Skip to content

Tag: Belgium

A Tale of Two Trains

A Tale of Two Trains

Published on 17 October 2026 
Reached this post by just scrolling through my blog? 
If you want to read about this trip from start to finish, instead of in reverse order, click here!

Well, it’s not much of a tale, as today it was simply time to travel home again, which would take most of my day… And yet I still managed to squeeze in a brewery visit: Werewolf Beer.  

Return day means bag packing, and bag packing means I have breakfast in the hotel. It was the least inspired breakfast of the week, not surprisingly, but it did the trick, and I could quickly return to my room to pack up the last bits. 

A five minute walk through the 3°C cold brought me to Glasgow Central, where my Avanti West Coast to London Euston was already waiting at the platform. I was travelling Standard Premium today, because the price difference with First class was ridiculous, and I could book a solo seat in Standard Premium anyway.

While I had a free coffee on the train—a Club Avanti perk—it wasn’t quite up to my standards, so my first stop after arrival was The Coffee Jar in Camden, for a cortado and a cookie. Well, that was the plan, but all cookies were sold out already, and the coffee was only to-go, since they were about to close… Luckily I had my KeepCup handy, so I did have my proper coffee after all!

Elsewhere in Camden I visited the taproom of Werewolf Beer, an American brewery in London. Nice beer, awesome staff, and a great atmosphere overall! I can see this becoming my new pre-Eurostar beer spot. 

For my last beers of the trip, I had planned to go to Beer + Burger. Tough luck, because when I showed up there, they were closed for a private event… The original plan was even to have a burger there as well, so luckily, a couple of days earlier, Eurostar had informed me my—quite low—bid on an upgrade had won. And since an actual three course meal is included in a Premier ticket, dinner was sorted!

The main reason I actually bid on an upgrade, is the waiting space in St. Pancras International: it’s always overcrowded, and Premier passengers have access to a lounge! 

As soon as we had boarded the Eurostar to Brussels, they started handing out the champagne, and soon after the amuse-bouche followed. My main was West Country beef short rib, with black bean rice, mustard-braised peppers, baby spinach and savoy cabbage. 

With all the dining, champagne, tea, and more champagne, the trip was over in no time, and soon it was time to dig out my Mobib to travel the last kilometers home…

First Stop: London

First Stop: London

Published on 9 October 2026

A trip to Scotland inevitably—for me at least—includes a train change in London. This time I really made the most of it, and included a visit to a museum, a brewery taproom, and an Indian restaurant for dinner. 

Of course of all days there was a national strike in Belgium today, disrupting public transport quite a bit. Luckily the metro and tram lines I needed to get to Brussels Midi station were still running, albeit less frequent. 

When I arrived—well ahead of time—the Eurostar terminal looked slightly different from last time… I soon found out what changed: whereas the British border control had been an automated passport scan for a quite a while already, the Belgian side now has similar gates as well. No human interaction at all required anymore! 

After boarding, I quickly found my comfortable solo seat, number 61. Not the one The Man in Seat 61 usually books, since his is in Premier class, while I was ‘just’ travelling in Plus. Note to self: check which power socket a booked seat has, because a UK plug and a USB-C cable aren’t much use when the seat only has a EU socket and USB-A outlet…

Plus class includes a light lunch, and today it was a grilled courgette and marinated fennel salad bowl, with Sicilian gemelli pasta with tomato, capers and olives, and basil ricotta. 

After arriving perfectly on time, I first headed to a Stasher location near Euston station, to store my bag for the day. After a rather short night, I was desperate for a coffee, so I headed to Origin Coffee Shoreditch for my first one. 

I picked that area to be already near the Museum of the Home, a free museum I hadn’t been to yet. It turned out to be quite nice! Although you start to feel old when the more recent interiors seem very familiar…

Time for another coffee at Gram’n Degrees, mainly to kill time until the Great Beyond Brewing Co brewery taproom opened. At the brewery they were still in full Oktoberfest mode, but luckily had some non-lagers—brewed in house, of course—as well!

Since my stomach was still on Belgian time anyway, I decided to beat the Friday night dinner crowd and head to Punjab restaurant early. I had one of their specialties, the Acharri Murgha, with some garlic naan and a mango lassi of course. Delicious!

After picking up my bag, I made my traditional stop at Euston Tap, for a last pre-train beer. Or three… 

The Caledonian Sleeper guest lounge wasn’t too full when I arrived, and I had my room key, some shortbread and Irn-Bru in no time. 

After boarding, I headed to the Club Car to hand in my breakfast card, and secured my stool at the window bar. While I was enjoying a Black Isle beer, the Caledonian Sleeper London Euston – Fort William departed perfectly on time. Just 925 km in 12h45 to go…

Razernij 2026

Razernij 2026

Published on 22 August 2026

Razernij – Beerdrinkers & Hellraisers in Rumst is definitely one of my favourite beer festivals in Belgium. This is in large part due to it actually having live music, and the bands are just as carefully selected as the invited breweries! The highlight in the line-up this year was The Real McKenzies.

After a short night—because of a night shift—and a well-caffeinated train and bus ride, I made it to that by now familiar field in Rumst. Somehow I even managed to be one of the first five festival goers to get their tokens, so I ‘won’ a book with beer poetry. No time to read though, but time to try the first beer! Funny story: the brewer from Maktoob Brewing actually recognised me from when I was in Bucharest last year! The kilt I wore probably helped him remember…

While trying and enjoying many more beers, the bands started playing: Mechels Laweit, The Scabby Knees, F.O.D., Shandon, and of course the Canadian Celtic punk band I was waiting for, The Real McKenzies!

Thanks Krikke, for organising this once again!

Misery Fest 2026

Published on 25 July 2026

It had been way too long since I had been in beautiful Harzé to visit Misery Beer Co.… After a failed attempt last year, I finally made it to their birthday festival again this year!

When I visited their opening festival, there was a bus going all the way from Brussels. This time, there was just a shuttle bus from Liège station. It suited me just fine, since this way I had time for a coffee first.

The festival itself was all what I expected: great beers by Misery and three guest breweries—L’Ermitage, Verdant, and Pophin—terrific music, and tasty food. It was a hot day again, so I skipped the imperial stouts, but I tasted pretty much everything else.

After the last band, it was about time to get on the shuttle bus to the train station again. Some would come back the next day for more beers and different groups, but for me, just the one day was enough…

Mars in Antwerp

Mars in Antwerp

Published on 16 July 2026

It had been a while since I spent a day in Antwerp, and there was an exhibition about Martial Arts at the MAS I really wanted to see. The hot weather made the prospect of spending some time in a cool museum irresistible, so when I saw a gap in my work schedule, I was on my way!

But first coffee! Kolonel Coffee definitely wasn’t there yet when I still used to go to the MAS regularly, back in my teaching days, so it was a pleasant discovery.

The Martial Arts exhibition was really interesting! I learned about sports I had never heard about—don’t tell me you were familiar with the Iranian warrior training Zurkhaneh!—and enjoyed hearing the many testimonies of Antwerp practitioners. Oh, and Mars—the same one my first name is derived from—was there as well!

Curiosity satisfied, time to quench the thirst! Billie’s Bier Kafetaria was closed due to unforeseen circumstances, but I managed to visit most of the other usual suspects: Dr. Beer, Café Pardaf, Café Ernst, Billie’s Bottle Shop, and Beerlovers Bar!