Roeselare is a city in the Dutch-speaking province of West Flanders in Belgium. It's small, quiet, and quaint -- almost sleepy, but still very, very charming. It's located somewhere between the more-famous (and definitely busier) Belgian cities of Antwerp and Brussels (which we also visited, but more on them later!).
Though I've lived in bustling Manila for all of my life, I'm used to quieter neighborhoods, and I found that beautiful, laid-back Roeselare really became my home-away-from-home while in Europe.
Here's part one of why I loved it there so much...
The City Centre (Zentrum)
I observed that in most European cities, people's activities are concentrated in the Zentrum or Centre, where the city hall, church, shops, restaurants, and train/bus stations are located or are nearby. And because Roeselare is quiet small, its Zentrum is much more compact, and walking in and through it was pretty easy.
Historical buildings were turned into shops, boutiques and restaurants.
That's Bernard posing in front of a Zara store. Just across is a very well-stocked H&M. We were here on a weekday so stores were practically empty. No lines at the dressing rooms. Yey!
Though not popular among travelers (at that time, we were probably the only non-Dutch there!), Roeselare still has its tourist office, of course! :)
Roeselare is bicycle and biker-friendly, too! :)
It was also in Roeselare where I tasted my first-ever authentic Belgian waffle. This one was smothered in very, very rich Belgian chocolate, I almost couldn't finish it! We bought this in Panos, which is a very popular bread shop in Belgium. It's everywhere!
Nakaka-miss! :)
Until my next post about Roeselare,
Binky
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