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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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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Along with the end of the Summer (might as well face up to it) come the sales and all the frantic bargain-hunting that goes along with it. During the first week of September, however, you could go on a cheeky bargain trip to Northern France, where over a million visitors haggle to their heart’s content at one of Europe’s largest flea market.

The Braderie de Lille is legendary for the huge number of stalls (more than 200km) and visitors (around 1m) it attracts every year. This year, the Braderie occurs on 3rd and 4th September. Lille is the capital of the Nord-Pas de Calais region and only a short drive away from Calais, P&O’s French port.

Among the city’s squares, pavements and the many Flemish buildings and cathedrals, there will be hundreds of stallholders offering their wares, and bargain hunters from all over the world to inspect items, haggle over them, and walk away either cursing themselves or whistling with the knowledge of having secured a gem in the shape of an antique rug, a handbag or a shirt.

Of course, there will also be a plethora of different foods available to sample, most notably the piles of mussel shells fresh from the sea, whose contents are served with chips (“moule frites”). There will also be live music as well as a half-marathon which takes place on Saturday morning.

Local shops will offer some serious discounts on their stocks, but other city districts will be filled with second-hand stalls where you’re guaranteed to find something to take home. Antiques, for example, are mainly traded on the Esplanade alongside the Deûle canal, whereas in the Old Lille district designer stores rub shoulders with private residents’ stalls.

The Braderie de Lille takes place on 3rd and 4th September, starting at 2pm on the Saturday and ending at 11pm on the Sunday. To get there, you can get a P&O Ferry to Calais, from where it is only an hour’s drive to Lille.

Image credit: vacation2

Tags: France, Lifestyle, P&O Ferries by Matthias Scherer
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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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A mixed display of Russian culture heritage will be on display in Cannes for five days this month. The Russian Art Festival will run consecutively from the 23rd to the 27th of August 2011, attendees will get a true taste of Russian cuisine as well as feast their eyes and ears on classic Russian dance, cinema, music, opera and more. You will also get the opportunity to view Russian arts and crafts as well in one of the largest events exhibiting Russian identity in Europe.

The Russian Art Festival is produced by the Foundation for Russian Culture, the town of Cannes and Cannes’ Festival. Cannes is historically a town well acquainted with Russian monarch’s, notable aristocrats and artists also ventured into France and shared fashion, ideas and culture. This festival is a celebration of Franco-Russian relations, and not just a display of a single culture but also its interactions, notably those with the French in Cannes, as you might imagine.

Here is a brief look at the itinerary courtesy of French Riviera-tourism

Exhibition: traditional art from Khassia – free
23 August Folk dances from the Caucasus
24 August Dinner & show “Russian Night- a Journey across Russia”
25 August Russian Film Day (with subtitles)
26 August Khakassian Symphonic Orchestra and traditional song + dances
27 August Helikon theatrical opera from Moscow “The Tsar’s Fiancée”

Image credit: SPakhrin

To get to Cannes for the Russian Art Festival catch a P&O ferry from Dover to Calais, running 46 times a day, approximately 90 minutes.

Tags: France, History, Lifestyle, P&O Ferries by Karim Beerahee
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This year will see the 34th Uitmarkt, a celebration that kicks of the start of the cultural season in the last week of August. Uitmarkt takes place in the centre of Amsterdam at Museumplein and Leidsplein and a few other locations, there are about 450 free performances and there will be some pay-to-enter ones too for the more expensive productions. Uimarkt is an extravaganza of film, dance, music and theatre performances, there is also an infusion of literature and cabaret so an all-round culture-vulture will well and truly be in their element in Amsterdam at the end of the month.

Many of the open stages feature on well known public squares which also cater for bicycle storage, so if you intend to zip about Amsterdam and take in a couple of shows this summer then take your bike along with your or rent one out there.
Uitmark attracts around half a million attendees viewing up to 2000 performers at over 30 different venues, the event caters for an international audience and all ages, if you plan to get away this month you definitely won’t be short of things to do in Holland’s capital from the 26th-28th.

To get to the Uitmarkt culture show this August hitch a lift with P&O Ferries, their Hull to Rotterdam service can get you and a bike to the Netherlands at minimal expense.

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