Belgium

Spa in Belgium is world renowned for two things: its springs and hydrotherapy, and the Belgian Grand Prix. Often regarded as the most challenging race on the Formula 1 championship calendar, the Belgian Grand Prix is one of the earliest races in motor sport, and definitely one of the most established. Belgian Grand Prix tickets, even for the vast general admission sections, are highly prized as the Belgian GP has a reputation for the most exciting races in the F1.

The Belgian Grand Prix was initially held in the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, on and off in the 1930s and through the war, then more regularly from the 1950s onward. Because the Spa circuit became notorious as a fatal course, not only for drivers, but marshals and mechanics as well, the Belgian Grand Prix was relocated to Nivelles in 1972, where it was planned to alternate between the very unpopular circuit and the Circuit de Zolder. Nivelles was, in fact, so unpopular that Zolder would be the only host circuit of Belgian Grand Prix from 1975 until the Circuit de Spa-Francochamps was reopened in 1983. Zolder is unfortunately best remembered as the venue of Gilles Villeneuve’s death in 1982.

The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is easily the longest track in the Formula 1, even after it was shortened to a final length of 7.004 km. The first modifications to the circuit were in fact to increase the speeds on some of the slow areas of the track, as the Belgians were proud that their track was very fast and very challenging. But due to several fatal accidents, many modifications were made to circuit through the years. In 1966, Jackie Stewart would crash at Spa, which would begin his crusade to make racing circuits safer for drivers. Stewart won the Belgian GP in 1973 at Zolder.

Even with modifications to the track, the most popular of Spa’s 21 turns, the Eau Rouge-Raidillon, is as glorious as ever before, even if less cars have spun off from the famous corner due to the improved skills of the drivers and the developed downforce of the cars. Currently, 44 laps complete a total racing distance of 308.17 km.

The first winner at the Belgian Grand Prix in 1925 was Antonio Ascari. Later his son, Alberto, would continue to bring glory to his family name when the younger Ascari won the Belgian Grand Prix in 1952 and 1953. Michael Schumacher again holds the most trophies at the Belgian Grand Prix, but Spa is doubly special for Schumacher as his first race in an F1 championship was at this circuit in 1991, and where he won his very first GP a year later. In 2001, Schumacher broke Ayrton Senna’s record of the most GP wins with the 2001 Belgian Grand Prix marking his 52nd win. At Spa, Schumacher won 6 times, as well as finishing first in 1994 but was disqualified and had to relinquish the win to Damon Hill, who has won the Belgian Grand Prix two other times.

Jim Clark won at Spa four times in the 1960s, while Senna won five times at the same circuit in the late 80s. After Schumacher, Kimi Räikkönen would dominate the Belgian Grand Prix, winning in 2004, 2005 and again when the track reopened in 2007. Räikkönen also holds the fastest lap record, at 1:45.

Many racing fans either stay in the hotels within Spa, or in the less expensive inns and guest houses around the neighboring towns. Whilst camping has been a fun prospect at several town-based circuits, it is not so much the case in Spa because September is often a rainy month in Belgium.

To arrive at Spa, take the plane to Brussels, which is a two-hour drive to the circuit. You could also take the train to Liege, where many buses headed for the circuit await.

Belgian Grand Prix tickets for the general admission area are great because there is a lot of the track to see, being 7 km long. As the area is naturally hilly, the views can definitely be fantastic, even with the cheapest tickets. Grandstand tickets are then more valuable, especially those right in front of the Eau Rouge and other challenging corners, such as La Source and Pouhon. As with other GPs, Belgian Grand Prix tickets are sectioned in gold, silver and bronze.

The Pukkelpop Festival in Kiewit, Belgium, was 25 years old in 2010 – and it just keeps getting bigger and better. Unusually for a predominantly rock and pop music festival, Pukkelpop was founded, and is still organized, by a Belgian politician, Chokri Mahassine, and the grand-sounding Humanistic Youth of Leopoldsburg.   It has, though, developed from a one day event in its first incarnation in 1985 to the three day festival of today, featuring over 200 different acts.   The headline acts in 2009 were Arctic Monkeys, Faith No More and Placebo, who followed in the line of such artists as Metallica, Radiohead, Belle and Sebastian, Chemical Brothers, Guns N’Roses, Neil Young, Keane and the Manic Street Preachers.

As many as 180,000 partygoers attended the recent festival; a far cry from the 3,000 who attended the first Pukkelpop, which was held in Leopoldsburg.    The organizers tried various other locations before moving to the present site in 1991.   Currently there are eight different stages – as well as the main Stage there are the Marquee, Dance Hall, The Shelter, the Boiler Room, Club, Château and Wablief.   This variety ensures that the musical experience at Pukkelpop includes everything the modern music fan could want from rock to hip hop and from heavy metal to top quality DJ sets.   As organizers estimate that at least 50% of the crowds come from the Flanders region, there are always a good number of local acts on the outside stages.   Six of the stages are now situated in tents.   The Festival additionally has an idiosyncratic circus show, the Bataclan, as well as a smoking area full of bongs and eastern music.

