Travellia

In my last blog entry I described how we travelled from the UK to the Flemish coast in Belgium, via ferry, bus and tram. Our destination was Oostende, a city which is, essentially, a beach resort, but also has a large sea port. We were hoping for sunny weather so we could make use of the vast swathes of beach that Oosende has to offer, but unfortunately it was cold and gray, and thus didn't make it quite that far. Oostende doesn't have many architectural gems, in fact most of the buildings are quite ordinary looking. However, despite the almost dull looking surroundings, it is a pleasant place to visit. We stayed in the Hote l du Parc - very basic, but adequate. It's location is convenient, being right in the centre of town, and in walking distance to the beach, marina and train station. There is also a casino close by, however we decided to avoid that and spend our money on more worthwhile things, like food and drink! Actually we ended up savouring quite a few dif

Recently we had a few days off work to do some travelling, however we had left it a bit late to book any cheap airline seats . We thought of alternative, cheap methods of going into Europe and devised a way of getting to Belgium, somewhere we had never been before. We were prepared for a day of travelling. We took a ferry, once again, from Dover to Calais - we took the first one that was leaving, which happened to be P&O . Once in Calais, we took the bus from the port to the main train station, outside of which we waited for another bus which would take us to Dunkirk. Leaving from the front of the train station, the bus journey to Dunkirk took about 45 minutes. From what we saw of Dunkirk, it looked a bit run-down and shabby, not really what we were expecting. Admittedly, we didn't have time to explore the town fully. We arrived at the main station in Dunkirk and the next step was to get another bus to Adinkerke/De Panne station in Belgium. After a bit of fruitless sea