35) Surprised to see a lake in the middle of nowhere. The photos started to look clearer and brighter now and the distance of visibility was so much better than the morning when we arrived.

36) This was a hunting chair that could be found anywhere inside the forest and was my first time seeing it. I climbed up wanting to have a peek but alas it was locked. Hunting was still common in Belgium.

37) Animal footprints were seen. Which animal was that? The animal walked in a line???

38) A magnificent sight! Heavenly combination of the sky, the water, the greenery and the snow.

39) The same bridge that I crossed this morning (Image 22) but the snow has melted completely.

40) I like this picture a lot as it looks like one of the typical scenes from a movie during wintertime.

41) The same flight of stairs climbed this morning and the view somewhat looked different without the fog (Image 14).

42) I was so tired and famished after the 2.5 hours walk in the first forest. 3 mins drive from Signal de Botrange where we parked our car, my boyfriend promised to find a good spot in the second forest Parc Naturel Hautes Fagnes-Eifel to take our lunch.

Left with no choice, I continued walking with him inside this Parc Naturel Hautes Fagnes-Eifel.

43) Peculiarly, this area was freezingly cold and windy compared to the previous forest, Baraque Michel which was less than 5km away. I started to mask my face, leaving only 2 eyes looking like a ninja turtle.

The bridge was very slippery with thick melted snow as compared to Baraque Michel where the snow had melted almost completely on the bridge (Image 39).

44) I knew it instantly that we were going to have our lunch here sitting on the bridge and admiring the vastness of nature while lunching for an hour, enjoying the tranquillity and wondrous scenery that was presented right in our eyes.

45) We had chicory with salmon and olives, cheering it with some champagne. Not feeling full this way (damn sure) with so little food but I could not be asking for much. Who wanna carry a heavy bag full of food for a party in the cold for hours especially when I was not the one carrying it?

Smiling on a frozen stiff face was indeed a challenge. I began to imagine at that moment having some hot food such as slurping down some spicy Thai Tom Yum soup would be the most comforting lunch ever. Yum!! Yum!!

46) We decided to call off for the day because it was unbearable to stay in a cold and windy place for long and we have enough of walking (Maybe it was just me?).

47) Trying to upload a photo into facebook about my lunch while walking out but the signal did not allow the transmission to go through. What a pity.

48) Look at the melted ice that I had walked and almost slipped and fell a few times while trying to balance and walk fast. Sliding frequently on this thin layer of ice stressed my knees terribly. It was extremely slippery here and had absolutely no friction on my shoes’ soles.

~ End of the journey and my fun ~

♥ Spa (Jan 2012)

49) After a walk in the morning, cold and starving due to not eating enough, I was eagerly looking forward to having a great full meal in the restaurant located below our hotel, Hotel Le Relais.

The restaurant has a Michelin Stars award so the way they cook must be skilful. Oh my! I had high expectations of the quality from an accredited restaurant even before I smelt it!

I was asked for the first time how should my duck be done? Rare, medium or well done? I chose mine medium but it still looked bloody and a bit scary to see the bloody red colour on duck meat.

I asked myself warily prior to eating – would I be able to taste the blood on it? The fish that was served still retained a beautiful pink skin.

My overall review was extremely positive. The food was very fresh and delicious. You cannot taste the blood or rawness of the duck meat. Juicy and supple. The fish was excellent. The restaurant was full-housed. The menu was completely in French which was a disadvantage for people who did not understand french.

The owner who served us cannot speak English at all so forget about asking questions. Just point to her what you wanted and hope that they did not serve you something funny that you did not like because you could not bloody understand a single french word that was being written there. Nevertheless, the restaurant lived up to its reputation for the Michelin Stars accreditation.

♥ Liège (Jan 2012)

✐ Hotel Review of Campanile Luik, Liège (Belgium)

50) Very satisfied with Campanile Luik Hotel. For only € 50 per night (back then) and newly renovated, everything was brand new and fresh. The environment was very cosy and homey. I appreciated it even more as compared to the Hotel Le Relais in Spa. The structure of this 3 stars hotel looked like a school to me.

The disadvantage of staying here is that it is near to the highway and not to places of interest and thus it would be quite inconvenient for travellers who do not drive.

This environment would have a lovelier view if it snowed as I hoped. It did snow a little but was barely visible on the last day when I was going back to Singapore from Brussels.

51) Reception and restaurant of the hotel are separated from the hotel.

52) View inside the room. All new and some of the rooms around us were still under renovation.

53) View from outside of the hotel. The disadvantage of staying here was that it is situated near the highway. In the daytime, it was a bit noisy (who cares anyway since we are supposed to be out on the street) but nighttime was a hell of silence and perfect for a sound sleep.

Hotel Rating Reviews: Campanile Luik, Liège (Belgium)

★★★★☆

54) The city of Liège is french speaking since it is located in South France. The Flemish/Dutch spelling of Liège is Luik. The lovely shopping street of Liège was bustling with a lot of people and vibrance beyond my expectation because I thought that people would go out lesser during the winter. The things were cheap there which made shopping enjoyable.

55) Fortunately I did not climb up this flight of stairs… *faint*… but I did walk down the fear-evoking stairs and went up by walking a very long steep slope somewhere which was no fun.

56) Finally I had reached the first peak where I could have some rest and admired the scenery after many flights of stairs.

57) Another steep set of slopes where I walked up. I fell one time because my leg couldn’t carry me anymore. I wonder how the people staying there could manage to walk up and down daily. They must be very fit since the road is really long and steep…!

58) I walked for an estimated 30 minutes at 1ºC temperature. Under such a temperature, I was sweating all over and began to remove my outer jacket. Oops yes…! I was panting like a dog in this photo as I need to rest every few minutes after walking the damn steep slope which I felt frustrated and unfit. The person who took my photo in this state was obviously mocking my inability.

59) This was the second peak after another steep walk. Liège has a lot of slopes since it is located in a mountainous region. Another round of photo-taking sessions to celebrate my completion of slopes and stairs climbing. Hmm… Ought to give me a good pat 🙂

60) So now I would be walking down from the long flight of fear-evoking stairs. It was more difficult than I think as my legs had gone soft and weak like jelly after a whole day of training thanks to my commando-trained boyfriend who said that I was not fit enough which resulted in one fall earlier.

61) One of the trees that I had spotted bearing ¿¿flowers¿¿… I dunno what was that but the texture definitely felt like cotton and had seeds inside.

62) This was a Chinese restaurant operated by the Vietnamese who can only speak Vietnamese and French. The interior of the Chinese restaurant looked typical everywhere in Europe. I had a similar photo posted in Berlin, where you can see one laughing Buddha. I had the idea that they could be run by one Asian syndicate.

Although beer is relatively cheaper in Belgium, I still prefer to drink my ice lemon tea.

Next Page

  • ✈ Ghent, Leuven, Antwerp (Belgium)
  • ✈ Luxembourg (Luxembourg)

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