Pukkelpop has its own campsite, to be found on a field opposite the main festival.   The site is open to festival goers the day before the official opening, which usually takes place on a Thursday as the Festival finishes on a Saturday evening.    There are always a number of local DJs providing entertainment on the Wednesday evening.   Buying a ticket for Pukkelpop entitle you to free camping at the site.   The only drawback to the arrangements is that the busy main road, Kempische Steenweg, passes between the two locations.

Te Pukkelpop site at Kempische Steenweg, Kiewit Hasselt is easily accessible from anywhere in Belgium.  Brussels and Antwerp are both about 45 miles away and the E313 Antwerp to Liège motorway passes close by.   With train stations at Hasselt and Kiewit (only 500 yards walking distance from the site), ticket holders have the bonus of free rail transport to and from any other Belgian station and a free bus service from Hasselt.

The town of Hasselt itself is the capital city of the Limburg province and is best known for its own flavoured gin, Jenever, which is made in the town.   Apart from a highly regarded Japanese Garden and a museum devoted to Flemish architecture and country life, it is known as friendly little town which greatly enjoys the eclectic mixture of people attracted to Pukkelpop each year.

The Pukkelpop Festival is held annually in mid-August. Full details of how to purchase tickets and the festival’s line-up will be found at the official Pukkelpop Festival website.

Binche Carnival, in the Belgian province of Hainaut, is one of the oldest surviving European carnivals – and certainly one of the most unusual. Although the culmination of the festival is undoubtedly Shrove Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, the weeks before then see the start of an incredible build up of activity.   For up to seven weeks before the climax of the Carnival, the sound of the drums which so characterise this event can be heard preparing – and every Sunday they will play out their 26 traditional tunes throughout the historic town of Binche.   It all boils up to a crescendo which can be summed up by the words masks, hats, oranges – and the ubiquitous drums.

To trace the origins of this frankly quite bizarre celebration, you have to go back as far as the fourteenth century.   The Gilles, the weirdly costumed central characters, probably have links with the Inca-inspired costumes said to have been worn by local dignitaries to honour Emperor Charles V in the sixteenth century.   The festival in the form that it is held today was more or less established during the nineteenth century – as that is when the masks, instruments and carnival balls all became part of the tradition.   This tradition has been so important to the people of this Walloon municipality that the Carnival was given World Heritage status by UNESCO in 2003.

The Binche Carnival takes place for the three days leading to Shrove Tuesday.   The Sunday of Carnival will see a parade during the middle of the afternoon, with many elaborate fancy dress costumes.   The bands will accompany the parade and then continue playing until well into the night.

On the Monday, there is a parade for the children but, again, the local musicians will move from bar to bar and play in the streets.   They will be playing medieval instruments such as the hurdy-gurdy (a kind of fiddle with a keyboard that sounds like a bagpipe, if that makes any sense), barrel-organ and viol (one of the most popular renaissance musical instruments).  There’s a fireworks display in the evening.

It is on the day of Mardi Gras itself that everything gets quite frantic.   The Gilles – and there can be up to 1000 of them – wear their traditional costumes.   Some of these are up to 150 years old.   The costumes, largely in the Belgian national colours of red, yellow and black, are stuffed full of hay and girdled by a heavy belt with jangling bells attached to it.   They wear large wooden clogs, elaborate wax masks and enormous ostrich-feature head-dress type hats.   Some of this headgear can be over a metre in height and will cost more than £200 or $300.   The Gilles are supposed to frighten away evil spirits and it’s not hard to imagine why that would be the case!

The Gilles and assorted harlequins, pierrots and the remainder of the celebrants dance through the streets, in the process of which they hurl oranges at the watching spectators.    This, apparently, is  a manner of blessing the approaching summer – but it will explain to perplexed visitors why many of the town’s windows had been boarded up before the Parade began.   Everyone then congregates around the Town Hall for dancing, drinking and further merriment and finally the whole day is rounded off by another gigantic display of fireworks.

The Binche Carnival, this beguiling mixture of Latin and Northern European festivals, attracts thousands of visitors every year to what is probably Belgium’s best preserved medieval town.   Just 50 kilometres (34 miles) or so south of Brussels and very close to Charleroi airport (Brussels South), it’s an easy town to travel to.   Accommodation is quite scarce in Binche itself, as all the available hotel rooms book up very early.   However, Mons, Charleroi and Brussels are all within a short driving distance.

Further information about this unconventional, yet utterly compelling festival, can be found on the official Binche Carnival website.

The Ghent Festival in Belgium, also known as the Gentse Feesten, is the largest and most popular outdoor cultural festival in Europe. Gentse Feesten is known for its free-flowing beer and music, and today houses four different festivals all happening at once, right in the bustling city center. The festival is held every July in Ghent, the largest city in East Flanders, which is found in the Flemish region of Belgium.

