SS Belgenland

This card is a lovely vintage photo from a Belgian steamship (that's where the SS before the name comes from).

As we can read it says: Loading of goods on S/S/ Belgenland at Port of Antwerp.

Merci Jo!

Belgian Pralines

A really yummy postcard from Belgium! The stamp's glue was supposed to taste like chocolate and guess what, the stamp actually smells like chocolate! It brings really good memories to me because I used to have a belgian neighbor while growing up and he made and sold chocolate... I was his faithful client

Belgium is famed for its high quality chocolate and over 2,000 chocolatiers, both small and large. Belgium's association with chocolate goes back as far as 1635 when the country was under Spanish occupation and during the early 20th century, the country was able to import cocoa from its colony, the Belgian Congo. Today, chocolate is very popular in Belgium with 172,000 tonnes produced each year, and widely exported.

What makes Belgian chocolate unique is the quality of ingredients (many aspects of its composition are regulated by law) and adherence to traditional manufacturing techniques. In particular, vegetable-base fats are not used. Many firms produce their chocolates by hand which is very laborious and explains the prevalence of small, independent chocolate outlets which are also popular with tourists. Famous chocolate companies, like Neuhaus and Guylian strictly follow traditional (and sometimes secret) recipes for their products.

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Merci Katrien! 

Belgian beer

Belgian beer is quite famous, there are approximately 178 breweries in Belgium.

Beer in Belgium dates back to the age of the first crusades, long before Belgium became an independent country. Under Catholic church permission, local French and Flemish abbeys brewed and distributed beer as a fund raising method. The relatively low-alcohol beer of that time was preferred as a sanitary option to available drinking water. What are now traditional, artisanal brewing methods evolved, under abbey supervision, during the next seven centuries. The Trappist monasteries that now brew beer in Belgium were occupied in the late 18th century primarily by monks fleeing the French Revolution. However, the first Trappist brewery in Belgium (Westmalle) did not start operation until 10 December 1836, almost 50 years after the Revolution. That beer was exclusively for the monks and is described as "dark and sweet." The first recorded sale of beer (a brown beer) was on 1 June 1861.

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Dank Amina! 

Belgium

This is a print from Rubenhuis, painter Paul Ruben's house in Antwerp, Belgium.

A year after marrying Isabella Brant in 1609, Rubens began construction on an Italian-style villa on the then-Vaartstraat (now the Wapper, 9-11), at the time located at the banks of the canal Herentalse Vaart. Rubens designed the building himself, based on studies of Italian Renaissance palace architecture that also formed the basis of his Palazzi di Genoa. The layout included his home, studio, a monumentalportico and an interior courtyard. The courtyard opens into a Baroque garden that he also planned.
In the adjacent studio he and his students executed many of the works for which Rubens is famous. He had established a well-organised workshop that met the demands of his active studio, including large commissions from England, France, Spain and Bavaria and other locations. He relied on students and collaborators for much of the actual work. Rubens himself, however, guaranteed the quality and often finished paintings with his own hand. In a separate private studio he made drawings, portraits and small paintings without the assistance of his students and collaborators.
Rubens spent most of his lifetime in this palace, and it was only sold after his death. The city bought it in 1937, and after an extensive restoration the Rubenshuis was opened to the public in 1946. Dozens of paintings and artworks by Rubens and his contemporaries were installed in the rooms, as well as period furniture. Paintings include his early Adam and Eve (c. 1600) and a self portrait made when he was about fifty.

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Dank Brigitte and John!