Gistel, Belgium

Gistel is a small town of about 10.000 inhabitants, with all necessary shops, more than five bakeries, more than five butchers, three supermarkets, three chemists, post office, pizzeria, etc. You can do all these by bicycle. There's also the local market on Mondays. Shops are normally open from 9h to 18.00h. But in Oostende all shops stay open till 20h00. The language in Flanders is Dutch, but many people speak or understand English, French, and sometimes German. The Belgian coast is at about 10 minutes with the car. If you want the nice dunes, then you should count half an hour by car. Bruges is also just a quarter of an hour's drive away. One of our Intervac exchangers did it by bicycle; a long part can be done along a canal. It's flat everywhere. The Belgian coast has a lot off nice fishermen's ports (Oostende, Nieuwpoort, Zeebrugge...) Moore info on our website: https://sites.google.com/site/intervachomepagedessin