Arlon/Bastogne, Belgium

Arlon/Bastogne, Belgium (Stop #1 on our Road Trip)

So my family finally made it to Germany to visit and we had a whirlwind adventure of travel throughout Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France.  We did a lot of road tripping.  I mean A LOT.  It was 5 of us packed in my little CRV and I was determined to show them a great first time in Europe.

My mother and I were brainstorming on what would be the best way to see a lot while still maintaining a budget with 5 people.  No doubt it was expensive, but there are many ways that we cut costs.  I had already been to Brussels, but after the chocolates I'd sent my mother for Mother's Day (Leonidas) she had to go back and get more.  Plus, I wanted to check out Luxembourg and some northern parts of Germany.  We decided that the best idea was to look on airbnb.com, which is a website that allows regular people to rent out their houses or apartments to people who A) Don't want to waste money on a hotel, B) Have more than two people in their party, and C) Want all of the amenities of a home or apartment.  

The answer was too obvious and we decided to rent an apartment in Arlon, Belgium for 4 nights.  Arlon itself isn't a huge travel destination, but it is 30 minutes from Luxembourg City and Bastogne, Belgium, 1 1/2 hours from Tongeren, Belgium, and 1 hour from Trier, Germany.  So we got to sleep in the same spot for 4 nights and drive to our destinations during the day.  Sounds great right?  Arlon was the perfect mid point to veer out from.  (If you'd like details on where exactly we stayed, send me an email, our host was great!)

Like I said, Arlon isn't a big travel destination, but it is a great place to come home to and it has a lot of restaurants, cafes, and stores to peruse.  We literally stayed across the street from the neo-gothic, Saint Martin Church.

Check out all of the gargoyle heads screaming out of the sides of the church.  They were everywhere!

  Some of the dinners we ate in Arlon included Italian, Ukrainian, and Belgian food.  The Ukrainian place in the square was great and the staff very friendly and animated!

Though we were tired from driving from Germany to Arlon, we still had to drive to Bastogne that night to see what we came to see!  Only a 30 minute drive and we were there!  One of the most famous areas of The Battle of the Bulge from December 1944 to January 1945 was in Ardennes region where the Americans were caught by surprise by the Germans.  This was the largest land battle by the US army during WWII and one of the bloodiest, however, the Americans were able to pull through and become victorious.

We visited the Mardasson Memorial which commemorates the some 76,890 wounded or killed American Soldiers.

 We also wanted to check out the museum that is right next to the memorial but it was closed until July of 2014 for construction.

Since we still had plenty of time in our day we decided to head to the center of Bastogne and check out the shops and restaurants.

The town wasn't huge, but it did have a strip of restaurants, shops, bakeries, and other miscellaneous stores.  We ended up eating our Ukrainian dinner in Arlon that night, but we did get some baked goods in Bastogne.

Of course the beautiful macarons in various flavors!  Also we tried some of the Bastogne macarons to the left, which were much better in my opinion and had a peanut butter filling.  We also tried the meringue cookies (which are a favorite of mine) and some apple strudel, ordering in the language of French, which none of us spoke, but we tried!

It was a nice relaxing little area to visit after a long day of travel and Bastogne can easily be done in half a day.  It is especially of interest to military history buffs.  I know Brandon appreciated this one.

Favorite thing about Bastogne:

Besides the walking around the American memorial (and taking the steps to the top to see Bastogne from up high)  those pastries downtown were pretty amazing!  Plus you can find like the most famous Belgian chocolates store, Leonidas, in Bastogne and Arlon!

Next Stop: Luxembourg City

History, architecture, or food; which do you look forward to most on a trip?

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