What better way to begin a trip across Italy than the hands down most picturesque and romantic city arguably in the world. By traveling in the dead of winter, we were able to avoid crowds and empty streets and canals made for great photos. The first day began with a Frecciarosa train from Rome’s Termini station. We arrived in Venice at 11:00 at which point we purchased our three day public transit pass. This ended up saving us a decent amount and also enabled us to see Venice by boat. The three day pass is EUR18 while one trip is EUR6; both prices being far less than the 80-120 that gondola drivers fetch. In order to purchase the pass, simply buy the Hello Venezia card which enables you to buy the 3 day pass.
Once we were settled in Venice and had consumed enough cafe to get our legs moving again, we set off to see the beautiful city.
When you are in Venice, you must see San Marco square and church. You can pay to get in the main church entrance in front. Using the side entrance and letting the guard know you are just going in to pray, you will avoid any lines and get you right into the church for free, we were able to go during a mass when visitors weren’t allowed. Hand’s down one of the most beautiful churches in Italy. Not far from San Marco is Harry’s Bar, former Hemingway hangout and founding place of the Bellini cocktail. Hopping on the ferry from there, you can quickly find yourself at the Rialto bridge in time to catch the end of the market. Venice’s fish market is rumored to be one of the best in Italy, unfortunately for me it’s closed on Sunday and Monday, just our luck as we didn’t make it over there until Saturday evening.
In the food department, Venice is not lacking in variety and local staples. Venice has what they call Cichetti, its basically an Italian version of tapas. You go from bar to bar eating small fried seafood and meatballs and drinking tiny glasses of wine. You can also do what we did and do Cichetti for a couple of hours then have a late dinner. Be very prepared to eat your faces off in Venice! The local specialities are mostly seafood dishes the most popular being risotto with squid ink (risotto al nero di seppia), I ate this dish both nights, but other’s seemed to enjoy all seafood dishes.
Drinks and nightlife can be found in Piazza Santa Margarita, while many bars have an ex-pat feel. You can still rub elbows with locals while enjoying an Aperol spritz.
There is plenty to see and do in Venice, but make sure you leave time to just get lost in the narrow alleyways and canal lined streets. There is simply no city in the world quite like Venice.

After two amazing days in Bruges it was time to get back on the bike and hit the LF5 trail back to Ghent. While we knew what to expect from the bike trip, the trail did not disappoint. We cut an hour off our trip and had ample time to make a pit stop that ended up being the grandest highlight of an amazing trip. Continue reading →

By far the best part of the trip was our third day ride from Ghent to Bruges. We rented cycles for the weekend from Max Mobiel, right around the corner from Sint Pieters Station. From there, you have two basic options to get to Bruges. You can either ride the bikes to the north end of town and head west along the canal (LF5 trail). You’re other option which we opted for was to Sint-Denijslaan road until you reach the highway which is also LF5 territory. The LF5 cycling path is well marked and a straight shot all the way to Bruges. Our hostel in Bruges, St. Christopher, was roughly 2 blocks from the LF5 path. Continue reading →

Day 2 woke us up for an early morning train trip to Ghent, roughly 30 minutes from Brussels. Despite a decent hostel breakfast at Sleep Well Hostel, we tracked down a much necessary early morning Belgian Waffle. The North Train station is located about a 10 minute walk from the Hostel and with trains running every 10-15 minutes we arrived in Ghent by 10am.

Our arrival in Ghent began with a view of an entire parking lot full of bikes. While Ghent is a gorgeous Medieval canal city, it is also a large college population with multiple schools within the city center. As there is no cheaper form of transportation than self-propelled, these students fly through the bike lanes and city streets and truly own the roads. We could not wait to rent out bikes the following morning.

We found multiple beer gardens and hangouts throughout the city which made a great beer easy to find. Couple this with a row of 5 beautiful churches and the aesthetics of the city truly take over. Make sure you climb to the top of the Belfry of Ghent for spectacular views of the city. Overall, the food and drink is of higher quality and the city is far less touristy and has more character than Brussels, this city is a must see.

I recommend frites from Frituur Filip, served with stoofvlees sauce (meat stewed in dark Belgian beer) and mayonnaise, this is the ultimate combination, I would also highly recommend the escargot. Also, while drinks everywhere are great, two venues we thoroughly enjoyed are Hot Club du Gand & Fonky Tuur. While we did not have a hostel booked, we were able to get three beds at Hostel 47. The other two highly rated youth hostels are Ecohostel and De Dracke. After a long day of sightseeing, drinks and street food, I am ready for some rest as a 45km bike ride form Ghent to Bruges is staring back at me in the morning.

After 8 weeks in Roma, I am celebrating the end of my first MBA quarter with a trip to Belgium. Along with two friends, we will be traveling from Brussels to Ghent to Bruges and back via planes, trains and bikes. I’ll be sure to report back with details of beer, chocolate and cycling the canals of Belgium.

A presto!