Harking from the middle ages, where large-scale carousing was thought to. In the 19th century, the city heads of Ghent decided that it might be possible to lower the rate of drunkenness amongst its constituents by allotting ten days in the year for everyone to simply get drunk. They decided to time it during the celebration of the first anniversary of the creation of Belgium in 1832.

True to its medieval roots, there were even role reversals, where the rich, who funded the festival, were by the sidelines as the middle class peasantry took over the city. The festival eventually lost steam until 1969, when musician Walter de Buck decided to organize his own activities with his artist friends, many performances exhibiting attacks at the church and local government and arousing the interest of the people.

It is on this track that the Gentse Feesten evolved into how we see it today. The Ghent Festival has several different festivals happening at once. The longest standing festivals are the Gent Jazz Festival, which is formerly known as the Blue Note festival, the International Street Theatre Festival, the International Puppetbuskersfestival and 10 Days Off, an electronic dance music festival. In general, the Ghent Festival is a free festival, although several new festivals have decided to incorporate themselves within the larger festivities and some need to charge entrance tickets. These newer festivals include the Comedy Festival Gent, the Polé Polé World Music Festival and Boomtown, a festival of alternative music. And of course, the food and beer in abundance all throughout the festival are for sale.

The Ghent Festival traditionally begins on the Saturday before July 21, which is the Belgian national holiday, and goes on for ten days. The Monday that is also always the tenth day of the festival is often called De dag van de lege portemonnees or the Day of Empty Wallets. In the days of Walter de Buck, there was one stage for performances, situated at the Saint Jacob Church, but as the event has grown to rival even Oktoberfest in mass and popularity, Gentse Feesten currently takes up almost all of Ghent’s inner city. So, no matter which part of the city you decide to stay, you will still find yourself in the middle of all the action.

There are many hotels, bed and breakfast inns, and hostels in Ghent, with price ranges ready to suit any traveler’s budget. However, given that there are over 2 million attendees of the Ghent Festival every year, it is best to book your accommodations way in advance. For more information about Gentse Feesten visit the official website of the Ghent Festival.

Festivals in Belgium play a significant rôle in the country’s social and cultural life, and they range from small-scale village fetes to enormous national celebrations.    Many of them nowadays attract large numbers of visitors from just across the English channel.    Belgium, for a relatively small country, has a considerable amount of processions and parades – locally known as ommegangs, ducasses and kermesses – amongst its festivals, most of them having their beginnings in history, religion or folk lore.

As is common in large parts of Europe, Carnival is hugely significant amongst Belgian festivals, most of them reaching their peak at around about Shrove Tuesday each year.    The most significant of these carnivals is undoubtedly that taking place in what is probably Belgium’s best-preserved medieval city, Binche, just 34 miles south of Brussels.    With its origins traced as far back as the 14th century, Binche Carnival is a noisy, colourful extravaganza featuring the famous Gilles, strangely costumed characters with elaborate masks and hugely ornate headgear.   Anther well-known carnival takes place in Aalst whilst there are more traditionally religious processions in Bruges and Hasselt.

Other important festival dates in the national calendar include July 21st – Independence Day when the country separated from the Netherlands – and November 15th – Dynasty Day – which is a celebration of the king’s birthday rather than a homage to padded shoulders and  an American soap opera.

Like many countries, Belgium has its share of almost totally inexplicable local festivals.    For example, the town of Ypres has its Cat Festival on the second Sunday in May each year.    Apparently, over a thousand years ago the Count of Flanders ordered the people of the city to throw several cats from his castle tower to show they were no longer pagans.    Thankfully for cat lovers, stuffed toys are now substituted for the real thing and there is then a ‘cat-related’ procession through the streets!

The small picturesque town of Dinant on the River Meuse, in August, has its own Regatta of Bathtubs, with lots of home made craft cavorting on the water.   The origins of this festival, alas, can be traced as far back as the local Tourist Board offices, looking for a new way to attract visitors.

Brussels, naturally, has a large number of festivals throughout the year to cater for both the local inhabitants and the large number of visitors the city attracts.   The Brussels Summer Festival, a predominantly music event, takes place over 10 days in August; Boterhammen in Het Park is a free music festival at the end of the same month; the Beer Weekend is held the first week in September; and the Klarafestival of Classical Music, with more than 300 concerts and similar events, is at the beginning of September.

The city of Ghent hosts two of the country’s most internationally acclaimed festivals – the International Festival of Flanders, with well over 500 separate concerts, and the Ghent Jazz Festival, each July.    Lovers of classical music will also find plenty to enjoy in the Hainaut Festival which is held around the end of September and beginning of October.

Belgium’s largest and most popular pop music festival is Pukkelpop, which takes place over three days in August near the town of Hasselt.   Attracting nearly 200,000 music fans and some prominent performers, ticket holders have the bonus of free train transport to and from any railway station in Belgium, so Eurostar passengers can easily travel the 45 miles from the capital to the festival.

With such easy access, it is little surprise that more and more visitors decide to go across the channel to visit some of the truly excellent festivals in Belgium; they offer wonderful opportunities of enjoying this tremendously welcoming country.