Lonely Planet Belgium & Luxembourg Author: Visit Amazon's Mark Elliott Page | Language: English | ISBN:
1741799503 | Format: PDF
Lonely Planet Belgium & Luxembourg Description
- Series: Travel Guide
- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Lonely Planet; 5 edition (June 1, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1741799503
- ISBN-13: 978-1741799507
- Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
- Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
If you're gay and looking for some Belgian action, this book was obviously written especially for you. There are as many index entries under "gay" as there are for the city of "Ghent," perhaps because Ghent isn't particularly exciting ("if you're looking for a raunchier scene," we're advised on p. 124, "go to Antwerp.") The largest section of the book is of course about Brussels, and in the long list of recommended hotels there, the only one dubbed "our pick" has a "target market [of] 'married' gay couples, [but] the charming owners are hetero-friendly" (95). Elsewhere, the author takes pains to criticize the repainting of a Brussels' mural, citing "creeping homophobia" (81), because the female half of the couple in the original version had looked more "ambiguous."
The lion's share of gay tips are in the Antwerp section (which is "raunchy," remember?), providing contact info for "inexpensive gay lodgings with shared bathrooms," including one with "a four-bed 'encounter' dorm" (181). Another suggestion, on the same page, "has rooms devoted to fulfilling almost every imaginable sexual fantasy," as it is designed "for a full-on fetish experience."
If, however, you are a typical Lonely Planet user (like a group of college students or a young married couple), who actually want to tour Belgium to see what it looks like without spending a lot of money, you will find that unlike most LP's, this book is full of holes, particularly the section on Brussels. The "eating" section of a standard LP normally mentions some supermarkets, but this one suggests that in the entire capital city, there is only one, off in the northwest. (Hint: there are two big ones right near the Bourse, smack in the center; and at least a million "Carrefour Express" food-shops everywhere you turn.
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