I know, I know, it’s once again been quite a while since you’ve heard from me but no worries, I’m still here. The past couple of months I haven’t been going places but the prospects have been there constantly. In little over two weeks I’m –finally- leaving for my main trip of this year; a roadtrip through West-Canada. I’m so excited and it honestly can’t come soon enough! So bear with me and you’ll have plenty of new content soon.
But enough about that, because even though my time the past couple of weeks has mostly been spent preparing for that trip (and working, sadly), I’ve also had time for a little day trip in my own country with my family. We’ve been very fortunate with the weather this summer so I figured ‘Why not head to our capital for some sightseeing?’. So off we went!
Since I’m always looking for something new as well, we decided to first stop in a provincial park a little outside of Brussels; Huizingen. Entrance price for people who live outside of the province Flemish Brabant is three euros, so that’s just a small fee in my opinion.
The first thing that catches your eye when you enter the domain is the beautiful castle and its rowing pond. Isn’t this gorgeous?
We arrived early in the morning right after opening time, which is 9am, so there was still very little activity going on in the park. Usually this park gets busier once the outdoor swimming pool opens at 11am (there is an extra fee for that.). So if you want to enjoy the peace and calmness, go early!
One of the main attractions within the park is the rock garden. This garden is celebrating its sixtieth birthday this year. It has been constructed in 1958 as a part of the Brussels World’s Fair ‘Expo 58’. There are a million kilograms of rocks combined with around 150.000 plants of all sorts over an area of five hectare. The little stream that runs through it is running in a loop. Every twenty seconds the drop of water that starts flowing down is being pumped up again to restart the same journey. So cool!
Now while the weather has been nice and sunny in Belgium the past couple of weeks, we have been experiencing quite the drought and it was so obvious in this part of the park. Many of the plants are dying because of dehydration and the maintenance staff simply can’t water them enough. It’s sad to witness and I hope we’ll get some rain soon so we can preserve this beautiful, historical, part of the park.
Aside from that, you also have a beautiful forest where children can play or you can just take a walk through, a small zoo, some sports pitches (mini golf, tennis, volleyball,…) and a little tourist train that goes around the park. Even though we only stayed the morning, it’s a park where you can easily spend the entire day just walking around, doing some sports and relax.
A bit before noon, we drove to Brussels for lunch, so I can’t give you an opinion on the lunch options in Huizingen Provincial Park, but you can buy food on site if you want to.
As for Brussels itself, I’ve already made a post about that once (here), so there isn’t much extra info I can give you. However I do want to share some of the pictures I took last Monday, just so you can enjoy them with me.
And now it’s time to keep counting down to August 28th. So close, yet so far, ARGH! If there is anyone that still has some tips or recommendations on things to do or places to eat, don’t hesitate to let me know!
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Ellen's Travel Stories 