Leuven; Saturday, 25 February, 2017

There were clearly a large number of people staying at the hotel – more than the breakfast space could cope with – so there was a bit of a jostle to get tables and it took a bit of time before I was able to actually get some food.

Once I’d completed breakfast I headed out of the hotel and caught the bus round to the other side of the city centre to visit the Groot Begijnhof. This was a former closed community of lay women – they hadn’t taken holy orders, but were effectively living the life of nuns. The buildings are now part of a world heritage site, and are owned by the university, but you can wander around the quiet cobbled streets taking in the peace and tranquillity of the area.

Having looked round the Begijnhof I headed over to the botanical gardens – the Kruidtuin – to have a look around there, before heading back into the centre of town to have lunch.

I’d booked onto the afternoon English tour of the Stella Artois Brewery that dominates the town, so after lunch I headed over to the brewery to join the tour.

The 2-hour tour included the brewery, the bottling plant and a trip to the brewery bar for a couple of free samples.

With the free samples still washing around inside I headed back the short distance to the hotel to drop off the free gifts and then, after a little while to freshen (and sober) up, I headed back out into town to take some photos at night before stopping for dinner.