Flowering bluebells in Hallerbos

Years and years ago I made a bucket list of all the places I wanted to visit in Belgium. To this day, not many items have been scratched off, aside from exploring Brussels (which I’ve been doing lots of lately!). Not too far from Brussels is Halle, well-known for it’s beautiful Hallerbos. The Hallerbos is a forest that turns into a fairy tale-like scene every Spring. Shades of white and yellow slowly turn into shades of purple as daffodils and white anemones make way for a sea of blooming bluebells. The gentle perfume they spread is like nothing you’ve ever smelled before.

The main reason I never made it to the Hallerbos before is the 2 hour drive past literally all of Belgiums most awful and busy traffic points. We passed through every town that’s called out in the radio traffic jam updates, stood in lines for a good long while and had to detour on the highway. My boyfriend would have never gone along, but thankfully I found a bucket list mate in my girl K. As soon as we set foot in the forest we were welcomed by fields of blooming bluebells, which only got bigger and more beautiful as we hiked further into the woods. I still struggle with my hip injury, so we planned not to walk too far in. It’s just that the beauty of this place got us to forget about time and place and we wandered off pretty far without knowing. In the end we estimate we had a good 8 -10 kilometers, which is much more than we had intended (I had walked 10K around Brussels just the day before and my hip was still sore). All is well with me, the inflammation in my hip hasn’t returned and I’m not in pain, so all that I have to remind me of our day out is the beautiful memories and the photos below (that tbh, do not do the forest justice)!