This is the last month of ballooning season in Bruges. If you have a trip to Belgium planned you might like to take advantage of the fantastic service Bruges-Ballooning offer.

Trips run from 1st April to 31st October, and you can choose from a number of packages including sunrise and sunset trips as well as a day long journey or a romantic 2 person flight over Belgium’s’ most enchanting city, Bruges. Since most people only book a short stay in Belgium Bruges Ballooning offer a book today, fly tomorrow service, which you can access online.

If you’re a bit tentative about flying, the team has met British CAA standards of commercial balloon operators and zero injuries in over 2700 flights, so you’re the safest of hands.

The experience itself is one not to be missed, jaw dropping views and the chance to float in the heavens without the drone of engine aside, the company makes it a venture never to be forgotten. Group flights make it easy to meet new people, you’ll get the chance to help out with the prep and pack up of the balloon, so you can really appreciate the flight. Bruges Ballooning offer a champagne reception upon your landing so you can relax as you find your feet again.

They also offer a money back guarantee if the weather won’t permit you to fly, Bruges Ballooning also offer you the next possible slot to fly should the weather be unfavourable.

Tags: Belgium, Lifestyle, P&O Ferries by Karim Beerahee
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If you have a taste for Belgian beers but are tired of mass exported ones you might like to head over to Guame on the 3rd weekend of October, the 15th and 16th offer you the chance to meet some of the smaller ale brands and their master brewers in person. This is the 10th anniversary of Brassigaume and previous events have all blossomed a fun and friendly atmosphere, lots of interesting beverages to be had in an environment that any beer-lover wouldn’t want to miss.

There is also an international input on Brassigaume so you’ll be able to some ales that aren’t brewed in Belgium, the resident chef Jean-Claude Depeauw heads up the food tent so you don’t have to drink on an empty stomach. This festival starts at 2 o’clock on 15th October and finishes at 8 PM on Sunday 16th. Getting there is well signposted for travel by car or a mere 5 minute from Marbehan station.

To get to Belgium’s Brassigaume festival 2011, take a P&O Ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge and your just a short drive away from some of the best kept secrets of Belgian beer.

Tags: Belgium, Lifestyle, P&O Ferries by Karim Beerahee
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P&O Ferries is offering a couple of excellent deals for the winter months, if you fancy a break to the continent between 1st October and December 29th you’ll be able to travel in luxury at discounted prices with P&O Ferries.

At just £72 per person you can catch either the Pride of Rotterdam or MS Pride of Hull and cross the Channel in style in a 10 hour mini cruise dropping you off at Bruges, Rotterdam or you could take the Coach transfer and head on in to Amsterdam. The Hull minicruise is going to run a 2-for-1 deal, an excellent opportunity to holiday with your loved one and not break the bank.

To keep you entertained on your crossing these ferries are well kitted out with a casino, cinema, live cabaret and huge shopping sections.

They have 546 en-suite cabins, as well as state rooms and standard suites; the deal opens on the 1st of October. For more information on when to make your bookings watch this blog, we can keep you updated on all the tourist events you won’t want to miss, including Christmas Markets and festivities.

Image credit: Peter Huys

Tags: Belgium, Lifestyle, Netherlands, P&O Ferries by Karim Beerahee
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For music fans, the onset of autumn can mean only one thing: the festival season is over. Or is it? In Ghent, Belgium, a festival dedicated to the finest in electronic music is taking place in November, and it looks like it will be an occasion no techno fan can afford to miss.

The I Love Techno festival celebrated its 15th birthday last year, with established purveyors of cutting-edge techno (including Berlin minimal DJane Ellen Allien and ex-Bloc Party singer Kele Okereke) on hand to provide the appropriate soundtrack.

This year, the line-up includes techno luminary Paul Kalkbrenner, electroclash pioneers Boys Noize, UK pop-step upstart Katy B, and the Californian master of party Steve Aoki. The festival will play out on 12th November at the Flanders Expo complex over a single night, so be prepared to make it count if you do end up going.

To get there, you can take a P&O Ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge, from where it’s only a 30 mile drive to Ghent. There is free parking at the festival site. For ticket information and a full line-up, check out the official festival website.



