Entries Tagged 'travelling' ↓

My first time in Brussels was when I was 17, then I had many other opportunities to go back in the following years. The city has undergone many changes in the last twenty years and, despite its international nature, it has kept something really special and unique.
The first impression arriving in Brussels is about its contrasts. Modern and futuristic buildings next to small old fashioned cafés. Elegant suburbs with the typical art nouveau style houses, bordering folksy neighbourhoods with Arabic night shops.
Another evident contrast is given by the language, which is French and Dutch together and because of its bilingual asset, every road-sign, restaurant menu, bus and metro indication or any other kind of public information is written in both languages. But walking in the streets you will hear talking also Italian, Spanish, English, Arabic…
The presence of the European Community and many other international companies gives Brussels a very international allure, although the international community is mainly not integrated with the local people. That’s why sometimes Brussels seems like an abstract place, like an airport.
The real “bruxellois” is more and more difficult to find. He talks both French and Dutch but with an accent, and knows all the most ancient cafés (serving only traditionally brewed beer), antique dealers, the best “chocolatiers”, the good restaurants, all places that no tourist and no EEC employee will never find (luckily).
Contrast is usually given by the weather, often rainy, but also windy and sunny, sometimes all together in a crazy stormy mix.

Things I love in Brussels:

Antiquarian shops
Antique market at Le Grand Sablon on Saturday morning
Place du Grand Sablon
Marcolini
Flamant
Lola
Bakeries and Patisseries
Dansaertstraat
The old cafés
Dark trappist beer
Les frites (French fries)
Les Musées des Beaux-Arts

Thanks to a personal connection, we had the privilege to make a guided visit to an historical winery of Beaune, the Maison Louis Latour.
We had the possibility to visit their vineyards in the marvellous village of Aloxe-Corton, to see their incredible cellar and taste some of their wines. This visit taught us so much about the French wine tradition, and specifically about the Bourgogne. We learned so many things about the different appellations, as Grand Cru, Premier Cru, Village, about their grapes and winemaking techniques, about the very strict rules applied to the production of every single bottle.
After our visit we went directly to a wine shop in Beaune to buy few bottles: when we will drink this wine in few months, we will relive the beautiful moments of our holiday and think again about the amazing vineyards of Bourgogne.

We spent the last night of our French trip in Aloxe-Corton, in the “hotel de charme” Villa Louise, a lovely place, surrounded by vineyards, with nice rooms, friendly people, and an excellent and original breakfast served in a very tastefully furnished living room.

Holiday in France

In the late afternoon we finally arrived at Château de la Villatte and there we concluded our day in a marvellous room, so big, so authentically aristocratic, with the real charme of a house that still maintains the spirit of a noble family.
We actually only met one person there, the madam that had answered my e-mail to confirm the reservation and that welcomed us at our arrival. She was shy and straightforward, but in a kind of understatement with her casual clothes, just explaining where our room was, where we should go for breakfast, how the lights worked and other practical things like that. She only asked at what time we wanted breakfast (and if we wanted tea or coffee) and then disappeared, apologizing that she had a lot of work to do. We relaxed in the room from which we had a wonderful view on the park, then we went to Laval for dinner. We were the only guests in the house as we didn’t see any other car. We left the house just closing the door but didn’t see her again. Laval by the way is a very nice town on a river, with an imposing castle and ancient walls, we had dinner in a simple restaurant specialized in raclette, fondue and other dishes from Savoye. When we came back to the château the entrance door was still unlocked and we went to bed. We slept in the biggest bed ever!

The day after, we woke up quite early and by 8 a.m. we were ready for breakfast so we entered the dining room she had showed us, also very accurately renovated and furnished and we saw that the table was perfectly prepared for two, with warm coffee, orange juice, bread, croissants, jams: just ready for us at 8 a.m. as we had asked. Classical music was playing in the background and we had breakfast like two aristocratic persons in their private mansion. The lady didn’t show up, so we went upstairs and finished packing our luggage and when we came back downstairs, I noticed a letter on the snooker table at the entrance. I approached and there was a hand written letter on prestigious paper, where only few words said “Thanks” and the price of the room. As I knew that credit cards are not accepted in these private houses I had already enough cash, so I put the right amount on the table, leaving also my business card with few words thanking her for her hospitality. Manu was quite surprised and said we should better call her and give her the money personally. But I said no, I absolutely felt this was the way she wanted us to leave.
Still quite astonished by this unusual attitude we stepped into our car and in the moment that we started moving, we saw the lady leaning out of the door and waving energically her hand in our direction, greeting us with a big thankful smile.

Holiday in France

We left Bretagne on August 20th with a trip that will remain in our hearts. After leaving Château de Kermezen, we drove to the Western coast and reached Saint-Quay-Portrieux.
Thanks also to the nice and sunny weather, we fell in love with this lovely place with a kind of Mediterranean allure, beautiful beaches, a long promenade on the rocks, beautiful houses with gorgeous sea view… We would have rented a house and staid there for a whole week!

But it was not possible, we still had other destinations to see.
We had booked one night in a Château closed to Laval, in the Loire Valley, so we had to drive another couple of hours to be there in the afternoon. We just made a stop in Dinan , a very nice and animated medieval town, from which we finally decided that we would avoid the highway and drive through the countryside. And this was another great experience of that day, because the French countryside is so wide, genuine and idyllic! Big trees, fields, meadows, small villages, beautiful churches and then suddenly a gorgeous castle, in front of which we made an abrupt brake just to take a picture!

Holiday in France