Aelfgifu Travels

Hi Aelf Crew,

As previously mentioned in my post on Lithuania – check out the post for more details – my mother has passed on her obsession with Christmas Markets around Europe to me. Together, along with a sibling, we went to Belgium for a long weekend to see their take on our favourite festive activity, stopping in both Brussels and Bruges.

We boarded the EuroStar train from London St Pancras, which takes just 2 hours direct to Brussels Midi Station. Flights are around 1h15m, so not a lot quicker especially when you include the time for standard airport checks.

A story from a separate trip, but still at Brussels Midi Station: whilst waiting for a connecting train to Cologne, my mother advised me of the following story:

• There was a staged ‘problem’ with the train doors, causing a backlog of people trying to get on. Whilst one person caused the distraction, pickpockets went around in the crowds to nick what they could. This unfortunately for my mother, was her mobile phone before even getting to the destination of her trip!
• Interestingly a few days later we could then see the phone on the ‘find my friends’ function on iPhones in Morocco. It seems whoever ended up with it hadn’t reset it to factory settings – just turned it on and started using it.
• My technological abilities aren’t fantastic so we did what we could in logging the phone out of the iCloud account and attempted a remote reset – whether that succeeded or not, we can’t quite tell.

This is a fairly basic trick for pickpockets and can happen anywhere so Top Tip from Aelfgifu: stay alert in crowds and keep your valuables zipped up in your pockets or in a bag.

Anyway back to my original story: the markets in Brussels were not overwhelming – we usually get excited by the nick-nack Christmas trinkets like ornaments and lights. Perhaps it was the area we went to, but the overwhelming product seemed to be food. Not a bad thing, but not what we were looking for.

We took an overground train to Bruges for the day, which was just under one hour and equivalent to £16. Bruges was a pretty town, but the Christmas Markets again were underwhelming.

Was it the locations we chose? The timing? Maybe. Or maybe we’ve been spoilt by other markets in Europe. Either way, it was a festive trip, if a little light on the Christmas tat we craved.

Tips to Learn from Aelfgifu:

• Keep your valuables secure in train stations – pickpockets famously thrive in crowded areas.
• Consider the Eurostar for European city breaks – it’s comfortable and often faster than flying once you factor in airport time. From London, it can take you to Amsterdam, Cologne, Brussels and Paris to name just a few.

What are the best Christmas markets you’ve been to? Let me know below!

With fewer baubles than expected,

Aelfgifu