Belgium is a country on the North Sea coast of Europe that borders The Nederlands, France, Germany and Luxembourg, where the currency is the Euro. Belgium is in the Schengen Area so all a
traveller to Belgium from India needs is a Schengen visa from the Belgian Embassy and a current passport. It has the distinction of being a country of two parts with half speaking Flemish, which is a form of Dutch and the other half speaking French, and the majority religion there is Roman Catholicism. The Belgian capital is the old city of Brussels, which is also the administrative capital of the EU and has a historic town centre with a very Gothic looking town hall, the Gudula Cathedral, the Royal Palace and the famous ‘Manneken Pis” statue as well as the Magritte Museum.
Antwerp is the second biggest city and is home to the Gothic Cathedral of Our lady and was the home of the artist Rubens and has the second biggest port in Europe and the Royal Museum of Fine Arts. Bruges is called the “Venice of the North” due to its proliferation of picturesque canals, and it has a quaint medieval town centre and the Groeningen museum and has many small, family owned guest houses rather than big chain hotels, which lend it more character. Ghent also has lots of canals and a large student population, which give it a lively atmosphere at night, it also has a thriving modern art scene and various festivals. Belgium is famous for its chocolate, hand made lace and craft beers, and popular street food is fries with mayonnaise, much the same as in The Nederlands, mussels and waffles with cherries and cream.
If travelling to Europe from India, then a trip to pretty Belgium should be added to your travel plans as it has a lot to offer the curious tourist.
