01.14.12
Posted in Travel Log (N. America & Europe) at 8:54 am by Benjamin Ross
This is the 13th entry from my 2011 Europe Trip.
Like Bruges and Ghent, Leuven is another easy daytrip from Brussels. Only 20 minutes away, via trains which run multiple times per hour, Leuven is close enough that its many of its residents commute daily to Brussels and vice versa.
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| Leuven is home to Belgium’s largest student population, and in addition to being essentially a commuter suburb of Brussels, has many of its own sites as well. |
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| The University of Leuven, founded in 1425, is Belgium’s oldest university. Here’s their main library. |
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| Leuvenites play “Petanque,” a popular street game of French origin. |
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| continuing on through the city centre |
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| Leuven’s city centre is dense and compact and this entire series was shot within roughly a fifteen minute walking radius. |
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| Leuven’ Oude Markt is one of the primary venues for entertainment. |
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| This is the ideal spot to relax outside with a delicious Belgian beer. |
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| Here’s the tasty beer my Belgian-American friend Daphne introduced me to. It’s called Nondedju (triple), tastes like heaven, and is somewhere in the double digits on alcohol content. I drank one bottle and was moderately intoxicated. |
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| Above Oude Markt are also some of the finer examples of Belgian architecture I encountered. |
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| One of Belgium’s most famous contributions to the world of culinary arts is stoofvlees, a beef stew slow-cooked with bread, mustard, and brown abbey beer…Highly recommended! |
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| …and a shot of Oude Markt at night. |
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| Leuven is just a hop, skip, and a jump from Brussels, so there is little reason not to include it in a trip to the Eurozone’s capital city. Leuven provides many of the same Belgian cultural amenities as Brussels, but in a smaller, more-student oriented package. It’s well worth a day trip, or possibly longer, for a break from the hustle and bustle of Brussels. Had I more time, I would have stayed a week solely for the beer and stoofvlees. Next (and final) destination: Paris |
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texinchina
said,
January 15, 2012 at 8:21 pm
Trippel’s are great.
Chris Waugh
said,
January 16, 2012 at 6:01 am
You neglect to mention that Leuven is also the home of Stella Artois, which, being a mere lager, can never be a great beer, but, nevertheless, is pretty damn good by lager standards.
Learn Chinese in China
said,
May 4, 2012 at 4:48 am
Some friennds of mine studied there at the Uni! This place is really amazing!!! And i enjoyed a lot watching all these pictures! Ha ha ha and you could not help taking the picture of you with Belgium beer! he he