Rick Steves Belgium: Bruges, Brussels, Antwerp & Ghent

For thirty-five years, Rick Steves has advocated travel as a cure all for the myopia that many Americans have for the rest of the world. He advocates traveling light and modestly lest natives should suspect us of braggadocio. He has written over thirty travel guidebooks and hosts a popular television show on PBS. In 2010, he was profiled on “Sixty Minutes”.

This guidebook focuses on Bruges, Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent. I so wish that I had read this book and travelled with it to these places. There is so much more to see in this area than Brussel’s Grand Place and museums. In particular, Steves writes movingly of Flanders Fields near Bruges. Flanders Fields was the site of five brutal battles of World War I, which cost nine million lives. On a happier note, Rick also discusses Belgique chocolate and lace, gives us useful phrases in both Dutch and French, and provides great places to stay at relatively low cost and great restaurants. His guidebooks always cover many aspects of travel, including getting there and top picks for sightseers. Rick Steves is a one-man industry in the travel business and as such, his guidebooks are essential for the new traveler.