Belgian Waffling

Seven days isn't enough time in Belgium. We thoroughly enjoyed a week split between the living-museum towns of Bruges and Ghent. We even managed to ride bikes internationally (into the Netherlands and back) to the North Sea. Our time in Belgium unexpectedly brought to the fore some challenges about settling longer term in Greece. And we continue to wonder if we want to settle down anywhere just yet.

Beguiling Bruges

Small airports are the best. Kalamata's airport has two gates and when your flight is ready, it's about a 200 foot walk from the airport seating to the plane. Greece has many airports like this and they make air travel delightfully quaint. The Brussels airport is fine for a big airport and transfer to the Bruges-bound train was easy. These days, it's interesting and sometimes alarming to see how different localities deal with the pandemic. In Greece, there's still much masking; in contrast, I might be able to count on two hands the number of people wearing masks (aside from us) during our whole Belgian stay.

Bruges is one of the prettiest cities I've ever seen, laced with canals and incredibly preserved 500+ year old buildings. It looks like the whole town could feature in a fancy architecture and design magazine. It's also quiet and peaceful. On our first night there, we indulged in Mexican food at a place run by a Mexican-Columbian couple. We struck up a conversation with a Portuguese couple dining there, who moved to Belgium a few years ago. It seemed like they must have been stationed at this particular restaurant so we could compare and contrast immigrant life in Greece and Belgium. We were shocked to learn that rents in Belgium are cheaper than Greece! They had left Lisbon in part because housing costs had escalated there, much like, Greece, and they could live more affordably, in a nicer apartment, in Bruges. Bruges does not exude a budget-friendly vibe, so it was useful to get firsthand experience. A Flemish guy joined in to our chat and we also learned about the complicated and contentious language issues in Belgium. We couldn't have had a more engaging start to our stay there. Many assumptions about Belgium, which we knew little about before arrival, were soon corrected.

One morning, we stumbled upon some people in old-timey costumes. A guy dressed like a monk noted our curiosity and gave us a succinct synopsis of what was going on. As we would learn, these costumed people are fulfilling a promise made in 1304(!) by soldiers and their wives in hopes of the men returning from war with France. As agreed to in the promise, if the men returned, locals would bring a 36 pound candle to a church each year on August 15th. And so, a dozen virgins (also a promise requirement?!) have toted such a candle in a procession every year, for over 700 years. Amazing. If I received a 36 pound candle each year for over 700 years, I might politely ask for something different next year, but it's a case of 'it's the thought that counts,' right?

Biking to the Netherlands

When did we last ride bikes? It must have been in Rockland last summer. Greece is not a country that entices me to hop on a bike what with the bumpy roads, unexpected obstacles, and me-first drivers. But biking in Belgium is excellent. Oddly enough, the Belgian guy we rented bikes from has a house in Kokkari, Samos, where we stayed in May! The ride was serene--largely along canals shaded by double layers of incredibly tall trees on either side of the water. We passed windmills, cows, vast corn fields, and tiny villages on the way to Sluis in the Netherlands. I was disappointed that we didn't ride past a Welcome to the Netherlands sign but somewhere along the way we crossed a border on two wheels. We were surprised that tourists packed little Sluis. Turns out the Belgians day-trip over there for cheap across-the-border shopping. In Sluis, we ate the most massive pot of delicious steamed mussels we've ever seen. Then we hopped back on our bikes and glimpsed the North Sea. From there we rode back to Bruges, arriving on the outskirts of town just as rain started. We had luckily packed our raincoats so we didn't get completely soaked. After almost 50 miles of riding, the rental bike saddles left us sore for days, but the bike ride was blissful and it was worth being saddle sore. It's easy to envision living somewhere like this where we could ride every day.

Great Ghent

After miles and miles of pleasant walking in Bruges, we took the 30 minute train to Ghent. A Ghent tourist flyer states that "Nowhere else can you switch so quickly from the 14th century to the 21st century (and back!) without ever having the feeling that something isn't quite right." We can't confirm the latter part of that sentence but can confirm that it feels right to explore this attractive town. It combines some of the best aspects of Manhattan--nice buildings, cool shops and restaurants--but does so without noise since there's so little motor traffic in the city center. Somehow even construction projects and trash trucks are quiet . We celebrated my birthday there with more foreign food--Japanese noodles for lunch and fancy pizza for dinner. We ate delicious croissants, bought some new shoes, and generally enjoyed being in this engaging culture. We thought about delaying our return to Kalamata, but we're counting the days until we have a special guest and didn't want to travel too close to her visit.

What Next?

Since arriving in Greece last September, we've had an ongoing conversation about what we want out of daily life. Europe is definitely where we would like to live, but European countries vary in how much they want to attract residents like us (e.g., Greece = yes; Belgium = not quite so much). We love Greece and we're grateful that the residency has allowed us to delve deep and explore this amazing country. In that exploring, we haven't yet found a place we'd like to settle. With our resident permits we must spend at least 183 days here each year. Would it be better to live somewhere else in Europe and spend 3 or 4 months in Greece? After 12 months of exploring life in Greece, that's the key question we're entertaining. And as of now we intend to spend the last 2 or 3 months of 2022 in Italy, which offers a similar residency permit, to see if it offers a bit more of what we want. So, while on our favorite island, A, in September and October, we'll map out our next steps...