Coffeeshops in Roosendaal and Bergen-op-Zoom will once again present their case against the cannabis ban in court. These coffeeshops in two Dutch towns near the Belgian border were banned from selling cannabis in order to prevent drug tourism from the neighboring Belgium.

Belgian waffles continue to get international recognition. This time, the Belgian waffle vendor Thomas De Geest won the year 2009 Vendy Award in the desserts category last Saturday at the Queens Museum of Art in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, New York, USA.

Belgium’s schools have started a new academic year with “headscarf arrests”: Antwerp police arrested eight youngsters at the Royal Athenaeum in Hoboken a week after classes started. The arrested students violated a ban on demonstrations and worn Muslim headscarf’s which are a ligher version of well known  burkas or burqas.

While many believe the ban of Muslim headscarf in Belgium as well as other European countries is a demonstration of social prejudice and religious intolerance rather than an attempt to integrate Muslim women into the Belgian or European societies, some of the local authorities seem to be quite serious about the the Muslim headscarf ban.

The BeneluxGuide has a new loyal reader in Norway. A blogger from Norwegian University of Science and Technology has began reproducing articles about Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg from the BeneluxGuide.com site on the Blogspot.com blogging service under the same BeneluxGuide blogname. While Benelux travel gets popularized in many ways including sharing of the guiding information, the BeneluxGuide contributing writers always appreciate the hyperlink to the BeneluxGuide.com! Thanks and continue to enjoy the Benelux Travel Guide!

The quality of the Belgian chocolates and famous Belgian pralines has been acknowledged worldwide. The chocolate “made in Belgium” is known as a delicacy. Belgian chocolate pralines have been the food of champions, a lure for lovers, the indulgence of the rich and later, the favorite of the masses.

In most of the pubs in both Holland and Belgium, when ordering a beer you might be offered traditional snacks which most often include Gouda cheese cubes with mustard. It’s a fine combination which goes extremely well especially with dark Belgian beers along with dried sausages or nuts.

The term “Gouda” is now a generic name, and not restricted to cheese of Dutch origin.

The Swine flu has been speculated in the World’s leading media sources as the number one news topic creating a great deal of attention and reaching only one one reported case of swine flu in the Benelux. One patient with a swine flu diagnosis in Holland is a great example of swine-flu-mania which has swapped the world and streamed billions of dollars and millions of euros into swine flu prevention programs. It could be compared to the Dutch tulip mania of 1637 in the way of how primitive the Madness of Crowds is still being manipulated by large PR budgets of the Corporations.

Choosing hotel in Belgium

Travel in Belgium is very compact due to the close proximity of Belgian cities to each other. And, while such proximity makes it easy to book hotel in one Belgian city and use it as a base, you will certainly be able to experience much more staying in a hotel or bread&breakfast in any Belgian city or small town that you visit on your Belgium tour.

BRUSSELS: Art Brussels at Brussels Expo: 24 April – 29 April 2009.
Every year in April, ArtBrussels opens its doors and welcomes more than 30 000 art professionals, art collectors and art lovers from all over the world.