Image credit: I Love Techno

Tags: Belgium by Matthias Scherer
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Silkscreen prints and lithographs by Andy Warhol and his contemporaries

This September marks the close of the Andy Warhol and co…w exhibition at Brussles’ L’Abbaye de Stavelot. The gallery has a fantastic selection of original pieces from private collections and some of his most popular pieces; they have been on display since late January.

Warhol is acclaimed as the vanguard of the Pop Art movement; his work spanned multiple forms from prints, to film and literature. called a legendary in his own lifetime he was already well established as an icon by the time of his death in 1987.
His 1963 canvas Eight Elvises sold for a cool US $100 million, putting him right up there as an artist (pricewise) with the likes of Picasso, van Gogh and Renoir.

Price of entry is just €5, it is open every day and comes to a close on the 25th September.

P&O ferries can get you to Belgium via their Hull to Zeebrugge service, don’t forget John Cale and Lou Reed’s words ‘Andy said, visit me, why didn’t you visit me?’

Tags: Belgium, Lifestyle, P&O Ferries by Karim Beerahee
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Laundry day, one of the largest festivals to engulf Antwerp with over 60,000 in attendance last year. This event began with just 200 people in 1998 having a party in the street and has evolved in to an international affair, this year with 13 stages and a circus. On the 4th of September 2011 over 200 DJ’s will be performing across these stages over the course of the day.

You may be asking why it is called Laundry Day. The festivity is a modern day alternative to the tradition of laundry days, where washer women would gather to hang out wet clothes enjoy a good chat with their neighbours and make a run-of-the-mill chore a little more enjoyable. The streets for Laundry day this September will be decorated with brightly coloured clothes and though there won’t be a great deal of housework going on the spirit of the laundry days of old is still there.

The events kick off at midday, you can buy presale tickets for € 28, 00 there’s to a be an impressive lineup of DJs in particular Basement Jaxx will be headlining.

P&O Ferries can get you to Belgium via their Hull to Zeebrugge service so you can get your laundry done.

Tags: Belgium, Lifestyle, P&O Ferries by Karim Beerahee
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The opening weekend of September will welcome the 13th instalment of Belgium Beer Weekend, at Brussels’ magnificent Grand Place you’ll get the chance to meet brewers, participate in events staged for everyone who enjoys a good beer.

Belgian Beer weekend will kick off on Friday 2nd of September with Brewers’ Day, some ceremonies such as the Academic session and enthronement ceremony will require special passes, but the event will be open to the public from 6 pm.

The Belgian Brewers’ Association, Mashtaff of the Knights and the City of Brussels have banded together to open up three days for visitors and locals to enjoy the beers that Belgium is famed for. Brussels Grand Place is a landmark of tremendous beauty and history; it also makes a fantastic location for cool pint. Market stalls and beer vendours will set up there for you to have a wander and expand your beer repertoire.

There are set to be over 50 brewers present at Belgian Beer weekend, these are to range from the small to larger companies so you’ll get a proper range of beers, lagers and ales from different brands. For those of you after a bit of history, or just a break from drinking there will be a procession of brewery carts from throughout the ages passing through the streets of Belgium.

To get to Belgium in time for yet another fantastic beer weekend catch a P&O ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge, and from there you are just a short trip to all the beer of Belgium.

Tags: Belgium, Lifestyle, P&O Ferries by Karim Beerahee
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Dinant, a town that dates back to the 10th Century, and though it’s not often you here about excitement and innovation spreading from the heart of Belgium, the Namur region this August will see the 29th instalment of the International Bathtub Regatta. Yes you did not read that wrong, the noble yet little sport of Bathtub Racing continues, for this year’s instalment you’ll definitely want to get yourself over to Belgium for the 15th August.

The Regatta is essentially the cast off of dozens of little bathtubs both crudely and expertly converted in to maritime vessels. They are decorated aesthetically, to represent personal or group politics, or just coloured in, in as imaginative way as possible. The regatta promises to be a day of fun as these quirky vessels face the ultimate trial of sail or sink in the 2011 International Bathtub Regatta.

There are closely monitored rules that are to be policed on the River Meuse, and the population of Dinant turn out to turn the day into lighthearted and enjoyable affair.

We highly suggest you take a P&O Ferry to get to Belgium for this event, any attempt to crudely transform your home bathtub into a vessel and cross the Channel may result in death.

Image credit: wikicommons

Tags: Belgium, Lifestyle, P&O Ferries by Karim Beerahee
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